Gu Han Yan was still somewhat worried.
"Since the captain has agreed to include that child in our team, protecting her is also our responsibility. It isn’t enough to just rely on Jiang Lai. It’s enough if she can protect herself."
"You’re overthinking. In this post-apocalyptic world, we can’t afford to be so kind. The most important thing is to take care of yourself."
Gu Han Yan pondered and sighed.
"If that were true, living would be so much easier. Unfortunately, in reality, no one can truly live just for themselves."
Duan Xu didn’t respond anymore but deeply agreed and admired this woman even more.
They set off again, but before they had driven for long, a tire blew. While changing the tire, a group of second-generation zombies that had been long ambushing nearby rushed out. Caught off guard, some were injured in the panic. Jiang Chao’s flames repelled most of the zombies, while on the other side, Yan Zhouxing turned water into ice to protect the bus from a few zombies trying to climb on.
Inside the bus, a man stood at the door with a gun, while several women and the elderly huddled silently at the back, not daring to make a sound.
Jiang Lai was dealing with the second-generation zombies climbing onto the roof. Then, when she turned around, she saw that Yan Zhouxing’s side was breached and a zombie had already entered the bus.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Lai resolutely opened the sunroof and climbed inside. In the darkness, she located the zombie with precision and was about to control it with her spiritual ability when a sudden, piercing, electrifying sound echoed throughout the bus.
Everyone, including the zombie and the Superpower Users, felt the powerful electric current and fell to the ground in pain, clutching their heads.
Jiang Lai snatched the little girl in the corner, covering her ears tightly as they rolled and crawled to escape the bus. Once outside, she saw the ground littered with the corpses of second-generation zombies and Jiang Chao, Duan Xu, and the others also on the ground, covering their ears and struggling, looking pale.
At this moment, a black armored combat vehicle approached. The sharp electric sound was coming from this vehicle. Little Buding helped Jiang Lai block the sound’s control so she could better recall the scenes in the story related to this vehicle.
Jiang Lai remembered.
Indeed, in the original plot, the group encountered a black combat vehicle. A group of people descended from it, searched among them for a while, and then left, seemingly looking for someone.
However, at that time, the original protagonist didn’t have powers, so she wasn’t controlled by the electric current. She just remembered that Jiang Chao seemed to have been taken away and that eventually, all the Superpower Users in the group were put onto the vehicle. The remaining people drove to a research base where they stayed for a few days. After all the Superpower Users had their blood drawn and samples taken, they were released.
What happened during that time?
The story introduced it briefly, and from the original protagonist’s perspective, she had no idea what happened. She was just an ordinary person, and there were many areas of the base she couldn’t access once they arrived.
But this time was different. Jiang Lai was also placed on the previous vehicle. The cabin was clean and tidy, with a few people inside—some men, some women, all wearing uniforms, like university students.
Once everyone got in, the first thing they did was be handcuffed and locked to a protruding nail in the cabin. Then, the door connecting to the front was opened, and a man in a white robe stepped out. He wore glasses, looked gentle and fair, scanned everyone, and then smiled politely.
"This time, we invited everyone up for a small matter. We’d like to trouble everyone to accompany us to the laboratory. To better study the superpowers that emerged in the post-apocalypse, we need to collect as many superpower samples as possible, striving to study the genetic patterns among them, to benefit more human compatriots striving to survive in this world."
As he spoke, he approached Gu Han Yan, who was closest to him, and crouched to look at her carefully.
"What’s your superpower?"
Gu Han Yan frowned. She didn’t want to expose her trump card, so she hid one of her abilities.
"Invisibility Ability."
The man nodded and continued asking each one.
Finally, when he asked the little girl next to Jiang Lai, the girl shook her head in confusion.
"I don’t know."
She truly didn’t know.
Because she hadn’t used or displayed it so far.
The man asked Jiang Lai.
"You don’t know what her superpower is either?"
Jiang Lai shook her head.
"My little sister is still young. She might not even know if she’s awakened her superpower."
"It’s alright, don’t be nervous. Uncle will just take a little blood from you. It won’t hurt."
The vehicle finally stopped in a dark underground parking lot. After getting off, everyone had an eye mask put on. When the eye mask was removed again, Jiang Lai found herself in a pure white isolation room. The room had a bed, a sofa, and a computer. Besides that, there was also a man, who was Yang Jun.
He had been captured before them and was now lying still, seemingly not wanting to pay attention to Jiang Lai.
Before she even had time to sit down, a group of people wearing white lab coats and protective caps came in, took three vials of blood from Jiang Lai without a word, then coldly tossed her a bottle of milk and a bag of bread, telling her they’d return in two hours.
Every two hours, they took three vials of blood, nearly fifty milliliters. No wonder Yang Jun looked like he was on the verge of anemic collapse.
This was entirely enforced, but no one would resist, as that strange electrical current could instantly strip all Superpower Users of their ability to act.
Jiang Lai chewed on the bread, looking at Yang Jun, who lay on his side facing away from her, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants, barefoot.
It was then that Jiang Lai realized she too was barefoot, with the pink nail polish the original protagonist liked to wear on her toes.
"How long have you been here?"
Yang Jun glanced at her sideways.
"What do you think?"
"How many days usually before we’re let go?"
"Not sure."
Jiang Lai frowned, stood up, and tried to look outside through the glass window, but the glass was frosted, and she could only see a blurry figure occasionally passing by outside, unable to discern what was going on.
"Who is the little girl sharing a room with?"
Little Buding sighed.
"What do you think? Of course, she’s in a room with the female lead."
"Oh, then what about Jiang Chao?"
"He’s in a room by himself. His superpower is very strong. That scientist is very interested in him, so he was given a single room."
Hmm, worthy of the male lead.
And the female lead too, lucky enough to choose who to be roomed with.
Jiang Lai wasn’t worried about Gu Han Yan and the little girl being together again. After all, the situation wouldn’t be as bad as in the original plot, where the little girl despised and resented her.
Even if they couldn’t be friends, at least they wouldn’t be enemies.