Xia Qing sternly retorted, “Then big brother, you also risked your life to come to Jiangcheng University to rescue us, didn’t you?”
When the mutant outbreak hit Jiangcheng University, everyone who could run had already fled.
Xia Qing could have left on her own, but Lin Yao had fallen sick with a fever, trapping Xia Qing in the apartment to take care of her for several days, which ultimately delayed their chance to escape with the main convoy.
Xia Ran looked surprised: “Weren’t you and Lin Yao always close?”
That was the old Xia Qing; being cousins, they naturally appeared close on the surface, but the true nature of relationships couldn’t usually be seen in peaceful times.
Because people knew how to put on a mask.
Only when crisis struck could a person’s true reactions not be faked, and even the most well-rehearsed facade would inevitably reveal flaws.
With the mutant outbreak just beginning, human morality and social habits had not yet completely collapsed.
Xia Qing was also fulfilling their mother’s dying wish to ensure her sister returned safely to the base.
Except this time, she had long since discarded her own cell phone ahead of time.
That phone call couldn’t get through either.
Any ability, once elevated to its absolute peak, could allow even a blade of grass to thrive anywhere.
Wildfires cannot burn it all away; the spring breeze blows and brings it back to life.
Depending on an individual’s physical constitution, capabilities, and innate talents, the direction of an ability’s evolution would vary greatly.
Two people could absorb energy cores simultaneously and awaken the speed-type ability at the exact same time.
Yet, a gap in strength would still exist between them.
This was determined by individual physical constitution—in other words, innate potential.
Xia Qing’s innate baseline was simply superior to Lin Yao’s.
Because she hadn’t lived the sheltered life of a pampered young miss; she had worked hard jobs and pushed her body through rigorous training.
Xia Qing said calmly, “Brother, that was the past. Right now, you are my only brother, and she already has someone better to protect her.”
“Our priority is returning to North City safely.”
Deep down, Xia Ran felt that Xia Qing seemed somewhat different now, but figuring it was likely due to the profound trauma of these major events, he didn’t dwell on it further.
Xia Ran: “Alright.”
As the captain of the special police squad—though the casualties had been so severe that only he and Su Bai remained out of the entire unit—he bore heavy responsibilities.
The main convoy had already begun moving out.
Su Bai drove, while Xia Ran sat in the front passenger seat.
At that moment, two soldiers approached, escorting a couple behind them.
To make matters worse, the couple had a seven- or eight-year-old child in tow.
Rolling down the car window, a soldier gave them a crisp salute.
“The vehicles ahead are simply too crowded and can’t take anyone else. There’s still some space in the back of your car, so we’re temporarily placing them here.”
Xia Ran was in no position to refuse.
“Understood.”
And just like that, their car gained a family of three squeezed into the back seat, along with the plump, chubby little boy taking up extra room.
The back seat was originally designed for two passengers; fitting three was already a tight squeeze, and now four people were crammed in together.
Xia Qing was wedged so tightly she couldn’t even separate her legs.
To make matters worse, the convoy’s speed crawled down to a sluggish twenty-some miles per hour.
Driving all morning, they had covered less than a fifth of the total distance.
“Mommy, I need to pee.”
With the convoy actively moving forward, no one dared to risk falling behind.
“There’s an empty plastic bottle here, just go ahead and pee in that.”
“…”
Peeing in a bottle was one thing, but soon enough, even the grown man demanded to relieve himself inside the vehicle.
Xia Ran frowned slightly: “Su Bai, pull over to the side.”
“Do us a favor and get out of the car to do your business.”
The man frowned, looking deeply dissatisfied: “No way! What if we lose the main convoy? Running into a mutant out there is way too dangerous, especially since we’re already the very last car trailing at the back.”
Xia Ran said in an icy tone: “Aside from your wife, there are other women sitting right here in this car. Hurry up and get out—do it fast, and we’ll still be able to catch up with the convoy.”
Frowning unhappily, the man glanced at Xia Qing—who sat inside with her fair, flawless skin and stunning beauty—before hastily scurrying out of the car.
Just a short while ago, people still maintained a shred of basic etiquette, but all of that vanished the moment a life-or-death crisis loomed.
Everyone was terrified of being left behind, or worse, having a mutant ambush them while they stepped out to pee.
Xia Qing wore an expression of complete indifference.
Noticing how uncomfortable Xia Qing looked, Su Bai offered, “Miss Xia, do you know how to drive? Would you like to take the wheel while I sit in the back?”
Xia Ran felt a flicker of surprise, never expecting Su Bai to show such attentive concern for his younger sister.
Only Xia Qing knew the truth: this was the direct result of her charm skill. To the affected individual, she became the absolute center of focus, drawing their complete consideration, devotion, and adoration…
And this was merely the baseline stage.
“Alright.”
Xia Qing had no intention of turning down a comfortable arrangement, especially since staying in the back seat was unbearably cramped, not to mention how annoying the chubby little boy was.
By the time the man returned, he was stunned to find that the pretty girl from the back seat was now comfortably seated in the front passenger chair.
Xia Ran drove onward.
For the moment, the road remained relatively safe, but Xia Qing knew that mutants would soon start appearing…
Those memories felt chaotic; after all, they weren’t originally hers, resembling vivid, déjà-vu-like dreams more than actual recollections.
Meanwhile, sitting inside the armored vehicle, Lin Yao felt a wave of profound weakness wash over her, accompanied by a chilling cold sweat and dizziness from low blood sugar.
Qiao Sheng glanced at her: “What did you do? You’ve completely over-exhausted your energy and passed out.”
Lin Yao clenched her teeth. She had stored a massive mountain of supplies from the supermarket inside her space, only to discover that retrieving items consumed far more energy than storing them!
Withdrawing items required twice the energy of taking them in.
Could it be that Xia Qing experienced the exact same thing in their past life?
No, impossible. She remembered that the first time Xia Qing ever retrieved items, she had done so with effortless ease.
Why did pulling out a few packs of instant noodles leave her so severely drained?
Qiao Sheng explained: “Your body’s caloric reserves are far too low. Even if you possess an ability, you can’t abuse it beyond your limits.”
“An average adult weighing around one hundred pounds has a baseline caloric storage of at least 176,400 kilocalories.”
“I just tested yours—you only weigh eighty-eight pounds, and your total thermal reserve is barely 13,000 kilocalories.”
“At this rate, overusing your ability will cause dizziness and chills at best, or cause you to pass out cold at worst. If a mutants attacks while you’re like this, your life is as good as gone.”
Stunned into silence, Lin Yao listened to Qiao Sheng’s explanation.
She had completely forgotten these crucial details about ability mechanics.
The sheer excitement of awakening spatial storage had blinded her to everything else!
Xia Qing weighed 110 pounds; her caloric reserves were undoubtedly much higher than Lin Yao’s, meaning the number of times she could deploy her skills each day would naturally surpass Lin Yao’s as well.
In this new world order, everyone would soon be desperately searching for ways to boost their physical caloric capacity—the foundational metric of personal energy.
Through physical fitness training, muscle building, and rigorous physical conditioning, one could store higher levels of energy.
Thinking back to the items Xia Qing had forced her to hand over, a wave of bitter hatred toward Xia Qing surged through Lin Yao’s chest.
It’s all her fault!
If Xia Qing hadn’t demanded those supplies, she wouldn’t have depleted her energy to the point of fainting.
Wait… no!
If that was the case, then Xia Qing’s awakened charm skill must be far stronger than her own had been in their previous life.
A sudden thought flashed through Lin Yao’s mind, compounded by Xia Qing’s bizarrely anomalous behavior earlier.
That chilling, indifferent gaze.
Could Xia Qing be just like her? Reborn? Even if she was reborn, she shouldn’t be treating me with this kind of hostile attitude.
Unless……
She figured it out!
No, no way!
Lin Yao remembered that in their past life, Xia Qing had died much earlier—she couldn’t possibly have known.
That bullet in her back—I was the one who fired it!
Anyway, since she wasn’t going to make it out alive either way, she had simply wanted someone to accompany her into death.
She had merely been terrified of dying.
Yet that initial, fateful choice had ultimately become the obsession that tortured her soul.
Qiao Sheng added, “If you need to build up your energy, you’ll need to train your body, exercise regularly, and properly replenish your nutrition.”