TFRLTOP Chapter 76 Part 2

“Right? Totally incomprehensible.” An Ning shook her head. “Forget about the women in the safe zones—even for people like An Yue and the others who go on missions, it’s a nightmare. They sometimes have to camp in the wild for days. Tampons aren’t convenient when you can’t change them often, so pads, even if less sanitary, are still better than nothing. Everyone treasures them.

“After a while, An Yue got so fed up she literally fought the men over it. Since then, Guan Yi made a rule—any man who touches women’s hygiene supplies gets kicked out of the base immediately.”

Ming Ming thought, Huh. So he actually has a decent side.

Then another thought struck her. “Wait, but even the most recent batches from before the apocalypse should be nearing their expiration date, right?”

Pads and tampons usually only last about three years.

An Ning nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we figured someone just wanted to use the expired ones as shoe inserts.”

Ming Ming frowned. “But what’ll you do once they’re all expired? Can you still use them?”

“Oh, don’t worry—we’ve switched to menstrual cups now.”

Ming Ming was stunned. “You guys actually found those?”

“Not exactly. You can barely find any in local stores. But an ability-user team from Europe asked us for help once, and in addition to their payment, Guan Yi requested a special gift—five full boxes of menstrual cups. That’s enough to cover every woman in the base. Oh, you don’t have one yet, right? I’ll grab one for you later—we still have a box left in storage.”

Ming Ming was speechless.

Taking advantage of the moment, An Ning decided to boost her captain’s reputation. “See? Guan Yi might seem rough, a bit of a macho guy, and not exactly subtle—but he’s actually really good to his people.” Then, with a teasing smile, she added, “If he were your boyfriend or husband, he’d definitely take care of you. You wouldn’t regret it, trust me.”

Ming Ming nodded along automatically—then froze.

Wait a second… shouldn’t I be the one saying that to her? Why is she saying it to me?

Before she could untangle that thought, An Ning smoothly switched topics. “By the way, when you put hot food into your space, it stays the same no matter how long it’s stored, right?”

Ming Ming nodded.

An Ning’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Then if you store soon-to-expire sanitary pads in there, wouldn’t they… never expire?”

“…You know, I think you’re right.” Ming Ming hadn’t thought of that before. No wonder mental-type users always see things from a different angle.

An Ning snapped her fingers. “Perfect! I’ll have An Yue sort through the warehouse and list all the perishable but hard-to-replace items. We’ll store them in your space instead. Oh—how big is your space, by the way?”

“So far… it doesn’t seem to have a limit.”

An Ning’s eyes went wide with delight. She clapped Ming Ming on the shoulder. “Guan Yi really hit the jackpot with you, sweetheart. You’re basically a walking cheat code. I love you!”

Ming Ming’s heart lit up like fireworks—she suddenly felt super motivated.

She spent the whole afternoon in An Ning’s lab, tinkering with some scrap parts and even building a tiny robot. After coding a simple routine to let it move around on An Ning’s desk, she earned even more praise. When An Yue stopped by and saw it, she immediately begged Ming Ming to make one for her too.

That gave Ming Ming a new idea—maybe she could start inventing more things.

In this programmer-starved apocalypse, she’d take it upon herself to revive the spirit of the coder!

That evening, Guan Yi brought Ming Ming to the cafeteria and, in front of everyone, officially introduced her as a new member of the WK Ability Squad.

Standing before the group, Ming Ming confessed her power and sincerely apologized for her past mistakes—particularly for nearly emptying Guan Yi’s quarters. Guan Yi looked at her with quiet approval.

Then Ming Ming made a bold announcement. “After talking with Sister An Ning this afternoon, I realized my spatial ability gives me a big advantage in transporting supplies. I think I should use it to help everyone as much as possible, so I’d like to apply to join the field supply team!”

The room went dead silent for a moment before erupting into cheers.

They’d once had a cargo truck, but it was too large and drew too much attention—eventually it got crushed during a mission. If they had a spatial-type user now, it would be like having an invisible, endless truck. They could carry as many supplies as they wanted.

Guan Yi: …What the hell?

He was the only one not cheering. He shot a look at An Ning that practically screamed, What did you tell her?!

An Ning frantically shook her head—she hadn’t said a thing!

Guan Yi stood up and said firmly, “No. I don’t approve.”

Ming Ming pouted, feeling wronged. “Captain, you can trust me—I won’t steal anything again.”

“That’s not what this is about,” Guan Yi said, frowning. “Field missions are dangerous. You don’t have combat abilities. We’d have to protect you out there.”

One of the younger guys spoke up loudly, “That’s fine, Captain! I’ll protect Miss Bai He!”

Someone next to him quickly covered his mouth. “Sorry, sir—he’s an idiot. Doesn’t know when to shut up. Please ignore him.”

Seriously, couldn’t they tell the captain just didn’t want his crush going into danger? Stop adding fuel to the fire!

No matter how much she tried to argue, Guan Yi refused to budge. Ming Ming sulked, following him around and muttering complaints the whole way. Guan Yi’s patience finally snapped—he stopped so suddenly she almost ran into his back.

He turned to her, eyes dark, voice low and strained. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

Ming Ming froze, staring at him—and in that instant, she understood something.

From that day on, she started avoiding him. If he came home late, she’d make sure to leave early. If she saw him around the base, she’d either pretend not to see him or quickly change direction, sometimes even pretending to chat with someone else just to look busy. She treated him like he didn’t exist.

Guan Yi couldn’t tell if she was mad at him or if he’d scared her that day. After several days of this, he finally lost his patience. When she tried to slip away from him again, he cornered her against the wall and asked in a low, tense voice, “Are you avoiding me?”

Even the system was curious. Why are you suddenly avoiding him?

Ming Ming shrank back like a nervous quail. “I… I think he might like me.”

The system snorted. As if that’s new. How many male leads have fallen for you since the first world? You always end up together in the end.

Ming Ming mumbled, “I mean, yeah, I do get that feeling—it’s probably going in that direction again. I mean, he insists I stay at the base, freaks out whenever I try to go on missions… But this time it’s different.”

How so? the system asked.

“He… he has tentacles. Actual tentacles!”

Ming Ming shuddered violently, shaking her head as if to fling away the intrusive thoughts. “I really… I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if we ever got involved.”

The system: “…”