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At that moment, a loud crash came from downstairs, and the building shook violently. Spiderweb-like cracks began to spread across the walls.
“Run!” was all Dong Damao managed to shout before the entire structure began to collapse.
With a deafening roar, the building crumbled, leaving only a pile of rubble in its wake.
Standing in front of the building was Jiang Ci. After the house collapsed, she deliberately released her black mist to engulf the dust, preventing it from affecting the progress of the medical team on the other side.
However, the commotion it caused was too loud, causing the survivors still standing outside to turn their heads in astonishment, their eyes wide with shock. If they weren’t mistaken, did a house just collapse over there?
“Boss… Boss Jiang is still there,” the survivor who had led the way earlier exclaimed in surprise.
“Have you ever considered that it might have been Boss Jiang who did it?” another survivor chimed in, his voice tinged with excitement. He was genuinely fed up with that pretentious Dong Damao, who always hid when trouble arose and had never done anything substantial for the base. The only thing he was good at was talking big.
After settling the survivors, Song Jinchuan quickly rushed over. He always felt uneasy when he wasn’t by Jiang Ci’s side.
By the time Song Jinchuan arrived, the bricks and wood on the ground were slowly being pushed up, debris falling in a shower as several survivors struggled to climb out from the ruins.
Jiang Ci was somewhat surprised. She hadn’t expected so many people to still be alive. But she finally understood the reason why when she saw one of the survivors retracting their metal ability.
It seemed the base leader had a few ability users under his command and were quite capable of saving lives—but only their own.
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Jiang Ci’s lips as she stood there, watching the people in the rubble slowly stand up.
She had just used her black orb ability. Compressed, it turned out to be even sturdier than the building itself. However, since she hadn’t practiced this skill before, this building would now serve as it perfectly as a test subject.
Before the survivor guiding them had left, Jiang Ci had asked him whether he wanted the building to remain standing or if he preferred it to be destroyed.
The survivor looked at the building with a complicated expression, hesitating for a while before finally saying, “Although this building was built by all of us, we’d rather see it destroyed. It’s too painful to look at.”
So Jiang Ci carried out the sentiment—it was better to destroy it.
Song Jinchuan stood by Jiang Ci’s side, his palms slightly warm, a gentle breeze swirling around him. He had both of his abilities on standby, prepared to strike at any moment.
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
“Who the f*ck…” The curse was cut short as they saw the figures standing before them.
Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan, both of whom were easily recognizable. One was the formidable boss of the gourmet city, and the other was a top-tier ability user.
The group instantly fell into silence. Neither of them was someone they could afford to provoke.
“Boss Jiang, what’s the meaning of this? Did you come to my base just to tear down my building?” Dong Damao, however, couldn’t hold back his anger any longer. He pushed aside the subordinate blocking his way and barked out those words without a shred of restraint.
“Oh, I heard there was a turtle hiding in its shell around here. I’ve never seen one before, so I thought I’d come take a look,” Jiang Ci said with a voice dripping in sarcasm. Her tone cut him sharply, causing Dong Damao’s face to darken at once.
“I’ve already explained to everyone in the base. We had something very important to attend to, which is why we’ve been staying indoors,” Dong Damao growled out through gritted teeth.
“Important matters? Then why don’t you share what those important matters were with everyone? Your base is crawling with people who are infected with the virus, yet instead of isolating and treating them, you hid away. I’d really like to hear your excuse on what’s more important than the lives of hundreds of people,” Jiang Ci said with a faint smile, though her eyes were cold.
Perhaps her words wiped the smirk off his face and had finally provoked the other party into a fit of rage. Dong Damao, covered in dust and blood, cast a gloomy glance at Jiang Ci, then signaled to the people behind him with a look.
One of them caught the signal immediately. His fingers twitched, and suddenly a wall of wind surged up behind Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan, blocking the other survivors’ view entirely.
Dong Damao’s posture relaxed, his pretense of composure slipping into something far more like that of a thug.
With a flick of his wrist, a compact shoulder-mounted rocket launcher appeared in his hand. So, he was a spatial-type ability user.
Dong Damao hoisted the rocket launcher onto his shoulder, grinning broadly, as if certain that Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan had no chance of fighting back.
The ability users behind him glowed with bursting energy, clearly prepared to silently eliminate the two of them right there.
Seeing that the other side had taken the initiative to attack, Jiang Ci didn’t waste anymore words on them. A swirl of black mist appeared before her, appearing somewhat eerie and stagnant, floating there quietly as though it had no attack power at all.
Dong Damao sneered. He firmly believed that no matter what kind of supernatural trick it was, nothing could possibly remain standing against the onslaught of modern firepower.
Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, barking out, “Don’t blame me for this. A woman’s place is at home, raising kids and serving her man. Who told you to run around in front of us, acting tough? Did you really think I, Dong Damao, was just some kind of pushover?”
The rocket launcher fired, but before the smile could fade from Dong Damao’s face, he noticed that the projectile disappeared upon nearing the black mist without even causing a ripple.
“Impossible! What kind of sorcery is that?!” Dong Damao exclaimed, pulling the trigger again, only to find the result exactly the same as before.
He instinctively took a step back but tripped over a protruding stone, landing hard onto the rubble.
The ability users behind him were also panicking, their nerves fraying, but there was no turning back now. They could only fling their abilities forward desperately with all their might.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ci paid no attention to Dong Damao, who was questioning his life choices, and instead continued discussing with Song Jinchuan, “Hold off on attacking for now. I want to collect a few more abilities and see what it takes for it to spit them out.”
Song Jinchuan nodded obediently, dispersing the energy he had gathered in his palm.
Every blast the ability users hurled out were all absorbed into the black mist. Jiang Ci still hadn’t figured out the principle behind this black mist—it was like a bottomless black hole, capable of devouring anything.
But what triggered it to spit something out? That part, she hadn’t figured out yet.
As they all began to retreat, trying to escape, Jiang Ci manipulated the black mist to engulf them directly.
After the black mist had swallowed several ability users, it suddenly spat out a few small stones with a sputter, each glowing with different colors.
Jiang Ci was somewhat surprised and instructed Song Jinchuan to restrain Dong Damao while she went forward to pick up the stones.
After picking it up, Jiang Ci realized that the material didn’t resemble the dull, grayish stones she’d seen before. It was semi-transparent, with various colors slowly swirling inside it.
However, she still had a mission to complete and couldn’t delve into studying what this was, so she decided to store it away for now.
On the other side, Dong Damao, now without his subordinates, had been tightly bound by Song Jinchuan. Without any combat-type ability users by his side and his weapons confiscated, Dong Damao’s arrogance had completely vanished.
“He’s still the leader of the base, so let’s leave his judgment to the people,” Jiang Ci said, before heading out together with Song Jinchuan.
After the survivors had been engulfed by Jiang Ci’s black mist, the entire scene reappeared before the others’ eyes, allowing them to see Dong Damao’s true nature.
Several batches of survivors had already been confirmed as infected and were subsequently sent to isolated quarantine tents.
A fortunate few who were not infected were given a bowl of preventive herbal medicine before being sent home to self-isolate.
As for how to deal with Dong Damao, the survivors unanimously agreed to leave the decision to Jiang Ci. This was especially the case after they learned that he had also been responsible for the death of their former base leader, their anger growing even stronger, with many even shouting that he deserved to die.
Under the scorching flames beside Song Jinchuan, Dong Damao essentially “confessed under duress,” trembling as he revealed everything he had done.
Initially, Jiang Ci had only wanted him to admit that he’d hidden away to avoid responsibility, but she hadn’t expected to gain even more useful information.
Since everyone already agreed on his fate, Jiang Ci saw no need for her to show mercy. She dragged him to a corner and used her black mist to consume him completely.
According to his own confession, each of his subordinates had taken multiple lives, so none of them deserved to live.
After the black mist devoured the terrified Dong Damao, it spat out a small green orb.
“What do you think this is? A soul bead?” Jiang Ci held the orb under the flashlight’s beam. Under the light, the green flowing inside the orb appeared even more dazzling and beautiful, like a radiant gem.
Song Jinchuan looked at these small orbs of various colors and suddenly thought of something, “I think these might be their abilities.”
[Ding, congratulations, host. You’ve discovered an ability orb.] Just as Song Jinchuan finished speaking, the system’s voice echoed in Jiang Ci’s mind.
The system rarely provided explanations unrelated to food and drinks, usually leaving Jiang Ci to figure things out on her own. This was one of the exceptionally rare instances it voluntarily provided information that had nothing to do with cooking.
“What’s the use of an ability orb?” Jiang Ci seized the opportunity to ask.
[When consumed by an ordinary survivor, it grants the corresponding ability. If an ability user consumes it, their power will increase by one level. This is only effective within this world,] the system explained clearly. [However, it will have no effect on you, host.]
Even though she couldn’t use it herself, Jiang Ci was still delighted. She hadn’t expected the black mist to be capable of stripping abilities from others.
If she’d known earlier, she wouldn’t have wasted all those ability orbs by using her water attacks in previous fights.
However, this world surely had more than just these few villains. Thinking of this, Jiang Ci’s eyes lit up.
“Here, these are good stuff. Consuming them will allow you upgrade your abilities. I’ll give you two,” Jiang Ci said, taking out a blue water ability orb and a red fire ability orb, placing them in Song Jinchuan’s hand.
Song Jinchuan shook his head. “No need. The well water in the courtyard is also very beneficial for my abilities. Both of my abilities have already reached the highest level, so this is no longer useful to me.”
Seeing this, Jiang Ci didn’t press further. She simply took the orbs back and stored it in her space.
They had arrived at dusk, and after all this commotion, night had already fallen.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
