Chapter 10: Ice-Type Ability

“This… this…”

The outcome was so unexpected that Lin Qingqing instantly panicked, scrambling over to check on the little thief’s condition.

Dead? Her hands trembled as she flipped the thief’s body over, fingers reaching toward his mouth and nose. “No breath, really dead!”

Lin Qingqing suddenly withdrew her fingers, staring at the little thief whose eyes remained wide open in death. She instinctively licked her dry lips.

“I just killed someone!” The realization hit her, causing a physical convulsion in her stomach.

Staring at the gushing blood, Lin Qingqing retched a few times but forced down the rising acid, quickly dragging the little thief back.

Amid the thrilling danger, she was surprisingly calm. The little thief had said that once a person dies, they would turn into a zombie, so she had to dispose of the body immediately. Thinking this through, she quickly scanned her surroundings, her mind racing.

Feeling the corpse growing colder in her hands, her heart began pounding faster. Just as she was about to take preemptive action, she suddenly remembered the man who had killed his wife and discarded her body.

“That’s a good idea!”

Lin Qingqing’s eyes lit up. After making up her mind, she dragged the little thief’s body towards the window.

She had observed earlier that beneath the living room window lay a patch of grass, and not far off, a few zombies were wandering. It was just past midnight; given the zombies’ feeding pace, the body would be devoured before dawn, erasing all evidence.

With this thought, she swiftly opened the window and without hesitation dragged the body onto the windowsill.

She first pulled the knife from the corpse’s back, then casually stripped off the little thief’s flashy, gaudy jacket. At the right moment, she pushed the body out.

The strong stench of blood immediately attracted the nearby zombies.

Watching the zombies swarm to feed, Lin Qingqing quickly covered her mouth and backed away, closing the window and drawing the curtains in one swift motion. Only when she collapsed to the floor did she realize her limbs were shaking violently.

“What a thrill today! I have powers now, but I accidentally killed someone.”

After sitting for a while, Lin Qingqing gradually calmed down, her heart no longer stirred by any emotion. Even she found this feeling somewhat miraculous. But there was no time to dwell; before dawn, she needed to clean up the scene.

Once everything returned to normal, dawn was breaking outside.

***

Fortunately, only her family lived on this floor; otherwise, with such a commotion last night, she would have had to consider running away long ago.

Since the little thief and his gang had already targeted her home, they would likely come again within a couple of days. As for the little thief last night, it was probably just his personal act—trying to sneak in alone and take advantage.

Lin Qingqing thought about her newly discovered but as yet unused powers, and the supplies on the rooftop. After some hesitation, she boldly decided to stay.

After tidying the scene, Lin Qingqing climbed up to the attic and sealed the partition. She resolved to stay there from now on.

To keep the air flowing, she carefully pried open the rusty small window in the attic. The window was tiny but just big enough for her to squeeze through. From the roof, she could reach the other side’s ventilation shaft as an escape route.

With her retreat planned, Lin Qingqing wrapped herself in a quilt and began pondering her powers.

The little thief had said they awakened their powers on the second day of the apocalypse, but she only acquired hers now. She wasn’t sure if it was individual variation or because her body had been too weak before, causing a delay of nearly a month.

Still, having powers was good; it added one more layer of survival assurance in this apocalypse. Lin Qingqing felt content.

Reflecting on her previous manifestations and last night’s dream, she was now certain her powers were related to ice.

In fact, there had been signs even when she first killed the zombie next door. Various strange phenomena that happened afterward also hinted at her power’s nature.

“How interesting. At first, I guessed my power was some sort of combat awareness, but now that I know it’s ice-based, it’s much simpler.”

The strangest thing was last night’s dream. Lin Qingqing felt it was that dream that had fully awakened her powers.

“I wonder what that big black fish symbolized?” she mused.

And the two voices she heard as her consciousness faded felt eerily familiar, though she couldn’t recall where.

“It’s complicated, one mystery after another,” Lin Qingqing thought. The awakening of powers was definitely more complex than it seemed on the surface.

After clarifying the origins of her power, she carefully recalled her state when she first used it, boldly guessing that powers might be closely linked to the user’s emotions and personality.

Emotions and personality influence powers, and powers, in turn, affect a person’s character and mood.

Her speculation had some basis: the little thief said that in the early stages of awakening, he and his brother’s bodies would heat up, and they became irritable and emotionally unstable, which fit the characteristics of fire powers. She, on the other hand, had always been calm and rational, so awakening ice powers wasn’t too surprising.

***

Since awakening her powers, Lin Qingqing had noticeably become more rational and calm—sometimes to the point of coldness.

For example, this accidental killing: from her swift response to the event to calming her emotions in a short time, it proved this well.

Thinking this through, Lin Qingqing began to worry somewhat. Powers were a blessing, but if they affected a person so profoundly, was that good or bad?

Though somewhat introverted and aloof, she didn’t want to become cold and emotionless. What difference would there be between such a person and a machine? She felt troubled, but these were just her speculations about the future—worrying now was pointless. The priority was to strengthen herself; only by surviving the apocalypse could she have a future.

“If I meet other power users, I could exchange experiences,” she thought, finally letting go of her doubts.

She closed her eyes and began to imagine the nature of powers: They must be a special state manifested in the human spirit world, with each person’s spiritual state unique. Using powers involved the mind communicating with energy in the physical world through the state of one’s spirit, influencing that energy and transforming it into a form that matched one’s own traits, then manipulating it.

Simply put, powers are the awakening of the spirit world’s energy expression most in tune with one’s personality. Using powers means employing the mind as a tool to convert physical energy into a controllable energy form belonging to oneself.

As for the specifics of how to use them, last night’s dream had given her many insights.

Having made up her mind, Lin Qingqing recalled her previous successful use of her power. She extended her right hand and, imitating the little thief, gathered energy into her palm.

Gradually, white frost covered her palm, condensing and solidifying until an irregularly shaped block of ice formed in her hand.

Looking at the ice block, only the size of a child’s fist and pockmarked in shape, but it was indeed a success.

Wiping the fine sweat from her forehead, Lin Qingqing once more sensed her mental state: somewhat tired, as if she had just completed a mentally exhausting math problem.

“So releasing powers consumes one’s mental energy.”

Judging by this, she could still condense three more ice blocks before reaching her limit.

“That’s so weak—what can four ice lumps do? Hmm… I wonder if they’re edible?”