Chapter 12: Cultivating Spiritual Power

In the dormitory, Tu You was rolling on the bed with laughter as she looked at the things she had brought back.

“This is hilarious! I really want to see the look on that guy’s face when he realizes his stuff got stolen!”

“Alright, be careful getting off the bed.”

Sang Chu was sorting through the energy devices Tu You had brought back, setting aside the ones that were still fresh, and then replacing the water in the purifier with clean, fresh water.

“I’m not getting down!” Tu You said, then hopped onto the fridge, grabbed a bunch of grapes, and started eating while watching Sang Chu. “Ah Chu, do you think those guys will come after us for stealing their stuff? Or will they just go steal from someone else?”

Sang Chu replied, “No, it’s not easy for anyone to make a living these days. If he hadn’t tried to scam me, I wouldn’t have taken all his new energy devices.”

Tu You said, “You really don’t seem like someone from the apocalypse. In my mind, people in the apocalypse are all super selfish.”

“I know, and maybe after a while I’ll become just as cold and selfish as him. But until that day comes, I want to hold onto my bottom line as much as possible, and not let myself turn into a monster.”

Sang Chu spoke calmly, but Tu You was taken aback. She walked over, stuffed a grape into Sang Chu’s mouth, and said, “You won’t! I know you’re a good person!”

Sang Chu didn’t reply. In the apocalypse, there were no good people left—at most, just a shred of humanity.

Tu You asked, “Ah Chu, how do you use these energy devices?”

She looked curiously at the devices placed on the water purifier. Sang Chu took out the manual, projected the instructions, and followed the steps to release the water from the devices.

Tu You sat by the side, munching on fruit and watching Sang Chu work, but after a long time, she still didn’t get it. “Ah Chu, why isn’t any water coming out?”

Sang Chu pointed to the sink. “This is a special kind of starfish stone from the planet Haixing. According to the manual, it can absorb water infinitely. So all you need to do is open the device and place it on top—the starfish stone will absorb all the water by itself.”

“Oh, so I just need to put them all on there, right?”

Sang Chu nodded. “Yes, draining all the water will take about a night. I’m going to get some sleep first. When I wake up, I’ll make the gold beads for Dr. Li.”

“Wait!”

Tu You hurriedly took out the spiritual cultivation manual and handed it to Sang Chu. “Ah Chu, don’t go to sleep yet. Take a look at this and follow the cultivation method.”

“This is the spiritual cultivation manual you mentioned?”

Sang Chu opened it and saw a bunch of diagrams and introductions about spiritual power.

Tu You said, “That’s right. As long as you cultivate, your spiritual power will increase, and making gold beads will be much easier. People are actually best suited for cultivation when they’re tired!”

“Really?” Sang Chu looked at Tu You skeptically.

Tu You replied smugly, “Of course! You barely got any sleep in the wild, and now you’re exhausted. When you fall asleep, your mind will relax, and that’s the best time to cultivate. So don’t rush to sleep—at least try meditating and focusing your spiritual power.”

Sang Chu nodded, sat down on the floor with the manual, and began following the instructions.

Time passed slowly. Sweat dripped down Sang Chu’s forehead as she struggled, her expression tense.

She tried to regulate her breathing, and the scattered spiritual power in her mind slowly began to gather.

Suddenly—

Sang Chu felt a surge of powerful energy in her mind.

The energy was formless yet immense, as if it was about to burst through the barriers restraining it.

Sang Chu was overjoyed, but just as she was about to break through, her mind was suddenly pricked by something.

The energy, which had been about to break free, suddenly threatened to tear her mind apart.

Gritting her teeth, Sang Chu dared not relax for a moment.

As the moon set and the sun rose, the spiritual power in her mind finally condensed into a small bead.

“Huff—”

She exhaled heavily, drenched in sweat. Meanwhile, Tu You was sitting in a pile of fruit, eating away, her mouth full.

“Ah Chu, you’re awake! How do you feel?”

Sang Chu glared at her, gritting her teeth. “Not great! I’m going to take a shower. Clean up the food!”

After a quick shower, Sang Chu changed into clean clothes and finally lay down on her bed—only to realize she didn’t have any more clean clothes left.

Oh well, she’d buy some after she woke up. She was too tired now!

With that thought, Sang Chu quickly drifted off to sleep.

By the time she woke up, it was already noon.

There were a lot more things in the room. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Sang Chu asked, “What’s all this?”

Tu You bounced over, plopped down on Sang Chu’s stomach, and said, “Dr. Li brought them over. She knocked for a long time but you didn’t wake up, so she checked your vitals and saw you were fine, then just left the stuff here.”

As she spoke, Tu You grabbed a letter from the table and handed it over. “Here, she left you a note.”

Sang Chu read:

The stuff is all here. When you wake up, give me what you promised!

Everything’s here.

Sang Chu quickly got out of bed and rushed to the table where the items were placed. There were light crystals, a small healing device, a spatial ring, new energy devices, and more.

Inside the spatial ring were clothes, food, weapons—far more than she had before.

The more she looked, the bigger Sang Chu’s smile grew. “There’s so much! This will keep me going for a long time in the apocalypse!”

Tu You watched her and said, “You’re always so alert, but you slept so long this time. Was it because cultivating spiritual power drained you? Can you use your wood ability to grow plants now?”

Sang Chu, while putting everything into her own spatial ring, suddenly remembered. She took out a watermelon vine, placed it in her hands, and in no time at all, a big watermelon grew. She gave it a tap—it sounded crisp. She split it open, and the flesh inside was bright red.

She took a bite—sweet and juicy, absolutely delicious!

“I didn’t expect spiritual power to boost my abilities this much. So sweet!”

Tu You said, “Then hurry up and make the gold beads! Dr. Li gave you so much stuff, and you haven’t given her a single bead yet. You slept all day—she’s probably going crazy waiting!”

Sang Chu snapped back to her senses, quickly put down the watermelon, and started making gold beads.

This time, it was much easier than before. In no time, she had a small bag of beads.

But it was still far from what she had promised Dr. Li, so she kept going.

The whole day, she did nothing but make beads.

Tu You packed up all the food in the dorm, collected all the water from the stolen devices, and stored it away.

After a day and a night, she finally finished!

[Dr. Li, sorry, I was out cold yesterday. I just woke up today. The things you wanted are all ready. Come pick them up anytime.]"