CHAPTER 246: CHAPTER 246

Lingquan didn’t respond at first. Qingran could feel his silence pulsing through her mind like the pause before a storm.

[Good call..] he finally said, quieter now. [But don’t assume you’ll be the only one with the idea.]

She scowled. "Meaning?"

[The objective was global, Qingran. The Apocalypse System didn’t issue it to you alone. It issued it to everyone in the zone. Every survivor who saw that broadcast is thinking the same thing you are. ’Find the cure.’ Some just want to live. Others... want leverage.]

Qingran’s stomach churned. She remembered the way some of the ability users had looked at her during past interactions, like measuring her worth, calculating what they could get out of her. If they found the cure first...

"They’ll ruin it."

[Or they’ll try to take it by force. Extract it. Use it to form a monopoly on survival. That’s what humans do. Especially when backed into corners.]

She swallowed thickly. "Then I need to move faster than all of them."

[Not just fast. Smart.]

She nodded to herself and turned back toward the group, slipping back into their conversation as if nothing had happened.

Tianming was trying to convince Yuxi that physics didn’t apply to his ability, and Yuxi was not having it.

"We’ll leave at dawn.." she said simply, cutting into their chatter. "Pack light. We’ll need to move quickly, quietly."

The group turned to look at her, blinking.

"To where?" Yu Song asked, always the calm one.

"Not sure yet.." she said. "I’ll know it when I get close."

There was a beat of silence before Fang Yuxi crossed her arms. "You’re being vague again."

Qingran didn’t flinch. "And I need you to trust me."

Meng Nian gave her a nod. "We do."

Qingran offered a tight smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

They didn’t need to know about the person. Not yet. Not until she was sure. The fewer people who knew what to look for, the better.

The rest of the evening passed in a tense sort of quiet.

Preparations were made, supplies packed, rotations for watch shifts established.

Qingran sat by the convenience store’s back wall, eyes on the street, trying to steady her breathing.

She couldn’t afford doubts now. She had to believe in her instincts and the system’s.

Lingquan was unusually quiet, letting her think. It wasn’t until the early hours before dawn that his voice stirred again.

[There’s a tremor, to the east.]

She didn’t move, but her eyes sharpened.

"A tremor?"

[Not literal. A resonance. Someone over there caused a tiny reaction in your system signature. I can’t isolate more from here, but it’s a start.]

"East huh..." she murmured.

That part of the zone was crowded.

A mix of apartments and abandoned shops, still half-intact.

She could already hear the echo of dozens of footsteps as people started to rise with the new day, preparing to chase the same phantom hope she was.

The race had already begun.

The moment the sky paled, Qingran was already moving.

She adjusted the strap of her bag across her shoulder and handed the small comm device to Yu Song.

"If anyone starts coughing, sweating, anything strange, you contact me immediately."

Yu Song nodded, his expression composed. "We’ll hold things here."

Fang Yuxi looked a little disgruntled, arms crossed as she leaned against a shelf.

"You sure you don’t need backup?"

"You’re staying.." Qingran said gently.

"This place is more important than you think. If people here start showing symptoms before we get back, I need someone level-headed to handle it."

That silenced the protest.

Xu Tianming grumbled something about being treated like a kid but didn’t argue out loud.

Ruihuang was already lacing his boots, and Meng Nian had his machete sheathed at his back, backpack slung neatly on both shoulders.

No complaints, no questions. Qingran appreciated that more than they knew.

She gave the group one last glance and stepped out through the convenience store’s sliding door, half-shattered glass crunching beneath her feet.

The early morning air hit her like a slap, cold, sharp, alive with tension.

Ruihuang walked at her left, silent as ever. Meng Nian took the right, eyes scanning every rooftop and window.

They moved as a unit, fast and efficient, slipping into the waking city like ghosts.

Out here, the tone had shifted.

Survivors were already up, pushing past each other with hollow eyes and fraying nerves.

Some carried makeshift weapons, rusty pipes, sharpened sticks, even frying pans duct-taped to broom handles.

Others had nothing but desperation in their hands.

"There’s more people out than I expected.." Meng Nian muttered.

"They’re hunting.." Qingran replied.

"Same as us. They just don’t know what they’re looking for."

She caught snippets of conversation as they moved through the winding streets:

"My cousin said it’s in Sector B, he heard a whisper over the speakers.."

"Check the labs, check the corpses, check the officers. One of them had to know.."

"I don’t care if I have to crack open every building, my brother’s not dying for nothing!"

Hope was turning feral.

That dangerous line between desperation and violence was wearing thin.

The deeper east they went, the worse it got.

Here, the buildings leaned with age and impact damage.

Some entire floors had collapsed into the ones below. Smoke lingered in the air from some fire that hadn’t been put out properly, stinging their eyes and throats.

Qingran pulled her scarf higher over her face.

The people here were different too.

More gaunt. More aggressive.

One man shoved past them with wide, bloodshot eyes, muttering numbers under his breath like a chant.

Another was on his knees in the middle of the road, scratching a message into the concrete with a piece of glass.

"Ruihuang.." Qingran murmured.

He nodded once and veered a step closer to the right, shielding her from view.

"I don’t like the look of this.." Meng Nian said. "These people...something’s off."

"They’re closer to the spread.." Qingran said. "Lingquan said the resonance was coming from here. If symptoms are showing faster, the source has to be nearby."

Lingquan had been silent since they left, but now his voice slid into her mind, low and steady.

[The pressure here is thicker. That’s a good sign.]

"Anything more specific?" she whispered.

[It’s building. You’ll feel it first.]

Not helpful, but not wrong either.

As they turned a corner, Qingran suddenly paused.

Her system stirred.

It wasn’t violent like when danger was near, it was subtle.

She let her feet take her to where it felt was right, she kept getting this feeling that the person was close by.

Her eyes swept the plaza ahead. It used to be a market square, open concrete surrounded by crumbled awnings and broken benches.

Now it was a resting spot. Survivors gathered in uneven groups, some huddled by dying fires, others slumped against walls or eating quietly.

Her eyes darted.

Nothing.

Not yet.

And then..

There.

A girl, seated by herself near a cracked pillar. Pale skin, tangled hair. Young..sixteen or seventeen at most. She wasn’t crying, she was oddly calm considering where she was.

Just sitting with her knees hugged to her chest, watching the crowd with sharp, calculating eyes.

The closer Qingran got, the stronger the resonance inside her burned.

She stopped, gaze fixed on the girl. "It’s her."

Ruihuang didn’t question her. He shifted his position slightly to monitor the crowd behind them.

Meng Nian tensed beside her, his hand casually drifting toward his weapon.

Qingran stepped forward slowly, hands visible, posture calm.

The girl noticed. Her eyes lifted and locked onto Qingran’s.

They stared at each other for a long moment, and something passed between them.

The girl’s brow creased.

"...Do I know you?"

"No..." Qingran said softly. "But I think we need to talk."

The girl didn’t move.

"What’s your name?"

"...Shen Li."

"I’m Qingran."

"You with the military or something?" Shen Li asked, her voice cautious.

"No." Qingran crouched, keeping her tone low and kind. "You’re the calmest one here, so I’m a bit curious.."

The girl’s body stiffened.

"I don’t know anything..."

Qingran tilted her head. "Have you been feeling different lately? Like you don’t get tired as quickly as others? Haven’t gotten sick even though you’ve been around the infected?"

Shen Li’s fingers curled tighter around her knees.

"I’ve always been fine.." she said too quickly.

Qingran didn’t push.

"I believe you. But I need to take you somewhere safer. We don’t have to go far. I just need to run some checks..."

Shen Li hesitated. Her eyes flicked toward Ruihuang, then Meng Nian.

"I don’t want to be a test subject..."