“College Roommate, Feng Jianan”
“Guard Corps member Jiang Qiao, your body has fully recovered. You may leave the recovery pod.”
After spending about three hours inside the recovery pod, Wendy followed the pod’s treatment progress and removed the interference. Before long, several doctors in white coats entered together with Liao Chengyu and the others.
The lid of the recovery pod slowly opened. Liao Chengyu and the others immediately stepped forward.
“Qiaoqiao, are you okay? Is there anywhere that still hurts?” a short-haired girl asked anxiously.
Wendy had none of Jiang Qiao’s memories and had no idea what their relationship was, so she merely hummed to indicate that she was fine.
“That’s good.”
Liao Chengyu, who stood at the front, nodded. Aside from her shoulders visibly relaxing, no one could have guessed how nervous she had been before.
“Rest for the next two days. Mingmei will take over your patrol duties for now. Put your training on hold as well. You can make up for it once you’ve completely recovered.”
Wendy nodded to show that she understood. After giving her a few more instructions, Liao Chengyu left first.
As soon as Liao Chengyu left, Mingmei, who was standing beside them, suddenly burst out laughing.
“You should’ve seen the captain! You have no idea how nervous she was when you were rescued. She stayed in the medical department, and we couldn’t drag her away.”
“Come on. I’ll accompany you back first, then I’ll go on patrol. Can you walk by yourself?”
Wendy nodded and walked alongside Mingmei toward their dormitory.
Mingmei was a wheat-skinned girl with short hair that reached her ears, giving her a spirited and dashing appearance. She had a cheerful personality and was somewhat carefree.
Perhaps because she wanted to ease the gloomy atmosphere after her friend had just survived a life-and-death ordeal, she kept chatting with Wendy all the way.
Wendy listened without revealing anything on her face. She subtly used her ability to guide Mingmei, and without realizing it, Mingmei revealed everything about Jiang Qiao.
Jiang Qiao was gentle and modest, warm-hearted, and one of the few easygoing people in the Guard Corps. Because of this, whenever the Transferees had any requests, they would basically come looking for Jiang Qiao.
Her physical fitness and combat skills were considered average among the Guard Corps, but she had an exceptionally high talent for shooting. Even when she was in military school, she had been one of the very best marksmen.
Not difficult to impersonate.
But she would have to make some appropriate adjustments.
As soon as they returned to the dormitory, Mingmei’s wristband began beeping.
She sighed. One foot had already stepped outside the door, but she hesitated and turned back to look at Wendy.
“I’ll go first, Qiaoqiao. Remember to get plenty of rest, and also…”
She pursed her lips, seemingly hesitant to continue.
“The boat has actually been… somewhat unsettled these past two days. There are some things you shouldn’t get involved in, especially that Wang family. I’ll just bring you some food when I come back.”
After saying that, she hurriedly ran off.
Wendy watched her retreating figure thoughtfully.
The Wang family?
Mingmei had mentioned them briefly while chatting earlier. Apparently, they were a family that Escape Boat 028 had made an exception to rescue when the great tsunami arrived. Somehow, they had received information beforehand and prepared a civilian submarine.
Although the small submarine had temporarily kept the family alive during the great tsunami, it was obviously far from enough to survive in this apocalypse, where alien species and natural disasters existed side by side.
The Wang family’s civilian submarine had drifted at sea for several days before coincidentally encountering Escape Boat 028, which was traveling along the same route. They were rescued just as their food and supplies were running out.
Before Jiang Qiao’s accident, she had always been helping this family. But from what Mingmei meant, it seemed that these people weren’t particularly good people.
Wendy stopped thinking about it and walked inside.
Even if Mingmei hadn’t warned her, she wouldn’t have meddled too much. She didn’t have the same kind heart Jiang Qiao had.
The dormitory the two shared wasn’t large, only about nine square meters, but despite being small, it had everything they needed. Not only was there a private bathroom, there was even a shooting target and a punching strength-testing machine installed in the corner.
Wendy stared at the strength-testing machine for a moment. After confirming that there were no surveillance cameras installed inside the room, she put on a pair of boxing gloves and walked over.
Her inherited memories told her that the Royal Family had been born from the fusion of the Three Sea Clans and a drop of blood from the Primordial God. Therefore, aside from the divine authority of “Dominance” inherited from the god, they also possessed characteristics of all three clans.
The spiritual energy of the Sea Spirit Clan, the strength of the Sea Hunter Clan, and the illusion arts of the Siren Clan.
When the apocalypse arrived, she had clearly felt the changes in her body. However, without actually measuring them, she had no clear understanding of how much the Sea Hunter’s strength had altered her physical abilities.
Things she didn’t understand were prone to slipping beyond her control.
She would never allow that to happen.
After tightening the boxing gloves, Wendy clenched her fist and threw a punch forward with all her strength.
The numbers on the machine’s display flickered and rolled several times before settling on a result.
317 kilograms.
The moment the number appeared, her pupils contracted slightly.
The world record before the apocalypse seemed to have been only a little over two hundred kilograms.
She removed the boxing gloves and looked at her hands.
Although she had used her spiritual energy to disguise herself as Jiang Qiao, her body was still her own. She had only modified her appearance and certain physical details.
Once the spiritual-energy disguise was removed, her hands had none of the hard calluses left behind by years of holding a gun. They were slender and fair, making it impossible to tell that those hands could effortlessly knock an adult man to the ground with a single punch.
Wendy narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.
She liked this kind of strength that didn’t reveal itself.
It could deceive an enemy, allowing her to deliver a fatal blow when they let their guard down.
After removing the gloves, she looked at the digital clock hanging on the wall.
Mingmei had said she would bring food back for her. There were still more than two hours until mealtime, which meant Wendy had two hours to familiarize herself with the identity she was currently impersonating.
Her gaze swept toward the shooting target against the wall. Wendy pulled out the personal sidearm at her waist.
Guard Corps member Jiang Qiao was a shooting prodigy, but before the apocalypse, as an ordinary citizen, she had never had the opportunity to come into contact with firearms.
According to the information displayed on her combat wristband, the second day after her medical leave ended would include shooting training and combat-boat piloting training.
She had no way to prepare for combat-boat piloting in advance. She could only deal with it when the time came and take things one step at a time.
But at the very least, she couldn’t afford to have any problems with Jiang Qiao’s greatest specialty—shooting.
With that thought, she raised the gun. Relying on the scattered information about firearms she had seen online before the apocalypse, she aimed at the target.
Bang!
She pulled the trigger.
A bullet shot out at incredible speed and, accompanied by the sound of it tearing through the air, embedded itself directly in the center of the target.
Ten rings.
Just as she had expected.
Wendy curled her lips into a faint smile, put away the gun, and walked toward the target.
The Sea Hunter’s strength had completely transformed her body. Even though she had never handled a firearm before, her extraordinary senses and strength allowed her to easily replicate—and even surpass—the shooting ability of the “shooting prodigy” Jiang Qiao.
She could imitate Jiang Qiao’s imperfect movements on the spot when necessary.
The only thing she needed to worry about now was combat-boat piloting.
The Guard Corps’ standard firearms were still conventional ammunition-based guns commonly seen before the apocalypse. At least, she had some knowledge of those thanks to the internet.
But during the battle against the giant spider, the combat boats operated by the Guard Corps were clearly high-tech products created under strict technological restrictions.
She had no way of learning anything about them and couldn’t make any preparations in advance.
Wendy lowered her eyes and looked at the bullet marks on the target, which had already been completely erased by her spiritual energy.
When the time comes, I’ll see if I can imitate someone else.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll just erase their memories.
After taking a shower and changing into a fresh combat uniform, Wendy read through the Guard Corps regulations once.
By then, it was already past six-thirty.
Mingmei still hadn’t returned, so Wendy simply headed toward the cafeteria herself.
The Guard Corps residential area and the Transferees’ residential area on the escape boat were separated, occupying the upper and lower levels respectively. The dining area was located between the two levels.
“What the hell is this? Is this even fit for human consumption?”
“You people get to eat good food yourselves, while you give us ordinary people this kind of garbage, huh?!”
The moment Wendy reached the cafeteria entrance, she heard an angry curse accompanied by the sound of bowls and plates being smashed onto the floor.
The troublemaker was a man in his twenties. He stood arrogantly with one foot on a chair, pointing at the Guard Corps member in front of him and shouting abuse.
The food he had knocked over was scattered beneath the chair.
And the Guard Corps member standing opposite him was none other than Mingmei.
She stood there in a daze, staring at the food spilled across the floor, her hands still frozen in the position of holding a meal box.
The transparent meal container had fallen to the ground, and the specially prepared military rations made from dehydrated processed food had spilled out, becoming covered in dust.
Behind the troublemaker stood a sharp-featured couple who were raising their heads proudly and supporting their son.
The three of them looked extremely pleased with themselves, as though they believed they were heroes standing up for ordinary people. They didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with what they had done.
Except for the girl standing at the far right.
She was in her twenties, with her hair loosely tied to one side. Her face looked haggard.
Wendy’s gaze stopped when it passed over her.
Feng Jianan?
In just a little over ten days, she had lost another considerable amount of weight. She had already been thin to begin with, but now she even looked somewhat malnourished, completely unlike the lively girl she had once been in college.
“You… you people!”
Mingmei finally snapped back to reality. She pointed at the troublemaker in front of her, trembling with anger.
The other Guard Corps members who had been eating also reacted. One after another, they stood up and walked over to Mingmei.
Wang Tianci was startled by the sudden show of force and took two steps backward.
But then he remembered that all the Transferees’ eyes were focused on him, so he puffed out his chest again.
“Oh? What? The great Guard Corps officers came over here to beat me up?”
“Did I say anything wrong? Everyone, take a look. Look at what’s in their bowls!”
“They’ve got vegetables and meat! And what do they give us? These scraps of leaves! Are they treating us like beggars?”
Some people silently continued eating the food in their hands without saying anything.
Others were stirred up by the troublemaker. They whispered among themselves, their faces showing dissatisfaction.
But the Guard Corps members couldn’t remain so calm.
Especially after they had only recently gone through a devastating battle with heavy casualties.
Many of the soldiers were so angry that their eyes turned red. Their tightly clenched fists trembled uncontrollably.
Yet the bottom line expected of soldiers prevented them from taking their anger out on ordinary civilians.
Wang Tianci, however, mistook all of this for the Guard Corps admitting that they were in the wrong.
He became even more emboldened and stepped forward, deliberately placing one foot on the food scattered across the floor.
“Tianci, don’t do this. Let’s just talk things out.”
Feng Jianan hesitated before tugging at her boyfriend’s sleeve.
Wang Tianci had been enjoying the attention from the Transferees behind him, completely immersed in his fantasy of being a hero.
Hearing his girlfriend try to stop him, he immediately felt that she had embarrassed him.
“Shut up. Do you even have a say here?”
He turned around and shoved Feng Jianan.
Caught completely off guard, Feng Jianan fell backward.
Her head was about to slam into the sharp corner of the table when, suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and caught her.
Wendy stepped forward, shielding her behind her as she stood beside Mingmei.
When Wang Tianci saw Jiang Qiao, a flash of delight appeared in his eyes.
Finally, this sucker is here.
He had originally been worrying about how he would deal with things if this incident became too serious.
“Jiang…”
He had just begun to speak when, in the next second, a pair of hands suddenly seized him by the collar.
His entire body was slammed to the ground, his face pressed firmly into the food that had been scattered across the floor.
The girl narrowed her eyes and smiled as she always had, looking as though she would forever gently agree to everything and forgive everything.
But the words that came from her mouth were as cold as ice, completely contradicting her expression.
“Didn’t you want to eat? Then eat.”
Oh my god, a new novel has actually been released so quickly! I’m so happy I’m going to cry. I love you guys!