Chapter Eight: Or Become the Next Corpse

Her face was deathly pale.

Yu Yue stopped arguing with Lin Youwei and stepped forward to steady Li Luyan, who was on the verge of collapsing. "Damn it, Yan-jie, why are you as pale as a corpse?"

"Shut up... do you even know how to talk?" Li Luyan gasped, casting her a sharp glance. Her bangs were soaked with cold sweat, plastered against her forehead.

Even in such a state, Li Luyan remained breathtakingly beautiful. Her slightly parted, reddened lips from the exertion and the damp hair clinging to her brow made her seem less formidable... and perhaps, a little more vulnerable?

"A fragile beauty..." Yu Yue muttered, mesmerized. "God... when will I ever have that kind of femininity?" She instinctively adjusted her glasses, which were slipping down her nose.

She grabbed a handful of her own chin-length hair. "I’ve decided! I’m going to grow it out. I’m going for the 'cool, mature woman' vibe."

Lin Youwei gave her a blank look. "Fix your character model first, please."

"You...!" Yu Yue touched her face, incensed. "I’m not that ugly!" She held out a palm to Li Luyan. "Got a mirror, Yan-jie?"

Li Luyan curled the corner of her lips. "Enough arguing. Let's talk business."

With that, she opened her palm, and several fresh, emerald-green lettuce heads suddenly appeared.

Lin Youwei gasped. "So fast! It hasn't even been an hour since you went in."

"I used my ability to accelerate their growth," Li Luyan said, tossing the lettuce to Yu Yue. "Try it. See if it’s edible."

Without a second thought, Yu Yue tore off a leaf and stuffed it into her mouth. "It’s sweet! This is so good." Her eyes widened. "Wait, if your space can grow vegetables, then if we hide inside..."

Hearing this, Lin Youwei, who had been silent, looked toward Li Luyan as well. If they could really hide in there...

"I’ve tried. Living things can only stay for a short time," Li Luyan said, rubbing her temples. "After half an hour, they run out of oxygen."

Yu Yue, quick to catch the loophole in her words, froze, and the lettuce fell from her mouth. "How do you know that? You didn't experiment on yourself, did you?!"

"You know now," Li Luyan said dismissively, pulling a bottle of mineral water from her space and taking a few desperate gulps.

"Yan-jie, please don't do things like that. It really makes people worry," Yu Yue said, hugging Li Luyan’s arm.

Li Luyan pulled her arm away with a dark expression. "Eat your lettuce and keep your hands to yourself."

She stood up and flexed her wrist, which was numb from overusing her ability. She looked down at her axe. Since it could change form at will within her space, could it do the same in the outside world?

She curled her lips, gripped the handle, and closed her eyes, focusing intently, trying to transform it into the katana shape she had tested inside the space.

Nothing happened.

She tried a spear, a dagger, even a shovel, but the axe remained unmoved.

She stared at the axe in her hand, lost in thought.

It worked perfectly in the space, so why was it useless out here?

Refusing to give up, she gripped the handle even tighter, straining with all her might to force it into the shape of a long blade.

The axe didn't budge.

"Damn it..." she couldn't help but curse.

Yu Yue leaned in. "What's wrong, Yan-jie? Why are you picking a fight with an axe?"

"It changes shape inside, but not outside," Li Luyan said, shaking her wrist in frustration. "What a waste of excitement."

*Scratch—*

"What was that sound?" Lin Youwei whispered, instinctively moving closer to Li Luyan and Yu Yue.

"Monsters," Li Luyan said concisely.

"How... how many?" Yu Yue swallowed hard, a few trembling vines sprouting from her fingertips.

Li Luyan held up three fingers and pointed toward the back door. "Run."

"Only three? We’re not going to take them on?" Yu Yue’s eyes widened.

"Take them on my foot," Li Luyan grabbed her by the collar of her vest. "Your legs are shaking."

Lin Youwei was already crouching and creeping toward the back door. "Let's head to the gym. There are..."

Li Luyan didn't look at her. "The ability users are gathering there. I heard them."

Lin Youwei pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Yu Yue grabbed Li Luyan's arm. "Wait! Yan-jie, doesn't your space grow vegetables? Can't we..."

"You want to hide inside?" Li Luyan shook her head. "Living things run out of oxygen after half an hour. I already told you that."

"That's not what I meant!" Yu Yue insisted. "I mean, we could lure the monsters in, lock them up, and then suffocate them!"

Li Luyan curled her lips. "Your plan is feasible, but my ability is exhausted."

...

The iron gate of the supermarket back door creaked sharply under Li Luyan’s grip.

Yu Yue suddenly remembered the chicken coop door back home that would never close properly. They always had to block it with a brick before a rainstorm; one time they forgot, and all the chickens escaped.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

"Are you an idiot?" Li Luyan turned and glared at her.

"Yan-jie, don't yell at me yet, I just remembered my grandmother..." Before Yu Yue could finish, she received an elbow to the ribs.

Lin Youwei was clutching the back of her vest tightly.

Yu Yue winced and pried her hand off. "Senior, this is a borrowed work uniform. If it rips, I have to pay for it."

*Bang—*

"What was that sound?" Yu Yue asked.

Lin Youwei trembled as she replied, "It sounds like the monsters got in... and... they hit the shelves."

"Go!" Li Luyan dragged them both out the door.

When Lin Youwei looked back one last time, she locked eyes with a pair of cloudy yellow eyes. The creature heard the noise and tried to pursue, but its head was severed by Yu Yue's vines.

Disgusting black blood sprayed out. Lin Youwei couldn't help but look at it, and then she began to dry heave, her face turning ghastly pale.

*If only I had an ability too,* she thought to herself, biting her lip.

...

Lin Youwei suddenly squatted down to tie her shoelaces, her hands shaking so much she tied a triple knot.

Li Luyan noticed some translucent slime on her sneakers.

"Senior," Yu Yue crouched down to help her retie them. "You're going to trip."

Lin Youwei jerked her foot away. "I don't need your fake pity!" Her voice was thick with tears.

She wiped her face messily, her mascara smearing into panda eyes. "Why... why am I the only one without an ability..."

Li Luyan said nothing, simply switching the axe to her left hand. "It’s a matter of chance. Just being alive is enough; you have to learn to be content."

Yu Yue snickered, then started coughing. "Yan-jie, you sound just like my mom..."

Li Luyan cast a glance at Yu Yue, who wisely shut her mouth.

Li Luyan reached out her right hand to Lin Youwei, her expression unreadable.

Though she couldn't discern the emotion behind it, Lin Youwei took the hand of the girl whose beauty was infuriatingly divine.

It wasn't fair, but Li Luyan was right. Being alive was a gift.

In just one night, a campus of thousands had dwindled to a few hundred.

And that number would only continue to shrink... until the monsters became a sea of shadows.

So—

Don't think about anything else until you survive. No one knows if they'll still be alive tomorrow.

Or,

If they will become the next corpse.