Chapter 351 Si Di Gift Bag - Socially Anxious Witch in the Apocalypse
Su Miao yawned as she approached the table. After a nap, she felt invigorated like never before. “Hmm? What's with the way you're looking at me?” Noticing the gazes of Lin Jiu Jiu and Xia Xiao An, Su Miao asked curiously. She glanced outside at the eternal night surrounding the villa. It couldn't have been more than a few days since she slept, so there shouldn't be any issues, right? Xia Xiao An said, “Su Miao, you’ve been asleep for over a month.” How long? Over a month? Su Miao looked at Lin Jiu Jiu, who nodded in confirmation. She turned her attention to the atomic clock on the wall, which, unbeknownst to her, had transitioned from March to April. April 21, 2125, 11:26 AM. A whole month had truly passed. Whoa~ Su Miao stared at the atomic clock, lost in thought. Was it excessive exertion due to the battle in the mountain elder's ruins? “Has there been any contact from Si Di?” Su Miao recalled something very important—it was related to the opening of the Inner World. Her parents might have entered the Inner World, and she needed to check on them. Xia Xiao An answered, “No, Su Miao.” Su Miao nodded and moved to the balcony, opened the window, and looked at the pitch-black sky, deep in thought. How long would this disorder of sun and moon last? Su Miao closed the window, freshened up, drank a glass of water, and felt refreshed. Accidentally sleeping for a month left her a bit peckish; regardless of anything else, food was the priority. Yet as she sat down, Su Miao realized a new issue. Hungry? She didn't actually feel very hungry. Was it normal for a person to not feel hungry after sleeping for a month? Su Miao contemplated briefly and then dismissed the thought. In a post-apocalyptic world where ability users abounded, being a sorceress who didn't feel hunger after a month wasn't too strange. Additionally, her decision to leave Xia Xiao An and Lin Jiu Jiu at Refuge #1 had proven wise. If she encountered such a situation again, falling into a slumber without trusted protection around her would be dangerous. Even with Myna for company, having an enemy like Si Di, who wished her harm, show up wouldn’t be safe with only Myna around. “Have you eaten?” Su Miao asked. “No, we were just about to cook some rice,” Xia Xiao An replied. Over the past few months, both she and Lin Jiu Jiu had greatly improved their culinary skills. “We’ll have hot pot for lunch.” Su Miao rummaged through her magical space and brought out her treasured beef, tripe, beef balls, sauces, and premium hot pot ingredients. To make the waiting time more enjoyable during hot pot, she also took out a grill, bamboo charcoal, marinated pork belly, bacon, steaks, and more. “Yay!” Lin Jiu Jiu and Xia Xiao An cheered. Since grilling would create a lot of smoke and fire, they set up the meal in the courtyard. Myna, who was outside picking cherries, turned into the young girl Su Luo Li the moment she heard about the barbecue to help out. Now that she had hands and feet, there was no more worry that Her Highness Su Miao would forget to share the food with her. She could help herself. In just over ten minutes, the aroma of the grilled meat and hot pot intermingled in the air. Su Miao picked up a slice of hot pot beef, dipped it in the sauce, and savored it, feeling incredibly content. Another mouthful of grilled pork belly dipped in sauce brought an overflow of happiness. Eating meat always brought joy, no matter when. Lin Jiu Jiu, Xia Xiao An, and Myna were all smiles, thoroughly enjoying their meal. It seemed that during this month or so, their meals hadn't been particularly good. After all, they had mostly been eating vegetables every day. Just the thought was dreadful. Due to concerns that space storage might not preserve fresh meat well, the meat Su Miao left for them before heading to the mountain elder’s ruins only lasted a few days, the rest being corn, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, and such. Even after returning to the cherry tree’s magic barrier, Su Miao provided mostly these items. No more worrying, just eat and be merry now! After the meal, Su Miao brought out Si Di's spatial storage devices, resembling a keychain, totaling six in number. As a member of the Twelve Si, with such strong abilities and numerous bases, he ought to be quite wealthy. In the first spatial storage, there were six advanced-looking, hundred-meter-long aircraft that would be worth at least 10 million points at Refuge #1. These were valuable items; Lin Jiu Jiu, Xia Xiao An, and Su Luo Li would each have one later. The second storage contained energy stones, a total of 300,000 pieces... Seeing these energy stones, Su Miao was reminded of cultivation novels where treasure was looted after a kill, and the first thing to do was to count spirit stones. The déjà vu was strong. Besides the energy stones, there were 5000 crystalline pieces refined from energy stones. They looked like jade, completely transparent, and very beautiful. Su Miao had seen before at Refuge #1 that these energy crystals could be used for space battleships. The third spatial storage was stocked with various food supplies, medicines, supplements, clothing, and books. The food was high-end, canned mutant animal meat, incomparable to any pre-apocalypse cans. These would be stored away for now. Waving her hand, Su Miao pulled out all the books from inside. Faced with these books, Su Miao struggled to keep her composure. They were all illustrations of two-dimensional loli... The esteemed Si Di turned out to be this kind of person. Xia Xiao An, Lin Jiu Jiu, and Su Luo Li, who were helping from the side, paused upon seeing these books. Su Miao instinctively raised a hand to summon a flame to burn them. But then she reconsidered and put them away. After all, these were painstaking works by some artist before the apocalypse, the likes of which would never be seen again, nor would anyone aspire to create them. The remaining books included titles like “Basic Electronics,” “Advanced Electronics,” “Aircraft Maintenance,” “Architecture,” and “Introduction to Manga”... Si Di's interests were truly unique—not a single useful book among them. Su Miao turned her gaze to the fourth spatial storage, hoping for valuable items inside. At first glance, Su Miao was surprised. She looked again. Taking a deep breath, she realized... This was something; it contained thirty of the latest model Dongfeng missiles and twelve corresponding hydrogen warheads. This must have been something Si Di discovered while burrowing. Oh? In the corner of this storage, Su Miao found several Chinese manuals. Besides these manuals, there was also a simple Arabic brochure. Su Miao realized where these treasures came from. The fifth spatial storage held two gigantic cruise ships. Judging by their scale, these luxury liners could carry 5,000 and 9,000 passengers respectively. Si Di must have prepared these for a possible great flood. These were excellent resources! Only the sixth spatial storage remained. Su Miao peered inside and found eight spherical objects floating mid-air like water orbs. Within each sphere flowed a special energy, similar to but distinct from the authority extracted from Si Di's body by Si Shu. Upon closer inspection, small labels were etched on the spheres. [Spatial Shift], [Mirroring], [Mind Spike], [Mercury Body], [Petrification], [Thunder], [Beast Form: Bluebird], [Allure]. Below the floating spheres was a booklet that seemed to contain instructions, which Su Miao retrieved. The instructions were concise. [Spatial Shift]: Upon integrating this ability, the user gains the power of spatial movement. This ability demands high physical strength; misjudging coordinates could lead to the danger of materializing within walls or underground. [Mirroring]: Integration allows mimicking of opponent's abilities, martial arts, spells, etc., with potential reflection of powers. [Mind Spike]: For mental ability users, allowing the formation of mental spikes with psychic energy to invisibly pierce an opponent's mind, causing excruciating pain, potentially resulting in a vegetative state. [Mercury Body]: Upon integration, the body assumes a mercury-like state, capable of reassembling no matter how fragmented. Killing becomes challenging, but any use of abilities under high temperatures results in permanent bodily loss. [Petrification]: Integration allows partial wood transformation of the body, accelerating healing, but prolonged wood-like state may turn the body wholly into wood. [Thunder]: Integration grants control over formidable thunderbolts, with high growth potential. [Beast Form: Bluebird]: This ability originates from an emperor-level creature; not recommended for human use. It can be tested on a trusted subordinate. [Allure]: This is the ability of a succubus. It's a pity there are no real-world lolis to experiment on. ... Si Di is not just a madman; he's a pervert. Holding the booklet, Su Miao gave an objective assessment of Si Di. According to the booklet’s explanation, Su Miao realized these spheres contained abilities that Si Di had siphoned off from other individuals. Rather than assimilate them himself, Si Di used a special method to create transferrable ability spheres. Such black technology! And yet, all these abilities are valuable! This technology didn't even exist in theory within Refuge #1. Until now, they hadn’t figured out how to strip an ability from its user, much less transfer that ability to another person. Most research focused on combining abilities through DNA inheritance to see what special abilities could be passed down. But Si Di had succeeded! The booklet also documented other abilities, but those had been crossed out. According to the notes, they had been given to Si Di’s subordinates. ... [Yu Cang Hai was such a fool; after merging three abilities, he became a mutant monster in just a few days. Such a waste of the resources I provided him.] ... [Turns out I was mistaken about Yu Cang Hai. Recently, several other fools exploded upon merging a third ability.] ... [Those who merge only two abilities show stable conditions without signs of mutation.] [To be safe, let them merge just two abilities from now on.] ... "These abilities shouldn't be left wasted." In essence, these were abilities Si Di had pilfered from other ability users, but she had already avenged them. Therefore, having Su Miao allocate these abilities made perfect sense. "Jiu Jiu, Xiao An, Luo Li, here are the abilities Si Di extracted." Su Miao pointed to the sixth spatial storage device: "The abilities inside are Spatial Shift, Mirroring, Mind Spike, Mercury Body, Petrification, Thunder, Beast Form: Bluebird, and Allure." "Each of you can choose to merge two abilities; to be cautious, merging one should have no side effects." Following this, Su Miao explained each ability in detail. Myna said, "Majesty, the Beast Form: Bluebird ability seems perfect for me." Su Miao agreed, "Alright." With a gesture, the cyan ability sphere [Beast Form: Bluebird] was extracted. Su Luo Li reverted to her myna form and swallowed the ability sphere in one gulp. Instantly, Myna's aura surged. A colorful feather appeared on her head, looking quite beautiful. Three minutes later, Myna's aura normalized. When she transformed back into a little girl, her form advanced from looking five or six to about seven or eight. The only issue was her previously fitting children's clothes had become snug. "Majesty, I need new clothes..." "Hm." Su Miao fetched some clothes suitable for Myna from her magical space and handed them over. "Thank you, Majesty!" Myna took the clothes and zipped back into the villa. Xia Xiao An said, "Su Miao, I would like the Thunder ability." Theoretically, Xia Xiao An was more suited for Mind Spike, so her choice of Thunder was a bit surprising. However, Xia Xiao An’s inherent abilities of mind control and mental suggestion had similar effects. That might explain why she didn't opt for Mind Spike. Moreover, the Thunder ability was incredibly powerful. It was a good choice. Su Miao said, "Alright." The Thunder ability sphere floated out. Xia Xiao An mimicked Myna and swallowed the Thunder ability sphere in one go. The next moment, countless bolts of electricity burst from Xia Xiao An's body, dissipating into the ground. Unlike Myna, Xia Xiao An appeared to struggle with the Thunder ability, but she gritted her teeth and endured. As things were wrapping up, Su Miao instinctively took out her phone and snapped a few photos of Xia Xiao An. At this moment, Xia Xiao An's hair stood upright, extremely frizzy and explosive, with wisps of smoke coming from her mouth—truly cuteness overload! Was it even possible to resist photographing such adorable moments of Xia Xiao An? No way! Xia Xiao An said, "Su Miao, can you delete the photos?" There was no need to read minds to see that Su Miao's photos were taken for fun. "I'm afraid not. It's essential to document the first fusion of external abilities." Su Miao denied Xia Xiao An's request. Taking photos as a keepsake was genuine, and they also served as a reference for any future experiments. The best part was Xia Xiao An's speech, occasionally laced with tiny arcs of lightning, was utterly charming. "Xiao An, your Thunder ability is potent; take your time to adapt, and stay clear of water for now." Su Miao winked and advised. Xia Xiao An nodded, working hard to adjust to her newfound ability. Additionally, she could clearly see that Su Miao was suppressing laughter, barely managing to hold it in. Suppressing her giggles, Su Miao diverted the focus, asking, "Jiu Jiu, what do you choose?" Lin Jiu Jiu thought for a moment and said, "Su Miao, I choose Mirroring." Su Miao nodded and handed the Mirroring ability to Lin Jiu Jiu. Lin Jiu Jiu swallowed the ability sphere, and with just a brief moment, indicated the fusion was complete. Such talent, such aptitude—truly impressive! "How do you feel?" Su Miao asked. "No other issues, right?" Lin Jiu Jiu replied, "I feel like I've gained a lot of insight." Su Miao nodded. As long as there were no problems: "Do any of you want the remaining abilities?" Lin Jiu Jiu spoke first, "No, thank you." Myna flew out from the villa, "Neither do I, Majesty!" Xia Xiao An also shook her head, "I don't need them either, Su Miao." (End of this chapter)