Lin Xi was awakened by the sound of cicadas.
Sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains, drawing a thin golden line across the foot of the bed. The first thing she did when she opened her eyes was reach beneath her pillow.
The jade pendant was still there, cool against her skin. Its surface rested against her palm, giving her a solid, reassuring sense of weight.
She breathed a sigh of relief, and her body relaxed with it. Clutching the jade pendant tightly, she closed her eyes and let her consciousness sink into the storage space.
The spiritual spring was still there. She crouched down, scooped up a handful of water, and drank it, feeling warmth spread from her chest throughout her body.
When she opened her eyes again, Lin Xi slowly sat upright and tucked the jade pendant securely against her body.
Her phone screen lit up briefly. It was 7:20 a.m., and there were no new messages. The downstairs was quiet. Lin Yu had drunk quite a lot the previous night, so she was definitely still asleep at this hour.
Her stepmother would not get up before noon. Her biological father was not even home. After the banquet ended the previous night, he had changed his clothes and gone out, probably to one of his mistresses’ homes.
Lin Xi did not care. She pulled the blanket up around herself, leaving only her face exposed. Staring at the ceiling, she blinked twice, her eyelashes fluttering as she practiced an innocent expression.
Then she sat up and opened her phone.
She needed money, a lot of money.
In her previous life, during her third year locked in the basement, Lin Yu had gotten drunk one day and sat outside the cage, laughing as she said, “Do you know how much money your mother left you? Property, shares, cash, enough for you to spend for several lifetimes. Too bad, Dad transferred it all away long ago, so you won’t get a single cent.”
She had spoken as though she were telling a funny joke.
Lin Xi remembered every word.
She opened her mobile banking app and logged into the account her mother had opened for her while she was still alive.
The password was her mother’s birthday. The balance was enormous, far more than she had imagined. This was what her mother had left for her. Lin Xi stared at the number, and her eyes suddenly grew hot.
She pressed her lips together and forced back her tears. When she opened her eyes again, her expression was emotionless as she exited the banking app and opened a shopping app.
Food came first. Water was also important. Medicine was essential as well. Then there were clothes, blankets, tents, sleeping bags, flashlights, batteries, lighters, multi-purpose knives, and climbing ropes.
She entered the suburban villa her mother had left her as the delivery address. The house had been empty for eight years. It was in a remote location with few neighbors nearby, so no one would pay attention to the piles of packages accumulating there.
When she was about to place the orders, her fingers paused.
Hundreds of items filled the screen, and the total was substantial. She thought of her mother. Before she died, had her mother saved all this money because she somehow knew this day would come?
She tapped “Checkout All.”
After that, she went to the villa every day to collect her deliveries. The deliveryman already knew her, and whenever he saw her, he would greet her with a smile.
“Another few dozen packages today.”
She shrank her shoulders and gave him a timid smile, speaking softly. “I’m moving, so I have a lot of things.”
The deliveryman did not think much of it. He unloaded the entire cart of boxes and left.
Lin Xi carried everything inside by herself, moving the boxes from the entrance to the living room before storing them in the storage space. She moved slowly, taking small steps like a hamster carrying nuts.
The supplies inside the storage space continued to pile up. Compressed biscuits formed a small mountain, bottled water covered an entire wall, and medicine was arranged neatly on the shelves. Every time she finished storing everything, she would crouch inside the space for a while.
Seeing all those supplies stacked neatly made her feel a little more secure.
For the first ten days, she drank spiritual spring water, practiced her supernatural ability, and moved supplies every day. Her days repeated themselves like a copied-and-pasted routine. On the tenth night, she could not sleep, so she lay in bed scrolling through every meteorite-related news report on her phone from beginning to end. Each time she read another article, she repeated silently in her heart, “It’s almost time.”
On the twelfth day, the spiritual spring water began to take effect.
That morning, after drinking the water, she felt the warmth in her chest become much stronger than usual. She put her hand into the sink, turned on the faucet, and stared at the stream of water.
With a thought, the stream shifted slightly.
It was extremely subtle.
Lin Xi stared blankly at the stream of water that had deviated from its original path for several seconds. Then she withdrew her hand and hugged her shoulders.
“Don’t be afraid,” she whispered to herself. “It’s just your supernatural ability awakening. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
After saying it, she found it almost amusing. She was no longer even afraid of death, so why should she be afraid of this?
She turned off the faucet, dried her hands, and stood in front of the mirror. The person reflected in it had a pale complexion, round eyes, and lips unconsciously pressed together, making her look somewhat nervous and frightened.
Good. This was exactly the look she wanted.
She practiced a surprised expression in front of the mirror, widening her eyes slightly and parting her lips as she let out a very soft, “Ah.”
She had mastered it.
From then on, she drank spiritual spring water and practiced her supernatural ability every day.
She practiced making water droplets float, making streams change direction, and splitting water columns, repeating each exercise over and over. Whenever she failed, she would bite her lip and reveal a slightly aggrieved expression.
Whenever she succeeded, she would softly hum, “Mm,” her eyes curving slightly before she immediately composed herself again.
One day, another water droplet fell. Lin Xi stared at the puddle on the floor before suddenly raising her hand and lightly slapping herself across the face.
It did not hurt.
She had been too gentle.
She slapped herself harder. Her face turned to the side, and the taste of iron spread through her mouth.
“Too weak.”
She stared at herself in the mirror, her voice as calm as though she were simply stating the weather.
“You’re too weak. You can’t do anything. You couldn’t do it in your previous life, and you still can’t do it in this life.”
Then she took a deep breath and began condensing the water droplet again.
On the fifteenth day, she remembered something Lin Yu had said: water-type abilities could evolve into ice blades, which had powerful cutting ability.
She closed her eyes.
An image flashed through her mind. Ten Zombie Kings surrounded a lone figure. That person swung out a wind blade, one, two, three. When it reached the seventh, there was nothing behind her.
She opened her eyes and continued practicing.