this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
She felt her presence was being overshadowed and quickly cleared her throat a few times. “I’m Jiang Ci from the C City Gourmet City and I’m here to help you.”
“Help us?” Shen Tao, standing at the front, spoke with confusion, though the name C City Gourmet City did seem vaguely familiar.
“Brother Tao, it’s the place we heard about on the road,” Cai Qiang whispered from behind Shen Tao.
During their recent journey, they had noticed that every city now had a new train station, which already seemed astonishing enough. They had followed the crowd and gotten on for a ride. On the train, the most talked-about topics were the C City Gourmet City, A Base, and Boss Jiang.
They glanced at Jiang Ci. Though they had never met the renowned Boss Jiang before, they instinctively felt inclined to trust her.
Seeing their hesitation, Jiang Ci pulled out a stack of flyers from her space and handed one to each of them, seizing the opportunity to advertise.
“Actually, I have a bit of a selfish motive for helping you,” Jiang Ci added. “I know that many of you possess unique abilities, so I hope you can join my base and work for me. Of course, the benefits and compensation will be generous.”
The expressions on Shen Tao and his companions varied. They hadn’t expected Jiang Ci to be so direct right from the start.
However, they had chosen to live in seclusion here precisely because they wanted to avoid dealing with the malicious nature of humans outside.
Noticing their silence, Jiang Ci continued, “It’s fine. The most important thing right now is to save people. We can discuss the rest after that.”
“Thank you, Boss Jiang, for your generous assistance,” Shen Tao said without elaborating. Saving people was indeed the top priority at the moment.
“Boss Jiang, do you have a plan?” Shen Tao asked anxiously. They had lived here for nearly a decade, and the villagers were like family to them.
“Let’s rescue them first, then deal with the others,” Jiang Ci thought for a moment. Saving lives was undoubtedly the most crucial.
This idea aligned perfectly with Shen Tao and his group’s thoughts. Ensuring everyone’s safety was the first step to reclaiming their home.
“We’ve already secretly observed that the people from our village are being held in the warehouse over there,” Shen Tao said. By now, Jiang Ci and Shen Tao’s group had arrived at a spot outside the village with many withered trees, which conveniently allowed them to conceal their presence.
Jiang Ci looked around. To enter the village without going through the main gate, they would have to cross a sharp and densely built wooden fence.
However, Jiang Ci had her black mist, so the fence wasn’t much of an obstacle.
“Can we destroy this?” Jiang Ci pointed at the wooden fence outside, feeling compelled to ask since it was part of someone else’s village.
“Yes, but if we damage this wooden fence, the people inside will probably hear it,” Cai Qiang said with a furrowed brow, his gaze filled with concern as it fell on the warehouse. His younger sister was still inside, and he had no idea how she was doing.
“Don’t worry, leave it to me,” Jiang Ci quietly summoned a black mist.
Shen Tao and the others were surprised. They hadn’t expected the seemingly delicate Boss Jiang to be an ability user. But what kind of ability was this black mist? They had never seen anything like it before. The next moment, the survivors were even more astonished, their jaws nearly dropping. The black mist’s approach was silent, and as soon as it touched a section of the fence, it immediately started to corrode, leaving a large gaping hole behind.
What on earth was that?! Shen Tao felt a sudden wave of relief that he hadn’t offended her earlier.
The commotion here didn’t alert the patrols in the village. The cold weather and the remote location made the patrols less vigilant, which worked to their advantage.
Jiang Ci, Song Jinchuan, and Shen Tao’s group entered through the hole and quietly made their way around to the back of the warehouse.
The area was all farmland, so they carefully navigated around it. Unfortunately, they encountered a man relieving himself by the corner of a wall. Song Jinchuan threw a fireball at him, instantly reducing him to ashes, ensuring Jiang Ci didn’t see anything unpleasant.
Shen Tao and the others fell even more silent, quietly trailing behind the two.
They finally reached the back of the warehouse, where faint footsteps could be heard from the front, likely from a passing night patroller.
Jiang Ci directly used the black mist to create another hole in the back of the warehouse.
Shen Tao and his group, seeing the dilapidated fence and warehouse of their village, didn’t dare to speak.
The people inside weren’t asleep; rather, they couldn’t sleep, anxious about their current situation and their family members who hadn’t returned.
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:
At that moment, a faint light seeped into the dark room. Ye Jing and Cai Xin instinctively looked toward the source of the light.
Under the moonlight, they saw that a large hole had appeared on the other side of the warehouse, with several shadowy figures standing at the entrance.
Ye Jing immediately became alert. “Who’s there?”
“Little Jing? It’s me, Shen Tao,” Shen Tao’s voice came from the entrance.
The survivors in the warehouse erupted in excitement. It was Shen Tao and the others! They had come! They were saved!
“Is Cai Xin here?” Cai Qiang couldn’t help but call out.
“Brother, I’m here,” Cai Xin’s voice was choked with emotion. The drastic changes to their home, the absence of her brother, and the immense pressure she had been under finally found an outlet upon hearing his familiar voice.
“Alright, this isn’t the time for small talk. Everyone, come out first,” a strange voice suddenly interjected, startling the survivors for a moment.
Shen Tao then remembered he hadn’t introduced Jiang Ci and quickly said, “This is Boss Jiang. She’s here to help us. Everyone, come out quickly. We’ll talk more once we’re outside.”
At that moment, footsteps approached from the distance, likely drawn by the commotion.
Jiang Ci frowned slightly and said to Shen Tao, “You take them and go ahead. I’ll handle the people that are coming.”
Her words were crisp and decisive, leaving Shen Tao momentarily stunned. After a moment, he reacted, “We’ll help you.”
Jiang Ci waved her hand and led Song Jinchuan away, saying, “No need. There aren’t many people. We’ll handle it quickly.”
After silently praising them in his heart, Shen Tao turned around and directed everyone to come out of the warehouse.
Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan quietly circled around from the back and soon spotted a group of survivors approaching. They were armed with knives, guns, and sticks, looking well-equipped.
Jiang Ci didn’t want to alert them, so she resorted to her familiar black mist.
The sky was already dark, and with the cover of night, the black mist in Jiang Ci’s hand blended in perfectly, almost unnoticeable. However, it still gave off an eerie sense of danger.
The man at the front raised his hand, signaling the others to stop. But even though they sensed something was wrong, they couldn’t escape. In an instant, the black mist engulfed them all, leaving behind two ability orbs for Jiang Ci.
The last survivor turned to run, shouting as he did, but the black mist quickly caught up with him.
However, because of his shout, others in the village heard the commotion. Soon, voices as well as the sound of chaotic footsteps could be heard.
Jiang Ci hurried back to the warehouse and urged everyone to move faster. “Someone’s coming. Go wait outside.”
Shen Tao instructed Cai Qiang and the others to lead the group outside while he and his teammates stayed behind to assist Jiang Ci.
At this point, the survivor known as Brother Hu hadn’t yet realized the severity of the situation, so he only sent a small group of survivors to investigate the commotion.
Shen Tao and his team were still tense, but they didn’t even get a chance to act. Jiang Ci’s massive water sphere and Song Jinchuan’s fire dragon descended from the sky, wiping out the approaching survivors.
The black mist, now more sentient, spat out the weapons of the survivors for Jiang Ci, along with a few more ability orbs.
As it consumed more, the black mist became increasingly more sentient, learning to distinguish what was useful to Jiang Ci.
Song Jinchuan, meanwhile, efficiently collected all the supplies, crystal cores, and ability orbs.
Shen Tao and his team helped pick up a few, but they didn’t keep any for themselves, handing everything over to Jiang Ci.
Perhaps sensing that something was amiss, Brother Hu sent out more people this time, and the number of survivors was much larger, allowing Shen Tao and his team to join the fray.
But with Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan on their side, it was like having two cheat codes, and they soon overwhelmed the enemy.
The glow of various abilities flickered in the darkness, and soon, Brother Hu finally emerged from the house.
Seeing the situation, he was naturally furious. Having survived the apocalypse for so long, he had plenty of ability users and weapons at his disposal, and his journey had been relatively smooth.
He himself was a high-level ability user, so he immediately targeted who he thought was the strongest opponent—Song Jinchuan—and completely overlooked Jiang Ci. As a result, he missed the sight of his men being devoured one by one by Jiang Ci’s black mist.
At this moment, the water sphere in front of Jiang Ci had already merged with black mist. During the recent battle, she had learned to fuse two types of abilities together, finding it unexpectedly effective.
Although Brother Hu was a high level ability user, he quickly found himself unable to fight back against Song Jinchuan.
On Jiang Ci’s side, whether it was the small fry or the ability users, they were all cleared out like they had been bulldozed.
Only when Brother Hu fell to the ground did he realize that none of his subordinates seemed to be left. It was then that he became aware of the terror that was Jiang Ci, which he had previously overlooked.
With Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan involved, the battle ended quickly with no casualties, although the village was severely damaged in the process.
However, since everyone was still alive, the damage didn’t seem so important anymore.
In this battle, Jiang Ci unlocked a new way to use her abilities and also gained a lot, including weapon cores and a few supplies that had been on their bodies.
After the battle, Shen Tao called the villagers back.
Jiang Ci was certain that Shen Tao must have told the other villagers about the requirements Jiang Ci had previously proposed while he was calling them back.
In fact, now that the village was so damaged, it would take a long time to restore it to a livable condition. With the weather so cold, they certainly didn’t have the luxury of time to stay outdoors for long.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
