As soon as she made up her mind, Shen Qingyao got to work.
On the night before setting out, she shut her room door securely and closed every window.
With a flash, she entered her Space. First, she filled the bathtub with Spiritual Spring Water, then poured herself two cups and drank them.
Once everything was ready, she gripped two red crystal cores tightly in both hands, closed her eyes, and began absorbing the energy inside them.
At first, nothing happened.
Gradually, however, she felt a warm current flowing back and forth through her body.
The warmth was extremely faint. If she hadn’t focused all her attention on it, she wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
She knew this was the energy from the crystal cores, forcing its way through her meridians.
The warm current slowly spread downward from the top of her head. But when it was about to reach her chest, it suddenly stopped just above it.
She instinctively opened her eyes and spread out her palms.
The crystal cores had already lost their brilliant red color.
Only a dull gray-white remained.
She tossed the spent crystal cores aside, picked up another two, and continued absorbing their energy.
This time, the energy reached below her chest before stopping.
She repeated the process five more times before every meridian in her body was finally opened.
The moment her meridians were completely cleared, Shen Qingyao let out a long, comfortable sigh.
With her meridians opened, she tried activating an ability.
Nothing happened.
Her palms remained perfectly still, without the slightest reaction.
A trace of disappointment rose uncontrollably in her heart.
But Shen Qingyao wasn’t willing to give up so easily.
She had clearly felt the crystal cores striking her meridians, which meant they definitely worked.
“Could it be that I still haven’t absorbed enough crystal cores?” she muttered to herself.
With that thought, she grabbed another two crystal cores and silently absorbed their energy.
After they were drained, she threw away the useless shells.
She once again concentrated all the energy into her palms.
This time, her palms felt slightly warm, but there was still no visible change.
It seemed the crystal cores really were effective.
She simply hadn’t absorbed enough yet.
Fortunately, crystal cores were one thing she had plenty of.
Although she had spent the apocalypse hiding timidly inside her Space, she had also been incredibly lucky.
She had learned very early on that zombies carried crystal cores inside their brains.
Back then, before anyone knew crystal cores could strengthen abilities, she would secretly dig out every crystal core from the zombies killed by ability users and store them away.
At the time, she believed her Space itself was her ability.
So she wondered if saving crystal cores might strengthen her spatial ability.
But after collecting several hundred crystal cores, her Space hadn’t changed in the slightest.
Since nothing happened, she simply stopped worrying about it.
After all, the Space already contained every kind of shop imaginable.
Cake shops.
Hamburger shops.
Milk tea shops.
Clothing stores.
There were even arcades, bars, skating rinks, amusement parks, zoos…
In short, if a type of store existed in the real world, there was one inside her Space.
So she never forced the issue.
Shen Qingyao continued repeating the same process another five times.
Only then did she finally feel a scorching heat gathering in her palm.
Her eyes lit up instantly.
She knew she was about to succeed.
She spread out her hand and concentrated every bit of energy into her palm, staring at it without blinking.
Sure enough, a tiny flicker of lightning appeared.
“That’s wonderful! I actually awakened a lightning ability! But… does this count as one ability or two?”
Shen Qingyao was a little puzzled.
But she quickly pushed the question aside.
Who cared whether it was one or two?
The important thing was that she had awakened an ability.
She was so excited that she instinctively slapped the edge of the bathtub.
She had completely forgotten that lightning was still crackling in her hand.
The moment it touched the water on the edge of the tub—
Crackle! Crackle!
The electricity spread through the entire bathtub in an instant.
Shen Qingyao convulsed from the shock and hurriedly jerked her hand away.
But she was already too late.
The smell of burnt hair drifted into her nose.
She touched her hair, which had been fried into a giant afro.
Speechless.
Picking up the mirror beside her, she looked at her face.
As expected…
It was completely black with soot.
She sighed.
“What a disaster…”
“How did I get so carried away?”
She couldn’t help rolling her eyes at herself in the mirror.
The sight was absolutely ridiculous.
The lightning in her hand had already disappeared.
A cup of Spiritual Spring Water appeared in its place.
She quickly tilted her head back and drank the entire cup in one gulp.
Then she slowly submerged herself in the bath.
After being cleansed by the Spiritual Spring Water, her burnt hair returned to normal, and the black soot covering her face vanished.
She was once again a beautiful little fairy.
After stepping out of the bath, Shen Qingyao wrapped herself in a towel and stood before the large bathroom mirror, admiring the delicate face reflected inside it.
She looked herself over from the left.
Then from the right.
The more she looked, the more satisfied she became.
She reached out and gently touched the smooth skin on her face, neck, and collarbone.
Then she completely fell into self-admiration.
“I’m just too beautiful.”
“Look at this flawless face.”
“And this perfect figure.”
“I’m definitely the most beautiful woman in the world. No one can compare to me.”
She twisted left.
Then right.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t find a single flaw.
Shen Qingyao became completely absorbed in admiring both her beauty and her figure.
She was practically obsessed.
Only after half an hour did she reluctantly pull herself away from the mirror.
She changed into a light green short-sleeved outfit and flashed over to the livestock farm inside the Space, where she caught a hen.
She wanted to test whether her new ability could electrocute it to death.
She grabbed one of the hen’s wings with one hand to keep it from flapping away.
With her other hand, she gathered her power.
Crackling arcs of lightning immediately danced across her palm.
As the hen desperately kicked its legs and struggled nonstop, Shen Qingyao pressed her lightning-covered hand directly onto its head.
The instant her hand touched it, a series of sharp crackling sounds filled the air.
At first, the hen struggled frantically, desperately trying to escape the torment of the lightning.
But no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t escape Shen Qingyao’s grip.
Soon, the hen in her hand stopped moving.
It looked like it was dead.
Its feathers were scorched, giving off an unpleasant burnt smell.
Shen Qingyao didn’t remove her hand immediately.
Instead, she continued channeling lightning into the hen.
The lightning charred every feather on its body until they were black as coal, then they gradually drifted away into the air.
Once she felt it was about done, she withdrew her hand.
Only then did she notice that the hen had turned a beautiful golden brown on the outside.
She sniffed.
To her surprise, she smelled the delicious aroma of roast chicken.
Looking at the golden roasted chicken in her hand, her delicate, fair face was filled with hesitation.
Could a chicken killed by lightning actually be eaten?
Would she get food poisoning?
She lifted the roasted chicken closer to her nose.
The fragrance became even stronger.
She couldn’t help licking her lips and swallowing.
“It smells so good…” Shen Qingyao couldn’t help muttering.
In the end, she decided to taste what a chicken roasted by lightning actually tasted like.
She wasn’t greedy.
She was simply conducting an experiment.
She quickly tore off a drumstick.
Holding it near her mouth, she licked her lips again before hesitating.
The main problem was that she had no idea whether eating it would poison her.
Soon, however, determination filled her eyes.
It’s fine!
Even if I really get poisoned, I’ll just drink a cup of Spiritual Spring Water.
The Spiritual Spring Water can do anything.
Detoxifying poison would be no problem at all.
With that thought, she took a huge bite out of the drumstick.
After chewing the crispy skin and juicy, tender meat a few times, her eyes immediately lit up.
Delicious!
She quickly took another bite and then began devouring the chicken with great enthusiasm.
Who would have thought?
She truly hadn’t expected it.
A chicken roasted by lightning was actually this delicious.
It had completely exceeded her expectations.
Unable to stop herself, she finished the entire roast chicken by herself.
After eating, she wiped her mouth with a Wet Wipe and smacked her lips in satisfaction.
“The meat is nice and tender, and it’s really fragrant. It just needs a little more seasoning,” Shen Qingyao muttered to herself.
The hen: Please have some humanity!
What kind of normal person electrocutes a chicken to death with lightning and roasts it on the spot?
That’s way too brutal!
Instead of returning directly to the inn, Shen Qingyao flashed straight into the Imperial Palace.
Simply emptying out the palace wasn’t enough to avenge the original owner.
Since they all despised the original owner for being an Ugly Freak, she’d make them ugly too.
Only then would it be fair.
Shen Qingyao headed first to the Empress’s Palace.
Two palace maids were standing guard outside for the night, but they were no obstacle to her.
She slipped inside and looked at Shen Shuyan, who was lying on the bed with her brows tightly furrowed.
Disgust flashed across Shen Qingyao’s eyes.
She took out a powerful anesthetic injection.
She planned to deal with Shen Shuyan the same way she had dealt with Bai Wu—with a single shot.
That way, Shen Shuyan wouldn’t cry out in pain.
See? I’m so thoughtful. So kind.
Shen Qingyao couldn’t help praising herself once again.
She covered Shen Shuyan’s mouth with one hand while driving the anesthetic needle into her body.
The pain caused Shen Shuyan’s eyes to fly open.
Just like Bai Wu, she didn’t even get a clear look at who was standing in front of her.
She immediately lost consciousness.
The anesthetic wasn’t something to joke about.
The moment it entered the body, it caused the victim to go limp before knocking them unconscious almost instantly.
Seeing that Shen Shuyan had fainted, a small, exquisitely crafted scalpel appeared in Shen Qingyao’s hand.
Holding the scalpel, she thought for a moment before finally making up her mind.
The blade flashed back and forth across Shen Shuyan’s face.
The scalpel was incredibly sharp.
Human skin was as fragile before it as a sheet of paper.
Two minutes later…
Shen Qingyao withdrew the scalpel.
Shen Shuyan’s entire face was covered in blood, making it impossible to tell what had been carved into it.
Shen Qingyao wasn’t satisfied.
She took out disinfecting wipes and patiently wiped away the blood from Shen Shuyan’s face.
One wipe after another.
She used an entire pack before the bleeding finally stopped.
Only then could the carving be seen clearly.
On Shen Shuyan’s forehead was a vividly carved rat with shifty, beady eyes.
On both cheeks were the words:
“Vicious Woman Deserves to Die!”
Shen Qingyao still wasn’t completely satisfied.
She spread open her palm.
Lightning crackled loudly within it.
Smiling, she released the lightning toward Shen Shuyan’s head.
In an instant, Shen Shuyan’s hair was scorched black, puffing up into something that looked like an exploding dark cloud.
Completely satisfied with her masterpiece, Shen Qingyao took out a camera.
Click! Click!
She snapped two photos.
Without lingering any longer, she flashed over to the scumbag’s palace residence.
As before, one shot of the powerful anesthetic sent him unconscious before he even had a chance to open his eyes.
The scalpel flashed repeatedly across the scumbag’s face.
After she finished carving, she took out alcohol wipes and carefully cleaned away the blood.
She kept wiping until the wounds stopped bleeding.
Only after the blood was cleaned away could the carvings be seen clearly.
A coiled snake was carved onto the scumbag’s forehead.
On both cheeks were the words:
“Scumbag, Go Die!”
She then used lightning to scorch his hair black as well.
She took another two photographs.
After finishing everything, Shen Qingyao returned to the inn in high spirits.
She decided that, while she was still on someone else’s territory, it was better to honestly return to her room and sleep.
Early the next morning, Shen Qingyao went to the mule and horse market.
The moment she stepped inside, she attracted quite a few curious looks.
First, because she was beautiful.
Second, because people who came to buy horse-drawn or ox-drawn carts were usually from fairly well-off families.
Although the young woman was exceptionally pretty and carried herself with elegance, her clothes were plain, and she wore no ornaments in her hair.
People naturally assumed she came from an ordinary household.
Most of them didn’t think she could afford either a horse carriage or an ox cart.
So no one bothered recommending anything to her.
That saved Shen Qingyao quite a bit of trouble.
She calmly looked around the market.
Soon she spotted a fairly large shop and walked inside.
A shop assistant immediately came forward to greet her.
He didn’t neglect her just because she was dressed simply.
Instead, he greeted her warmly.
“Miss, what are you looking to buy? Would you like me to introduce our selection?”
Shen Qingyao nodded.
“I’d like to buy a horse and a carriage. What would you recommend?”
The shop assistant nodded and led her into the backyard.
The backyard was enormous.
Inside the stable stood ten tall, powerfully built horses.
Each one stood proudly with its head held high.
At a single glance, it was obvious they were all fine horses.