At dawn, the group woke up and began packing their things, placing them on Mystic—but not before they'd finished eating and completed the checklist of supplies and essentials.
Outside, under the shadow of Mystic's looming form, the team was assembled: Jin Minhe, Kai Shi, Zhou Qian, Min Zhao, Liang Chenwu, and Fan Yumei.
Ka Sanni circled the group, passing out breakfast as her voice carried loudly.
"All of you should be stabilizing both your and your beast's core levels. This is a big moment for you all." She looked at each of them as they sat at the table, half-asleep, eating breakfast and still trying to wake up.
"Ughhh," they all groaned in protest—except for Fan Yumei, who was very much awake. She was one of those "wake-up-crap-early-for-no-reason" type of people.
Fan Yangwei had a knowing smile on his face. "You've all pushed above your limits at such a young age. Well done, children. And you, my sweet girl." He patted Fan Yumei's shoulder.
"I want them all standing strong—even when nobody is there to stand with them," Fan Yumei declared, determination blazing in her eyes.
"We will!" everyone chimed in at once, assuring her.
"But we still need your strength, Captain, to ignite our full potential," Min Zhao joked, waving her chopsticks at Fan Yumei.
Fan Yumei smiled moving over to the side and pulled out her Oni9x to look at her list getting ready to confirm all the needed items.
She knelt and began unpacking an array of supplies and crates, checking her entire inventory to make sure nothing was forgotten.
"Woah…" they all shared the same thought.
Why so much stuff?
Was there a famine or apocalypse no one told them about?
Fan Yangwei leaned in and whispered to Ka Sanni, "Wife, I've been meaning to ask this—who exactly does our daughter take after?"
Ka Sanni shot him a sharp glare.
"No! Hang on now, wife! I'm not saying I wore the green hat or anything—I know she's my blood… But look, love—" He pointed, then instinctively jumped back.
"She's already her own person. I genuinely can't tell if she takes after me or you. Maybe it's neither of us," he cried out, shielding himself from any sneak attacks or pinches she might throw.
She finished labeling her jade‑ink teleportation scrolls, locator talismans, and comm‑runes, all seven of each. Then came the healing elixirs, eight total—plus six void-piercing needles and the ancestral battle‑ring with the flickering blue gem. Last was her father's bow. She packed each with methodical precision, eyeing her bracelet.
"Do not touch any of my things," she warned it, fire rune flaring just slightly.
Her parents exchanged a long look.
"…" Her mother was speechless—as was her father.
"I'm not sure either," Ka Sanni eventually muttered. "Maybe her grandfather… he was always an eccentric person."
She pulled each navigation and comms device to the ground—Relay Nodes (2), RiftWalk communicators (10), HAM-band radios (1), ranger beads (6), ten GPS watches, signal mirrors (2), dual-mode whistles (2), and three encrypted batteries (unknown quantity). She inspected them, rune-tagged them, locked them down, and set aside six individual kits.
She moved next to the food crates.
Crimson Whisperfruit (×3), Jadecore Pomelite (×3), Moonvine Curlfruit (×3), Vita Orbs (×3), and Blushheart Berries (×3)—all packed tight.
"Wait, are those… Snapberries?" Zhou Qian whispered to Min Zhao. "Aren't those, like, impossible to get unless you're royalty?"
"She probably grew them from a classified seed vault," Min Zhao muttered.
She stacked the citrus and melons in careful sets—Goldbite Citrus (×3), Shardlime Cores (×3), Pulseheart Tangfruit (×3), Zensun Orbs (×3), Bitterlight Sparks (×3)—again, all threes.
Hydraheart Bloom (×3), Sunglow Meloncore (×3), Shadowcradle Fruit (×3)… and then the Titanfruit Cluster (×3).
"That's not food. That's gear," Liang Chenwu said, watching her lift one crate like it was air.
She didn't pause. She sorted leafy and root vegetables into four large boxes each. Vita Fronds, Ironleaf Veins, Breathleaf Clusters, Bitterwind Blades, Goldroot Spears, Snapburst Rootlets, Dusknut Fleshroots—stacked, sealed, and labeled by root type.
Grains and seeds came next—five boxes each of Soulgrain Stalks, Mistgrain Pearls, Sunspike Kernels, Driftgrain Threads, Stonebeard Cores, Ironseed Grain, Sandgleam Dots, Dryspike Pellets, Spiritcrisp Seeds, Knotgrain Hearts, Bloodgleam Seeds, Voidbeads, Threadfruit Seeds, Coreleaf Nodes, Groundnut Cores, Skyburst Kernels, Dustpearl Seeds, Dreamflint Seeds, Greengrowth Nodes, Heartcore Seeds, Fieldspike Seeds, Scentroot Sparks, Vita Kernels.
"She could start a small federation farm if we all fail the mission," Jin Minhe whispered.
She opened and counted every packet. Meals were pre-divided: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Labeled. Packed.
"No use hauling raw food if I end up running for my life. I won't have time to cook a meal," she muttered, shooting a side-eye at a crate of ration bars and dried beast jerky.
Next came medicine.
Two crates each of Nano-Seal Patches, Spiritweave Mesh, Qi-Purify Swabs, Regen-Gel, Neuro-Ease Tabs, Skinsuits, Veinbind Clips, Nano-Injectors, and Flexframe Casts. Plus salves, iodine, Qi-Jolt ampules, Heatread sticks…
"If any of this is expired, I swear…" she muttered, inspecting a loose seal.
She turned next to shelters and gear—seven hexa-core units, dome pods, foldspace havens, QuickBastion capsules, soul-fabric sleeping bags, tarp kits, stormskins.
"That QuickBastion has a self-healing tarp layer, right?" Kai Shi asked.
"Yep," she replied, never breaking rhythm.
Thermo-veil wraps (×4), arctic boots (×6 pairs), starbound locators (×10), foldspade tools (×1), ferro rods (×2), navispike grids (×3), signalflare disks (×10), auto-photographing cameras (×2)—checked, tagged, packed.
"Over-prepared beats under-prepared," she told no one in particular.
She rotated straight into clothing—gaiters (×3), thermal underwear (×5), wool socks (×6 pairs), waterproof jackets (×5), high-leg boots (×2), buffs (×2), rainwraps (×4), Sunveil vests (×5), Cloudlight shirts (×8), Soulweave pants (×8), and seasonal outfits all rolled tight.
"Label it, fold it, don't wrinkle it," she hummed to herself.
"Does she have… field-grade toothbrushes?" Zhou Qian blinked.
"Multi-tooled ones," Liang Chenwu confirmed, watching her sort ten of them.
Last came beast care—supplements, medallions, calming tinctures, reinforced feed capsules, stormproof transport pads.
Mystic gave a soft cloud-rumble, curious and groggy, nudging at the seal again. Fan Yumei nudged him back with a grin.
Then came the arsenal.
She laid out licensed CCW-pulse sidearms (×5), triple-pulse clip backups (×4), and underarm holsters embedded with runes (×2). Next were spirit-dampening ammo rounds (×5 boxes), beast-mace sprays (×7), and reinforced pack straps (×6). Zip-ties stacked in hundreds (100 × 6 packs), red-tag duct coils stacked in scores (×20), and respirators (×4) for all.
Marine gear came after—folding houseboat dinghy (×1), 4th-grade metal-forged kayaks (×2), arc-diving canoe (×1), collapsible inflatables (×3), diving air tanks and full gear sets for underwater operations (×8).
Tools and survival kits were carefully inspected and arranged: precision saw (×1), carbon-edged axe (×1), folding saw (×1), knives (×3), ferro rods (×2), water canteens (×7), paracord rolls (×9), bushcraft backpacks (×5), soul-fabric sleeping bags (×4), two-quart pots (×4), single-filament fishing line (300 yards), gill nets (×3), and foldspade tools (×1).
"Field ready and mission tight," Fan Yumei muttered, crossing her arms and standing tall.
Everyone was dead quiet. Just staring.
"…What?" she asked, blinking.
Uncle Hanji wandered in wearing unicorn pajamas, blinking blearily. "My lovely niece," he said, "I just realized… you have no chill. You do realize you're heading into a secret realm, not running off to fake your death and live under a new name?"
No one else said it out loud, but they all nodded slightly in agreement.
Her father stepped forward and knelt beside her, opening his arms. "Sweet girl… why all the preparation?"
She shrugged and hopped into his embrace. "I'm trusting my gut."
He chuckled, rubbing her head. "Yeah?"
"You guys don't know much about this realm, huh?" he asked—but it was more statement than question.
"Hmm." She nodded. "True. It's an unknown realm. They don't even know what kind of world or time zone it will have. The rift was too unstable to collect any real data."
His tone grew solemn. "That's good planning, young one." His voice softened as he hugged her closer. Maybe if I thought like her back then…
"You have a clear feel for the situation. Being over-prepared is better—especially when entering uncharted territory. Unknown realms are more dangerous than common ones."
"Don't worry. I'll come back in one piece," she joked, patting his back—but she meant it.
"Good," he said quietly, still holding her close.
When the others finished breakfast, Fan Yumei called them over for supply and weapon inventory checks.