Chapter 76: Reached Tier Three
On the other side of the room, Lin Xiao walked over to Su Mubai, who was resting against the wall, sat down beside him, and casually handed him an energy drink.
“Little Bai, how are you holding up? You’re still looking pretty pale.” He studied Su Mubai’s drawn face, his brow furrowing with genuine concern.
Taking the can, Su Mubai took a small sip to soothe his dry throat before shaking his head. “I’m alright. I just overused my ability a bit; a short rest is all I need. What about you? Did you get hurt?” He looked Lin Xiao up and down. Although the man was splattered in dark blood, his movements were as sharp as ever, showing no signs of serious injury.
Hearing that, Lin Xiao immediately puffed out his chest, striking an exaggerated, confident pose with a smug grin. “Me? You’ve got to be kidding. As if those brainless freaks could touch someone like me! You should’ve seen how heroic I looked tearing through them earlier. Pure style…”
Watching him boast, the heavy gloom in Su Mubai’s chest began to lift. He couldn’t help a quiet chuckle, though he quickly put on a mock-disgusted scowl to keep from encouraging him. “Stop bragging. If the Boss and Chu Yang hadn’t stepped in when they did, you’d have been in serious trouble.”
“Hey, watch your mouth!” Lin Xiao protested, tilting his chin indignantly. “I’m the main offensive powerhouse of this squad! Main vanguard, got it?”
The two bickered in low, familiar voices, their easy banter going a long way toward dissolving the lingering tension in the air.
Not far away, a small, thin figure hesitated for a long while before quietly shuffling over to Jiang Lin.
It was Xiao Lei, the young boy she had saved from the mutant tree’s ambush earlier.
Cradling a medium-sized jar of preserved fruit in his hands, he held it out timidly to Jiang Lin, whispering, “Sister Jiang, this is for you… Mom said it’s sweet and good for your throat.”
Jiang Lin looked up at the boy’s dirty, earnest face, then glanced behind him at Liu Juan, who was nodding with deep gratitude.
She was taken aback, but shook her head, her voice softening: “No need, Xiao Lei. Keep it and share it with your mother.”
It wasn’t empty politeness; if food had still been scarce, she would have taken it in a heartbeat. But with her pack fully stocked, she didn’t want to take something so precious from a mother and child.
Seeing her refuse, Liu Juan stepped forward quickly, her voice thick with emotion. “Please take it, Miss Jiang! If you hadn’t pushed Xiao Lei out of the way earlier, he wouldn’t be here… We don’t have anything valuable to give, and this jar isn’t much, but it’s the least we can offer. You fought so hard today—have something sweet to refresh yourself.”
Jiang Lin looked at Liu Juan’s earnest expression, then down at Xiao Lei’s hopeful eyes. Finally, she accepted the jar, offering a sincere smile. “Thank you, Sister Liu. Thank you, Xiao Lei.”
Liu Juan let out a breath of relief, smiling warmly. “Don’t mention it! We’re the ones who should be thanking you. Get some good rest.” With that, she guided Xiao Lei back to a cleaner corner nearby to settle down.
Jiang Lin cradled the heavy glass jar, her fingertips brushing against the cool surface.
Her gaze drifted over to Li Yu and Wang Qiang, who were talking quietly a few paces away. A spark of calculation flickered in her eyes.
Making up her mind, she stood up and walked over with the jar in hand.
“Li Yu,” Jiang Lin murmured, crouching beside her and offering the fruit. “Want some? Let’s share.”
Li Yu looked up in surprise.
Because Jiang Lin was exceptionally beautiful and had always carried an air of distant pride, the two women had rarely interacted. In fact, they had occasionally rubbed each other the wrong way over trivial matters.
Seeing her walk over to share food out of the blue, Li Yu’s immediate reaction was skepticism.
“No, that’s alright. Keep it for yourself,” Li Yu replied evenly. She had seen the boy give the jar to Jiang Lin. “They gave that to you as a thank-you.”
Jiang Lin pressed her lips together. Instead of pulling her hand back, she nudged the jar a little closer. “Let’s just eat it together. I won’t be able to finish it on my own anyway.”
Li Yu raised an eyebrow, sizing her up with a puzzled look. “Beauty Jiang, why don’t you just tell me what’s really on your mind? Seeing you act like this is… a little unnatural. Back at the start, you held your nose so high you looked like speaking to me was a chore.”
A faint blush crept up Jiang Lin’s neck, but she quickly regained her composure.
She sat down on the floor beside Li Yu, meeting her eyes with a candid expression. “I don’t have any hidden motive. I just think that in this broken world, surviving isn’t easy for anyone. Besides, we’re the only two women here, and we both awakened the Water Ability. Going forward… we should talk more and watch each other’s backs.”
Hearing that, the teasing smirk on Li Yu’s face faded.
She studied Jiang Lin closely. The glamorous woman she had once found slightly fake and unapproachable now looked genuinely sincere, and the memory of Jiang Lin fighting on the stairs earlier crossed her mind.
After a moment of silence, the lingering resentment in Li Yu’s heart quietly melted away.
“Talking is fine,” Li Yu agreed with a nod, her tone softening. “But you should keep that food. I’ve got my own rations.”
To prove she wasn’t just being polite, she reached into her pack and pulled out several individually wrapped packs of beef jerky and dried preserved plums.
Jiang Lin’s eyes lit up immediately, fixating on the plums with an open, almost pitiful craving. “Ah… you have those? I’ve been dying for something sour-sweet. Can we… trade? I’ll give you the whole jar for them.”
Seeing such an unvarnished, almost childish expression on a face usually so cold and composed—combined with her own secret weakness for pretty people—Li Yu felt her defenses crumble completely.
She let out an amused click of her tongue, shaking her head in defeat. “…Fine, fine, let’s trade. You really are something.”
The two women sat side by side, sharing the jerky and plums while chatting in low voices, occasional soft chuckles breaking out between them.
Nearby, Wang Qiang watched them hit it off so quickly, then looked down at the plain dry bread in his hands. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry—had they completely forgotten he was sitting right there?
While they chatted, a faint hum of purple electricity coiled around Jiang Jue’s frame in the shadowy corner of the room before snapping back into his skin.
He slowly opened his eyes, a brilliant, piercing light flashing across his dark pupils. An arc of lightning—far denser and more devastating than before—danced across his fingertips for a fraction of a second before vanishing into his palm.
He had broken through to Tier 3.
