The kitchen was bustling with activity.
It was as though Cen Wu and Cen Yuxing had awakened some sort of workhorse gene. Not only had they sorted every vegetable that had been stored in the kitchen, but they had also divided the work efficiently, washing everything spotless and chopping every ingredient into neat, uniform pieces.
By the time Xie Yuanchuan discovered what they had done, it was already too late.
Wearing an indescribable smile, he looked at the two clueless children who had turned the kitchen into a complete disaster.
“Have either of you ever heard of bamboo shoots stir-fried with pork?”
Cen Wu perked up her ears.
“It sounds delicious.”
Cen Yuxing nodded.
“Is Dad making it for us?”
Xie Yuanchuan was utterly defeated.
Without the slightest mercy, he chased both of them out of the kitchen.
Originally, he could have finished preparing dinner in just an hour.
After “hiring” these two helpers, he now had to spend another half hour storing all the processed ingredients and cleaning up the water and vegetable scraps they had left all over the kitchen.
Using child labor really was illegal.
Xie Yuanchuan felt he had already received his punishment.
During dinner, Cen Wu and Cen Yuxing voluntarily confessed everything they had done that day.
They weren’t worried that Mom and Dad would get angry.
What they couldn’t figure out was whether Big Sister would punish them.
Cen Wu shoveled mouthful after mouthful of food into her mouth, determined to become a well-fed ghost if punishment really was coming.
Seeing her wolfing down her food, Cen Yuxing thoughtfully poured her a glass of water.
“So people from Base No. 9 are somehow more important than people from Base No. 18?”
Cen Jiao let out a cold sneer.
Cen Yi slammed the table angrily.
“They dared bully my children? That father and daughter pair must be tired of living!”
In her mind, she had already imagined a hundred different ways for Lu Han to die.
With a single glance, Cen Jiao saw right through her mother’s thoughts and stopped her.
“Not yet. At the very least, he can’t die inside Base No. 18. But once he leaves the base, whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with us. The world outside is chaotic enough already.”
Cen Yi instantly understood.
She raised a thumbs-up.
Cen Jiao took three communicators out of her briefcase and handed them to Xie Yuanchuan.
“Modify these before giving them to the children.”
“I get to have one too?”
Standing on tiptoe, Cen Wu’s eyes sparkled.
In her previous life, she had only ever used a wristband.
Its functions had been limited to positioning, voice communication, and payments.
Moreover, it only worked within the boundaries of the base. Once outside, it required a signal transmitter to function.
A communicator was completely different.
It was essentially a smartphone.
It offered a wealth of functions, could connect to the internet, communicate with people from every base, and browse online forums.
In her previous life, she had watched enviously as her scumbag father, scumbag brother, and Lu You each had one.
It was almost as if they had planned it beforehand.
They would always look at their communicators, chat with one another, and then smile knowingly.
Cen Wu had never known what they were laughing about.
Nor had they ever allowed her to join them.
Cen Jiao paused before adding,
“Don’t forget to install the anti-addiction program for minors.”
She felt that Cen Wu looked like the type who would easily become addicted to the internet.
As it turned out…
Cen Jiao judged people frighteningly accurately.
The moment Cen Wu received her communicator, she couldn’t wait to start playing with it.
She intended to make up for everything she had missed in her previous life.
She immediately registered an account on the Apocalypse Forum.
Username: [When Fists Speak]
[When Fists Speak]: Newbie reporting in! Please take care of me, everyone!
She posted her very first thread and eagerly waited for replies from other users.
Unfortunately, the newcomer post quickly sank to the bottom of the forum without attracting a single response.
Although Cen Wu felt somewhat disappointed, it didn’t stop her from continuing to browse the apocalypse forums.
Post Title: Got Bitten by a Komodo Dragon. Can I Still Survive?
[CheeseBurger]: One shot of Regeneration Factor. Wipe out the virus and become your old self again!
[XiaoxiaoHatesCilantro]: Komodo dragons are venomous too? Bring it back for research. You can exchange it for a huge amount of points.
[FoundTrueLoveWhileFeedingChickensInTheRain]: Another Komodo dragon? Someone in our base got bitten too. They didn’t even last a full day.
[EvenCoveredInShitStillWantsToStirIt]: Rest in peace, OP.
Cen Wu knew about Komodo dragons.
They were enormous lizards capable of hunting wild boars and buffaloes, and they even fed on carrion.
Most people believed their prey died from bacterial infections caused by the bacteria in their mouths.
In reality, Komodo dragons possessed venom glands.
The venom they injected into their prey destroyed the body’s blood-clotting system, eventually causing the victim to bleed to death.
If the original poster had truly been bitten by one and failed to receive a Regeneration Factor injection in time, they would most likely meet the same fate.
Cen Wu mentally counted the Regeneration Factors she still had.
Six remained.
However, she had no intention of selling any more.
Even with a miracle doctor like Xie Yuanchuan at home, help from far away could never put out a fire right in front of someone.
If Komodo dragons had begun appearing, there certainly wouldn’t be just one.
They were scheduled to leave the city for resource gathering tomorrow.
Cen Wu decided to bring two vials with her.
Just as she was about to continue browsing, a notification suddenly popped up and completely filled the communicator’s screen.
【Children need sufficient rest. The communicator cannot be used between 22:00 and 06:00 each day unless a guardian enters the password to continue.】
Cen Wu stared at the message in disbelief and read it aloud twice.
She climbed out of bed, put on her slippers, and opened the bedroom door.
Outside, Cen Yuxing was already standing in front of the master bedroom, holding his communicator.
The siblings exchanged a glance.
Both of them had come for the same reason.
“Dad! Give us the password!”
“Dad! Just one more hour! Half an hour is fine too!”
Inside the room, Xie Yuanchuan calmly put on a pair of earplugs and wrapped his arms around his wife as they drifted off to sleep.
Good night, children.
You’ll find everything you want in your dreams.
…
The next morning, they arrived at the academy.
Teacher Jun had already posted the group assignments on the wall.
This excursion outside the city would focus primarily on exploration.
Each team would consist of one Enhancement-Type combat ability user paired with one support-type ability user.
Since Cen Wu’s enhancement specialized in strength while Chu Yueyue enhanced skin hardness, the two of them were naturally assigned to different teams.
Likewise, Cen Yuxing’s Mental-Type ability belonged to the offensive category, so he was also placed separately from Cen Wu.
Remembering Big Sister’s instructions from the previous night, neither of them used their family influence to change the assignments.
Instead, they obediently accepted the academy’s arrangements.
The two classes, totaling sixty students, were divided among three buses.
Cen Wu boarded early and quietly waited for her unknown teammate.
By the time everyone had almost arrived, she had begun to feel sleepy.
Looking out through the window at the dense fog, she narrowed her eyes.
She had a lingering feeling that something extremely dangerous was lurking within it.
Before leaving home that morning, she had prepared three filter masks.
She gave one to Cen Yuxing and another to Chu Yueyue.
Chu Yueyue looked deeply touched.
“Waaah… Little Wu, you’re so good to me.”
Cen Wu pushed his oversized forehead away with one hand.
“Who’s your teammate?”
Chu Yueyue froze for a moment before answering through gritted teeth,
“Zhao Zhao.”
Cen Wu burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha… Then you’re really unlucky.”
Just then, Teacher Jun stepped onto the bus and walked over to Cen Wu.
“Cen Wu, your assigned teammate asked for leave today. So I’ve paired you with another student whose teammate also took leave.”
A bad feeling immediately crept into Cen Wu’s heart.
The next second, Lu You stepped out from behind Teacher Jun with a flawless smile.
“We meet again, Cen Wu.”
Chu Yueyue looked back and forth between the two of them.
He couldn’t hold it in.
He simply couldn’t.
“Pfft… Hahaha! What terrible fate!”
Only then did Cen Wu realize.
The unlucky one was actually herself.
Lu You gently tugged at the hem of her skirt, lowered her head, and bit her lip.
Her face was filled with innocent vulnerability.
“Cen Wu, do you really dislike me that much? I’ll go ask the principal if I can form a team by myself. Even though I’m scared of being alone… I don’t want you to be unhappy.”
Her voice became softer and softer.
So soft that it seemed as though she was afraid of being overheard…
Yet it was still loud enough for every single person around them to hear.
Teacher Jun shot Cen Wu a disapproving look.
Cen Wu had already seen tricks like this when she was a child.
Unfortunately for Lu You…
She was no longer a child.
“Of course not.”
She smiled brightly.
“You’re my world’s second least favorite person.”