With fifty or sixty people crammed into this small, dilapidated space, one could imagine how foul the air was.

Xie Ning fished a mask out of her backpack and silently put it on, kicking at a few rat carcasses scattered by her feet.

The ordinary rats hadn’t mutated.

Pushed aside by a group of researchers in white coats, the woman was thoroughly annoyed. When she turned and saw what Xie Ning was doing, she couldn’t help but scoff. "Do you have any common sense? The air in here is foul and stagnant. If you put on a mask, you’ll quickly suffer from a lack of oxygen."

Xie Ning took a small oxygen canister from her backpack, pulled down her mask to take two puffs, and then put it back on.

This act left the woman who had been mocking her utterly dumbfounded.

"That’s enough, Specialist Fang. Please step aside for a moment." An older gentleman in his fifties, dressed in a gray suit, came forward.

He was slightly taken aback when he met Xie Ning’s gaze. "My apologies. I’m Wei Zhengtong, deputy director of the Su City Biomedical Research Institute. These are my colleagues."

"Dr. Yu meant no harm; he’s just a bit blunt. By the way, have we met before?"

Xie Ning glanced at him without a word, her expression cool and distant, though inwardly she was incredibly annoyed.

’So the Dr. Wei that Captain Gu and his team were looking for is stuck in this rat hole!’

’Will Captain Gu’s group even be able to find this place?’

’How annoying.’ Xie Ning had no desire to get involved with this group of people whatsoever.

Seeing her silence, Wei Zhengtong assumed the young woman had a temper and was still holding a grudge against Yu Tianfeng for his rudeness.

He quickly gave her an amiable smile. "Miss, I saw you conjure those Metal Spikes just now. You’re a Superpower User, right?"

Out of politeness, Xie Ning gave a reluctant nod. "How long have you been trapped here?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"A day and a night. Everyone from our research lab had just been transferred here yesterday when we ran into those Mouse-men." Dr. Wei gave a bitter laugh. "The funny thing is, they seem to have some basic awareness. They even understand the principle of hoarding food in advance, so they just threw us all in here."

But as time passed, everyone trapped here grew increasingly desperate.

Since they were being hoarded as food, they would be eaten sooner or later, wouldn’t they?

"You’re a Superpower User. Get us out of here, now," that Ms. Fang suddenly said, her tone carrying an unquestionable air of command.

"I’m a Gold Ability User, not an Earth Element one!" Xie Ning rolled her eyes, found an empty spot, and sat down. "This place is surrounded by earth. I can’t do anything."

Several burly workers couldn’t help but start crying. "So we can only wait here to die?"

’What were they doing all this time? Why couldn’t these people use their heads and try to save themselves before I showed up?’

Xie Ning hated seeing people who always pinned their hopes on others.

"You have no will to survive anyway. It’s only a matter of time before you die," Xie Ning said with a cold expression.

"How can you be so cold-blooded? What are you talking about?" Fang Jiawen couldn’t stop herself from shouting in anger.

"’We’re all fellow human beings, what’s wrong with helping each other?’ I’ve heard that line too many times, so save it." Xie Ning cut her off. "I can just wait for all of you to die before I figure a way out."

Fang Jiawen choked on her words, her face flushing crimson.

A worker in a factory uniform stood up, his face red. "Th-then what should we do? We have the strength to do the work, we’re just... not that bright."

"Start by digging through that wall."

"Dig through it? B-but the earth will collapse inward. We’ll have even less space to survive," a worker retorted.

"Yeah, this hole is so deep. What’s the point of digging? You think we can dig all the way to the surface? Impossible! Besides, where would we even get digging tools?"

"We can provide tools," a researcher in a white coat said, timidly raising his hand. He dragged a large burlap sack forward from behind him.

When they evacuated, they had brought a lot of tools and equipment with them, but much of it had been damaged or lost along the way.

The worker in the factory uniform wiped his face and gritted his teeth. "Then let’s dig!"

"Ningning! Ningning!"

Xie Ning’s previously nonchalant expression changed in an instant. She shot to her feet and ran to the mouth of the tunnel.

Just then, three figures came sliding down from above, one after another.

Xie Ning quickly shot out several Metal Spikes, which coiled into rings that looped around the three people, and she gave a hard tug.

Song You’ai, Wang Zongxuan, and Yuan Kaifa landed on the ground with a THUD. Fortunately, the pull broke their fall, and they weren’t hurt.

"Mom." Xie Ning ran over. Seeing her mother’s hands and feet scraped raw from the tunnel walls, she couldn’t help but murmur in complaint, "Why did you come down here?"

Thankfully, her mom was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants, unlike Xiao Huang Mao and Wang Zongxuan, whose exposed forearms were scraped raw and bleeding.

"Didn’t I tell you not to come?" Xie Ning frowned.

Xiao Huang Mao grinned. "How could Aunt Song not worry? We came down with her to check on you. It’s fine, just a few flesh wounds."

Just then, the small researcher in the white coat who’d brought the sack timidly raised his hand again. "I have... I have some iodine and gauze. It might... for you..."

All four of them whipped their heads around to look at him.

The scrawny young man nervously pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose, his voice growing fainter. "... be of... some help..."

Song You’ai rushed over and patted the kind-hearted young man’s shoulder. "Thank you, young man! You’re a truly good person!"

"Xiao Yuan, Wang, hurry over and apply some of this."

"Aunt Song, you go first."

"It’s fine. I only scraped the back of my hand a little. Your injuries are worse."

"You’re...? Are you Mrs. Xie?" Wei Zhengtong hurried forward, his face a mask of surprise as he looked at Song You’ai.

Song You’ai froze, handing the iodine and gauze to Wang Zongxuan.

"Old Wei?"

"It really is you, Mrs. Xie," Dr. Wei said with a laugh.

Song You’ai gave an awkward smile. "Yes. What a coincidence."

"By the way, have you seen Old Xie? He was in the first group to be evacuated. Is he...?"

"Mom, let’s go over here and discuss how to get out," Xie Ning said, walking to Song You’ai’s side. She unceremoniously cut Dr. Wei off, pulling her mother away.

Dr. Wei fell silent in embarrassment, watching Xie Ning’s retreating back with a complicated expression.

’No wonder she looked so familiar. She’s the daughter Old Xie is always talking about.’

’When I went in and out of Old Xie’s office, I often saw their family photo. The little girl in it had a bright, sunny smile, pretty and full of life.’

’She’s even prettier in person. I didn’t recognize her at first.’

Song You’ai wiped her eyes. "Your father... he..."

"Mom, don’t be sad. He’ll be better off than anyone. Worrying is pointless. He doesn’t need it," Xie Ning’s tone was glacial, laced with a deep-seated resentment.

’It was impossible not to feel resentful.’

’In her past life, she had wandered the apocalyptic world for twenty years. The news she heard most often on the radio was about whatever new miracle Dr. Xie had created.’

’The Biomedical Research Institute has founded a new civilization.’

’News like that always felt impossibly distant to her.’

A damp fog seemed to cloud her vision, and in the blur, she was transported back to that day.