“Beep, beep, beep…”
In the dead of night, the blare of horns first echoed through the air, followed by the glare of several car headlights in the distance. Qin Sang rubbed her face and hopped out of her vehicle.
Qin’s mother didn’t get out—she just stuck her head out the window and looked into the distance. “They finally made it. I thought the ‘wait 12 hours on-site’ was just an estimate—didn’t expect them to actually keep us waiting nearly 18 hours for nothing.”
Qin Sang found it a bit ridiculous too. They were currently less than 300 kilometers from Huashan City. Even with bad road conditions, it shouldn’t have taken 18 hours.
She kept her complaints to herself, expression neutral, and looked straight at the vehicles that had pulled up.
When she saw who got out, Qin Sang raised an eyebrow. “Captain Lin, what brings you here?”
The man before her was none other than Lin Feng—the official she’d dealt with most frequently.
But he didn’t look surprised to see her.
“I heard you had a mission for handover, and I happened to be free, so I came. How’d it go—smoothly?”
Qin Sang pointed at the night-blooming jasmine not far away, its rich fragrance filling the air. “There it is. Smells good, doesn’t it?”
Under the night sky, the plant seemed to glow faintly. The scorching heat hadn’t affected its blooming. And there were no mosquitoes or insects anywhere near it.
Qin Sang had had time to observe it closely today. This mutated night-blooming jasmine captured mutated insects through its root system, absorbing them for supplementary energy.
Though the tree was only two meters tall now, judging by its well-developed roots, it would likely grow to an impressive height once mature.
Captain Lin followed the direction of her finger. He raised a hand, and his team members, tools in hand, immediately rushed forward.
Qin Sang: “So my mission ends here, right?”
Captain Lin pulled out a tablet, tapped it a few times, and gestured for Qin Sang to check her personal account.
Qin Sang just then realized something. “Captain Lin, you have a spatial ability now!”
The tablet in his hand had appeared out of thin air.
Lin nodded. “Yeah, I got lucky. Exchanged for two jade pieces and one of them worked.”
Two jade pieces required a hefty amount of points. This guy must have worked incredibly hard—and had family helping him pool points. Otherwise, there was no way he could’ve gathered enough that quickly.
Impressive.
Qin Sang gave him a thumbs-up and casually asked about the situation in Huashan City.
“Nothing major in the city.” The main issue was the rising number of mutated insects—even if someone wanted to cause trouble, they couldn’t for now. But the number of suicides had increased.
After chatting for a while, Qin Sang glanced at the progress of the excavation team. Given the extent of the night-blooming jasmine’s root system, it looked impossible to finish digging it up tonight.
She was about to say goodbye and take her parents home for a visit.
Just as she was about to bid farewell to Captain Lin, she overheard someone in the excavation team mention something about a “no-man’s-land.” They spoke vividly, claiming the energy there was so chaotic that even satellites couldn’t detect anything.
Qin Sang hadn’t meant to eavesdrop—but as a cultivator, even without actively channeling energy to her ears, she could still hear clearly. And they weren’t exactly whispering.
She turned to Captain Lin. “Captain Lin, is that true? Is there really a no-man’s-land with chaotic energy fluctuations?”
Lin’s expression darkened—not at Qin Sang, but at Deputy Captain Old Ma, who had been the one speaking.
“Yeah, I won’t beat around the bush with you. A week ago, in a mountain on the border with the neighboring province, a village went silent. We sent people in, but none came back out. The energy field inside is in disarray—all electronic devices are useless.”
As Qin Sang listened to Lin’s account, something stirred inside her—a voice telling her she absolutely had to go check out this place.
“Could you give me a map to get there?”
Captain Lin really didn’t want to. He was afraid Qin Sang would run into danger. He’d worked with her several times and knew she was strong, principled, and had a solid moral compass. People like her were exactly what this dangerous world needed—not to go off exploring a no-man’s-land and die.
But he also knew she was tight with the intel team. Even if he refused, she could just get the map from them.
With a sigh, Captain Lin pulled out his tablet again, tapped a few times, and a detailed map appeared in Qin Sang’s account.
“Don’t be rash. No one who’s gone in has come out yet.”
Qin Sang nodded. “Got it. Thanks for this. I’ll be careful. See you next time in Huashan.”
With that, she turned, raised her hand in a wave, opened the car door, and jumped in. She stepped on the gas, spun the wheel, and drove off into the distance.
Only after her car was completely out of sight did Captain Lin’s faint smile vanish, replaced by a grim expression. He strode over to Deputy Captain Old Ma, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him away from the excavation team.
In a secluded corner, he flung Old Ma to the ground.
“Cough, cough… Old Lin, what the hell are you doing?!”
Captain Lin crossed his arms and looked down at the disheveled Old Ma. “You’re asking for death.”
“What are you talking about?” Old Ma’s eyes darted.
Captain Lin let out a cold laugh. “You brought up the no-man’s-land on purpose just now—trying to lure Qin Sang over there, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t.”
“Whether you did or not, you know the truth. When we get back, I’m reporting your behavior to the director.”
Watching Old Ma’s nonchalant attitude, Captain Lin said nothing more. He was sure Qin Sang knew Old Ma had done it on purpose. That was exactly why he’d given her the map and answered her questions when she asked—someone as capable as her didn’t need his advice.
—
“Sang Sang, that guy said it on purpose, didn’t he? You’re not really going to listen to him and head to some no-man’s-land, are you?”
As the car drove along the dark road, Qin’s mother finally spoke up.
Qin Sang nodded, gazing at the dimly lit path ahead. “I’m going. Why wouldn’t I? They put on a whole show right in front of us—it’d be rude not to show up. Besides, more importantly, my gut tells me going there will be rewarding.”
Qin’s father listened quietly to the exchange between his wife and daughter, offering no opinion. He’d just wait and follow their lead.
“Alright, as long as you know he was intentional. If you’re going, then go—we have the space, so we’re not afraid. But we need to be prepared before heading in. A no-man’s-land… I’ve only ever seen those in short videos.”
Qin Sang smiled. Wasn’t that the truth? Before the apocalypse, all the places she’d traveled to had nothing to do with dangerous no-man’s-lands. Yet now, when things were already so perilous, she was heading straight into one.
Fate worked in mysterious ways.
Of course, there was another important reason she decided to go—Little Seed didn’t sense any danger.
Yes, this tiny mutated dandelion had initially chirped that its only ability was stealth. But after plenty of feeding, it finally admitted it could sense whether the path ahead was dangerous or not.
In short, it had a knack for avoiding misfortune and seeking good fortune.
After learning that, Qin Sang couldn’t help but exclaim, “Nice!” Then, ignoring its protests, she stuck it right behind her ear, nestled in her hair.
Such an adorable little thing belonged right there. They were all good partners now—fighting side by side was the way to go.
—
By the time they reached the vicinity of their destination, it was already late afternoon the next day. They’d driven non-stop for a full day, with her parents taking turns at the wheel.
When switching drivers, Qin Sang filled Xu Lin in on the no-man’s-land plan and gathered plenty of intel from him. Naturally, she got an earful from him too—he kept saying he wanted to run off and wander the wasteland with their family.
But Qin Sang shot that down immediately. In this world, having a good communication channel with the authorities could be a game-changer.
For the foreseeable future, she felt Xu Lin should stay with the intel team.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. After confirming that Captain Lin’s intel was solid, the Qin family headed straight for the no-man’s-land.
“Sang Sang, should we wait until tomorrow morning to go in?”
The so-called no-man’s-land looked no different from an ordinary mountain. But even from dozens of meters away, you could feel an energy field pushing outward in all directions, like the repulsion between the north and south poles of a magnet.
“Hey, what are you folks doing?”
Just as Qin’s mother was about to ask if they should retreat into the space to rest, a shout rang out from the distance.
Qin Sang gestured to her parents and turned to face the newcomer.
As Xu Lin had mentioned, there was an official guard post stationed here.
Qin Sang walked up, presented her credentials, and explained her purpose. Upon learning that she and her family intended to enter the no-man’s-land and that she had emergency clearance from higher-ups, the guard said nothing more. He simply warned them of the dangers and left.
—
The next morning, as the sun rose, the entire mountain seemed to warp under the sunlight. It had been too dark to see clearly the night before, but now, seeing the distorted shapes, Qin’s parents both gasped.
“Sang Sang, it looks so eerie!”
Qin Sang stared at the warped areas and nodded. “It really is strange.”
Still, now that she was here, she knew she’d made the right call. She could feel that something inside was important to her. Even the little seed stuck behind her ear piped up in its whiny voice: “Sang Sang, it’s not dangerous.”
But even so, since she was bringing her parents along, Qin Sang made sure everything was thoroughly prepared.
The family first changed into their best gear, then organized weapons and supplies from their respective spaces. Only after confirming everything was in order did they step out of the car and head straight toward the distorted mountain.
The moment they began their ascent, an unremarkable member of the guard post pulled out his phone and sent a message to Deputy Captain Ma.
Upon receiving the message, Deputy Captain Ma jumped up excitedly and immediately reported to his superior.
“They went in? Good! That Qin Sang is a ticking time bomb. Fang Ming’s team botched things and caused the leak about the insect repellent. But this Qin Sang—she’s something else entirely. She handed over a batch of mutated mugwort, and within days, she found mutated night-blooming jasmine too.”
Thinking of everything Qin Sang had accomplished, this superior was deeply irked.
“Old Ma, keep watch. Once you’ve confirmed she’s gone, report to me immediately. I’ll make sure you get credit for this.”
Old Ma was so thrilled he nearly jumped up again.
And so they waited—five days. After five days with no one emerging from the no-man’s-land, Old Ma promptly reported to his superior. Delighted, the superior opened a bottle of precious wine to celebrate. Then, unhurriedly, he called his own superior with the good news.
But just as he finished delivering the report and was about to hang up, Old Ma called again.
“Bad news. That Qin Sang just came out of the no-man’s-land.”
The response Old Ma got was the sound of his superior’s phone shattering against the floor.
Of course, at that moment, Old Ma and his superiors had no idea what Qin Sang had found inside the no-man’s-land. If they had, they’d have probably exploded with rage on the spot.
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