Jiang Ying had read many mind-blowing novels and had long accepted the fact that she had transmigrated into one. But suddenly learning that she was in a story about human-beast romance was still a bit much to process. Not to mention, the beast in question was a snake.
It was the animal she found the most creepy.
"Good heavens, it's Lady White and Xu Xian." Jiang Ying couldn't get her goosebumps to go down no matter what.
She couldn't imagine what it would be like for a human and a snake to dance together.
Speaking of this, Jiang Xiaoxin couldn't help but rub her arms, which were covered in goosebumps. Actually, before the apocalypse arrived, she really enjoyed reading about non-human romances in novels, especially those between humans and felines.
Feng Qingqing single-handedly changed Jiang Xiaoxin's reading preferences.
Now, Jiang Xiaoxin couldn't stand even the slightest hint of interspecies romance.
"Interspecies romances never end well. Feng Qingqing's main abilities are spatial manipulation and charm. In her past life, she charmed Shangguan Xu for two years. Then one day, Shangguan Xu awakened and discovered she was a snake. He broke up with her and even hired people to capture her. Provoked by him, Feng Qingqing went completely mad."
"Feng Qingqing turned into a monster with a human head and a snake's body, and she killed every female associated with Shangguan Xu. These 'associated' females even included those who had merely brushed past him on the street."
Jiang Xiaoxin's words left Jiang Ying in stunned silence. She never expected that, even across time and space, she would still run into a bizarre alternative version of the love story between Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen.
"So is this why you've always told me to be careful of Feng Qingqing?" Jiang Ying recalled how Jiang Xiaoxin would explicitly and implicitly warn her every time she went out.
Jiang Xiaoxin sighed. "Yes. I previously held onto the idea that this might be a parallel universe. Plus, it was all just too bizarre, so I didn't tell you directly." Jiang Xiaoxin hadn't expected that this single thought of hers would cause her so much regret for so long.
It was precisely this regret that made her wish for death during the few days she thought she had lost Jiang Ying.
The two of them sat in silence for a long time. Jiang Ying was the first to break it.
"Xiaoxin, did you say that I am you?"
Hearing Jiang Ying's words, Jiang Xiaoxin replied, "After I was reborn, I didn't return to my own body. Instead, I became a nine-year-old child. But I am absolutely certain that the body I am using now is mine from when I was nine."
"Because I have a birthmark right on my waist, shaped like a crescent moon." Hearing Jiang Xiaoxin say this, Jiang Ying reflexively touched the left side of her waist. There was indeed a crescent-shaped birthmark there.
However, she had this birthmark even before she transmigrated, just in a different spot. This body's birthmark was on the left, while hers had been on the right.
"Once I realized I had been reborn, I wanted to come to the Rising Sun Base to see if there was another 'me' in this world." Jiang Ying already knew what happened after that.
When she found out there was another version of herself in this world, Jiang Xiaoxin's feelings were complicated. She was glad there was another her, as it meant this apocalyptic world wasn't her original one.
But she was also upset. She felt that the person should obviously be her. If that was Jiang Ying, then who was she?
After being taken in by Jiang Ying, when asked for her name, she told Jiang Ying that her name was Jiang Xiaoxin.
This was actually her nickname, given to her by her former best friend. Later, that best friend had fallen on the road to the safe zone.
Jiang Ying took her home. Jiang Xiaoxin was moved by Jiang Ying's kindness, yet she also wondered how Jiang Ying could still be so naive after surviving in the apocalypse for so long.
Moreover, the longer she spent with this Jiang Ying, the more she realized that this Jiang Ying was no longer her. She had even managed to trick her into revealing when she had arrived.
Logically speaking, once Jiang Xiaoxin learned that the soul inside that body wasn't the original her, she should have tried everything to drive the imposter out.
But she didn't do that. The reason was simple: this Jiang Ying treated her incredibly well. In a way, this Jiang Ying healed her childhood.
During her childhood, how she had longed for an elder like Jiang Ying to care for and protect her!
Jiang Ying possessed eighty percent of Jiang Xiaoxin's memories. With a little thought, she understood why Jiang Xiaoxin hadn't driven her away and had even shared her biggest secret after narrowly escaping death.
She reached out and hugged Jiang Xiaoxin. Neither of them spoke, but at that moment, their hearts were connected.
Jiang Xiaoxin felt that Jiang Ying had healed her childhood. But in treating the nine-year-old Jiang Xiaoxin so well, wasn't Jiang Ying also healing her own childhood self?
The two of them were like two injured little beasts huddling together for warmth. Uncle Xu returned right at this moment. Uncle Xu was the person who had pulled Jiang Ying back from the brink of suicide when she first transmigrated to this world.
Over the course of their time together, Uncle Xu had long since come to see Jiang Ying as his own child. When the news of Jiang Ying's death spread, Uncle Xu immediately brought back Jiang Ying's younger sister, Jiang Xiaoxin.
The atmosphere at the Rising Sun Base was decent, but there were still some dark corners where the sun didn't shine.
A nine-year-old girl could bear children after being raised for another two years. In this era, having children was a luxury, but relations between men and women were a way for many to vent their frustrations.
Jiang Ying appreciated Uncle Xu's kindness. Seeing Jiang Ying return completely unharmed and having even awakened an ability, Uncle Xu was extremely relieved.
He had saved some food, and he specifically brought out the meat he had smoked earlier. He decided they needed to celebrate tonight.
That meat came from a mutated beast they had hunted before winter arrived last year. Everyone had received a portion, and Uncle Xu had cured his.
Jiang Ying walked over and closed the door. She stretched out her hand, and a bright, vibrant green cabbage appeared in her grasp.
In the apocalyptic era, both plants and animals had mutated. The nutrients in the soil had been completely absorbed by the mutated plants. Growing vegetables in the apocalypse was impossible for anyone, except for those with plant-type abilities who could grow a few.
Jiang Xiaoxin and Uncle Xu stared at the cabbage, swallowing hard, the desire in their eyes overflowing.
Jiang Ying said, "I was saved by someone. The place where he lives has no mutated plants, and he is a high-level plant-type ability user. He gave me this cabbage as a gift."
Pausing for a moment, Jiang Ying added, "I also awakened a spatial ability. But I haven't told anyone else."
Jiang Ying's implication was that she hoped Jiang Xiaoxin and Uncle Xu would keep it a secret. Having survived in the apocalypse for so long, neither Jiang Xiaoxin nor Uncle Xu were fools. They naturally understood Jiang Ying's stance.
Uncle Xu swore an oath right then and there. There was even less need to mention Jiang Xiaoxin; no matter what, Jiang Ying was still another version of herself.
Besides, she truly wasn't envious of Jiang Ying being a dual-ability user. She herself was also an ability user. Before transmigrating, she had been an ice-type ability user. Her ability couldn't be called overwhelmingly powerful, but it was still ranked quite high in the Rising Sun Base.
After her rebirth, her ice-type ability had come back with her. Although she could currently only condense ice particles, through relentless practice, the ice particles she formed were becoming increasingly solid.
Both of them trusted Uncle Xu deeply, especially Jiang Xiaoxin. She had known Uncle Xu in her past life; he had died protecting the children in the base.
The phrase he always had on his lips was that young people were the future of the apocalyptic era. He was old, and if he died, so be it, but the young ones could not. Without them, there would be no future in the apocalypse.
Without many seasonings, the three of them used Uncle Xu's salted meat to make a pot of soup, tearing up cabbage and tossing it in to boil. The three devoured the entire cabbage as if they were eating rare delicacies, not even sparing a single drop of the soup.
After the meal, Jiang Ying left Uncle Xu's house. She was heading to the base's ability user registry to register her powers. Once registered, she would be able to apply for a family apartment—two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
This was exactly what she needed right now. As Jiang Ying walked, she sent a message in the group chat.
She had been holding it in since before dinner, and there were some things she just had to get off her chest. Especially the fact that Feng Qingqing was parasitized by a snake. She had to tell her friends in the group; she couldn't be the only one traumatized by this.
Sure enough, after she sent that message, question marks flooded the group chat one after another, like a conga line.
[Administrator] Earth Girl Lin Xi: I am absolutely shocked. I have indeed seen apocalyptic stories where the male or female lead transforms from an animal into a human, but those were mostly male leads. In modern romance novels, aside from urban romance, people don't pay too much attention to the male lead. I've also read quite a few with non-human female leads, but those were based on the premise that the female lead's true form was an animal.
Something like this, where being parasitized by an animal causes a person's entire species to change, is a first for me. Lin Xi's long paragraph was enough to prove her astonishment.
She had read plenty of apocalyptic stories with non-human animal protagonists, but this kind of setting was a first for her.
Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: As long as you're bold enough, what kind of novel can't be written? No matter how bizarre the setting is, someone will read it.
The group started complaining, especially about transmigrating into bizarre novels.
Wife-Chasing Crematorium Wen Mingyue: Exactly. Actually, many readers turn their brains off when reading. As long as the plot is exciting, that's enough. Usually, they only start thinking seriously about it when the book is halfway through or finished.
Wen Mingyue joined the discussion. After her divorce, she didn't return immediately but continued traveling with Lu Wei in their originally planned direction.
With her emotional knot untangled, her depression seemed to vanish into thin air as well. She had once asked the group chat system about it. After all, having suffered from depression, she knew how difficult it was to treat.
This kind of emotional illness was like weeds. Even if it disappeared on the surface and seemed to be uprooted, a single wrong emotion could ignite the hidden buds left behind in the heart, and then it would grow wildly and relentlessly, like weeds blowing in the spring breeze.
Regarding her question, the group chat system explained that half of the reason for her depression was due to the interference of the previous Heavenly Dao consciousness. Now that the previous world consciousness was done for, the suppressed consciousness awakened, and the impact of depression on her lessened.
Moreover, it was rare to see someone like Wen Mingyue, who had been tortured by a world consciousness for three or four lifetimes. The current world consciousness had compensated her.
Her entire life would be safe, smooth, and free of health worries. Of course, this was a heavenly secret, and the group chat system couldn't reveal it even to Lin Xi.
While the group was buzzing with discussion, Chu Qianmo from the Xianxia realm sent a packet of realgar powder to Lin Xi, asking her to pass it on to Jiang Ying.
Before Lin Xi clicked to accept it, she saw him speak in the group.
[Brother Dog] Wife-Chasing Crematorium Chu Qianmo: @Apocalyptic Zombie World Jiang Ying, for many normal people, the fear of snakes is etched into their DNA, and it's the same in the cultivation world. What's more, in the cultivation world, these things also cultivate. Once they become spirits, their size can't even be contained in a single room; they're terrifyingly huge.
To better deal with these snake spirits, someone developed a special version of realgar powder. I figured that the snake parasitizing the female lead in your world has practically become a spirit too, so it might be of some use.
As for things like snake spirits, the other people in the minor worlds had no way to deal with them. The only one who had any say in the matter was Chu Qianmo.
Lin Xi accepted the realgar powder and sent it to Jiang Ying. Obtaining realgar powder from the cultivation world took Jiang Ying's sense of security to the next level.
She walked to the ability user registry and saw Liu Xu with her legs propped up on the office desk.
She paused for a moment. Who in the Sunrise Base didn't know Liu Xu's great name? Before the apocalypse, she was a soldier in a female special forces unit. After the apocalypse, she awakened an earth-type ability, and she manipulated earth with supernatural perfection.
The female ability user squad she led was invincible in any mission outside, and they could also protect ordinary people to the maximum extent.
When the ordinary people in the base had to go out for missions, the team they wanted to follow the most was Liu Xu's female special operations squad.
Jiang Ying, I sincerely invite you to join us! Liu Xu considered herself a soldier; she couldn't do all that flashy stuff, nor could she say high-sounding words, so she felt that being straightforward was the easiest and most efficient way.
Joining Liu Xu's female special operations squad was the dream of every female ability user in the Sunrise Base, except for Feng Qingqing, and Jiang Ying was no exception. Even Jiang Xiaoxin would stop in her tracks to listen for a while whenever she heard about the heroic deeds of the female special ops squad on their missions.
Facing her sincere gaze, Jiang Ying stepped forward and said, I am willing!
Liu Xu smiled, walked around the desk, and patted her on the shoulder. Good girl, I knew I didn't misjudge you!
Liu Xu personally handled the registration procedures for Jiang Ying. When filling in her ability level, she asked Jiang Ying to give a demonstration. There was a special connection between ability users; just by watching another ability user release energy, peers of the same level or higher could instantly see through their rank.
Jiang Ying had drunk the gene repair fluid from Lin Xi's dimension and the spiritual spring water from Lin Xi's spatial domain, so her abilities had leveled up twice in a very short period of time.
Although Liu Xu was surprised, she didn't overthink it. After all, it was a mutant-type ability, so it was normal for it to be stronger.
After the registration was complete, Liu Xu handed Jiang Ying a brooch engraved with Female Special Ops Squad and prepared to leave.
Jiang Ying remembered passing by the mission hall earlier and seeing the roster of people going on a mission tomorrow.
Using her consciousness, she took out a packet of realgar powder from her spatial domain and handed it to Liu Xu. Captain, I heard there are a lot of snakes outside right now. This is realgar powder I had a friend from another base prepare. Take it, it might just come in handy at a critical moment.
Liu Xu was quite surprised, but she had always been tolerant of girls, let alone the ones under her own command. To say she was fiercely protective of her own was an understatement. Before the apocalypse began, when a girl in her squad was catcalled, she challenged the guy to a one-on-one fight and ended up breaking two of his ribs.
Alright. I will take it then. Remember to report to Feng Xinyue tomorrow. She will give you basic training in the shortest time possible. The Women's Special Forces had always maintained strict military discipline, especially when it came to physical conditioning. Through freezing cold or scorching heat, they never once stopped.
It was precisely because of her almost brutal training methods that the survival rate of the Women's Special Forces was so high.
Yes, ma'am.
Liu Xu left, placing the realgar powder into her breast pocket.
Afterward, Jiang Ying received the keys to her assigned house and headed toward Uncle Xu's place.
Jiang Xiaoxin was squatting at the door waiting for her. From a distance, she spotted the Women's Special Forces badge pinned to Jiang Ying's chest, and Jiang Xiaoxin's eyes instantly turned red.
She used to be a member of the Special Forces too. Their squad had always kept the discipline of their military days and had never harmed anyone. They did not die at the hands of zombies, nor did they die from mutated plants and animals. Instead, they were all completely wiped out by Feng Qingqing.
If Jiang Ying died because of Feng Qingqing's romantic jealousy, then Liu Xu and the others died from Feng Qingqing's pure envy. She could not tolerate the existence of anyone in the base who was more beloved than herself.
Before turning into a snake, Feng Qingqing could still put on an act. But after her transformation, her thoughts were heavily influenced by the snake's nature. She went straight to the Women's Special Forces and annihilated them.
Because their deaths had been so incredibly tragic, combined with the fact that she believed this was a parallel universe and she was currently too young, she had avoided getting close to the Women's Special Forces. She was terrified that seeing those all-too-familiar faces would make her burst into tears.
But now, her fighting spirit was ignited. She needed to restore her supernatural abilities as quickly as possible so she could join the Women's Special Forces and fight alongside her Sister Yingying and the comrades she had braved death with in her past life.
In the dead of night, a figure wearing a white dress dashed out of the villa district, sprinting frantically toward the large mountain on the left side of the base. Just as she reached the foot of the mountain, the white dress burst open. In a split second, her lower half transformed into a black snake tail, and she slithered rapidly into the mountains.
Against the wind, a foul, fishy stench spread throughout the forest. Feng Qingqing's face was as cold as frost, her heart filled with intense resentment. She had just shed her skin four months ago; why did she have to shed it again now?
This completely defied logic!
