Since Su Yunjin had already agreed to leave with them, Ruan Ning and Gu Yicheng no longer needed to stay in this place and decided to reunite with their squad earlier than planned.
Knowing they would be teammates from now on, and since the others in the squad were already aware of her space ability, Ruan Ning didn’t bother hiding it. Right in front of Su Yunjin, she casually stored their belongings into her spatial space.
When Su Yunjin saw an item disappear into thin air, his expression froze in disbelief, as if he had never witnessed anything so miraculous.
Even though he had seen fireballs, ice spikes, wind blades, and all kinds of abilities after the apocalypse, the sight of objects vanishing into thin air left him deeply shocked.
“Is this also your ability?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Su Yunjin had begun to trust Ruan Ning because her healing ability was similar to his, making him feel less alone. However, he hadn’t expected her to be even more extraordinary, able to make objects disappear into what seemed like nothingness.
This kind of ability was entirely unheard of to him.
“Yes. But my brother’s spatial space is even larger than mine.” Ruan Ning had learned in casual conversation that Su Yunjin was not yet sixteen—his birthday was next month.
As the youngest member of the squad, Ruan Ning was thrilled to finally not be the youngest anymore. With Su Yunjin joining, she could finally pass on the title of “the youngest” to someone else. A cause for celebration!
“See, it works like this… Actually, the items don’t truly disappear; they’re placed in a kind of dimensional space and can be retrieved whenever needed,” Ruan Ning explained. Seeing Su Yunjin’s curiosity, she sat beside him and demonstrated how her space ability worked several times so he could see clearly.
Su Yunjin was visibly amazed, his face full of surprise and admiration. “That’s incredible. Does this mean anything placed inside the space is completely safe and won’t get stolen?”
In the apocalypse, valuable possessions were only truly secure if carried on one’s person. This was especially true for those who didn’t have teammates to rely on.
In the beginning, Su Yunjin, lacking experience, had hidden most of his supplies in his room because carrying them was inconvenient. One day, he returned to find everything stolen, and the thief was never caught. From then on, Su Yunjin carried all his essential supplies with him whenever he left.
But even carrying things personally didn’t guarantee safety—he had almost been robbed several times.
Ruan Ning thought for a moment and replied, “In theory, yes. No one can steal what’s in our space.” Since no one else could see what was in her spatial space unless she took it out, the items were entirely untouchable. If she were to die, the items would vanish along with her, making them impossible to steal.
“Ning Ning, what are you two chatting about so happily?” Gu Yicheng asked as he approached, noticing the two talking animatedly.
Ruan Ning’s face lit up with a big smile, and even Su Yunjin seemed less reserved than before, suggesting their conversation had gone well.
But seeing this scene made Gu Yicheng frown slightly, though he didn’t say anything.
“We were just chatting about abilities,” Ruan Ning said casually.
“Hmm.” Gu Yicheng’s expression remained neutral. “Since you’ve packed everything, let’s head to the mission hall and meet up with the others. Chaozi might still need our help.”
Su Yunjin, having spent some time at Base 3, was familiar with the layout, so he led the way to the mission hall.
Although they didn’t know exactly where their squad members were staying, someone was bound to be at the mission hall waiting for them, as that was their agreed-upon meeting point.
“Ning Ning, if I remember correctly, you’re in your third year of high school, right? Are you eighteen yet?” Gu Yicheng asked unexpectedly as they walked.
“Yes, I’m in my final year,” Ruan Ning replied. Luckily, this underage body of hers was in the apocalypse; otherwise, she’d probably have to take the college entrance exam again. “But no, I’m not eighteen yet.”
The original owner of her body was three years younger than her, but their birthdays were on the same day.
“I was born on July 7th, so I still have a while to go,” she added.
It was early November now, so there were more than six months until July.
“Early romance isn’t good,” Gu Yicheng said abruptly.
“Huh?” Ruan Ning was baffled. Early romance? When had she ever been in a relationship? Besides, she was always with the squad—who would she even date in this apocalypse?
“Why are you telling me this, brother?” Ruan Ning asked, adopting her usual principle of asking when confused. She didn’t want to misunderstand what he meant.
“It’s nothing,” Gu Yicheng replied calmly. “Just something the old man used to say—that no one in our family is allowed to date before eighteen.”
Ruan Ning believed him and didn’t press further, but she didn’t really think Gu Yicheng would follow his father’s rules.
It seems like that rule of his father’s didn’t carry much weight.
Still, why had Gu Yicheng suddenly mentioned this to her today? Was he indirectly testing whether she sided with him or his father?
The question felt as tricky as the infamous dilemma of who to save first if both her husband and father fell into a river.
Ruan Ning couldn’t help but feel a bit pressured.
The mission hall was located between Zones C and B, occupying a large space. Before the apocalypse, the building had been a theatre. The seats had been removed, and the space was transformed into a spacious hall.
Several LED screens hung above, displaying various mission details. One of the screens was dedicated to team rankings, with the top spot occupied by the Dragon-Tiger Squad.
The Dragon-Tiger Squad was even more famous than Ruan Ning had imagined.
However, since no members of the Dragon-Tiger Squad had come looking for trouble with them, Ruan Ning saw no reason to wait around for it to happen. The longer they stayed out of sight, the better. Once they left the base, it wouldn’t matter even if someone wanted to find them.
After wandering around the mission hall, the group came across a corner where they found a familiar face.
“Gu-ge, Ruan Ning, you finished your business so quickly?” The person waiting for them in the mission hall was Xu Chi.
Xu Chi led them to a small villa in zone B.
Initially, the squad had planned to stay in zone C, as their main goal was to search for people. Zone A and B were less populated, and it wasn’t certain whether Jiang Jingchao’s family had awakened abilities or how well they were doing. Zone C was more crowded and better managed than Zone D, making it the ideal place to stay.
However, since Zone C mainly had apartment buildings with small spaces, unsuitable for housing a dozen people, the squad decided to settle in Zone B instead. The villa they chose was close to Zone C, so it wasn’t much different.
When they arrived at the villa, only Xie Fei and Da Cheng were home. The others were either out searching for people or gathering supplies.
“This is Su Yunjin, our new teammate. He’ll be part of our squad from now on,” Gu Yicheng introduced.
Su Yunjin, naturally shy and even more reserved after his uncle’s death, seemed nervous in front of the other three.
“Hi, I’m Su Yunjin,” he said softly.
“Don’t be nervous. We don’t bite,” Xie Fei said with a friendly smile, patting Su Yunjin on the shoulder. “Welcome to the Morning Light Squad. I’m Xie Fei.”
“I’m Lu Cheng. Everyone calls me Da Cheng,” Lu Cheng said cheerfully.
Xu Chi shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Xu Chi.”
After meeting the three, Su Yunjin’s anxiety eased significantly.
No squad had ever wanted someone his age, especially one without an obvious ability. This was his first time joining a team, and it felt… pretty good.
Everyone was kind and easy to talk to, creating a welcoming atmosphere.
**Nomad: Hi everyone, many of you may have noticed that some novels haven’t been updated for a while. I struggled to regain access to my account after my site went down, which took some time to resolve. I’m also in the process of moving the website to a different hosting plan, which I’ve been handling manually in the background. This has taken up a lot of my time, but I’m almost done. You might notice the website going down for a few hours now and then while everything gets sorted. Sorry about that!**
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