"Grandma, I think I saw my brother come back... Am I hallucinating from all the smoke?"
"No, no, I must be seeing things. My brother couldn't possibly be this handsome!"
Shen Su stared blankly at Shen Yi, blinking in disbelief.
Though she said she did not believe it, her eyes had already reddened.
Hearing her voice, Grandma instinctively wanted to comfort her, but when she turned around, she saw her grandson, who had appeared at some point.
At first glance, she, too, thought she was hallucinating.
Because compared to before, Shen Yi had grown much taller, his skin had become much fairer, and he had gotten more handsome.
"Xiao Yi? Is that Xiao Yi?" Grandma stood up, hardly daring to believe it.
"Grandma, it's me."
Shen Yi smiled and walked over.
Grandma had gotten thinner.
These past few days, they surely had not eaten or slept well.
"Big Brother, you're finally back!"
The petite Shen Su threw herself at him, burying herself fiercely in Shen Yi's arms and clutching him tightly. Her voice trembled slightly.
She cried.
She cried from excitement.
Shen Su could no longer remember how many days had passed since the Black Fog appeared.
Her phone had run out of battery, leaving her unable to contact her brother, and she had been constantly worried that something had happened to him.
If Grandma had not been with her, she would have left the village long ago to look for Shen Yi.
"It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back..." Grandma only kept repeating those words, a warm smile on her aged face.
"Brother, tell me quickly, how did you get back? Weren't the buses all out of service?"
"And Brother, how did you suddenly become so handsome? You even seem to have abs now... Let me feel them!"
After their warm reunion lasted a while, Shen Su could not hold back her curiosity. She even reached out and started feeling Shen Yi all over.
"I drove back." Shen Yi rubbed his little sister's head and explained with a smile, "As for the abs, maybe it's because I worked out often at school and hit a second growth spurt."
"Drove? Brother, you actually bought a car? What kind?"
Shen Su's eyes lit up.
She had always wanted their family to buy a car. It would make going out so much more convenient.
As for the second growth spurt comment, Shen Su simply ignored it.
As long as her brother had returned safely, none of that mattered!
"Yeah, I bought one. An SUV." Shen Yi casually went along with it. His sister was clearly not stupid, so how could she ask such a question?
Well, thinking about it, Shen Su had stayed in the cellar all this time and had not gone outside. She did not know about the drastic changes in the world, so naturally, she still held pre-apocalypse values.
If you needed something, you paid money to buy it.
Little did she know,
that cars did not need to be bought anymore. You could just take one for free—cars were everywhere on the streets.
But Shen Yi had no need to tell his family that and give them extra worries.
"Xiao Yi, you must be hungry after walking all that way. Come sit down and have something to eat." As Grandma spoke, she peeled a roasted potato in her hand, revealing its golden interior.
The golden potato gave off steam and smelled delicious.
"Mm." Shen Yi took the roasted potato and took a bite.
"Wow! Grandma, you're playing favorites! That's the potato I roasted! You gave my roasted potato to Brother, and you even peeled it for him. Grandma hasn't taken care of me like that these past few days! Hmph! I'm jealous!" Shen Su puffed out her cheeks, looking deeply wronged.
But she was not jealous at all. She simply liked acting cute and fooling around with Grandma.
She had been like this since she was little, always fooling around.
"Su Su, be good. Shall Grandma roast you two more?"
"Then I want Grandma to peel them for me too!"
"Alright, alright. Grandma will peel them for you once they're cooked."
Grandma smiled kindly and played along with her granddaughter.
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Shen Su shot Shen Yi a smug smile, as if saying, See? Grandma still spoils me more!
Shen Yi smiled helplessly. Seeing Grandma about to roast more potatoes, he stopped her. "Grandma, don't roast any more for now. I have other food here."
As he spoke, he took two self-heating hot pots, a steaming Roast Chicken, and several bottles of mineral water from the System Space.
The self-heating hot pots were supplies he had unlocked from Zhou Wan'er last night.
Ding! You have successfully taken in a goddess. Randomly unlocking one type of supply... Ding! Unlock successful. Congratulations, you have unlocked supplies: Luxury Self-Heating Hot Pot with premium ingredients! Luxury Self-Heating Hot Pot +1, stored in the System Space Luxury Self-Heating Hot Pot +1, stored in the System Space Luxury...
The system-unlocked self-heating hot pots were somewhat different from those sold in stores.
Their ingredients were incredibly abundant, containing several varieties of fresh meat rolls, fresh seafood, and all kinds of fresh vegetables, as if they had just been picked.
If this self-heating hot pot were sold outside, it would easily cost several hundred yuan!
"Wow!!! Brother, when did you learn magic? That's incredible! You can actually conjure food out of thin air!?"
Shen Su looked shocked as she sized Shen Yi up and down, as if trying to find where he could possibly be hiding so much food.
Grandma was also astonished.
After living for so many years, it was her first time seeing such a miraculous method.
Then,
Shen Yi roughly explained the matter of abilities, though most of it was made up.
The general gist was that he had been lucky enough to gain an ability to conjure food right after the apocalypse began, and their family would never have to worry about food or drink again.
Grandma was greatly comforted after hearing that.
Shen Su was extremely excited, repeatedly declaring that her brother was awesome!
Then,
Shen Yi heated the self-heating hot pots and had Grandma and his little sister eat first.
He himself took the opportunity to head outside, where he killed the neighboring family's mutated yellow dog in advance and threw its corpse far away, so Grandma would not be frightened when she came out later.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill,
Shen Yi brought Grandma and his little sister out and told them that he planned to take them into the city.
In Shen Yi's view, life in the city would be more convenient.
Because all sorts of plants and animals had mutated, the countryside was now actually more dangerous than the city.
Grandma and his little sister naturally did not object. After all, home was wherever the family was together.
"Xiao Yi, wait a moment. Grandma will go inside and pack up the bedding and clothes."
Grandma wanted to bring the household bedding so they would not need to spend money buying it once they got to the city.
Shen Yi quickly stopped her. "Grandma, there's no need to bring the bedding or clothes. I've already bought new ones. If you have any valuable jewelry, you can wear it, but there's really no need to bring anything else! Otherwise, all those new things I bought will go to waste."
"This..."
Grandma hesitated for a while.
In the end, she agreed.
Though Grandma came from that generation, she was not at all old-fashioned and was willing to listen to her children's opinions and ideas.
As Grandma went inside, Shen Su suddenly looked around, then leaned close to Shen Yi's ear as if she were a thief and whispered, "Brother, actually, I got a superpower too, just like you!"
"What?"
Shen Yi froze.
He looked at his sister in surprise.
He had not expected that the second ability user he encountered would be his own little sister.
"This is what happened. A couple days ago, while Grandma was asleep, I sneaked out of the cellar because I wanted to charge my phone in my room. When I passed through the yard, I saw a colorful fruit growing on a blade of grass. It was glowing and looked really pretty. When I went closer, I found that it was not only pretty, but smelled amazing too! So I couldn't resist picking it and eating it, and then I got a superpower..."
Listening to Shen Su's explanation, Shen Yi could not help raising an eyebrow.
A glowing, colorful fruit?
And it gave off a fragrance?
It seemed rather different from the three Ability Fruits he had eaten.
"Then what superpower did you get, Su Su?"
Before you continue