'It's so noisy.'
'It'll attract zombies.'
Gu Xi's consciousness was still hazy, but she instinctively raised her hand to release her ability...
The next moment, a sudden realization struck her. She snapped her eyes open to find herself sitting in a very simple sickroom.
A tiny green sprout, even thinner than a bean sprout, dangled tremulously from her fingertip, its two small, yellowish leaves drooping listlessly.
Gu Xi stared at the tiny sprout on her fingertip, her brow furrowed slightly. For as long as she could remember, she had never seen her ability in such a weak state.
Just then, a young woman in a white coat pulled back the cloth curtain and walked over. She paused when she saw Gu Xi was awake, then smiled. "You're awake? Are you alright?"
Gu Xi shook her head, her fingertips hidden under the blanket curling slightly. She could sense that her body was fine, except... her ability felt strange.
「Ten minutes later.」
After bidding farewell to the enthusiastic young woman in the white coat, Gu Xi rubbed her still-dizzy head and slowly walked out the door.
Before leaving, she made a point to glance at the glass door to her side.
It was her face—just paler and weaker than usual.
Gu Xi walked slowly onto the street, discreetly observing the temporary camp before her.
It was called a temporary camp, but aside from the lack of skyscrapers, everything here was almost identical to the bases she remembered.
In the distance, Gu Xi saw a sign for the "Refugee Registration Office."
According to the kind young woman from earlier, she was an unregistered refugee who had been found in the ruins by a group of pioneers the previous night.
According to current government policy, she had to go to the relevant department to register her identity.
The registration office had only one service window, and with several people already in line, Gu Xi slowly took her place at the back.
The midday sun was intensely bright, almost glaring.
Gu Xi raised a hand to shield her forehead, her eyes narrowing.
The temporary camp's walls were high, and she couldn't see what was outside, but she could vaguely make out a splash of dark green in a corner of the wall.
Gu Xi's heart sank. Where her gaze focused, there were several plants so green they were almost black.
'Mutant plants!'
'And high-level ones at that!'
Years of living in the apocalypse made Gu Xi subconsciously tense up, readying herself for a fight.
The pad of her thumb gently brushed the small green sprout on her index fingertip as Gu Xi licked her dry lips.
Just then, several young boys burst out from a nearby corner, running past the patch of dark green plants as they laughed and played.
'Oh no!'
Gu Xi's expression flickered. 'They're too far. In my current state, there's no way I can save those children.'
But she quickly realized something was wrong.
Many people nearby had seen the scene, yet not a single one showed any surprise or terror. In fact, a short distance away, several other children were laughing and running toward them.
And the mutant plants, which she considered incredibly dangerous, showed no intention of attacking the children. They simply grew quietly at the base of the high wall, swaying gently in the wind, as if they were nothing more than ordinary ornamental plants from before the apocalypse.
Gu Xi lowered her gaze and discreetly retracted the small green sprout at her fingertip.
'High-level mutant plants have appeared inside a human safe zone, and they aren't even attacking people. This camp... is strange.'
Gu Xi closed her eyes for a moment, then slowly lowered her hand and began to re-examine her surroundings.
The entire camp could be described as rudimentary. Aside from the high wall in the distance, there seemed to be no other defenses.
But the people here weren't tense. They were just severely emaciated, their complexions faintly sallow and dark. 'Is it malnutrition, or maybe some kind of poisoning?'
However, behind the registration window not far away sat a man with a hideous scar on his face who looked exceptionally fierce.
As she got closer, Gu Xi vaguely sensed that he was also an ability user.
But in her perception, the man's ability seemed to have been eroded by something... It was just... very strange.
Gu Xi's staring must have been too obvious, because the scar-faced man looked up, met her gaze, and smiled. "Ah, miss, it's you..."
For such a fierce-looking man, his voice was surprisingly gentle.
'And from the way he speaks, it seems he knows me?'
Gu Xi had been born at the very moment the apocalypse descended. She was the human bases' strongest "apocalypse baby," and great hopes had been placed on her since childhood:
Researchers at the base's Abnormal Ability Research Institute, after comparing complex data, discovered that her ability was the most unique. She was the only one with the potential to eliminate the Zombie Emperor and end the apocalypse.
Later, she lived up to those expectations—at fourteen, her ability broke through to level ten, and she became the captain of the human bases' strongest ability user squad, thus beginning more than a decade of constant warfare.
Life in the apocalypse wasn't easy. Eventually, the bases molded Gu Xi into a hero of the era, and many people worshiped her. Plenty of people had also seen her face in the early days.
So it wasn't strange that this man recognized her.
'It's just that most people who recognize me would never speak to me in that tone...'
With the situation unclear, Gu Xi could only play it by ear.
"Hello." The person in front of her had just finished, so Gu Xi walked up to the window, cleared her throat, and continued, "I'm here to register..."
Gu Xi felt that things were getting bizarre.
She still remembered that day. She and her comrades had finally eliminated the last Zombie Emperor in the world.
That night, at the victory banquet held by the base, she had taken a glass of fine wine from a comrade's own hand, and then... she had collapsed.
When she woke up again, she was in this strange, unfamiliar camp... having become an unregistered refugee girl found in the ruins by a group of pioneers?
'Could this all be just a bizarre dream she was having after getting drunk?'
Otherwise, Gu Xi simply couldn't figure out why she was here.
Gu Xi frowned slightly, her left thumb discreetly pressing against one of her knuckles.
"Don't be nervous." Seeing her expression, the scar-faced man took out a small booklet and handed it to her with a smile. "From the looks of you, you've been living in the ruins until now, right? Here, you can take a look at this first. By the way, can you read? How old are you? What's your name?"
"...Gu Xi." She took the booklet from the man, cautiously answering only his last question. As her gaze inadvertently swept over the form he was filling out, she froze.
It wasn't because this man, who seemingly knew her, showed no reaction to the name "Gu Xi." It was because...
Gu Xi's eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on the line of small text at the very bottom of the form: Year 58 of the Apocalypse , South City Pioneer Team?
'Year 58 of the Apocalypse ?!'
In that instant, Gu Xi truly felt the absurd sensation of being trapped in a dream.
"Gu Xi, right?" The scar-faced man's voice snapped her back to her senses. He gave her a strange look, his gaze falling on the medical report that had just come in from the infirmary. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're an ability user?"
When Gu Xi nodded, the scar-faced man smiled again. He pointed to the booklet in her hand and said, "Well, in that case, according to the base's policy, you can be assigned at least one hundred mu of wasteland. If you're a Wood Element ability user..."
Gu Xi didn't hear anything else the man said. She stared down at the black text in the booklet for a long moment, a strange expression dawning on her face as if she had finally understood something.
'No wonder everything here felt so bizarre. So, thirty years have already passed?'
'But my memory is still stuck on that night thirty years ago, at the base's victory banquet...'