The small room fell into an eerie silence the moment Xiang Xi’s untimely exclamation rang out.

Si Ye immediately glanced at Nan Muran, who stood silently to the side, worried that she might mind.

Jiawu wanted to rush over and rip Xiang Xi’s mouth off.

Eagle’s gaze turned hostile, and even Qijin thought there was something wrong with this guy’s brain.

Meanwhile, their teammates Shiwu and Han Yingting were racking their brains trying to figure out how to signal these two idiots.

Chengcheng, however, didn’t notice anything wrong at all.

She simply sneered at Xiang Xi’s comment, “Shut up, will you? Do you even know what this woman has done before?

Maybe the things she did deserve a thousand cuts. Don’t judge without knowing the whole story. Understand?”

Xiang Xi thought about it, then nodded in agreement, “True. It’s the apocalypse now — you can’t judge things the way you used to.”

Everyone instantly let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, little Qijin leaned closer to Nan Muran and whispered, “Sis, the Chen family has a team of forty ability users in Lan City. They’ll find their way to the hotel tomorrow.

One of them can trace all traces left on an object within the past twenty-four hours.”

Nan Muran was surprised. She had heard of the tracing ability before — it was extremely rare, with fewer than three people in the entire country having it.

She hadn’t expected the Chen family to recruit such a talented person. “Describe to me what that person looks like.”

Qijin nodded and did his best to describe the person he had seen, while Nan Muran quickly sketched every detail he mentioned.

About half an hour later, a middle-aged man’s face appeared vividly on the sketch paper.

“That’s him! Looks exactly like that! Sis, you’re amazing,” Qijin said happily, excited that the person he saw had been captured so accurately.

The others also looked a little surprised as they watched Nan Muran deftly handling a pencil.

They were used to seeing her with knives, guns, and killing people — this was the first time they’d seen her with a pencil.

“Miss Nan’s drawing skills are incredible,” Han Yingting genuinely praised her.

Nan Muran laughed softly and put away her tools with a sigh, tearing the sketch off the pad. “If it weren’t for the apocalypse, maybe I could’ve been a decent artist.”

“I would’ve been a decent dancer too,” Chengcheng sighed.

Everyone was stunned.

“Before the apocalypse, I was a lead performer in a cultural troupe. What? Doesn’t look like it?” Chengcheng raised her eyebrows at their doubtful faces, clearly annoyed.

Looking at her inch-long cropped hair, no one said anything.

Chengcheng snorted and didn’t argue further.

Compared to men, the apocalypse was an even crueler disaster for women.

So she genuinely admired women like Nan Muran — able to stand tall in this brutal world, beautiful, strong, and fearless.

Nan Muran looked at Chengcheng’s slightly desolate back and suddenly said warmly, “You’re doing great now, too.”

Her unexpected gentle tone made Chengcheng freeze. Ever since she’d met Nan Muran, the woman had always been bloodthirsty, cold, and ruthless.

Chengcheng had never thought Nan Muran had this side — sharp yet soft.

She couldn’t help but flash her a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

The two girls exchanged a smile but didn’t continue the conversation.

However, this moment created a subtle shift in the atmosphere that the men could feel.

“This person needs to be dealt with quickly,” Nan Muran said, setting the sketch on the table.

“Is he an ability user?” Han Yingting asked, looking at the drawing.

Nan Muran nodded. “Not an offensive ability user. He has a tracing ability.”

As she spoke, she gathered her mental power, closely monitoring the entire hotel building. If that person appeared, she would immediately blow his head off.

“Tracing ability? What’s that?”

“He can trace every mark left on an object within the last twenty-four hours,” Nan Muran explained.

Eagle reached over and picked up the sketch. “That’s pretty badass.”

“It’s not an offensive ability, but it would cause big trouble for us,” Si Ye said firmly after glancing at the drawing.

“How many people are at Lan City base now?” Jiawu suddenly asked.

Han Yingting pulled out the information they had received from Chen Jianguo before setting out. “When we left, the news said seventy thousand. It’s probably even more now.”

“Killing someone is easy. Finding someone… that’s another story.” Finding a single person among seventy thousand people would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

And the base was complicated — commercial areas, office zones, slums, middle-class apartments, luxury villas. Plus, with everyone’s heightened alertness in the apocalypse, getting into any of these places wouldn’t be easy. Searching one by one would be exhausting.

“Young Master Zhou might be able to help,” Chengcheng suggested with a smile.

Zhou Ling looked at the sketch in his hand. “Isn’t this Old Master Chen’s secretary?”

“Give us the short version.”

“Old Master Chen used to be the top guy around here — you probably know that. His secretary before the apocalypse was called Lin Li — that’s this guy,” Zhou Ling said, setting down the sketch.

Nan Muran nodded. “Good. Sit down and eat. We’ll talk while eating.”

Zhou Ling’s heart almost exploded with excitement. He had personally delivered food for three days straight, and this was the first time the boss had invited him to eat with them. Such an honor!

Including Zhou Ling, they filled the ten-person table perfectly.

“Can you still find him now?” Nan Muran asked as soon as she sat down, causing Zhou Ling to hurriedly put down his chopsticks.

“Eat and talk, no need to be nervous,” Eagle patted Zhou Ling’s shoulder, finding the young second-generation heir rather likable.

Zhou Ling nodded and picked up a slice of meat. “I can. He’s still with the Chen family.

They live in Villa 1 in the villa district — only people with some status live there. Security is tight.”

“Are all forty-something of Chen Shuhan’s ability users at Villa 1?” Si Ye asked casually.

“They live in Villa 5.

Among Chen Shuhan’s forty-plus ability users, the strongest is a late-stage third-tier fire ability user,” Zhou Ling gradually relaxed as everyone kept things casual.

“Because of the deaths downstairs, Chen Shuhan has started investigating the entire Lan City base. Our identities might be at risk,” Han Yingting said, looking at Zhou Ling, hoping he had a solution.

Zhou Ling shook his head, completely unconcerned. “Relax. When I booked your rooms, I used the IDs of ability users from my family. They won’t trace it back to you.”

Nan Muran looked at him. “How did you think of using ability user IDs?”

“The people in charge of base security don’t dare investigate the Zhou and Chen families or their ability user teams. It’s an unspoken rule between us.

Plus, our family’s ability users live on the 14th floor of the hotel. Reserving the 15th floor as well makes sense,” Zhou Ling had prepared carefully to avoid any problems later.

“You booked the whole floor?” Eagle was incredulous. Typical second-generation heir behavior — so extravagant!

“Not the whole floor — just the eleven rooms after the elevator corner. I figured why not,” Zhou Ling said, embarrassed. Originally, he had even thought about moving in himself to be closer to the boss but was afraid of being misunderstood.

Suddenly, there was a loud and aggressive knock on the door.

“Anyone inside? Room inspection!” A low, harsh male voice barked from outside.