At nine-thirty at night, the alarm that only rang on major occasions in Kangcheng blared again and again, echoing through the city.
All channels, broadcasts, and radio stations repeatedly announced the same message: a monster had appeared in the city and was injuring people everywhere. Citizens were urged to stay in safe places and protect themselves as best as they could.
Sheng Xia felt a chill run through her entire body.
It really had come.
The extraterritorial beasts described in the book were nothing like mutated animals. Most of them had bizarre, monstrous shapes, massive bodies, and resembled lions or tigers.
Standing two to three meters tall and about a meter wide, they moved with terrifying speed, armed with fangs and claws. In their eyes, humans were nothing more than food.
Sheng Xia only hesitated for half a second before deciding to leave immediately.
High-rise buildings could not stop these beasts, whose sense of smell was sharp and whose attack power was overwhelming. While only a few had entered the city so far, escaping Kangcheng now still offered a sliver of hope.
She took out her phone to call Su Mei, only to find there was no signal at all. Sheng Xia let out a quiet sigh.
Just as the original host’s memories had shown, the communication network was gradually being disrupted and destroyed, and with the weather conditions worsening, Kangcheng had already lost contact.
As Sheng Xia routinely checked the supplies in her spatial storage, her gaze swept across her black soil and suddenly lit up.
As expected, heaven never sealed all paths. At the most critical moment, one of the Blue Mist Flowers she had transplanted yesterday had produced a Blue Mist Fruit.
The fruit was about the size of a walnut, its surface shimmering with layers of blue light that circled around it continuously, beautiful and almost ethereal.
Without hesitation, Sheng Xia made a motion of light, and the Blue Mist Fruit appeared in her hand. She immediately swallowed it in one gulp.
The fruit melted instantly, spreading a sour-sweet, refreshing stream of energy through her body.
Unlike the rather useless Crimson Flame Flower, the power of the Blue Mist Fruit was not insignificant. Water existed everywhere, in the air, in the ground, and within the human body in the greatest abundance.
As long as Sheng Xia had strong mental power and wished for it, she could control all water elements.
Taking the Blue Mist Fruit was equivalent to naturally awakening a water-based ability. Although the strength varied from person to person, it would never be too weak.
While Sheng Xia was carefully sensing and absorbing its power, the little monkey, or rather Jinbao, as Sheng Xia had named it, was on her shoulder.
She said it had survived a great ordeal and would surely have good fortune ahead, and since it was golden all over and looked rather noble, she named it Jinbao.
Jinbao had been sitting quietly on her shoulder, not understanding why she suddenly froze.
It only caught a faint, special fragrance before the scent disappeared into Sheng Xia’s mouth.
It felt like it had missed out on something priceless. Furious, it waved its tiny claws and muttered in protest.
Seeing that Sheng Xia still did not react, it jumped onto her head and turned her hair into a bird’s nest.
A few minutes later, Sheng Xia felt her control over water elements greatly improve, and joy rose in her heart. She had no time to deal with Jinbao.
She grabbed it off her head, placed it on her shoulder, and held a baton in her hand before stepping out the door.
Everything was unfolding too quickly now, and she felt an overwhelming sense of urgency.
At this rate, humanity would be slaughtered en masse by these foreign beasts and reduced to food. Combined with food shortages, survival would become increasingly difficult.
She had to leave Kangcheng immediately and head for Xifeng City in order to save her life.
The book stated that the beasts would ravage Kangcheng throughout the entire night, roaming every street and alley. More than half the population would die before the army finally arrived at dawn to kill them.
Under military fire, the beasts scattered, suffering relatively few losses. Only a small number of civilians were rescued, and the original Sheng Xia was among them.
She and Su Mei had originally hidden in a bathroom, trembling through the night. Thinking the beasts would leave after dawn, they quietly went out to search for food.
Their supplies had already run out, and they had been starving for a full day. At that time, she had not yet awakened spatial abilities, so the mother and daughter went to the supermarket across the street hoping to find anything edible.
Unexpectedly, they encountered a Blood Red Leopard Beast that had just finished feeding and was resting there.
The beast woke the moment they entered.
Su Mei desperately tried to escape with her, but the beast kept chasing them.
At the final moment, just as the beast lunged, Su Mei used all her strength to push her away, buying her a chance to survive.
As the beast closed in, the original Sheng Xia’s body refused to move. She was completely frozen in terror, her mind replaying the scene of Su Mei being swallowed whole, unable to respond at all.
Fortunately, rescue forces arrived in time and pulled her away at the very last second.
She was taken to Xifeng City like a wandering soul. Overwhelmed by grief, she awakened an ability, but it was only spatial storage.
In a world like this, no one would support the useless unconditionally. To earn food and shelter, one had to contribute.
The original Sheng Xia, with no other skills, could only become a human storage container, following different teams to complete missions in exchange for food and shelter.
Until one mission, she was betrayed and used as a scapegoat by someone she trusted, leading to her death.
The memories of the mother and daughter in the book were still vivid. Sheng Xia felt as though she had lived through it herself, unable to distinguish whether she was the transmigrated Sheng Xia or the original one.
She splashed water on her face, forcing herself to stay clear-headed, and told herself inwardly: she was Sheng Xia, and eighteen years of martial training were not for nothing. She would survive.
Stepping outside, she forced herself to stay alert and observe her surroundings.
Fortunately, she lived in the northern part of the city, far from the southern area where the beasts had first entered.
People were fleeing in chaos around her, and traffic was colliding and scattering everywhere. Sheng Xia chose the fastest route out of the city and sprinted forward.
At the northern bus station, a highway exit was only a few hundred meters away.
Her goal was there. If she was lucky, she might be able to get a vehicle, which would make her escape much faster.
Unfortunately, it seemed her recent luck had run out. Just as she arrived at the station, she encountered a beast.
A Blood Red Leopard Beast exactly like the one described in the book, known for its speed and appetite.
It looked like a leopard, but its body was two to three times larger. Its entire body was blood-red, with four crimson eyes and two protruding fangs beside its mouth.
This beast was likely one of the earliest to rush into the city. It had not stopped along the way and had ended up here.
It was currently feeding alone, and Sheng Xia and Jinbao’s sudden arrival had disturbed its meal.
In the darkness, its blood-red eyes were blinding and terrifying.
Seeing yet another fresh meal delivered to it, the Blood Red Leopard Beast grew visibly excited. It swallowed the flesh in its mouth slowly and deliberately, all four red pupils locking onto Sheng Xia.
Sheng Xia’s body tensed instantly. Her eyes widened, her mind shaken, and her gaze filled with cold, burning hatred.