Chapter 67: Relief
Through the temporal fog, Wan Youzhi caught a glimpse of Base No. 35’s near future.
In that vision, every single psychic in Base No. 35 suddenly lost their powers within a short window of time because they drank water contaminated by the toxic black liquid. That window would be the perfect window for Wan Youzhi and his men to swoop in and take over the entire base.
Wan Youzhi slowly opened his eyes, a flicker of confusion crossing his gaze.
Why? Why was what he saw just now different from what he had seen the day before?
Originally, conquering Base 35 was supposed to be a much simpler affair. They only needed to exploit the enemy’s lack of preparation, launch a sudden blitzkrieg, and unleash the black water during the chaotic melee to force a helpless surrender. Now, the difficulty of the assault had spiked significantly.
Wan Youzhi had to figure out a way to trick the majority of Base No. 35’s mutants into consuming the black water.
“Fanfan, do you know where the main water tower at Base 35 is located?”
Avoiding Wan Youzhi’s intense gaze, Ruan Fanfan slowly shook her head.
“What’s so hard about finding it? I’ll mark a few high-probability coordinates, and you can sneak in to scout them out,” Lin Han said, pulling a map of Base No. 35 from his jacket. It was the same schematic Ruan Fanfan had sketched during her previous scout run.
Lin Han unrolled the map and signaled for Ruan Fanfan to step closer. “Going by past layout designs, the water tower should be erected right in this quadrant. You should also inspect this sector over here—there’s a strong chance they have an underground reservoir.”
Ruan Fanfan kept her eyes lowered, remaining silent. Now that Base 35 had established a direct line with the God’s Supermarket, she was feeling deeply conflicted about proceeding with the operation.
“I’ll go with you,” Zhang Lei said. Sensing her hesitation, he reached out and gently squeezed her arm.
“Forget it. I’m going to use my spatial storage to haul all those barrels of black water along,” Lin Han sighed, waving his hand dismissively. “You don’t have a stealth or mobility attribute anyway, so what’s the point of you tagging along?”
“I still think this plan is a bad idea,” Ruan Fanfan finally muttered.
“That’s just your opinion,” Wan Youzhi replied flatly. Sweeping his hands behind his back, he turned and walked out of the tent.
“Sorry to break up you two lovebirds, but as the old saying goes, a brief absence only makes the heart grow fonder,” Lin Han grinned, his mood soaring. Victory felt practically within his grasp.
Ruan Fanfan caught sight of Lin Han’s yellow, stained teeth and curled her lip in disgust, turning her face away.
Back at the God’s Supermarket, Song Yuqing, Little Meat Bun, and Gaha had finally finished packaging and dispatching the massive wave of orders. Needing to catch up on sleep, Song Yuqing set a loud alarm, terrified that an emergency in the southern suburbs might require her immediate intervention.
Time to sleep, sleep, sleep! We just have to wait for the pigeons to return!
Armed with an absolute mountain of combat supplies and meticulous defenses to protect Base No. 35, Nanjiao was in high spirits. Song Yuqing felt an equally massive wave of relief, glad she wouldn’t be losing her most lucrative corporate client.
But the moment Song Yuqing woke up, her good mood evaporated.
Liu Xiaona had returned from her excursion, leading dozens of pitch-black figures back from Base No. 27. Looking at the crowd, Song Yuqing could barely even distinguish their genders by their clothing.
“What is this? What the hell happened over there?”
“They were completely miserable, boss,” Liu Xiaona said, nervously scratching her palms. “They were weeping and begging for help, so I couldn’t just leave them behind.”
She hadn’t intended to drag a massive liability back to the God’s Supermarket, but the conditions she witnessed were simply too harrowing. These people had been chained like wild animals to iron pillars, repeatedly beaten by guards who forced them to continuously drain their toxic black water into holding pools.
“Why didn’t you guys even attempt to fight back?” Liu Xiaona had asked the blackened psychics after she knocked out the remaining guards left at Base No. 27.
It wasn’t that the water mutants at Base 27 hadn’t tried to rebel; they simply lacked the power. The highest-ranking psychic among them was only at the mid-tier of development—nowhere near strong enough to challenge Lin Han, who took sadistic pleasure in tormenting them. Anyone who dared step out of line was ruthlessly sucked into Lin Han’s void space, vanishing from the face of the earth forever.
“Even if your powers mutated, you’re still active espers,” Song Yuqing pointed out, her eyes narrowing slightly as she suspected a trap. “Your toxic water can literally neutralize an enemy’s abilities. Why didn’t you turn that power against your captors?”
“Don’t even get us started on that. Lin Han didn’t trust us for a second,” one mutant spat bitterly. “To put it bluntly, the bastard was terrified we’d turn on him and temporarily strip him of his powers.”
“If he kept you locked up, how was Base 27 managing its daily water supply?”
“He had already stockpiled dozens of tons of pure water well in advance.”
“We were basically treated like dairy cows, milked until we were dry.”
The complaints ran rampant through the crowd. Song Yuqing remained silent, her suspicions lingering. Pulling Liu Xiaona several paces away, she whispered, “Did you really manage to break these people out of Base No. 27 without running into any resistance?”
“Yeah,” Liu Xiaona blinked innocently. “I just walked them right out. It was shockingly easy.”
“Don’t you think that’s incredibly sketchy?” Song Yuqing muttered. Had Lin Han suddenly lost his edge, or had his brain simply rotted away?
The refugees crowded at the supermarket’s threshold began exchanging awkward glances. Song Yuqing and Liu Xiaona’s hushed conversation wasn’t exactly quiet.
“Why aren’t you asking us why Lin Han forced us to pump all that black water in the first place?” one of the mutants called out.
“Alright, why?” Song Yuqing asked, though the realization hit her the moment the words left her mouth.
“Because his primary objective is to use that black water to poison Base 35.”
Another mutant stepped forward. “Look, you don’t need to treat us like we’re deep-cover spies. We were only left behind because of the Grand Seer’s latest prophecy. He declared that no rival factions would dare cause trouble at our base during this deployment.”
“Plus, the stronghold is practically swimming in black water. The remaining guards figured if anyone broke in with hostile intentions, they could just weaponize the liquid to shut down the intruders’ powers.”
As the mutants chimed in one after another, the volume in the lobby began to steadily rise.
“Wait, then what about me?” Liu Xiaona blinked, utterly surprised. “Why didn’t those watchdogs attack me with the black water?”
“Well… you were honestly just way too fast and powerful for them to track.”
Liu Xiaona let out a satisfied chuckle, proudly declaring that she simply possessed phenomenal combat instincts. During her time working at the God’s Supermarket, she had been eating high-tier food, drinking attribute coffee, and her internal energy reserves had reached a peak state of cultivation.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” Song Yuqing decided, stepping in to manage the crowd. “Everyone pack into the building next door for now. Each of you will receive a bar of handmade soap so you can wash up.”
Moving back to her terminal, she opened the chat window with Nanjiao, typing a frantic warning about Lin Han’s chemical warfare strategy.
[Song Yuqing]: Make sure your combat units keep their skin entirely covered during the fight. Most importantly, do not consume any food or water inside the perimeter until this is over.
Meanwhile, the refugees stood frozen in the lobby, staring in sheer bewilderment as Liu Xiaona walked down the line, placing a custom bar of soap into each of their hands.
“Um… we’re black because of a genetic energy mutation,” one of them muttered awkwardly. “Not because we forgot to take a bath.”
“I know that! I’m a water-type mutant myself, but look at me—my skin is perfectly fine,” Liu Xiaona whispered conspiratorially, hoisting a bar of soap. “Thanks to this specialized batch, I managed to completely purge the mutation from my system.”
“Are you serious?!”
“She’s telling the truth! I recognize her—that’s Liu Xiaona!” a woman in the back gasps, instantly identifying her as Sister Qin’s old roommate.
“Oh thank god, we’re actually saved!”
The crowd erupted into murmurs of relief. After all, who would willingly choose to go through the apocalypse looking like a charred piece of wood?
Once Liu Xiaona finished distributing the supplies, she ushered the group over to the adjacent facility to settle in. Song Yuqing remained glued to the monitor, waiting for the latest logistics intelligence from the southern suburbs.
Upon receiving Song Yuqing’s urgent ping, Nanjiao had immediately escalated the data to Base No. 35’s high command. Following a swift reconnaissance sweep, scouts successfully intercepted active traces of toxic black water pooling around the perimeter of the primary water tower and the main reservoir.
Acting out of sheer caution, the leadership at Base 35 authorized the immediate drainage of their entire water reserve. Even though the liquid had been generated safely by their local water espers after recovering from the mutation, the psychics had been working around the clock to build up a buffer so the community wouldn’t be caught off guard by a sudden drought.
[Nanjiao]: Song Yuqing, I’ve organized the civilian population here at Base 35. We just placed a bulk order for 300 cups of attribute coffee. Please expedite the shipment!
Nanjiao was well aware that the offensive benefits of attribute coffee were severely capped when consumed by ordinary humans without active superpowers, but it was infinitely better than nothing. In the event of a sudden breach, throwing down a cup of magically charged espresso would give a regular citizen just enough of a physical spike to protect themselves.
At that exact moment, a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness of the outer sector, walking deliberately toward Base No. 35’s frontline service station with a crackling sphere of pure fire dancing in his palm.
