54: A thought disappears

The first day of the first lunar month was supposed to be a new beginning for the year, but for this year's New Year's Day, it was destined to be extraordinary.

Yi Nian woke up very early and even set an alarm clock deliberately.

She had received a gift from Shi Li yesterday. She originally wanted to say that she had also prepared a gift for him this year, but ultimately held back. She wanted to give him a surprise.

Previously, she had already meticulously prepared a set of gloves and a scarf she had personally knitted. Now she was getting ready to give them to Shi Li.

She washed her face and got dressed.

After saying goodbye to her father, she walked out of the base gate full of joy and quickly headed towards the Official Base.

Shi Li would always prepare gifts with care to give to her personally during holidays and even on her birthday.

Sometimes, when he went on missions, he would bring back novel items for her.

He would also often take time to chat with her. Whenever she had some private thoughts she couldn't tell others, she habitually sought out Shi Li to confide in. He was a very good listener, and his perfectly timed comfort always made her feel very relaxed.

The gifts she gave before were small trinkets, but this time it was an extremely beautiful and unique bracelet.

It was even designed and made by him personally.

Yi Nian truly felt that besides her father and Sister Wanwan and the others, Shi Li treated her the absolute best.

Every time she saw him, she always felt a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

He had given her so much; she absolutely had to reciprocate the gift.

Her hands were clumsy; this was something she had knitted, unraveled, and re-knitted several times before finally succeeding.

Yi Nian hugged the soft scarf, the corners of her mouth curved up, and her steps quickened.

It was seven in the morning, but it was still pitch black outside.

This extreme night had already lasted for three months. She didn't know when it would end. She truly missed sunny days, warm sunlight, and bright skies.

She walked while holding her flashlight and thinking.

Just as she reached a corner, she heard a childish cry.

"Help! Help! Waa... Mom, where are you? I'm so scared..."

This kind of thing happened every second of every day. Although every base was clearing out zombies under the mandatory orders from The Authorities, one infecting two, and two infecting four—how could it be cleared instantly? So, zombies were still visible everywhere.

Some were not high-level, and ordinary people could completely deal with them using weapons, but for high-level ones, Ability Users were necessary.

Yi Nian originally planned to ignore it because the biggest taboo in the Apocalypse was meddling too much, just as Sister Wan had advised her.

But she suddenly heard the child calling her name.

"Sister Nian Nian, save me!"

Yi Nian whipped her head around and shone her flashlight over. She discovered it was Bei Bei huddled in the corner!

Two Level 4 zombies were baring their fangs and claws, trying to grab her out to eat her!

There was a small depression there, so Bei Bei was tucked inside, and the zombies were too big to fit in immediately.

But if this continued, eating her was only a matter of time.

Yi Nian didn't think much; she went over, quickly dealt with the two zombies, and then pulled out Bei Bei.

She frowned and asked:

"Bei Bei? Why are you here alone? Where is your mother? What happened?"

Bei Bei was trembling all over, her pair of helpless big eyes brimming with tears.

"Sister Yi Nian, my mom left me here. She said you would save me! I'm so scared, wuwuwu... I don't know either..."

Yi Nian had experienced all sorts of hardships in society on her own before.

Hearing these two strange sentences, she instantly understood: This was bait! A trap set for her!

Yi Nian sensed danger, put down Bei Bei, immediately activated her Invisibility Ability, and tried to leave quickly.

But Yang Hong, who was hiding in the shadows, came out and swiftly unleashed a water ability attack on her. Yi Nian instantly reappeared.

That's right. Since people learned about the existence of Ability Users with Invisibility Ability, they began researching countermeasures for their own safety and protection.

They eventually discovered that as long as they encountered water, especially a water wall from a high-level Water Ability User, they would become visible.

Although she possessed the very rare Invisibility Ability, her combat strength was relatively weak.

Yang Hong's water wall was specifically targeting her Invisibility Ability.

If it were just him, with the self-defense skills taught by Brother Mo Chi and the others, and having a gun on her, she should not be in danger.

But he had also brought five or six Level 7 Fire and Wind Ability Users with him.

Her gun and walkie-talkie were kicked away as soon as she took them out.

Yi Nian had no defense, and she couldn't fight so many opponents alone. Although she resisted with all her might, she was ultimately injured and taken away by them.

All of this happened very quickly.

The carefully prepared scarf and gloves fell onto the ground, trampled under the feet of those people...

"Success!"

Sun Ping saw this scene and was extremely excited. She pulled the constantly sobbing Bei Bei back to Guangming Base.

...

Lin Wan was having lunch with Shen Mo Chi when she heard a frantic knocking.

It was New Year's Day today, so everyone had the day off, and Lin Wan and the others hadn't gone out yet.

"Little Wan! Mo Chi! Open the door quickly!"

"It's Uncle Wang."

Lin Wan's heart skipped a beat, and she put down her chopsticks, inexplicably having a bad premonition.

Shen Mo Chi went to open the door. Uncle Wang rushed in with an anxious face.

"Little Wan, Nian Nian is gone! Something happened!"

Lin Wan was surprised:

"What do you mean gone? Uncle Wang, don't rush, tell me slowly."

Uncle Wang tried hard to calm himself.

"This morning, she said she was going to the Official Base to find Shi Li. I didn't think much of it and let her go, as she often goes there alone, and it's not far."

"But until noon, she hadn't returned, and we couldn't reach her on the walkie-talkie. I went to the Official Base to find Shi Li, but Shi Li actually said Nian Nian never went there today!"

"Later, on our way back, we found Nian Nian's knitted scarf and gloves at the corner near our base!"

"There were traces of a Water Ability User nearby too! She encountered danger and was taken away by someone!"

"Mo Chi, what should we do? She is a Level 9 Ability User. What if those people dig out her crystal core..."

Wang Peihua closed his eyes, not daring to think further.

Lin Wan was also terrified, but she absolutely dared not show it.

"Don't worry, we'll go look right now. She belongs to Qingyun Base, and we have The Authorities backing us. No one dares to casually touch her like this unless they don't want to live anymore."

Mo Chi also comforted him:

"Sister Wan is right, Uncle Wang. I know you're very worried, but Sister Wan and I won't let anything happen to Yi Nian!"

Wang Peihua knew he couldn't waste time and cause trouble at this moment.

His hands trembled slightly uncontrollably.

"Hurry, you two go quickly. Don't worry about me. Wanwan, Mo Chi, I'm counting on you, please!"

Hearing his choked voice, Lin Wan felt a pang of sadness.

At the same time, she was furious.

She wanted to see who dared to extend their hand into Qingyun Base!

If she caught them, she would definitely make them pay the price!

Shen Mo Chi and Lin Wan took out their walkie-talkies to gather everyone.

"Go search for her. The surrounding areas, the base—don't miss a single possible location!"