Was the apocalypse frightening? Without a doubt. An age plagued by natural disasters was terrifying. Worse still, humanity had to face not only one catastrophe after another, but mutated plants and animals as well. Survival was brutal.
Between the disasters and the battles, nearly two-thirds of Earth’s population had disappeared. Just as the movements of the Earth’s crust began to ease, the little ice age arrived.
The bitterly cold little ice age was hard enough to endure on its own. Many people froze to death every day, and the Earth’s crust had not stopped shifting completely. The disasters never let up.
In the early days of the apocalypse, the authorities had established many large settlements. Sadly, not one had survived. No matter how sturdy a building was, it couldn’t withstand the Earth’s destructive movements.
The worst part was that there was no pattern to them. An earthquake could strike somewhere that had been tested and found to be outside an earthquake zone. A volcano could suddenly erupt from underground where there was no crater. Scientific methods were useless.
Fortunately, ability users kept appearing after the apocalypse. The rare ability users who could predict disasters, and the equally scarce ones with perception abilities, helped the survivors escape disaster time and again, keeping humanity’s spark alive.
Starting in the fifth year of the apocalypse, disasters gradually became less frequent and eventually settled into a more stable pattern. Only then could the people who had struggled to survive finally breathe a little easier. Fixed settlements of all sizes began to spring up.
Anyone who had made it this far was no weakling. Nearly all were ability users, though some abilities weren’t suited to combat, like plant-type abilities.
Plant-type ability users had little fighting power to begin with, but without them, far fewer people would have survived. Food was essential to staying alive.
Although the world’s remaining population was less than one percent of what it had been before the apocalypse, under normal circumstances, Earth’s supplies would have been enough to last the survivors for many years.
But only if they could find them. Most goods had been destroyed in the disasters or buried deep underground. Very little could still be recovered and used.
More than six years had passed since the apocalypse began. Much of the food had expired and was no longer safe to eat, unless you didn’t mind risking your life. And now, in the little ice age, everything was frozen over. Without plant-type ability users, who knew how many people would starve?
It wasn’t as if plant-type ability users alone could solve the problem. In the early days, their abilities were weak. Without a suitable environment, they could grow only enough food to feed themselves.
Not long after the little ice age began, ability users of different types started working together. Metal-types built mobile greenhouses, earth-types turned the soil, and water-types watered the crops. Fire-types and lightning-types provided heat.
Among the survivors, the five basic types of ability users were the most numerous. Lightning-types were a little less common, but not by much. So even before the settlements became stable, the mobile bases rarely ran short of food.
Apart from prophecy abilities, the rarest type was the spatial type. Spatial ability users were treasured above all others, and protecting them during migrations was a top priority.
Shen Yu received that kind of treatment. For years, while everyone else lived an unstable life, he had been kept under close protection. And with his unusual abilities on top of that, it was no exaggeration to say he had soft, pampered skin.
When their group entered Changfeng Base, he was the one who drew the most attention. He was handsome and fair to begin with, and his rich young master air set him apart from everyone else.
Shen Yu wasn’t afraid of being stared at, so he made no effort to hide his face. He could protect himself, for one thing, and the people escorting him were all formidable. Most people took one look at them and steered clear.
Clothing was the easiest way to gauge an ability user’s strength. There were more than a dozen people in their group. Aside from Shen Yu, every one of them wore only a light layer, a clear sign of how powerful they were.
There was another easy way to tell someone’s level. In the little ice age, seeing your breath turn to frost was perfectly normal. Only ability users who had reached level three could form a unique defensive field that kept the frost from covering their faces.
They were all dressed well, too, in matching camouflage uniforms and apocalypse-era military boots. It was obvious their base was well supplied. Other bases might not have matching uniforms, but their clothes certainly weren’t this new.
Shen Yu’s outfit was naturally different from everyone else’s. He wore casual clothes under a yellow work jacket, with black snow boots on his feet. He stood out at a glance.
He was handsome, well-proportioned, and dressed in a way that made him stand out. Add in his air of sophistication, and he was unquestionably the most striking young man outside the base. Whether he was the most striking inside the base was anyone’s guess.
The main reason they had come to Changfeng Base was to trade for salt. Their base had plenty of vegetables and grain, and even enough meat, but their salt was running low. They had heard Changfeng had just received a shipment, so they’d hurried over.
The north didn’t produce salt, and their Chenggong Base wasn’t the only one running short. All the nearby bases, large and small, were in the same situation. Apart from Zhenlong Base, almost every base that had heard from Changfeng had come to trade for salt.
Even if Shen Yu had worn a mask and hat and dressed like everyone else, their group would still have stood out. The other teams might have been small, but the vehicles they drove were huge. Each team had at least a snow-going cargo truck.
Salt wasn’t cheap, and these days people bartered for everything. Without a vehicle, there was no way to haul goods in exchange for salt. When supplies were plentiful, no one would trade crystal cores for it. Crystal cores were a lifeline, something you spent only when you had to.
Other teams were unloading their goods in armloads and bundles. Shen Yu’s group was different. After leaving their snow-going bus in storage, they each took a backpack and headed into the base.
The bus had only just fit everyone in their group. There was clearly no room for cargo, which was why they would have stood out even if Shen Yu himself hadn’t.
“A spatial ability user. Their team definitely has one. No wonder they’re so relaxed.”
“Which base are they from? They’re incredible, they actually have a spatial ability user. I heard Changfeng was only able to bring back this shipment of salt because they have one.”
“Don’t make such a fuss. Changfeng isn’t the only base around here with a spatial ability user. The one at Chenggong Base is even more famous. I hear he has a dual-type ability.”
Shen Yu heard the whole exchange as he walked. Was he famous? Probably. As for having a dual-type ability, that was a misunderstanding. His ability was simply unusual: mental power and spatial storage.
He could hear almost anything within a three-kilometer radius if he wanted to, no matter how quiet the voice. He was also exceptionally sensitive to danger.
Since they had just arrived somewhere new, he had released his mental power and listened in on the people around him. Once he’d confirmed no one was plotting against them, he was about to draw it back in.
“Host, host! That cannon fodder with spatial storage just entered the base. We can make our move now.” Before Shen Yu could retract his mental power, he heard someone say this.
Shen Yu had read web novels before the apocalypse, so he knew exactly what the words host and cannon fodder meant. The person with spatial storage who had just entered the base could only be him. He immediately pinpointed the source of the voice.
But before he could get a clear look at the host, a flash of light shot toward him. His first instinct was to fight back, and he tried to block it on reflex, but the attack still struck him. There was a boom, and his head felt as if it had exploded.
“Brother Shen, what’s wrong?” Shi Lin, who had been guarding him closely, noticed at once and swiftly caught Shen Yu as he collapsed.
Shen Yu couldn’t answer. The vice-captain exploded in anger. “Where are Changfeng’s guards? Someone attacked us!” He wasn’t the only one who thought so. Everyone watching came to the same conclusion.
Shen Yu was widely believed to have a perception ability, and he could usually sense ordinary dangers. They hadn’t brought a mental-power ability user this time, so they could only call on Changfeng Base. It was Changfeng’s responsibility, after all.
Changfeng’s defense team reacted quickly and soon arrived. It didn’t take them long to spot something amiss, either. “We found the attacker.” It was a young man with a rather frail build.
The man was in worse shape than Shen Yu. Blood ran from all seven openings, and he was already dead. The guard captain looked grim. He knew the man. “Take him away.”
The attacker was dead, but the people from Chenggong Base had no intention of letting the matter drop. “What does Changfeng Base mean by this? Why did you attack our spatial ability user? Are you trying to start a war?”
The guard captain wasn’t stupid. “He isn’t from our base. We were already trying to arrest him.” That wasn’t a lie. Officially, the man had no connection to their base, and he had indeed committed a crime.
“What are you arguing for? Hurry up and find a healer!” Shi Lin snapped. Brother Shen had passed out. What was the point of arguing now?
“Come with me. I’ll take you to a healer.” Changfeng Base did respond, at least. Shen Yu had been hurt on their turf. They couldn’t just ignore it.
Shi Lin picked Shen Yu up and went straight with the people from Changfeng. The others had no choice but to follow. Before long, they reached Changfeng Base’s clinic.
Changfeng Base had several healers, and their fees weren’t too high. The clinic had been notified in advance, so the healers didn’t bring up payment. They went straight to examining him.
“There’s a mental-power barrier around the patient. I can’t examine him. You’d better ask Dr. Feng to come,” one of the healers suggested.
The guard captain looked unhappy. Shen Yu had been hurt on their turf, so they couldn’t refuse to take responsibility. He handed someone behind him a level-one crystal core. “Go get Dr. Feng.” The bloodsucker was going to bleed them dry again.
After Dr. Feng was teleported over, the guard captain reluctantly dug out another crystal core. “Dr. Feng, the patient is a spatial ability user. Please do everything you can.” The man charged a fortune. It hurt just thinking about it.
Dr. Feng was a skilled healer, but he didn’t belong to their base and didn’t go easy on its people. He charged a fixed price for his services, and there was no room for favors.
Feng Qing took the crystal core and immediately examined Shen Yu. He used mental power to heal. His mental power wasn’t especially strong, but it was unique: he could merge it with someone else’s.
But this time, he met resistance. He promptly withdrew his mental power. “The patient’s mental power is unusual. Bring me a level-three crystal core, or I can’t treat him.” As he spoke, he absorbed the crystal core he’d just received.
Feng Qing’s healing ability was powerful, but it had a drawback. Other people could recover naturally after using their mental power. He could only replenish his by absorbing crystal cores. Charging crystal cores for treatment wasn’t price gouging.
The examination required a crystal core, and treatment cost extra. The worse the injury, the more crystal cores it took. In other words, the basic fee was one level-one crystal core, with the rest depending on the treatment.
The guard captain’s expression changed. This really stung. “I’ll go get a crystal core.” If the injured man hadn’t been a spatial ability user, he would have simply washed his hands of the matter.
Everyone knew how precious spatial ability users were. If Chenggong Base’s spatial ability user died in their base, the loss would amount to a lot more than a few crystal cores.
The guard captain had a speed ability and was incredibly fast. He was back within minutes. He’d gotten the crystal core from their commander. He didn’t have a level-three one himself.
Feng Qing checked the crystal core and, once he was satisfied, began treatment. This time, the barrier was gone. Once he started healing, he was a tremendous help to Shen Yu.