Qu Meijing’s energy, which was thinner than a fishing line, suddenly surged toward a white energy mass in her abdomen as if provoked. The white energy mass kept writhing, its frequency perfectly matching the curve of Qu Meijing’s bent body.
This energy mass was none other than the energy core of a mutated roundworm.
Struck by the energy within Qu Meijing’s body, the mutated roundworm’s energy core began to twist and struggle, trying to break through the blockade of the energy current.
But the energy current moved as if it had a mind of its own—charging left and right, back and forth in relentless assaults.
The scene of the struggle was intensely striking.
Qin Sang couldn’t help but whisper, “Dalinzi, channel your energy into your eyes.”
Xu Lin was startled for a moment, then immediately did as told. Qin Sang had already taught him the cultivation technique for energy, so he naturally knew how to use it. Though he wasn’t as skilled as Qin Sang, Xu Lin had always trained diligently.
So when he gathered energy into his eyes, he too could clearly see the trajectory of energy moving inside Qu Meijing’s body.
“This…”
Qin Sang nodded. “The energy inside her is fighting back.”
Xu Lin understood what this meant. If Qu Meijing could overcome the mutated roundworm, it would mean that anyone who had cultivated energy would have a new way to deal with mutated parasites.
That would mean the death toll wouldn’t be as horrifying as predicted!
As the two observed, the battle inside Qu Meijing’s body was nearing its end.
Clearly, the energy current in Qu Meijing’s body was still too weak—it lacked a finishing blow against the mutated roundworm.
Qin Sang reached out and flicked a small energy ball into her body.
Xu Lin raised an eyebrow when he saw it.
Qin Sang shrugged. “Let’s see what happens.”
Over on the other side, Qu Meijing’s belly looked like it was about to burst. Everyone around her had scrambled far back in fear of being caught in the aftermath.
At this critical moment, Qu Meijing, who had been shaking violently just moments ago, suddenly flattened her body back down. She stopped trembling altogether. But she was drenched in sweat from head to toe, clearly having gone through an intense battle.
Brother Fa, seeing that the crisis seemed to have passed, wanted to go check on her. But Qin Sang stopped him.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Xu Lin had the same thought. In an instant, he had already considered how to report this discovery. Of course, he couldn’t just say he saw the energy flow with his own eyes.
Based on the information he had gathered so far, the only cultivation technique in the world that could actively channel energy to the five senses and enhance them was the one Qin Sang possessed.
He could learn such an extraordinary technique, but he couldn’t reveal it.
After all, the publicly available cultivation methods—like the Eight Brocades or the Diamond Sutra—were essentially just health exercises. They couldn’t manipulate energy so flexibly. At best, they strengthened the body.
So the best way to report this was to have Qu Meijing herself come forward as the primary witness.
—
“Are you okay? Have some water.”
By now, Qin Sang had crouched down beside Qu Meijing and taken a bottle of water from her spatial storage, placing it in the other woman’s hand. As for helping her sit up—she wouldn’t do that. Qu Meijing was clearly spent; lying down was far more comfortable than sitting.
And indeed, Qu Meijing didn’t try to sit up. She stayed on the ground, too weak even to twist the cap off the bottle. Qin Sang had to open it for her and insert a straw before she could drink.
“Thank you!” That was the most sincere thank-you Qin Sang had ever heard from her since they’d met.
Qin Sang simply shook her head. “No need to thank me. This is nothing. Actually, I came over because I have something to discuss with you.”
Qu Meijing was taken aback. “What is it?”
Qin Sang didn’t beat around the bush. “I saw that you had a mutated roundworm in your stomach just now. But somehow, it seems to have resolved itself. There were so many people around—word about what happened to you is bound to spread quickly. How about voluntarily reporting your situation to the authorities? Your case is a bit special. They might even give you reward points for it.”
Qu Meijing hadn’t expected Qin Sang to say that and felt a little displeased. She thought Qin Sang was trying to use her as a favor. Besides, as a reborn person, if she actually went to the official research institute, there was a risk her secrets would be exposed.
One look at Qu Meijing’s expression and Qin Sang knew exactly what she was thinking.
Sure enough, she and Qu Meijing could never truly be friends.
She spread her hands openly. “Relax, I’m just offering a suggestion. And I’m not acting as a middleman—I’m not taking a cut. Whatever compensation you want, you can negotiate with the officials yourself. I just thought your situation might serve as a useful reference. Maybe it could save more people infected with parasites.”
Hearing that, Qu Meijing’s expression finally softened.
Qin Sang added, “Think it over. I have other things to do, so I’ll be going now.”
With that, without waiting for Qu Meijing to respond, she called out to Xu Lin and the two walked briskly out of the village.
“I could just call and report it directly,” Xu Lin said as they walked.
Qin Sang shook her head. “Forget it. She might be the first one we’ve seen, but she’s definitely not the only one. Letting her go to the authorities is just a way to provide more samples. Besides, Qu Meijing can earn some points for herself.”
This kind of mutually beneficial arrangement—if Qu Meijing didn’t want to take it, so be it. Qin Sang wasn’t getting any benefit out of it anyway; she just wanted to do a good deed for the day.
Seeing that Qin Sang didn’t care, Xu Lin dropped the subject of Qu Meijing entirely. Regardless of whether she reported it herself, Brother Fa—the patrol team leader who had been on-site—would definitely file a report.
So Xu Lin simply sent a message to an acquaintance, asking him to keep an eye on how energy-wielders fared when resisting mutated parasites.
—
Boom…
A three-meter-long mutated seven-spotted ladybug crashed to the ground from midair, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Qin Sang waited for the dust to settle before jumping onto the insect’s body and pulling out the arrow lodged in its energy core.
“Sang Sang, your archery skills have improved again,” her mother marveled as she hurried over, intending to help dissect the carcass.
Ever since they had set out yesterday to search for mutated plants, Qin’s mother had realized that she and her husband still lacked combat prowess. They could handle mutated bugs that crawled on the ground, but when it came to winged ones, they were truly helpless.
“Mom and Dad, once you master the Mandarin Duck Blades, you might even surpass me,” Qin Sang said with a smile as she hopped off the insect.
Her parents had also received a pair of Mandarin Duck Blades from Grandpa Goose. However, without a manual and with neither of them being naturally athletic—plus their age—their progress was slow.
At that moment, Qin’s father stepped forward, drawing his blades. “Let me handle this.”
With one strike, a yellowish fluid oozed out, reeking terribly. But Qin’s father didn’t flinch, chopping off the ladybug’s carapace in one go.
Next came the legs, mouthparts, eyes, and most importantly, the energy core.
All these parts were officially recognized as exchangeable for reward points.
After stowing everything away, Qin Sang decided to rest there for a while. They had been out for a full day, their goal being to find new mutated plants. Their search radius was limited to cities around Huashan—they didn’t plan to go too far.
In just one day, they had encountered over fifty mutated insects. Fortunately, these creatures were territorial and didn’t gather in groups. Otherwise, if they all swarmed at once, Qin Sang doubted she could do anything but retreat into her spatial storage.
Seriously, the areas she passed through were sparsely populated yet overrun with insects. But she hadn’t expected the number of mutated bugs to have grown so much—roughly one every half hour. No sooner had she killed one than another showed up before she could catch her breath.
After killing so many, Qin Sang began to doubt the very purpose of her trip.
“Hey, Sang Sang. Someone in the village group chat said Qu Meijing got into an official vehicle and left.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang wasn’t surprised at all. Anyone with half a brain would seize the chance to get something out of the authorities.
It was only this morning that she’d learned from Xu Lin that similar cases to Qu Meijing’s were appearing in hospitals nationwide.
However, everyone who had successfully fought off a mutated parasite so far had one thing in common—they all possessed spatial abilities.
That made sense; those with spatial powers could cultivate energy much more easily.
But this meant that ordinary people might have even less hope for survival in the future.
They had no spatial storage to stockpile supplies. They had no spatial abilities to rapidly absorb energy, strengthen their bodies, and adapt to the increasingly harsh environment. They had no spatial powers to resist the threat of mutated parasites.
The world was shifting toward a state where ordinary people could no longer survive.
Strictly speaking, it seemed like ordinary people were being phased out by the world itself.
Coming to this conclusion, Qin Sang’s heart sank. She hoped this topic would never be brought up.
But as fate would have it, her fears came true.
Two days later, news broke that spatial ability users could kill mutated parasites inside their own bodies.
As soon as this came out, many panicked spatial users immediately calmed down.
However, the panic among ordinary people multiplied exponentially.
Online, more nihilistic posts appeared, and another wave of suicides followed.
“The situation is very complicated now. The authorities originally planned to wait until the deworming medicine was developed before announcing this. But someone leaked it early, and now things are spiraling out of control.”
Xu Lin was on the phone with Qin Sang, updating her on the online sentiment over the past two days.
As an expert in public opinion, Xu Lin had truly done his best. The special nature of spatial users had first been exposed from the Northern Safe Zone. The system automatically deleted it the moment it was detected online. But too many people were reposting that thread—deletions couldn’t keep up. Deleting further would have been seen as censorship. In the end, they could only remove the extreme comments and leave the normal discussions alone.
But this incident disrupted the official deployment, putting the development of deworming medicine in a passive position.
Someone was clearly behind this push. Xu Lin had dissected the clues and had a rough idea of what was going on.
“The crematoriums can’t keep up even with overtime. When those people commit suicide, the mutated parasites inside them burst out. So they’ve had to set up makeshift incinerators on-site to burn the bodies immediately. Any delay means dealing with mutated parasites. Some people even had more than one type of mutated parasite in them.”
What Xu Lin said wasn’t false—he’d seen the combat reports. Apparently, one person loved raw marinated seafood and freshwater fish sashimi. Before the apocalypse, they’d taken deworming pills like vitamins, so they’d never had issues. But after the apocalypse, the habit stayed while the pills disappeared. Then the parasites mutated, and that was the end of them.
Qin Sang ate her meal while listening to Xu Lin go on about parasites, completely unfazed. She felt she’d become terrifyingly strong—not even feeling nauseous or losing her appetite.
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly sensed a faint energy fluctuation behind her. She turned around—and the mutated ladybug carcass she’d left there was gone!
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