18: Chapter 18 Anyway, I kept my word

Ye Qingxue finished half the bottle of water, feeling the warmth still flowing within her.

That long-lost feeling of fullness almost brought her to tears.

Four whole days.

Four days without eating.

She almost thought she was going to starve to death.

But now...

Now, that maddening hunger had actually disappeared.

Not only that.

She didn't even feel thirsty anymore.

Drinking this half-bottle of water felt like drinking several liters; she was completely quenched.

This... how is this possible?

Ye Qingxue suddenly looked up, staring at Lin Yuan in shock.

"These... where did this water..."

Her voice trembled.

"...come from?!"

Lin Yuan leaned against the wall, watching her calmly.

"I told you, I have my ways."

"No!"

Ye Qingxue's voice suddenly rose.

"This can't just be 'ways'!"

She stared fixedly at Lin Yuan, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

"Just now... you made it appear out of thin air!"

"I saw it with my own eyes!"

"You had nothing in your hands, and then the next second, this water just appeared!"

Ye Qingxue spoke excitedly.

She was a science student and had received a scientific education since childhood.

She believed in logic, in rationality, and that everything had a scientific explanation.

But what she had just seen...

It completely exceeded her understanding.

"And... this water..."

Ye Qingxue looked at the bottle in her hand.

"I clearly only drank half a bottle, but I feel... I don't feel hungry anymore?!"

Her voice was filled with shock.

"I haven't eaten for four days! Four days!"

"A normal person would be starving to death after four days without food!"

"But now... I actually don't feel hungry?"

"This... how is this possible?!"

Ye Qingyue also looked up, staring at the water bottle in her hand in shock.

"Sister... me too..."

She said weakly.

"I... I'm not hungry anymore either..."

"And... and I think I have strength now..."

Ye Qingyue tried moving her fingers.

Although she was still very weak, at least she could move.

Unlike before, when even raising her hand took effort.

"What on earth... what is this..."

Ye Qingxue muttered to herself.

Her mind was racing.

Trying to use logic to explain everything she had just seen.

But... no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't come up with a rational explanation.

Objects appearing out of thin air?

This violated the law of conservation of mass.

Drinking water to solve hunger?

This violated human physiology.

These things... simply didn't conform to any scientific theory.

Ye Qingxue looked up, observing Lin Yuan with a complicated gaze.

"You... what exactly are you?"

Her voice was filled with shock and fear.

"What kind of... what kind of ability do you have?"

Lin Yuan didn't answer.

He just said calmly:

"I told you, I have my ways."

"Believe it or not, that's up to you."

"Anyway, I kept my promise."

Ye Qingxue gritted her teeth.

She analyzed frantically in her mind.

Lin Yuan definitely had some kind of... special ability.

This was now beyond doubt.

And... this ability seemed to be related to them.

She remembered Lin Yuan saying that it "required special conditions."

That condition was her and her sister.

So... could his ability really be related to them?

Was what he said true?

Were she and her sister really some kind of "condition"?

This was too absurd...

But the reality was right in front of her.

That water appearing out of thin air.

Those magical liquids that could solve hunger and thirst at the same time.

These things were all real.

Ye Qingxue felt her worldview collapsing.

The scientific concepts she had built up since childhood were completely shaken at this moment.

She thought of those antidotes.

The heaven-defying antidotes that could cure the snow poison.

Things that global medical institutions couldn't research, yet Lin Yuan had them.

And he produced two bottles just like that.

At the time, she thought Lin Yuan had obtained them through some special channel.

But now it seemed... could it be that he "conjured" them too?

The more Ye Qingxue thought about it, the more terrified she felt.

This man... what kind of power did he wield?

Just then.

Lin Yuan moved again.

He stood where he was and closed his eyes.

Then—he grabbed at the empty air once more.

The next second.

A few more bottles of water appeared in his hand.

Ye Qingxue and Ye Qingyue were stunned when they saw this.

Again... he did it again?

Conjured it out of thin air again?

Lin Yuan continued to "grab" with an expressionless face.

One bottle.

Two bottles.

Three bottles.

...

Ten bottles.

He pulled over a dozen bottles of e-grade energy mineral water from the void in succession.

Then he casually stacked them in the corner.

Ye Qingxue watched the pile of water bottles, her eyes slowly widening.

Her mouth opened slightly, and she felt as if she had been frozen in place.

This... how is this possible...

Objects appearing from nothing?

And endless?

This... this was no longer just some "special ability"...

This was practically... a miracle.

Ye Qingxue felt her values completely collapse at this moment.

She remembered those plots in novels.

A system?

A cheat?

Rebirth?

Transmigration?

Things that only appeared in novels... could they really exist?

No... that's impossible...

But the reality before her was slapping her in the face.

Ye Qingxue looked at Lin Yuan, her gaze shifting from shock to awe, and then to fear.

This man... was too terrifying.

He possessed some kind of power she couldn't understand at all.

And she and her sister... were completely under his control.

Lin Yuan looked at the sisters' shocked expressions, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

The effect was good.

He had intimidated them.

From now on, they wouldn't have any thoughts of resistance.

Because they had realized the gap in strength.

Realized that the power he wielded far exceeded their understanding.

Lin Yuan walked to the bedside and said calmly:

"Now the survival problem is solved."

"One bottle of this water lasts 20 hours."

"We are safe for now."

His tone was as calm as if he were discussing the weather.

As if the water bottles that had appeared out of thin air were just a trivial matter.

"Next, we need to establish some rules."

Ye Qingxue felt a tightening in her chest when she heard this.

Rules? What rules?

Lin Yuan looked at them and spoke slowly:

"First, from now on, you are my people."

"Second, you must listen to what I say."

"Third, you are not allowed to try to escape, and you are not allowed to betray me."

"Fourth, if you obey, I will protect you, provide you with supplies, and let you live."

"Fifth, if you don't obey..."

Lin Yuan's gaze suddenly turned cold.

"Then don't blame me for being ruthless."

Ye Qingxue bit her lip and said nothing.

She knew she had no choice.

Her and her sister's lives were both in this man's hands.

And the power this man wielded far exceeded her imagination.

Resistance? Pointless.

Escape? Even more impossible.

The only thing they could do now was obey.

Obey obediently.

And... survive.

"I... I understand..."

Ye Qingxue lowered her head, her voice filled with humiliation.

"We will obey..."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"Very good."

He turned and walked to the corner, sitting down.

"Rest. We'll discuss the next steps tomorrow."

Ye Qingxue held her sister and leaned against the headboard.

She looked at the pile of water bottles in the corner.

Her heart was a mix of emotions.

Lin Yuan definitely possessed some kind of power she couldn't understand.

This was beyond doubt.

And she and her sister were completely under his control.

They could never escape.

But at least... at least they wouldn't starve to death.

At least... they could still survive.

Ye Qingxue closed her eyes, tears streaming down silently.

Since she was a child, she had always been the proudest one.

The campus belle of Jiangcheng University.

The eldest daughter of the Ye Group.

The goddess pursued by countless people.

But now... now she had become a man's "possession".

Forced to obey.

Forced to submit.

This was the most humiliating moment of her life.

But at the same time... it was also the only way she could survive.

Ye Qingyue leaned in her sister's arms, also closing her eyes.

Her feelings were even more complicated.

When she saw Lin Yuan conjure that water out of thin air earlier, she had been shocked.

That power, which transcended ordinary human understanding, made her feel deep fear.

But at the same time... she also felt a trace of... relief?

This man was terrifying and cold.

But he truly had the ability to protect them.

The ability to let them survive.

In this cruel Apocalypse.

Perhaps... following such a powerful man was actually safer?

Ye Qingyue didn't know.

She only knew that she had no choice.

From the moment she made that decision... her fate had already changed.

Outside the window, the snow was still falling.

The wind was still blowing.

But in this small room, the atmosphere had changed subtly.

It was no longer the tense confrontation from before.

But rather... a strange balance.

Lin Yuan controlled everything.

And the two sisters could only submit.

But at least, they had survived.

In this cruel Apocalypse, being able to survive was already the greatest luck.

Lin Yuan leaned against the wall, watching the snow outside the window.

Calculating his next plan in his heart.

Now that he had the e-grade energy mineral water, the survival problem was temporarily solved.

But this was just the beginning.

He needed more supplies.

More power.

More goddesses.

Only in this way could he not only survive in this cruel Apocalypse... but also live very well.