The emergency light in the basement emitted a faint glow, illuminating the tired yet determined faces of the two sisters. Lin Yue gently stroked the several crystal-clear stones in her hand, feeling the powerful energy contained within them resonate strangely with her spatial superpower.
"Sis, what exactly are these stones?" Lin Yao asked curiously. The water sphere she had condensed in her hand unconsciously changed its shape, clearly affected by the energy of the crystals as well.
Lin Yue fell into thought for a moment, recalling the research materials she had found in the library's secret room. "According to the records, these are called 'Spiritual Source Crystals'—they are the condensation of superpower energy. Superpower users with different attributes can gain different enhancements from them."
She handed a pale green crystal to her sister. "This one should be the most suitable for you; it contains abundant water-element energy."
The moment Lin Yao's fingers touched the crystal, it instantly transformed into a stream of light and merged into her palm. Lin Yao let out a soft exclamation, feeling a cool stream of energy flow through her entire body. Her control over water suddenly became much more effortless.
"What an amazing feeling," she exclaimed. "I can sense the flow of all the water around me, and I can even feel..." She suddenly paused, her expression turning solemn. "The groundwater level is dropping rapidly!"
This discovery made the two sisters alert. Water resources were crucial in the post-apocalyptic world. If the groundwater level continued to fall, survivors would face a severe drinking water crisis.
Lin Yue also chose a crystal emitting silvery light to absorb. When the crystal's energy merged into her body, her spatial superpower underwent a qualitative leap. Now, she could not only control the size and duration of the spatial entrance more freely but also slightly adjust the flow of time inside the space.
"The energy of these crystals is beyond imagination," Lin Yue said, feeling the changes in her body. "But we need to use them cautiously—over-reliance on external forces may bring unknown risks."
In the following days, the two sisters took the basement as their base and began to systematically enhance their superpowers. Relying on the large amount of materials they had brought back from the library, their understanding of superpowers reached a new height.
Lin Yue focused on the in-depth development of her spatial superpower. She discovered that the space could not only store supplies but also isolate external detection to a certain extent. Even more surprisingly, with the enhancement of the Spiritual Source Crystals, she could open up a small cultivable area inside the space. Although the growth rate of the crops was not as dramatic as outside, it was still several times faster than normal.
Lin Yao also made significant progress in her water-element and healing superpowers. Now, she could not only condense clean water but also extract moisture from the air, and even purify contaminated water sources. Her healing ability was significantly enhanced as well—small wounds could almost heal instantly.
However, just as they focused on improving their strength, the situation outside was deteriorating rapidly.
Through the perception of Lin Yue's consciousness network, they found that the evolution speed of zombies had accelerated significantly, and various specially mutated individuals began to appear. What was even more disturbing was that the activities of those "workers" became more and more frequent, as if they were actively searching for something.
One late night, when Lin Yue tried to expand the perception range of her consciousness network, she suddenly received a strange signal—it was a repeatedly played distress signal, coming from a location in the eastern district of the city.
"Someone needs help," she immediately woke her sister up. "The signal is weak, but it definitely exists."
Lin Yao checked the map. "The eastern district is the industrial area; it's far from us. Should we go?"
The two sisters looked at each other, and they could see the determination in each other's eyes. In the post-apocalyptic world, every survivor was precious. Moreover, this distress signal might mean that there were more survivors in need of help.
After making full preparations, the next morning, the two sisters set off on their expedition to the eastern district. Relying on their enhanced superpowers and a carefully planned route, they crossed most of the city relatively smoothly.
The closer they got to the eastern district, the more shocking the scene became. The buildings here were severely damaged, the streets were covered with traces of battles, and they could even see the corpses of some huge mutated creatures they had never seen before.
"There was a large-scale battle here," Lin Yue observed her surroundings vigilantly. "This kind of destruction can't be caused by ordinary survivors."
When they finally found the source of the signal, they were shocked by the scene in front of them—it was a survivor stronghold set up in an underground parking lot, but at this moment, it had turned into a pile of ruins. Obviously, this place had been attacked fiercely not long ago.
"Help..." A weak cry for help came from under a pile of rubble.
The two sisters hurried forward, using their superpowers to move the broken stones aside, and found a young man trapped underneath. To their surprise, the man was wearing a uniform similar to those "workers", but it was tattered and stained with blood.
"What happened here?" Lin Yao asked while treating his wounds.
The man gasped weakly. "Betrayal... We were betrayed... The director... he's crazy..."
Through his intermittent narration, an astonishing truth gradually emerged: those so-called "community workers" were actually members of an organization called "Tianmen" (Heaven's Gate). The leader of this organization was carrying out a crazy plan—to "purify" the world through a certain ritual, and the zombie virus was actually released by them on purpose!
"The director believes... only those who have undergone the 'baptism' are qualified to survive," the man said painfully. "But he doesn't know... the ritual will attract something even more terrifying..."
At that moment, Lin Yue suddenly felt a strong sense of danger. "Someone is coming! A lot of people!"
They quickly hid. Soon, a team of fully armed personnel entered the ruins. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a white research uniform—the "director" the man had mentioned.
"Find him," the director said coldly. "He knows too much."
When his subordinates found the injured man, the director stepped forward. Unexpectedly, instead of killing him, he took out a device and pointed it at the man.
A horrific thing happened—the man's body began to twitch violently, and then he actually turned into a stream of light and was sucked into the device!
"A good sample," the director said satisfactorily as he looked at the data displayed on the device. "The purity of the consciousness energy is very high; it can be used as fuel for the next beacon."
The two sisters hiding in the dark watched this scene in shock. It turned out that all the missing survivors had been used as "fuel" for a certain ritual!
What made Lin Yue even more alarmed was that she could feel the energy fluctuation emanating from the director was similar to that of the Spiritual Source Crystals, but darker and more distorted.
At that moment, the director suddenly turned to the direction where they were hiding, and a strange smile appeared on his lips. "It seems there's an unexpected gain. Two pure superpower users... enough to activate the main beacon."
The two sisters' hearts skipped a beat, realizing they had long been exposed. Without any hesitation, Lin Yue immediately activated her spatial superpower to prepare for evacuation.
But to her shock, the surrounding space seemed to have solidified, and the spatial entrance could not be opened!
"It's useless," the director walked forward slowly. "This area has been covered by a special force field; all spatial abilities will be blocked."
In the critical moment, Lin Yao suddenly pressed her hand to the ground and activated her water-element superpower with all her strength. The remaining water in the underground pipes quickly condensed, turning into spikes of ice that protruded from the ground, temporarily blocking the pursuers.
"Go!" Lin Yue seized this opportunity, grabbed her sister, and rushed towards the exit.
But the director just waved his hand lightly, and those ice spikes instantly vaporized. "Catch them," he ordered coldly. "Alive."
The two sisters ran desperately through the ruins, with members of Tianmen chasing closely behind them. Just as they were about to be surrounded, Lin Yue suddenly felt an abnormal fluctuation coming from the Spiritual Source Crystals in her arms.
With a sudden inspiration, she took out all the crystals and channeled their energy with all her strength. The crystals emitted a dazzling light, which actually neutralized the force field interference around them temporarily!
The spatial entrance opened again, but this time, what appeared was not the familiar space, but a vortex emitting strange light.
There was no time to hesitate. The two sisters jumped into the vortex. At the last moment before the entrance closed, they saw the director's angry expression, his outstretched hand, and the huge beacon that was slowly rising behind him...
When they stumbled out from the other side of the space, they found themselves back in the underground secret room of the library! And the Spiritual Source Crystals had turned into powder, clearly having exhausted all their energy in the previous outburst.
"These crystals... are not just energy sources," Lin Yue realized with a sudden insight. "They are also some kind of spatial beacons."
Through this experience, they gained a deeper understanding of Tianmen Organization's plan. This crazy organization had not only created the zombie crisis but was also trying to open a passage to other worlds, and superpower users were an important part of their plan.
After returning to the basement, the two sisters realized that simply hiding was no longer enough. They had to take the initiative to act and stop Tianmen Organization's crazy plan, otherwise, all of humanity would face the crisis of destruction.
However, just as they were formulating an action plan, Lin Yue suddenly felt a familiar signal coming from her consciousness network—it was the aura of the Zombie King, and it was moving rapidly towards their location!
Obviously, the Tianmen Organization had found their hiding place and sent out their most powerful "weapon".
The final battle was about to begin ahead of schedule...