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(Xyrean Province- Outskirts)

(Li\'an Highway)

Qin Lan gently stirred from her nap as she felt the warm afternoon rays hit the side of her face.

She glanced outside the window and saw an endless field of golden wheat that seemed to stretch out towards the horizon.

After driving for a few hours away from the place where they had encountered the strange nun, Qin Lan had decided to park the van on the side of the road and get some sleep.

She yawned lazily and stretched out her arms. Gong Li was still asleep but the other three teenagers were awake and talking amongst themselves.

Qin Lan casually listened in to their conversation as she took a brush out of the driver\'s compartment and began to tidy up her messy hair.

"Where are we going?" Chen Xiao asked softly.

"Not sure… I think Sister Qin wants to take us deeper into the province," Liu Yifei replied as she opened up her phone.

"No… signal… I still… I still can\'t reach my parents…"

"Do you think our folks are still alive?" Liu Tao asked with a heavy expression on her face.

There was a brief moment of silence as her question lingered in the air.

No one knew.

Perhaps it some ways it was the uncertainty that tortured them the most. The faint hope that their parents and family members were still alive but no way of knowing for sure.

And in these dark times when social order was beginning to break down…

There were fates worse than death.

Qin Lan saw that the mood was getting pretty low, so she decided to distract the young teenagers by talking about her plans.

"So, there are a few farm buildings next to an artificial lake in the northeastern part of the province. I was thinking that it would be a good spot to set up a base," Qin Lan explained calmly.

"There is a supply of fresh water, and we can grow our own crops using irrigation. I didn\'t want to mention this before, but I think now is a good time to talk about it…

"I will be training you all in self defense. You at least need to know how to shoot a gun properly if an unexpected situation occurs."

"You are going to teach us how to shoot?!" Liu Tao asked excitedly as she leaned forward with sparkles in her eyes.

"Yes… but remember that it is only going to be for self defense. There aren\'t enough bullets left to waste… so please treat the guns as a last resort," Qin Lan replied gently.

"Liu Yifei… you will do special training with me so that I can teach you how to handle your enhanced physique."

"Okay…" Liu Yifei nervously replied as she tightly held Gong Li\'s hand as her best friend slept.

She had never fought before and seeing Qin Lan in action had made her realise just how dangerous the world had now become.

As a person with an ability, it was her responsibility to share Qin Lan\'s burden and help contribute to the team\'s safety.

Qin Lan talked a bit more about her training plans and occasionally vague memories would flash across her mind.

She saw herself in another life running tirelessly around an open field and sparring with what appeared to be medieval longswords…

Still these memories would be fuzzy and disappear just as quickly as they emerged.

Qin Lan frowned in frustration as she could not help but feel as though a part of her was missing.

She needed a distraction…

Qin Lan bent down and picked up the large purplish black crystal that was on the floor. There was a single red vein running through the middle of the crystal that pulsated slightly.

The crystal was around the size of her fist so it would be impossible to swallow directly.

Qin Lan first took out a bottle of water and carefully washed crystal to get rid of the remaining pieces of flesh.

She then used her knife to roughly cut the crystal into four pieces.

The crystal was surprisingly easy to cut into and its rocky surface was split as easily as a hot knife passing through butter.

"Just give me a few minutes and then we can set off…" Qin Lan told the young teenagers as she brought the first piece of the crystal to her mouth.

She swallowed it whole, and a fiery burst of heat could be felt in her chest. Qin Lan doubled over in pain and began to wheeze heavily.

With great difficulty she reached for another piece and swallowed it.

Then another… then another…

Qin Lan gritted her teeth in pain as she felt as though her entire body was now on fire.

It was as though thousands of hot needles were piercing every single inch of her skin and slowly sinking inward until they reached her organs.

Qin Lan\'s body began to convulse as her breathing got more erratic.

She could vaguely hear the sounds of the teenagers shouting at her with concern in their voices, but the pain was making it difficult to understand what they were saying.

Qin Lan sank in and out of consciousness and her vision slowly faded away to darkness.

A face was constantly flashing in her mind and endless regret filled her heart.

She kept seeing Eve.

Eve smiling at her… Eve lovingly touching her fingertips… Eve saying how much she loved her…

The vision of Eve on the bed… what it must feel like to hold and warmly embrace her perfect body…

Qin Lan hated that she still felt this way about the woman who had killed her brother.

What kind of monster was she?

Minutes passed or maybe it was hours since time no longer had any meaning to the young woman twitching helplessly in the driver\'s seat.

None of the teenagers knew what to do in this unexpected situation and the noise had woken up Gong Li who hurriedly leaned forward to prop up Qin Lan\'s head.

Qin Lan eventually opened her eyes and took in a few deep breaths before letting out a series of violent coughs.

"I… I\'m… okay…" Qin Lan sputtered as she held up her right hand and gave as thumbs up gesture.

She could feel that something inside her had changed. Her body felt lighter and there was a strength flowing through her veins that was impossible to ignore.

The warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest slowly stirred as her ability whispered to her… it wanted to be activated… it wanted to control minds…

"Does that happen every time you absorb crystals?" Liu Yifei asked cautiously as she held one of the smaller crystals in her palm.

"Yes… you do feel some pain… but it gets worse when you try to absorb a big one from a mutated animal or zombie," Qin Lan slowly spoke as she tried to get her fingers to stop trembling.

"Can you get me some tissues?"

Liu Yifei froze for a moment and her pupils instantly dilated. Her storage ability activated, and she handed Qin Lan a box of tissues.

"Thank you… wait… did my ability activate?" Qin Lan asked in confusion.

Liu Yifei furrowed her brows and her eyes gradually returned to normal.

She looked at Qin Lan with an expression of horror in her gaze.

"I… I couldn\'t control my ability or my body… it was like I was a puppet… its hard to describe but it felt like I would never be able to escape your commands," Liu Yifei explained shakily.

Wait… was this the effect of reaching level three?

Qin Lan hadn\'t even consciously activated her ability and yet Liu Yifei had been affected by her voice.

Had her mind control ability evolved to include passive hypnosis?

Qin Lan apologised sincerely to the frightened girl and tried her best to reassure Liu Yifei that nothing like that would happen again.

Eventually the mood in the van got back to the normal and they continued on their way to the artificial lake.

What Qin Lan did not know at the time was that her decision would prove to be a costly mistake…