Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Chapter 173: "Big Sister, You’re Awake

The snow fluttered down ceaselessly.

It seemed that with the increasing disturbances nearby, the snowfall had been relentless, and the weather had grown colder and colder.

The frail clothes could no longer fend off the perpetual snow, so the people of Zhaolin Town had no choice but to give up on hunting in the mountains and rely on their stored grain and firewood to huddle together for warmth in their homes.

The snowy ground was like a white carpet, sparsely dotted with a few footprints. These were left by the few able individuals in Zhaolin Town who still had the strength to go out in the snowstorm. Those without combat power had to endure hunger at home—because venturing outside meant a high risk of being killed by demon beasts.

But in the pure-hearted local community, if able individuals had the extra capacity, they would help families in extreme poverty, reducing the number of people who froze or starved to death.

On a desolate small path, the town’s Emissary Chief Mo Mo—a middle-aged individual with abilities—was walking back slowly with his daughter Qingqing, who had awakened to fire series abilities a few days before, carrying a load of firewood.

"If things keep up like this, we should have no problem getting through this snowy season," Mo Mo muttered to himself as he looked at the gray-white sky.

Since Qingqing had awakened her abilities, even though she was not skilled in physical strength as one of the elemental series, her physique had greatly improved, and she no longer feared the ordinary cold. The lively little girl, carrying firewood that was nearly as tall as her, skipped along and smiled brilliantly, "Right, we can even help out Aunt Wang from next door, who doesn’t have any able individuals at home. There’s also Uncle Rin over by the headquarters, Aunt Mei Yin..."

Mo Mo sighed, thinking how youth is ignorant of sorrow. They did not actually have the spare capacity to help so many people; many had to leave their fate to heaven.

However, his daughter was well protected by him and had not yet seen the harshness of this world, so it was normal for her to have such naive thoughts.

If possible, he hoped to protect her for a lifetime, keeping her from seeing the cruelty of this world forever.

He smiled and replied to his daughter:

"If we want to help so many uncles and aunts, we’ll have to make a few more trips."

"It’s no big deal, Dad, we’re not afraid of the cold," Qingqing said cheerfully.

Mo Mo smiled, well aware of his daughter’s warm heart.

Qingqing was looking around all the way, when suddenly, she spotted a corner of clothing and called out:

"—Dad, look at the snow over there... is that someone buried?"

Mo Mo was startled; he knew that such occurrences were common. In these cold snowy seasons, deaths were inevitable, and stumbling upon bodies on the road was normal.

As an individual with abilities, he did not really want to get involved, but as a caring father, he still set down the firewood and walked a few steps in that direction, only to be shocked by the blood-stained snow behind the slope.

The pure white snow was smeared with blood, like cold yet fiery winter plum blossoms, blooming one by one on the snowy ground, creating a hauntingly beautiful scene of bloodied plums.

Gauging the amount of blood, he feared the person might not survive...

Could they have encountered demon beasts along the way?

The world had been unstable of late, and rumors suggested an impending global crisis. The greatest enemy of humanity, the demon beasts, were growing restless.

Their town was close to the Regular Army base and also near the Revolutionary Army base, but it was not on the route of either’s march. The local terrain was rugged and inhospitable; people often died from freezing, and there were scarce resources, which turned this place into a lawless area that kept a respectful distance from the strife between the two camps.

Mo Mo feared the individual might be someone from the military, but upon closer inspection, the person’s attire was not a military uniform.

He told Qingqing to stand still, not wanting her to witness such a scene, and hurried over to dig the person out.

Luscious hair covered the person’s face, which was drenched in fresh blood. Mo Mo looked at the clothing on the body—he did not understand the fabric, but it was clearly of high quality.

He knew this person did not come from an ordinary household.

In times like these, nobility suggested power, because the bloodlines carried through generations meant that it was unlikely for their offspring to be incompetent.

This meant that finding someone who resembled nobility collapsed by the roadside could potentially herald a maelstrom of political intrigue.

Mo Mo hesitated for a moment, then reached out to check the person’s breath, unexpectedly finding them still alive.

The village leader had said that with the recent surge in conflicts, the nearby territories had already suffered. Could this person belong to some significant power...

He thought about it and decided to take the person back with him.

No matter who this person was, their identity must be high-ranking. A life-saving favor in these chaotic times would add extra chips to his survival.

Worried the person might freeze to death on the way, he draped his own coat over the individual and hoisted them onto his back.

"...Daddy?" Qingqing said in confusion, and at the same time was startled by the sight of the blood-soaked person on her father’s back.

"Let’s go, Qingqing, we need to take good care of him."

Qingqing, unaware of her father’s opportunistic thoughts, simply felt pity for this beautifully dressed person who had fainted alone in the snow. She had fire series abilities, so she was determined to take care of this helpless person.

Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

His vision was filled with an unfamiliar ceiling.

The house was decrepit, not exactly leaky, but far from warm. Especially the rough blanket and hard board bed, they were somewhat uncomfortable.

...But it was a rare rest for him. So upon waking up, he even felt somewhat nostalgic, relishing the sensation of being able to relax and sleep.

He looked down, checking his body first thing. The blood all over him previously was not due to a serious injury but because the pattern mark on his shoulder had suddenly gone crazy, continuously draining his health points, resulting in him being covered in his own blood.

However, fortunately, after the fluctuation of the pattern mark, it completely disappeared.

With "Ming" status, his physical strength was high, and his health bar was long. Despite losing blood, he still hadn’t died.

Beforehand, upon being startled by Holy Initiation appearing behind him, he immediately crushed the Space Teleportation Stone given to him by the team of five and left that place.

Space Teleportation Stones were rare and should be precious, with only two on him. Their effect was to randomly teleport him to a safe zone in the World Replica, where there would at least be no death from the plot for the time being.

He had considered immediately reverting to a time point where the Revolutionary Army was marching in order to change their route, but after careful thought, he decided against it – because of the crimson pattern mark on his shoulder.

He guessed that Holy Initiation had been able to find him so precisely possibly because of the pattern mark on his shoulder.

Therefore, as long as he returned to that time point and Holy Initiation decided to look for him, he would be found, no matter which route he escaped to.

The only solution was to change location himself, at least to preserve the Revolutionary Army.

Before teleporting, he planted a spy in the Revolutionary Army’s ranks and saw everything that happened there. After Holy Initiation realized he had disappeared, they also vanished immediately... without the slightest intention of striking at the Revolutionary Army.

Dan Shuang was unharmed, too. Though hit, she didn’t seem to be seriously injured, but upon realizing he was gone, she cried.

...It was truly rare to see the Second Commander cry so intensely, although she had shed tears on a hillside at night before, it had always been in secret. But this time, in front of the entire army... after his disappearance, she cried like a child, with both snot and tears, cursing Holy Initiation with all sorts of profanities, non-stop, in front of the whole army...

He indeed hadn’t expected her to be so adept at cursing.

However, these were all just prerequisites.

The real reason he made up his mind not to reload immediately was—he heard a survival rate prompt from the system:

It was very clear, crystal clear.

The extent of the increase took him by surprise.

...This might mean that there was something here that could change the whole situation.

At least what he had thought before, making the entire Revolutionary Army fight the Regular Army, was probably not feasible for him—if Holy Initiation found him and captured him, his success would be impossible.

Suddenly, the door creaked, and a girl pushed it open and entered.

The girl holding the bowl of medicine lifted her keen head and met his gaze, her face immediately beaming with a warm smile:

"Big sister, you’re awake."

Su Ming’an felt thunderstruck in his heart.

He checked again quickly, only relaxing after confirming that this was Qin Wang’s body and not that he had soul-crossed into some girl’s body.

The girl was perhaps young, so it was normal for her to not distinguish well and think that this handsome shell was a female’s.

But, honestly speaking, Qin Wang’s appearance wasn’t effeminate, only delicate. Maybe the little girl thought that anyone a bit delicate was female, and those who were burly and bearded were male, which was why she had misidentified him.

"Your wound was treated by Daddy right outside the door, he didn’t look," she pointed outside, "Daddy went out to collect firewood, he asked me to take good care of big sister."

"I’m not big sister," said Su Ming’an.

"Okay," Qingqing smiled sweetly, "Little sister."

Su Ming’an felt a headache coming on.

He rubbed his temples, about to explain further, when he saw the little girl step closer, extending her hands to offer him the medicine.

The hands she stretched out were thin and bony, like dried yellow skin wrapped around bones, with clear blue veins.

Her fingers, too, were shriveled like ten reed stalks, knuckles protruding, a ghastly pale, devoid of any fleshiness.

"Sister, the medicine."

She smiled, lips parting, her hollowed cheeks raised in a smile, her grin as clear and pure as water.

Su Ming’an sighed.

It wasn’t the first time he felt this world was incredibly real.

Different from the previous four worlds he had experienced, this world had none of the feelings of a game instance. If it weren’t for the occasional system prompts and the fleeting bullet comments, he would truly think he had come to a completely new world.

Looking over, a description of the bowl of medicine immediately appeared in his line of sight:

[Medicine Paste (Extremely Poor Quality)

Type: Recovery

Effect: Consuming will restore 25 Health Points.

Warning: This food is of extremely poor quality, and depending on physique differences, may result in debuff, deducting 30 Health Points per minute for 20 minutes.

Manufacturing Requirement: Carefully prepared by the NPCs of the Ming Hui World, requires Cold Leaf Herb, snow water, ten minutes of preparation time.

Description: This is a consumable prop from the Fifth World·Ming Hui that doesn’t look promising. Probably no players would want to learn how to make it.]

The hand that Su Ming’an had extended quickly withdrew.

He stared at the bowl of pitch-black paste that looked dubious and involuntarily leaned back a bit.

...To think there really existed something labeled ’extremely poor quality’—this must be a dark cuisine that even the system couldn’t overlook.

What was even scarier was the debuff. A medicine paste meant for healing wounds could end up poisoning someone... a total deduction of 600 Health Points. For a player who hadn’t increased their Physical Strength much, this bowl of medicine paste could wipe them out.

Not to mention Qin Wang’s physique, getting poisoned was almost certain. With this medicine paste, before even restoring 25 Health Points, he would be brought down by 600 points.

He looked at the little girl with the pure smile in front of him and realized that even such a child could be dangerous.

This "carefully prepared" medicine paste was akin to a lethal poison, more effective than any debuff.

"Little sister?" Qingqing tilted her head, puzzled.

"Drink it yourself... forget it, I advise you to pour it out," Su Ming’an was definitely not going to consume such suspicious stuff: "Also, don’t call me little sister, I’m a guy."

Qingqing opened her mouth wide, her eyes revealing a sense of "so it is."

She stood there, torn—this was the hard-to-come-by herb they had gathered, which usually could be sold for a good sum of money.

This time it was Daddy who had her make it for this person, which she had taken out from the cupboard, not expecting the other party to say it should be poured out...

But then again, it made sense.

The other party... seemed out of place compared to the house they lived in.

His hair was slick, and his clothes were nice. More importantly, his demeanor was too composed, making her somewhat hesitant to approach.

This was a feeling she never had from the brothers and sisters in the same town.

Compared to her own sallow skin, her hands reddened from carrying firewood, she felt the person before her lived in a different world than hers.

"Thump thump thump—"

At this moment, footsteps could be heard at the door, along with the sound of firewood being put down, as a man rushed in, his body covered with snow and wind.

Seeing her father return, Qingqing joyfully called out, "Daddy, the little sister is awake!"

"Qingqing, don’t talk nonsense!" Mo Mo was so frightened that he hurried to gather his daughter and bowed deeply, "Very sorry, I saw that you had fainted by the snow and was somewhat presumptuous..."

"Where is this?" Su Ming’an asked directly.

"Zhaolin Town, just outside is the Revolutionary Army regiment... but which regiment specifically, I’m not sure either."

Su Ming’an nodded, realizing he hadn’t been teleported far. All the Revolutionary Armies were assembling; if he wasn’t far from the Revolutionary Army, then the Regular Army’s base wouldn’t be far either.

He opened the system interface, wanting to check the time.

But soon, the survival rate panel caught him by surprise.

And as he was looking at this panel, the number jumped again, turning to 74%.

...The survival chance was rising on its own?