But for some reason, Tu Sanqi didn’t dare to ask Cheng Shi for a clear explanation… Besides, Cheng Shi had sent her a message saying he would be away next week and reminded her to make sure she took her medicine on time.
Tu Sanqi didn’t dare take the medicine on schedule.
But she also didn’t dare skip taking it.
In the end, she came up with a compromise: instead of one dose per day, she took it every other day.
Coincidentally, a new field mission had just been assigned. Since Tu Yu’s team was departing, Tu Sanqi was placed on her brother Tu Yu’s team.
Her earlier worries about the medicine were soon pushed aside. Excitedly, she wanted to show her brother her little invention… but quickly realized that this time, Tu Yu’s team wouldn’t be able to use the ability bullets.
Ability bullets were far more powerful than normal bullets, but they also created a lot of noise.
Ye Ming’s small squad and Mei Jun’s team had different responsibilities.
Mei Jun’s team often operated in large-scale battles, where abilities and shells flew everywhere. In such situations, ability bullets were an obvious advantage.
Ye Ming’s squad, on the other hand, specialized in guerrilla tactics—striking suddenly, quickly, and decisively, while avoiding attracting attention from other targets.
Ability bullets were naturally unsuitable for this.
This time, Ye Ming’s mission was to clear a section of the eastern grasslands.
The terrain was complicated—beneath their feet could be swamps, zombies hidden under the grass, or mutated flora and fauna.
Tu Sanqi slumped in the backseat, staring at the squad members’ info and lost in thought.
The team leader, Ye Ming, had a perception-type ability and handled overall command.
Next were Tu Yu, Lin Lu, and Ling Yi, with strength, fire, and earth abilities respectively—mainly responsible for offensive actions.
Finally, there was Su Rumeng, the healer.
Guerrilla tactics… Tu Sanqi propped her chin with one hand while quickly sketching the weapons of Tu Yu, Lin Lu, and Ling Yi on a blank page with the other.
Because of Tu Yu, Su Rumeng and the others treated Tu Sanqi like their little sister. Sitting next to her, Su Rumeng wanted to check on her daily life in the training camp, but Tu Sanqi hadn’t said a word since getting in the vehicle.
She focused entirely on her communicator, sketching nonstop.
Su Rumeng: “…”
She seemed to be disturbing her.
After a moment of silence, Su Rumeng quietly moved closer to Lin Lu.
Glancing sideways, she noticed that Lin Lu was also watching Tu Sanqi.
“Isn’t she like a completely different person compared to when we first met?” Su Rumeng whispered, a little wistful.
Lin Lu moved slightly and asked softly, “Tu Yu said she had red-eye disease before… did you check her?”
Su Rumeng nodded, thinking it was rather funny. “The teachers never expected the red-eye issue either.”
“Was it really red-eye?” Lin Lu asked.
“Yes,” Su Rumeng said. “She was malnourished and probably caught some bacteria at school.”
Lin Lu didn’t say anything further, quietly averting his gaze from Tu Sanqi.
…
On Mei Jun’s team’s return, they encountered some zombies and fleeing humans. After handling them, when they returned to the Special Zone, Tu Sanqi and Fei Yucheng were both assigned new missions.
Since neither of them needed the ability-bullet machine this time, it was handed over to Li An.
The machine still had many flaws. Li An, experienced as she was, immediately spotted several issues:
For example, the joystick power was outdated, and only those skilled in linking tools with mental energy could use it effectively. Currently, only the engineering team in the Special Zone could operate it.
Another issue was the limited types of abilities it could process. Tu Sanqi’s team had only made bullets for water, fire, and lightning. While these were the most powerful for combat, other abilities—like earth or ice—were important in other scenarios.
Using earth or ice abilities in the machine would short-circuit it because mutual exclusion of materials hadn’t been considered.
Lastly… the machine looked extremely ugly. Especially the funnel Tu Sanqi added—Li An would never have guessed a funnel could be useful here.
Li An: “…”
Overall, however, it was a very successful machine.
Previously, ability users employed their powers in the simplest way—just throwing them wherever needed. No one had considered integrating them into weapons.
Recalling the blueprints behind the two kids that night, Li An still admired them. No wonder the two senior engineers had high hopes for them—their innovation was exactly what was needed.
Coming back to reality, Li An cleaned the machine and prepared to show it to the senior engineers, but before she could leave the lab, Mei Jun’s communication popped up.
“Teacher Li,” Mei Jun greeted directly, “can I borrow that machine temporarily?”
Li An was surprised. “Captain Mei, another mission?”
Mei Jun shook his head. “No. Thanks to the machine the kids brought, I feel their contributions shouldn’t be overlooked just because they’re still in training.”
A day later, Ye Ming’s team had reached the vicinity of D City.
Tu Sanqi was a little surprised to see that the ability users guarding D City were not from the Fifth District but from the slightly eastern Third District.
However, it was clear Ye Ming had a good relationship with them. As soon as they got off the vehicle, a broad-eyed, thick-browed ability user strode forward, linking arms with Ye Ming as they entered the city.
Tu Yu and the other ability users exchanged greetings, joking among themselves. Afterward, Tu Yu brought Tu Sanqi forward, introducing her: “This is my sister—just call her Sanqi.”
As a zombie reservist, Tu Sanqi was used to interacting with ability users. But due to her recently suspected awakening symptoms, she instinctively stayed behind Tu Yu when facing unfamiliar users.
Tu Yu, thinking she was just shy, explained to the others, “She’s a bit timid.”
“Sanqi? You don’t even look like you’re an adult! So thin!” A curly-haired girl in front raised her eyebrows but kindly patted Tu Sanqi’s cheek. “I’m Xue Ying.”
The others introduced themselves without teasing her, and Tu Sanqi finally relaxed, nodding repeatedly.
After greetings, the group entered the city. Ye Ming went off to negotiate with the Third District team while Tu Sanqi and the others were hosted by Xue Ying and her group, then returned to their assigned rooms.
Through her communicator, a squad channel message from Ye Ming arrived: in two hours, they would discuss the next day’s actions.
Tu Sanqi took this opportunity to open her toolbox and retrieve the weapons commonly used by Tu Yu’s team to make some minor modifications.
As soon as she put on her laser gloves, she hesitated. She moved to the window, noticing that outside, apart from patrolling ability users, nothing seemed unusual.
Squinting, she focused on the reflection in the glass.
Her red eyes had appeared again.
After a moment of silence, she removed the gloves, took out her prepared medicine, and was about to drink it—when a streak of red light flashed past.
Tu Sanqi’s eyes sharpened. She quickly put the medicine away and, without a second thought, jumped out the window in pursuit!