It was as if Eldest Brother had seen right through her thoughts again.
Exactly what she’d been hoping for!
The moment they were out of Fenniang’s sight, Zhuo Ling wriggled down from Zhuo Chang’an’s arms, grabbed his hand, and tugged him toward a quieter spot.
“Eldest Brother, over there! Over there!”
It was time to come clean.
Hopefully Eldest Brother would understand what she was saying, and the two of them could join forces to become profiteers in the apocalypse…
Pfft.
No, suppliers of scarce resources.
“Ling’er, is there something you want to tell Eldest Brother?”
After finding a secluded corner sheltered from the wind, Zhuo Chang’an crouched down in front of her. A complicated look rested on his refined face.
“Mhm!”
Zhuo Ling blinked her bright eyes at him, her heart pounding wildly.
“Eldest Brother, I…”
A faint smile curved Zhuo Chang’an’s lips.
“You want to tell me… that you’re not Ling’er. Is that right?”
“Holy—! How did you know?”
Zhuo Ling’s eyes flew wide open in shock.
“I… You could tell?”
She’d thought she’d done an excellent job pretending to be a fool.
She’d been quite proud of her acting!
“I figured it out a long time ago, foolish girl.”
Zhuo Chang’an gently rubbed her little head.
Meeting her astonished gaze, his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and his voice trembled ever so faintly.
“Ling’er’s eyes used to be vacant… empty.
“They weren’t like yours.
“Your eyes are lively… and beautiful.”
Especially when they darted around.
Those bright black-and-white eyes simply couldn’t hide how intelligent she was.
Zhuo Ling scratched the back of her head.
“I thought I’d done a pretty convincing job pretending to be a fool.”
“Actually, the moment you fell out of the tree and I picked you up, I already felt you weren’t the same Ling’er as before.
“At first I was only suspicious.
“But then you suddenly produced a bag of copper coins, tricked Xiaohu into giving you his eggs, and somehow a hen appeared in our home.
“Then in the forest, you insisted on cutting the stinkweed and demanded Uncle Feng’s rabbit.
“That made me even more certain you weren’t her.”
Zhuo Chang’an smiled helplessly.
“The old Ling’er wasn’t very bright.
“When she was hungry, all she knew how to do was cry and say her tummy hurt.
“She was never as clever and full of ideas as you.”
The corners of Zhuo Ling’s mouth twitched.
“…”
So…
He’d seen through her the very first night?
Then Eldest Brother was far better at pretending than she was!
“Can you tell Eldest Brother… who you really are?”
Slowly crouching down before her, Zhuo Chang’an’s eyes grew moist.
“What happened… to the old Ling’er?”
Ever since Father had brought Ling’er home to raise as their daughter, he and Mother had been the ones caring for her.
She might have been slow-witted, but she was still family.
He truly cared about that little sister.
“I-I think… that Zhuo Ling… may already be dead.”
Zhuo Ling hurriedly explained.
“I didn’t kill her.
“I didn’t deliberately take over her body either.
“I don’t know how I suddenly transmigrated into her body.”
“Transmigrated?”
Confusion filled Zhuo Chang’an’s eyes.
He clearly couldn’t grasp what she meant.
“That’s right—transmigration!”
Pointing at herself, Zhuo Ling’s eyes darted around as she explained.
“My soul came from somewhere else…
“It crossed over and entered her body.
“I’m from the future—from an underground city after the apocalypse.
“My name is Zhuo Ling too.
“Maybe… because of that… I became her.”
“The apocalypse? An underground city?”
Zhuo Chang’an smiled wryly.
“I… don’t really understand.
“Are you saying the place you came from is another world?
“Is that what you mean?”
“Exactly! That’s exactly it! I knew you were smart, Eldest Brother!”
Zhuo Ling nodded so vigorously her head looked ready to fall off.
Whether he believed her or not…
The five-year-old little girl standing before him spoke clearly, thought logically, and had eyes that sparkled with intelligence, as if she were plotting some new scheme every other moment.
…
Well, she still drooled a lot.
And she still wet the bed.
But aside from those things, she was nothing like the foolish girl she had supposedly been before.
“What… is the world you came from like?”
Taking a slow breath, Zhuo Chang’an looked at her with a complicated expression.
“Why were you able to produce so many copper coins?
“Why did the thin gruel in the pot suddenly become thick porridge?
“Why did a hen suddenly appear in our home?
“And why were you able to make the stinkweed disappear in an instant?
“Ling’er… can you tell Eldest Brother?”
Oh no…
She’d secretly sold the stinkweed and thought she’d covered her tracks perfectly.
Who would’ve guessed Eldest Brother had witnessed it all?
“Because I have the Apocalypse Marketplace System! It lets me freely buy and sell resources from this ancient world!”
Grabbing his hand excitedly, Zhuo Ling said,
“Eldest Brother, I’m telling the truth!
“If I’m lying, I’ll wet the bed!”
“Really?”
A smile suddenly tugged at Zhuo Chang’an’s lips.
“Then… who was it that wet the bed last night?”
“I’ll prove it if you don’t believe me! I’ll perform a magic trick and make something disappear right in front of you!”
Zhuo Ling’s old soul couldn’t help blushing with embarrassment.
Afraid he still wouldn’t believe her, she grew so anxious that sweat beaded across her forehead.
Without waiting for his reply, she snatched the rabbit from the bundle of firewood and opened the Marketplace System in her mind.
Ding…
“Yes!”
The instant the red targeting marker locked onto the rabbit, Zhuo Ling immediately pressed Sell without the slightest hesitation.
Ding! Your account has received 2,300,000 Underground Credits. Current balance: 4,979,900…
Fortunately, the apocalypse’s fiber-optic network was unbelievably fast.
Otherwise, her lightning-fast reflexes probably would’ve crashed the system.
The rabbit vanished from her hands right before his eyes.
Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Zhuo Chang’an’s refined face was still filled with shock and disbelief.
His Adam’s apple bobbed gently.
“Where… did it go?
“To… the Marketplace System?”
“That’s right! I sold it to the Mall!
“And for an amazing price!”
Zhuo Ling hurriedly explained.
“During the Cambrian Ice Age, Earth froze over, and humanity could only survive by hiding in underground cities.
“There was no sunlight and nowhere near enough land for farming or raising livestock.
“Every kind of resource became scarce.
“People didn’t eat grain, plants, or animals anymore.
“They used molecular technology to break down organic matter and synthesize edible food instead.”
“Organic matter?”
“To put it simply… earthworms!”
“…What?”
“Well, we lived more than a hundred meters underground! What else was there to eat, Brother?
“Besides dirt, earthworms were about the only living thing that could survive in the soil.”
Gulp…
“We dried the earthworms, ground them into powder, broke them down, extracted proteins and other organic molecules, then used technology to separate and recombine those molecules into all kinds of imitation foods with added seasonings.”
“This…”
“It’s still better than eating whole earthworms, isn’t it?”
“…That’s true.
“Earthworms… really don’t sound appetizing.”
“That’s why every plant and animal here is priceless to the people living in the underground cities!
“Eldest Brother, do you know those six eggs I stole from Second Aunt?
“I sold them for sixty thousand Underground Credits!”
“Stole?”
“Uh…”
“Well, she was bullying our family!
“Forget that.
“Oh, right! The stinkweed we cut this morning sold for over two million.
“And the rabbit Uncle Feng gave us sold for another 2.3 million!
“So? Aren’t I amazing?”
“The underground city… pays that much?”
“When the apocalypse came, the people who managed to get into the underground cities were either rich or powerful!
“Of course, there were also ordinary people who survived because they were lucky enough to win a survival lottery.
“But those people could only afford synthetic molecular food.”
“…”
An overwhelming flood of information crashed into Zhuo Chang’an’s mind.
He fell silent.
Although he couldn’t digest everything at once, he was now completely convinced that the Zhuo Ling standing before him truly came from the future.
Swallowing with difficulty, he asked softly,
“Can… the Underground Credits be exchanged for copper coins here?”
“Of course!
“The exchange rate is just ridiculously awful—one thousand to one!
“I’ll show you.”
Pouting in frustration at the terrible conversion rate, Zhuo Ling quickly opened the Marketplace System and withdrew the money she’d earned from selling the rabbit.
Ding.
The system chimed.
A bulging cloth pouch instantly appeared in her hands.