The surroundings suddenly fell silent, leaving only the sound of suppressed gasping.
Ye Mian stood still for a moment. There was no need to check; she already knew the middle-grade mutant was dead.
As for how it died—Ye Mian glanced at Lu Ning, who was slumped over the mutant’s back, still tightly gripping the metal rack that was partially embedded in the creature’s hardened body. She understood the gist of it.
Lu Ning hadn’t given up after being knocked to the ground. Instead, she immediately circled to the back. When Ye Mian successfully used the powder from the wild Sanqi (Notoginseng) she had sprayed on her arms earlier to ambush the mutant—causing it to lose its guard completely for a short time—Lu Ning had taken the opportunity to leap onto its back in one go.
If one punch didn’t kill it, she threw another.
She had successfully assisted Lu Ning, and Lu Ning had not disappointed her.
There was even an unexpected windfall.
This truly was a mutually beneficial transaction.
As she thought this, Ye Mian looked at the text box that had popped up in front of her.
Would you like to pick up “Lustrous Crystal”?
Would you like to pick up “Shattered Heart”?
Lustrous Crystal instead of Lustrous Stone?
Ye Mian clicked to pick them up, then opened her storage to look at the “Lustrous Crystal.” Although it was also a special metal, unlike the Lustrous Stone, it was warm yellow throughout and contained many unknown substances that flickered with a faint light.
The price had increased tenfold—it could be exchanged for 1,000 points.
The usage option was still temporarily unavailable due to the lack of forging tools.
Ye Mian set it aside for the moment and immediately exchanged the disgusting mass of flesh called “Shattered Heart” for 20 points.
Following that, a series of stealthy movements came from the right. Ye Mian turned her head and met the eyes of Xue Kai, who was cautiously peeking out.
Seeing her standing there leisurely, Xue Kai was stunned for a moment before laboriously pulling himself out from a pile of debris. “Is it dealt with?”
“Yes,” Ye Mian looked around, feeling it was a bit of a waste. “This entire floor is pretty much ruined.”
“Yeah…” Xue Kai didn’t dare look too closely at the massive corpse. After nodding in agreement, he remembered something. “Wait, no, there should still be stuff in the warehouse.”
Having said that, he excitedly went to find the warehouse. After all, manual labor was his forte; facing death was not.
Ye Mian didn’t rush to follow him. Instead, she walked over to Lu Ning.
“Is the revenge over?”
Hearing her still-calm voice, Lu Ning dazed for a moment before looking up. Before she could see Ye Mian’s face, a bottle of golden-yellow corn juice entered her vision.
She took it almost instinctively. After uttering a word of thanks, Lu Ning finally remembered to ask: “How did you know I was seeking revenge?”
Ye Mian shrugged. “You didn’t go out to kill the mutants filling the streets; instead, you insisted on guarding the outside of this supermarket, willing to die just to take it down with you. Isn’t it obvious?”
“Heh…” Lu Ning gave a short, low laugh, but it agitated her internal injuries, causing her to hiss as she sucked in a breath of cold air. “Thanks to you guys. Otherwise, I would never have fulfilled my wish in this lifetime.”
Waiting for it outside was her only chance. Fortunately, she persisted and found help.
“Then, do you want to come with me?”
“I found it! The warehouse is over here!”
Although the atmosphere was interrupted, Ye Mian didn’t mind at all, still looking at Lu Ning inquiringly.
Lu Ning looked at her, then at the corn juice in her hand, and smiled. “Okay.”
Xue Kai, who had been waiting for a while without anyone showing up, came running back. Seeing this scene and the familiar bottle of corn juice, he understood why Ye Mian hadn’t been in a hurry to join him.
She was busy “kidnapping” someone back to the farm.
However, back when he joined, it only took a single sentence to get him to follow. Now, for Lu Ning, she was even using the magical corn juice produced by the system.
Xue Kai looked at Lu Ning with envy, then looked at the mutant beneath her and felt it was only natural. An Evolutionary who could beat a mutant to death with her bare hands—if it were him, he’d do everything he could to coax her back too.
“Lead the way.”
Now that she had Lu Ning’s answer, Ye Mian turned to Xue Kai to focus on the main purpose of this trip.
Since the merchants on the entire third floor were managed by the supermarket, the well-hidden warehouse contained not only all the products currently on sale but also a large amount of stock.
The system’s storage slots were still quite abundant. Combined with the fact that a hundred items of clothing only occupied one slot, Ye Mian didn’t care about styles or sizes and took everything.
In an instant, she had swept the entire warehouse clean.
Xue Kai was amazed and felt somewhat relieved. After all, other Evolutionaries could only carry limited items; it was absolutely impossible for them to bring back a sufficient supply of clothes like this.
When the two emerged from the warehouse, Lu Ning had recovered somewhat after a few sips of the corn juice. She followed them downstairs without looking back.
She didn’t ask about the magic of the corn juice, nor did she question where Ye Mian and Xue Kai were putting the collected supplies. When Xue Kai mentioned he needed help searching the first floor and the basement, she simply followed without a word.
Ye Mian stayed on the second floor alone.
Evolutionaries would be even less interested in this floor. Only the area near the central aisle had been slightly damaged; the rest was perfectly preserved.
Ye Mian first walked to the electronics area, which looked cold and lifeless in the dim light. Although they were all unusable, considering the special nature of the farm, she still put them into her storage, intending to test them when she got back.
Unfortunately, one appliance occupied one slot, so she stopped after taking a few.
The same went for furniture. Ye Mian only picked out a few useful items, such as mattresses, sofas, tables, chairs, and wardrobes.
At the same time, Xue Kai and Lu Ning on the lower two floors also had a successful harvest. After all, most people who came to the supermarket for supplies only took ready-to-eat food and drinks; they didn’t take many daily necessities.
Since these items had long shelf lives, the supermarket hadn’t been in a rush to deal with them before the power went out, so the warehouse was still piled high.
In addition, they found some surviving dried goods, oil, salt, seasonings, flour, rice, soy products, and tableware.
Xue Kai even found a large roll of water pipes in the kitchen on the basement level.
Though the two didn’t have personal storage, Lu Ning was strong enough to push two overflowing shopping carts in each hand. After a few trips, everything was gathered together.
When Ye Mian came down, the two watched as everything vanished into thin air, as if sucked into another dimension.
Xue Kai couldn’t help but look at Lu Ning. Seeing that she remained unfazed, he felt a bit regretful. If she doesn’t ask anything, doesn’t that make me, her senior, seem completely irrelevant?
But the thought was fleeting. He immediately remembered: “Right, there’s a commercial street right inside the main entrance of the supermarket. I took a quick look earlier; there are shoes, bags, medicine, and outdoor gear. They should be useful too.”
Ye Mian also recalled it. Although every shop was closed, with Lu Ning around, no lock could stop them.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Even though Xue Kai had suggested it himself, once they actually broke into the shops, he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. “I feel like we’re bandits…”
Lu Ning glanced at him. “Then I must be a great demon who kills and robs and commits every evil imaginable.”
“…Uh.” Xue Kai was about to say it wasn’t the same, but then he realized that not only were people turning into mutants, but the outside world had changed completely. Even if you threw money around, it would be useless. How could it be considered robbery?
He rubbed his nose. “I’m being silly.”
Ye Mian didn’t join their conversation, focusing solely on collecting materials. After finishing, she set a new goal: “Let’s check the shops on the road we took coming in.”
“The hardware store? Okay.”
The three exited through the small opening they had used to enter. Lu Ning originally wanted to bring what little supplies she had left, but the locker was already empty.
She was silent for a moment and then crisply closed the locker door.
Xue Kai was stunned. “Are there other Evolutionaries nearby? Why don’t they leave?”
After all, mutants didn’t eat these things.
“Where would they go?” Lu Ning followed Ye Mian, who was leading the way. “Are there no mutants outside the city?”
“Most of them believe that as long as they survive, they can wait for rescue.”
Rescue?
Nearly all cities had collapsed and fallen by now. Even if there were a rescue, how could they possibly save everyone?
Xue Kai sighed inwardly and then comforted Lu Ning: “Don’t worry. We might not have much else, but we definitely have enough food.”
Hearing this, Lu Ning finally felt a spark of curiosity—not about the “enough food” Xue Kai mentioned, but about Ye Mian.
After successfully looting the tools from the hardware store, they found a car and drove toward the outskirts of the city. Having successfully avoided all possible dangers along the way, she finally spoke up.
“What is your skill?”
Since she didn’t know how to drive and couldn’t help much, Ye Mian sat in the back seat, using the storage interface to organize the materials they had just gathered.
Hearing the question and looking up to see Lu Ning turning around, she answered directly: “Insight. I can see the weaknesses of those mutants and perceive danger in advance.”
After becoming familiar with [Insight], Ye Mian had discovered something else—frequent use of the skill consumed a certain amount of mental and physical energy.
If she hadn’t brought a bottle of corn juice with her, she would likely have collapsed from exhaustion by now.
“Wow, that’s impressive.” Beyond his surprise, Xue Kai felt a sense of clarity. He then took the initiative to introduce his own skill.
Lu Ning wanted to ask Ye Mian more, but she was cut off by his question, “What about you?” She looked at Ye Mian, who seemed to have no intention of saying more, and answered: “Absolute Strength. It’s a type of combat skill that can be upgraded. As long as I continue to increase my body weight and muscle, my strength will grow. There is no upper limit.”
“Huh?” Xue Kai was stunned, but he quickly understood. “So you need to reduce body fat and increase muscle?”
“Yes.”
Xue Kai nodded and then asked about the mutant in the supermarket.
He wasn’t stupid; he could guess that there was some history between Lu Ning and that creature. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have wanted to kill it so badly.
To Lu Ning, this wasn’t an unspeakable secret. After a moment of silence, she told them everything.
Lu Ning and that mutant were once colleagues at the same boxing gym. After the mutations began, Lu Ning, who had no family or friends, went to the gym to try to meet up with her other colleagues. However, she found that the gym—which was half a home to her—had become a hell. Her colleagues had all been ambushed by it.
She managed to escape with the help of a colleague who was barely alive. Later, she hid nearby and observed the mutant until it chased a group of Evolutionaries into that supermarket and got trapped inside.
Later, she met the two of them.
Although Lu Ning omitted some details while speaking, it was still enough for people to imagine how tragic the scene had been.
The atmosphere in the car fell silent for a moment.
Ye Mian, in the back seat, also silently closed the storage interface. Just as she was about to ask about the other Evolutionaries to change the subject, she suddenly perceived a strong sense of crisis. Her scalp went numb, and her whole body shivered.
“Accelerate! Rush down from the right!”