Back in her assigned room, Chi Ying lay on the bed for over ten minutes before finally opening the system interface to check her total points.
— 1.89 million.
“Hey.” She covered her face and smirked, turning over joyfully on the bed.
Her hard work over the past two months had finally paid off—no exaggeration needed.
She had traversed numerous A-level safe zones, and even when their missions didn’t pass through one, she would sneak out in the middle of the night, traveling tens of kilometers just to deliver supplies to the logistics teams.
Fortunately, none of it had been in vain.
Now, her points were still steadily increasing. Even if she stopped working altogether, it wouldn’t be long before she hit the 2 million mark.
[Hehe~] The system giggled alongside her.
“It’s almost two million! We’re gonna save the world soon!” Chi Ying exclaimed.
[Ahem, not so fast,] the system tried to temper the excitement.
[Even if you hand over the medicine to the institute, they’ll still need time to test and analyze the ingredients.]
But Chi Ying’s good mood couldn’t be dampened. She stared at the glowing number on her system interface, smiling for a long while.
Knock knock!
“Chi Ying!”
Just from the voice, she could tell it was Yun Ling.
Chi Ying quickly got up and opened the door—only to be left speechless.
“I heard from Professor Yu that you’re only staying for two days. I brought you some cabbages!” Yun Ling beamed.
“…Thank you.” Chi Ying was stunned as she stared at the colossal cabbage that couldn’t even fit through the doorway.
How… how were they supposed to get that inside?
Boom.
A door closed next door.
Chi Ying peeked out just in time to see Gu Chi coming out, carrying a large glass jar.
Spotting the enormous cabbage, he nearly dropped the jar in shock.
“This is… cabbage?”
Yun Ling nodded earnestly.
Gu Chi fell into the same stunned silence as Chi Ying.
—
In the end, since the cabbage wouldn’t fit through the door, Gu Chi temporarily placed it in his greenhouse.
“Try it,” he said, removing the lid from the pickled lemons. “They shouldn’t be sour anymore.”
Yun Ling, already upset that her gift had been stashed in someone else’s greenhouse, became even more frustrated when Gu Chi brought the jar of lemons into Chi Ying’s room.
This man… how could he be so dense?!
“Want to try one?” Chi Ying asked, holding a slice in her mouth and nudging the jar toward Yun Ling.
Yun Ling glanced at Gu Chi from the corner of her eye. His jaw was visibly clenched.
“Yes!” she said immediately, suddenly feeling much better.
Gu Chi: …
He ignored his inexplicable irritation and said seriously, “We won’t be staying at headquarters for long.”
Chi Ying nodded. He’d mentioned that yesterday.
“Professor Yu’s leader detector is complete. They’re running tests and making adjustments using Bai Qing. Once that’s done, we’ll leave.”
Chi Ying asked, “Did they figure out what happened?”
Gu Chi shook his head, frowning. “No. But we did get some troubling reports. Between Zones No. 23 and No. 24 in the North District, near a place called Yuhu City, there’ve been abnormal occurrences for over a month now. At first, no one paid attention.”
“What kind of occurrences?”
“Several ability users who passed through that area disappeared without a trace. Not just Alliance members—even unaffiliated elites known for their strength have vanished.”
Gu Chi laced his fingers together, his tone grave.
“So far, the Alliance has lost contact with twenty-three Level 5 ability users and two who recently broke through to Level 6—all during investigations in Yuhu City.”
“There are even more missing Level 3 and 4 users.”
Chi Ying frowned. “You think there’s a leader there?”
Gu Chi nodded. “That’s the only explanation we have. But even a powerful leader shouldn’t be able to make this many people disappear. We’ll have to investigate in person to know for sure.”
“So… what about our original mission to find leaders?” she asked.
“Now that the detector is complete, that job can be passed on to other exploration teams,” Gu Chi explained. “The headquarters will be distributing more advanced versions later. With them, we might be able to pinpoint leader locations from over a hundred miles away.”
Chi Ying’s eyes widened. “That advanced already?”
Gu Chi smiled faintly. “It’s just a theory for now. The research just started, and it’ll take time. But since we brought back those crystal nuclei and Bai Qing, the idea isn’t just a fantasy anymore.”
Chi Ying tilted her head, still processing. “So… does this mean we’re close to winning?”
Gu Chi’s eyes brightened. “If things continue as they are, yes. This battle will take time—but victory is only a matter of time now.”
Seeing the genuine hope in his expression, Chi Ying’s mood lifted too.
Yun Ling suddenly interjected. “Hey, can I go with you this time?”
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the two of them.
She was really going to grow moss if she stayed cooped up any longer.
“…No,” Gu Chi said flatly.
“Why? I can help level up your abilities! That’s gotta be useful!”
Gu Chi calmly raised two fingers.
“First, while your abilities are helpful, you lack the means to protect yourself. And this mission is highly unusual—far too many unknowns.”
“But don’t you already have a healing user on your team? She’s not exactly offensive either!”
“Song Shi’s ability is essential.”
Yun Ling pouted, cheeks puffed in frustration.
“Second,” Gu Chi continued, “you’re part of the Human Ability Research Institute, and technically still under Ye Wuhan’s team, right?”
Yun Ling muttered vaguely in response.
“I don’t have the authority to steal personnel from Ye Wuhan.”
“…” Yun Ling had no retort for that.
Gu Chi stood, satisfied, and turned to Chi Ying.
“It’s a rare bit of downtime—get some rest. I’ll head back. Good night.”
“Good night.”
After seeing him off, Chi Ying turned to the slumped Yun Ling.
How should she comfort her?
“Um… there’s more than one path forward.”
If you can’t go out, you can still find meaning within the headquarters.
Yun Ling sat in a daze, then suddenly straightened up.
“You’re right! There’s more than one road!”
Chi Ying was still a little confused, but seeing her cheer up brought relief.
Even if… she wasn’t entirely sure what Yun Ling had just figured out.
—
The Next Day
Since half the radish from Yun Ling’s last visit was still left—and the cabbage was enormous—it was left behind to avoid taking up too much space in Mu Yu’s storage.
Professor Yu’s detector was nearly finalized.
It was a simple bracelet with a green, crystal-like core resembling a nucleus. Everyone had already received one the day before.
Its detection radius was only about three kilometers—but for them, that was more than enough.
When it came time to leave, Yun Ling came to see them off again.
Just before Chi Ying got into the car, Yun Ling ran up and gave her a big, affectionate hug.
Gu Chi, watching from the side, silently looked away.
He didn’t want to see this. At all.
“Goodbye,” Chi Ying said with a smile.
Yun Ling waved cheerfully.
Summer had passed, and the temperature of late autumn was already crisp. Chi Ying wore a loose jacket, the hood hanging low behind her neck.
She didn’t notice that, as the hug ended, a black-and-red pendant quietly slipped into her hood…
Author’s Note:
Dark foreshadowing activated ☠️ Who gave her the pendant? Will Yun Ling finally do something major? Gu Chi jelly alert… again.
GhostCloudd On WBICDPH Chapter 93