The charm skill didn’t allow for infinite control; the weaker a person’s willpower, the easier they were to influence, whereas individuals with strong, steadfast willpower remained completely immune.
Furthermore, it could not be used on the same sex.
Consequently, in her past life, Lin Yao had been the “white moonlight” among men while remaining a thorn in the eyes of women.
Xia Qing, however, was entirely different.
Right at this moment, Xia Qing was processing her ability, realizing that her powers could charm mutants, alter their attributes, and yield energy cores that she could harvest to level up as much as possible.
Even with spatial storage, human distrust and suspicion ran deep…
Even family members, lovers, and friends would constantly suspect one another.
As long as she leveled up as much as possible and planted her charm imprint on people, she would secure the most loyal servants.
It was just that her current ability level was too low; to maintain a long-term charm effect, she had to target those with weak willpower…
Where on earth should I look for someone like that?
People with low willpower—children?
That wouldn’t work. The charm skill had to be used properly, and when used well…
It couldn’t be used casually. In the early stages, Lin Yao had been smart enough not to expose her charm skill either.
Yet a problem loomed right now: if Xia Qing chose not to expose herself, would Lin Yao blab about it?
From the very beginning, Xia Qing had refrained from revealing her ability because she was observing the situation…
If Lin Yao exposed her ability, she would simply deny it.
Having transmigrated from the wasteland world, her combat skills were top-notch.
To her, this current world was actually quite pleasant.
At least the sky was clean.
Xia Ran: “Up ahead is the main convoy. In a moment, I’ll introduce you to my good buddy. He’s a bit aloof, but his combat strength is incredible.”
Lin Yao glanced at Xia Qing, probing with a question: “Xia Qing, why do I feel like your skin is getting better and fairer?”
“What kind of ability did you awaken after eating that pink energy core? That pink core looked so pretty, it must be an amazing ability—definitely better than my spatial storage.”
Xia Qing replied with a completely serious expression: “I think so too!”
“Right now, I feel like my body is in fantastic shape.”
Watching Xia Qing, a sense of loss washed over Lin Yao. She felt as though something vital had slipped away from her grasp.
Still, the charm ability she had possessed in her previous life was the most useless junk compared to spatial storage!
In the apocalypse, spatial storage was the ultimate cheat code.
Drawing on her memories from her past life, Xia Qing knew how difficult it was to upgrade spatial storage. Even with all her frantic struggles back then, she had only managed to expand her space to a thousand square meters.
Only upon reaching level two would the space unlock preservation capabilities.
The vehicle halted alongside the main convoy. Stretching along the highway were endless rows of military trucks and tanks.
Uniformed soldiers stood guard amidst a large crowd of civilian refugees.
Here, regardless of your background, status, age, children, or women were all treated equally, crammed tightly into the vehicles.
Unless you had awakened an ability, you wouldn’t receive any special treatment.
All the old rules were being completely reshuffled.
Xia Ran’s vehicle was a special police car, which drove straight to the tail end of the highway line.
Xia Ran instructed: “You two stay right behind me.”
As a member of the special police force, because he was rushing to rescue his own family members, he hadn’t brought his teammates along.
There were simply too many people here, and both the special police and the military were severely understaffed.
Ever since the outbreak, police officers and soldiers had been on the front lines, suffering massive casualties.
“Captain Xia, you’re finally back! The main convoy has been leaving in waves.”
“Captain Jin is looking for you.”
“Alright.”
“Right, Yaoyao, come with me.”
“Su Bai, do me a favor and look after my younger sister.”
Xia Ran looked toward Xia Qing.
Su Bai smiled and said, “Don’t worry.”
Lin Yao knew she was being summoned because she had awakened the spatial storage, whereas in her past life, it was Xia Qing who had been called away.
Meanwhile, because the memories Xia Qing had inherited weren’t originally hers, her recollections felt somewhat jumbled.
After all, having transmigrated here, she was also named Xia Qing, and they shared the exact same face.
Even with Lin Yao, due to their differing choices, their future paths would diverge based on the decisions they made.
With a mixture of excitement and joy, Lin Yao followed Xia Ran away, anticipating that she would soon be treated with high importance.
“Hello, I’m Xia Qing, Xia Ran’s younger sister.”
Su Bai looked at the pretty girl before him. Everyone else wore the panicked look of refugees; even if you had once been a glamorous celebrity, those days were completely gone.
The moment their eyes met, Xia Qing’s pupils flashed purple.
This was her level-two charm skill.
With the mutant outbreak only just beginning, ability users had yet to appear on a large scale. Only soldiers with rigorous physical constitutions stood a chance of acquiring energy cores and awakening abilities.
Mutants had actually begun silently emerging a year prior, but back then the military was still capable of holding them off…
Jiangcheng was the first city in the Huaxia nation to experience a full-scale outbreak, whereas mutants had already been rampaging through Africa for nearly a month.
And this was only the beginning.
She had already advanced to a Level 1 ability user. In the early stages of the outbreak, almost no one else had reached Level 1.
After all, one had to find an energy core of the exact same attribute in order to level up one’s ability.
Other cities had already plunged into absolute chaos.
Although Su Bai was a special police officer with impressive combat skills, he hadn’t awakened an ability yet.
Xia Qing merely wanted to test out her skill.
She couldn’t possibly use charm on her own older brother, could she?
Despite being called a charm skill, she felt it functioned more like a control-type ability.
A flash of purple zipped through Su Bai’s black pupils, hiding away beneath the surface.
It worked.
She had to admit that Xia Qing was quite bold.
After all, as a special police officer, Su Bai should have possessed unyielding willpower.
However, Xia Qing sensed that he held a favorable impression of her, so she capitalized on that affection, planting the seed of charm while his guard was down.
Because it was a Level 1 ability, the charm seed would only last for three days, meaning she would need to reinforce it after three days had passed.
Only by planting it consecutively three times could it be permanently secured.
“Miss Xia.”
This time, Su Bai’s tone carried a distinct trace of respect.
In her past life, Lin Yao merely used the charm skill to infect men, making them adore her and bend to her will.
Once successfully charmed, men would make endless demands, but the moment the three-day window expired, anyone with half a brain would quickly snap back to reality.
Still, she remembered traveling alongside Lin Yao for a brief stretch during this period. By the time they reached the Capital Base, Lin Yao had already charmed a high-ranking official there, prompting the official’s primary wife to launch a vicious public assault against her that became a massive scandal.
From Xia Qing’s perspective, Lin Yao had spent a year enjoying luxury inside the base while she spent a year fighting mutants on the outside.
Yet later, when the Capital Base was overrun by mutants and food became exceptionally scarce, Lin Yao had come crawling back to beg Xia Qing for help.
In the span of a single year, the entire world had been swallowed up by mutants, leaving humanity to survive by gasping for breath.
A Level 1 ability was the most fundamental tier; by absorbing just a single energy core of the same grade, one could elevate themselves to a Level 1 ability user.
However, subsequent upgrades required varying quantities of energy cores depending on the quality of the core and the classification of the ability.
Advancing to a Level 2 ability user might require double or even triple the amount.
In short, the higher you went, the harder the progression became!