The source of the glow was the corpse of a zombie lying in the corner, its head already blown apart.
Wen Lan walked over, and the heartbeat echoing from her abdomen grew even stronger.
As she drew closer, she sensed a faintly glowing object inside the zombie’s chest.
“What is that?”
The babies in her womb suddenly became much more active.
Suppressing her nausea, Wen Lan found a knife and cut open the zombie’s chest.
Inside was a glowing mass of energy. To anyone else, however, it would simply look like an ordinary glass marble.
What was this thing?
At first, Wen Lan was extremely cautious.
After all, it had come from inside a zombie. If it was harmful to her, she would be finished.
She rested a hand on her stomach and clearly felt that both babies seemed to like this strange energy.
But she had no idea whether it was good or bad. Just as the thought crossed her mind, a powerful suction force suddenly emerged from her abdomen.
The glowing pearl in her hand flew straight into her stomach.
The energy traveled through the umbilical cords and into the babies.
The heartbeats of the two babies became even faster.
The glowing object had actually been absorbed by them.
Wen Lan instantly felt every trace of exhaustion vanish.
Her hunger disappeared, and her entire body brimmed with strength.
After absorbing the energy pearl, the twins returned twice that amount of energy to her.
It seemed she couldn’t absorb the energy pearl directly. Instead, the babies would absorb it first before feeding back double the energy to her.
Wen Lan was carrying twins.
One baby possessed a spatial ability that was shared with her, while the other had an ability similar to psychic perception, which it also shared with its mother.
Even though the babies were only two months old, she could clearly sense their condition.
It was as if she had a monitoring device installed, allowing her to feel their every movement inside her womb at any moment.
“So you two like this kind of energy! Mommy will go dig up more energy pearls for you!”
A wave of joy and excitement flowed from the two babies into Wen Lan’s mind.
Her psychic perception suddenly expanded to a radius of over ten meters.
Sure enough, another zombie with its head destroyed was emitting a faint glow.
This time, the energy pearl was inside the zombie’s brain.
No matter how disgusting it was, she had to dig it out.
This one was… a red energy pearl?
Just then, the roar of a motorcycle engine echoed nearby.
Always cautious, Wen Lan quickly stored the energy pearl inside her spatial storage.
“Wen Lan?”
“It really is you! I finally found you!”
The man’s voice trembled.
Seeing that Wen Lan looked completely normal, he rushed over and embraced her tightly without caring that her hands were covered in blood.
“Brother!”
The man was none other than Wen Lan’s older brother, Wen Che.
“Let’s get out of here first. We’ll talk later.”
Wen Lan climbed onto the motorcycle, and they sped down the street.
The motorcycle’s engine immediately attracted numerous zombies, who began chasing after them.
Fortunately, Wen Che was an exceptional rider.
He weaved swiftly through the streets until the pursuing zombies gradually fell behind.
“Brother, how did you find me?”
“I came into the city with the rescue team. We rescued quite a few people from your office building. Someone told me you’d left on your own, so I came looking for you.”
In reality, what Wen Che had heard was that Wen Lan had been driven out.
Some people had even mocked her, saying she would eventually come back crying and beg them to take her in again.
At the time, Wen Che had wanted nothing more than to teach those people a lesson.
But finding his sister had been far more important.
He searched street after street, building after building around the office district.
Eventually, he found Wen Lan digging through a zombie’s corpse.
For a moment, he had nearly been scared out of his mind.
He had mistaken her for a zombie.
“The main rescue force is stationed outside the city.”
Wen Che was a SWAT officer, only three years older than Wen Lan.
The rescue team had entered the city to search for supplies.
After all, the mysterious fog hadn’t only mutated humans.
Many essential goods could no longer be manufactured, so they had no choice but to recover supplies from inside the city.
Wen Che brought Wen Lan to a nearby house and stopped there.
The surrounding zombies had already been cleared out.
The cuts on their severed heads were clean and precise, obviously made with a single strike.
Within the ten—meter range of her perception, Wen Lan could clearly sense every energy pearl hidden inside the zombie corpses.
It was incredibly easy to distinguish which corpses contained them.
She also discovered that not every zombie possessed an energy pearl.
Looking at those glittering lights, she couldn’t resist reaching for them.
Every time she obtained one, the babies would return twice as much energy to her.
Feeling the changes in her body, she finally understood.
The stronger her babies became, the stronger she would become.
Only by feeding them more energy pearls could she continue growing stronger herself.
She drew her machete and prepared to cut open another zombie’s chest.
“Lan, what are you doing?”
“These are zombies. Even if they’re already dead, touching them could still cause you to mutate.”
Wen Che’s voice was filled with concern.
He absolutely did not want her going anywhere near zombie corpses.
For a moment, Wen Lan didn’t know how to explain it.
Just as she was about to speak—
“Wen Che, you’re back? Didn’t you run into the captain? He went with you to look for your sister.”
The speaker was a buzz—cut man with a fiery red tattoo on his arm.
He was another member of the rescue squad—Zhang Ye.
When Wen Che left to search for his sister, Su Han had gone with him.
“I’ll contact the captain.”
Zhang Ye frowned slightly.
The captain was still injured, yet he had insisted on accompanying Wen Che.
Soon, Zhang Ye dialed the captain’s satellite phone.
“Captain! Wen Che is back. Where are you?”
“Did you find her?”
Looking at Wen Lan standing behind Wen Che, Zhang Ye replied,
“Yes, we found her.”
“I’ll be back in half an hour.”
Turning to Wen Lan, Wen Che began introducing everyone.
“This is my teammate, Zhang Ye. His ability is fire.”
“The guy wearing glasses over there is Song Wen. He can control plant growth.”
“Hello there!”
“This is Wang Hui. She has a speed—type ability.”
“And that’s Ji Cang. He’s a strength—type ability user.”
As for Wen Che himself, he possessed a water ability and could freeze water into ice.
“Wen Che was practically going crazy looking for you. Thank goodness you’re still alive.”
The speaker was Song Wen.
Just like his name suggested, he looked refined and scholarly, wearing a pair of glasses.
“We’ve all introduced ourselves. What ability did your sister awaken?”
The only woman on the rescue squad was Wang Hui.
She specialized in speed.
Her thighs were packed with muscle, and her neat short hair gave her such a sharp appearance that, if not for her name, Wen Lan might have mistaken her for a man.
“A perception ability.”
Wen Lan chose to conceal the fact that she also possessed a spatial ability.
“A perception ability? What’s your detection range?” Wang Hui asked.
A perception ability sounded somewhat interesting.
“Ten meters.”
“Pfft…”
“Sorry. I couldn’t help laughing.”
Zhang Ye chuckled awkwardly.
“I wasn’t trying to make fun of your sister,” he quickly explained.
He knew perfectly well that Wen Che was completely devoted to his younger sister.
“Pretty useless.”
Wang Hui frowned slightly.
“…”
It was only ten meters for now.
Her perception had room to grow.
At first, the babies had only increased her sensing range to five meters.
After absorbing the energy pearl, it had doubled to ten.
The stronger the babies became, the stronger she would become.
There was no reason to explain any of that to these people.
“Don’t worry, everyone.”
“I’ll protect my sister myself. She won’t slow the team down.”
Wen Che spoke with complete seriousness.
“How about we escort Wen Lan back to the safe zone first, then continue the mission?”
Wang Hui frowned.
Wen Lan had never received any training.
If her awakened ability had been useful, perhaps she could barely justify bringing her along.
But such a weak ability served almost no purpose.
“If we do that, we won’t make it in time.”
“This mission is extremely urgent. If something happens over there and we fail, the losses will be enormous.”
Wang Hui sounded dissatisfied.
“I think we should wait until the captain gets back before deciding.”
Zhang Ye smiled.
“I don’t mind. Let’s wait for the captain.”
Song Wen also didn’t want to offend Wen Che.
Meanwhile, Wen Lan couldn’t stop thinking about the zombie corpses outside.
The glowing energy pearls inside them still hadn’t been dug out.
To her, it felt like seeing gold scattered along the roadside and being forced to leave it there.
It was almost unbearable.
“Wen Lan, get some rest first.”
She looked at her brother, hesitating.
She had wanted to tell him about the energy pearls inside zombie bodies.
“We’ve already cleared out all the zombies around here, so you don’t have to worry about any danger. And I won’t let anyone drive you away again.”
Wen Lan’s eyes reddened.
Thankfully, she still had her brother.
“Okay.”
“Wen Che, your sister’s awakened ability is really too weak. A perception range of only ten meters? The captain’s psychic ability can scan a radius of five hundred meters.”
Wang Hui frowned.
Their captain, Su Han, possessed a psychic ability.
He could manipulate objects with his mind and detect any unusual activity within five hundred meters.
Compared to that, Wen Lan’s ten—meter range seemed completely insignificant.
After all, an ordinary person with good eyesight could see thirty to fifty meters away.
“And your sister doesn’t look like she has any combat ability either. Our next mission is to recover that batch of equipment from the Advanced Research Institute. Those instruments are extremely important.”
Ji Cang frowned as well, clearly viewing Wen Lan as dead weight.
“I’ll take my sister back to the safe zone first, then catch up with all of you.”
“That would take too much time.”
A cold voice came from outside.
A man in camouflage strode briskly into the house.
“Captain!”
“Captain!”
Wang Hui’s eyes immediately lit up.
This was their captain—
Su Han.
“We have to bring that batch of equipment back as quickly as possible.”
“The safe zone needs it.”
“The main rescue force is right behind us. We can hand Wen Che’s sister over to them, and they’ll escort her safely to the safe zone.”
Wang Hui suddenly proposed.
At the moment, it seemed like the best solution for everyone.
“I disagree.”
“I have to protect my sister myself.”
Wen Che’s voice was firm and resolute.
He wasn’t going to lose her again.
A flicker passed through Su Han’s eyes before he calmly said,
“Wen Che is my brother—in—arms and my teammate.”
“I won’t abandon any member of my team.”
“I support the captain’s decision.”
Zhang Ye was the first to speak up.
Zhang Ye, Wen Che, and Song Wen had all transferred from the special forces to the SWAT unit.
Wang Hui had joined later.
Although she wasn’t as strong in combat, she was a doctor and could provide medical treatment.
“Our priority is recovering the equipment.”
The moment Su Han returned, everyone seemed to regain their backbone.
Although Wang Hui was still dissatisfied with Wen Lan, she could no longer argue.
“But we’re already running low on food.”
Ji Feng frowned.
As a strength—type ability user, he ate far more than everyone else.
They hadn’t brought much food to begin with, and searching for more would waste precious time.
Now they had another mouth to feed.
“I’ll give my share of food to my sister.”
“She won’t use any of the team’s communal supplies.”
“And I won’t let her slow the team’s progress.”
Wen Che knew that while his close friends Zhang Ye and Su Han probably wouldn’t mind, the others certainly might.
After all, this rescue squad had only been formed temporarily.
Originally, Wen Che had planned to search for his sister alone.
It was Su Han who persuaded him to join the team since their mission happened to pass through Qinghang City.
That’s why he had come.
“Good.”
Ji Feng finally nodded.
Once this mission was completed, they could return to the safe zone and enjoy a period of rest.
Meanwhile, Wen Lan focused on the changes inside her body.
Whenever the babies absorbed an energy pearl, the spatial dimension expanded.
It seemed the babies absorbed the energy even more efficiently through the space.
She felt completely refreshed, without the slightest trace of fatigue.
Not only that, but she sensed her storage space had grown even larger, allowing her to store even more items.
Then she remembered the zombie corpses outside.
No.
To her, they weren’t zombie corpses anymore.
They were glittering diamonds and gold.
She tightened her grip on the machete.
Dig.
She had to dig them up.
Right now.
Wen Lan slipped around to the backyard.
This time, she found a plastic bag inside the house and wrapped it around her hand as a makeshift glove.
With the machete in her right hand, she focused her perception.
Within a radius of ten meters, she could pinpoint the exact location of every energy pearl hidden inside the zombies.
She thrust the blade straight into a zombie’s chest.
Right where its heart should have been.
A man’s voice, barely able to contain its excitement, suddenly rang out behind her.
“Wen Lan!”
“Lanlan… what are you doing?”