"You can come in, Grandma Ling. We are awake." Ling Jiang hurriedly replied, standing up and heading toward the door.
Before she reached it, Grandma Ling had already opened the door and walked in. Seeing all four of them safe and sound, Grandma Ling let out a sigh of relief.
Qiao Qiao ran straight to her, wrapping her small arms around Grandma Ling's leg, wailing loudly.
"Mama, ah!"
If Lan Jin had not woken, she might have thought she would never wake again.
Lan Jin quickly comforted her. "Why cry so much? Mama just slept. You really thought Mama would leave you?"
"Just slept?" Grandma Ling shook her head helplessly. "You can't blame the child for crying. You all slept for a long time. Three whole days. I was almost scared to death."
"Three days?"
All four of them were shocked. "We slept that long?"
Grandma Ling nodded. "Of course. Not a single sound from you. We were next door, scared to death. We didn't dare check. We could only listen. As soon as we heard noise, we came right away."
Lan Jin hugged Qiao Qiao and the dog close, soothing her. "Mama slept so long. Qiao Qiao must have worried. But Mama didn't go anywhere. Still next door. Mama didn't lie, right?"
Qiao Qiao nodded, but the logic was a little confusing.
Still, she stopped crying. That was enough.
Then their stomachs growled loudly. After three days without food, the long, continuous sounds of hunger filled the room.
The windows in 3201 were broken, and it was too cold to stay inside. Everyone followed Grandma Ling to her house. Once they arrived, Lan Jin immediately brought out the food from the space.
This meal was served in large bowls, as if they intended to eat all six meals from the past three days at once. They devoured it with no manners, eating like there was no tomorrow.
Only after finishing did they put down their bowls, leaning back and belching in satisfaction.
Yet even after eating, Lan Jin felt her body behaving strangely. The strange energy she had sensed before now seemed to spread throughout her body.
Suddenly, a flash of electricity ran across her body, vanishing almost instantly.
Ling Jiang, sitting beside her, had seen it clearly. Shocked, she could barely speak. "You… you, Lan Jin, you…"
Lan Jin noticed the anomaly as well. Her eyes scanned her body. Soon, another flash of electricity ran along her limbs.
With a sizzling sound, Lan Jin snapped out of her shock. Realizing the lightning was harmless, she guided it to concentrate in her hand.
The electricity gathered more and more. Unsure what to do, Huang Jinghe opened the balcony door and shouted, "Sister Lan, try it outside!"
Lan Jin hurried to the balcony. As she lost control, the electricity in her hand shot outward like a lightning bolt.
Sizzling and crackling, the bolt struck with incredible force. Smaller streaks of lightning danced around the main bolt, wrapping it tightly.
The impact was so powerful that the floor seemed to tremble three times for anyone inside the room.
After the strike, Lan Jin was completely stunned. She looked at Huang Jinghe, bewildered. "What… what just happened?"
"I knew it," Huang Jinghe said with a laugh. "It's a power. A true power. Sister Lan, you have powers. From the strength of that strike, it should be a lightning power. This is high-level. Sister Lan, you are amazing."
High-level powers were extremely rare, yet Lan Jin had one.
Wait.
Lan Jin said, "If I have powers, it's not possible I'm the only one. Didn't you all feel something strange in your bodies? Try and see if powers appear."
Who wouldn't get excited hearing that?
Huang Jinghe immediately tested his abilities. Within moments, his hands grew wet. A jet of water shot from his hands out the window. Due to the freezing temperature, the water froze midair, forming icicles that fell to the ground below.
Huang Jinghe had a water-type power.
Lao Gao, after successfully igniting his clothing, clearly had fire powers.
The most unique was Ling Jiang. She had ice powers and teleportation. This compensated for her smaller strength. None of their powers were the same, making it all the more thrilling.
Ling Jiang, excited about teleportation, nearly tested every corner of the room. "I can't fight? I can just run!"
"Yes, yes, yes," they all agreed.
Seeing the four of them with powers, Grandma Ling was overjoyed. Qiao Qiao, however, had none and grew frustrated. "Mama, Qiao Qiao can't do! Qiao Qiao can't do!"
That made everyone curious. Powers always meant something had happened. Just like her space—once it appeared, the apocalypse followed.
Lan Jin calmed Qiao Qiao and had Grandma Ling test as well. Confirming she had no powers, Lan Jin thought, "Could this be because of the insect powder? I remember it contained a mutated plant. Maybe that plant triggered it. Lao Gao ate the powder, scratched us. Even after removing the poison, maybe we still got the plant toxin, which triggered powers."
It was possible. Everything started after consuming the insect powder. The problem had to be with it.
They had faced issues from the insects before—parts of the body would fester, fever and seizures could occur, and it could spread. But there was no madness before, so the cause must have been that unknown plant mixed in the powder.
Lan Jin concluded, "It must be that plant. It changed our bodies, giving us powers."
If they had powers, then everyone who consumed the powder might too. With so many people affected, maybe having powers wasn't so rare after all.