Su Mei nodded, reached out, tapped a few buttons on her communicator, and placed a call to Sheng Xia.
At that moment, Sheng Xia was in a rented apartment, eating dinner while watching the news and catching up on everything that had happened over the past month.
The streets and alleys of Kangcheng were packed with refugees. Most of them slept directly on the ground. It was still summer, so they could manage for now, but once winter arrived, no one knew how they would survive.
Many women were living in makeshift tents, while countless men came and went from them throughout the day. Sheng Xia let out a sigh. In the Apocalypse, simply staying alive was unimaginably difficult for women.
Unable to bear looking at it any longer, she had chosen a quiet apartment building and rented a room with half a packet of biscuits as payment.
Su Mei’s sudden call left her puzzled. Hadn’t they just spoken not long ago?
“Hello, Mom. Did something happen? Why are you calling at this hour?”
Sheng Xia’s crisp voice came through the communicator, causing Gu Ziyan’s heart to jolt.
He cleared his throat and said, “Sheng Xia, it’s me, Gu Ziyan.”
The moment she heard Gu Ziyan’s voice, the piece of braised pork in Sheng Xia’s mouth nearly fell out. She quickly swallowed her food.
The male lead had come looking for her. Was this short-lived female supporting character finally about to get dragged into the main storyline?
After wiping her mouth, she stammered nervously.
“C-Class Monitor!”
A soft chuckle came from the communicator.
“Still calling me Class Monitor? Where are you right now? Send me your location. I’ll come pick you up. I need your help with something.”
Gu Ziyan finished speaking in one breath and waited for her response.
Sheng Xia was completely bewildered. The male lead wanted to come find her personally? And he needed her help?
What was going on? She wasn’t the female lead!
“Um, Class Monitor, I’m in Kangcheng right now. Could I ask what exactly you need my help with?”
Despite her confusion, Sheng Xia had already guessed that Su Mei had probably told Gu Ziyan about her awakening a spatial storage ability.
Gu Ziyan did not hide anything.
“I’ve got a mission that requires traveling to the Lop Nur Desert. My team is still missing a spatial ability user. I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me out.”
As expected.
Combining his words with the news she had just watched, Sheng Xia immediately understood his intentions.
According to the reports, a dimensional rift had appeared within the Lop Nur Desert. Every day, it emitted dazzling seven-colored light. Powerful families and experts from around the world were eager to investigate it.
However, spatial ability users were still incredibly rare. Among ten thousand ability users, perhaps only one or two possessed spatial abilities.
Not only were they scarce, but most spatial users had little combat capability and required protection whenever they ventured outside.
Yet for dangerous long-distance expeditions that required vast quantities of supplies, a spatial ability user was invaluable.
Many spatial users had already been recruited or controlled by major factions and forced into service.
Sheng Xia was the first unclaimed spatial ability user Gu Ziyan had managed to find. He had not even asked how large her storage space was before moving decisively to secure her assistance.
When heading into a place like the desert, having a spatial user capable of carrying supplies was every team’s dream.
Sheng Xia considered his request for a moment.
Although she had no intention of refusing, she also could not abandon Su Mei in Yanjing after everything the Gu family had done for them.
Besides, there would definitely be treasures inside the dimensional rift. With the male lead’s plot armor protecting him, nothing major was likely to happen anyway.
“No problem, Class Monitor. I’m planning to head to Xifeng City tomorrow. How about we meet there?”
Xifeng City was a necessary stop on the route to Lop Nur. Gu Ziyan thought the suggestion was excellent. After finalizing the details and meeting time, he hurried off to the command headquarters to make arrangements.
Seeing that Sheng Xia could finally help out, Su Mei felt deeply relieved.
At last, mother and daughter were no longer simply accepting favors from the Gu family without giving anything in return.
Since Sheng Xia was safe, Su Mei threw herself even more enthusiastically into her work at the military hospital, eagerly awaiting the day they would be reunited.
After ending the call, Sheng Xia headed to the local relief center to inquire about transportation to Xifeng City.
To her surprise, she immediately ran into Chengzi, the gatekeeper who had previously given her directions.
When he learned that she was looking for transportation to Xifeng City, he enthusiastically offered his help.
His brother-in-law happened to drive a bus route between Kangcheng and Xifeng City.
After introducing her and helping arrange a departure time and fare, Sheng Xia returned to her apartment.
The moment she left, Chengzi and his brother-in-law, Qiang Ge, began whispering among themselves.
“Brother, when she entered the city she paid half a bag of biscuits, came alone, rented an apartment, and now she can even afford a packet of instant noodles for the fare. She’s definitely a fat sheep. We could…”
Qiang Ge was a burly man covered in muscle. Hearing this, he grinned.
“Good job. Once we squeeze everything valuable out of her tomorrow, we’ll sell her to Sister Huan. She should fetch a good price. She looks underage too. Might even be a virgin.”
Chengzi exchanged a knowing grin with him.
Meanwhile, Sheng Xia remained completely unaware that she had become their target.
After returning to her apartment, she settled Jinbao onto the bed and began her usual training routine.
Only after working up a heavy sweat did she enjoy a comfortable shower before climbing into bed for the night.
The next morning, Sheng Xia rose early to prepare for her journey.
Still half asleep, Jinbao was tucked into her pocket and carried around with her.
After spending a considerable amount of supplies in the ice-and-snow dimensional rift, she decided to learn more about current prices before properly restocking in Xifeng City.
Just as described in the novel, the primary currency used for transactions was called Contribution Points. Everyone could transfer them through their communicators.
Beast corpses, crystal cores, rare flowers and herbs, and food could all be exchanged for Contribution Points.
Likewise, Contribution Points could be used to purchase those items.
At the moment, however, Sheng Xia’s account contained absolutely nothing.
A huge goose egg.
She would need to find a way to earn some Contribution Points soon.
Once the agreed departure time approached, she headed toward the meeting location.
As soon as she arrived, she frowned.
The so-called bus Qiang Ge had described was merely a modified van capable of carrying around a dozen passengers. Its exterior had been reinforced and altered to provide a certain degree of protection.
At the moment, only three people occupied the vehicle.
The driver, Qiang Ge.
Chengzi.
And an elderly man with graying hair.
The old man sat near the center of the van, close to the door. Chengzi sat in the front passenger seat beside Qiang Ge as they chatted casually.
Seeing Sheng Xia arrive, Qiang Ge started the engine and honked the horn, signaling her to get in.
As she climbed aboard, she asked curiously, “There aren’t any other passengers? Cheng Ge, are you going to Xifeng City too?”
With a cigarette hanging from his lips, Qiang Ge replied indifferently.
“Just you and this old gentleman today. Chengzi has some business in Xifeng City, so we’re giving him a ride.”
Chengzi nodded with a cheerful smile.
“Don’t worry, miss. My brother Qiang is an ability user. You’ll be perfectly safe on this trip.”
After speaking, he shot Qiang Ge a meaningful glance. Qiang Ge immediately stepped on the accelerator and drove toward the city gates.
Suspicious, Sheng Xia moved to the back row and found a seat. She said nothing further.
Jinbao climbed out of her pocket and sat in her palm, curiously observing his surroundings while Sheng Xia gently stroked his fur and thought about her plans after reaching Xifeng City.
Jinbao glanced toward Chengzi and Qiang Ge.
The two men looked shifty and malicious. His round ears twitched as he listened to their thoughts.
Qiang Ge: Once we’re out of the city and reach that spot, we’ll kill the old man first, then have some fun dealing with this girl…
Chengzi: It’s been ages since I’ve had any action. If she’s really a virgin, we’ll have hit the jackpot…
The filthy thoughts filling their minds instantly made Jinbao bare his teeth. He screeched angrily at them.
His sudden outburst drew everyone’s attention.
Neither Qiang Ge nor Chengzi had realized that Sheng Xia was keeping a golden snub-nosed monkey as a pet, and their delight only grew.
Anyone who could still afford to keep a pet in these times had to be wealthy.
A flash of greed crossed their faces before they quietly waited for the right opportunity.
Jinbao’s sudden aggression startled Sheng Xia.
When she saw that everyone else was merely curious, she said nothing.
Instead, she picked Jinbao up and held him before her face, silently asking why he had reacted so violently.
Jinbao understood. His golden eyes rolled thoughtfully before he stared directly at her.
At the same moment, Sheng Xia felt a strand of spiritual power attempting to connect with hers and establish communication.
She was stunned.
Extending her own spiritual power, she met the incoming energy and was shocked to discover that it belonged to Jinbao.
Without making a sound, the two communicated through their spiritual power.
As Jinbao relayed the vile thoughts hidden within the two men’s minds, Sheng Xia’s expression darkened with every word.
At the same time, she was astonished by Jinbao’s ability.
He could actually sense good and evil, hear human thoughts, and essentially possessed a form of telepathy.
His intelligence had already been extraordinary. After absorbing the power of the Snow Domain fruit, he had even learned to communicate with humans through spiritual power.
It was truly incredible.
Suppressing her shock, Sheng Xia hugged Jinbao and cast a cold glance toward Chengzi and Qiang Ge from the corner of her eye.
Those two really dared to dream.
They genuinely thought she was an easy target.
If she dared travel alone in the outside world, naturally she had means of protecting herself.
Judging by their confidence, they had likely committed many such crimes before and possessed some degree of strength. They probably had never encountered anyone capable of fighting back.
Still, Sheng Xia did not allow herself to become overconfident.
She had yet to discover what trump cards the pair possessed. It was best to wait and observe.
The only unfortunate part was that the elderly man had become involved as well.
From the moment Jinbao appeared until now, the old gentleman had shown almost no reaction. He behaved as though such things were completely normal, remaining remarkably calm.
Sheng Xia could not help studying him more closely.
He wore a neat set of casual clothes and a pair of branded athletic shoes. A cane rested in one hand, while a briefcase sat beside him. His white hair was carefully combed without a single strand out of place.
His facial features were the sort that naturally put people at ease. Though wrinkles now covered his face, he must have been extraordinarily handsome when he was younger.
When he noticed Sheng Xia looking at him, he nodded politely and offered her a kind smile.
Sheng Xia returned the gesture with equal courtesy, becoming even more convinced that he was no ordinary person.
A month had already passed since the locust disaster.
Food reserves in many areas had long been exhausted. Even people with money often could not buy food anymore.
Combined with the constant attacks from mutated beasts that forced people to flee their homes, few remained to cultivate crops and maintain production.
Food had become the most critical resource for survival in the Apocalypse.
In a world where many people could not even feed themselves, Sheng Xia traveled alone while raising a pet monkey. That alone suggested she was far from ordinary.
The drive from Kangcheng to Xifeng City normally took five hours.
If anything unexpected happened along the way, it could take even longer.
She had departed at seven in the morning and expected to arrive shortly after noon. Allowing for delays, she had arranged to meet Gu Ziyan at six in the evening.
For most of the journey, there were very few vehicles on the road.
Around ten o’clock, the van entered a remote mountain road.
Qiang Ge gave Chengzi a signal.
With a sudden turn of the steering wheel, the vehicle veered off onto a narrow mountain path.
The trail was secluded and desolate, completely devoid of other people.
The perfect place for murder and arson.
The sharp turn caused the van to jolt violently.
Sheng Xia opened the eyes she had been pretending to rest and thought silently to herself.
They’re making their move.