103 - Cinderella’s Dream: Together Forever

In the dim-lit room, Jiang Yanxin cradled Chen Wan gently in her arms, allowing her to lean and rest. After a pause, she asked thoughtfully, "So, I have psychic abilities too?" "Yes, both of you have psychic abilities. Also, isn't this supposed to be an office? We should quickly search for any pictures or similar items. Now that you and Chen Wan can use your abilities separately, we should be able to reach the sixth floor smoothly, provided you have something to materialize," Yi Yi chimed in after thinking it over. Jiang Yanxin nodded in agreement. After all, the paintings of Greek mythology were on the third floor, and she couldn't possibly run back there to take a look. While Yi Yi and Qin Ke rifled through the books on the office desk blocking the door, they came across numerous landscape paintings and art theory textbooks. These were of little use to Jiang Yanxin, so Qin Ke moved on to the drawers. There she found not useful books, but a few unopened packs of biscuits and a sealed box of nuts. Qin Ke shared some of the snacks with Jiang Yanxin and Chen Wan, while she herself opened a pack of biscuits, snacking as she continued the search with Yi Yi. Jiang Yanxin also opened a pack of biscuits to snack on, feeling slightly hungry due to the energy expended by her mental powers. After a few bites, she reached out to touch the side of Chen Wan's face, worried that Chen Wan still hadn't woken up. Although she herself had fainted later and already regained consciousness some time ago, her alpha had yet to awaken. Seeing Jiang Yanxin's concern for Chen Wan, Yi Yi smiled reassuringly and said, "It's okay. Chen Wan's mental strength isn't as strong as yours, so she needs more time to rest. She'll wake up soon." Relieved a bit, Jiang Yanxin's gaze often drifted to Chen Wan nestled in her arms. "Hey, this artbook seems to contain characters from foreign mythologies," Qin Ke exclaimed as she pulled out a stack of artbooks from a middle drawer, leafing through them until she found one of interest. Yi Yi peeked over and beamed with joy, "An artbook of the Greek gods. Yanxin, you should take this with you." Qin Ke handed the artbook to Jiang Yanxin, who started flipping through it. The artbook was about the size of an A4 sheet, filled with paintings of the twelve main gods from Greek mythology. With this book, Jiang Yanxin felt relieved, as she could now use her abilities to materialize the figures from the artbook to clear their way. As Jiang Yanxin perused the artbook to confirm the primary abilities of the twelve gods, Chen Wan stirred and snuggled against her shoulder, waking up. Jiang Yanxin promptly inquired, "How are you feeling? Still dizzy?" Chen Wan shook her head, still somewhat weak, "Not dizzy anymore. Are all of you okay?" "We're fine. We can move once you're rested up. There's no rush; it's not even 9 AM yet," Jiang Yanxin replied with a smile. Following her lead, Yi Yi added, "With Yanxin's abilities now usable, you two can take turns clearing the path. We should be able to reach the sixth floor directly." "Wife, what kind of ability do you have? I didn't see it," Chen Wan asked softly, her voice still tender and frail, causing Jiang Yanxin to feel an urge to caress her hair. And that's exactly what Jiang Yanxin did, gently stroking Chen Wan's hair and smiling, "My ability is to materialize things I see in books, artbooks, cards, etc. Earlier, I materialized the god of war, Ares, to clear the path for us." Chen Wan was amazed, "That's incredible! We'll definitely save a lot of time then." "Yes, we'll certainly reach the sixth floor smoothly," Jiang Yanxin assured Chen Wan with a smile. After Chen Wan rested a bit longer, they all stood up to remove the furniture they had used to blockade the door. Yi Yi glanced between Chen Wan and Jiang Yanxin and asked, "Which one of you will lead first?" "I'll start. If I can't hold on any longer, then Yanxin can use her ability." With a deep breath, Chen Wan opened the door, and with a focus of will, commanded the fifty zombies outside to start attacking each other. After fainting twice, her condition had noticeably improved this time. She was able to control the zombies while accurately shooting them in the head. Yi Yi, undeterred by fatigue, continued showcasing her excellent melee skills, helping Chen Wan clear the way as they moved forward with the protection of fifty zombies. Three minutes later, Chen Wan's face began to pale, and she started to tire, but she persisted through sheer determination. With one hand supporting Chen Wan and the other helping Qin Ke shoot zombies, they made it to the landing between the fifth and sixth floors. At this point, Chen Wan finally succumbed to exhaustion and fainted into Jiang Yanxin's arms. Despite this, Chen Wan had managed to hold out for a full five minutes, during which the fifty zombies had torn through quite a number of their kind, leaving the staircase littered with severed limbs. Jiang Yanxin quickly flipped open the artbook to use her ability again. In the rush of the moment, she turned to a page at random and summoned the figure depicted. A towering Western man with golden hair appeared beside Jiang Yanxin. His handsome face, with well-groomed longer facial hair, held a spear of lightning in one hand and a shield in the other. Supporting Chen Wan in her embrace, Jiang Yanxin issued her command. The man swung his spear and merely touching the zombies caused their bodies to convulse, skin turning ashen before crumbling into easily shattered blackened coal. The attacks aimed at Jiang Yanxin and her friends were all blocked by the man's shield, instilling deep terror among the zombies, causing those with a trace of intelligence to retreat. This towering man was none other than Zeus, the king of the gods from Greek mythology, wielding the power to control lightning. Jiang Yanxin had no intention of sparing the zombies. She ordered Zeus to clear all the zombies on these floors. While this task seemed daunting, it was child’s play for Zeus. He swung his spear, and arcs of electricity leapt from it, striking the surrounding zombies. The tightly packed zombies soon became charred remains, from one or two to entire patches turned to ash, forcing any remaining zombies on the sixth floor to flee in horror. Jiang Yanxin handed the unconscious Chen Wan to Yi Yi and directed Zeus to clean out the zombies on the sixth floor once more. With another swing of his spear, the zombies were struck by summons of lightning, becoming immobilized before slowly burning into lumps of ash-black coal, leaving only the gemstone-like cores within their brains intact amidst the resulting black dust. Zeus put away his spear and shield, opened the laboratory door for Jiang Yanxin, nodded slightly at her, and gradually faded into the air. By the time Jiang Yanxin had summoned Zeus, five minutes had already elapsed. Only a few beads of sweat trickled down her brow, and she still had time to command the materialized figure to dissipate. Five minutes felt effortless for her, and this was only Jiang Yanxin's second time manifesting a figure. She already extended her mental endurance threshold beyond five minutes. This filled Yi Yi with surprise and joy, realizing Jiang Yanxin's mental strength surpassed her expectations. No wonder Jiang Yanxin was the heroine in the original novel, rising up again after such trials. However, in the novel, Jiang Yanxin's power was fire-based; this time, it turned out to be a rarer and more precious psychic ability. Thus, they successfully entered the bionic biology lab. Yi Yi set the slumbering Chen Wan down to let her rest more. For added security, Qin Ke moved many desks and chairs to barricade the laboratory door. Having regained a good amount of her strength, Jiang Yanxin turned to Yi Yi, "What exactly do we need to take with us?" Yi Yi glanced around the lab and instructed, "First, gather all the memory alloys over there. Then take the motion motors, turning motors, controllers, sensors, actuators, chips, everything you can find. Also, the most crucial—take all the bionic skin you see there. It might not be enough. Let's do this: Qin Ke, help take all the bionic skin and motors off the completed bionic beings. Lastly, salvage any visible wires. We'll try to gather enough in one trip, and if not, we'll think of another way." "Got it," both Qin Ke and Jiang Yanxin replied, and they began the task. Knowing Chen Wan was alright and just needed some rest, they didn't worry too much about her. Jiang Yanxin busily bundled the bionic skins with ropes, stacking them in neat piles in an open space before continuing the bundling. Qin Ke followed Yi Yi's instructions, removing the artificial skins and motors from completed bionic beings. The construction of the bionic beings here was rather crude, no more sophisticated than simplistic robots, clearly fake, and nothing compared to the lifelike precision exhibited by a bionic being like Yi Yi. Yi Yi, worried that Jiang Yanxin and Qin Ke might not recognize the more complex items, took it upon herself to fill a large backpack with motion motors, turning motors, controllers, sensors, and actuators. She swept every piece she spotted into the bag. Chen Wan awoke half an hour into their fervent packing and saw that the bionic skin, memory alloys, and bundles of wires had all been neatly packed. She pushed herself into a sitting position, rested briefly, and then stood up. "Let me help too," she said. Seeing Chen Wan awake, Jiang Yanxin smiled and beckoned her over, "Come help me with these steel materials." "Alright," Chen Wan replied eagerly, joining Jiang Yanxin to move the steel. After two more hours, the three of them finally finished gathering everything they needed. Noticing the lab was well-stocked, Chen Wan chuckled softly and said to Qin Ke, "Your Yan Yan will be back soon, let's keep up the pace with this hauling." "Sure," Qin Ke responded with a smile, filled with anticipation for the return of her beloved. Meanwhile, Yi Yi's brows furrowed slightly. Chen Wan noticed her expression and quickly asked, "What's wrong, Yi Yi? Is there a problem?" "The items here are quite comprehensive, but after double-checking, we're still short of two things: a large amount of steel and various other metal alloys. We'll need to find these elsewhere. Also, the camper needs an upgrade soon. Once we've loaded everything we've packed into it, there will be no room left for any additional steel or metal alloys," Yi Yi explained thoughtfully.