Chapter 331
“Ruby is a phoenix? And that little orange cat… is a dragon?”
Inside the aircraft, Tang Xueyun stared blankly at the dragon and phoenix flying alongside them, feeling like she was in a dream.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Tang Yu’an replied, watching the little phoenix with some disbelief. “It’s the first time I’ve seen Ruby grow this big.”
“The little dragon is a new companion. Its name is Yanyan.”
Seeing how casually Tang Yu’an explained it, Tang Xueyun’s expression grew increasingly complicated.
Just how many secrets were hidden between An’an and Zhou Qi?
The aircraft continued toward their destination.
Perhaps due to the presence of the dragon and phoenix, the journey went smoothly—no trouble at all, not even a single aberrant creature dared to approach.
A few hours later, they arrived above their destination.
Looking down from the aircraft, they saw several massive craters. What used to be a beautiful, peaceful town had been reduced to ruin.
Tang Xueyun’s eyes reddened with emotion.
Tang Yu’an put an arm around her shoulders and patted her comfortingly. “It’s okay. We can rebuild our home.”
Tang Xueyun nodded. She looked up at her son, who now stood a head taller than her, and couldn’t help but say, “An’an, you’ve really grown up.”
Tang Yu’an grinned.
“Mom, I can be your support now. Don’t worry—everything’s going to be alright with me here.”
Tang Xueyun stared at him for a moment, then turned her eyes back down below.
“That looks like the neighboring town,” she said, pointing. “Our home is over there.”
“The neighboring town… is that where Great-Aunt’s family lives?”
Great-Aunt was Tang Yu’an’s grandmother’s younger sister. She had married into a family in the next town over. Tang Yu’an had visited a couple of times as a child, but after her passing, the families hadn’t kept in close contact.
“Yeah. The person who got the message in the drift bottle was probably your second cousin or one of their kids.”
“Let’s clear out the aberrants in this area first.”
Tang Yu’an had no plans to reconnect with relatives just yet. He’d only visited once or twice as a kid and wasn’t familiar with them. Besides, revealing his identity now might complicate things.
Maybe later, once things had settled down, he could approach them again under his real identity.
Tang Yu’an began operating the aircraft, releasing drones packed with purple thousand-layer leaf powder.
Just like back in Q?ngmu Fortress, the drones started dispersing the powder evenly in all directions from the points of light below. Aberrants that came into contact with it immediately fled like receding tides.
The little phoenix, soaring through the sky, also dove down and sprayed fire at the aberrants.
It hated those filthy, stinking things!
Burn them—burn them all!
Strangely, its flames only affected the aberrants; nearby buildings touched by the fire remained completely unharmed.
“System, do you know what’s going on?” Tang Yu’an asked curiously.
[The phoenix’s sacred fire can burn all evil and corruption.]
Sacred fire?
Tang Yu’an looked down again and saw the fire spreading among the aberrants. One after another, they turned to ash in the flames.
Since aberrants were originally parasitized humans, perhaps these tormented souls could finally find peace.
Meanwhile, down in one of the buildings:
“Look! What is that?!”
Emaciated survivors looked up at the sky, too shocked to speak.
“Is that a dragon? And a phoenix! A real, legendary phoenix!”
In a dark corner, a teenage girl also looked upward. As she saw the powder being dispersed, she suddenly pulled a purple leaf from her bag.
“Mom! That powder smells just like this leaf!”
“The person who sent me that bottle—they came! They came to save us!”
Next to her, a woman lying half-conscious opened her eyes with difficulty. “I… I think I see a phoenix? And a dragon? Am I… dead?”
“No! I see them too! Someone’s come to rescue us. Mom, please hang on just a bit longer…”
Just as the woman could no longer stay conscious, a soft light descended from above—wave after wave, enveloping everything within hundreds of meters.
“So warm…”
She closed her eyes, feeling her pain begin to fade. When she opened them again, the light had vanished.
“Mom! Your wounds are gone!” the girl cried in delight.
The woman looked down in shock. The savage wounds left by the aberrants had miraculously healed.
She touched her belly in disbelief. “A… a god came to save us?”
“It must be!”
Up in the sky, Tang Yu’an had cast his Light Healing Spell over every marked location. Only when he completely ran out of power did he stop.
He then found a building still in decent condition and began constructing a new branch store.
Before long, Store No. 27 was successfully established!
Though the local aberrants had been driven off, the area was still a high-risk zone and unsuitable for habitation—so it was better to relocate people to the small city.
If the city couldn’t accommodate everyone, they could be moved to the Wasteland Homestead.
While Tang Yu’an built the store, Tang Xueyun was also busy. Dressed in a cloak, mask, and magical boots, she descended from the sky.
“I’m Dai Yi from the Peace Trading Company. If you want to live—follow me!”
She used a voice amplifier to make sure everyone could hear her loud and clear.
At the same time, she also deployed several robots to assist those with limited mobility.
“We are rescue robots from the Peace Trading Company. Please follow us to a safe location.”
The robots played this message on loop, allowing hidden survivors to hear it clearly.
The dramatic entrance made by Tang Yu’an and the others had already stunned most people. Even those who hadn’t seen it firsthand began emerging after hearing the robots’ voices.
“We’re saved! Someone really came to save us!”
“Didn’t they say there was a dragon and a phoenix? Where are they? I didn’t see anything!”
After a round of intense firepower, the little phoenix was exhausted. It returned to its bird form and flew back to Tang Yu’an’s side.
The little dragon also reverted to its kitten form and was tucked into Tang Yu’an’s pocket.
Concealed under a shadow-cloaking umbrella, Tang Yu’an watched quietly as Tang Xueyun guided the survivors into Store No. 27, disappearing one by one through the teleportation array.
Meanwhile, in the nearby small city, he had already assigned tasks to the staff at the northern refugee center, asking them to receive and settle the survivors.
Thanks to the earlier batch sent by Tang Sheng and Zhou Qi, the center staff were already well-practiced at this.
They even proactively deployed clay soldiers, used vending machines to purchase teleportation cards, and teleported themselves over to help with the evacuation.
Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, Tang Yu’an and Tang Xueyun departed.
They didn’t return to the city. Instead, they went to the neighboring town and repeated the same operation—this time, however, the phoenix and dragon stayed in.
Once all the light points (representing survivors) in the town had been safely evacuated, the family of three arrived at the site of the old Peace Grocery Store.
A few of their pets were let out and began sniffing curiously around the unfamiliar environment.
Tang Yu’an looked at the crater left by a meteorite where his home once stood and sighed. “If Brother Qi saw this, he’d definitely be heartbroken.”
The grocery store had survived due to the system’s transfer, but the home next door—the one that had belonged to Brother Qi and his grandmother—was gone forever.
Tang Xueyun let out a sigh as well.
After a long silence, she finally said, “As long as people are still alive, that’s what matters. Qi’s grandmother would’ve wanted him to live peacefully and safely.”
“Yeah. Grandma would’ve wanted Brother Qi to be happy, too!”
Tang Yu’an turned to look at her and said seriously, “Mom, I want to make Brother Qi happy. Is that okay?”
Tang Xueyun paused, looking at her son—truly grown up now—and sighed. “Even if I disagreed, would it matter?”
“We want your and Dad’s blessing,” Tang Yu’an said. “You two mean a lot to both of us.”
Tang Xueyun was silent for a while before speaking. “The reason I didn’t agree at first was because I thought you were too young. I was afraid you couldn’t tell what real feelings were.”
Tang Yu’an opened his mouth to argue, but she raised a hand to stop him.
“But now I see… maybe I didn’t understand you two at all.”
She looked at Tang Yu’an with pride and warmth in her eyes. “You both already have the experience, the capability. You know what you’re doing and what you want.”
As she spoke, Tang Yu’an’s eyes lit up.
“Mom, you…”
“If this is what you want, then go for it,” Tang Xueyun said gently. “Make Zhou Qi happy—but you need to be happy too.”
“Yay!”
Tang Yu’an jumped up and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Mom!”
Tang Xueyun smiled, though she quickly forced her face into seriousness. “But—you have to wait until you’re eighteen. Understood?”
“Got it! That’s coming soon anyway!”
Tang Yu’an beamed as he cuddled up to her and said sweetly, “Mom, you’re the best! I love you so much!”
Seeing him act like a little kid again, Tang Xueyun chuckled and shook her head.
She patted his hand, then said softly, “Mom loves you too.”
“What about me?” Tang Yuxin suddenly popped in.
“Of course we love you too!” Tang Yu’an ruffled his little sister’s hair.
“Then can I skip my homework?”
“Nope!”
“Hmph!” ( ^_^ )
After a brief moment of remembering the past, they set out again to search for other survivors in the surrounding area.
Since it was a heavily damaged zone, there weren’t many people left—but they continued searching carefully, determined to save as many as they could.
Three months passed without them realizing it.
Meanwhile, Tang Sheng and Zhou Qi had continued heading north with the aerial convoy. After establishing eight more branch stores along the way, they finally broke through the national defense line and reached the safe zone.
Due to the spread of aberrants, the safe zone’s defenses had been retreating and were on the verge of collapse.
Fortunately, Zhou Qi and Tang Sheng arrived just in time.
They handed over more than a million purple thousand-layer leaves they’d obtained through interdimensional trade to the government personnel waiting for them.
After that, they were taken to the property they had requested during prior communications—and there, inside the safe zone, they built Store No. 48 of the Peace Grocery Store.
Yes—over the past three months, they had built more than 20 stores across the original world!
Even though construction costs had risen sharply, Tang Yu’an didn’t mind. He had plenty of points to spend—and in fact, he was spending more and more.
Not long after, government officials closely monitoring this alien-built store saw a handsome young man with clear, smiling eyes walk out from inside.
Behind him was a tall, upright young man with a cold expression.
But the most eye-catching of all was the little boy in the first young man’s arms.
The boy looked about five or six years old. He had black hair—but his eyes were a deep emerald green.
In his tiny arms, he hugged a flowerpot.
Inside the pot, a small purple seedling stood tall, its two new leaves swaying gently in the breeze.
