Lin Mingmei abruptly rolled to her feet and frantically looked around.
The place she stood in was enormous, roughly the size of a school soccer field. It was completely empty, without a single living person in sight, and there was no trace of the nauseating stench of zombies either.
“What is this place?”
The little black sphere floated back and forth in front of her face.
“Master, this is your storage space.”
Lin Mingmei frowned immediately.
“Who are you trying to fool? How could I not know what my own space looks like?”
Her original storage space had only been a cramped ten-square-meter area packed tightly with the supplies she had gathered.
The black sphere sounded deeply wronged.
“Master, this really is your storage space. It simply upgraded, that’s why you don’t recognize it anymore.”
The storage space could actually upgrade?
“Of course it can!” the little sphere chirped excitedly. “As long as Master continues growing stronger, the space will keep expanding and evolving.”
Lin Mingmei looked confused.
“Growing stronger?”
“It means awakening new superpowers or leveling up existing ones.”
Lin Mingmei almost laughed.
What did any of that have to do with an ordinary person like her?
The little black sphere bounced excitedly around her.
“Master, you shouldn’t underestimate yourself! You just forcefully plundered two superpowers from someone else. In the future, you’re going to become incredibly powerful!”
This time, Lin Mingmei truly laughed out loud.
She had stolen two superpowers?
From whom?
How?
And where exactly were those superpowers now?
Why couldn’t she feel a single trace of supernatural energy inside herself?
The black sphere circled around her while speaking directly into her ears.
“Master, if you don’t believe me, go outside and test it. Right now, your strength is enough to lift an elephant.”
Go outside?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, her vision blurred.
When her surroundings became clear again, she found herself back inside the pharmacy storage room.
The flashlight lying on the floor still shone weakly into the darkness.
Qin Yueming remained unconscious on the ground.
Not only that, his clothes were completely disheveled.
Lin Mingmei was utterly horrified.
The apocalypse had only just begun, yet humanity’s moral bottom line had already collapsed this far?
Qin Yueming was practically half-dead from illness, and someone had actually taken advantage of him while unconscious?
Judging from his appearance, he had clearly been violated thoroughly.
She did not even know whether the culprit had been male or female.
“Master, you were the one who did it.”
The sudden voice inside her head nearly made Lin Mingmei jump into the air.
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“Master, it’s true. If you don’t believe me, look at yourself.”
Lin Mingmei lowered her head.
The instant she saw her own condition, heat rushed all the way from her face to her ears.
No wonder she had been feeling cold.
Her own clothes were also in complete disarray.
Panicking, Lin Mingmei hurriedly fixed her clothing.
But in her panic, she accidentally used too much force.
Riiip!
Her sleeve tore apart instantly.
Lin Mingmei froze.
The sleeve…
Had actually ripped apart…
“Master, do you feel your enhanced strength now?”
A strength superpower?
Lin Mingmei could hardly believe it.
She bent down and tried lifting Qin Yueming.
To her shock, his sturdy adult body felt almost weightless in her hands.
She had really awakened a strength superpower?
Where had it come from?
“You ‘ate’ him, Master, so now it’s yours.”
Lin Mingmei’s face instantly turned scarlet.
That wording sounded unbelievably inappropriate.
Without hesitation, she dropped Qin Yueming back onto the floor.
Then, with a single thought, she disappeared from the room and reentered her storage space.
The black sphere bounced up and down excitedly before her.
Just watching it gave her a headache.
“Stand still. Stop moving.”
“Understood, Master.”
Lin Mingmei sat cross-legged on the ground and rubbed her aching temples.
Then she began carefully organizing the mess in her mind.
“So this really is the space inside my jade bracelet?”
“Yes!” the black sphere replied while wobbling like a tumbler toy.
“And you’re the spirit of this space? Do you have a name?”
“Master hasn’t given me one yet.”
Its overly coquettish tone immediately gave Lin Mingmei another headache.
She could not be bothered wasting mental energy thinking of names.
“Fine. Your name is Heiqiu.”
“Understood, Master!” the little sphere replied cheerfully.
The name really did sound rather stupid.
Lin Mingmei pressed a hand against her forehead and sighed heavily.
“Heiqiu, explain exactly what happened earlier. Did I really… I mean… did I really ‘eat’… no, sleep with… damn it! What I mean is, did I actually commit such a shameless and beastly act against Qin Yueming?”
“A beastly act?” Heiqiu wobbled excitedly. “Yes, Master! You stole two of his superpowers, which was indeed very beastly. But I personally think it was wonderful! If you hadn’t acted so shamelessly, the space would never have upgraded, and I never would have been born.”
Hearing the phrase “beastly act” repeated over and over again made Lin Mingmei’s face darken completely.
It was one thing when she said it herself.
But did this strange little black ball really need to repeat it nonstop?
Unfortunately, she still needed answers from it, so she could only suppress her irritation.
“Enough nonsense. Explain everything clearly.”
“Yes, Master.”
Heiqiu immediately began reconstructing her fragmented memories.
Earlier, inside the pharmacy storage room, Qin Yueming had been suffering through the awakening of his superpowers, causing an intense fever.
At the same time, Lin Mingmei had developed a severe fever after being exposed to virus-contaminated rain.
Originally, she had intended to leave Qin Yueming behind and return home.
But fate had intervened.
She collapsed unconscious directly onto him.
Both of them were burning with fever, and during the chaos, their bodies became thoroughly entangled.
At the critical moment of Qin Yueming’s awakening, his superpower energy resonated with hers.
Drawn instinctively toward the energy, Lin Mingmei unconsciously devoured two of his latent superpowers.
If Qin Yueming’s remaining fire superpower had not been especially powerful, even that ability would have been absorbed by her as well.
After plundering his powers, her body and spiritual energy underwent a complete transformation.
The jade bracelet storage space evolved successfully.
And Heiqiu, the space spirit, was born as a result.
Listening to the explanation, Lin Mingmei suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable.
The whole situation sounded suspiciously like she had slept with Qin Yueming and immediately given birth to Heiqiu afterward.
“Master, you did not give birth to me. I am a space spirit,” Heiqiu immediately corrected her.
Lin Mingmei rolled her eyes.
If she actually gave birth to a floating black ball, that would become a horror story.
“Forget that for now,” Lin Mingmei muttered while rubbing her temples. “You’re saying that without my interference, Qin Yueming would have awakened three different superpowers?”
Heiqiu wobbled enthusiastically.
“Exactly! That’s why your beastly actions were absolutely brilliant, Master!”
Lin Mingmei fell silent again.
Could this thing stop using the word “beastly” for even one minute?
“So I stole his strength superpower. What was the second one?”
This time, Heiqiu did not answer immediately.
Instead, it slowly drifted backward.
Lin Mingmei narrowed her eyes.
“Why are you backing away? Answer the question. Qin Yueming was supposed to awaken strength, fire, and what else?”
Heiqiu answered weakly, “The… water superpower…”
Lin Mingmei’s eyes lit up instantly.
A water superpower was incredible.
After the apocalypse began, clean water became one of the rarest resources in existence.
Water superpower users were treasured everywhere.
They barely needed to fight at all.
As long as they remained inside a survivor base and produced clean water daily, they could live comfortably.
But…
Lin Mingmei was absolutely certain she could not sense any water-related power inside herself.
So where had that superpower gone?
Heiqiu wobbled guiltily.
“Upgrading the space requires a tremendous amount of energy…”
“Speak properly,” Lin Mingmei snapped, her expression darkening. “Acting cute and pretending to be pitiful does not work on me.”