179: Dacheng's scheming

Lei Qian couldn't help but sigh, recalling his father's warning: "A woman's emotions are like finding a needle in a haystack. You can never hope to understand what they're thinking."

He finally believed it now.

To prevent Bai Wanning from genuinely getting emotional and cutting him down with a knife, Lei Qian decided to change the subject. He pulled something out of his pocket and said, "I actually wanted to give you this last night... but I forgot."

As he spoke, he tossed a crystal core over.

Bai Wanning instinctively reached out and caught it. It was cold to the touch—a crystal core extracted from a mutated dog.

She looked down at the crystal core, her eyes flickering slightly.

The energy fluctuations of this crystal core were indeed impressive, but it differed from the crystal cores she extracted from zombies. The aura was mixed with a bestial restlessness, even causing her own Ability to feel a slight repulsion.

She didn't immediately absorb it but instead tried to give the crystal core to the material exchange system to exchange for points.

If it could be exchanged, she wouldn't mind accumulating some resources.

After all, her Ability was constantly growing, and her Older Brothers had also successively awakened various abilities. Now, they could extract crystal cores from zombies themselves, so they no longer relied on the system for exchanges.

However, the system's prompt was: [Detection failed. This crystal core does not meet the exchange standard.]

"Huh?" Bai Wanning frowned, a bit disbelieving.

This thing wasn't up to standard? It was clearly rich in energy, not much different from a zombie crystal core, so why couldn't it be exchanged?

[System prompt: The material exchange system accepts cross-dimensional items, but the prerequisite is that the item is usable by the Host or other Hosts. Currently, this crystal core belongs to a beast-transformed energy crystal core. The system level is insufficient and cannot process resources related to the 'Beastman' dimension for now.]

Bai Wanning couldn't help but retort, "What is this if not racial discrimination?"

The system remained unmoved, continuing its cold prompt: [Please, Host, upgrade system permissions, or keep the crystal core for the future version when the Beastman trade module is opened.]

"That's really stingy," Bai Wanning clicked her tongue and put the crystal core away.

This lesson reminded her: even the system wasn't omnipotent. She would have to be more careful in utilizing resources in the future, so as not to waste her efforts.

The convoy continued towards the City Hospital.

Since this hospital was located in the city center, it was quite a distance from the suburbs where Ancient North Grand Court was located.

By the time the convoy reached its destination, it was already evening.

The city streets were dim and dilapidated, with the setting sun casting mottled shadows through gaps in the ruins. Zombies, hidden in the alleys, seemed to sense the presence of humans, slowly moving out from the shadows and gathering at the corners.

Suddenly, the convoy braked sharply and stopped.

Bai Wanning, who had been dozing by the car window, was jolted awake by the car's movement.

She opened her eyes, looked at the increasingly dense zombies outside the window, stretched, and yawned: "Lie down."

Her tone was calm yet firm. "Judging by the zombies' movement patterns, there are many survivors nearby. Areas where zombies gather usually either have high-level individuals or are densely populated human areas."

No sooner had she spoken than Bai Jixuan and Bai Zhan almost simultaneously pushed open their doors and got out of the car.

"You stay in the car, don't move. We'll handle these," Bai Zhan said unequivocally.

"Second Older Brother, I'm really fine." A warm current surged through Bai Wanning's heart, but it was followed by a sense of stifling oppression.

She wasn't weak.

She had survived betrayal and abandonment in her previous life; how could she rely on others for protection in this life?

Lei Qian also got out of the car, unbuckled his seatbelt, and looked at Bai Zhan: "Don't worry, I'll protect Wanning, even though she doesn't need my protection at all."

"You—"

"Enough!" Bai Wanning interrupted their bickering, speaking coldly, "No one needs to protect me; I can handle myself."

She had had enough of this overly cautious protection; it was charity for the weak, not equal respect.

Bai Zhan hesitated to speak, finally only able to watch her get out of the car.

Bai Wanning jumped out of the car, drew the short knife she carried at her waist, and said calmly, "I can do it myself."

Da Cheng looked at the knife in her hand, his eyes lighting up: "Miss Bai, that knife is really cool. Where did you get it?"

Bai Wanning glanced at him, a slight curve to her lips: "I don't know. My former fans gave it to me; I'm not sure where they got it."

After speaking, she withdrew her gaze.

This man named Da Cheng, though currently appearing loyal and considerate, she vaguely sensed a deep hidden side to him.

Da Cheng was the kind of character who wouldn't show his hand easily; once he revealed his fangs, he would never retract them easily.

She couldn't let her guard down.

At this moment, several slow-moving zombies were already approaching. Bai Wanning raised the knife in her hand and charged out without hesitation.

"Hey, Miss Bai!" Da Cheng subconsciously called out to her, "You have an Ability, why don't you just use it? Why go up and fight hand-to-hand?"

Bai Wanning didn't bother to look back. Her figure flashed, and with one slash, she decapitated the nearest zombie.

Blood splattered, black and foul, but she didn't care.

It wasn't that she couldn't use her Ability; she simply disdained to.

These clumsy, slow-moving zombies were nothing to her. Using her Ability to kill them? Wouldn't that be like wasting ammunition to swat mosquitoes?

Besides, Abilities weren't limitless; they were consumables, stored in the "ability core" within an Ability User's body.

Every use was a consumption, and to replenish her Ability, she had to absorb energy from crystal cores.

She had no intention of wasting precious "bullets" on these low-level zombies.

The City Hospital was the real battlefield; she needed to conserve her strength for there.

Moreover, who stipulated that an Ability User couldn't kill zombies with a knife?

Bai Wanning sneered.

Her Ability was her weapon, not her shackles. When and how to use it was up to her; no one had the right to point fingers, let alone a complicated outsider.

Why did Da Cheng ask her why she wasn't using her Ability?

She wasn't using it because she didn't want to, it was that simple.

More importantly, Bai Wanning snorted coldly in her heart, relying entirely on one's Ability was an utterly foolish approach.

Abilities were not omnipotent. In truly perilous situations, what often saved lives wasn't a trick or two of an Ability, but a person's true reaction speed, physical strength, and also... the knife in her hand, which had emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

But these truths, of course, she wouldn't tell Da Cheng.

This man's ambition was deeply hidden; loyalty hung on his lips, but his eyes were full of calculations. Bai Wanning saw through his complexity at a glance.

Not to mention, he was with Lu Yin.

Those who liked Lu Yin were destined to never be on her side.

Bai Wanning always remembered how those heartless people in her previous life had conspired to push her into the abyss. Even if she started over in this life, she would not repeat the same mistakes.