Guaranteed to Make an Ability Plummet with One Sentence

Little Thief did not answer the question immediately. His expression turned a little strange for an instant, but he quickly concealed it.

"I don't know whether it's a human or a contaminated one either. The other people stranded in the city have discussed it too, but no one has reached a conclusion. One thing is certain, though: it's an enemy," Little Thief said. That statement left Liu He silent.

Ye Jiang did not join their conversation. Slightly distracted, she was still thinking about Blood Knight's heavy sword.

Want it.

A second exclamation rose from the bottom of her heart.

The plant-type ability user was learning about Blood Knight, Ye Jiang was daydreaming, and the ordinary people... The two elderly people were already feeling terribly unwell, but forced themselves to stay quiet for fear of troubling the others. The little girl nestled tightly in Nurse's arms, burying her head deep against Nurse's neck, while Nurse gently patted her back to comfort her. Ye Jiang's employer, Ji Jia, stared outside with a grave expression, one hand tucked into his pocket, gripping the photograph inside.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

The little girl suddenly started coughing, her small body jerking with every cough. Nurse frantically patted her back to help her breathe. At first, Nurse thought the girl merely had a dry mouth and an itchy throat. Only when her entire body began convulsing from the coughing did she realize something was wrong. She quickly and gently laid her on the ground. Upon checking, she found the girl's eyes rolling back, her whole body burning with a relentless fever.

"This is..."

Nurse was surprised too. She had only just realized the girl was ill.

Seeing that the little girl was about to cough herself unconscious, Nurse immediately performed a series of emergency measures.

A medicine bottle rolled out of the little girl's clothes. Nurse picked it up and glanced at it, her eyes narrowing slightly-this child actually suffered from a rare illness, and the medicine she took was extremely rare. The bottle was already empty.

"Her illness is flaring up. She needs this medicine!" Nurse frantically held up the bottle, her face full of despair.

The atmosphere in the room

grew even heavier.

Unable to bear it, Liu He said, "I'll go look."

He told Nurse, "Give me the bottle."

Nurse handed him the bottle with trembling fingers. Her hands shook so badly that she nearly dropped it.

Little Thief spoke up weakly. "Actually, Henghe Pharmaceutical's production plant is nearby."

Several of them looked at him.

Henghe Pharmaceutical was currently the largest pharmaceutical company, and its logo was on the little girl's medicine bottle too.

"But that factory was looted ages ago. You can only hope the medicine you're looking for is unusual enough not to be a bestseller, and pick through what's left. Also..." Little Thief swallowed and pointed in one direction. "The factory is over there... Yes, right inside Blood Knight's playground."

The air fell still.

It was actually over by Blood Knight.

But this child looked like she urgently needed medicine.

Nurse said, "I'll go."

She lowered her head. "I'll go find medicine for this child."

Her eyelashes trembled. It was obvious she was only pretending to be calm. "This isn't an ordinary medicine. If it's a Henghe Pharmaceutical factory, I should be able to find it."

Little Thief: "..."

Was this brat this woman's kid?

Maternal love really did make people blind. He would never voluntarily run into Blood Knight's territory for anyone!

Ye Jiang suddenly spoke. "I'll go."

Everyone looked up in surprise.

Ye Jiang still wore an expressionless face, but for some reason, a faint light shone in her eyes, her irises like luminous obsidian.

Nurse hesitated. "But..."

"I'll go," Ye Jiang said firmly, allowing no one to snatch this opportunity away.

Everyone was moved by her words. What a beautiful spirit!

Ye Jiang: "?"

She felt she was being looked at strangely again.

She just wanted to go see her-oh, no, Blood Knight's sword, and, if there was enough time, pick up her apples along the way.

Ye Jiang's head was stuffed with miscellaneous matters. She thought of her apples, the purified water in the car, and the canned food in the car. She liked the beef-flavored ones.

Thinking about all these odds and ends made her want to go find the medicine even more. She took the medicine bottle from Liu He. Little Thief stared blankly at her. Accustomed to being a thief, he suddenly found himself bathed in this radiance of humanity, and it felt indescribably strange.

Just as he was feeling uncomfortable all over, Ye Jiang turned her gaze toward him.

"Get up," Ye Jiang told him flatly.

Little Thief shifted his bottom, sensing that something was wrong. "Wh-what for?"

"Lead the way," Ye Jiang said as if it were obvious. "I don't know the way."

Little Thief: "..."

He should have kept his mouth shut!

Chapter 40: Guaranteed to Make an Ability Plummet with One Sentence

The moment they stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight, their skin stung as if it were on fire. It was so hot they wanted to ascend straight to heaven. Stay long enough, sprinkle on some cumin, and they would be naturally grilled barbecue.

Fortunately, ability users had strong constitutions, so nothing would happen to them for a little while.

Henghe Pharmaceutical was a state-controlled enterprise with substantial government investment. The factory occupied a vast area, its buildings square, low, and neatly arranged. The storm three years ago had not done much damage, and it remained well preserved. After three years of abandonment, only the blue roofing had faded slightly.

Ye Jiang and her personally selected guide entered the factory one after the other. Without wasting time on any production lines, they headed straight for the warehouse.

With such a large target as Henghe Pharmaceutical sitting here, thieves had naturally visited long ago, and more than one group had come calling. At a glance, the storage shelves were bare, with only a few extremely uncommon medicines discarded haphazardly. Little Thief-Wang Zhiqiang-instinctively surveyed the warehouse through the eyes of a fellow professional and clicked his tongue. His peers were even worse than he was. Could they still find medicine to treat that brat?

Wang Zhiqiang raised his eyebrows, looking completely relaxed. Whether they found it had nothing to do with him. It wasn't his kid.

Thump.

Something had bumped into something. Wang Zhiqiang looked toward the sound and saw the big shot with half her body inside an enormous cabinet, wriggling around. The noise had been her accidentally bumping her head.

Wang Zhiqiang: "..."

Sometimes, the big shot did not look particularly like a big shot.

The big shot was searching for medicine very seriously.

How kindhearted. Even in a place like this, she still cared about helping others just as people did outside?

Oh, he remembered now. It was because the big shot had only just arrived in this city.

When the city had first been sealed off, he had not minded tossing surplus food he found to some elderly people and children either. Sometimes, if he was in a good mood, he would lend a hand when he saw injustice. Then the rains of fire and lava grew increasingly frequent, the city's supplies were rapidly swallowed by flames, and the scarce food was swept up by the various factions. Even as an ability user, he struggled to find anything to eat. He was hungry, thirsty, and had to guard against danger that could strike at any moment. At his thirstiest, he had even considered drinking his own output.

He had seen ordinary people rejected by the major factions fight viciously over a piece of bread, and loving spouses turn into enemies. Humans were fragile. Without food or water, it did not take long for them to die. When bread became a necessity for survival, it would be placed on one side of the scales and the human heart on the other, to be weighed against each other.

Besides, quite a few opportunistic types had gathered in this city. Their consciences had only been the size of a fingernail to begin with. With petty villains like them taking the lead, it would have been strange if the atmosphere had not gone bad.

Wang Zhiqiang touched his stomach through his clothes. Today was another day of hunger.

What rotten luck.

His gaze fell on the big shot with her surplus kindness. She had moved on to another cabinet and was wriggling around inside, without the slightest guard against a petty villain like him.

The back of his head hurt badly. This ability user had hit him.

He wanted to...

Right by his feet was a small freight trolley, solidly built. If a lump of iron this hard came smashing down on someone's head, even a powerful ability user's skull would split open, however hard it was.

The chance to return the favor was right before him...

Wang Zhiqiang suddenly grew tense. His heart raced, and his initially slouching posture straightened.

Distracting thoughts surged through his mind, and his vision blurred slightly from his intense tension.

A few seconds, or perhaps a dozen-odd seconds later, his shoulders suddenly slumped, and he panted in great gulps.

He gave up on attacking.

He could not bring himself to do it.

His targets had always been objects, not living people. He had never done it before. He was inexperienced, and there was a slight... psychological barrier.

He let out a long sigh inwardly. Once he abandoned the thought of attacking, his whole body relaxed.

With a complicated expression, he looked toward the person he had meant to attack. The next instant, his body stiffened as he met a pair of eyes. At some point, the big shot who had been wriggling inside the cabinet had come out. Crouching with her head slightly raised, she was watching him quietly. Those eyes were dark and admitted no light. Look at them too long, and one could almost believe one had fallen into an abyss.

Cold sweat instantly spread across Wang Zhiqiang's back. "B-big shot, I..."

"Know what you did wrong?"

"Yes, I shouldn't have..." Wang Zhiqiang struggled to say it. He had actually dared entertain such a thought just now. He had truly been outrageously bold. The big shot had seen through everything long ago!

Thank goodness, thank goodness he hadn't acted.

Ye Jiang was very satisfied. "Go on, then."

Wang Zhiqiang, drenched in cold sweat: "Huh?"

Go do what?

Ye Jiang frowned slightly. "Didn't you realize you shouldn't just stand there, and should help look for medicine yourself?"

Wang Zhiqiang: "..."

Huh?

"...Oh."

In a daze, he found a cabinet and started wriggling around just like the big shot, leaving no nook or cranny unchecked.

After searching for a while, he felt something was off. He turned to look at the big shot, who had resumed wriggling around-hiss, had the big shot actually noticed that he'd wanted to attack her or not?

While Ye Jiang was searching the factory for lifesaving medicine, Liu He and the others waiting for their return encountered a new turn of events. An ability user hiding nearby set his sights on... the beautiful Nurse. Seeing that the group consisted of the old, the sick, and the injured, the ability user jumped out without hesitation. To protect Nurse, Liu He forced his body to use his ability. Although he drove the ability user back, his injuries worsened further, leaving him unable to use his ability again for the time being.

The situation was terrible. Liu He's ability could help this group of elderly, weak, sick, and injured people flee quickly. If he could not use it, then when Blood Knight arrived with the anomalous phenomenon, left to their own devices, the elderly people and the child would either be killed by the phenomenon or by Blood Knight. Death would be inescapable.