“Big sister, what’s wrong?”
The boy’s voice snapped her back to reality.
Ji Chaoxi suddenly came to her senses and realized she had already bitten down on her finger hard enough to leave a deep, bloodless tooth mark.
Bai Xuan took out a bottle of medicine from his spatial storage and grabbed her hand in distress, hurriedly trying to apply it for her.
Ji Chaoxi recoiled as if electrocuted and quickly pulled her hand back.
“It’s fine. I don’t need medicine. It’ll heal soon.”
Feng Ruijie walked over upon hearing the commotion.
“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
Ji Chaoxi shook her head and said it was nothing. She quickly walked forward and used her ability to strangle a mutant beast that was charging toward them.
Feng Ruijie watched her back and asked,
“What’s wrong with her?”
Bai Xuan pressed his lips into a line, his tone cold.
“I don’t know.”
He then walked past Feng Ruijie and positioned himself not too far behind Ji Chaoxi.
Feng Ruijie frowned.
This kid’s gaze toward Ji Chaoxi was wrong.
Could it be that he had taken a liking to her?
Before the apocalypse, Ji Chaoxi had been wealthy.
Although her personality was not exactly gentle, she was rich and beautiful, and even her arrogance had become a kind of distinctive charm.
After the apocalypse, she had become more restrained.
With her awakened mutated wood ability, she became even more eye-catching.
If not for Ye Jiming suddenly appearing, he and Ji Chaoxi might already have been married.
Even in the apocalypse, having a wife with mutated wood-type abilities was enough to make any man stand straight with pride.
Even the upper leadership of the base would have looked at him differently.
Feng Ruijie’s hand slowly clenched into a fist.
A malicious gaze fell on Bai Xuan.
He was not part of their team—he was from the research institute, and the equipment they were escorting was stored in his space.
His identity was clearly not simple.
Ye Jiming was no longer here, and now another troublesome man, Bai Xuan, had appeared.
Enough.
Feng Ruijie’s thoughts darkened further.
Before the apocalypse, he had been poor and missed his chance with Ji Chaoxi.
After the apocalypse, there were still people trying to interfere between them.
The more he thought about it, the more unbearable it became.
His gaze shifted between Ji Chaoxi and Bai Xuan, and a plan slowly formed in his mind.
Once the mission item was delivered, whether Bai Xuan lived or died no longer mattered.
Being buried in the wilderness was the fate of ability users.
This time, no one would separate him from Ji Chaoxi.
He would rise to the top and become someone admired by all.
Throughout the morning, Ji Chaoxi mechanically slaughtered every mutant beast that charged at them.
Clean.
Ruthless.
Dai Qianning’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.
She elbowed Qi Ran.
“She’s really strong. I want her.”
Qi Ran glanced at her coolly and said four words.
“Fickle and capricious.”
Dai Qianning immediately hooked an arm around her shoulder.
“Not at all. You’ll always be number one in my heart, Xiao Ranran.”
The two of them—one fiery, one cold—leaned against each other in an oddly harmonious sight.
The rest of the team was used to it.
What was strange was Ji Chaoxi.
She had previously stayed at the back of the formation, but for the past two days she had been leading from the front, killing mutant beasts with full force.
She was like a silent machine.
Cold and quiet.
Even Feng Ruijie had tried several times to talk to her, but she always brushed him off with brief answers.
He felt this development was unfavorable for his plan, but since they were on a mission and outsiders were present, he could not find a chance to be alone with her and could only temporarily give up.
Until the fourth day of departure, just as they were about to reach their destination, an accident occurred.
Cao Yongjun, who was resting, suddenly changed expression.
“Bad news. A Mutant Beast Horde. Fast. Large numbers…”
Everyone’s faces changed instantly.
The ground began to tremble.
Dai Qianning asked calmly,
“Direction?”
Cao Yongjun’s face went pale.
“The direction of the beasts… is Yuzhou.”
Qi Ran frowned and looked at Dai Qianning.
Murong Zhuo said solemnly,
“Boss, what now? Do we continue to Yuzhou or retreat?”
Dai Qianning made a decision immediately.
“Old Cao, confirm direction. We’ll escape the beast horde range first, then decide.”
Cao Yongjun shook his head, terrified.
“No. There are too many of them.”
Dai Qianning decided at once.
“Go to Yuzhou. There’s a sonic interference device there and many ability users. We might still have a chance.”
No one objected.
They all rushed forward at full speed without hesitation.
Murong Zhuo used wind ability to support everyone.
“I can only maintain this for twenty minutes. The rest is up to you.”
“Got it,” Dai Qianning replied while running.
Ji Chaoxi suddenly felt her body lighten, her speed increasing dramatically.
Bai Xuan suddenly spoke.
“If I remove two people, can you last a few more minutes?”
Murong Zhuo frowned.
“Five minutes.”
“Good. Remove Sister Chaoxi and my abilities. I can use spatial ability to take her through short-distance teleportation.”
Before he finished speaking, Bai Xuan vanished.
The next instant, he appeared beside Ji Chaoxi.
Feng Ruijie’s expression changed.
“Chaoxi, don’t go with him!”
At the same time, Bai Xuan wrapped an arm around Ji Chaoxi’s waist and whispered in her ear,
“Close your eyes.”
At the edge of life and death, Ji Chaoxi had no time to refuse.
She closed her eyes.
In the next instant, she felt a brief sensation of weightlessness.
Feng Ruijie watched the spot where the two disappeared and gritted his teeth in anger.
There was no time to think.
Survival came first.
About a minute later, Bai Xuan’s voice sounded again in her ear.
“You can open your eyes now, big sister.”
Ji Chaoxi opened her eyes and discovered they were standing on a massive tree branch.
Dense forest surrounded them.
There was no sign of the others.
Bai Xuan seemed to know what she was thinking and spoke first.
“They’re about five kilometers behind us. They’ll catch up soon.”
Ji Chaoxi looked at him.
“You should rest for a bit. There are many trees here. I can use my ability to take us forward slowly.”
Bai Xuan gave a slightly weak smile.
“Alright. I’ll trouble you, big sister.”
Ji Chaoxi gestured, and a vine bound their movement together.
With one arm around the boy’s waist and the other gripping a vine, she pushed off and swung forward, landing nearly a hundred meters away on another thick branch.
They moved from tree to tree.
Occasionally encountering mutant beasts, they either evaded them or strangled them with vines.
The forest was rich with wood energy, so Ji Chaoxi barely expended much power.
However, she could not match Bai Xuan’s spatial speed.
Even so, they were still far ahead.
A few minutes later, the trees became sparse.
Ahead lay a towering mountain covered in bizarre, mutated vegetation.
Ji Chaoxi’s expression changed.
She pulled Bai Xuan back quickly.
The next moment, a jagged, saw-toothed plant emerged where they had just been.
Bai Xuan’s face also changed.
“Mutated vegetation?”
“Yes. The entire mountain is,” Ji Chaoxi replied.
She frowned and continued leaping through the forest.
She glanced at the boy’s slightly pale profile and almost asked if he had taken the wrong direction.
The boy seemed to realize it too.
His face turned even paler, his eyes reddened, and his voice trembled with guilt.
“I got the direction wrong… I caused trouble for you… I’m sorry…”
“Don’t cry. Let’s leave this area of mutated plants first—”
Ji Chaoxi suddenly stopped.
She looked back through the gaps in the leaves at the distant mountain, calm yet dangerous.
“Bai Xuan, do mutated plants and mutant beasts avoid each other? Can we survive in the gap between them?”