Volume One, Chapter Two: As Long as You’re Satisfied

"What are you doing in there, Wu Xingxue?" Shen Chi heard clattering noises coming from the bathroom.

He raised his hand to knock just as the door opened.

Shen Chi was met with Wu Xingxue’s deep, dark eyes.

Wu Xingxue closed the door behind her, “You knock when a lady is in the bathroom? Is that how you were raised?”

Shen Chi touched his nose, knowing he was at fault.

Wu Xingxue brushed past him, heading out. Wu Yumian suddenly followed her, speaking softly, “Sister, you’re so stubborn. If you can’t make it outside, you must come back.”

But her gaze was full of challenge, as if saying: If you have pride, don’t come back!

Wu Xingxue felt refreshed, eager to escape the scene of the crime, and replied perfunctorily.

“Mm, don’t worry, I definitely won’t come back.”

With that, she dashed out of the Wu family house as if chased by dogs, never once looking back.

Wu Xunan opened his mouth but didn’t have time to speak before Wu Xingxue’s figure vanished.

It felt as if something was suddenly missing inside him.

“Big brother,” Wu Yumian concealed her excitement, taking his arm, “Don’t be sad, Mianmian will always be by your side.”

Wu Xunan comfortingly patted her head.

Shen Chi sneered, “I’ll give her this: she’s got some backbone, didn’t beg just now. But she’s useless now, can’t even carry a bucket of water. She’ll definitely come crawling back tonight, I guarantee it!”

He nodded with certainty.

Wu Sheng asked, “Chi, did she really only go to the bathroom?”

Shen Chi nodded, “Yes, Mianmian and I watched. She didn’t go back to her room.”

Wu Sheng felt something was off.

Just then, a loud bang echoed.

Everyone jumped in shock.

A strange, indescribable stench began to spread throughout the villa, suffocating like a biochemical weapon.

Shen Chi gagged, “Ugh—what is this, ugh~ smell?”

Wu Yumian tried to hold back but failed, doubling over in dry heaves.

Then came the sound of gurgling water.

Wu Sheng’s face turned ashen as he rushed to the first-floor bathroom, but his momentum carried him right onto a puddle of yellow, mysterious substance…

“Ah!!”

Wu Sheng trembled as if electrocuted, emitting a shrill groundhog scream.

Wu Xunan, arriving behind, avoided stepping in thanks to Wu Sheng’s mishap, but his face turned green.

The bathroom had turned into a waterfall cave; the toilet was like a fountain, spewing filth madly.

The scene was so spectacular that Wu Xunan was stunned.

Who had ever witnessed something like this!

Shen Chi and Wu Yumian, arriving next, took one look and hurried back to vomit.

Shen Chi’s face was pale, “Ugh~ just wait till I get back at her! She’s grown up and still—”

“Ugh~”

“This is revenge!” Wu Xunan exclaimed, seeing Wu Sheng, the master of the house, nearly faint from the stench, his mind dissolving, while their mother—

Oh, she’d already fainted on the sofa.

As for the younger siblings, they were no help at all.

Now, the only one capable of handling this was Wu Xunan.

He desperately wanted to faint as well, rubbing his aching forehead.

What a mess!

Wu Xingxue had run nearly three or four hundred meters before slowing down, panting for breath, then bursting into laughter.

“Let’s see you spew filth again! So satisfying!”

The world seemed brighter.

Just thinking about the surprise she’d left for the Wu family, Wu Xingxue felt so pleased she wanted to pound her chest like a gorilla.

In her previous life, before the organization took her in, she wandered everywhere in order to survive, doing whatever it took.

Many street kids bullied her because she was young, but she was never one to take things lying down. She acted meek on the surface, but struck back hard in secret!

If someone was bathing, she’d steal their clothes. If they were using the toilet, she’d toss firecrackers in. At night, she’d whack people while they slept, three times a night, steady as clockwork.

Soon she became the boss of the street kids—otherwise, the organization would never have noticed her.

Her previous life was hard, but she never suffered a loss.

This lifetime, she’d entered the Wu family as a rich second-generation; from childhood, she wanted for nothing. When the apocalypse came, she awakened her powers and became a respected stronghold.

Yet to her surprise, all the losses she’d never endured in two lifetimes were endured in full after Wu Yumian returned to the Wu family these past three years.

Previously, bound by the Wu family’s strict upbringing, every time she wanted to kick a scumbag brother, she settled for rolling her eyes.

It frustrated her deeply.

Year after year, her sharp edge was worn away.

Now, Wu Xingxue had finally found herself again.

“Satisfying!”

Though she had no powers now and couldn’t beat them head-on, she could play dirty.

As long as she enjoyed herself, that was enough.

Once her joy faded, Wu Xingxue turned to practical concerns.

First, the most pressing issue arose.

Where would she sleep tonight?

The safety zone explicitly required everyone to be indoors at night, with severe punishment for those who loitered outside.

This meant Wu Xingxue had to find a place to stay before nightfall.

She pulled out her access card—balance: 52 Union Coins.

Enough to buy two palm-sized potato cakes that scratched the throat and a 500ml bottle of purified water.

If she didn’t eat or drink, she could afford a single night in a thirty-person dormitory.

Men and women all crowded together in a cramped, sweaty, smelly room.

Survivors there formed tight cliques; with Wu Xingxue’s current physical condition, she’d surely be bullied to death.

There was also a second pressing problem.

Wu Xingxue entered her consciousness space.

“These things—where did they come from?”

The space ring was a lucky find, rare but not unique. To be safe, she’d split her skin and hidden it in her chest.

Even the Wu family didn’t know.

It originally contained only a few clothes, half a bottle of water—pathetically poor.

Its only valuable item was a special anti-inflammatory pill she’d secretly saved when badly injured.

But now, there were all sorts of miscellaneous things.

The giant beast fang she’d used to sabotage the toilet, and several palm-sized stone tablets carved with strange symbols, some kind of writing.

They carried a sense of ancient history.

There was also a large bundle of black-and-white fur.

Wu Xingxue hid in a secluded corner, pulling out the fur from her space.

It felt soft, very pleasant to touch.

She couldn’t resist rubbing it twice.

She thought, with the weather turning cold, if she sewed this into her clothes, it’d be wonderfully warm.

Though it was a bit scant…

Her thoughts drifted for a moment, then she became alert. Magic items like space rings were supposed to be usable by only one person.

Ever since she’d obtained it, she’d never shown it to anyone, yet now extra items had appeared inside.

Where did they come from? Whose were they?

Who had entered her space?

Could someone harm her through the space ring?

From the added items, Wu Xingxue couldn’t deduce the intruder’s identity.

But just looking at them, she felt something was odd.

Who would collect ancient stone tablets during the apocalypse?

And the beast fang—

“A palm-sized fang, the beast must be at least four meters long, right?” Wu Xingxue guessed.

Just then, a blue-and-red fruit appeared in the space.

Wu Xingxue blinked—someone was really sharing the space with her!

She took out the fruit, her expression lighting up with joy.

“Energy?!”

Light burst from her eyes as she instinctively gripped it.

It was a mutant plant fruit!

Though her ability core was shattered, she was still, at her core, a power-user, able to sense energy waves.

After the apocalypse, the world’s rules changed. Zombies appeared, power-users emerged, even plants and animals began to mutate.

Some power-users were known as beast tamers, able to control mutated animals.

Mutant plants evolved in myriad ways.

In their safety zone, there was a mutant tomato.

When ripe, it would drop a fireball; unless extinguished by human hands, the fire would burn forever.

Thus, the safety zone had established a special identification center.

Explorers would sometimes seek out mutated flora and fauna outside, bringing them back.

Because these mutant plants and animals could be traded for money.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the space ring—

On a valley clearing, beastfolk of the Qiong Tiger Tribe, clad in animal pelts, their long black-and-white tails swaying behind, were holding a prayer ceremony.

Men, women, old and young, all knelt reverently, chanting.

Except for one.

He Cang, chief of the Qiong Tiger Tribe, stood atop a high platform, his figure massive, a mountain of a man radiating an imposing aura.

He wore elaborate beast fang ornaments; a long silver-white tail streaked with black stripes swept behind him.

Across his muscular abdomen, three deep wounds still seeped blood, filling the air around him with a faint, metallic scent.

Looking closely, one could see his lips pale from injury, but the wild, aggressive energy he exuded pressed down any hint of frailty, making it hard to notice at first glance.

He Cang did not pray with the rest.

He didn’t believe in gods.

If gods truly existed, how could they let his tribe fall into such straits?

So his mind wandered.

He Cang realized the fruit he’d thrown into the ring world, not wanting to eat it, was gone!

Moreover, some of his items inside were flickering—sometimes disappearing, sometimes reappearing.

His long tail curled, forming a puzzled arc.

What was going on?

“Who?”