Chapter 25: The Stand-in for the Savior in the Apocalypse (Part 2)

For Mu Yin, this was actually quite simple. The original body’s owner had always been nearsighted, so all she needed to do was write “night vision” onto the lenses—a rather straightforward solution. In a sense, her ability was almost omnipotent; if only it came with offensive powers. Her previous methods of attack had relied on conjuring up firearms and such through her drawing abilities. But now, with her power purified, Mu Yin thought she could refine her means of attack—perhaps by summoning wind, rain, or thunder as weapons. After all, creation was just a form of energy transformation: materializing objects was one way, while transforming energy into wind or lightning was another.

She wasn’t sure if there was some secret trick to it—strangely, while she could draw apples and grapes into existence, she couldn’t produce water. Mu Yin suspected she simply hadn’t grasped the true essence of water; what she drew could not be transformed into real water. In fact, she couldn’t create any of the five basic elements—metal, wood, water, fire, or earth—even after her power level increased. She now believed it was because she hadn’t comprehended their fundamental laws. The same seemed true even after her power’s evolution. Although she could now create anything she imagined, many things were simply not as her mind conceived them.

At the very least, her understanding of the five elements was insufficient, even for the most basic and common, like water and earth. Lost in thought about her powers, she put her glasses back on, added a rune to conceal her presence, and stepped into the supermarket again. This time, she skirted the zombies and debris, finding clean snacks to fill her stomach. She gathered a sizable bagful, but lacking any spatial storage, she could only take a small portion.

She couldn’t directly create water, but she could conjure bottled mineral water—strange, but true. Mu Yin didn’t know why her powers worked this way; she only grasped them superficially. As a result, she never lacked for water and didn’t bother collecting any. She could just as easily create food, but since her power’s reserves were difficult to replenish, she chose to conserve her energy and only collect what she could find.

Hoisting the backpack, she staggered, stepping on something that made a noise and drew zombies her way. Mu Yin had no choice but to flee quickly, and by the time she returned to her motorcycle, she was nearly spent.

The original body was truly frail—unable to lift even five pounds on an ordinary day, and now nearly overwhelmed by a load of just over twenty. Unfortunately, she couldn’t produce any spatial storage items. Though she had once created a time-space key, it had drained her powers entirely, nearly exhausting her physically as well.

With her powers not as strong now, there was no need to push herself so hard; she could only work on improving her physical condition. The thought gave her a headache—strengthening the body was no easy feat, especially since the original owner’s weakness was congenital, compounded by a lack of proper nourishment.

It wasn’t impossible to fix, of course. The food she conjured through her powers was pure energy, beneficial to the body, and with long-term consumption could improve physical strength. Yet it would also deplete her abilities, and until she reclaimed the original protagonist’s golden finger, she couldn’t replenish her strength quickly.

But she couldn’t ignore her condition either. It seemed she would have to intensify her training and raise her physical fitness as soon as possible. Only then could she attempt to awaken the body’s innate powers.

As she rode her motorcycle away, her mind continued to churn. She hadn’t forgotten she was in the apocalypse—though the world had grown quieter, the roads were still cluttered with obstacles and zombies.

Sometimes, even with a motorcycle, Mu Yin had to take detours. To escape the city, she had found a map—after all, few people memorized exit routes, and the original body certainly hadn’t. What should have been a two-hour trip out of the city had stretched far longer due to the poor road conditions, and after two hours she was still within city limits. Worse, her fuel was running low; the previous owner hadn’t stocked up.

She pulled out a map to search for the nearest gas station, but before she could locate it, the sound of gunfire reached her ears. Looking in the direction of the noise, she saw a group of people fleeing on electric scooters, a horde of zombies at their backs, weaving through abandoned vehicles and shooting over their shoulders as they ran.

They spotted Mu Yin and shouted, waving frantically, “Run! Zombie horde!”

Mu Yin immediately started her motorcycle and sped away. She had no combat ability and wasn’t about to attempt any heroics—she really should have trained in martial arts or learned some offensive talismans. That was something she would consider in the future. With so little fuel, she wasn’t driving fast, and soon the group caught up to her. They had no time to pay her any attention, just sped past, and Mu Yin decided to follow them.

The fact that they had warned her showed they weren’t bad people. She was unfamiliar with this world, and finding others to learn from was important. She was confident enough in her abilities that she could join them if she chose.

Trailing after them in a winding escape, they finally shook off the zombies and stopped beside a grand restaurant, clearing out the undead before entering. Mu Yin followed but didn’t help with the cleanup.

Fortunately, the group only glanced at her a few times without comment. Once the zombies were dealt with, they entered the hotel and cleared out some remaining scattered zombies inside as well. Mu Yin stayed close behind, watching as the group began to clean the zombie blood from themselves. She quickly stepped forward.

“I can help you get rid of the grime,” Mu Yin offered, knowing she needed to show some ability if she wanted to join them. If she couldn’t fight, she could at least provide support.

“How will you help?” one of the boys asked, curiosity bright in his eyes—he seemed the lively, sociable type.

This group was a survivor squad formed after the apocalypse, all university students trying to make their way. They each had some sort of ability and a kind heart—otherwise, they wouldn’t have bothered to warn Mu Yin earlier and would have used her as bait instead.

They didn’t complain when Mu Yin followed without contributing, recognizing her as the non-combatant type. Now that she offered to help, they were interested; if her powers were useful, perhaps she could join the team.

Mu Yin took out a pen and paper and began to write. Of course, it was just an ordinary pen, not her ability-infused one. In fact, her special pen had reverted to its original state when her powers evolved; since then, she’d had to conjure one temporarily each time. Now, she needed to keep her powers under control.