Chapter 30: The Apocalypse Savior’s Substitute (Part 7)

“How are we supposed to get through these days?” Wang Yufang stared at the wild, thrashing vines ahead with a troubled expression. She was no longer young, yet she had to endure such calamity. She truly wondered how much longer she could hold out.

“It will pass,” Mu Yin comforted her gently.

She knew this was merely the beginning. Once the mutation started, it would become unstoppable. This was only the earliest stage; in another year, the world would be utterly transformed. Though this was not the evolution brought by the resurgence of spiritual energy, but the deterioration and mutation brought by a plague virus.

Yet, all things possess both yin and yang. Though everything seemed bleak, if humanity could survive this period, perhaps it would become a form of evolution. Back then, had their planet not already been destroyed, perhaps they would not have met extinction.

From then on, each day they had to clear away the vines, and danger only grew. Mutated animals and zombie beasts began appearing around them, and injuries became inevitable. In these circumstances, Mu Yin revealed her healing abilities.

Now that everyone was part of the same team, her powerful talents only brought joy, so no one had anything negative to say.

At last, three months later, they arrived at their destination, the Shanghang City Base. The group was relatively clean, though thinner than before, but all the healthier for it.

Along the way, Mu Yin discovered that those who practiced physical cultivation techniques could eat mutated animal meat directly without worrying about the alien energies within, which instead converted into energy needed for their training.

This led her to realize that, regardless of the type or attribute, all energy was fundamentally the same—everything was composed of energy. Just as humans needed to extract energy from food to survive, not all energy suited humans. Everything in nature interacted and restrained each other, but physical cultivation seemed capable of absorbing and transforming the energy in most foods.

Of course, this referred to energies that weren’t toxic. Some energies were explosive and violent, yet still could be absorbed by the human body. If not digested properly, overly violent energy would only cause harm.

Fortunately, physical cultivation techniques could digest such energies, offering a glimmer of hope for this world.

The entrance to Shanghang City Base was crowded, with people coming and going. Their faces lacked the numbness seen in smaller bases along the way; instead, they carried a hint of anticipation.

On their journey, Mu Yin and her companions had encountered many private bases. Some were well run, managed efficiently, and rivaled the official bases. Others, though, had turned into playgrounds for the apocalypse’s survivors, treating their bases as personal fiefdoms.

There, feudal rule prevailed, with class divisions and harems. Mu Yin’s group punished the smaller ones severely; as for the larger, they could only cause some trouble for now, hoping to deal with them when the opportunity arose.

Their vehicle had been completely destroyed en route. The dangers increased as they traveled, and they barely escaped death several times. Without Mu Yin’s abilities, they would surely have lost several people.

Though the group arrived somewhat bedraggled, no one paid them much mind. Their clothes were tattered, but their bodies were clean—a rarity in the apocalypse.

After passing inspection and entering the base, they sought accommodation. Nearly a year had passed since the apocalypse began, and changes were evident. For instance, the brains of zombies and mutated animals now contained energy cores, which had become the currency of trade.

The formation of these energy cores intrigued Mu Yin. She couldn’t understand how, in a world with little spiritual energy, zombies and mutant beasts could still develop energy nuclei. After research, she found that once energy reached a certain threshold, it automatically compressed into a solid form.

This seemed to follow the law of conservation of energy: energy could only be stored in the air or in living beings in quantities the world could bear; excess amounts would condense into cores. No matter how strong a body was, it couldn’t withstand more.

Yet, Mu Yin still didn’t fully understand how energy was formed. While outside, she didn’t dare exhaust herself experimenting, and truthfully, she wasn’t inclined to try here either.

They rented rooms, and everyone was eager to find their families. Only Mu Yin returned to her room to study the energy within the cores or read novels. Though the original owner of her body had family, they hadn’t contacted each other in a long time. Mu Yin herself was not the original, so she felt no need to maintain those ties. Besides, after their divorce, the couple hadn’t seen each other for years.

This wasn’t Mu Yin’s first encounter with energy blocks—she’d seen similar cores in her previous life, not to mention direct contact with origin stones. Yet now, she sensed the energy more distinctly, perhaps because energy, too, had levels.

Previously, Mu Yin hadn’t noticed any difference in energies, but perhaps this time the core was unstable and insufficient, allowing her to feel the molecular composition—a mysterious sequence formed from atoms.

Was this sequence the law of energy itself? Mu Yin grew serious, determined to memorize it, but for some reason, although she could perceive it, committing it to memory proved impossible.

It was like reaching for something in a mirror: clearly visible and seemingly close, yet impossible to grasp. Not a contradiction—she simply didn’t know how to take it from her side, whereas the mirror seemed to offer more possibilities.

It reminded her of that ancient film she’d seen before the apocalypse, the second Harry Potter movie—the mirror that withheld what you desired most. The more you wanted it, the less you could obtain it; if you stopped yearning, it might fall into your hands unbidden.

Mu Yin continued to probe the core with her spiritual senses, though she didn’t forget her purpose. She calculated the time—it was about when the reincarnated woman should arrive, unless the butterfly effect had changed things.

So Mu Yin began frequenting the base entrance. Most of those who had traveled with her had found their families—a stroke of luck. Though they kept in touch, they moved out to reunite with loved ones.

Thus, Mu Yin no longer needed to explain herself. After several days indoors, she ventured out and noticed many people practicing physical cultivation techniques, far more than before. She remembered something Wang Yuanheng had asked her earlier.

“Mu Yin, may I share these techniques with others?” The day before they arrived, Wang Yuanheng had approached her with this question.