Chapter 46: Estrangement, A Temporary Shelter

After paying the toll, they were allowed into the new district. Gu Xu made it clear: once inside, everyone would go their separate ways. Brother Leopard, Zhao Cheng, and their group could do whatever they wanted—Gu Xu wouldn’t care in the slightest. Some people still wanted to stick around, but seeing the cold expressions on Gu Xu’s group, they didn’t dare make a scene. Those who thought they were now safe left with arrogant attitudes, each heading off on their own. Only Chen Haitao earnestly requested to stay with Gu Xu’s team. Zhao Cheng and Guo Ziyue, seeing that their persuasion wasn’t working, watched coldly, waiting for him to be rejected.

They thought it was simple: among all of them, only Chen Haitao had awakened a speed ability, and his family was just four people—fewer than the others. If they could recruit him, whether they went to the station or just waited for the army outside, it would be more beneficial than not. Unfortunately, Chen Haitao had no interest in being their “leader” and instead wanted to stick with Gu Xu, which made them angry. But to their surprise, Gu Xu actually agreed to let Chen Haitao stay. In that moment, their anger turned to deep disappointment, resentment, and confusion.

No one had time to care about their feelings. With Chen Haitao’s family joining, Gu Xu’s temporary team grew to twelve people, and three vehicles headed deeper into the new district.

The new district was still under intense construction, but the disaster had brought everything to an abrupt halt. As the car moved forward, Bian Changxi could only see half-finished high-rises, overpasses with scaffolding, and construction sites piled with steel equipment. In the fading sunlight, these frozen scenes had a desolate, unfinished feel.

After driving a while, they finally saw a completed block of apartment buildings. These had already been opened for occupancy before the apocalypse, with signs of life still visible. There were quite a few survivors on the streets—some, like them, were newcomers looking for a place to stay, while others were out scavenging for supplies.

Qiu Yun went to scout ahead and found that all the well-located apartments were already taken, and the residents were a mixed bunch. After some discussion, the group decided to look at the street-facing buildings across the next block—four or five stories tall, with shops on the ground floor and apartments above. They finally settled on a building that had once housed a small eatery on the first floor.

The place was an old, untouched building that clearly hadn’t seen visitors in a long time. It had four floors, and after breaking in, they found that except for the first floor, each level had two rooms at the front and back. Gu Xu’s group of six took the second floor, the Chen family the third, and Bian Changxi and Lin Rongrong claimed the fourth.

Bian Changxi carried her bag into the front room on the fourth floor. The wooden floor was covered in dust, with an old single bed and two vintage wardrobes standing side by side, along with some miscellaneous items—it was clearly used for storage.

She opened the window to air out the room, rolled up her sleeves, and did a quick cleaning. She found a blanket in one of the wardrobes, laid it at the foot of the bed, ready to be used. Standing by the window, she realized she could see the massive white train station just two streets away—even part of the station plaza was visible, bustling with people and vehicles. That was convenient; she could keep an eye on what was happening over there.

She sat on the bed, took out a second-tier green core from her bag, and held it in her palm, closing her eyes to quietly absorb its energy.

When she opened her eyes again, it was completely dark outside. Bian Changxi felt her strength fully restored, a warm and comfortable sensation filling her body, sweeping away all fatigue.

That was the advantage of the wood element—its recovery ability was stronger than any other. She was about to practice her powers when a soft voice sounded at the door: “Changxi, can I come in?”

Lin Rongrong stood at the door holding a candle. “I came to see if you needed anything. I didn’t interrupt you, did I?”

“No, come in.”

Lin Rongrong set the candle down and touched the blanket at the foot of the bed. “How can you use something this dry and stiff? Ugh, it even smells musty. I have plenty of blankets—let me bring you two.”

“No need, this is fine. You should keep your new blankets—you’ll need them later.”

Lin Rongrong ignored her, took two blankets out of her space, and quickly made the bed. “Don’t worry, everyone basically knows I have space now, so there’s no need to hide it. Blankets aren’t some precious or disposable item; I’ll just collect them when we leave. There, all done.” She even added a pillow, clapped her hands as if expecting praise, and then sidled up to Bian Changxi. “Were you cultivating just now?”

“Sort of. I was absorbing the energy from a crystal core.” Bian Changxi showed her the green core. “Don’t you have a white core? Have you tried using it?”

“Not yet, I haven’t had time. I’m also a bit nervous.” Lin Rongrong looked at the core in the light. “The color’s so pale now—I remember it used to be really green.”

“That’s because most of the energy’s gone.”

“How much longer can you use it?”

“If I completely run out of energy, I can probably absorb from it four or five more times,” Bian Changxi said after thinking. Actually, she was underestimating—it could probably last her seven or eight times. For other ability users at this stage, two or three times would already be good. That was the benefit of experience—her control over her powers was practically perfect for a first-tier user, allowing her to get the best results with almost no wasted energy.

But that was all. In her previous life, she had focused on healing, so she hadn’t studied wood element attack skills much. Later, due to injury, her ability stalled at the sixth tier. Compared to real powerhouses, she had no real accomplishments. To reach a level where one move could shake the world—if Gu Xu had been reborn, maybe he’d have a shot.

She still had to work hard and figure things out step by step. For now, her main goal was to strengthen this fragile body.

Lin Rongrong eagerly took out a white core. “I want to cultivate too—can you watch and see if I’m doing it right?”

Bian Changxi tilted her head. “Someone’s coming upstairs.” Sure enough, Qiu Yun called from the stairs, “Miss Bian, Rongrong, are you busy? If not, come downstairs—Boss wants to talk.”

Everyone gathered on the second floor. Two candles stood on the table, casting a dim light that made it hard to see anyone’s expression clearly. Gu Xu was saying, “We’ll probably have to stay here for a few days. We need to gather information and supplies, and it’d be best to find some zombies to practice our combat skills and abilities. Everyone can act freely, but be careful. Someone also needs to stay behind to keep watch. I want to hear everyone’s thoughts.”

The whole Chen family was there—besides Chen Haitao, there was his grandfather and parents. After Gu Xu finished, Old Master Chen spoke first: “I’m getting old and stiff, not much use anymore. Since Captain Gu was kind enough to take us in, I don’t want to be a burden. I’ll stay here, cook, and watch the place for everyone.”

Chen’s mother agreed. Chen Haitao and his father said they’d go out to help and get some experience. Everyone understood that Gu Xu had agreed to let the family join because Chen Haitao had stood firm and helped a lot during the supermarket evacuation—he wanted to look out for them. But they couldn’t take advantage of his kindness; the smartest thing was to use this time to train themselves.

Gu Xu nodded. “Someone needs to stay and look after Shadow, too. Just in case, at least one ability user should stay behind.”

Wu Dalang spoke up. “I’ll stay.” He glanced at Bian Changxi and smiled. “We haven’t had time to try Miss Bian’s cultivation method yet—now’s a good chance.”

Qiu Yun immediately volunteered. “I’ll take shifts with you—I want to cultivate too.” He asked Bian Changxi, “Miss Bian, for my wind ability, do I use a white core too?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good, white cores are the most common, so we don’t have to worry. Hey, Boss, you guys only have a few useful crystal cores—we need to get more.”

“Exactly. And most of the supplies in this area have already been taken by the people at the train station. Tomorrow, we’ll head to Zone B.” Gu Xu looked up at Bian Changxi. “Miss Bian, you…”

“I’ll just wander around on my own and look for my family. By now, they should be arriving too.” Her tone made her distance clear. Gu Xu glanced at her but didn’t react. Instead, Qiu Feng asked, “Miss Bian, your family? Do you want us to help look for them?”

“Thank you, but there’s no need.” Bian Changxi’s voice was calm but clear, so everyone could hear. “We agreed to meet in the new district and have our own way of contacting each other. When the time comes, I’ll have to say goodbye to everyone.”

Qiu Feng and the others felt a bit regretful. After all, having someone in the team with healing abilities, good marksmanship, and strong combat sense was a real asset. Losing Bian Changxi would be their loss. Gu Pei and Lin Rongrong, however, were surprised—hadn’t they heard that Bian Changxi had a terrible relationship with her family? This didn’t make sense.

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"**Restarting the Farm at the End of the World**