A young man and woman in line ahead of them kept turning around, sizing them up with curiosity.
"Hey, where are you all from?"
Their group was just too strange. There were so many of them—men and women, young and old—and every single one was dressed in clean, fresh clothes.
They didn’t look like the others who were fleeing to Golden City Base for safety, their faces filled with terror and their eyes panicked.
After a month of apocalyptic hardship, almost all ordinary people had greasy, filthy hair. They were lucky if their clothes weren’t torn, let alone clean and comfortable.
It wasn’t that this group was dressed particularly well.
But the fact that everyone was so clean, looking almost no different than before the apocalypse, was incredibly conspicuous.
The young woman asked tentatively, "Do you... do you have a Water Ability User in your group? C-Could you spare us a sip of water?"
The woman’s words caused a commotion both in front of and behind them in the line. Many people ahead of them also turned to look at Xie Ning’s group.
Xie Ning glanced at them expressionlessly, her young face cold as ice.
Seeing that Xie Ning didn’t seem to want to bother with her, the woman quickly blushed and said, "I... we’re not asking for your water for free. We can trade for it."
One month into the apocalypse, everyone knew how bartering worked.
In this day and age, you couldn’t get anything for free.
Song You’ai looked at the young woman’s chapped lips and sighed. "Miss, do you have a container for water?"
"Yes, yes, I do." The young woman was so happy she was on the verge of tears. She quickly pulled two thermoses from her bag that looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages.
Song You’ai instantly filled both thermoses for them.
"Ma’am," the young woman said with tears in her eyes, her hands trembling as she pulled out two small packs of soda crackers from her bag. "Look, is... is this enough?"
Song You’ai nodded and sighed softly. "It’s enough."
At this, the crowd around them erupted. Many people with feverish eyes ran over to Xie Ning’s group, asking eagerly, "Ma’am, I... I have a pack of napkins. Can I trade it for two cups of water?"
"I... I have an apple, miss. It’s... it’s not very fresh, but can I trade it for a bucket of water?"
"Miss, can I trade half a steamed bun for half a cup of water? I don’t need much, just enough for my little grandson to have a drink of clean water."
Song You’ai looked at the crowd gathering around them, her face full of emotion. Every single one of them was covered in dust and dirt, their lips dry and cracked. They looked like they were in agony.
"Alright, there’s no need to push. One at a time."
Song Kexin carefully squeezed her way to Xie Ning’s side and whispered, "Sis, you’re not going to stop Auntie?"
Xie Ning glanced at her mother, who was surrounded by the crowd, and gave a faint smile.
"She’s different from me. For her generation, kindness is etched deep in their bones, the most ingrained part of them. Not like me."
’I’m a monster who has walked the apocalypse for twenty years. I’ve seen too much life and death, and my heart has long since grown cold and empty.’
’Hardly any tragedy can cause a ripple in my unfeeling heart anymore.’
After this long in the apocalypse, the Water Element had become a common superpower, so there was no need to hide it.
Besides, they would have to register their superpowers upon entering Golden City Base anyway.
The main thing was that her mother was now a Third Rank Water Element User and had the ability to protect herself. No one could easily mess with her.
Xie Ning was cold because she hated getting caught up in trouble.
But she didn’t want to negate someone else’s kindness either.
Offering a helping hand when it was within her power and required little effort didn’t seem like a big deal.
Song Kexin glanced over at Xie Ning, then suddenly threw an arm around her shoulder and patted it firmly. "Nonsense! Sis, who cares what other people think. In your little sister’s heart, you’re the kindest, cutest little fairy!"
"Do you remember when you pinched the philtrum under my nose and encouraged me to kill zombies?"
Xie Ning gave her an expressionless look.
"It’s precisely because of your cruel and merciless methods that I’ve been able to grow so strong!" Song Kexin said, pumping a fist.
Just as Xie Ning was about to push the shameless girl away, several shouts came from outside the crowd.
"What are you all crowding around for? Move it, move it, move it!"
Several men who looked like a patrol squad forcefully pushed through the packed crowd.
After shoving the crowd to either side, the men bowed and scraped as they ushered a man forward.
The man looked to be in his early forties, with a portly figure and a protruding belly. He wore a formal uniform so sloppily that it gave him the air of a good-for-nothing hoodlum.
"Trying to start a riot?" The man, holding something that looked like an electric baton, scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on Song You’ai.
"Captain, they’re all crowding around this Water Ability User begging for water," a young man, who wore his uniform just as sloppily, explained with a gangster-like grin.
"Oh? A Water Ability User." Wu Liangcai’s expression changed in an instant, seamlessly transitioning from his previous look of indifference to a greasy smile.
"Well, why didn’t you say so sooner? Superpower Users don’t have to wait in line!"
"Come, come, bring the registration book over," Wu Liangcai beckoned.
A lackey immediately presented a thick registration book.
"Here, miss, just register your name, age, place of origin, and your superpower level."
Song You’ai frowned and snatched the registration book from the pot-bellied man’s hands.
The registration book was thick, but in reality, only two and a half pages had been filled out, with thirty lines on each page.
Song You’ai scanned the pages, reading ten lines at a glance, and saw that there were about six Water Ability Users.
The number was a bit higher than at Lanshan Tower Lake.
But now, people from several nearby cities were likely fleeing to Golden City Base, even from as far away as Su City West District.
So, a mere seventy or eighty Superpower Users was an incredibly small number compared to the vast population of ordinary people.
As for Xie Ning’s group of nineteen, everyone registered except for Yu Tianfeng, with his Space System, and Wang Zongxuan, with his cloning superpower.
Xie Ning, Song You’ai, Song Youzhi, Song Shijun, Ji Taixian, Zhu Yong, and Cres all registered their superpowers.
Everyone except Xie Ning wrote "First Rank" for their superpower level. Xie Ning wrote "Third Rank Gold Element."
In reality, except for Zhu Yong, everyone’s superpower was Second Order or higher.
After young Ji Taixian advanced to Second Order Space System, he went around showing off that his Space had expanded to one hundred and eighty square meters, large enough to store a car now.
Xie Ning offered him great encouragement and praise.
A single team registering seven Superpower Users, with their leader being a young, Third Rank Gold Element girl, immediately drew the fervent attention of everyone present.
Wu Liangcai was grinning from ear to ear. "Here’s how it is, everyone."
"All Superpower User teams that enter our Golden City Base will be broken up and reorganized."
"You will be assigned to join one of our Golden City Base’s Superpower Special Teams, numbered one through ten."
Wu Liangcai said with unconcealed glee, "The benefits for the Superpower Special Teams are excellent. You’ll get a fixed salary every month."
"Of course, what we call ’salary’ these days is our base’s Contribution Points."