Chapter 65: The Strange Little Girl

The little girl arrived at the residence with Qin Yu. The moment Zhao Meng saw her, she was overjoyed. She reached out to touch the girl, but the girl effortlessly evaded her. Zhao Meng cast a pitiful glance at Qin Yu, and under Qin Yu’s amused gaze, she turned angrily to look for Xia Cheng.

Qin Yu led the little girl inside, asked her to sit for a while, and went to the room to fetch water and instant noodles. She also told Xia Cheng to go fetch Wang Bing and the others.

The little girl sat on the sofa, her head slightly lowered, continuously stroking the little Red. When Qin Yu returned and saw this, she felt that the girl seemed completely out of place in her surroundings, an impression that left her somewhat uneasy.

She approached the little girl, placed a bag on the table, and said, “There’s some instant noodles and water in here. Take them.”

The little girl glanced at the bag, then at Qin Yu, and lowered her head to ask, “Is this cat yours?”

Qin Yu was startled, but masked her reaction. “I just like cats, so I wanted to buy it. After all, since the apocalypse began, it’s almost impossible to see a normal cat.”

The girl looked up at these words, and her deep gaze made Qin Yu’s heart tremble. The girl tugged at the corner of her lips and said, “Then I’ll give this cat to you. It’ll wake up soon.”

She handed over the little Red, now so dirty its color was unrecognizable. Qin Yu took it cautiously, about to say something, but the girl slung the bag over her shoulder and left.

At the door, she lowered her voice and said, “Don’t let other ability users drink the water from your water ability. My name is Tao. We’ll meet again.” With that, she left without hesitation.

Only Qin Yu remained, holding little Red, pondering the girl’s words.

Why mustn’t she let other ability users drink her water? Why was the girl so certain they would meet again? Why was little Red sleeping so deeply in her arms? All these questions swirled in Qin Yu’s mind.

What unsettled her even more was that when she took little Red, her hand brushed the girl’s—there was no warmth at all! Inhumanly cold, like touching a corpse!

Qin Yu’s expression darkened. Clearly, she would have to wait until little Red woke up to see if she could find out more.

She went to the bathroom, carefully washed little Red, then dried it in the bedroom and waited quietly by the bedside for the cat to wake.

Half an hour later, little Red slowly opened its eyes. It looked around in confusion, saw Qin Yu, and a flash of longing appeared in its large eyes.

Unable to contain itself, little Red leaped into Qin Yu’s arms and began to wail, “Xiaoyu, do you know how miserable I’ve been these past days? Not only did I fail to find anything shiny, but I was trapped by someone. Every time I woke, she’d make me keep her company and talk to her! She bullied me! You have to stand up for me!”

Qin Yu stroked little Red’s fur with concern. “How did you end up with her?”

Little Red sniffled and replied, “That day I went out looking for shiny things. I was lucky and found a lot! But just as I was carefully putting them into my space, that woman found me and caught me. Worst of all, I couldn’t escape! Somehow, she seemed to know I could talk, and every night she made me talk to her. If I refused, she’d pinch me! It hurt so much! During the day, she’d make me sleep deeply. I’m so miserable! I haven’t seen anything sparkly in days!”

Qin Yu comforted little Red, then asked, “How come you couldn’t escape?”

Little Red shifted from its sorrow, now sounding serious. “That’s what’s odd. With my abilities, escaping shouldn’t have been hard. But with that woman, I was powerless. Whenever she wanted me to sleep, I’d fall into a deep slumber instantly!”

Qin Yu frowned. “It seems there are many remarkable people in this apocalypse. We mustn’t let our guard down.”

Little Red nodded, then added, “There’s one more thing—her body had no warmth at all, just like a corpse. I couldn’t even feel her heartbeat. But she had a shadow, and she could talk. I don’t know what she actually is.”

Qin Yu’s pupils contracted. No warmth? That matched her own impression precisely.

She got up, went to the door, locked it, and then asked little Red, “Just now, that girl told me not to let other ability users drink the water from my water ability. Do you know why?”

Little Red asked in surprise, “Really? Use your ability, let me see.”

Qin Yu conjured a water ball and handed it to little Red. At a touch of its paw, the water ball broke, drenching it.

But little Red ignored its wet fur and tugged at Qin Yu’s sleeve, speaking gravely. “I don’t know why that woman said that, but your ability gives me a feeling I sensed from her once. That was the first time she put me to sleep. I fought hard and almost succeeded, but then she used another power from somewhere and forced me to sleep. That power felt like your water ball’s energy, but yours is noticeably weaker.”

Qin Yu had always known her water ability was different from others. She’d thought it was due to her own aptitude, so she’d worked twice as hard at training her spirit, needing double the spiritual strength just to create the same-sized water ball as other water users.

All this time, she’d avoided letting others know about her “useless” ability. She devoted herself to martial arts, showing her spatial ability openly, just to avoid being seen as a failure.

Though her memories of her past life were somewhat fragmented, the suffering she endured, the insults and abandonment due to her so-called useless water ability, were deeply etched in her heart and had left a lasting impact.

And just now, when little Red told her that her power was the same as that little girl’s, Qin Yu realized that perhaps she’d never truly made proper use of her own ability.

If her power was strong enough to render little Red helpless, how formidable could it truly be? Qin Yu felt a stir of excitement. However, for the moment, she needed to find that little girl first.

She was preparing to go look for her when little Red called her back. “Xiaoyu, don’t bother. That woman comes and goes like a ghost. Every time I woke up, I was in a different place. You’ll have to wait till she comes to find you. I have a feeling it won’t be long.”

Qin Yu shrugged dejectedly. “Yeah, I figured it’d be impossible to find her.” Still, she thought to herself, I agree—we’ll be seeing each other again soon.