No Time

The soldiers surrounded me and I gave a smile as they handcuffed and escorted me into the base while having guns aimed at my head. I wonder what they would do if they realized that guns can't kill me, let alone penetrate my skin.

Their reactions and defenses were sloppy. The soldiers had dark eye bags and looked desperately tired. Those people coming into the bases only thought for themselves and didn't care about what conditions the soldiers who were serving the people would be in. They were quite pitiful, but it wasn't like I would do anything about that. They aren't related to me anyway.

The base looked weary, but at this moment, almost all bases were like that. The buildings were alright, but the state of the streets... they were crowded, filled with people who had little or nothing on them. Identification would have been totally lost since the network was disrupted and boosted again. It was good enough if a base had a water supply, and better if they had electricity. Food would be distributed, but it would be in minimal amounts or disgusting mutant vegetables and fruit.

Compared to my base, it was very desolate. I had somewhat of pride for my dwelling. Partly because I started it, but mainly because everyone was cooperative and we built it together. There were some disagreeable people, but they had sorted out as the base was fair and everyone had similar statuses unless they were my brother-in-law's clan or Little Blue's clan.

I was taken into a larger building than the others and two standing soldiers at the entrance reached out for my arms.

I broke my handcuffs and slapped at their hands lightly, "No need to grab at me. I'll follow."

They pulled away from their stinging red hands and bewilderingly looked at the soldiers behind me as if they could inquire information from them.

A soldier from behind me wrote something on a device and showed it to the two entrance guards. The entrance guards nodded and one nodded his head for me to follow while the other was stationed behind me.

We went up three stairways to reach an office room.

There, the guard in front of me knocked went in the room and reported along the lines of, 'We've captured a powerful ability user. We do not know his motives yet. Shall we bring him in?' I only summarized because the real report was long, tedious, and sleep-inducing.

I was brought in, and there were three men. One young, one middle-aged, and one senior.

The young one looked vigilant but his eyes sparkled when he saw me. The middle-aged one was the same, but it was more contained. The senior, unlike the other two, looked doubtful and frowned.

The senior got straight to the point: "Why did you come here?"

I answered honestly: "I came to look for my parents."

After getting an answer from me, it's like the other two somehow expected more answers.

The young man: "What is your name? Age?"

I gave a perfect smile while scorning on the inside: "That isn't necessary."

The middle-aged man: "You have powerful abilities according to our scouts. How did you manage to get your abilities to that level? Where are you from?"

I gave a scorning look this time, not hiding my disdain: "You are asking for too much."

The two looked angered while the senior asked, "If we help look for your parents, what can you give us?"

"I don't need your help. But if you can find them for me, I can give information on which mutant plants are safe for consumption. Though, this deal isn't fair on my side..."

The senior quickly took the deal up.

There was made an announcement to the safe city and people with the names, Shui Wang and Fan Ling, were called up. The people rushed towards the office because it was possibly an opportunity to hurry up and get a living space. The safe city wouldn't chase people out, so it was likely for that decision, making people without my ex-parents' names to fake their identity in hopes of gaining a home.

Out of the crowd, I spotted familiar faces. I asked for the senior official to pick them out and chase the others away. How lucky, or should it be unlucky that I found my ex-parents so quickly?

One by one, the mob was chased away and only several individuals remained.

Fan Ling, Shui Wang, and Yu Ying. It was good that that mistress had died off, but her spawn was still alive.

Their pitiful state was very pleasant to look at, but I made no motions to give these emotions away. They had most likely not believed in the government news about the apocalypse. For Fan Ling, she might have, but for Shui Wang... he had money but wasn't in the state that he prepared at all.

This base would collapse soon and that was the reason we had joined a group in my last life. They would look more pitiful later on do to that.

Anyways, ahem, the task was done.

I took out a booklet that had printed information on the mutant plants that could be used as crops. Although mutant plants tasted disgusting, data was gathered so that the people on base would be able to survive outside if they ran out of food on missions.

Of course, I took it out from the insides of my jacket, not showing my space abilities in the least. The men who had searched me briefly looked confused, making me smile a little and calm down.

Shui Wang and Fan Ling didn't say anything while Yu Ying glared. Shui Wang probably had it tough these few days with his mistress gone and having to take care of his daughter all by himself. Fan Ling looked weary. She didn't have any backers now and her fancy clothes were ruffled and dirty.

"Shui Wang, Fan Ling, you have been invited to Shui Jing's wedding. I will hereby escort you to the ceremony," I announced.

Yu Ying burst out, "What about me?"

I gave her a cold look, "You will stay here until Shui Wang and Fan Ling are returned."

"No, take me with you!" the unruly girl screeched at her father. Was it because she was afraid to be alone? True, some took liberties with women during the apocalypse as regulations weren't strict and the law was corrupted. The girl was young but some men would still go for that. But they were still in a safe city where everything was being monitored carefully, so she'd be safe for a while.

"Please, Xiao Yu, take her along with us!" begged Shui Wang. He crawled forward and tried to grab at my legs.

I moved away and kicked his hands away, "You do not have the right to order me or call me that way."

He whimpered and snatched his hands back. Fan Ling was silent the whole time and complied. Yu Ying was dragged away and thrown back out.

"Thank you," I gave my gratitude to the senior official and the three of us were escorted outside the base.

After we were a mile away from the base, Fan Ling collapsed. She was physically weak and had gotten rid of her bone cancer only less than a year ago.

On the core device, I activated the GPS app that Xiao Lai made a few days ago so that I wouldn't get lost. He's really thoughtful.

I infused water into her dehydrated state and made Shui Wang give her a piggyback ride.

Far away, the soldiers at the base would still be watching us. I heard a drone turn back after the second mile and walked a bit more before stopping.

Shui Wang was continuing to struggle walking in the heat. The heat wasn't comparable to my base's since the base was on the mountains and had extreme weather differences outside of the base. But it was still harsh to regular humans.

"Ok, you can let her go. Put this on yourself and her." I handed Shui Wang a pair of rubber gloves.

"...T-this is only one pair..."

"Put one on yourself and the other on Fan Ling." I was exasperated and let it show through my tone.

His hands fumbled and quickly put the rubber gloves on one of them and the other on Fan Ling.

After he put them on, he had a strange look, finally wondering how I pulled them out of thin air.

I wasted no time at all and quickly spread out my wings and grabbed each of their hands that had the rubber gloves on them.

The rubber gloves were to avoid touching them, but also so that they wouldn't slip off. They had dry hands, not the sweaty kind, so it was doable.

When I stopped flying and landed, Shui Wang had passed out from the air pressure and Fan Ling had woken up in the middle, screamed, and passed out again. They both had dislocated joints.

Why would Ge want to invite these two? We weren't related to them now and what if they mouthed off at his relationship with another man?

Was this really a good idea?

If anything happened, I would be sure to end this pair once and for all.