Light Ability

Bai Yaoyao had a wonderfully comfortable sleep, dreaming of mutant beasts grilling meat for her. When she woke up, she noticed faint traces of drool on her pillow.

She smiled awkwardly, cleared her throat, and slipped out of her space. Lulu was already up and no longer in the tent.

Bai Yaoyao wondered why someone who loved sleeping in had gotten up so early. As soon as she stepped out of the tent, she saw everyone gathered around Xiaomi, laughing delightedly.

She was about to go over and ask what was happening when Monkey ran up to her first.

"Sister Yao, did you sleep well?" Monkey asked, his eyes puffy and ringed with dark circles.

Remembering the meat she had eaten in her dream, Bai Yaoyao replied, "Pretty well. Why? What happened to you? Stayed up all night?"

"I couldn't sleep! The stink nearly killed me!" Monkey said miserably.

Bai Yaoyao suddenly remembered that Xiaomi and Monkey shared a tent. She gave an embarrassed smile and took a very casual step backward, pretending nothing had happened.

"Sister Yao! Hahaha, I've got a new ability!" When Xiaomi spotted Bai Yaoyao, Xiaomi rushed out of the crowd in excitement.

Bai Yaoyao froze. The Spring Water could do that too? After a brief moment of surprise, she said excitedly, "That's fantastic! Haha, your wish finally came true! What ability is it?"

"I don't know. I've never seen anyone else with it." As Xiaomi spoke, a hand stretched out, and a glimmer of light appeared in the palm.

Bai Yaoyao tried desperately to suppress the smile tugging at her lips. The light ability she had been longing for was finally here!

"Sister Yao, don't just smile! What ability is this? It doesn't feel like it can do much damage," Xiaomi asked anxiously.

Xiaomi was completely baffled. After finally getting an ability, surely it couldn't just be a lamp.

Bai Yaoyao explained, "It's a light ability. At level one, it's basically just illumination. At level two, it can cleanse negative effects from a single target. At level three, it can clear zombie poison. We've got another layer of protection now!"

"Whoa, that's impressive!" Dada Juan said, obligingly applauding.

Xiaomi's eyes lit up at the explanation. "What else? Does it have any attacks?"

Bai Yaoyao explained, "That depends on how you use it. Special abilities don't have a fixed set of moves."

"Got it..." Xiaomi nodded thoughtfully.

"Sister Yao, how long does it take for your Spring Water to produce a cup?" Monkey asked curiously.

"One cup a day."

"Come on, guys! Rock, paper, scissors! Let's see whose turn it is to stink tonight!" Monkey called out eagerly.

Last night, Monkey had been sleeping soundly when a sudden stench woke him right up. He turned to see black liquid oozing all over Xiaomi and was so startled that he nearly thought Xiaomi had been bitten by a zombie.

Tears had sprung to his eyes instantly. Only after hearing someone calling did Xiaomi wake up to the stench. Both of them were bewildered until they finally figured out that it was because Xiaomi had drunk Sister Yao's Spring Water. No wonder she had prepared so much bathwater.

But Monkey couldn't get back to sleep. The entire tent reeked, so he and Xiaomi had stared at each other and chatted all night.

Bai Yaoyao laughed and joked with everyone for a while. After breakfast, they headed toward the entrance together. They had agreed to finish their mission early, then go catch something at the Zoo to eat.

"Good morning, Captain Bai." They happened to run into Meng Qilin on the way.

"Good morning, Captain Meng. Are there any missions near the Zoo today?" Bai Yaoyao asked.

"Planning to hunt some meat? Our ability team spotted yesterday's mutant tiger on the road. Isn't going to the Zoo a little dangerous?" Meng Qilin said hesitantly.

"It's fine. We'll assess the situation and pull out if it's too difficult," Bai Yaoyao replied.

Meng Qilin stopped trying to dissuade her. After a moment's thought, he said, "Then go to Central City Hospital. It's near the Zoo. Take our two spatial ability users with you and collect all the medicine.

"But neither of them can protect themselves, so sorry for the trouble, but please look after them."

Bai Yaoyao nodded. "Don't worry. Once we finish the mission, we'll bring them back before heading to the Zoo. We just don't want to clear zombies from two separate routes and waste time."

"Haha, all right. No problem, then."

By the time they finished discussing it, almost all the other squads had arrived. As usual, Li Pengliang and his companions stood right beside the Dark Night Squad, greeting everyone with cheerful smiles.

The Aiyi Alliance wasn't spouting nonsense today, though its members kept glancing toward the Dark Night Squad.

"What are you looking at? What are you staring at? Jealous?" Their outspoken mouthpiece spoke up again.

The Aiyi Alliance's members no longer dared to look over.

Meng Qilin held up a notebook. "I'll assign the missions now.

"Dark Night Squad, Central City Hospital.

"Aiyi Alliance, Wanda Plaza on Chenyang Road and the two nearby residential compounds."

Bai Yaoyao remembered that Wanda Plaza. It was the mall they hadn't dared enter last time. Something about it had felt deeply unsettling and dangerous, so she had only taken a quick look inside before leading everyone away.

Bai Yaoyao didn't particularly care whether the Aiyi Alliance's members lived or died, but government personnel would accompany them on the mission. She therefore told Meng Qilin, "We passed that Wanda Plaza once. We weren't sure what to make of it."

Meng Qilin immediately understood what Bai Yaoyao meant. If even Dark Night couldn't get a read on it, sending anyone else there would be sending them to their deaths!

So he said, "Skip Wanda Plaza. Just handle the two residential compounds."

The man leading the Aiyi Alliance said, "Hold on, Captain Meng. We've searched plenty of malls already, and nothing's happened."

"That's right. We may be weak, but we still want to do everything we can to gather supplies," Lin Yiran added timidly.

Bai Yaoyao rolled her eyes. I wasn't even trying to warn you. You were just included by default, and now you're getting cocky.

Fine. Good advice can't save someone determined to die.

Meng Qilin hesitated. No matter how out of line the Aiyi Alliance was, he couldn't send them on a hopeless mission. That was a matter of principle.

They only wanted to go to Wanda Plaza because they had a spatial ability user in their team and wanted to secretly collect supplies.

But Captain Bai had clearly said she couldn't get a read on that place. These people really were...

"Captain Meng, you can't play favorites like this. This was supposed to be our mission," Lin Yiran persisted.

Meng Qilin was getting annoyed too. He simply said, "Fine, then go. But my people won't accompany you, and you don't need to handle the residential compounds either. I'll send someone else."

The Aiyi Alliance's leader hurriedly agreed. So what if they didn't come? Useless people without abilities wouldn't help anyway. Without them around, it would be even easier to collect supplies. When his group returned, they could simply say they hadn't found any.

As for danger? Ha. Wasn't the Dark Night Squad just trying to collect both medicine and supplies?

If they talk us out of going, they can head to Wanda Plaza tomorrow. Nice try. Selfish bastards.