“Mom, wake up! Hurry and wake up! We can go find my dad now!”
The moment Ke Bei opened her eyes, that was the first thing she heard.
Before she could respond, she felt her leg suddenly grow lighter, the heavy stone pressing on it was lifted and tossed aside.
What followed was a piercing, bone-deep pain.
The intense agony jolted her fully awake. She raised her head and saw her son, Cheng Tian, smiling brightly at her.
For a brief moment, Ke Bei was dazed, how long had it been since she had seen her son smile like that?
Seeing that she was awake, Cheng Tian excitedly grabbed her arm. His face, smeared with soot and dust, was filled with joy.
He shouted, “Mom, we’re back! A Lie really sent us back!”
“Back…”
Ke Bei repeated the words in disbelief. Then, struggling, she pushed herself upright and began looking around.
Only then did she realize they were on a bridge spanning a river.
She was sitting on the pedestrian walkway near a bridge pier. The roadway beside her was packed with all kinds of vehicles.
But at this moment, the cars had all come to a stop. Many people were scrambling out, running as they shouted and screamed.
It was utter chaos.
At the same time, from not far away came the intermittent splashing sounds of stones plunging into the water.
“Xiao Tian, where are we? What’s going on?”
Ke Bei’s expression immediately turned wary.
She reached out, trying to grip the partially fractured bridge pier beside her, attempting to use it to pull herself to her feet.
But even that small movement made cold sweat break out across her forehead from the pain.
Ke Bei quickly lowered her head and only then noticed a wound on her lower leg, roughly twelve or thirteen centimeters long. It looked as though something sharp had slashed across it.
The cut wasn’t very wide, but it was deep. The flesh was split open on both sides, with dust and grit clinging to it.
Blood had already soaked half of her pant leg and seeped through the entire upper part of her shoe.
Her gaze fell on the chunk of rubble her son had tossed aside. When she saw the steel rebar protruding from the concrete, still smeared with blood, she instantly understood everything.
“Mom, don’t move!”
Seeing the blood flowing faster and more heavily from her leg, Cheng Tian hurried to steady her.
Only then did he explain, “We’re on a bridge right now, and it’s about to collapse.”
Before he could finish speaking, the ground suddenly began to shake violently around them.
With a sharp crack, the bridge pier Ke Bei had been holding onto, already fractured, snapped into several pieces, and the broken stones plunged straight into the river below.
She stumbled.
If Cheng Tian hadn’t held her firmly, she likely would have fallen along with them.
Ke Bei steadied herself and looked up. Not far ahead, the bridge deck, dozens of meters wide, had split open down the middle with a massive crack.
Accompanied by a bone-chilling cracking sound, the fissure grew wider and wider.
At the same time, countless thin cracks began spreading across the surrounding surface of the bridge.
More cracks appeared, stretching longer and longer…
Soon, a huge section of the bridge deck shattered apart just like that.
“It’s mutated plants!”
Ke Bei’s heart sank.
She hadn’t expected the plants to begin mutating so early.
And the energy they were releasing was already this immense!
“Run!”
Ke Bei grabbed her son and bolted in the opposite direction.
Behind them, with a heavy thud, a slab of the bridge, about four or five meters long, broke free and crashed straight down into the surging river below.
“Help! The bridge is collapsing!”
“A car fell in!”
“Oh my God!”
…
The bridge was collapsing so quickly that the cars stopped on it had no time to reverse out.
Several people standing beside their vehicles were still frozen in shock. Before they could even react, they fell into the river along with their cars.
Seeing this, more people, like Ke Bei and her son, began running desperately toward both ends of the bridge.
Panic-stricken, they fled without direction.
More cracks split across the bridge deck, and the bone-rattling sounds of snapping concrete echoed in everyone’s ears.
That chilling noise drove people into a frenzy. At that moment, there was only one thought in everyone’s mind—
Run!
Run with everything you’ve got!
Get away, now!
In such chaos, once someone fell, they might never get the chance to stand up again…
A trail of bloody footprints was left behind Ke Bei.
The heavy blood loss combined with the frantic running made her head spin. Waves of cold swept over her body, and her entire leg was losing strength.
Many people rushed past the mother and son. Even more pressed in from behind, shoving them forward as they ran.
But Ke Bei’s steps were growing slower and slower, which quickly provoked anger from those behind her.
Several people shoved past her, pushing so hard that she nearly fell multiple times.
“Mom, I’ll carry you!”
All along, Cheng Tian had been doing his best to support his mother with his small body.
Now, seeing that she truly could not go on, he hurried in front of her and gave her a firm hug.
At the same time, he used her body to shield himself from others’ view. He bent slightly, and his body suddenly stretched taller.
When he straightened again, the now-tall Cheng Tian lifted his mother in one motion, swung her onto his shoulder, and took off running.
Lying against her son’s back, Ke Bei closed her eyes helplessly.
She knew her little one had used his ability again.
And this was without any energy replenishment, already on the verge of exhaustion.
Cheng Tian was a strength-type physical evolver. When he activated his ability, not only did he gain immense strength, he could also alter his body size.
He was not yet six years old, and due to poor nutrition, his actual height was under 1.2 meters.
But when using his ability, he could increase his height to as much as 1.8 meters.
His strength was enough to overpower even a strong adult man.
But this ability had a major drawback: once the user’s physical energy began to wane, the evolver’s body would shrink along with it.
If the energy was completely exhausted, the evolver could even revert to the form they had when their ability first appeared.
When Cheng Tian’s ability was first activated, he had been only two years old, a tiny baby.
If he returned to that state, he wouldn’t even be able to defend himself, let alone harm anyone.
That was why Ke Bei never allowed him to use his ability casually without protection. It was far too dangerous.
And now, with her injured and her son overusing his ability, any sudden event could put them both in serious danger and at a disadvantage.
“Mom, it’s okay. We’ll find Dad soon. Dad… Dad will protect us.”
Cheng Tian seemed to sense his mother’s worry. As he ran, he tried to reassure her, his voice full of pride and joy.
Ke Bei, however, let out a silent sigh.
She dared not be so confident.
After all, at this moment, Cheng Qian didn’t even know her.
In the previous life, they hadn’t met yet at this point.
Fortunately, they weren’t too far from the riverbank, and with Cheng Tian’s strength fully exerted, they finally reached a safe area.
Behind them, the bridge collapsed in several more sections, sending huge splashes into the water and startling the crowd into a chorus of piercing screams.
People in times of peace rarely had the chance to experience such fear.
Everyone was so terrified that no one noticed the mother and son quietly slipping into a secluded spot.
Nor did anyone notice that the strong young boy who had been carrying his mother moments ago had instantly shrunk, now appearing as a two-year-old toddler.
Exhausted, Cheng Tian slumped weakly against his mother, unable to move.
His already worn and tattered clothes had been further stretched and torn by the sudden transformation, hanging in tatters from his small frame.
Fortunately, because of her rebirth, Ke Bei could once again use the space that had been sealed off in the research institute.
Their meager belongings were still inside, untouched and safe.
Ke Bei turned her back to the crowd, lifted her son, and pulled an old men’s jacket from the space to wrap him tightly.
This jacket had once belonged to her husband, Cheng Qian, before he went missing. It had been kept in her space for a full four years.
“Aiya, miss, how did your leg get hurt like this?! Don’t move! I’ll help you… a stretcher! Someone bring a stretcher!”
Just as Ke Bei finished wrapping her son and prepared to move, a young nurse came running up from behind.
She grabbed Ke Bei’s arm and then shouted toward the crowd.
The intersection had become chaotic.
Police cars, ambulances, everything was rushing over.
Doctors and nurses in white coats rushed through the crowd, carrying people who had been seriously injured in the stampede on stretchers.
Those with minor injuries helped each other and made their way on foot toward the temporary aid station.
The bleeding from Ke Bei’s leg had mostly slowed by now. She didn’t think much of it and was planning to just wrap it casually with some cloth.
She hadn’t expected someone to notice.
The nurse, however, clearly had a different plan.
While still trying to contact her colleagues, she carefully checked Ke Bei’s wound.
“Were you hit by something? This is such a serious injury, and you still managed to run out? Miss, you’re incredible!
This wound is huge, it needs stitches, and you’ll need a tetanus shot. We can’t risk infection…”
She made several calls, but her colleagues were all busy, and no one could come right away.
Ke Bei glanced at the nurse’s phone a couple of times and said, “No stretcher. I can walk over myself.”
The nurse hesitated, looking at her leg, and seemed to realize this was indeed the only option.
She sighed and reached to take Cheng Tian from Ke Bei’s arms. “Miss, I’ll hold your child. You can’t put any more strain on your leg.”
Cheng Tian stiffened, gripping his mother’s neck tightly. Ke Bei instinctively leaned slightly aside, her expression turning extremely sharp.
The young nurse’s hands fell empty.
Ke Bei realized she had overreacted.
She forced a small smile and spoke more gently: “Thank you, but I can hold him myself.”
The nurse didn’t seem offended. She even laughed lightly and poked Cheng Tian’s exposed forehead, teasing, “Already this big and still shy? Afraid I’ll carry you away? Look at that little messy face of yours, Auntie doesn’t want you!
Come on, get down. I’ll hold your hand and help you walk. Mommy’s leg is hurt, it really hurts. Be good, baby, don’t make Mommy feel worse.”
But Cheng Tian couldn’t move a step right now.
He simply squeezed his eyes shut, pretending not to hear.
Ke Bei forced another small smile and explained, “He’s too scared. I’ll carry him.”
The nurse sighed helplessly and said nothing further, instead supporting Ke Bei by her arm.
This time, Ke Bei didn’t refuse.
The aid station had been set up temporarily, consisting of just two simple tents.
Seriously injured people were, of course, sent directly to the hospital by ambulance. This area was mainly for treating minor injuries.
Among those here, Ke Bei’s wound was already considered severe, so the young nurse led her straight to the front.
A doctor examined her and frowned. “Send her to the hospital immediately! This injury is too serious to treat here. It needs a proper checkup, if a tendon is damaged and we miss it, the consequences could be terrible!”
“It’s not that bad. Just help me bandage it,” Ke Bei replied.
Although she wasn’t exactly sure what day it was, the mutated plants had already evolved to such a terrifying level. Ke Bei knew the apocalypse was imminent.
She had to find her husband immediately and explain the situation so the family could reunite.
She had no time to go to a hospital for such a “minor” wound.
The doctor, however, looked utterly disapproving.
He reached out to tug at Ke Bei’s pant leg. “Minor? Look at this! How much blood have you lost? Your shoes are soaked! And you carried a child all this way, don’t you feel any pain?!”
Eight years of surviving the apocalypse had ingrained vigilance and caution deep into Ke Bei’s bones.
Being pulled at like that made her so uncomfortable that every hair on her body stood on end.
She said nothing. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the nearby medical cart and poured it directly onto her injured leg.