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墨書 Inktalez
A long line of people waiting to enter the City Base stretched out in front of the entrance. Bai Tang, unusually patient, stood at the back of the line, taking out a palm-sized Tablet to read while waiting. This made her quite conspicuous; in this post-apocalyptic world, people were too busy working to earn their meals to have time for games. Most like Yang Kang were able to hold onto their computers because they were strong enough to finish their tasks quickly, leaving them with free time. Moreover, with Bai Tang, a Grandmaster, around, eating was never a problem.
Bai Tang keenly noticed that several groups of people were secretly observing her, some with malicious intent. However, she didn’t care; she had seen too many faces in this world. Now that order was gradually being restored, things were much better than in the early days of the apocalypse. Even if these people harbored ill intentions towards her, they did not dare to approach openly, indicating that they had some reservations. The reasons behind their attention were hard to ignore.
“Name? Where are you from? Do you have an Ability? What Ability? Are you staying long-term or temporarily?” the registrar asked Bai Tang, their tone noticeably more polite than with others. This was due to Bai Tang's clean and spirited appearance, which made her seem more pleasant and further demonstrated her strength.
“Bai Tang,” she stated her information. “From S Province Base, Level 4 Fire Elemental Ability. Here to visit a friend, temporarily staying.”
“A skilled one!” The registrar’s attitude improved even more. “Here is your temporary residence permit; please keep it safe!”
Because Zhao Nan had used Bai Tang's Antidote Pill as a reference to develop Antidote Powder, the base had now canceled the requirement for body checks and twelve-hour observations for entering and exiting.
Bai Tang held her temporary residence permit and asked the registrar, “Excuse me, I’m looking for someone. What should I do?”
“What person are you looking for?” the registrar replied.
“Sheng Qingxi and Cao Xue. They should be considered celebrities in the city, right?”
Of course! Otherwise, the registrar wouldn’t have dropped their pen upon hearing their names.
“What is your relationship with them?”
“Friends!” Bai Tang answered. “What’s wrong? Is there an issue?”
The registrar picked up the pen and whispered, “They’ve gone missing. You should leave quickly; it would be bad if you got caught by their enemies.”
“Enemies?” Bai Tang narrowed her eyes. “Is it Teng Yunzhong?”
The registrar was shocked: “You know Big Boss Teng? But you should really leave; if you don’t hurry up, it will be too late.”
"It’s already too late." Bai Tang said calmly, just as a sharp female voice rang out.
"Grab that person!"
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and Bai Tang couldn't recognize it at first. Then she saw several men rushing to her side, surrounding her. A disfigured face marked with over a dozen scars came into her view.
"Bai Tang!" the woman gritted her teeth. "You’re the one who caused my disfigurement. Hmph. You still have the guts to come to the city; this is my territory, not the capital. Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving!"
Bai Tang raised an eyebrow; she remembered now. This woman was none other than Xia Mo, Sheng Qingxi's thick-skinned cousin. She had tried to get government official Karen Adrian's attention but failed, blaming Bai Tang for it. She had hired two high-level Ability Users to harm Bai Tang, but Bai Tang's strength was too great. The two Ability Users were taught a lesson and vented all their frustration on Xia Mo, resulting in her disfigurement. Bai Tang secretly used some methods to ensure that the scars on Xia Mo's face could not be healed even with Ability. Xia Mo left the Beijing Base in resentment, not expecting Bai Tang to come knocking at her door in City Base.
"Oh? Is it acceptable in City Base to randomly capture innocent people? Are you ignoring the Basic Law just issued by the capital?" Bai Tang mocked as she stared at the woman's face, almost wanting to say, "Ugly people should stop causing trouble!"
The Basic Law was established in response to the current state of the apocalypse; since pre-apocalyptic laws were no longer suitable, new regulations were set up to prevent chaos from taking over when hope was finally in sight.
"Hmph! I suspect you are a spy sent by another base," Xia Mo glared at Bai Tang fiercely, wishing she could carve two or three dozen cuts on her face and then pour concentrated sulfuric acid on her.
"A spy?" Bai Tang laughed. "Do you think you're in a spy thriller?"
Before the Basic Law was established, many bases had aspirations of self-governance and even dreamed of unifying the apocalypse. Sending spies to other bases was quite common. However, after receiving food and weapons from Beijing Base, other bases abandoned such thoughts. With food, advanced weapons, and detoxification medicine along with Soilless Cultivation Technology, if they acted rashly, Beijing Base could easily wipe them out—what would they be fighting for?
Xia Mo knew that her excuse didn’t hold water and huffed, "I don’t have time to argue with you; I will interrogate you slowly and repay you for your care of me at Beijing Base."
The word "slowly" was emphasized. The Registrar shivered upon hearing it. Ever since Xia Mo returned from Beijing Base, not only had her face been ruined, but her behavior also took a complete turn. Although she had been hypocritical before, she would engage in superficial kindness using her healing Ability to win people's hearts and had a decent reputation in the base. But ever since her disfigurement, she had turned into a madwoman, completely shedding her disguise—she would attack anyone she caught and employed extremely ruthless methods. On one occasion, when a pretty girl smiled at her, she ruined that girl's face; many more girls suffered under Xia Mo's persecution but could only suffer in silence due to her status. Even if some of those girls were Ability Users, their importance paled compared to Xia Mo’s healing Ability in the eyes of the Leader.
"Take her away," Xia Mo ordered her followers.
Bai Tang offered no resistance as several Brutes grabbed her. The men thought Bai Tang was just a delicate aunt who was being persecuted out of jealousy by Xia Mo; thus they appeared fierce but were not rough in their actions.
"Who is making such a ruckus at the door? Oh, it's Xia Mo!" A woman's voice interjected as a group descended from an SUV. The leading man and woman were both familiar to Bai Tang; they were Teng Yunzhong and Ke Fengqin—who had fought against Sheng Qingxi and Cao Xue back at Beijing Base. Bai Tang had an even deeper impression of Teng Yunzhong than of Xia Mo because his looks perfectly matched Bai Tang's aesthetic preferences, and his portrayal as a master figure was an idol for Bai Ma.
Upon seeing Ke Fengqin, Xia Mo did not have a pleasant expression: "Ke Fengqin, how shameless can you be to cling to Brother Teng again! Just look at your face; what part of it is worthy of Brother Teng? Even if Brother Teng's wife is gone, he still wouldn't marry you!"
Ke Fengqin's face immediately fell. Xia Mo's words struck a nerve; she had been holding onto Teng Yunzhong, and even the benefactor who saved her had betrayed her. Yet Teng Yunzhong had always treated her coldly. It could have been because Teng Yunzhong still had a wife, but now that his wife was no longer around, he still rejected her, leaving her feeling incredibly frustrated.
"Hmph, even if I'm not as good as Brother Teng, I'm still much better looking than you. With that face of yours, you’d scare off countless children just by walking outside!"
Xia Mo's eyes flashed with anger: "You're asking for death!"
Ke Fengqin scoffed: "Want to kill me? You don't have that capability! Do you think I'm one of those women you can bully?" Even though Brother Teng hadn't accepted her, she had her own abilities; Brother Teng would not give up on such a capable assistant.
The murderous intent in Xia Mo's eyes intensified, but she understood that with Teng Yunzhong backing her, she couldn't act against Ke Fengqin. Her father was trying hard to win over Teng Yunzhong, so she had to give him some face.
"This person looks a bit familiar!" Teng Yunzhong's gaze flickered as he saw Bai Tang being held by a man.
"Brother Teng recognizes her? This woman is the one who helped Sheng Qingxi oppose you back in the capital. It's rare for her to throw herself into our territory like this. This time, we should make sure to vent our anger on her." Xia Mo smiled at Teng Yunzhong, and the scar on her face looked even more sinister.
Teng Yunzhong slightly averted his gaze: "In that case, hand her over to me to deal with."
"That's not possible; I haven't 'entertained' her properly yet. How about this: once I take my revenge, I'll send her over to you. Don't worry; I'll leave her with a breath," Xia Mo said maliciously.
Unable to seize Bai Tang himself, Teng Yunzhong could only give Bai Tang a meaningful glance before leaving with his subordinates.
Xia Mo coldly snorted at the backs of the group and waved her hand: "Take her away!"
Xia Mo originally lived with Sheng Qingxi's uncle's family, but after her face was ruined, she moved into a villa by herself. The villa had a basement that made it convenient for Xia Mo to imprison and torture people. When Bai Tang was pushed into the basement, she could smell the strong scent of blood inside.
"You didn't expect to fall into my hands, did you?" Xia Mo cracked the whip, which had sharp thorns and was stained with reddish-brown spots that looked like blood.
Bai Tang smiled slightly: "I really didn't expect it. I didn't think you'd come out to continue tormenting others after losing your face. Aren't you afraid of losing what little dignity you have left?"
Bai Tang's words really struck a chord. Xia Mo was furious and swung a whip at him, but Bai Tang lightly dodged, causing the whip to miss.
"Are you still dodging?" Xia Mo shouted in anger.
Bai Tang laughed, "Only a fool wouldn't dodge."
Xia Mo's face turned red with rage as he lashed out with the whip like a storm, but unfortunately, not a single strike landed on Bai Tang.
Suddenly, Xia Mo retracted the whip. "Not bad, you can still dodge so nimbly in this prison cell. I won't waste my breath with you. Tell me where Karen Adrian is, and I can make your suffering a little less."
It turned out that this troublesome relationship with Karen Adrian had not yet faded.
Bai Tang snorted, "He left. If you have the ability, go find him yourself!"
"Hah, so you can't keep him either!" Xia Mo's anger subsided slightly. "With no looks and no figure, of course Karen Adrian would dump you."
"Wrong!" Bai Tang raised a finger and shook it. "I dumped him!" (To be continued...)
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