Chapter 20: Escape

Lu Minli and Sang Chu both arrived at Tu You’s side, exchanging a quick glance.

In perfect sync, they pulled out their cold weapons and fired at it like crazy.

After a volley of shots, they quickly retreated.

“ROAR—!”

With another furious roar, the giant white flood dragon whipped its massive tail, instantly shattering the rocks around it.

The white flood dragon bellowed in rage, its frenzied attacks shaking the entire cave.

“Light Shield!”

“Earth Shield!”

Their attacks landed squarely on their energy shields. By now, Mu Xue had already released her particle device, setting it to escape mode.

“Sang Sang, I’ll draw its attention with the particle device. Don’t attack recklessly!”

The particle device shrank down to the size of a small grain, almost invisible to the naked eye. Mu Xue fired it at the white flood dragon, drawing its attention, then quickly recalled the device.

“ROAR!”

The furious white flood dragon lunged at Mu Xue, its massive body repeatedly smashing into the spot where it thought the particle device was.

After successfully drawing the dragon away from Sang Chu and Lu Minli, the particle device zipped back toward them at high speed, attaching itself directly to them and pulling them into a hidden dimension!

“ROAR—ROAR—!”

The people were gone.

The white flood dragon went berserk, rampaging through the cave and smashing it to pieces.

The original path was now blocked, so the particle device had to find another way out.

The three of them escaped by riding the particle device, passing through underground rivers, and finally climbing out on top of some strange plants.

Mu Xue sat on the plant, gasping for breath. “Oh my god, I almost died! What the hell was that thing? That can’t be real!”

After escaping the cave, Lu Minli and Mu Xue couldn’t see Tu You anymore. He simply transformed back into his rabbit form and hopped over.

Tu You said, “That was a flood dragon. After a thousand years it becomes a dragon, after another thousand it can transform. It was just one step away. Now that you’ve taken its stone jade, of course it’s gone mad!”

At this, Mu Xue couldn’t help but shiver, muttering, “Makes sense. After so many years, it never dared to harm me. Even if it cost me my life, I had to get that stone jade.”

Tu You widened his rabbit eyes at her. “Missy, weren’t you the one who dug out its stone jade?”

“Yeah, so what? Finders keepers. From my perspective, I have every right to take it. From the dragon’s perspective, it’s only natural it wants to kill me.”

Lu Minli lay there for a long time before slowly getting up. He’d been struck by the dragon’s tail, and his whole body ached.

“Ah Chu, how do you use your healing device?”

He didn’t hesitate to ask—only by staying healthy could you survive in the apocalypse.

Mu Xue asked, “Minli, are you hurt?”

Lu Minli nodded, wincing. “That dragon’s strength is insane. Right now it feels like all my internal organs have been rearranged. Everything hurts.”

He was indeed in bad shape. Sang Chu led him straight to the medical room. “I’ve installed a large healing device on every particle device, but I hope you can keep this a secret.”

Mu Xue helped Lu Minli along. “Is it different from the one on the spaceship?”

Sang Chu nodded. “There are only three of these large healing devices. I checked the database on the ship, and there’s a lot of tech even I don’t understand. So, this thing is for my own use only.”

With that, she opened the healing pod. Inside, it was a pristine white, with no obvious mechanisms. “Xiao Xue, help him inside.”

Sang Chu gave Lu Minli a hand, helping him into the pod and closing the lid. The device immediately lit up with a green glow, leaving Mu Xue gaping in amazement.

“Oh wow, that’s incredible!”

Tu You rolled his eyes at her. “You’ve said that a dozen times today!”

“But it really is amazing…”

Sang Chu said, “Xiao Xue, let’s step outside. I have a mental cultivation manual—want to train with me?”

Mu Xue glanced awkwardly at Tu You. “Can I do it too?”

“Of course. I know you always thought your space ability was useless, that you couldn’t protect anyone. But after cultivating mental power, you might be able to use it to attack.”

“I want to learn!”

“Alright, let’s go.”

This was something Sang Chu had realized after her own cultivation: with strong enough mental power, not only could you attack the minds of mutated beasts, you might even be able to influence or control other people’s thoughts.

After giving Mu Xue a copy of the mental cultivation manual and some basic instructions, Sang Chu returned to her room.

Tu You said, “Ah Chu, do you want to use the stone jade? It’ll be safer for you if you boost your abilities. Traveling through space is dangerous.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. If Minli doesn’t use it, I’ll leave some for him. But I need to find some other good stuff too. You go check around and see if there are any survivors from Haishi.”

Tu You replied, “Haishi? That’s pretty far from here. Why do you want to go there?”

“Mu Xue and I are both from a small town in Haishi. After the apocalypse, I wanted to go back but couldn’t even take a step. Now we have food and abilities, so I want to go see if any of my family are still alive.”

“It’s been so long since the apocalypse… they might…”

“Let’s just go and see. Also, I want to build a base. I think that small town is perfect. It’s backed by mountains, has lots of farmland. Even if most of it’s overgrown now, at least there’s land. On the way, I want to find some plants suitable for survival and bring them back to cultivate.”

Tu You said, “Alright, you’ve clearly thought it through. I’ll head out first. You use the stone jade to boost your power. I’ll keep watch outside just in case.”

Sang Chu nodded. “If Minli and I aren’t here, don’t let Mu Xue go out. Set the particle device to stealth mode so no one sees it.”

Tu You patted his little chest. “Leave it to me!”

After watching him leave, Sang Chu finally sat down and took out the stone jade.

Tu You didn’t know how to use it either, so Sang Chu could only figure it out herself.

From what she’d read, you absorbed it directly. Sang Chu held it in her hand, crossed her legs, and began to meditate.

Following the mental cultivation method, she breathed slowly in and out, and it really seemed to work.

Streams of energy flowed from the stone jade into her palm, entering her body.

Buzz—

A surge of fire suddenly rushed through her, making her whole body burn.

But soon, a gentle stream flowed through her, soothing every cell.

Suddenly—

She felt as if she were in a lush forest, a sweet spring breeze caressing her face, and a surge of vibrant life force filled her.

She didn’t know how long had passed before the stone jade finally cracked and turned to dust.

Sang Chu opened her eyes, feeling lighter and stronger. She quickly took out a small potted plant, picked all the grapes, and used her wood ability to stimulate growth.

Sure enough!

“As expected, wood abilities level up the fastest!”"

"Here is a fluent, natural English translation of your text:

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**Chapter 21: The Broken Village**

All the senses were heightened, but only those attuned to wood-type abilities could perceive things most clearly. Watching as five or six grapevines rapidly grew and split, producing clusters of grapes, Sang Chu couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Sang Chu took out a spirit jade to absorb energy.

...

Mu Xue sat idly in the inner room, chatting away, munching on watermelon and grapes, and boiling a lot of steamed buns.

Tu You hugged a bowl filled with buns, eating one after another without stopping.

Mu Xue watched him stuff his mouth full of crumbs and couldn’t help but scold, “Can’t you eat a little more gracefully?!”

“Pfft, you’re one to talk! Who was wolfing down food like crazy just now?!”

Mu Xue stubbornly denied it, “It was you! Only you! You big dumb bunny!”

“Hmph!”

Tu You turned his back to her, and in a childish fit, even stuck out his butt and farted at her!

“Are you nuts?! Just wait, I’ll beat you up, you big bunny! Don’t you dare run!”

Mu Xue chased after him, but Tu You’s ears were slippery—she’d barely caught hold before he slipped away.

Tu You said, “Give it up, Ah Chu said you can’t go out until she and Lu Minli come back! Nyah nyah!”

“Hmph! Then I’ll just go cultivate!”

...

Under the blood-red moon of the eternal night, the broken village looked especially eerie and terrifying.

Mu Xue was already small, and after cultivating her spiritual power, both her strength and perception had increased. The howls echoing around, the wind whistling through the broken walls, made her shiver uncontrollably.

“Sang Xiao Chu, why can’t we just turn on the lights or use a light source?”

Sang Chu replied, “There are survivors in the village. It’s best not to reveal these things in front of others.”

Before their wings were fully grown, they couldn’t afford to expose themselves easily. Otherwise, if everyone turned against them, even the three of them might not survive.

Lu Minli saw Mu Xue was scared and said, “Xiao Xue, why don’t you go back to the house with me?”

“Forget it, I’ll stick with you guys. Otherwise, if I suddenly pop up out of nowhere, how would you explain it?”

Mu Xue clung tightly to Sang Chu’s arm, but the constant, creepy noises kept pouring into her ears, making her even more frightened. She bit her lip, her little hands trembling.

Sang Chu asked, “Xiao Xue, what’s wrong?”

Even if Mu Xue had always been timid before the apocalypse and was afraid of ghosts, after so many years surviving, she’d toughened up a lot. But Lu Minli noticed too—he couldn’t bear to see her shivering in fear and gently asked, “Is it the noise?”

Mu Xue slowly looked up, her eyes stinging a little. She nodded, “It’s so noisy, so scary.”

Lu Minli had no other choice. He covered her ears with his hands and looked at Sang Chu, “It’s a side effect of cultivating spiritual power. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Sang Chu looked at Tu You, who shrugged, “I’m just a little tool spirit, I don’t know anything about your abilities.”

Sang Chu then turned to Mu Xue, who was clutching her hands and trembling, “Xiao Xue, if you really can’t take it, don’t force yourself. I’ll take you back to the house.”

Lu Minli added, “Yeah, why don’t you go rest first?”

Mu Xue shook her head, “I’ll be fine after a bit. I can do this.”

She didn’t want to be a burden. Even if she always said she wanted to cling to Sang Chu’s golden thigh, she couldn’t really be a delicate flower in the apocalypse.

Lu Minli glanced at Sang Chu, “Should we find a place to rest for a while?”

“Alright.”

Sang Chu walked in front, holding a golden vine in one hand, while Mu Xue clung to his other arm. Lu Minli stayed by Mu Xue’s side, covering her ears and keeping his powers spread across the ground, ready to react to any disturbance within a hundred meters.

Up ahead was a large rock.

Mu Xue sat down on it, gasping for breath.

Suddenly,

She seemed to hear a faint cry for help?

There were too many sounds, too chaotic, and this cry was so weak it was almost nothing.

Lu Minli and Sang Chu had been watching Mu Xue closely. She frowned slightly and said, “Did you guys hear that?”

“Mu Xue, what did you hear?”

Lu Minli looked up, and Mu Xue glanced at Sang Chu. When she saw that neither of them had heard anything, she started to doubt herself—maybe she was just imagining things.

Lu Minli said, “What did you hear? Maybe it’s something I or Sang Chu missed.”

“Yeah, let’s check it out.”

Mu Xue said, “I think I heard someone calling for help?”

She wasn’t sure. In a group like this, her abilities were the weakest. If even Sang Chu and Lu Minli hadn’t heard it, maybe she was just imagining things.

Sang Chu said, “Should we go take a look?”

Lu Minli agreed, “Yeah, this village seems relatively safe. It’s worth checking out who’s calling for help.”

He hadn’t forgotten that Sang Chu chose this village because it was her hometown. If any of Lin Mu Xue’s family had survived, they might be here.

Mu Xue looked at Lu Minli in surprise, “Why do you say there’s no slope here? I didn’t hear any wind or movement.”

All around them was wind and noise, but why did Lu Minli say there was no slope nearby?

Lu Minli was surprised by Mu Xue’s words and looked at Sang Chu, who was just as confused, “Xiao Xue, you heard a slope?”

“Yeah, didn’t you... hear it?”

Tu You hopped in front of Mu Xue, tilting his head, then suddenly slapped his big ears and exclaimed, “I get it! She used to be a spatial ability user. After her power leveled up, she can now hear sounds from her entire space. It’s normal that you guys can’t hear it, because those sounds might not even be nearby!”

Mu Xue said, “Yeah, that’s probably it.”

Tu You asked, “Right? Are those sounds like they’re being poured directly into your ears, and you can’t block them out?”

“Exactly!”

“Then congratulations, your ability has leveled up! Your space is much bigger now. Haven’t you noticed?”

With Tu You’s reminder, Mu Xue suddenly realized she hadn’t checked her own space since her ability upgraded.

Now that she looked inside—

Whoa, it really was much bigger! It had doubled in size!

“Wow, it’s really much bigger than before!”

She tried reaching into her space with her hand and found it was much easier than before.

Using her spatial power used to require a lot of effort, but now, everything inside was clear at a glance.

At this moment, she finally saw how much stuff Sang Chu had actually stored for her.

But after a brief moment of excitement, Mu Xue wilted again, “But what about those noises? They’re so scary, and they just won’t stop!”

Tu You shrugged, “That I don’t know. Maybe there’s a way, but I’m not a cultivator or an ability user, so I don’t know how to deal with it.”

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