Qi Jin was the old soldier’s first grandson. He had been sensible since childhood and was closest to the old soldier.

After the acid rain during the apocalypse, the old soldier took Qi Jin into the mountains to forage and unintentionally discovered the strange soapberry tree that bore fruit.

To avoid danger, they didn’t approach the tree recklessly.

It was the family’s yellow dog who, while they weren’t paying attention, stole some fruit from the tree and gave it to Qi Jin, leading to his awakening.

Later, the yellow dog had sneaked into the mountains a few more times, but only twice did it return with fruit, both times giving it to Qi Jin.

Until finally, the yellow dog disappeared without a trace. Qi Jin cried bitterly over it, saying he had seen the yellow dog being eaten by that strange tree…

The old soldier talked about Qi Jin for a long time, then fell silent again.

The room plunged into a long, heavy silence.

“In the apocalypse, life and death are unpredictable. I can’t guarantee that Qi Jin won’t encounter danger following me, but I promise to do everything I can to avoid it,” Nan Muran had been quietly listening to the old soldier’s rare rambling.

Only at the end did she speak calmly.

The old soldier looked at Nan Muran in surprise. “Thank you.”

“I might do a lot of dangerous things in the future. Qi Jin’s mental prediction ability is very important to me. I’ll help him strengthen his ability, but it also means he’ll constantly be struggling at the edge of life and death.

You might worry about him, but in this apocalypse, for a child like Qi Jin, this is his destined fate.” Nan Muran looked into the old soldier’s eyes, her tone sincere.

The old soldier naturally understood that Nan Muran was speaking the truth. Qi Jin’s ability was too strange. He couldn’t protect himself, and the old soldier couldn’t shield him forever either. In the end, there were only two paths: either be tormented into madness or get exploited by others.

Compared to others, this honest and straightforward young woman in front of him actually made him feel more at ease.

So be it. There really wasn’t a better choice.

After the old soldier left, Si Ye and the others returned to the room as soon as they could.

“Still uneasy?” Jiawu looked at Nan Muran.

“He’s still a twelve-year-old child. It would be strange if we weren’t uneasy,” Eagle sighed. For a moment, he even missed his family—he didn’t know how his parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law were doing now.

Seeing Eagle’s mood, Si Ye patted his shoulder in silent comfort.

“Eagle, where’s your home?” Nan Muran suddenly asked.

She knew Eagle was a sentimental person. Since he and Si Ye had joined the army the same year, he would naturally and instinctively stand behind Si Ye at critical moments.

And because he would also stand by her side with Si Ye, she didn’t hesitate to show him kindness.

“Lan City.”

Upon hearing that, Nan Muran immediately pulled out a map from her backpack and found one of the five special trees near Lan City. “Look, see how far this is from your home.

When the time comes, you can go back and check.”

Seeing that it was about a hundred kilometers away from his home, Eagle nodded excitedly.

It had been three years since he had been home. He didn’t know how his family had fared through the apocalypse. The thought of it made him feel emotional and a bit anxious.

Si Ye and Jiawu looked at him and couldn’t help but sigh. The two of them, along with Nan Muran, were like lone wolves, wandering the world without attachments.

Wait—Jiawu still had his wife, Bai Mei.
As for himself? He still had Nan Muran.

“Let’s finish packing early and rest. We still have to travel at dawn tomorrow.” As she spoke, Nan Muran took out eight fruits from her space: four bright orange-red fruits from the soapberry tree, and four dark red fruits from another large tree.

She also pulled out a big pile of low-level crystal cores they had gotten from Principal Wang at the town, handing them out to help everyone recover.

Eagle looked at Nan Muran and Si Ye. “Sister Nan, did you two pick all the fruit from that soapberry tree?”

“More or less,” Si Ye replied calmly.

Eagle marveled silently. Well, Jiawu really had good instincts—Nan Muran and Si Ye working together were stronger than a team of eight.

“After eating the fruit and absorbing the crystal cores, go to bed early.” Nan Muran grabbed her share of fruit and crystal cores and ducked into the small space inside the house where a bed had been set up.

The house the old soldier arranged for them was quite large.

A wardrobe that reached the ceiling divided the middle of the house, creating a suite-like setup.

Nan Muran stayed in the inner partition where there was a bed.

The others finished eating the fruit and absorbing the crystal cores, then each found a spot on the sofas to rest.

It was somewhat strange—apart from the initial pain when eating Xiaobai’s fruit, the fruits they ate afterward didn’t cause any adverse reactions at all.

The sky grew darker, and night fell. In the pitch-black farmhouse courtyard, some slept peacefully, while others were full of worry.

The old soldier’s family packed Qi Jin’s belongings while silently shedding tears.

Since the apocalypse, all means of communication had failed one after another. Once separated, the long road ahead made any future reunions extremely difficult.

“Dad, I heard Captain Han say today that there’s a safe base at the foot of the Xishan Mountains. Maybe we should head there?” a middle-aged man suggested cautiously as he zipped up the luggage.

The old soldier looked out at the snowy mountains and sighed. Going to a safe base was easier said than done.

The whole village had only a dozen households, about fifty to sixty people, most of them elderly and children. In this familiar mountain area, they could barely scrape by.

Go to the base?
First, the journey was too long and dangerous.
Second, even if they made it, how would unskilled people survive there?

In another room, Han Yingtian watched the candlelight flickering in the old soldier’s house, growing increasingly uneasy. “I’m going to find Miss Nan.”

“You want to escort them to the safe base?” Eagle, after hearing this, really wanted to crack open Han Yingtian’s head to see what he was thinking—life here in the village was way better than outside.

(This chapter is not over yet, click ‘Next Page’ to continue reading more exciting content!)

Han Yingtian nodded. “It’s too dangerous for them to stay here.”

Nan Muran smiled faintly, a bit of bitterness in her voice. “In the apocalypse, nothing is more dangerous than human nature. They might not be fit for the outside world.”

“But…”

“Go ahead and try to persuade them. If the old soldier agrees, I’ll give you time to escort them.” Nan Muran, unwilling to argue, spoke coldly.

Sure enough, when the old soldier heard Han Yingtian’s suggestion, he rejected it without hesitation, as did the rest of the villagers.

In the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep, their door was knocked again.

“What’s going on?” Jiawu immediately turned on the flashlight and got up to open the door.

Standing outside was Qi Jin’s father, his face full of anxiety and fear.

“Qi Jin says a snake swarm is coming to attack the village!” The man’s voice was urgent.

Having been half-asleep from the knocking, Nan Muran instantly snapped awake at the mention of a snake swarm.

The group quickly geared up and rushed outside. At the same time, Han Yingtian and his team also scrambled out, fully armed.

Qi Jin immediately ran up to Nan Muran. “Sister, I saw more than a hundred snakes!”

“Can you estimate the exact time?”
It was three in the morning now. The old soldier had said before that Qi Jin could foresee events within a day.

Qi Jin tried hard to recall the scene in his mind and finally saw the wall clock at home: “A little after five—maybe five forty-five.”

“Two and a half hours from now,” Han Yingtian said, looking grimly at his watch.

Nan Muran first used her spiritual power to scan the surroundings within a kilometer—nothing unusual yet.

Then she lightly touched the small willow vine wrapped around her wrist. “Xiaoliu, are they within your sensing range?”

Xiaoliu: They just entered my sensing range, Ranran. The snake swarm is moving very fast—unnaturally fast.