“What mutation? Explain yourself clearly.”
Seeing that Ke Bei pressed her lips together without speaking, he gave a wry smile.
Rarely, he softened his voice and added, “What you said… at least give me some time to process it, right?”
After saying that, he didn’t wait for her reply and directly took the little boy from her arms.
With the earlier experience, he was more natural this time when holding Cheng Tian.
He laid the child on the bed, gazing at the soft, tender little face while recalling what Ke Bei had just said.
Thinking about her words, that this was his son…
Cheng Qian couldn’t help but feel deeply stirred.
He gently stroked the child’s cheek, his eyes filled with a tenderness he himself did not notice.
After settling the boy, he pointed to the chair beside the bed. “Sit down and tell me. What mutation? And how did you come back? Also, what exactly do you mean by the apocalypse?”
His sudden change in attitude filled Ke Bei with surprise and relief, and her tightly strung nerves finally eased a little.
Then an overwhelming wave of exhaustion and weakness swept over her.
Her head spun; she swayed uncontrollably and nearly collapsed.
Ke Bei quickly grabbed the doorframe and squeezed her eyes shut.
Cheng Qian was startled.
He hurried over and only then noticed how pale her lips were, how fine beads of sweat covered her forehead.
He reached out to steady her.
Even through her clothes, he could feel the chill of her body beneath his hands on her shoulders.
Cheng Qian glanced again at her injured leg and saw that the freshly wrapped gauze was already faintly stained with red.
“What happened to your leg? What kind of injury is it?” His voice turned stern.
“I’m fine.” Ke Bei clenched her fist and lightly knocked it against the top of her head, trying to force herself to stay awake.
Then she pushed Cheng Qian aside, walked to the chair, and sat down. “Now isn’t the time to talk about that.”
At this point, she tilted her head up and looked at her husband solemnly. “Cheng Qian, the apocalypse is about to arrive, or rather, it’s already begun.”
Cheng Qian did not interrupt.
He looked back at her seriously, signaling for her to continue.
“I’m not sure of the exact date it truly began. Even though I experienced it once in my previous life, at that time I was just a sophomore at Su City Academy of Fine Arts, on summer break.
I majored in graphic design and usually took freelance jobs online. That summer, I accepted a design project that paid very well, so I shut myself in at home for a full month without stepping outside. I really didn’t know when the apocalypse started.”
Too much time had passed. As she tried to recall, many details were already blurred. Ke Bei narrowed her eyes, sinking into her memories.
“I only remember that one day I ran out of food at home, and suddenly I couldn’t order takeout anymore. The restaurants I usually ordered from stopped accepting orders, and when I called for delivery runners, there was no response. I had no choice but to go out to eat, and then…”
At this point, Ke Bei shuddered.
Even after so many years, recalling that nightmare-like day still filled her with deep fear.
Her apartment had a double security door: an inner solid steel door and an outer iron gate fitted with a security mesh.
That day, she had just opened the inner steel door when a shrill, agonized scream came from outside, startling her so badly that she immediately withdrew her hand from the handle.
Through the mesh screen, she saw that the door of her opposite neighbor’s apartment was wide open. Old Madam Li, who lived there, was sprawled on the ground near the doorway, covered in blood.
Half her body was inside the apartment, half outside the security gate. One arm was stretched forward, as if she had struggled to crawl out.
The two apartments were very close. Through the door, it was as if Old Madam Li were lying right in front of Ke Bei, allowing her to see clearly—
A large section of her scalp had been torn away, exposing the skull beneath.
Her face looked as though it had been gnawed by some wild beast, half of it was gone. Her neck had been ripped so badly that only a thin strip of flesh still connected it to her body.
Blood had stained the entire corridor red.
At the sight of such a scene, Ke Bei screamed in terror.
And the moment she screamed, a ferocious beast about half the height of a person lunged straight at her.
The beast charged fiercely, if it weren’t for the outer security gate, it would have lunged straight at Ke Bei!
Her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, nearly fainting from fright.
Fortunately, she was still alert enough that her first reaction was to rush and close the inner security door.
As she stumbled toward it, finally managing to shut it, she got a clear look at the creature outside, and realized it was actually the cow-patterned cat from Old Madam Li’s house!
The cat had grown several times larger than before, and its once golden eyes now glowed with an eerie green light.
It looked completely mad, its fur bristling, body arched forward, and it let out a terrifying hiss.
When it saw Ke Bei, it screamed and lunged at the security gate. Even through the door, Ke Bei could smell the heavy stench of blood coming from its mouth!
Ke Bei slammed the door shut with all her strength, locking the crazed cat outside.
“Old Madam Li had two cats in total. Besides this black-and-white cow cat, there was also a large orange one. It only dawned on me later that the screams I heard earlier came from downstairs, it had to be the orange cat that had already run down.
After that, I stayed inside for three days, making sure both cats had left before going out. During that time, I read a lot of news online and realized the world outside had completely changed.”
“So this is the animal and plant mutation you mentioned?” Cheng Qian asked calmly, though his mind was already stirred with enormous shock.
“Yes,” Ke Bei nodded.
“No one can explain why. Almost overnight, many animals and plants mutated. Their bodies grew many times larger, and most became extremely aggressive.
Not only did animals start attacking humans, but many plants developed the ability to harm people. In a very short time, they took over cities, pushing humans to the very bottom of the food chain.”
Having endured so much, Ke Bei grew calmer as she recounted the events that followed.
She told Cheng Qian how she had escaped from Su City and how they had met two months later in Pingyang County.
At that time, because she had already awakened her spatial ability, she had been barely accepted as a teammate by him and his companions.
“We, our team, didn’t have Xiao Tian until two years later. Xiao Tian awakened his own ability at the age of two because of a bowl of mushroom soup.”
At this point, Ke Bei pressed her lips together, her eyes clouded with complexity, and her voice grew heavy.
Cheng Qian didn’t notice her expression, he was still stunned by what she had just said.
“Two years later… Xiao Tian?”
He repeated her words almost instinctively, pointing at Cheng Tian, his tone full of disbelief. “You just said you came back from eight years later, so he…”
“Daddy, I’m almost six years old.” Before Cheng Qian could finish, Cheng Tian spoke up.
After resting for a while, Cheng Tian’s energy had recovered somewhat.
Although his appearance hadn’t changed, his tone and expression were clearly more mature than before.
Cheng Qian was speechless with shock.
“In the apocalypse, people who awaken abilities are mainly divided into two types: ability users and evolvers.
Ability users are those who have mastered a natural or psychic ability, for example, controlling wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, or like me, suddenly gaining spatial power.
Evolvers are those whose bodies are enhanced, or who have been assimilated by plants or animals under certain circumstances, for example, Xiao Tian. He awakened a strength-type ability.
This ability gives him immense strength and the power to change his body size. But there’s a drawback: after exhausting himself, he reverts to the form he had when the ability first awakened.
Xiao Tian just now overused his ability to save me, which is why he appeared as he did at two years old.”
Cheng Qian nodded silently, his gaze somewhat dazed.
Seeing that her husband couldn’t process everything she had said immediately, Ke Bei stopped explaining further and changed the subject.
“I’ll tell you about the other things later. Right now, we can’t stay here, we have to leave immediately.”
“Leave?” Cheng Qian finally realized.
He instantly sharpened his expression and asked alertly, “What did you discover?”
“The Guojiang Bridge didn’t collapse because of some shoddy construction, as the rumors say. It collapsed because the mutated plants grew too fast, and their vines forced their way into the cracks in the stone.”
Ke Bei’s tone was serious: “I don’t know exactly when Tianshui will be fully overrun by the mutated plants, but the time we have left isn’t long. We must leave immediately!”
“Where are we going?” Cheng Qian stood up.
“To Anshuo.”
As she spoke, Ke Bei pulled a set of clothes from her space and tossed them to Cheng Tian, while unabashedly starting to pack up the items in her husband’s small room into her space.
She explained as she worked: “We’re going to Anshuo to pick up someone, a child named Ah Lie. The reason Xiao Tian and I were able to come back this time is entirely thanks to Ah Lie. He used all of his abilities to send us back.”
At this, Ke Bei’s expression darkened. “He probably used his life in the process.”
She couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen to Ah Lie once Doctor Chen and those devils at the research institute discovered that she and her son had completely disappeared.
The thought made her heart clench tightly.
“Mom, we have to save Ah Lie! We must bring Ah Lie back!” Cheng Tian clenched his small fists.
“Mm.” Ke Bei nodded firmly, then looked at Cheng Qian. “Ah Lie is only twelve now, and his uncle hasn’t taken him away yet. We absolutely must find him before anyone from Haicheng arrives and rescue him.”
“All right.” Upon hearing they were going to save the savior of his wife and child, Cheng Qian answered without hesitation.
“And after we pick up Ah Lie?” he asked.
Ke Bei paused her movements and looked up at Cheng Qian, her eyes carrying an indescribably complex expression.
“Then we’ll go to Pingyan Bridge, to the place where you once picked mushrooms, to look for Yunsi Grass, and save Xiao Tian’s life.”
“What happened to Xiao Tian?!” Cheng Qian exclaimed, looking up in shock.
If he had harbored any doubts about the mother and son earlier, he now almost completely believed Ke Bei and Cheng Tian’s identities.
Hearing that his son’s life was in danger, Cheng Qian tensed up instantly.