Author Archives: sandy

Shen Yunxuan returned to her original dimension, and as soon as midnight passed, the system settled her dimension currency—nearly ten million! This instantly propelled her to level eight.

After reaching level eight, the forced traversals would now be one month long. Each time she returned to her home dimension, she would be immediately transported to another dimension. This cycle would continue until she reached level nine, at which point the forced traversals would become irregular, occurring at random intervals.

In his past life, Zhang Yang had died upon reaching level eight because he couldn’t survive the constant traversals and failed to bring back enough resources to advance to level nine.

Over the next month, Shen Yunxuan’s level skyrocketed like a rocket. Aside from the vast amount of resources she brought back, she also absorbed faith power from various dimensions to accelerate her growth, all of which contributed to her currency settlement.

The Book of Memories had been a tremendous help, allowing her to surpass Zhang Yang’s achievements in just under a year, whereas he had struggled for over a decade.

This made Elder Xu and the others deeply concerned. Level eight meant she would constantly be transported to level-eight-level danger zones, and they no longer had confidence in their ability to protect her. Initially, when Shen Yunxuan had come to the government for protection, they had indeed provided her with great security. But now, they had to admit—they could no longer protect her. Instead, it was Shen Yunxuan who had given far more to the nation.

With only three days until the first of the month, Elder Xu felt an urgent crisis looming over him. There simply wasn’t enough time to prepare more advanced weaponry for Shen Yunxuan.

Shen Yunxuan smiled reassuringly. “Grandpa, don’t worry. Even if I have to go to a level-eight dimension, I’m not an easy target anymore. I’ll adapt accordingly. And don’t forget—I now have the highest IQ in the world. As long as they don’t kill me in one hit, I won’t die.”

Indeed, as long as there wasn’t an instant-kill situation, a smart person could always find ways to survive. But how could they not worry? Elder Xu wiped his face and said, “After all the contributions you’ve made, you could easily be awarded multiple first-class honors. I’ll go request approval from the higher-ups to arm you with the most powerful weapons available.”

Elder Xu thought to himself—if necessary, they would drop a nuclear bomb! Shen Yunxuan was now a national treasure, and there was no limit to the protection she deserved.

Shen Yunxuan, however, felt no fear or anxiety. Perhaps because she had experienced so many different dimensions, she now had a new perspective on life. Living a long life was naturally preferable, but if she couldn’t, she didn’t find it terrifying. She had lived each day to the fullest, never wasting a moment—that was enough.

So she didn’t dwell on the risks. Instead, she told Elder Xu, “This batch of supplies is crucial. And since a hundred trucks suddenly arrived today, it’s very likely that some rats have taken notice. I want to personally transport the supplies.”

That was exactly what worried Elder Xu. Previously, when Shen Yunxuan appeared on the variety show and showcased her abilities, she gained a huge amount of faith power, but at the same time, she also attracted the attention of foreign intelligence agencies. The Special Affairs Bureau was undoubtedly under surveillance. This time, the situation was urgent, and there was no better way—they had to move the supplies using a convoy of a hundred extended trucks. No matter how careful they were, someone would surely take notice.

The Bureau had a large protective formation to prevent outsiders from infiltrating, but transporting goods out of the Bureau would be dangerous. Leaving the supplies there wasn’t an option either—military and research bases were in far more secure, hidden locations, with much better research facilities than what was available at the Bureau.

Considering these risks, Shen Yunxuan decided to personally deliver the supplies—directly to the research base.

While Elder Xu sought approval for the base location and experts worked on categorizing all the materials, Shen Yunxuan stayed in her office studying the “Shrinking the Ground to Inches” technique. The secret military and research bases were not in Beijing but rather in remote areas. Flying there by plane or using her own spiritual power would take too much time, and the longer they delayed, the higher the risk. Time was of the essence.

Fortunately, with her enhanced cultivation, she could now use the Shrinking the Ground to Inches technique!

The top brass specially approved the mission, and all bases were issued classified orders. However, they were still unsure of what was happening. They had only handled some of the materials Shen Yunxuan previously brought back—things like energy crystals and nutritional supplements—but they had never directly interacted with her or understood the extent of her abilities. Now, they were being told to prepare for a top-secret handoff.

Where were they supposed to receive the delivery? When was it happening?

Nothing was clearly stated. They were simply instructed to wait until the items arrived.

It was barely 1 a.m., and yet they were supposed to wait like this?

Still, no one questioned the order. They simply followed the instructions, with only a handful of key personnel remaining on standby.

One of them yawned and joked, “What is it this time? Did they capture zombies or something? Otherwise, why are they making us old guys wait here?”

Another chuckled. “Are we sure that girl doesn’t have any powerful background? Other than the highest command, no one else would be worth us all gathering here in the middle of the night. Sleep deprivation is going to mess up tomorrow’s research.”

A more serious colleague frowned. “There must be a reason for this. If you’re bored, why not think about the problems in our projects? Figure out how to break through some of the bottlenecks.”

They all had their pride—top experts in their fields—who hated wasting time on meaningless matters. To them, waiting here in the middle of the night for some unknown young girl was absolutely pointless, and their patience was running thin.

They had barely started discussing their technical difficulties when, out of nowhere, a person suddenly appeared in the distance.

She had truly just appeared out of thin air.

The researchers were startled and immediately jumped to their feet.

“Why didn’t the security alarm go off?! Sound the alert!”

Shen Yunxuan raised her voice, “I am Shen Yunxuan. You must be waiting for me, right?”

The group froze for a moment, their hands hovering midair over the alarm button. “You’re Shen Yunxuan??”

She stepped forward, allowing them to see her clearly, and smiled. “I am. Code 0562437.”

“7953261.”

The codes matched. Shen Yunxuan quickly stepped up. “I have a large number of supplies for you. Where should I unload them? Time is tight, and they haven’t undergone disinfection and sterilization yet. It’s best to store them separately.”

“Follow us.” The group immediately composed themselves. No further verification was needed—if the code matched, they had to accept the delivery immediately. They were all comrades fulfilling a mission.

They led Shen Yunxuan to a large warehouse, where she waved her hand and instantly deposited a massive pile of supplies—nutritional supplements, vehicles, various types of robots, and more.

The group stared in shock, unable to resist stepping forward for a closer look. “This… this is…”

Shen Yunxuan handed them a USB drive. “I retrieved this from the interstellar dimension today. It contains all the books and data I collected. I haven’t sorted through them, so check if there’s anything useful. I have other deliveries to make, so I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait!” One of them quickly called out, his voice filled with excitement as he saluted her. “Thank you! You’ve worked hard!”

Shen Yunxuan returned the salute. “You all work harder than I do. I’m counting on you for these.”

The top researchers of the nation had always been deserving of the highest respect and admiration.

Shen Yunxuan exited the warehouse and vanished from the base in the blink of an eye.

The researchers stepped out, scanning their surroundings. Their excitement was barely contained. “With abilities like hers, she could retrieve secrets from any country.”

“Look at you getting all worked up. Right now, the things in our warehouse are already the world’s biggest secrets.”

“Exactly! If we can crack these, our country will undoubtedly become the world’s strongest power!”

“Let’s go—no sleep tonight! Call everyone in! Work starts now!”

The elderly researchers, usually composed and reserved, were suddenly bursting with enthusiasm and determination.

Similar scenarios played out at various bases. Shen Yunxuan spent the entire night categorizing and delivering supplies to secret bases across the nation, completing the handovers while also setting up protective formations around them. Even if enemies discovered the bases’ locations, without dropping a nuclear bomb, they wouldn’t be able to break through her defenses. And once she reached a higher level in the future, she could return to reinforce the formations even further.

Afterward, Shen Yunxuan personally escorted the general and his men back, deliberately misleading the spies who had been tracking them.

The personnel who had driven the cargo trucks were all special forces—specifically, part of the two thousand soldiers she had trained. As they were preparing to leave the Bureau, they finally caught sight of Shen Yunxuan and, overwhelmed with excitement, shouted in unison, “Instructor!”

She smiled and nodded, handing each of them three protective talismans. “If you encounter danger, do not break formation. Just lead the rats straight to me. Understood?”

“Understood! Instructor, do we really have to leave? Can we stay and follow you instead?”

The general beside them chuckled and scolded, “You’re trying to switch teams right in front of me, huh? If you want to follow Instructor Shen, then train harder for the next selection exam.” Then, turning to Shen Yunxuan, he smiled and said, “Your grandfather and I are old war buddies—brothers who’ve gone through life-and-death together. Just call me Grandpa Feng.”

“Grandpa Feng, then let’s get moving.”

The cargo trucks were loaded with empty boxes covered with tarps, making them appear full. As dawn was just beginning to break, one truck after another rolled out of the Bureau. Immediately, the spies lurking nearby sprang into action, contacting their superiors and tailing the convoy.

Shen Yunxuan had her team continuously scan the surroundings with thermal imaging devices, identifying the number of pursuers and their locations.

As expected, once they reached a more isolated area, the enemies made their move with full force. The road ahead was covered with spike strips, caltrops, and other obstacles, forcing the convoy to halt. Gunfire erupted, smoke grenades were thrown, and multiple groups of assailants began closing in—each from different factions, not just to steal the cargo but also to fight each other for it.

Shen Yunxuan immediately leaped out of the truck window, grabbing the closest enemy, dislocating their jaw and limbs before knocking them unconscious and tossing them into the truck. The general wasted no time securing the enemy with handcuffs and shackles.

The special forces soldiers swiftly exited their vehicles, activating the Fragrant Swan Steps to dodge bullets while engaging in combat. Those who could overpower their enemies captured them alive, while those who were outmatched led their opponents toward Shen Yunxuan’s position.

For the first time, everyone witnessed Shen Yunxuan’s combat skills in action—her precision, speed, and sheer power. She could crush a gun into scrap metal with her bare hands, and her movements were so fast that they often lost sight of her entirely. She was far beyond their imagination.

The enemies had come prepared, sending their top operatives—fighters as skilled as Gao Lang and Dong Yue. Some even utilized bizarre techniques from their respective countries, such as headless flying curses, underground burrowing techniques, and various mystical arts. Several special forces soldiers were injured, and if not for the protective talismans they carried, some would have already lost their lives.

These enemies had all watched the variety show and knew that Shen Yunxuan was formidable. That was why they had sent so many elite operatives to capture her. They encircled her, their eyes gleaming with greed—every faction wanted to take her alive.

But they had gravely underestimated her.

Shen Yunxuan had doubled in strength since the variety show.

No matter how powerful they were, could they possibly be stronger than the Black Mountain Demon King?

Shen Yunxuan unleashed her magical artifacts and talismans, her invisible spiritual attacks striking from all directions. In just half an hour, she had already defeated several enemies and held the absolute upper hand. The remaining ones, realizing the situation was turning against them, attempted to flee but were all captured by her. Even one who tried to commit suicide was swiftly subdued and knocked unconscious.

As everything returned to peace, Shen Yunxuan finally took a breath.

General Feng stepped forward and asked, “How are you? Any injuries?”

Shen Yunxuan glanced at herself. “Just a few scratches, nothing serious.” She smiled. “Today was a huge success. These people must know a lot of secrets; make sure to interrogate them thoroughly.”

General Feng laughed heartily. “That was exhilarating! No wonder Old Xu was in such a hurry to take you in as his granddaughter. That old fox really has good judgment. Come, let’s take these people in for interrogation. Then I’ll take you to see the Commander.”

This was a direct order from the Commander himself. Shen Yunxuan had been too busy improving her skills, and the Commander had been even busier, so they hadn’t arranged a meeting before. But after everything she had accomplished—pulling off a major operation, taking immense risks, and now preparing to travel to the eighth-level dimension, which Zhang Yang had called a death sentence—the Commander had to meet her personally. Elder Xu and Elder Chen had already gone ahead and were waiting for Shen Yunxuan to finish here and join them.

Shen Yunxuan accompanied the General in transferring the captured spies to a secret prison. The interrogation no longer required her presence—there were professionals for that. Even if these captives were tough and refused to reveal anything, they could still be used as bargaining chips in negotiations. Either way, it was a guaranteed win.

Afterward, she met the Commander for the first time. Unlike the distant figure she had seen on television, meeting him face-to-face carried a powerful presence—yet beneath that authority, there was also a sense of kindness.

The Commander smiled and said, “No need to be formal, Xiao Shen. We old folks all see you as one of our own, and we’re truly proud of you. There’s no need for politeness.”

Seeing Shen Yunxuan nod, the Commander continued, “Old Xu has already told me everything. You did an excellent job this time—achieving maximum gain with minimal cost. Well done!”

“Thank you, Commander!” Shen Yunxuan’s eyes sparkled, and she sat upright with perfect posture. No matter how much her strength had grown, receiving praise directly from the nation’s leader filled her with immense honor and excitement.

The Commander went on to commend her bravery, intelligence, and ability to remain calm under pressure. He acknowledged how, from the moment she had been schemed into binding the system, she had carefully navigated her survival, then saved Elder Xu, then voluntarily offered herself to the nation, dedicating herself to training and improvement without pause, all for the greater good. He praised her loyalty and commitment—she was truly outstanding.

Shen Yunxuan listened intently, realizing that the Commander knew every detail of her journey. Although this was their first meeting, he had clearly reviewed all her dimensional travels, even analyzing how she could elevate her influence in each world. This was a perspective she had never considered before—the viewpoint of a true national leader. She gained valuable insights just from listening.

She felt deeply moved. Initially, she had only sought protection, but instead, she had gained the sincere support of so many people. Looking at the lines at the corners of the Commander’s eyes, she suddenly thought about his age. She then brought up the fact that her system had reached level eight and that she had nearly ten million dimensional credits. She asked the Commander if he wanted anything from the system store.

The Commander chuckled and shook his head without hesitation. “Birth, aging, sickness, and death—these are natural. You binding the system is a national treasure, and your earnings should be spent where they matter most: building the nation, helping the people, and strengthening yourself. Don’t worry about any individual.”

He then added with a smile, “Didn’t you already develop a basic cultivation method? I practice it when I have time—it’s enough to keep me healthy.”

Seeing the sincerity and kindness in his eyes, Shen Yunxuan suddenly felt a little ashamed. Her initial caution had been too small-minded. The Commander had no selfish motives—his only concern was the country. She had underestimated his integrity.

Since this was a rare meeting, the Commander had Shen Yunxuan change into her military uniform and personally awarded her the Special Merit Medal. Elder Xu, General Feng, and the others clapped enthusiastically, capturing photos to commemorate the moment. Although these images wouldn’t be released publicly for now, they would certainly be recorded in history someday.

Shen Yunxuan solemnly saluted and declared, “I will always be loyal to my country. I will do everything in my power to protect the nation and never betray the trust placed in me!”

The Commander patted her shoulder with a smile. “Good child. Do your best. And remember, safety first.”

The meeting ended shortly after, and Shen Yunxuan’s military rank was officially promoted to General.

---

Back at the Bureau, she rested alone in her office, contemplating why the Commander had refused to buy anything from the system’s store. Then, she suddenly understood—he was preventing the possibility of others doing so.

Who doesn’t have illnesses? The highest-ranking leaders of the nation were all elderly. Who among them wouldn’t benefit from miraculous medicines? What about their families? Their closest friends? If they allowed exceptions, who would be included? Who would be excluded? And if everyone was included, how much dimensional currency would it take to buy life-saving medicines for them all? And if their lives were extended indefinitely, would they always remain steadfast and selfless, or would power eventually corrupt them?

The Commander had already thought further ahead than anyone else.

So the Commander decisively put an end to it all. If he refused to buy anything, then who could possibly bypass him to do so? By cutting off this possibility from the start, all personal desires were extinguished before they could even arise. This ensured that everyone remained united in their efforts for the country’s development, without unnecessary distractions, making things much simpler.

Shen Yunxuan couldn’t help but admire the Commander’s wisdom. With just a few words, many potential complications were resolved before they even became issues. After meeting him, she felt that even her own way of thinking had undergone a transformation.

The world—no, the entire multiverse—was vast. She could no longer limit herself to just one dimension; her vision needed to extend even further.

Shen Yunxuan’s ability to adapt and grow continuously was largely due to the Book of Memories. Across so many worlds, she had integrated the knowledge from the book better than anyone else. Her cultivation had strengthened her divine sense, and her increased intelligence had given her a memory palace that made understanding complex concepts effortless. As a result, all the experiences recorded in the Book of Memories had become part of her own skills and knowledge.

It was as if she were a seasoned traveler of the multiverse, acquiring countless abilities and witnessing countless civilizations. Naturally, this had matured her, making her approach all matters with a calm and composed mind.

Before, she might have been plagued by stray thoughts and unnecessary worries. But now, she felt as if she had ascended another level in her spiritual awareness—her heart was at peace, and her core was stronger than ever.

Even when Gao Lang rushed in to tell her that Zhang Yang had been convicted of serious financial crimes, including bribing officials with massive sums, and had been sentenced to death, Shen Yunxuan felt no emotion. The man she had once despised had long since faded into irrelevance in her life, disappearing like dust in the wind.

Before his execution, Zhang Yang raved hysterically, laughing and crying, “None of this is real! This is a dream! Yes, a dream! I am the chosen one, picked by the system to travel across dimensions. I have died before and come back to life—I cannot be executed! This is impossible. This is all fake!”

He then shouted, “Shen Yunxuan! I want to see Shen Yunxuan! I gave her that system—she owes me! I am her benefactor! She must save me. Yes, I demand negotiations! I want immunity! I know everything about the future! I am a reincarnator!”

Due to Zhang Yang’s unique nature, his arrest, detention, and execution were handled entirely by the Bureau, without any outside involvement. They feared he might reveal classified information, just like he was doing now. But the officers remained unmoved by his words. Without reacting, they continued preparing the lethal injection, strapping him to the execution bed.

As Zhang Yang saw the needle getting closer, his whole body trembled violently, cold sweat pouring down his face. “No, I can’t die! I was reborn—how could I end up worse off than my previous life?! This is all Shen Yunxuan’s fault! It’s the system’s fault! It’s—”

The needle pierced his skin, and the injection took effect. His pupils dilated, and his breath stopped. He could blame no one anymore.

The officers present shook their heads. Being reborn didn’t necessarily guarantee a better life. Those with true ability would learn from their failures, improving their lives without needing a second chance. If they did get a second chance, they would soar even higher. But those without ability, who ruined their own lives, would only continue to do so even if given a fresh start. Zhang Yang was the perfect example.

They shuddered to think about the chaos Zhang Yang might have caused if the system had remained in his hands. How many people would have suffered? How much damage would have been inflicted upon the nation? Fortunately, the system now belonged to Shen Yunxuan, and instead of fearing the future, they could look forward to it with hope. She was using her power to strengthen the country.

At that very moment, Shen Yunxuan was in her office, drawing talismans—many, many talismans. Some for defense, some for attack—everything she could think of, she prepared.

On the eve of the first day of the month, she and fifty special forces soldiers gathered in the transversal chamber, preparing for their next journey. She distributed thick stacks of talismans to them, along with storage pouches filled with weapons and medicine.

She solemnly instructed them, “Your safety is the highest priority. If you encounter danger, use the communication talisman immediately. I will know your location and will come as fast as I can. Remember—never fight recklessly. Staying alive is the most important thing. As long as you survive, I will find a way to bring you all back.”

The soldiers nodded with equal solemnity. But in their hearts, they swore an oath—if they encountered danger, even if they all perished, they would ensure that Shen Yunxuan survived.

The dangers of an eighth-level dimension were beyond anyone’s imagination. They would be there for an entire month, and surviving would be no easy feat. Zhang Yang had repeatedly claimed that an eighth-level world was a death trap, making everyone uneasy.

Fortunately, Shen Yunxuan had spent the past few months frantically leveling up and acquiring vast amounts of resources. Now, not only had everyone awakened their abilities and gained cultivation skills, but they also had storage bags filled with advanced firearms and talismans, significantly increasing their chances of survival. This was all thanks to Shen Yunxuan. They were willing to lay down their lives for her, ready to fight to the death if necessary.

As soon as the first of the month arrived, Shen Yunxuan and the soldiers linked their wristbands. In an instant, their vision blurred, and they were transported to a new dimension.

Before they could even get a good look at their surroundings, a powerful spiritual attack surged toward them. Shen Yunxuan immediately raised her hand, using her spiritual energy to shield everyone. Even so, they were forced to retreat over ten steps before coming to a stop.

Looking up, Shen Yunxuan saw a fierce battle taking place—a monstrous beast and a malevolent ghost were engaged in combat against four individuals.

What shocked her most was that those four people were on par with her in strength, while the beast and the ghost were even stronger.

Sure enough, surviving in an eighth-level world wasn’t going to be easy!

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Sandy: Last chapter pw protected. Please find pw in TOC.

The fact that this was Shen Yunxuan’s first time traveling alone since offering herself to the state made everyone uneasy. They wanted to send more people to protect her.

However, this was a level-six interstellar world, and the dangers likely involved mecha battles, laser cannons, and other high-tech weaponry—things special forces soldiers wouldn’t be able to counter. Even though they had developed some abilities and cultivation, they were still far from being able to withstand interstellar-level advanced technology and military power.

Shen Yunxuan, on the other hand, had just advanced significantly by converting a large amount of faith energy. Her abilities had surpassed level ten, and she was proficient in drawing talismans, setting up formations, and many other techniques. Even if she had to fight, she could at least protect herself and escape. Besides, she could return to her home world at any time.

This final point convinced everyone—if she could freely return, her life wouldn’t be in immediate danger. That made the risk worth taking.

The country’s top medical personnel were stationed at the transversal chamber, on high alert, ready to treat Shen Yunxuan at a moment’s notice. Under everyone’s tense watch, she teleported to the interstellar world.

---

Looking around, Shen Yunxuan saw that there was no one in sight. It wasn’t the highly advanced, futuristic city she had encountered last time, but instead a filthy and chaotic place with collapsed buildings and towering heaps of trash, comparable to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

A sense of alarm rose in her heart. Had a major war broken out in this world? As she spotted a large pile of debris with a discarded car among it, she walked over, intending to collect the vehicle for research.

However, before she could approach, something shot toward her at high speed from the sky, accompanied by a stern voice shouting, “Who’s there?”

Shen Yunxuan looked up to see a group of people rushing toward her on flying devices. The devices were extremely crude, rusted, and worn, yet they managed to keep the men airborne and moved at impressive speeds.

Exuding an air of harmlessness, Shen Yunxuan raised her hands and said, “I’m just looking around to see what’s here.”

“This is our territory! Are you new here?” One of them landed and scrutinized her with a frown. “How does someone like you have such delicate skin?”

They exchanged glances and whispered among themselves, “She looks so good, and her clothes seem expensive. She’s clearly some rich lady. Maybe she got thrown here by someone?”

“Let’s not get involved,” another said warily. “We don’t want trouble.”

A third sneered. “She’s been dumped on a garbage planet. No matter who she used to be, she’s done for now. How about… we take her back for some fun?”

With her heightened senses after advancing her cultivation, Shen Yunxuan heard every word clearly. A sharp glint flashed in her eyes, and just as she was about to act, an airship rapidly approached from above. The men’s expressions changed instantly, paling with fear as they prepared to flee.

But the airship moved even faster. In the blink of an eye, it was hovering above them. The lower hatch opened, and a massive load of discarded items rained down. Some of the discarded weapons fired off stray laser blasts as they fell. One of the men was struck and killed instantly as he tried to escape.

Shen Yunxuan quickly dodged, noticing the wrist devices worn by the remaining men. She rushed forward, casting a protective barrier over them to block an incoming strike. “Hand over your wrist computers and space buttons, and I’ll keep you alive.”

“What? You’re robbing us in the middle of this?” The men glared at her fiercely.

Shen Yunxuan simply withdrew her barrier and nimbly avoided the falling debris herself. Because they had hesitated, another one of them was hit by a stray laser and dropped dead on the spot, while another was crushed under a massive chunk of metal, spitting blood as he screamed in terror, “Save me! Help me—!”

Calmly dodging the incoming wreckage, Shen Yunxuan said, “A trade.”

The bleeding man gasped, “I agree! I agree!” With shaking hands, he ripped off his wrist computer and tossed a tiny metallic button toward her. “Take it all! Just get me out of here!”

Shen Yunxuan caught the items, then spun and delivered a powerful palm strike, sending a wave of energy that lifted the debris off his body. With another flick of her hand, she propelled him far away, safely landing him on solid ground.

The remaining survivors, some with minor wounds and others struggling to stand, desperately screamed for help, all agreeing to the trade. Shen Yunxuan encased them in a protective barrier and carried them away from the drop zone, securing their wrist computers and space buttons in the process.

Once they had escaped about a kilometer from danger, the men collapsed onto the ground, drenched in sweat. “We almost died in a trash heap.”

“Why did a garbage ship show up today? This isn’t the usual schedule.”

“I heard the two major factions of the Federation are at war, and the battlefield is close to the garbage planet. Maybe they’re dumping battle debris here.”

“Bastards. They set the rules, and they don’t even follow them.”

“Heh. The garbage planet is almost full. Before long, it’ll be destroyed. Who cares about the rules? Hahaha, even if we survive, what then? We’re just pollution in the universe.”

Surviving the ordeal didn’t bring them relief—only deeper despair. From their scattered conversation, Shen Yunxuan pieced together the situation.

But to her, the crisis on this garbage planet was a golden opportunity.

Just like that discarded car and the broken laser gun—here, they were trash. But in her home world, they were invaluable high-tech assets.

With limited time, she took out a few soft cakes and milk. “Do you want something to eat?”

The men froze. “Where did you get that?”

“Brought it from home.” Shen Yunxuan tossed the food to them and opened a pack for herself.

On this garbage planet, everything they ate and used was discarded waste, mostly expired nutrient solutions. They had never seen such fragrant, soft cake or fresh milk.

Shen Yunxuan had brought these from home? Did that mean she was a noble?

Holding the food, they were at a loss. “You… how did you end up on the garbage planet?”

Shen Yunxuan spoke mysteriously, “I wasn’t thrown here—I came voluntarily. I want to discuss a collaboration with your garbage planet.”

“Collaboration?” They were even more baffled. “We have nothing here. What could we possibly collaborate on?”

Shen Yunxuan gestured toward the still-falling garbage in the distance. “That trash. I can take away all of your garbage and, in exchange, provide you with supplies—things like these.”

With a wave of her hand, the ground was suddenly filled with various food items, clothing, and daily necessities. Though they weren’t particularly high-tech, for the residents of the garbage planet, these were treasures. Surviving on expired nutrient packs, they had never seen food like this—this was luxury beyond reach, something even money couldn’t buy.

These supplies were far more useful to them than the trash heaps. The group stared in speechless shock, eyes fixed on the goods, unable to even blink. Some reached out, wanting to touch them, but just as they picked up an item, Shen Yunxuan retracted the rest.

Facing their stunned expressions, she said calmly, “Your garbage planet must have a leader or some authority, right? My time is limited. Go and report my proposal to your leader. Whether they accept or not, just give me an answer. In the meantime, I’ll collect some garbage.”

One of them blurted out, “What do you want garbage for?”

This trash was discarded by major cities and battlefields—why would a noble lady want garbage?

“I have my reasons,” Shen Yunxuan replied. “If I remove all of this garbage, then this planet won’t be classified as a top-level pollution zone anymore, meaning it won’t be destroyed, right? This is a win-win situation. Go quickly—miss this opportunity, and you won’t get another.”

The group exchanged glances. “Then come with us.”

“I’ll stay here and pick up garbage.” Shen Yunxuan’s smile disappeared, revealing her imposing presence.

Only then did they realize that her harmless, delicate demeanor at the start had been an act. Now that she had assessed their capabilities, she was showing her true nature. Knowing they couldn’t defeat her, they didn’t dare provoke her further and simply flew off on their crafts.

Taking advantage of this, Shen Yunxuan began collecting garbage. With new waste still being dumped from the sky, these were the freshest piles, untouched by other scavengers, and contained plenty of valuable items she needed.

Laser guns, scrapped mechas, wrecked cars, nutrient solutions, energy potions, medical supplies, broken treatment pods, holographic helmets—so many high-tech items beyond her home world’s level. She carefully picked through and stored them in her storage bracelet, storage bags, and space buttons.

She had taken those space buttons from the previous group for exactly this purpose—there was too much trash, and she could never take it all. Luckily, each button had the capacity of a 200-square-meter room, allowing her to collect a significant amount.

Finally, the garbage ship finished dumping and quickly departed. The air was thick with dust, and only Shen Yunxuan remained, leaping among the heaps, selecting salvageable goods.

At that moment, several flying crafts approached, followed by a hovering vehicle. As they neared, a middle-aged man with a deep scar across his face stepped out of the car. His expression was emotionless, but his cold demeanor carried an intimidating air.

The scarred man fixed his gaze on Shen Yunxuan. “You’re the noblewoman they mentioned? Which family are you from?”

It seemed he was somewhat familiar with interstellar politics, but Shen Yunxuan had no intention of revealing anything. “Do you want to collaborate?”

The scarred man remained silent, speculating that this might be connected to escalating conflicts among the Federation’s factions. Perhaps an aristocratic family was conducting secret operations, using the garbage planet as cover. Still, he couldn’t figure out what was valuable here—this junk was only useful to the exiled people like them.

Shen Yunxuan waved her hand, displaying the supplies she had brought. She had prepared a considerable amount for this trade, an impressive stockpile. Even though the scarred man maintained a stoic face, his eyes betrayed his shock.

So much material—no matter how this played out, the garbage planet would benefit. The people behind him were visibly excited, eyes glowing red with desire, itching to grab everything immediately.

Suspicious, the scarred man asked, “You want all of our garbage in exchange for this? Nothing else?”

Shen Yunxuan nodded and added, “I also need books of all kinds. Even basic school textbooks will do. If you have them, I can provide you with even better supplies—like fresh vegetables and meat. You can cook proper meals.”

Books? Even basic educational ones? These were worthless on the garbage planet, not rare at all. They could easily copy some and give them to Shen Yunxuan. And in return, she would provide high-grade food?

The people around him were even more puzzled—books were everywhere, so why did Shen Yunxuan want them?

Suddenly, an absurd yet oddly plausible theory popped into their minds—was Shen Yunxuan’s family planning to leave the Federation and secretly establish a small independent nation on some uninhabited planet?

It sounded ridiculous, but to them, it was the most logical explanation they could come up with. Their hearts started pounding. If Shen Yunxuan’s family was truly building a new nation, could they be taken along? If so, they could finally escape the garbage planet and live normal lives.

The garbage planet wasn’t just devoid of resources; its environmental conditions were horrific. Sandstorms were frequent, the air was dry, the sun scorched them during the day, and the nights were freezing. Surviving here was pure torment. If there was even the slightest chance to leave, they were willing to pay any price.

The scarred man stepped forward and asked, “Books aren’t a problem. But how do you plan to leave here? Can you take us with you?”

Shen Yunxuan’s brow lifted slightly as she instantly grasped their thoughts. However, she barely understood the interstellar world yet and had no means to contend with its advanced military forces. She truly couldn’t take them away. Even if she smuggled them to another planet, she wouldn’t be able to protect them, and they would be hunted down.

After some thought, she considered an alternative: hijacking a ship and taking them to a better, uninhabited planet where they could sustain themselves. If she then set up an enormous illusionary array to hide the planet from the Federation, could that work?

Perhaps it was worth testing the array’s effectiveness, but for now, it was impossible. She answered, “I don’t have the means to take anyone away at the moment. Maybe in a few years, or maybe never. So for now, I can only trade supplies. I’ll provide whatever you need, as long as I have it.”

Their disappointment was evident, but they understood. Her response only reinforced their earlier speculation—Shen Yunxuan’s family must be trying to establish its own rule on a distant planet. Right now, they were struggling and couldn’t afford to bring others along. But if they succeeded in a few years, they could accept them. If they failed, her family would be doomed, and they wouldn’t be able to help anyone.

They silently justified Shen Yunxuan’s stance with their own reasoning, and that reasoning gave them a faint glimmer of hope. In fact, they even wanted her to take all the garbage as quickly as possible, use whatever she could, and build that small country fast so they could join her. Their attitude toward her softened significantly.

The scarred man stepped back and said, “I agree to the deal. You can take whatever garbage you want. We’ll have the books delivered immediately.”

Someone behind him hesitated before saying, “Can we exchange the books for something other than premium food? Winter is coming, and the nights are deadly cold. We need heating supplies.”

Shen Yunxuan hadn’t brought such items, assuming the interstellar world had advanced heating solutions. She had only prepared food and clothing, not expecting to end up on the garbage planet.

After some thought, she said, “I don’t have any now, but I’ll bring some next time. For now, set aside a house or a small yard for me nearby. If I come in a hurry and don’t have time to meet you, I’ll just leave things there.”

“There’s one right over there.” Someone pointed a few hundred meters away at a dilapidated house, then hesitated, realizing it looked too much like ruins and might be disrespectful. Embarrassed, they withdrew their hand and carefully glanced at Shen Yunxuan.

But Shen Yunxuan found it perfect—it was neither too close nor too far from the garbage piles. “That’ll do. I’ll go mark it.”

As soon as she spoke, she had already moved a hundred meters away. Within a few breaths, she was inside the yard of the house.

The scarred man and his group were stunned. One of them swallowed hard and whispered, “She didn’t use a flight device. How did she do that?”

“Could it be an invisible flight system?”

“Possibly. No wonder her family dares to go against the Federation. They must be extremely powerful.”

“Then working with her is only beneficial to us. The garbage keeps piling up, and the pollution level on this planet is rising dangerously. If she takes the garbage away, she’ll be solving our biggest problem.”

The scarred man listened to his subordinates’ discussion, narrowed his eyes in thought, and nodded. “That’s right. If she can really get rid of all this garbage, she’s saving our lives. And besides, there’s all that food.”

Their eyes drifted to the supplies Shen Yunxuan had provided. This time, they swallowed their saliva out of hunger.

The scarred man ordered his men to store the goods in a space button and take them back to their warehouse—partly to ensure Shen Yunxuan wouldn’t change her mind or scam them. Only once the supplies were secured in their warehouse would they truly feel at ease.

Meanwhile, in the yard, Shen Yunxuan set up a teleportation array. She was worried that if she ended up somewhere else next time, it would be troublesome to return. By placing this array here, she could teleport directly to this location, no matter where she landed in this world.

While setting up the array, she suddenly thought of a way to provide heating for them. Returning to the scarred man, she pulled a random item from the garbage pile to use as a table, took out a thick stack of yellow paper, and began drawing talismans.

Talismans were completely outside the realm of understanding for interstellar inhabitants. They had never seen anything like it before. The scarred man moved closer and examined the unfamiliar symbols. Confused, he asked, “What is this?”

Shen Yunxuan didn’t lift her head as she said, “A talisman that will keep you warm.”

It was already dusk, and the temperature was beginning to drop. After finishing a talisman, Shen Yunxuan directly slapped it onto the scarred man. He flinched in shock, instantly backing away several steps and raising his laser gun, heart pounding. With how fast she had moved, if she had wanted to kill him just now, he would already be dead!

Shen Yunxuan ignored his wary reaction and smiled. “How do you feel? Still cold?”

The scarred man was momentarily stunned before realizing that his body was indeed warm—completely unaffected by the evening chill! Surprised, he looked down at the spot where she had touched him, but the talisman was gone. “What… what is this?”

“You can think of it as a special tool,” Shen Yunxuan explained while drawing more talismans at an incredible speed. “There are ones that provide cooling, and ones that provide warmth. Using them is simple—just slap it onto yourself, and it lasts for a full day.”

The scarred man and his people hadn’t expected Shen Yunxuan to possess such an incredible ability. Their gazes toward her changed completely, now filled with eager anticipation. If her family was truly as powerful as they suspected, perhaps she could really take them away from here. Maybe they had a chance to escape their fate.

Wanting to secure this partnership, the scarred man immediately ordered his men to gather every book available on the garbage planet. Physical books were rare, but most existed in digital form, easily compiled into a single storage device. Noticing that Shen Yunxuan had been picking out mecha parts, weapons, and vehicles, he guessed she was searching for usable components. So he also had his people bring out the various discarded parts they had stored over the years but never used.

Seeing the massive pile of materials in front of her, Shen Yunxuan quickly drew a large number of talismans for them in return. She also borrowed several more space buttons, promising to return them soon. Then, she contacted her system:

“I can delay my settlement of dimension currency until the end of the day, right?”

“System: Yes. What are you planning, Host?”

“I want to make multiple trips back and forth today, then settle everything at night. That’s the plan.”

With that, she loaded every storage device to its limit and returned to her home base.

---

Seeing Shen Yunxuan return, Elder Xu immediately stood up and approached her. “How did it go? Are you hurt?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Not a scratch, and I’ve gained a massive haul! There’s too much to store here—let’s head straight to the underground warehouse.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Wenyu joked, “How much did you bring back? There’s no space here? You could just stay here, unload some items, let the team clean and inspect them, and by the time you’re back, the first batch will be processed.”

Shen Yunxuan waved her hand and laughed. “I found a treasure trove. I need to go back immediately, multiple times. Let’s move quickly! The warehouse probably won’t be enough—just use the parking lot. Get people there to clean and inspect everything. Also, initiate a Level One lockdown—no one is allowed to enter or exit, and no external communications. Do it immediately!”

As she spoke, she darted downstairs without even waiting for the elevator, clearly in a rush.

The others followed quickly, issuing the lockdown order across the Special Affairs Bureau.

When Shen Yunxuan unloaded her haul in the parking lot, everyone’s eyes widened. It was an overwhelming amount of futuristic technology—massive mechas, advanced vehicles, and high-tech weaponry, the likes of which they had only seen in science fiction movies.

“What is all this…?”

Shen Yunxuan explained, “This is garbage I collected from the garbage planet. I managed to take these without alerting the interstellar government, and there’s an endless supply of broken but still useful items. I even found a few fully intact weapons and vehicles, possibly discarded but still valuable for research.

“There’s also a storage device filled with books—not classified information, but still valuable for research. I’ve secured a deal with the garbage planet’s leader: we exchange food and daily necessities for their trash.

“I borrowed multiple space buttons from them to bring all this back. Now I’m heading right back to make more trips before the system settlement. Once I level up, time over there might speed up by years, and I might lose access to this treasure trove.

“So, load up all available storage devices for me. Also, they urgently need solar-powered devices, particularly heating and cooling systems.”

Everyone immediately sprang into action, preparing materials and gathering storage bags.

As they worked, Shen Yunxuan kept drawing talismans. She always believed in reciprocating goodwill—though their supplies were limited, she could provide plenty of talismans. With so many valuable resources from the garbage planet, she wouldn’t let the scarred man and his people suffer a loss.

Once everything was ready, she returned to the garbage planet. Only half an hour had passed.

---

Arriving at the garbage site, she found most of the planet’s residents gathered there, under the scarred man’s command. They were specifically sorting out weapons, mecha parts, and other materials she had favored earlier, making it easier for her to collect them.

Shen Yunxuan thanked them and immediately stored everything, then handed over the latest batch of supplies and talismans to the scarred man. She packed her storage spaces to full capacity again before returning to her world.

Back at the Bureau, resources were running low. Elder Xu had no choice but to personally request approval from the top brass, subtly hinting at the presence of extremely valuable technology.

The urgency of the situation prompted the highest authority to send a general to personally deliver the supplies.

A convoy of a hundred massive trucks arrived at the Bureau, loaded with all the items Shen Yunxuan had requested. The trucks were stopped outside a heavily guarded perimeter, overseen personally by Elder Xu. No one was allowed inside, and no unnecessary conversations were permitted. Only Shen Yunxuan was allowed to approach the vehicles and collect the supplies.

The arriving general pulled Elder Xu aside, speaking in a hushed tone. “This level of lockdown? Just what exactly did you find?”

Elder Xu, an old comrade-in-arms, answered just as quietly, “Something worth protecting at all costs.”

The general let out a low whistle. “No wonder they sent me.” He immediately straightened, patted the gun at his side, and ordered his men to sit in a line facing the wall with their eyes closed.

Shen Yunxuan quickly loaded all the supplies into storage, then teleported back to the garbage planet, unloaded them, collected more items, and returned again.

She repeated this cycle multiple times throughout the day.

---

As the day drew to a close, she turned to the scarred man and said, “I’m leaving now. It will likely be a long time before I return. I wish you all safety and well-being.”

For the people of the garbage planet, “safety and well-being” were the most precious blessings imaginable.

The scarred man looked around—the massive heaps of garbage had diminished drastically. In their place were countless supplies: fresh food, practical necessities, more than they had ever seen before. Their warehouses were overflowing. His heart was filled with deep gratitude.

Bowing deeply, he said solemnly, “Miss Shen, thank you.”

The entire gathered crowd followed his lead, their voices unified in a chorus of gratitude. “Miss Shen, thank you!”

Shen Yunxuan suddenly felt a surge of faith and karmic virtue. She was momentarily stunned—this time, she had only come for trade, yet she had also gained this unexpected reward.

They had felt warmth from her, just as she had felt warmth from them.

She waved to the crowd with a gentle smile. “Until we meet again. May you all be blessed.”

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Shen Yunxuan’s cultivation level was on par with the Black Mountain Demon, but the only difference was that she had just advanced using faith power, making her less adept at attacking compared to the demon. However, her previous battles against seventh- and eighth-level zombies in the apocalypse had given her significant combat experience, so she wasn’t overwhelmed.

With Shen Yunxuan joining the fight, the Taoist masters immediately felt a huge relief. In the midst of battle, they glanced at her in surprise—who was this young woman? How could someone so young be this powerful?

But no matter who she was, as long as she was helping, she was an ally. The Taoist masters intensified their attacks, determined to take down the Black Mountain Demon!

Shen Yunxuan also observed them, quickly learning their various attack techniques while analyzing the demon’s weaknesses. The nearby Taoist masters noticed her studying their moves and were deeply shocked—how could she learn so fast?

This was where her 300 IQ showed its effect. Many techniques became clear to her at a glance. Within just a quarter of an hour, she was skillfully engaging the Black Mountain Demon in both offense and defense. Since she had come here to make a name for herself, not just to gain experience, she didn’t waste time in a prolonged battle. The moment she identified the demon’s weakness, she charged in with full force.

The others were alarmed, shouting, “Miss, don’t be reckless! It’s too dangerous—”

Before they could finish speaking, the Black Mountain Demon let out a thunderous roar, then its form began to disintegrate, leaving only Shen Yunxuan standing in mid-air with her hands behind her back.

Everyone stopped in stunned silence—where was the demon? Dead? Killed by this young woman? Just like that?

Shen Yunxuan gently descended to the ground, glancing at the scattered demon cores, spiritual herbs, and magical artifacts left behind from the demon’s death.

She asked, “How do we split these?”

The others snapped out of their shock, carefully sensing the surroundings and confirming that the demon was truly dead. They then looked at Shen Yunxuan with deep respect, suppressing the astonishment in their hearts.

The most senior Taoist master clasped his hands and said, “Fellow Taoist, you contributed the most to this battle. These spoils of war rightfully belong to you. Without you, we might not have been able to eliminate the demon today and could have suffered casualties.”

Another Taoist added, “Indeed, Fellow Taoist, please take them. We were tasked by our sects to track down this demon, and now that it’s dead, we will still receive our sect’s rewards. You can accept these without concern.”

Since that was the case, Shen Yunxuan didn’t hold back. The treasures from the Black Mountain Demon were all excellent materials for alchemy and artifact refinement, exactly what she needed.

With a wave of her hand, she stored everything into her spatial pouch. At that moment, Gao Lang and the others, having finished clearing out the lesser demons, came over to find her.

Suddenly, a female Taoist stared at Shen Yunxuan, then at the fifty soldiers behind her. Her expression changed dramatically, and she rushed forward in excitement.

“Are you… Are you the Judge?”

“Hm?” Shen Yunxuan looked at her in confusion.

The female Taoist was overwhelmed with emotion. “I… I’m from Willow Village. Twenty years ago, the Judge saved us poor souls from that cursed place. I vowed to become like the Judge, to eliminate evil and do good. Later, by chance, I was able to cultivate and become a Taoist master. My greatest wish in this life was to meet the Judge again and express my gratitude.”

She looked at the fifty soldiers accompanying Shen Yunxuan and continued, “I’ve searched for so long. The most reliable rumors said that the Judge was always accompanied by dozens of guards with a unique aura, resembling military men. And that the Judge was a young woman who favored using a money sword.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the money sword in Shen Yunxuan’s hand. In truth, she didn’t particularly prefer this weapon—it was just the first one she had used. Over time, she had inscribed talismans, carved formations, and even stained it with her blood in battle. Unknowingly, she had nurtured the money sword into the most well-suited artifact for herself, so she had continued using it.

Shen Yunxuan had no idea how she had come to be known as the “Judge.” Back then, she had simply made a passing comment. However, she quickly noticed from the expressions of the Taoist masters that her past actions in this realm had earned admiration rather than resentment. Seeing this, she openly acknowledged the title.

“At that time, I simply acted out of a sense of justice. Anyone with a kind heart would have done the same. You don’t need to hold onto it so dearly.”

The female Taoist became even more emotional. “It truly is you! Judge, please accept my bow of gratitude!”

She immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Shen Yunxuan. Shen Yunxuan quickly reached out to lift her up.

Beyond their initial shock, the other Taoist masters now gazed at Shen Yunxuan with subtle reverence and respect. One of them asked, “Judge, have you come to the capital this time because you sensed the presence of great demons and came to assist?”

They all assumed that must be the case. The last time the Judge had appeared, she had eliminated many villains and exposed hidden threats within the imperial court. Though her actions had given the emperor quite a headache at the time, the kingdom had flourished after those evildoers were purged. Now that the Judge had returned, it must mean that trouble was once again brewing in the capital.

Shen Yunxuan responded cryptically, “The will of the heavens is unfathomable. I was simply meant to be here at this moment.”

Hearing this, their respect deepened.

Shen Yunxuan decided to probe further. “Just as when the prince was lost in the world…”

One of the Taoist masters immediately caught on, his eyes lighting up. “So, the Judge had come for His Majesty back then!”

His Majesty?

Shen Yunxuan’s heart skipped a beat.

Had the prince she once saved become the emperor?

She didn’t want to ask directly, as that would expose her lack of knowledge. Instead, she simply nodded slightly, maintaining her air of mystery.

As expected, the other party, in their excitement, revealed even more information.

It turned out that after she left, the national preceptor personally escorted the third prince back to the palace. Once the emperor uncovered the truth, he sentenced the treacherous concubine to death by poison and exterminated her entire family. He then devoted himself to nurturing the third prince. The prince, being naturally intelligent and precocious, quickly proved himself capable, offering unique insights into governance. Within a few years, he was formally established as the crown prince.

Five years ago, the former emperor passed away, and the third prince ascended the throne. Since then, he had implemented numerous reforms, bringing clarity to the court and prosperity to the people. The current state of peace and order was entirely thanks to his efforts. Yet, when officials submitted memorials praising him, the emperor attributed all credit to the Judge.

There had long been a temple dedicated to the Judge in the outskirts of the capital, where incense offerings were abundant. The emperor had the temple expanded and refurbished, and he also erected a statue of the Judge within the palace for personal worship.

With the emperor setting the example, many cities followed suit, building golden statues of the Judge. This was why everyone held such deep reverence and goodwill toward her.

Shen Yunxuan was quite pleased to learn all this. She hadn’t expected that a single act of kindness in the past would bring such immense benefits. However, she was also puzzled—when she visited the apocalyptic world, she could immediately sense the power of faith. Given that so many temples and statues had been dedicated to her here, with incense burning day and night, why wasn’t she feeling any faith energy from them?

She had been here for quite some time, yet the only pure faith energy she had received came from the female Taoist master. Could it be that all those statues were useless?

She didn’t want to waste time pondering over this, so she simply stated, “The demon here has been eliminated. I must go and see the emperor.”

The female Taoist master immediately offered, “Judge, shall I guide you?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Alright, I’ll trouble you then.”

Just like that, she smoothly arrived at the imperial palace. She had assumed she would have to go through multiple levels of reporting and a long wait to see the emperor. But to her surprise, she had barely reached the palace gates when the emperor hurriedly emerged, personally coming to greet her!

The emperor had, of course, seen her true face before. The moment he laid eyes on her, he struggled to suppress his excitement. “Master! You’ve finally arrived!”

The emperor was now nearly thirty years old, but traces of his childhood features remained. Shen Yunxuan sighed wistfully. “Your Majesty has grown up. It seems you have also fulfilled your past aspirations—how wonderful.”

Back then, all he had wanted was to return to the palace, avenge his mother and maternal family, and rise above all others. Now, he had achieved all of that—and more. He had become a wise and widely praised ruler.

Over the years, whenever he felt exhausted or overwhelmed, he would think of Shen Yunxuan—the person who had saved him, who had brought a ray of light into his dark life. That thought alone would give him boundless strength, driving him to keep striving and succeeding, until he finally reached where he was today. And now, he had received her personal praise. The emperor’s eyes reddened with emotion.

But as an emperor, he was skilled at controlling his emotions. He only stepped forward, both respectful and affectionate, and said, “Master, please come in. I have already ordered a grand feast to be prepared in your honor.”

The news had spread quickly, and many officials rushed over, only to be utterly shocked when they saw their normally imposing emperor slightly bowing in front of Shen Yunxuan. Such a level of reverence? They immediately reassessed her importance. Until now, they had thought the emperor’s devotion to the Judge’s statues was at least partly for show. But seeing him act like this, even dropping the imperial “We” in favor of a more humble address, they realized his sincerity was unquestionable. Naturally, they had to show the same respect.

Shen Yunxuan lightly held the emperor’s arm and smiled. “Good. It’s been many years—we should have a proper reunion.”

Two imperial sedan chairs were prepared side by side. The emperor had specially ordered a sedan chair to be used for Shen Yunxuan, as a sign of his great respect. This once again astonished the officials. Some censorate officials wanted to object but ultimately held their tongues. The emperor had become more and more resolute in his decisions, and the Judge’s past deeds were too overwhelming—this was not the time to speak out.

For the first time, Shen Yunxuan tasted imperial cuisine, finding it just as delicious as the ones she had eaten in her “Imperial Consort Shen Yunxuan” memories. She thoroughly enjoyed herself, even picking out a few favorite dishes and asking the emperor to have more prepared for her to take with her.

Naturally, the emperor was more than happy to comply, immediately mobilizing the imperial kitchen to prepare a grand feast for her.

This simple act of enjoying food so naturally made Shen Yunxuan seem more approachable, easing the emperor’s initial apprehension from their long separation. The sense of unfamiliarity from the years apart melted away.

After the meal, the emperor spoke earnestly to Shen Yunxuan. “Master, it was only thanks to your help back then that my fate changed so drastically. Before he passed, the former national preceptor told me that years ago, he had sensed the birth of the Purple Star. But after that, he could no longer find its presence. He believed this meant the Purple Star either wouldn’t survive to adulthood or would fade into obscurity.

But because you helped me, he saw the Purple Star appear in the heavens once again. Master, your kindness to me is beyond measure.”

Shen Yunxuan smiled, cutting him off before he could continue. “Those who are destined will receive heaven’s aid. Perhaps this was always your path. I only acted in accordance with the will of the heavens, appearing at the right time to lend you a hand. You have what you have today because of your own efforts. The person you should thank the most is yourself.

When I first met you, you were still a child. And now, you have ruled this vast land wisely and justly. I am truly proud of you.”

“Truly? Master, you are proud of me?” The emperor struggled to contain his emotions.

He had never realized how much he longed for recognition. He had always thought himself indifferent to others’ opinions. But now, hearing this from her, he finally understood—Master’s approval held a special place in his heart.

Shen Yunxuan nodded firmly. Back then, her assistance had indeed been a coincidence, or perhaps it was, as she had said, destiny at work. She hadn’t actually contributed much. Even though she now sought to gain faith power from this world, she couldn’t in good conscience accept the emperor’s claim that she had done him an immeasurable favor. His success was ultimately his own achievement.

It was just like how she had obtained the system and risen to where she was today, while Zhang Yang had squandered the same opportunity in his past life, turning his life into a mess. The same chance could lead to different outcomes depending on the person. The key factor was always the individual.

As her power grew, so did the temptations she faced. She needed to stay true to herself. What was rightfully hers, she would take. But she would never take what did not belong to her.

The emperor, being who he was, quickly understood her thoughts. Instead of feeling slighted, he felt even more admiration for her and smiled. “Then you are still my benefactor.”

Shen Yunxuan seized the moment to joke, “I heard that Your Majesty has already repaid me—by erecting golden statues in my honor. May I have a look at them?”

For once, the emperor seemed slightly embarrassed. When he had ordered the statues built, he had assumed he would never see Shen Yunxuan again. So, he had publicly proclaimed her great kindness and encouraged the entire nation to build golden statues in her honor. Now that she was here, asking to see them, he felt a bit awkward.

But since she wanted to see them, he immediately took her to the palace hall where the statue was enshrined.

The hall was solemn and grand. As soon as Shen Yunxuan stepped inside, she instinctively composed herself. It was clear that the emperor took this very seriously.

The statue itself was massive, around five meters tall, and bore an astonishing resemblance to her—about an eighty percent likeness. However, Shen Yunxuan still couldn’t feel any faith power from it.

She looked up at the statue and hesitated. “This statue was built in my honor—it represents me?”

“Of course!” the emperor replied. “This is the statue I erected for you! However, among the common folk, you are known as the ‘Judge.’ I do not know if that title is accurate. Furthermore, no one knew your real name, so I did not inscribe one on the statue.”

Shen Yunxuan’s heart stirred. “Titles are given by others. My real name is Shen Yunxuan.”

The emperor was overjoyed. She was willing to tell him her name—did this mean she saw him as someone close and trustworthy? Without hesitation, he ordered an imperial brush with gold lacquer to be brought forth. He personally walked to the back of the statue and inscribed the words “Judge Shen Yunxuan.”

At that very moment, Shen Yunxuan suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of faith power surging toward her. She instinctively closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of the divine energy surrounding her.

So, this was the key—only when a sovereign ruler formally recognized the statue did it truly take effect. Previously, the emperor had been uncertain of her real name and title, which prevented her from receiving the faith power. But now that he had personally inscribed her name with his imperial decree, it was as if she and the statue had merged into one. From this moment on, all the faith and offerings dedicated to her in this world would be fully accessible to her.

And because she had come here willingly and established such a deep connection, even after she left—or traveled to another world—she would still be able to receive the faith power from this realm.

Shen Yunxuan opened her eyes, filled with gratitude toward the emperor. “Thank you.”

The emperor smiled as sincerely as he had in his youth. “It is my honor if this benefits you. Master, would you … be willing to become my Imperial Advisor?”

Shen Yunxuan raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The emperor explained, “Every emperor has their own advisor. The previous national preceptor was a lifelong friend of my father. My father once said that the burden of power is unbearably lonely, but because of his advisor, he never truly felt alone. Over the years, I have never appointed a new advisor—until today. Master, if there is one person I can trust completely and confide in, it must be you. Would you accept this role?”

To be valued so highly by a ruler was undoubtedly tempting. But she hesitated. “I do not study astrology, nor do I predict the future…”

“No matter!” The emperor walked to the entrance of the hall, gazing at the sky. “My fate is my own, not dictated by the heavens. I rule my nation with my own hands—I have never needed fortune-telling.”

It was only in this moment that Shen Yunxuan saw the true power of an emperor within him. This was a man who had crawled out of hardship and seized his throne with his own strength and intelligence. She admired such a person. Moreover, she had many things she could teach him.

Without further hesitation, she agreed. “Very well, I shall be your Imperial Advisor.”

The emperor turned to look at her, his eyes filled with delight. This was the happiest day of his life.

Shen Yunxuan then informed him that she had urgent matters to attend to and would only visit occasionally, with no set schedule. The emperor immediately handed her a jade token, granting her unrestricted access to the palace.

Then, recalling how she had once sought various books, the emperor personally led her to the royal archives. Not only did he grant her access to the imperial library, but he also presented her with rare and unique manuscripts from his private collection—books he had deliberately sought out over the years.

Additionally, he gifted her an entire warehouse filled with precious magical artifacts, weapons, and cultivation techniques. The collection included numerous rare treasures.

Among them was a storage bracelet that finally solved Shen Yunxuan’s space constraints. The moment she put it on, it adjusted perfectly to fit her wrist. It was exquisitely crafted, and the internal storage was as vast as a 500-square-meter house—more than enough to store all the gifts the emperor had bestowed upon her.

Additionally, there were many storage pouches, each about the size of a twenty-square-meter room.

These were exactly the kinds of things Shen Yunxuan had planned to collect on this trip. She hadn’t expected the emperor to prepare everything for her in advance, giving her an enormous surprise.

Naturally, she couldn’t just take without giving in return. Drawing from the experiences of “Imperial Consort Shen Yunxuan” in the Book of Memories, she provided the emperor with valuable knowledge beneficial to the ancient world—advanced rice cultivation techniques, the cowpox vaccine, cement, firearms, and more.

The emperor became even more convinced that Shen Yunxuan was his greatest benefactor! Everything he had given her was already within his possession—perhaps they were treasures, but for an emperor, acquiring rare artifacts was nothing unusual. It was merely a matter of effort.

However, what Shen Yunxuan had given him could propel the entire dynasty forward, ensure the people’s well-being, and even provide powerful weapons against demons. To him, what she had provided were treasures beyond compare. Making her the Imperial Advisor was undoubtedly the wisest decision—she was truly helping him safeguard the nation!

At the next morning’s court session, the emperor specifically arranged a seat for Shen Yunxuan. Under the puzzled gazes of the court officials, he publicly announced the many treasures she had brought to the imperial court.

The officials erupted in excitement, their gazes toward Shen Yunxuan filled with gratitude and admiration.

When word of this spread, Shen Yunxuan gained an even greater influx of faith power. With this, she had essentially achieved her objectives in this world ahead of schedule. There was no longer any need to actively search for resources, so she decisively bid farewell to the emperor.

The emperor had hoped she would stay longer, but Shen Yunxuan simply did not have the time. Before the next forced traversal, she wanted to establish connections with as many worlds as possible—she had to leave.

The next time they met might be many years later due to another system upgrade, but Shen Yunxuan was confident that the knowledge she had left behind would be enough for the emperor to advance the nation for decades. Before leaving, she advised him, “A long and healthy life is essential to governing a country well. Take good care of yourself. I hope that when I return, we can drink together in celebration.”

The emperor understood her meaning. If she returned twenty years later, he would be nearing fifty—his father had not even lived that long. Moved by her words, he solemnly nodded, secretly resolving to prioritize his health from now on—early to bed, early to rise, and a focus on longevity.

Shen Yunxuan and her team of special forces operatives returned to the main world. Though she had spent most of her time with the emperor, she had also sent the female Taoist master and her team to hunt minor demons in the countryside, allowing them to accumulate practical combat experience.

Upon returning, Shen Yunxuan immediately discovered that the system had upgraded to level six. Overjoyed, she submitted all collected materials for testing and told Elder Xu, “This time, I brought back many storage pouches. Let’s distribute one to each of Gao Lang’s team members. It will allow them to carry more supplies independently during future traversals.

I have a feeling that as we face greater opportunities ahead, we may not always be together. We might have to split up. With storage pouches, their mobility and effectiveness will improve significantly.”

Elder Xu took her instincts seriously and immediately promised to submit a request to higher authorities. Hearing about how the emperor had honored and valued Shen Yunxuan, Elder Xu was filled with pride. He patted her head and smiled. “Our Yunxuan deserves the best. It’s because you have a kind heart and a commendable way of handling things that so many people willingly follow you.”

Shen Yunxuan recalled how, in the beginning, she had deliberately approached Elder Xu out of caution. Smiling, she said, “When I first got the system, I was terrified. All I could think about was how to survive carefully. I never imagined that because of the system, I would gain so much. It has truly been my lucky star.”

Elder Xu nodded but then became serious. “Even though the system has brought you many benefits, the rule of forced traversal on the first of every month is still filled with unknown dangers. Stay cautious and vigilant.”

Shen Yunxuan chuckled. “Grandpa, don’t worry. The system won’t harm me. It forces me to traverse so that I can grow.”

After a short rest, she led her team to the Giant World and Martial Arts World. Surprisingly, because these two worlds were capped at level three and could not be upgraded to level six, time had barely progressed since her last visit.

Returning to them now, everything was just as she had left it. However, with her current strength, and even the abilities of Gao Lang’s team, they were now considered top-tier experts in those worlds. Their arrival caused an immediate sensation, and they smoothly established connections.

In the Giant World, Shen Yunxuan was regarded as a divine messenger. She taught the giants how to forge cold weapons and essential tools for daily life, while they provided her with a vast array of rare plants and animals. These materials were invaluable to her home world, offering immense nutritional benefits and the potential for large-scale cultivation in the post-apocalyptic world.

Furthermore, Shen Yunxuan discovered two massive mines in the Giant World. The place was like an untouched treasure trove of natural resources. After establishing a firm connection with them, this world essentially became a vassal of her main world. Overnight, a vast supply of usable resources became available. The higher-ups had already started planning for specialized teams to explore and extract petroleum and other valuable minerals in her next visit.

As for the Martial Arts World, Shen Yunxuan arrived just a few months after the martial arts tournament had ended. Learning that the Demon Sect had issued a bounty on her head, she immediately took action—leading her team to annihilate the sect in one decisive battle! Her legendary victory solidified her reputation, and from that day forward, the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion became an unshakable force in the martial world.

Shen Yunxuan officially established Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, leaving it in the hands of her sworn brother and sister. Its primary function was to use the modern tools she had introduced in exchange for martial arts techniques and rare treasures, which would then be used to support charitable organizations, rescue orphans, and aid the weak.

Since direct demonstrations of strength were inconvenient for gaining faith power in the martial arts world, she instead built her influence through acts of goodwill. By widely spreading her reputation for virtue, she gained a following of admirers and grateful citizens, accumulating both faith power and immeasurable merit.

For now, both of these worlds had become stable, peaceful, and safe places for her. They held no major surprises. With a secure trade route established, she could return whenever necessary.

With everything settled, Shen Yunxuan quickly completed her objectives and then made a crucial decision—she would now venture into the Interstellar World.

The level six Interstellar World would undoubtedly be far more dangerous than anything she had faced before.

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Shen Yunxuan stayed in the apocalypse world for two days. On the first night, Qi Zhan gathered everyone in the base for a celebration on the training field to welcome her return. It was only then that she realized how much the base had expanded—it had truly grown and thrived!

The most remarkable thing was that everyone’s spirits were high, as if they had been living with hope all along. It was a stark contrast to the despair she had seen when she last visited.

Qi Zhan smiled and said, “It’s all thanks to you, Captain Shen. You left behind so many resources and medicines that gave everyone hope and a goal. That’s why we’ve been so full of life. In the past, we could see our fates clearly—just endless days repeating the same numb routine.

“But now, it’s different. We go out to clear zombies, gather supplies, fortify the base, train everyone, research medicine, try to establish radio contact with other bases, and wait for you to bring back even better things. Every single thing we do is full of hope.

“This time, you even brought us professional books and tools. Life will be much easier now. You truly are our savior.”

Shen Yunxuan smiled and said, “In reality, each of you is your own savior. Seeing hope is only one part of it—choosing to maintain a positive mindset and work hard to improve your lives is what truly makes the difference. I’m proud of all of you.”

Her words ignited a wave of excitement among the crowd. They had waited a whole year, and now their leader was finally back—and she had acknowledged them!

Then, she continued, “The place I come from is extremely far from here. The next time I visit could be in another year, or even a few years. Every time I return, I will bring you better things. But while I’m not here, you must all live well.

“By the way, are there any particularly strong zombies nearby? I can help you take care of them.”

Qi Zhan quickly said, “Captain Shen, you rarely get to visit. Don’t trouble yourself with these things. Just rest and enjoy the base.”

Shen Yunxuan waved a hand dismissively. “You all chose me as your leader—I can’t let you down. Besides, my level has increased a lot. Fighting high-level zombies isn’t that dangerous for me. Let’s go, take me to them.”

Seeing her determination, Qi Zhan had no choice but to select the strongest ability users in the base and lead them alongside her, prepared to protect her at any moment. Shen Yunxuan also brought along Gao Lang and the other fifty special forces soldiers. A battlefield like this was a rare opportunity—they wouldn’t miss the chance to kill zombies and train.

They set off to deal with a powerful level-seven metal-type zombie that had been discovered inside a prison. Because the prison had been packed with zombies and sealed off from the outside, no one had gone in to clear them. Over time, this high-level zombie had emerged.

Since discovering it, Qi Zhan had deliberately avoided the area. But now that Shen Yunxuan knew, she had to eliminate the threat before it could endanger Tianxing Base. It was also a perfect opportunity to test her current strength.

When facing the level-seven zombie, Shen Yunxuan immediately felt a sense of pressure. This was the strongest opponent she had encountered since her rebirth. After reaching level seven, zombies could use their abilities with incredible precision. Metal arrows, steel needles, cages, spikes erupting from the ground—it was an endless onslaught of attacks. Shen Yunxuan had to exert considerable effort just to dodge.

Fortunately, the sheer amount of faith energy she had accumulated had significantly boosted her cultivation. She quickly adapted to the zombie’s techniques and then told the others, “I’ll use it for practice. You all spread out and clear the other zombies. Be careful.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Gao Lang, Qi Zhan, and the others responded in unison. The prison was filled with zombies, and they immediately entered massacre mode.

As Shen Yunxuan fought, she tested various martial arts techniques, analyzing which ones were more effective, more convenient, and more powerful in combat. Throughout the battle, she felt her fighting experience and reaction speed rapidly improving. She even managed to imitate the level-seven zombie’s attacks, learning how to shape her spiritual energy into thin needles, sharp arrows, cages, and more. Unlike metal, spiritual energy was intangible and could catch opponents off guard—making it even deadlier.

With such significant gains, Shen Yunxuan was thrilled. Unfortunately, by this point, the level-seven zombie had exhausted its energy. Although zombies didn’t experience fatigue, its abilities had weakened to the point where they were no longer a threat. Shen Yunxuan swiftly finished it off and claimed its level-seven crystal core.

Meanwhile, the others had completely cleared out the prison. Shen Yunxuan stored all usable supplies into her spatial storage. Qi Zhan then led her to hunt down two more level-six zombies, two level-seven zombies, and, finally, an unexpected level-eight psychic-type zombie.

They discovered this level-eight zombie while dealing with the other high-level ones. It turned out to be the very same psychic zombie that had led the attack on Thunder Base. The former leader of Thunder Base had believed it was already dead, but in reality, the psychic zombie had used mental illusions to confuse the humans, then escaped while seriously injured. It had likely been gathering more high-level zombies to launch another assault on Tianxing Base—Shen Yunxuan’s arrival was perfect timing.

She fortified her mental defenses and successfully defeated the psychic zombie, confirming that her current strength was roughly at level eight. Once she finished refining all of her accumulated faith energy, she would likely reach level nine—something the apocalypse world had never seen before. The only reason this psychic zombie had reached level eight was because psychic zombies retained intelligence.

After obtaining the level-eight psychic crystal core, she suddenly remembered the crystal cores she had handed over to the research lab. Although the lab had yet to fully analyze them, a thought struck her—since psychic zombies retained intelligence, would absorbing a psychic crystal core increase her IQ?

She carefully stored the core away and returned to the base. After unloading supplies, she set up a protective formation around the base, explaining to Qi Zhan how to activate it and how it could fend off zombies. She also gave them a large number of protective talismans and thunder explosion charms.

By the time night fell, she bid everyone farewell. Standing in the sports stadium, she and her team vanished once again.

Qi Zhan and the others were already experienced with this. After waiting for a moment, they opened the doors to the gymnasium, saw that it was empty, and sighed before announcing, “The leader has left.”

Everyone in the base felt a deep sense of loss. Even though many of them had just met Shen Yunxuan for the first time, she had brought them so many supplies and medicines, helped them eliminate all the high-level zombies in their territory, and demonstrated overwhelming strength. They had completely accepted her as their leader.

But before they could truly take a good look at her, she was already gone.

Qi Zhan turned to everyone and said, “From the things the leader brought us, it’s clear that the place where she lives is far more advanced than here. If we want her to stay, we need to become stronger—stronger than anyone else!

Now that we have the serum to awaken abilities, I want everyone in our base to become an ability user. We will work hard to increase our levels, grow our base into a true powerhouse, and show the leader our progress! Do we have confidence?”

“Yes! Get stronger! Get stronger!!”

Shen Yunxuan had no idea that Tianxing Base had been ignited with an unprecedented fighting spirit. After returning to her own world, she was surprised to find that even here, she could still receive faith energy from the apocalypse world.

[System, what’s going on? It wasn’t like this before. Has something changed?]

[System: Host, because this time you traveled there voluntarily and established a deep and stable connection with that world, you can now continuously receive their faith energy.]

Shen Yunxuan’s eyes lit up. If that was the case, then she absolutely had to revisit the other worlds she had been to before! Not just for the faith energy but also for the massive amount of merit—both of which would be highly beneficial to her.

She quickly handed over the crystal cores, soil samples, plants, gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and all the other materials she had brought back. Then, she approached Elder Xu to help her request permission to use the psychic crystal cores.

Since crystal cores had been identified as a new energy source, the higher the level, the stronger the energy they contained. For now, the government had been storing them while figuring out how to utilize them. There were also concerns among experts that absorbing high-level crystal cores might be too dangerous and could even harm humans. Due to time constraints, full-scale tests and experiments hadn’t been completed yet, so only a few low-level crystal cores had been distributed to special forces soldiers for training.

This time, however, Shen Yunxuan and her team brought back new information—ability users in the apocalypse world could naturally sense whether they were capable of absorbing a crystal core’s energy. If they lacked the capacity, they simply couldn’t absorb it. This was a universal rule in that world, with no exceptions. In other words, people could use crystal cores freely, and when they reached their limit, they wouldn’t be able to absorb more.

This drastically reduced the potential dangers. So, as soon as Elder Xu submitted the application, approval was granted. Half of all the collected crystal cores were sent to the Bureau for personnel to enhance their abilities, while the other half remained allocated for national research and military use. Among the delivered batch were the two psychic crystal cores.

Without hesitation, Shen Yunxuan absorbed the first level-five psychic crystal core. As she expected, not only did it strengthen her mental perception, but it also increased her intelligence. The level-five core alone boosted her IQ from 195 to 220! She immediately absorbed the level-eight core, and her IQ soared directly to 300!

Shen Yunxuan couldn’t quite describe what had changed within her. She just knew that everything she had ever studied suddenly became crystal clear. The advanced mathematics problems she once found difficult now seemed ridiculously simple in hindsight. Anything a teacher had ever taught her, anything she had ever read in a book—she now understood all of it. Her memory had become extraordinarily vivid, allowing her to recall everything perfectly.

Even the knowledge she had gained from the book of memories fully integrated into her mind, making it feel as though she had truly lived through countless worlds, accumulating all the experience and skills of her past selves.

It was an incredible sensation. It was as if she had gathered every version of herself into one singular, enhanced being. Everything that each version of her had ever learned—she could now do it all!

There was a phrase that might sound childish, but at this moment, it was the perfect way to describe her:

Shen Yunxuan was now terrifyingly powerful.

When everyone learned that her IQ had reached 300, they were beyond thrilled. They all agreed that the apocalypse world was a land of fortune—it had benefited them tremendously. Every time they traveled there, they made monumental breakthroughs, and they wished they could go back immediately to scour the world for more high-level crystal cores.

However, Tianxing Base no longer had an excess of crystal cores stored up, and their side didn’t currently have better serums or supplies to trade. Since wasting time on an inefficient trip wasn’t ideal, Shen Yunxuan decided to visit the ghost world instead. She had caused quite a stir there before, even supporting a prince.

Now that the system had upgraded to level five, it had likely been many years in that world. That prince must have grown up by now. If he had any real capability, he should have already helped spread her name far and wide, allowing her to accumulate faith energy.

The Bureau’s logistics department immediately began preparing the necessary materials—yellow talismans, cinnabar ink, top-grade jade, ancient coins, and other essential tools for combatting supernatural entities. Fortunately, Shen Yunxuan had brought back an abundance of antiques and treasures from the apocalypse world, so they lacked nothing.

While the logistics department was making preparations, Xu Wenyu came to speak with Shen Yunxuan. “Last month, our Bureau took on a cold case from ten years ago. Because there were no leads, and an eerie photo of a woman in a red dress hanging from a noose had spread online, the case had long been rumored to involve the supernatural.

“We assigned several of our best detectives to investigate. Yesterday, they finally solved the case. It turns out the victim’s biological father, an alcoholic, had beaten her to death while demanding money from her. After realizing what he had done, he became superstitious and feared that she would return as a vengeful ghost.

So, he hanged her and tied heavy weights to her ankles—a practice from an old folk legend in his hometown meant to prevent spirits from rising for revenge…”

The entire case had nothing to do with actual ghosts—it was a homicide. However, because of the numerous mysterious rumors online, the authorities wanted the Special Affairs Bureau to clarify the facts of the case.

Shen Yunxuan understood immediately. When she initially proposed setting up an official account, this was exactly its intended purpose—to help the public understand the Bureau’s role, provide a way for people to report truly strange incidents, and allow her colleagues to filter through them to ensure real anomalies weren’t overlooked.

This would also help boost her authority and the Bureau’s public recognition.

In the conference room, Shen Yunxuan recorded a video explaining the case. Thanks to her integrated “Best Actress Shen Yunxuan” memories, she was completely natural in front of the camera. She clearly outlined the facts as per the authorities’ directive, concluding with: “There are no ghosts or supernatural beings in this world. Science should always be trusted.”

Xu Wenyu took the recording to the PR department, and they immediately approved it without any modifications. He gave Shen Yunxuan a thumbs-up. “One take, perfectly done. You just keep getting better.”

Netizens had been struggling with withdrawal since the seven-day live stream ended. It was so captivating that they kept replaying recorded clips, rewatching the edited version, and becoming even more obsessed with Shen Yunxuan. Multiple fan groups had formed, all wondering when they would get to see her again.

Then, out of nowhere, the official account of the Special Affairs Bureau updated—with a brand-new video featuring Shen Yunxuan. The internet erupted in celebration, swarming to the comments section.

But when they clicked on the video, they were stunned.

What?

You’re saying this bizarre cold case had nothing to do with ghosts?

That it was just an ordinary murder case?

That the reason it remained unsolved for so long was because the victim was an orphan, so no one knew she was connected to the suspect, and heavy rain at the time destroyed the crime scene evidence?

So it was just a series of coincidences that made the case seem supernatural, and now the truth had finally been revealed?

The audience found it hard to believe. Even if this particular case wasn’t supernatural, what about all the other strange stories out there? How could Shen Yunxuan be so certain that ghosts didn’t exist?

Many people started flooding her comments with questions, posting gifs of her from the reality show.

“Instructor Shen! This hand gesture of yours was definitely a talisman drawing! Don’t try to deny it!”

Shen Yunxuan casually scrolled through the comments and, after getting approval from her superiors, directly replied: “Yes, I was drawing a talisman in midair.”

“AAAAAAAHHHH! Instructor Shen replied to me!!! Wait—no, more importantly, she admitted it!”

“WHAT?! Instructor Shen, you practice talisman magic and still tell us to believe in science?”

Shen Yunxuan responded: “Science covers a broad range of subjects. To be honest, drawing talismans is similar to solving math problems—it requires precision and follows strict rules.”

“No, no, Instructor Shen, you practice mystical arts and still say ghosts don’t exist?”

Shen Yunxuan: “Those are two separate things. There really are no ghosts. The world lacks spiritual energy, making their existence impossible. Also, talismans aren’t just for exorcising spirits. There are cooling talismans, focus-enhancing talismans, protective talismans…”

“AAAAAH I WANT THEM! Instructor Shen, please sell them!!!”

“Instructor Shen, save me! I’m a grad student drowning in exhaustion—I desperately need a focus-enhancing talisman!”

“Instructor Shen, I work in a high-risk profession! I need a protective talisman! I’ll sign in blood for one!”

The comment section was soon flooded with desperate requests to buy talismans.

After submitting another request for approval, Shen Yunxuan got the green light. Her colleagues quickly launched the Bureau’s official online store, listing the agreed-upon talisman types. They were sold in limited quantities, on a real-name basis, and each person could only buy one. Orders would be fulfilled based on the queue once stock was available.

While her team set up the store, Shen Yunxuan quickly began drawing a massive batch of talismans.

Netizens had initially been joking about it. Deep down, they never truly expected Shen Yunxuan to actually sell talismans. They assumed such items must be incredibly rare, top-secret military-grade tools that would never be made available to the public.

But within just a few hours, the store was up and running—and talismans were actually listed for sale!

People who were skilled at sniping concert tickets put their speed to use, furiously inputting their details to secure a spot in the purchase queue. The moment they successfully placed an order, many literally jumped with excitement, overwhelmed with joy.

Then, someone realized that the earliest orders had already been shipped.

“Waaaaah, Instructor Shen isn’t responding anymore—she must be working hard drawing talismans! She really loves us!”

“Instructor Shen grants every wish! She’s too kind! I’m going to be her fan for life!”

The first recipients were, of course, those in the same city as the Bureau. Among them was Zhang Yang.

After being released, Zhang Yang had speculated that Shen Yunxuan had official backing and didn’t dare act recklessly anymore. He had been behaving himself, but inside, he was still filled with malicious thoughts.

He hoped the government would try to control Shen Yunxuan, dissect her, and study her. In his mind, even if she was being treated well now, it was only because she was still useful. Sooner or later, she would become a test subject! He was convinced that if he waited long enough, he would hear news of Shen Yunxuan’s downfall.

But instead of seeing her demise, he saw her on television—starring in a reality show.

He had watched the entire broadcast, eyes glued to the screen, searching for any signs of special effects. But having once possessed a system himself, he knew the truth.

All of Shen Yunxuan’s abilities were real.

There was no way to deny it. He had to admit—after obtaining the system, Shen Yunxuan had far surpassed him. Her abilities had reached an unimaginable level.

But what shocked him the most was that those elite special forces soldiers were her subordinates.

Not only that—Shen Yunxuan had an actual military rank.

And a very high one at that!

That could only mean that Shen Yunxuan had earned first-class or special-class merits, prompting a direct promotion in military rank. How did she earn those merits? It must have been by handing over all the treasures she brought back from other dimensions to the nation.

At this moment, Zhang Yang finally understood—Shen Yunxuan had completely aligned herself with the government, making enormous contributions and, in return, received the country’s protection. This allowed her to gain even greater benefits and rapidly enhance her strength.

He had no idea that Shen Yunxuan was using the method from the Book of Memories to convert faith into power, so he could only assume that the government was pouring dimension currency and every available resource into her. Jealousy consumed him. Why was Shen Yunxuan so lucky? Not only was she not dissected, but she was also treated with such high regard?

When Shen Yunxuan openly admitted that she could inscribe talismans, Zhang Yang was even more shocked. He had also traveled to a cultivation world, but it had been full of dangers. He had nearly been devoured by a demonic beast and never even had the chance to learn about talismans. Yet, Shen Yunxuan had already mastered them?

So, when he discovered that the Special Affairs Bureau was selling talismans, Zhang Yang immediately hired a bunch of scalpers to help him grab as many as possible.

The moment he received his talismans, he stuck a Cooling Talisman onto himself—the result was instant. A wave of refreshing coolness spread over him, completely dispelling the summer heat. The talismans were real, and Shen Yunxuan’s ability to inscribe them was also real.

After his initial shock, Zhang Yang was filled with deep regret. Why had he given the system to Shen Yunxuan in the first place? If he had known the government would be so accommodating to the supernatural, he would have bound the system to himself and handed it over to the authorities. Then, everything Shen Yunxuan had now would be his.

Resentment surged within him again. He attempted to post online about Shen Yunxuan possessing a system that allowed her to trade with different dimensions, but his posts vanished into the void—either ignored or ridiculed by netizens before being swiftly deleted.

He assumed it was just other users reporting him for nonsense, unaware that it was actually the Special Affairs Bureau’s monitoring team deleting his posts.

Realizing that there was no way to expose Shen Yunxuan, Zhang Yang resolved to grow stronger by himself. Leveraging his past life’s business knowledge, he mobilized all his available funds and launched a major financial operation.

Meanwhile, Shen Yunxuan had already led her team into the Ghost Realm Dimension.

A fifth-level ghost realm was significantly more dangerous than before. The moment they arrived, they witnessed a dozen Taoist masters encircling a Black Mountain Demon in the countryside.

The battle was intense, with spiritual energy and demonic aura clashing violently. Shen Yunxuan feared that Gao Lang and the others might get caught in the chaos, so she immediately activated a protective barrier around her team.

This slight movement caught the attention of one of the Taoist masters.

“Fellow Taoist, quickly, come help us! This demon has wreaked havoc in the capital, slaughtering over a hundred people! We’ve finally cornered it—join us in subduing it!”

The urgency in his voice was evident—their battle was not going well. An extra ally, especially a powerful one, would be a crucial advantage.

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Sandy: Last chapter pw protected. Please find pw in TOC.

When the show was officially announced, they promised a seven-day live broadcast, and they truly meant it. Except for private moments like showering, using the bathroom, and changing clothes, everything was continuously streamed. Even at night, multiple split screens allowed viewers to choose who they wanted to watch and zoom in accordingly.

Then, the viewers made a shocking discovery—Shen Yunxuan never slept! She simply sat cross-legged on her bed, closed her eyes, and remained in meditation the entire night.

“She’s definitely practicing martial arts!”

“Oh my god, look at her four subordinates! They’re meditating too!”

“So, special forces actually train in martial arts, right?”

“This has to be metaphysics—Shen Yunxuan must know how to draw talismans!”

“I suddenly feel so hyped! I never knew we had such a powerful team!”

“The real question is—why is this being broadcast? Does this mean… we might be able to learn it too?”

“Signing in blood to demand lessons!”

“A million signatures for this!”

When people realized this could involve them, interest skyrocketed. Even those busy with work started sneaking peeks at the live stream, hoping to learn something. After all, Shen Yunxuan was genuinely teaching the ten celebrity guests with great detail.

During these seven days, every morning, Shen Yunxuan patiently trained the ten stars. Some had exceptional physical fitness, while others were far weaker. Some surprised everyone with unexpected talent, while others fumbled and made hilarious mistakes, making the show incredibly entertaining. The show’s popularity soared just from this alone.

In the afternoons, Zheng Lin and Li Xue took over their training, while Shen Yunxuan moved to the training field to instruct the 2,000 special forces soldiers. The cameras only captured them from a distance and never got too close, leaving the audience guessing what exactly she was teaching. However, from their movements, it looked like… qinggong!

Indeed, Shen Yunxuan was teaching the soldiers the Fragrant Swan Steps—a skill that, with enough physical ability, anyone could learn. And as elite soldiers, they had no trouble picking it up. Within just two days, some had already mastered it; the rest just needed practice for proficiency.

Then, Shen Yunxuan formally introduced them to internal cultivation techniques and martial arts theory. These, however, weren’t skills that everyone could grasp—it depended on individual talent. She trained them for seven days straight, and with Gao Lang and Dong Yue guiding them in practice, they were receiving unparalleled training.

Every single day of this seven-day reality show trended on social media. The show was filled with engaging content, but unlike many sensationalized programs, it wasn’t annoying—it was just genuinely thrilling. And since it was only a week-long event, people found themselves eagerly tuning in every day.

By the time the last day arrived, everyone was hit with the realization—how had time flown by so quickly?! Looking at the ten celebrity guests, they had undergone a complete transformation. Shen Yunxuan had initially promised to teach them how to evade paparazzi, and now they had actually learned it! Their footwork had become so unpredictable that they ran incredibly fast—some joked that they should enter the Olympics.

Most surprisingly, they had developed a team spirit—a sense of camaraderie that revolved around one person: Shen Yunxuan! These ten were all top-tier stars, idolized and worshiped in their respective fields. They each had their own pride. Yet, in just seven days, they had been completely won over by Shen Yunxuan. If she weren’t so selective about who she recruited, they might have actually begged to join the military.

With training concluded, the show also came to an end. It was time for goodbyes, and everyone felt a deep reluctance to part ways.

One of the veteran actors, speaking on behalf of the celebrities, asked, “Instructor, will we have the chance to see you again?”

Shen Yunxuan answered honestly, “If there’s a similar program in the future, I might participate for half a day. But setting aside seven whole days like this for another show? That won’t happen again. And honestly, would any of you even join again?”

The ten guests were visibly disappointed. But then, they saw Shen Yunxuan take out her phone, waving it in front of them with a smile. “We may not have opportunities on TV, but if we’re free, we can always meet up. Thank you for making time for this show and sharing this experience with me—that’s fate. On the show, I was your instructor. Off the show, we’re friends. Let’s start a group chat.”

One of the idols immediately shot up his hand, standing proudly. “I got this! I know all about group chats. I’ll make one! Where’s my phone? Quick, get our phones—we need to add Instructor!”

“…His enthusiasm is harder to suppress than an AK.”

“My jealousy is burning! Even though he’s my bias, I can’t accept this!”

“At least your bias got to bond with Instructor Shen. I’m the real victim—I just found out my fave was also invited to this show, but they declined for a magazine cover shoot. Damn, I’m pissed!”

“I have it worse. We fans got wind of this show’s invitation and collectively begged our idol not to join. Now we’ve been watching the show religiously, and we regret it SO BADLY!”

With the group chat set up and everyone waving goodbye to the camera, the show officially ended. The final drone shot gradually zoomed out, and then the live stream cut off.

Countless viewers burst into tears. They didn’t even know why they were crying. Maybe it was because they didn’t want it to end. Maybe it was because they felt they’d never get to see Instructor Shen again. Maybe it was the abrupt emptiness of finishing a live broadcast that had filled their days. Whatever it was, one thing was certain—this show had deeply touched their hearts.

Because of this, Shen Yunxuan gained an immense amount of faith power. When she reported back to the bureau, Elder Xu once again called to thank the Entertainment Department, which delighted them! They immediately began drafting new proposals, hoping to get Shen Yunxuan to participate in more programs.

However, Shen Yunxuan’s schedule was packed. This one live reality show appearance was already enough—there was no way she could do more.

After the cameras were turned off, Shen Yunxuan went to bid farewell to the 2,000 special forces soldiers. The soldiers were even more reluctant to let her go—they hadn’t learned enough yet! Training under such a powerful instructor was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They asked her the same question, “Instructor, will we ever see you again?”

Shen Yunxuan nodded firmly. “Of course! You are the best of the best. The nation will always need you, and I will meet you again on missions, just as I have in training. Let’s work hard together. I hope that the next time we meet, your skills will have improved significantly. Do you have confidence in that?”

“Yes!!”

Their response was deafening, their eyes filled with admiration and a newfound drive—completely different from when they first met seven days ago.

Shen Yunxuan smiled slightly before straightening her expression and saluting them. In unison, all 2,000 soldiers snapped their hands up in salute. Then, without hesitation, Shen Yunxuan turned and strode away, with Gao Lang and the other three following right behind her.

There was no time for sentimentality. This mission was complete, but they had to head straight to the next military district. Every military base had broadcasted the past seven days of live training, and other districts had been calling non-stop, urging them to come. They were eagerly waiting!

Shen Yunxuan arrived at the new military base overnight. The soldiers had already learned about her through the show—especially her feat of taking on 2,000 men at once. They were both astonished and skeptical.

So, the first thing Shen Yunxuan did upon arriving at the new base was tell them: Come at me together!

No matter where or when, the quickest way to gain respect was to show strength. And in the military, the most effective way was to beat them! The soldiers were fired up, eager to test themselves against her, but they were all subdued in a single move.

Afterward, they were utterly convinced and eagerly followed Shen Yunxuan to learn the Fragrant Swan Steps, internal energy cultivation, and how to sense spiritual power.

However, unlike the previous military base, these bases did not have the luxury of a full seven-day program. Shen Yunxuan only stayed for one day at each base, leaving one of her subordinates behind for three additional days to answer questions and guide them. Meanwhile, she would move on to the next base, teach for a day, and leave another instructor behind.

By the time she finished training the fourth base, the first instructor she had left behind had completed their task and rejoined her. This cycle continued, ensuring that every base received proper training while allowing Shen Yunxuan to cover more ground.

One day, Shen Yunxuan received a call from Elder Xu, who excitedly informed her that the laboratory had successfully cracked the antiviral serum and could now mass-produce it! Additionally, the formula for the soil improvement agent had been completed, and most importantly, crystal cores had been confirmed as an incredibly potent new energy source. They could be used to power planes, rockets, and more, making them an invaluable asset. The government now officially wanted to collect as many as possible.

This was the first time the higher-ups had ever requested large-scale collection of an item from another dimension. Without hesitation, Shen Yunxuan rushed back to the bureau. The remaining military bases would have to wait until she had time to return.

Back at the bureau, Shen Yunxuan immediately began preparing for independent dimensional travel. This time, she wasn’t just bringing a large supply of antiviral serum—she was also carrying the full research data for the serum and soil improvement agent, various experimental equipment, massive amounts of food, and all sorts of supplies necessary for survival in the apocalypse.

Her team’s clothing had also been upgraded. They now wore specially designed outfits made from materials that even a level-two zombie couldn’t tear through. The suits also had slight waterproof and fire-resistant properties—while they weren’t completely invulnerable, they provided a crucial layer of protection.

While the logistics team prepared these supplies, Shen Yunxuan focused on refining her faith power. The seven-day live show had already been edited into a high-quality version by Guoguo TV, and the Entertainment Department had distributed it across major television networks and platforms. Even elderly folks who didn’t use the internet were now watching and getting to know her. Because of this, her faith power was continuously growing, and she had to refine it every day.

Elder Xu asked, “Yunxuan, what level would you say you are now?”

Shen Yunxuan thought for a moment. “Last time I went to the apocalypse, I was on par with level-four ability users. But now… I feel like taking down a level-five ability user would be as easy as fighting a level-two. I’ll have to go there to confirm.”

Elder Xu was delighted. “That’s great! Then there’s no need to worry about your safety. The system has only leveled up once, so the difficulty over there shouldn’t be too overwhelming for you. Still, be cautious and never let your guard down.”

Shen Yunxuan nodded. “Don’t worry, Grandpa. I’ll complete my mission and return in one piece.”

At the pre-departure meeting, Xu Wenyu asked, “Yunxuan, do you plan on making any purchases?”

The dimensional travel rewards from her last mission had already been settled, and her account balance had soared to 800,000 dimensional coins!

The crystal cores she had collected were completely unique to that world, and since she had gathered so many, she had received a substantial reward. Surprisingly, she had also earned a significant amount of dimensional coins for purchasing and using a large batch of serums to awaken her subordinates’ abilities.

Moreover, establishing her own base and being recognized as a true leader had also granted her a sizable dimensional currency reward.

So this time, not only did she advance to level five, but she also gained a massive windfall of dimensional currency. Naturally, Shen Yunxuan received a generous personal share as well. She had already decided, “I’ll increase my intelligence. I’ve realized that many things can only be understood once intelligence reaches a certain level—otherwise, they might remain a mystery forever.”

The others didn’t fully understand what she meant, assuming she was referring to cultivating martial techniques. Right now, the foundational cultivation method they were practicing was something Shen Yunxuan had personally compiled from numerous techniques; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to train at all.

Given her past successes, everyone agreed with her decision to boost intelligence.

The higher the intelligence level, the more expensive it was to increase. Initially, 30 intelligence points cost 30,000 coins. Then, 150,000 coins only raised it by 22 points. This time, with both her personal earnings and government rewards, she spent 500,000 dimensional coins but could only increase it by 15 points. After this boost, her intelligence reached 195! It hadn’t yet broken the world record for the highest IQ, but among the currently living, only one or two people surpassed her.

The biggest change she felt was an unprecedented clarity in her thoughts. Issues that had previously stumped her suddenly became crystal clear, sparking new ideas and directions. She couldn’t help but smile.

Elder Xu was delighted. “Seems like it worked—that’s great!”

Shen Yunxuan joked, “Once I earn more dimensional coins, I’ll keep increasing intelligence. Who knows, if I get my hands on blueprints from an interstellar civilization, I might actually be able to understand them.”

“That’s actually possible! Just keep raising intelligence! Now, let’s go to the traversal room and bring back more crystal cores this time!” Elder Xu stood up and patted her shoulder, then added a final reminder, “Be careful!”

Shen Yunxuan nodded in agreement. She went to the traversal room to change into her gear. This time, she was still accompanied by her fifty special forces soldiers, and they were even better prepared. Then, she spent 10,000 dimensional coins to travel to the apocalyptic world.

The cost of traversal wasn’t too high—after all, crossing over didn’t guarantee survival. If the fee was too expensive, no one would dare take the risk.

In a flash, Shen Yunxuan and her team arrived back in the apocalyptic world. For them, it had only been about ten days since they last left, but here the streets before them looked as though years had passed, appearing even more ruined and decayed.

The only fortunate thing was that they had arrived near Tianxing Base. Shen Yunxuan recognized this area from when she had previously searched the city for equipment.

She pulled out her map, marked a few points, and said, “Let’s go! Drive to the base!”

With a wave of her hand, Shen Yunxuan summoned two trucks. As before, the ability users cleared the road, allowing them to drive toward Tianxing Base at full speed.

As they approached, they saw towering walls made entirely of metal, covered with metal spikes, making the entire base look like a massive, armored hedgehog. Shen Yunxuan observed carefully and confirmed that the structure within was indeed Minghua Academy—the site she had originally claimed to establish Tianxing Base. But now, the base had expanded to twice its original size. The extended outer walls were made entirely of metal, and as they got closer, they noticed a moat surrounding the base.

The scale of these defenses suggested that the base had likely faced serious siege threats in their absence.

As the trucks drew nearer, the base’s sentries noticed them. From atop the walls, they signaled for them to stop.

Shen Yunxuan brought the vehicles to a halt and instructed everyone to disembark. As soon as they stepped out, the sentry on the wall suddenly grew excited. He pulled something from his pocket, checked it, then immediately ran down. Soon after, a group of ability users rushed out from the base, with a red-haired, red-eyed Qi Zhan leading the charge!

“Captain Shen?! Is it really you?” Qi Zhan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

From his expression, Shen Yunxuan could tell that he still recognized her as their leader. She removed her sunglasses and mask, revealing her face with a smile. “It’s me. I’m back.”

Qi Zhan couldn’t contain his excitement. He took a few quick steps forward, nearly trembling as he said, “Captain Shen! I’ve been waiting for you for so long—you finally returned! Come inside!”

Shen Yunxuan nodded and followed him into the base. As she walked, she noticed several familiar faces among the crowd behind him, looking just as emotional, as well as some unfamiliar ones who seemed curious.

Upon entering the outer perimeter, she noticed that the inner area had been turned into farmland. The crops looked rather weak, but at least they had managed to harvest some. Further inside was the original inner fortress she had ordered to be built—the true residential area.

As she scanned the area, she remarked, “The changes here are huge. Have you taken in many new people?”

Qi Zhan nodded. “Half a year ago, something happened to Thunder Base. They lost half their population, and the remaining survivors all came here to join us. That’s why the base expanded so much. But don’t worry, our people are still in charge, and everything has been managed well. Professor Lin even developed the most basic form of the antiviral serum, so people are no longer at risk of infection from the zombie virus. The number of casualties has significantly decreased.”

Through their conversation, Shen Yunxuan learned that while she had only been away from this world for about half a month, an entire year had passed in the apocalyptic world.

Over the past year, another red rain had fallen. This red rain contained the zombie virus, causing the overall strength of the zombies to increase by one tier. The human survivors had faced even greater hardships.

However, those who fought zombies and collected crystal cores were also able to enhance their own abilities—provided they managed to avoid the red rain’s harmful effects.

Thanks to the protective formations Shen Yunxuan had placed around Tianxing Base, it remained completely safe. Combined with the ample food supply and the martial techniques she had taught them, their quality of life had improved significantly.

During this disaster, they had only lost two people.

Unlike Tianxing Base, other bases had suffered greatly. Details about distant bases were unclear, but Thunder Base, which was nearby, had been hit hard. Many people fell ill with fevers, and during this period, a psychic-type zombie led a horde in an attack. Though Thunder Base ultimately won, the losses were devastating. When they later heard that Tianxing Base had suffered minimal casualties, they collectively migrated and merged into Tianxing Base.

During this time, Qi Zhan and his team continued searching outside and eventually tracked down the survivors who had fled from Burning Blaze Base. They eliminated them all to prevent future troubles. Meanwhile, Professor Lin made significant breakthroughs in his research. If not for the limited equipment, he could have developed even more advanced technology.

Because Tianxing Base was improving in all aspects, the people grew more united, and their gratitude toward Shen Yunxuan, who had brought them this stability, deepened. This provided Shen Yunxuan with a substantial amount of faith energy. The moment she entered the base, those who heard the news ran over excitedly, calling out, “Captain Shen!”

Gao Lang and Dong Yue exchanged a glance and secretly sighed in relief. They had been worried that, upon their return, the base might have changed hands. But seeing Qi Zhan’s unwavering loyalty, along with Professor Lin and the others still holding Shen Yunxuan in high regard as their leader, was the best outcome. It meant they wouldn’t have to waste time reasserting control.

Shen Yunxuan was deeply moved. As more and more people emerged to greet her, she patted Qi Zhan’s arm and praised, “You’ve done an excellent job. I can rest easy knowing you’re in charge here. This time, I’ve brought plenty of good things for everyone. Have someone register everything first.”

With that, she waved her hand, and a massive amount of food and daily supplies appeared on the training field. It was an enormous stockpile, even exceeding what the base warehouse currently held. The entire scene erupted in commotion as everyone was stunned by her generosity.

Then, Shen Yunxuan turned to Professor Lin with a smile. “This time, I also brought research data on the highest-grade antiviral serum, along with a large batch of the finished product. Also, I’ve prepared the most advanced research equipment. Take a look.”

With another wave of her hand, a vast array of laboratory instruments appeared before them. Even those unfamiliar with scientific equipment could tell these were incredibly high-tech. Professor Lin was so overwhelmed that he wiped his hands repeatedly on his clothes before daring to touch them. Not to mention, atop the equipment were countless vials of serum—each one representing a chance for ordinary people to become ability users!

The crowd’s gazes instantly burned with excitement. Any lingering sense of unfamiliarity with Shen Yunxuan vanished completely. They looked at her as if she were a divine savior! Just for this, they fully accepted her as their absolute and undisputed leader!

Shen Yunxuan then took out some special powdered medicine and handed it to Qi Zhan. “This will improve the soil. I also brought a few plants that are highly beneficial to the body. Ordinary people should consume only a little, but the higher an ability user’s level, the more they can handle. After planting, distribute them accordingly. I hope you all stay healthy.”

Qi Zhan immediately agreed but then realized something and asked anxiously, “Captain Shen, are you leaving again?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Yes, I have important matters to attend to. But I’ll remember you all. Whenever I have time, I’ll bring more good things for you.”

Qi Zhan looked visibly disappointed, as did several familiar ability users and the former Thunder Base leader, who had rushed over upon hearing the news. Unable to contain himself, he asked, “Captain Shen, can you take us with you?”

Shen Yunxuan regrettably shook her head. “If I could, I absolutely would. But it’s simply not possible. Stay safe. I’ve already asked researchers to develop an even more advanced cure for the zombie virus. If they succeed, I’ll bring it to you. You must keep growing stronger and survive. If this place becomes too dangerous, don’t stubbornly hold on—move elsewhere. Even if I can’t find you, fate will bring us together again.”

Hearing about how Thunder Base had almost been wiped out, Shen Yunxuan genuinely feared they might foolishly stay put just to wait for her. While she wanted to expand the base’s reputation and gather more faith energy, it could never come at the cost of lives. Since they believed in her, she wanted them to survive.

Qi Zhan was momentarily stunned. He had never considered this possibility before; he had been fully prepared to defend the base to the death. But after hearing Shen Yunxuan’s words, he realized that preserving their strength and relocating elsewhere to wait for her return was a much better option. He nodded and said, “Don’t worry, Captain Shen. If things become truly dire, we’ll leave a message and evacuate to another location. But your mission must be dangerous too, right? Don’t worry about us—your safety is what matters most.”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he added, “Oh, Captain Shen, do you still need crystal cores? We’ve collected a huge amount for you!”

Shen Yunxuan’s eyes lit up. “Of course! Crystal cores are what I need the most. But you also need them—just tell me where the zombie hordes are, and we’ll go hunt them ourselves.”

Qi Zhan and the others hurriedly said, “We fight zombies every day, constantly expanding our cleared territory to collect more crystal cores for you. Don’t worry, we have enough for ourselves.”

Upgrading abilities wasn’t an unlimited process. Once someone hit a bottleneck, no amount of crystal cores could help them advance. As a result, their usage of crystal cores wasn’t infinite, meaning they had plenty to spare. Especially since the base had been deliberately targeting zombies to gather cores for Shen Yunxuan, the total they had amassed over the past year was astonishing—several times more than what Shen Yunxuan had previously brought back!

Feeling the surge of faith energy and looking at the countless crystal cores, Shen Yunxuan secretly exhaled in relief. The trading hub she had established in the apocalypse world was a success!

Now, it was time to test this approach in other worlds.

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Many viewers replayed the recording to check if they had misheard, but no matter how many times they watched it, Shen Yunxuan had indeed said that she alone would take on everyone!

Some netizens instinctively wanted to mock her, but when they looked at Shen Yunxuan’s face, they found that they just couldn’t bring themselves to say anything harsh. In the end, the most they managed to type was:

【Just… don’t get hurt…】

That sentiment resonated with many others. A fight like this was undeniably exciting, and everyone wanted to watch it, but if Shen Yunxuan was involved, they only cared about making sure those rough soldiers didn’t hurt her. How could they let someone as delicate as her fight? A bunch of big men challenging her—how shameless!

Xu Wenyu saw the live chat and burst into laughter. “Looks like the audience really likes Yunxuan. They’re already rushing to protect her.”

Elder Xu also chuckled. “Our Yunxuan is so wonderful—of course, everyone loves her. But they’re worrying about the wrong side. They should be worried about those brats!”

Only someone of Elder Xu’s status could call this group of elite soldiers “brats.” After all, for this filming, the original troops at the military base had been relocated overnight. In their place, 2,000 of the country’s top special forces soldiers had been specially assigned.

The reason for this was twofold. First, Shen Yunxuan’s upcoming training sessions across various military districts would only last a single day each. Having this elite unit participate in the filming would give them seven full days to train under her and learn as much as possible. Second, since Shen Yunxuan’s reputation was now being tied to the military, it was the perfect opportunity to showcase the power of the army on camera. Only these elite soldiers could truly represent the strongest forces in the country!

So when Shen Yunxuan led the celebrity guests in front of the assembled troops, all ten guests were immediately overwhelmed by their sheer presence. The most mischievous idol in the group blurted out, “Whoa, I can feel the righteousness and raw strength radiating off them. So powerful! Salute to our greatest and most admirable people!”

Gao Lang instinctively wanted to discipline this “new recruit,” but seeing that Shen Yunxuan didn’t stop him, he remained silent. He quickly realized that this was a variety show—if the guests had to behave like real soldiers, it wouldn’t be as fun.

Shen Yunxuan stopped in front of the troops and smiled. “Since today is our first meeting, let me introduce myself. My name is Shen Yunxuan. I currently work at the National Special Affairs Bureau as a special consultant. These four by my side are my best soldiers. They were selected from among you all, so I’m sure you recognize them, and I won’t introduce them further.”

She continued, “One thing to clarify: I’m not from a formal military background, so I’m not as familiar with all the rules and protocols as you are. Since I’m your chief instructor for the next seven days, we’ll do things my way.

Gao Lang and Dong Yue will handle daily training in a stricter manner. But when I teach you martial arts, you can relax a little—just take it seriously, but it’s okay to joke around to lighten the mood. You’re also welcome to help train these ten celebrity guests. It’ll be a good way to liven up camp life. Understood?”

“Understood!” The 2,000 troops responded in perfect unison, their voices thunderous.

Shen Yunxuan nodded in satisfaction. “Now, spread out and form a circle. We’re going to start today’s fun activity. I know many of you are wondering why I’m qualified to be your instructor. I don’t feel like wasting words explaining, so let’s settle it with some action.

Anyone can challenge me. Whether it’s one-on-one, in groups, or all at once—do as you please. We begin now!”

The ten guests stared at the 2,000 elite soldiers, then back at Shen Yunxuan, swallowing nervously. Even the veteran superstar among them whispered, “If it’s a continuous rotation of fights, it’ll be too exhausting for the chief instructor. Should we set a time limit?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled at him. “That’s a fair point. We can’t just spar endlessly.”

Just as everyone sighed in relief, she added, “Let’s set dinner time as the cutoff. It’s the first day, after all—we can’t miss out on our group meal.”

…It was only midday! There were still several hours until dinner!

Everyone looked at Shen Yunxuan’s slender figure and felt their worldview shatter. Who had taught her to talk this big? What if she got beaten up—how would this end??

Some special forces soldiers instinctively glanced at Gao Lang and his group. They were all familiar faces, so they used their eyes to ask: What the hell is going on? The higher-ups said they were getting the best instructor to teach them martial arts and that they’d be amazed. But was this just some joke? Wasn’t this just some high-ranking official’s daughter playing army games?

Sure, her helicopter jump had been impressive, but talking this big was just plain insulting!

The soldiers here were the best of the best, chosen from the elite ranks. Many had failed the selection process before, and it had always been a sore spot. Now, seeing Gao Lang and the others as Shen Yunxuan’s subordinates, and hearing her words, many of them felt an innate sense of defiance. Their eyes gleamed with arrogance and reluctance. The only reason they didn’t immediately step forward was out of respect for her official status.

Gao Lang’s face darkened, and he shouted, “Didn’t you hear the chief instructor? Spread out immediately!”

The soldiers exchanged glances, but no matter what they were thinking, they immediately followed orders and formed a circle.

Shen Yunxuan turned to Gao Lang and the others. “Keep an eye on the ten guests. We don’t want them getting hurt.”

The ten guests thought: We’re not worried about ourselves—we’re worried about you! A delicate young woman stepping into a circle of beasts—it was like watching a little white rabbit walk into a den of wolves!

But before they could say anything, Shen Yunxuan had already walked to the center of the circle.

Everyone sat cross-legged, staring at Shen Yunxuan, but no one made a move. Dong Yue and Gao Lang exchanged a glance, then immediately picked four highly skilled special forces soldiers, giving them a chance to showcase themselves. They even emphasized, “Go all out, don’t embarrass yourselves!”

The four soldiers were undoubtedly strong, but they cursed internally—wasn’t this just bullying a young woman? How were they supposed to fight seriously? Just standing in front of her as a group of four already felt humiliating—like ganging up on someone weaker!

Just as they were about to discuss who should move first, Shen Yunxuan instantly appeared in front of them and launched an attack!

Their eyes widened in shock, pupils shrinking, as they reflexively began to counterattack.

At first, they only defended. But Shen Yunxuan kept appearing unpredictably—one moment in front of someone, the next behind another—she even snatched their hats off and tossed them into the crowd! That alone meant that if she wanted to, she could have already taken their heads!

It was only then that the four soldiers realized the seriousness of the situation and began attacking with their full strength. However, Shen Yunxuan still dodged effortlessly, her lips curled in a faint smile. With just a flick of her hand, she neutralized their attacks and even used their own momentum against them, making them hit each other instead.

Instinctively, the four men started working together, attacking from all directions—one aiming high, another low, forming what looked like an inescapable net.

Everyone watching, including the live audience, held their breath. If those powerful strikes landed on Shen Yunxuan, wouldn’t her entire body break?!

One of the celebrity guests, panicked, shouted, “Jump! Step on their shoulders and jump out of there!”

But Shen Yunxuan neither dodged nor evaded—she countered them head-on!

The sound of gasps rippled through the crowd—no one could bear to see her get hurt. But in the very next second, all four soldiers were sent flying!

They weren’t just knocked back—they were literally launched into the air, crashing into the crowd! Others scrambled to catch them, only to see the four men staring at Shen Yunxuan in utter shock and disbelief.

“How is this possible? Y-you… you were holding back against us the whole time?!”

People rushed to ask, “What do you mean? What do you mean by ‘holding back’?”

One of the soldiers, still shaken, struggled to respond, “It wasn’t until the last moment that I realized—I couldn’t even last a single move against Instructor Shen!”

Another added, “Yeah… Instructor Shen could’ve knocked me down in one move.”

The crowd was in disbelief. “No way! You guys lasted a while, right? You’re elite special forces! How could you be taken down in just one move?”

One of the celebrity guests curiously asked, “Instructor, were you really holding back against them?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Since this is a variety show, I intentionally slowed down my moves to make it more visually appealing. I wanted the audience to get a clear look at my techniques. Not sure if the cameras managed to capture them properly.”

The guests collectively inhaled sharply. The movements that had already looked like afterimages… were actually slowed down?!

The audience watching the live stream was just as stunned.

【I played the footage back at 0.5x speed and still couldn’t figure out what Instructor Shen did.】

【I think I actually believe she’s the real deal now. That sequence—no action movie would dare film it like this!】

【Does this mean our military is actually stronger than action movies? So powerful!】

【She’s too cool! I don’t even feel worthy of calling her ‘wife’ anymore. I can’t… Instructor Shen is too incredible!!!】

Shen Yunxuan tilted her chin slightly at the soldiers. “Keep going. Show me what you’ve got. Don’t you want to experience the skills you’ll be learning firsthand?”

That single sentence ignited a fire in everyone’s hearts. This was a skill they were going to be taught. They wanted to learn it! They wanted to feel it!

Immediately, over twenty soldiers stepped forward. They glanced at each other and started bickering.

“I’m the squad leader! I should go first!”

“Instructor said we don’t need to be so formal! Why should the squad leader go first? I was the first to step up!”

“Line up, line up! Four at a time—”

Shen Yunxuan interrupted, “No need. All of you, come at me together.”

The twenty-plus soldiers stared at her in shock.

Dong Yue burst into laughter. “Hurry up! Not everyone gets the chance to spar with the boss. Even if you all go at once, it’s still kindergarten level for her. Get moving!”

That “kindergarten level” remark lit a fire in them. Forget about looking bad—who cared? They immediately rushed at Shen Yunxuan, attacking as one. Some even exchanged glances, strategizing on the fly. Their goal? If they could just grab her arm and toss her into the crowd, they’d win—and they wouldn’t risk hurting her.

But just as they closed in, Shen Yunxuan vanished.

The twenty-plus soldiers gasped, nearly crashing into each other. Whipping around in a panic, they spotted her behind them.

How did she get there?!

They attacked again, but Shen Yunxuan wove through them like a shadow, her body flickering from one place to another. Every single one of them was dealt with in a different way. She moved so swiftly through their ranks that no one could even track her position before they were thrown aside like rag dolls.

And not a single one lasted longer than the previous four soldiers.

Every single one of them was taken down in just one move.

The crowd erupted with excitement.

“Instructor Shen! What martial art is this? Is this the kind of kung fu they use in martial arts movies?!”

“Instructor Shen! How do you move that fast? Do you know qinggong?!”

“Instructor Shen! You must be a descendant of an ancient martial arts family, right?!”

The live-stream audience was equally electrified. The sheer disbelief had transformed into overwhelming enthusiasm.

“I just played it back in slow motion and took multiple screenshots—it’s qinggong!!!”

“I did the same, and it really is qinggong! Just like in wuxia films!”

“Oh my god! Qinggong actually exist in the real world? Am I dreaming?!”

“Am I the only one who noticed that Instructor Shen is from the National Special Affairs Bureau? That name alone sounds extremely secretive! No wonder she knows qinggong!”

“This is the first time I’ve heard of such a department. What exactly does it do? Special affairs… is it what I’m thinking? Could it involve ghosts?”

“Building a nation was supposed to put an end to supernatural beings, but now we have a Special Affairs Bureau?!”

Everyone was shocked, their curiosity at an all-time high. At that exact moment, the Special Affairs Bureau officially launched its account on Weibo and posted ultra-HD nine-grid photos of Shen Yunxuan looking incredibly cool on the show. The caption read: “Our department’s special consultant, Instructor Shen, is the strongest!”

The Entertainment Department immediately shared the post: “Instructor Shen is the strongest!”

GuoGuoTV followed suit, and soon, various official accounts started reposting. Marketing accounts, sensing an unstoppable surge in popularity, scrambled to jump on the trend. Netizens quickly discovered the administration’s account, rushed to follow, and flooded the comments requesting more photos of Instructor Shen.

Meanwhile, Shen Yunxuan had just called for everyone to come at her. The special forces soldiers, already fired up, were now completely ablaze with fighting spirit. Some even stripped off their jackets, ready to go all out.

But it was pointless. No matter who they were, no matter how skilled, none of them could land a single hit on Shen Yunxuan. Just earlier, they were worried about hurting her. Now, after 2,000 of them had fought her, not a single one had even touched her clothes—her hair didn’t even get messed up!

But no one felt humiliated. Instead, they were thoroughly convinced and utterly awed. Their once rebellious gazes were now filled with admiration and excitement.

No wonder she was able to command people like Gao Lang. She was too strong.

How could a human be this strong?

During the battle, the entire scene turned into utter chaos. The production team controlled several drones to capture the fight from above, clearly tracking Shen Yunxuan’s movements. She was literally weaving through 2,000 soldiers at lightning speed, effortlessly taking them down one after another. At times, she defeated enemies with a single move; other times, she merely waved her hand, and a group of them were sent flying. Once, she simply gestured in midair, and a ring of soldiers around her was blasted away.

Within mere minutes, the 2,000 elite special forces had been completely subdued.

Yet, instead of frustration, they were filled with burning excitement. They surrounded Shen Yunxuan, calling her “Instructor Shen” with enthusiasm. Their previous defiance was gone—what remained was pure admiration.

Many viewers were on their feet, too excited to sit still.

“I want to be there! I want Instructor Shen to throw me too!”

“She knows Qi techniques, right? She didn’t even touch those guys, but they flew back!”

“No, no, she was drawing talismans! That motion was just like in the movies, and then a whole group got blasted away!”

“Oh my god! The Special Affairs Bureau … does this mean she actually fights ghosts?!”

“This has to be real-life metaphysics! And it’s a nationally backed project! Is this even something we’re supposed to be seeing?!”

The public was in complete shock, and theories ran wild. Shen Yunxuan’s name skyrocketed in popularity, dominating the trending charts. Within a short period, ten separate trending topics related to her appeared on the hot search list. It was unprecedented.

More importantly, no one was trying to suppress the hype. The Entertainment Department was actively boosting it, and even Weibo’s management team was in on it, continuously pushing Shen Yunxuan’s visibility.

Elder Xu, seeing this unfold, made a personal call to the head of the Entertainment Department to express his gratitude. On the other end, the department head was practically beaming.

“Shen Yunxuan is a gold mine! Who wouldn’t want to build a good relationship with her? This is the biggest promotional opportunity our department has ever had!”

Shen Yunxuan had initially planned to spar with them until dinner, but it had only been half an hour, and she had already fought multiple rounds, taking down every single soldier present. Only then did the soldiers realize she hadn’t been boasting—she had meant every word.

They eagerly surrounded her, desperate for another match.

Shen Yunxuan laughed and said, “You all think I was too fast and didn’t get to understand the moves properly, right? Then let my men spar with you for now.”

The soldiers immediately shouted, “Gao Lang and the others? We’ve trained with them before! We already know what they can do.”

“Yeah, Instructor Shen, no offense, but if I had passed that psychological test, I’d have been selected too!”

“That’s right! We’re not any worse than them!”

Just earlier, everyone had been following regulations carefully. Now that the fight had riled them up, they had completely let loose. Many were eager to prove themselves, hoping that if they performed well, Shen Yunxuan might recruit them into the Special Affairs Bureau.

Suddenly, Gao Lang appeared among the crowd, casually wrapping his arms around two soldiers’ shoulders. Grinning, he said, “We’ve been apart for a while. Do you really think I haven’t improved? You think I’m still the same old me?”

The two pushed Gao Lang away. “You’ve been training, but so have we! We’ve improved a lot too. Stop wasting our time, we want to ask the instructor for guidance.”

Gao Lang burst out laughing. “Then beat me first!” With that, he effortlessly threw them both aside.

Everyone was shocked. How did he suddenly appear among them? When did he get there? How did he squeeze in without anyone noticing? Wait… how did he just toss both of them so easily, one in each hand???

Dong Yue walked out, smiling. “Why not spar with us first? We’ve learned quite a bit from Captain Shen.”

Zheng Lin and Li Xue stepped forward with a grin. “We’re not as strong as these two, but we’ve been training under Captain Shen, going on missions too. We’ve picked up a few things. Want to give it a try?”

The moment the four stepped out, the soldiers were raring to go. They immediately swarmed toward them—if they couldn’t defeat Shen Yunxuan, surely they could take down these four, right?

Wrong.

They really couldn’t.

The 2,000 soldiers quickly split into four groups, each facing off against one of Shen Yunxuan’s top four. The battles were fierce.

The fight between elite special forces was leagues ahead of any action movie. Every viewer watching the live stream was on the edge of their seat, blood pumping. They wished they could jump in and exchange blows themselves.

Meanwhile, the ten celebrity guests were getting restless just watching. They mimicked some moves but had no clue how to execute them properly. Shen Yunxuan walked up to them, smiling. “I’ll teach you. What do you want to learn?”

The ten of them excitedly surrounded her, each shouting about which move they wanted to master. Shen Yunxuan patiently guided them one by one. Of course, it was chaos—arms and legs flailing, people tripping over themselves, one even kicking so hard he cramped up.

One of the most comical idols, filled with excitement, said, “Instructor, can you do that thing? The one where you send people flying? That was so cool! You launched so many of them at once! I want to try it too.”

Shen Yunxuan chuckled. “Sure.”

The moment she finished speaking, she casually flicked her hand, sending him soaring through the air.

“AHH—OH SH*T! I’M REALLY FLYING!!! HOW DO I GET DOWN, INSTRUCTOR—!!!”

His scream was absolutely piercing. His fans, watching him hover in mid-air with no one below to catch him, panicked and nearly started cursing. But then, with just a wave of Shen Yunxuan’s hand, he stopped mid-air, spun around gracefully, and then slowly floated back to the ground.

When he landed, he jumped up and down in excitement. “I REALLY FLEW!” He rushed up to the camera, giddy. “Did you get that? Did you catch my epic airborne pose?” Then he grabbed Shen Yunxuan’s sleeve, pleading, “Instructor! Teach me this! I want to learn this!”

“Hahaha, he’s showing off again!”

“If he learns this, he’s gonna be flying around every day, you guys believe it?”

“Believe it! Instructor Shen, don’t teach him! He hasn’t even graduated from the basics yet—teach me instead! I’ll serve you tea, give you massages, be the best disciple ever!”

“Teach me! I won’t just serve tea and give massages—I can sing, dance, and tell jokes to entertain you!”

“Oh great, now we’re competing. Damn, I’ve never been so jealous of my bias before. I want to be thrown by Instructor Shen too!!!”

No sooner had that been said than Shen Yunxuan wrapped her arms around two female actresses and soared up into the trees, gently gliding down as if straight out of a wuxia romance movie. The internet exploded.

“Who is lucky enough to be that close to Instructor Shen? It’s my bias!”

“Who is lucky enough to be carried by Instructor Shen? It’s my bias!”

“I thought love had no room for jealousy, but today, I’m drowning in it! I envy my bias! I want Instructor Shen to carry me too!!!”

The older generation, like Elder Xu and his colleagues, couldn’t quite understand the flood of comments, but the official accounts’ follower counts were skyrocketing, and Shen Yunxuan’s popularity was soaring. That was all that mattered.

They couldn’t help but marvel, “Yunxuan really excels at everything. If she ever went into showbiz, she’d be an instant sensation.”

“Yeah, it’s her first time on a variety show, and she already has a great sense for it. Everyone’s praising her. So many people have become her fans.”

Of course, Shen Yunxuan had a natural advantage—she had learned all about variety show entertainment from the Book of Memories. Not only did she play along with the celebrities, providing countless viral moments, but later that evening, she made the atmosphere even livelier.

For dinner, she had everyone gather on the training field for grilled skewers, turning it into a relaxed barbecue night. As they ate, she encouraged them to put on performances.

The ten celebrity guests, naturally talented, each showcased their skills—some sang beautifully, some danced, and some went for pure comedy. The entertainment factor was through the roof. Meanwhile, the special forces soldiers performed martial arts displays, radiating strength and masculinity.

Then, Shen Yunxuan stepped forward and performed a sword dance.

It wasn’t just a dance—it was full of powerful, sharp sword energy. Leaves swirled into the air, creating a mesmerizing, wuxia-like spectacle. It was a visual feast.

Finally, the night ended with everyone joining in a thunderous chorus of a military song, their voices shaking the air.

Shen Yunxuan could feel the overwhelming surge of faith energy flowing into her. She knew she had made the right move. A solid start meant an even greater future. With a bright smile, she basked in the satisfaction of her plan unfolding perfectly.

The cameras captured her smile.

Countless netizens screenshotted it instantly, setting it as their wallpapers.

Just looking at her smile made people instinctively smile back.

Instructor Shen’s debut day, and the world was already in love with her!!!

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

This matter was of great importance, and Elder Xu immediately wanted to contact the commander. However, Shen Yunxuan quickly stopped him. “Grandpa, there’s something even more important. The people in the apocalyptic world are too desperate. My mysterious and powerful image, along with the high-quality resources I provide, make it extremely easy for me to gain faith power over there. I want to go a few more times.”

Elder Xu was stunned. “You want to truly develop the base over there? But we don’t have any of our own people in that world.”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Grandpa, faith power is no joke. Even if I can’t guarantee their loyalty for a lifetime, at least at the moment, their loyalty is 100%. If the entire leadership of a base is fully devoted to me, and I continue to visit occasionally and treat everyone well, then even if someone wants to betray me in the future, at least half of them will still be loyal. It won’t be that easy for things to go wrong.”

Elder Xu quickly envisioned the environment of the apocalyptic world. In that kind of desperate, survival-of-the-fittest setting, Shen Yunxuan was like a savior. The more desperate the times, the easier it was to create a deity-like figure—it was far easier than in their own world.

Moreover, if Shen Yunxuan truly became a leader in the apocalyptic world, then that world would essentially become an extension of their own. They could trade for whatever they needed, essentially giving the nation an entirely new territory. In the apocalyptic world, gold, silver, jewelry, paintings, and antiques were worthless, but in their own world, they held significant value. And then there were the energy crystals—if they turned out to be a new energy source, it would be like discovering an exclusive, hidden mineral deposit that no outsiders could access.

The more Elder Xu thought about it, the more excited he became. Just as he was about to stand up, he paused and asked, “Is there anything else? Say it all at once so I can report everything immediately!”

Shen Yunxuan ran to grab her laptop and sat beside Elder Xu, quickly drafting a plan, listing key points one by one.

In short, to maximize the amount of faith power she could acquire in a limited time, there were two approaches: building fame and creating a deity-like image. In their own world, if the government helped promote her image, it would be incredibly easy. Especially since her cultivation had enhanced her beauty and aura, she now exuded a unique and unparalleled presence—both graceful and commanding. She had a look never seen before in the entertainment industry, making her highly captivating.

Of course, Shen Yunxuan had no time to become a celebrity, but her appearance and temperament alone would attract widespread attention. And the faith power generated from her fan base, as she had learned from her “Cultivator Shen Yunxuan” persona, was something she should not ignore.

This aspect could be handled entirely by the cultural department. They would keep all the profits, and she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.

Another major step was to train military personnel in martial arts, ensuring that all soldiers recognized and revered her, maximizing the faith power she could gain from them.

Additionally, she proposed launching an official social media account for the Bureau, where she would appear in videos as the spokesperson. This would help the public understand the Bureau’s work, answer common questions, and also allow people to report supernatural incidents by gathering discussions under the account.

Previously, she had remained hidden because Elder Xu and the others were worried that foreign forces might discover her and attempt to kidnap or kill her. But now, her personal strength was likely the greatest in the world, and the Bureau’s armed division surpassed any other organization. On top of that, she had undisclosed protective artifacts, meaning her safety was no longer a concern.

Beyond this, she also planned to travel to the apocalyptic world regularly to reinforce her image there. Additionally, she wanted to visit the supernatural and martial arts worlds to see if she could establish organizations under the same name and accumulate faith power across different realms.

Before returning to the apocalyptic world, she needed the nation’s most advanced and secretive research labs to expedite the study of the anti-virus serum and soil purification techniques. She had already brought back a substantial amount of soil, which had been sealed in the labs, but the Bureau’s research facilities were not the best in the country. She hoped to request special authorization for assistance from the top national labs, as this directly impacted her ability to establish dominance in the apocalyptic world.

Shen Yunxuan carefully detailed all her plans, each requiring top-level approval, and every step was urgent, demanding immediate execution. Finally, she listed the available items and prices in the system’s marketplace, offering the commander the option to purchase anything he desired.

Previously, Elder Xu had used 30,000 dimensional credits from the system to cure his illness, regain his youth by two decades, and take up martial arts training. However, the commander had never utilized these resources, likely due to personal reservations. Now that many of the special forces had awakened supernatural abilities, Shen Yunxuan was uncertain about the commander’s stance on the matter. But she knew she had to make her position clear—her respect for him was genuine, and if he wished to purchase anything from the system, she would facilitate it without hesitation.

Elder Xu immediately understood her intention, feeling gratified. He patted her shoulder approvingly. She was thinking ten steps ahead, considering every detail—there was nothing to critique. Even the formatting of her report was impeccable, surpassing his own briefings. He only needed to add a few introductory remarks before submitting it directly.

She must have planned everything out back in the apocalypse. Elder Xu had been a little concerned at first, but now he was completely reassured. Since Shen Yunxuan had proposed these plans, she would definitely be able to carry them all out.

Elder Xu immediately requested a meeting with the commander. After setting up the time, he urged the administrative department to quickly edit and compile the footage recorded in the apocalyptic world. As soon as the time came, he took the report, the video, and a few of the items Shen Yunxuan had brought back and set off.

Shen Yunxuan had handed over all her plans to Elder Xu for approval, so all she had to do now was wait. With nothing urgent on her plate, she finally returned to her room for a proper rest.

She wasn’t worried in the slightest that her plan would be rejected. The crisis of forced world-traveling was only going to become more frequent, and she was not yet strong enough to handle the supernatural and divine threats ahead. Others’ rate of power growth was too slow—fully supporting her advancement was the best solution. Only by becoming stronger could she lead her subordinates to obtain resources time and time again.

Moreover, she was completely devoted to the nation and its people, sharing everything without reservation. Every part of her plan was beneficial to the country. Even if someone were to fear that she might grow too powerful and become uncontrollable, now was not the time to worry about that. The vast unknown resources she had brought back were an enormous temptation. Compared to the potential risks of letting her grow stronger, the benefits were far greater—it was a gamble well worth taking.

Besides, even if she reached a level where she could control the elements, she was still just one person. If things ever got truly out of hand, a single mushroom cloud would be enough to end her. No matter how they weighed the pros and cons, the higher-ups would have no reason to reject her plan.

As for how she had thought everything through so thoroughly, that was simply the natural skill of an outstanding professional from her past life. With her increased intelligence in this life, her ability to strategize had only improved further.

Sure enough, the commander convened a secret meeting with several high-ranking officials. That same day, her plan was approved. A classified directive was issued, instructing all relevant department heads to cooperate fully with the Bureau, bypassing standard procedures and fast-tracking everything. The objective was to complete all tasks in the shortest possible time.

Elder Xu generously announced that the Bureau would cover all costs and that everyone involved would receive substantial overtime pay. The senior officials laughed and teased him for acting stingy after benefiting from the situation. Right now, the Bureau was the wealthiest department—how could he think a bit of overtime pay would be enough? He needed to offer something more valuable.

But Elder Xu didn’t give in, simply smiling and saying that only the commander could grant such approvals. Any truly valuable rewards had to go into the “national treasury,” and how they were distributed would be the commander’s decision.

The officials in the meeting had no personal agendas. At their level, they already had everything they could want. At their age, they were genuinely dedicated to the country. The emergence of Shen Yunxuan was both an enormous temptation and an opportunity. Their only concern was ensuring the right direction was maintained and that the nation didn’t go astray. Beyond that, their sole focus was working together to get things done.

As soon as the meeting ended, each department convened overnight, assembling the most reliable and capable personnel into secret task forces to handle the mission. That was right—this was no longer just a project. It was a full-fledged mission.

Each department’s task force held meetings, reviewed the footage, and went through the relevant data. That night, they experienced an unprecedented shock—their entire worldview was reshaped. But top-tier professionals were top-tier for a reason. No matter what they felt internally, they quickly got into the right mindset and began executing their tasks at full speed.

The energy crystals and other materials Shen Yunxuan had brought back, including the newly acquired serums, were all discreetly sent to the nation’s most advanced laboratories.

The first department to complete its work was the entertainment division, as their task was the simplest. They handed the project over to the country’s top variety show production platform, which quickly put together a new military training reality show featuring celebrities. They urgently contacted three top-tier idols, two legendary superstars, and five of the hottest leading actors and actresses.

The common factors among these ten stars? Enormous popularity, outstanding looks, and entertaining, charismatic personalities.

The very next day, Guoguo TV bought a trending topic, making an extremely high-profile announcement about the new show. They tagged all participating celebrities and declared that this would be the first fully live-streamed variety show, running for seven days straight, with an edited highlight version to be released afterward.

The moment this news dropped, the internet exploded!

“This has to be a joke, right? What kind of prank is this? Has Guoguo TV been hacked?”

“Guoguo TV needs to investigate its staff immediately. This whole industry is turning into a joke. How do you even make a mistake like this? If you can really get all these people at once, I’ll do a headstand and eat dirt.”

“Exactly! Just getting two of these stars on one show would be enough to make the entire internet go crazy, and you’re telling me you got ten? Hahaha, you think I’d believe that?”

“And a full live stream, over in just seven days? What kind of show does that? Every other variety show takes months, airing one episode per week. Who are you even trying to fool?”

“If this is live-streamed, the fandom wars alone will turn the internet upside down. This will be trending every single day, and the comment section will be so flooded with messages, you won’t even be able to see the screen!”

“Now that you mention it, I actually kind of want to watch this. Hahaha.”

At first, most of the reactions were filled with skepticism and ridicule. Some even claimed that there was no official documentation approving this variety show, no listed investors, and that their insider connections had heard nothing about such a program. They were convinced it was just a deliberate hoax aimed at discrediting Guoguo TV.

But just as the speculation was reaching its peak, something unexpected happened—the celebrities tagged by Guoguo TV actually started reposting the announcement.

And one after another, they all confirmed:

They were honored to be part of the show!

The official account of the National Entertainment Department also reposted the announcement, directly stating that this was a state-supported program, funded by the government, and filmed inside a real military camp, with top-tier special forces soldiers serving as instructors.

The official explanation was that they hoped this program would allow the public to witness the true discipline and prowess of soldiers, encouraging greater national fitness awareness and so on.

The reasoning seemed solid enough, yet at the same time, something felt off. Since when did the government get involved in something like this? What exactly was going on? Why hadn’t anyone heard a single rumor about it before?

Even the fans of the ten celebrity guests were completely stunned. They knew their idols’ schedules better than anyone, yet they had never heard a word about this. How could something that seemed so fake actually be real?

The most absurd part was that before the shock had even settled, while the topic was still trending at number one, the show actually started live streaming!

Wait—how was this even possible? Didn’t a show like this need time for coordination?

Of course, it needed coordination. But this time, everything had been arranged overnight. The Entertainment Department was determined to make a strong impression, and since Shen Yunxuan had already stated that all proceeds from the show would go to the Entertainment Department (with the Bureau taking none of it), they were going all out. With so many top-tier celebrities—each chosen for their strong variety show presence—and Shen Yunxuan’s own mysterious and unpredictable abilities, there was no way this wouldn’t be a massive hit. This was a golden opportunity to bring in huge profits and earn major prestige among the government departments.

Additionally, since the Entertainment Department was spearheading this, the celebrities’ appearance fees were only symbolic—they weren’t being paid their full market rates. The department barely had to spend any money at all.

The celebrities themselves quickly realized this was a rare and significant opportunity. The entire program would only last seven days, and by shifting their schedules slightly, they could make room to participate.

A surprise live-streamed program, filmed inside a military camp—it might even be tied to promoting national strength. Being invited to take part was an honor in itself. Even if they didn’t make much money, they would still be helping both the Entertainment Department and Guoguo TV. Not just anyone would get a chance to contribute to something like this.

On top of that, all ten celebrities were major stars with huge fanbases, so the viewership was guaranteed to be sky-high. No matter how they looked at it, this was a win-win situation. So, they cooperated fully, booked their flights as soon as they got the notice, arrived at the designated location, and were collectively transported to the military camp.

The live broadcast had already begun. The luggage they had brought was left unused, as they were instructed to leave their belongings at the hotel. They were told that the camp would provide a full set of daily essentials—though only the most basic necessities.

The ten celebrities were taken to the camp in a small transport truck, all sitting in the open cargo bed. At first, they were filled with curiosity and excitement, joking with each other the entire way, keeping the atmosphere lively.

At one point, one of the idols stretched out his body and commented that sitting in a truck like this was making his bones ache. As he stood up slightly to stretch with his arms raised, the truck hit a pothole. He immediately lost his balance and fell flat on his butt with a look of utter shock. His exaggerated reaction instantly became the first meme-worthy moment of the show, making both his fellow celebrities and the audience burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, in the meeting room, Elder Xu and others were watching the live feed on a large screen. Xu Wenyu let out a sigh of relief and smiled, saying, “The Entertainment Department really picked the right people. Every one of them has a natural comedic sense. Their chemistry is fantastic. If it weren’t for the fact that this was a special project with top priority, it would’ve been impossible to get such a perfect lineup.”

Elder Xu still had some concerns. “Yunxuan hasn’t appeared yet. I wonder if the audience will like her.”

Elder Chen rolled his eyes at him. “What kind of question is that? Xiao Shen is so likable—how could anyone not like her?”

Just as they were speaking, the truck carrying the celebrities had entered the military camp. Up until now, most of the camera focus had been on the stars, so viewers couldn’t tell where the camp was located. But as the truck drove in, the audience caught glimpses of the training grounds in the distance, where rows of soldiers were practicing drills in perfect synchronization. Though it was just a brief shot, it immediately fired up the audience, who were thrilled by how disciplined and impressive the military looked.

As the ten celebrities stepped into the camp, they still carried a bit of a sightseeing attitude, glancing around with curiosity. However, the soldiers escorting them were in no mood to let them wander. With stern expressions, they urged them to keep moving quickly until they reached an open training field, where they were ordered to stand in a straight line.

The ten celebrities exchanged glances before reluctantly lining up. One of them asked in confusion, “Wait, are we starting already? So soon?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t we go to the dorms and change first?”

A soldier replied expressionlessly, “Stand at attention and prepare to receive your instructor. Maintain silence.”

Once again, the ten exchanged uncertain looks before attempting to stand properly. Some puffed out their chests with exaggerated posture, some fidgeted over whether to clasp their hands behind their backs or let them hang straight, some were obsessively adjusting their positions to align with the others, and some were struggling to hold back laughter at the situation. Ironically, the two fifty-year-old veteran singers were the ones standing with the most discipline and composure.

Each of them had their own quirks, creating an entertaining contrast that captivated the audience. Fans of each celebrity were thoroughly amused, enjoying the chance to see a different side of their idols.

Then, the sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air grew closer. The ten celebrities looked up in surprise and saw a helicopter approaching, its doors open. A young woman stood casually at the doorway, completely at ease.

Several of the celebrities gasped in astonishment.

“Oh my god, isn’t she scared?”

“She’s not even using any safety gear?”

“Wait, is the helicopter landing here? Should we step back or something?”

“She looks really beautiful. Is she also a guest? Why didn’t she come with us?”

The camera had been filming the helicopter from a distance the whole time, so the audience saw the same thing as the guests and had the same thoughts. As the helicopter approached, everyone got a clear look at Shen Yunxuan’s face, and for a moment, the live chat completely froze.

Who is she? How come we’ve never seen such a stunning celebrity before? Why is she standing on the helicopter like that? Half of her body is hanging out—isn’t she going to fall???

And then, everyone found out exactly what Shen Yunxuan was doing—because she grabbed a rope and jumped straight out of the helicopter!!!

“Ah—”

“That’s dangerous!!”

Several of the guests instinctively shouted, and some even took a few steps forward, reaching out as if to catch her, their faces pale with shock.

Shen Yunxuan, dressed in a military uniform with her hair tied in a ponytail, casually held onto the rope with one hand and slid down from the helicopter. When she was still over ten meters above the ground, she suddenly let go! She jumped straight down!

Just as the guests gasped in horror, Shen Yunxuan landed steadily. Her landing was smooth and elegant, exuding effortless confidence as she walked toward them.

Right after she landed, Gao Lang, Dong Yue, Zheng Lin, and Li Xue also descended from the helicopter one after another, swiftly sliding down and landing crisply before following behind Shen Yunxuan in formation.

The scene looked even more spectacular than a movie. Everyone was frozen in shock, and the audience watching the live stream couldn’t believe their eyes. It took them a full thirty seconds before they started flooding the chat with comments.

【What just happened? Is this CGI? It has to be CGI, right???】

【No, no, no! This is a live broadcast! I study this stuff—there are no signs of special effects…】

【That was at least ten meters high, right? She just jumped down like that? And landed so lightly? Not even a harness stunt could look this smooth! Am I hallucinating???】

【No, you’re not. But… can they do qinggong???】

【I just want to know—how is someone this beautiful not a celebrity? Is she really the instructor???】

By this time, Shen Yunxuan had already reached the guests. She stood with her hands behind her back, smiling slightly as she said, “Hello, everyone. I am your chief instructor, Shen Yunxuan.”

The guests were utterly dumbfounded.

“You—you’re our instructor?”

One of them pointed at the helicopter, eyes wide as he looked Shen Yunxuan up and down. “You—you—you jumped down from there? Without any safety measures???”

Shen Yunxuan joked, “This kind of training is currently only for special forces, so I won’t be teaching it to you. But I will teach you some useful everyday skills—like how to quickly escape when an annoying paparazzo is tailing you.”

The group burst into laughter, finally snapping back to reality. They were still in shock, but now they also remembered that they were here for a show.

Unlike when they had first arrived, now every single one of them had bright eyes, watching Shen Yunxuan with eagerness. They had never seen skills like this before. Training under her for a few days was bound to be an incredible experience!

Gao Lang spoke up, “All personnel! Stand at attention!”

What followed was a strict military discipline session, teaching the ten celebrities how to stand properly and how to report. Naturally, it led to plenty of hilarious moments, delighting the audience.

But as the viewers laughed, their eyes kept drifting toward Shen Yunxuan. Even the fans of the ten celebrities couldn’t help but focus on her.

【Is she really a soldier? Not a celebrity?】

【She’s so incredibly beautiful! If she debuted as an actress, she’d be an instant top star!】

【I agree, but she’s a special forces instructor—there’s no way she’d debut in showbiz!】

【Ahhh, I don’t care! I declare that Instructor Shen is my new obsession! She’s so cool and beautiful! Kill me, queen!!!】

【Why call her queen? Call her wifey!】

【Call her hubby! Husband-wife is so handsome! She’s both gorgeous and badass! Did you see that glance she gave the camera? So captivating! Ahhh!】

The ten celebrities’ fans had been flooding the chat, but without realizing it, the conversation had shifted more and more toward Shen Yunxuan. The Bureau’s media team noticed that Weibo had already created a fan forum for Shen Yunxuan, where people were posting screenshots of her. Some even went to Guoguo TV’s page asking if Shen Yunxuan had a Weibo account. Her popularity was skyrocketing.

Shen Yunxuan then demonstrated what the guests would be learning over the next seven days. She moved through a series of wooden obstacles at an astonishing speed—before the guests even saw how she moved, she was already on the other side! The key detail was that her movements were incredibly elegant, as if she were merely strolling through a garden. It was completely beyond scientific explanation.

Next, she crawled swiftly under a long stretch of barbed wire, sliding through like a snake in a single, fluid motion. The guests were left gaping in astonishment.

Then, in a single second, she scaled a wall. In the blink of an eye, she had stuck labels onto each of the guests without them even noticing, and she casually lifted one of them up as if they weighed nothing, effortlessly moving them aside. One jaw-dropping feat followed another, making the guests increasingly awed.

The audience’s interest kept climbing, and with the Entertainment Department constantly pushing the hype, Shen Yunxuan’s popularity skyrocketed at an unprecedented pace.

After letting the guests try out some of the training exercises—leaving them gasping for breath and looking utterly exhausted—Shen Yunxuan chuckled and said, “Since this is your first day, it’s only right that we have a proper welcome ceremony. Training is done for today. Now, the entire military camp will gather, and you’ll have a chance to rest while watching a martial arts demonstration.”

One of the guests curiously asked, “A sparring match between the soldiers?”

As she led them forward, Shen Yunxuan smiled. “No. It’s me against all of them.”

…???

What?

Did they hear that right? Did she just say she was going to take on the entire camp???

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Shen Yunxuan was quite pleased because she could feel an increase in faith energy. The people she had rescued, after witnessing her smooth transaction with Thunder Base and seeing how respectfully the leader treated her, became even more devoted to her.

She suddenly realized she had found a new way to collect faith energy, which could directly enhance her cultivation. How could she not be happy about that?

However, she did not take them back to Blazing Flame Base. Although it had been a base before and could be cleaned up for use, for these people, it was still a painful memory. Moreover, the few ability users who had escaped knew the base’s structure inside and out, meaning they could launch a surprise attack at any time.

Instead, Shen Yunxuan planned to take them to a new location to establish a fresh base—one farther from Thunder Base. This would allow for greater territorial expansion in the future, enabling them to hunt more zombies and collect more crystal cores.

On the way, she started chatting with a few locals about city buildings, asking which structures were the sturdiest.

This question puzzled them. They were just ordinary people living their daily lives—how would they know about such things? But suddenly, one person remembered something:
“Minghua School! I saw a news report about it before. It’s a very expensive private school—tuition costs 200,000 a year! So everything in the campus is top-notch, and the buildings are all earthquake-resistant.”

“A school?” Shen Yunxuan thought for a moment and realized it was a perfect choice. It had walls, dormitories, a cafeteria, a sports field, offices, and warehouses. If the restrooms and showers could be repaired, it could even be a relatively comfortable base.

She checked the map and saw that the school’s layout was square and compact, located in a newly developed suburban area. Behind the school was a large expanse of empty land. While the other three sides had buildings, they were not in densely populated areas.

The school was situated right between two cities, meaning they could collect supplies from both areas. There was also a highway—once cleared, it would make it much easier for ability users to enter the city and gather resources.

Driving from Thunder Base to the school would take around six hours—twice the distance from their previous location. But overall, it matched Shen Yunxuan’s vision perfectly. She had the locals guide her and set out for Minghua School!

Meanwhile, she marked locations on her map, asked for more details, and then left the convoy to act alone.

To establish a base, many essential facilities were needed. Generators were available at the school, and daily necessities could be found in the logistics department and dormitory buildings. Basic supplies could be gathered over time after settling in, but research equipment would be much harder to find.

Had she known she would need to build her own base, she definitely wouldn’t have helped Professor Lin destroy Blazing Flame Base’s machines.

Before leaving, Shen Yunxuan emptied her storage pouch of food, filling several vehicles to free up more space. Fortunately, they had enough vehicles; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been enough room to load everything.

Seeing so much food, the first reaction from the group was excitement, followed by a deep sense of relief. These foods hadn’t expired! Most of the food they usually ate was long past its expiration date. Now, they understood why Shen Yunxuan had sold Blazing Flame Base’s supplies to Thunder Base—she had even better stockpiles herself.

Shen Yunxuan first went to several hospitals and disease control centers in the city. She was short on time, so she didn’t fight zombies—she simply moved at high speed, gathering all kinds of medical equipment and storing them in her space pouch. She also collected large amounts of medicine, even grabbing operating tables. She wasn’t an expert in this field, so her strategy was simple: If it looks useful, take it.

Next, she went to University Town. This area was swarming with zombies—there were zombies everywhere. She quickly located several university laboratories, collecting not only medical equipment and chemicals but also various research documents. Who knew? Some of them might be useful.

For now, that was all she could find. She had no way of knowing if the city had an actual research institute—the map certainly didn’t show one. Time was limited, and even collecting these items took her several hours. Once she was done, she immediately used qinggong to rush to Minghua School.

The newly developed suburban area was in surprisingly good condition. Despite years of the apocalypse, the sparsely populated region had suffered relatively little destruction. Compared to the inner city, it was a refreshing sight.

By the time she arrived, the group was hard at work clearing out zombies. Schools, after all, housed a significant number of people—teachers, students, staff. Fortunately, since this was an elite private school, it didn’t have the same overcrowding as public schools. Additionally, after years of the apocalypse, those who had initially survived had long since fled, and many zombies had wandered out of the campus. Their job was simply to clear out the remaining ones.

Shen Yunxuan observed for a while and noted that most of the zombies were low-level. Any high-level ones that had evolved probably left long ago. She immediately mobilized metal- and earth-ability users to reinforce the school walls, using steel bars, concrete, and stone to raise and thicken the outer barriers, transforming them into watchtowers. The upper sections were designed with spaces for sentries to patrol and hide if necessary.

She then assigned wood-ability users to extract crystal cores from zombie corpses and fire-ability users to burn the bodies.

As she issued commands, she remained vigilant across the battlefield. If anyone was in danger, she used spiritual power to protect them. If a level-three zombie appeared, she personally took action to eliminate it, leaving the level-one and level-two zombies for the soldiers to use as training.

Professor Lin and the other ordinary people stood on the truck, watching as the zombies in the campus fell one after another. They saw Shen Yunxuan calmly directing everyone, and for some reason, their hearts settled down.

This place wasn’t even a real base yet. Nothing had been established. They had only known Shen Yunxuan for two days. But they felt at ease. Maybe it was because, after surviving in the apocalypse for so long, Shen Yunxuan was the most capable leader they had ever met, and also the kindest.

They had no ability to roam freely in the apocalypse. They didn’t know if stronger people existed elsewhere in the world. But in the years they had lived in this region, the person who had earned their deepest admiration and loyalty was Shen Yunxuan.

There had been some people in the group with their own little schemes. But precisely because of those schemes, they didn’t dare to follow Shen Yunxuan into the unknown, choosing instead to stay at Thunder Base. Those who were willing to follow her into an uncertain future were all people of decent character.

At this moment, as they watched the ability users fight through the campus while they themselves could do nothing, they felt ashamed and uneasy, restless with a sense of uselessness.

Professor Lin, the oldest among them, saw their expressions and said, “There’s no need to rush. The base will need people in every aspect. As long as we do what we can, we will be making a contribution.”

His words offered some comfort, but only a little. Most of them still felt lost. What could they do? Even if Shen Yunxuan had a serum that could awaken abilities, it was far too precious—there was no way she would use it on them.

Thinking back to their days at Blazing Flame Base, many of them looked grim. As cruel as the Blazing Flame Base had been, the truth was that as ordinary people, they often had no idea how they could survive in the apocalypse. It was a despairing feeling, being powerless and unable to see a future.

As they were lost in thought, Shen Yunxuan and her team finished clearing out the zombies in the school. After triple-checking every corner to make sure there were no stragglers, she finally had the trucks driven into the campus and shut the gates.

Professor Lin and the others stepped down from the trucks. The moment their feet touched the ground, they felt an odd sensation—like they had arrived home. The thought startled them, making them feel both amused and panicked. How could this feel like home? They hadn’t even properly looked around the school yet.

But before they could dwell on it, Shen Yunxuan called everyone to the cafeteria for a meal.

A few water-ability users thoroughly washed the cafeteria tables and floors. They also cleaned all the pots, pans, and utensils with detergent, making sure everything was sanitary. Since these items had been stored in the kitchen, they were not contaminated. Fire-ability users then cooked a large amount of instant noodles, boiling eggs, and heating up sausages—each person received a big bowl of noodles with two eggs and a sausage.

It was a simple meal, something utterly ordinary before the apocalypse. But as they ate, many of them had tears in their eyes. Some even sobbed softly. How many years had it been since they had a hot meal like this, with both eggs and meat?

The ordinary people stole glances at the ability users and noticed something even more emotional—they were all eating the same meal. There was no special treatment for anyone. The fog in their eyes thickened, because for a moment, it felt like they were back in the world before the apocalypse. Everyone was treated as equals, as human beings.

It was at that moment that Professor Lin finally understood why he had chosen to leave the safety of Thunder Base to follow Shen Yunxuan. It was because she treated everyone with respect. She did not divide people into ranks or classes. She treated everyone as human beings, just like before the apocalypse. That was something almost impossible to find in this world—a leader who was worth following, even if it meant risking everything.

For the young men and women who had been forced into terrible situations, the emotions were even heavier. All of them had suffered, carrying deep psychological scars. But Shen Yunxuan and the fifty soldiers by her side looked at them without disdain or pity. They simply saw them as people. That alone made them feel safe and gave them a sense of ease they hadn’t had in years.

After everyone finished eating, Shen Yunxuan said, “We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. The base is still lacking many things, but they can be added over time. Don’t take unnecessary risks. I’ll come back in the future, but I can’t guarantee when. Next time, I’ll bring more advanced research equipment.”

Professor Lin immediately nodded and added, “Shen, you all need to be careful out there. Safety comes first—equipment is secondary.”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Same to all of you—safety first. Our base won’t cause trouble, but we also won’t be afraid of it. Focus on living well. Moving forward, the research here will focus on three things: strengthening human abilities, eliminating the zombie virus, and restoring soil fertility.

No matter the circumstances, the experimentation on super soldiers is forbidden. The more dangerous things become, the more we must maintain our moral boundaries. Only then can humanity achieve true victory. Understood?”

The dozen or so researchers sitting nearby were shaken by her words. They immediately straightened up and, as if by instinct, answered in unison, “Understood!”

Shen Yunxuan’s research goals were exactly what they had always dreamed of working on. Their once dull, lifeless eyes now sparkled with light.

Afterward, Shen Yunxuan began assigning tasks.
Some people were to register names, take inventory of supplies, and allocate living spaces.
Others were to draft the base’s rules, laws, and reward-punishment system.
A third group was assigned to thoroughly search the entire campus, gather useful supplies, clean dirty areas, and discard anything that couldn’t be used.

Everyone quickly got to work. The school was indeed very well built, with high-quality materials, excellent interior design, and an overall luxurious feel. The library had a vast collection of books, which could be used for study or to pass the time.

The campus also included a gymnasium, swimming pool, and an auditorium, covering both fitness and recreational activities, with fully equipped facilities. Even the physics, chemistry, and biology labs were housed in a separate laboratory building, which was perfect for use as the base’s research center. Some of the equipment inside was still in good condition and could be used immediately, and the layout of the building was very practical. After touring the place, Professor Lin couldn’t help but smile.

Shen Yunxuan placed all the equipment she had gathered at the entrance of the building, instructing people to clean and register everything before handing it over to the researchers for allocation and setup.

After designating a warehouse, she stored all the food, medicine, and half of the military supplies inside. Then she said, “I won’t be leaving any crystal cores here. If you need them, you’ll have to go outside and hunt for them.”

Since her homeworld didn’t have crystal cores, she needed to take as many as possible back to see if they could serve as a new energy source.

Qi Zhan immediately responded, “Don’t worry, Shen. We’ll not only find crystal cores for ourselves but also collect extra for you.”

Shen Yunxuan nodded. “From now on, you’ll be in charge of managing the base as its leader—”

Before she could finish, Qi Zhan interrupted, “I can manage things, but I’ll only be the deputy leader. Shen, you should be the leader. That’s what everyone wants!”

“Yes! That’s what we all think!”

“Shen, please be our leader!”

Shen Yunxuan looked around and saw that everyone was indeed looking at her with anticipation. She thought for a moment before saying, “I won’t be able to visit often. The last time Sister Hong saw me was several years ago, and I really can’t say when I’ll be able to come back next.”

“It’s fine. We’ll develop the base well and wait for your return,” Qi Zhan said firmly. In the research facility, he had suffered countless times, on the verge of breaking down. Ever since Shen Yunxuan saved him and gave him the chance to take revenge, his loyalty to her had become absolute. He didn’t know if there would be long-term side effects from his condition, or how long he would live, but he only wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to serving Shen Yunxuan.

Shen Yunxuan patted his shoulder. “Alright! I’ll be the leader, and you’ll be the deputy leader. I’ll leave this place in your hands, and whenever I have the chance, I’ll bring more supplies.”

“Understood!” Qi Zhan and the others smiled. Whether Shen Yunxuan was here or not, it seemed that just having her as their leader gave them peace of mind and a sense of belonging.

A base that didn’t even have a name yet already felt like home to them. The feeling was strange but also exciting—like they were restoring order to humanity and rebuilding a peaceful society. It was a thrilling prospect.

Shen Yunxuan took out everything she could from her spatial storage—solar-powered flashlights, solar lighters, and other survival gear. She had also collected some generators when scavenging for research equipment, and she left all of them at the base.

At that moment, Qi Zhan came over to tell her that her office and living quarters were ready and invited her to take a look. Shen Yunxuan hadn’t expected them to prepare these, but she followed him to check them out. The office was the former principal’s office—grand and luxurious, with a beautiful view from the window. However, she declined the prepared living quarters. Since there was a small rest area inside the office, she decided that was enough.

She was already used to resting in her office. It was just a place to sleep, so there was no need for anything extra, especially since she wouldn’t be visiting frequently. Having a designated space in the office was sufficient.

The dormitories consisted of two-person and four-person rooms. Since there were only a few dozen people at the moment, she let them choose freely—either staying alone or rooming with people they trusted.

While Shen Yunxuan was touring the base, Qi Zhan followed closely, which made her reflect for a moment. When she had initially released the test subjects from the Blazing Flame Base, it was partly out of compassion but also a strategic move—to let them take revenge and keep the Blazing Flame ability users occupied while she had time to save others and escape. Everything had followed its natural course.

But she hadn’t expected Qi Zhan and his group to wipe out most of the Blazing Flame ability users, hand over all the crystal cores and supplies to her, and swear loyalty to her. It was a completely unexpected reward, a perfect example of good karma. Just as they had completely lost hope in life, they encountered Shen Yunxuan, and they saw her as their salvation.

Through the power of faith, Shen Yunxuan could feel their unwavering loyalty, which made her all the more invested in building up the base. Once the walls were reinforced, she cut her finger and used her blood to draw symbols on the walls and main gate. The blood runes flashed momentarily before vanishing, leaving no visible trace. But from then on, the walls and gates would be indestructible—even a rocket launcher wouldn’t be able to break them.

Next, she took out the ancient artifacts she had collected, selecting a few top-grade jade pieces and smashing them. Using the jade fragments, she created a massive spirit-gathering formation around the base.

She then transcribed the basic cultivation technique and the Fragrant Swan Steps she had developed and handed them to Qi Zhan, instructing Gao Lang and the others to teach them to everyone.

In this apocalyptic world, since abilities were fueled by spiritual energy, this cultivation method would allow ability users to absorb energy from the environment rather than relying solely on crystal cores. Practicing the Fragrant Swan Steps would enhance their speed to the level of a speed-type ability user.

The ordinary people cheered excitedly and immediately took on a serious attitude toward learning.

Shen Yunxuan gave Professor Lin some serum injections and soil purification powder. He was so excited that he wanted to start research immediately, but she stopped him and told all the researchers to learn the Fragrant Swan Steps first. At the very least, they needed to be able to run if they encountered danger.

That night, no one slept. Everyone was busy learning qinggong and cultivation methods. By dawn, Shen Yunxuan bid them farewell and took all the special forces soldiers to the gymnasium.

Everyone assumed they were holding a meeting, so they didn’t disturb them. However, after several hours passed and no one came out, they started to worry. When they went to check inside the gymnasium, they found it completely empty—there was no one there!

Qi Zhan was startled. “Where is the leader? Quick, spread out and search for them!”

The group immediately searched the entire campus, inside and out, but found no trace of them. There were no signs of departure, no tire tracks, and the gate hadn’t been opened. No one had even seen Shen Yunxuan or the soldiers leave the gymnasium.

The long-haired man suddenly spoke up. “Could it be a teleportation array?”

Everyone turned to look at him, making him swallow nervously before explaining his guess. “The leader can draw talismans, and when we were hiding in the shop before, a group of people suddenly appeared on the street. We never saw where they came from, nor did we hear the sound of trucks, as if they had just materialized.

And now they’ve vanished without a trace—maybe they used a teleportation array? It’s probably similar to the talismans she draws.”

Everyone exchanged glances, feeling that his guess was highly plausible. Since Shen Yunxuan had already bid them farewell, it didn’t really matter how she left. Though they felt a sense of loss, their focus quickly shifted to the base that still needed to be built. They threw themselves back into work with renewed determination.

They were going to make this base strong so that when their leader returned, she would see the results of their hard work! They wanted to prove to her that they weren’t useless, that they were capable, and that they would never let her down!

Shen Yunxuan’s brief visit to the fourth-level apocalypse plane had already changed the fate of two major bases. She worried a little about them but had done all she could. She could only hope that they would hold on until her next return.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go back immediately after returning home, but the problem was that she had collected too many crystal cores. She was bound to advance to level five, and once she did, even if she returned to the apocalyptic world right away, it would be a level-five plane.

Advancing from level four to level five meant an increase in danger. Time would pass differently, and she couldn’t simply go back after just a few days. This was something she had no control over.

Back in the transversal chamber, everyone felt a bit out of place. Their nerves had been stretched tight for so long—constantly fighting zombies, barely sleeping, always on edge. Now, returning to the absolute safety of a peaceful world, they found it difficult to adjust.

Elder Xu and Elder Chen had been waiting for them. The moment they saw their state, they became worried. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Xu Wenyu hurriedly did a headcount. “No one’s missing, but why do you all look like you’ve lost your souls?”

Shen Yunxuan was the first to recover. Smiling, she removed the pinhole camera and said, “You’ll understand once you watch the footage. This time in the apocalyptic plane, we faced several dangerous situations, but fortunately, we all made it back safely. I even established a base over there. Next time, we’ll have a place to stay. But first, we need to go through full decontamination. We absolutely can’t bring any apocalyptic viruses back.”

Hearing this, everyone became tense and immediately proceeded to the disinfection chamber. The staff conducted the decontamination process with exceptional care, while all the bureau’s experts gathered to ensure no viruses had been brought back.

When Shen Yunxuan took out everything from her storage space, everyone was surprised. Compared to previous trips, the amount of supplies she brought back this time was significantly less. But when they saw the pile of crystal-like objects that resembled gemstones or diamonds, curiosity took over. The items were immediately sent for decontamination, and each lab was given a few crystal cores to study.

Shen Yunxuan suggested that everyone who had returned should get a good night’s sleep and take a day off, while the bureau reviewed the footage to understand what had happened.

The special forces soldiers quickly left to rest after receiving permission, but Shen Yunxuan had no intention of resting. Instead, she sought out Elder Xu for a private conversation.

“Grandfather, I discovered something incredible during this trip!”

Elder Xu chuckled. “What is it?”

Shen Yunxuan lowered her voice. “I found that when I became the leader of the Tianxing Base and those people worshipped and believed in me, my strength grew stronger.”

Elder Xu froze for a moment before immediately turning serious. He realized just how crucial this discovery was. If they could establish a similar status for Shen Yunxuan in their home plane, it could directly enhance her strength!

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆

Sister Hong watched in disbelief as Shen Yunxuan suddenly gained over a dozen more ability users, all of them at level three or four. Her sense of crisis surged.

But before she could react, Shen Yunxuan casually lifted the bag of high-level crystal cores and waved it in front of her with a smile. “Looks like we can establish our own base now. There’s no need to trade with you after all. Blazing Flame Base’s location is quite decent—if we reinforce the structures, it’ll do just fine. Since we’ll be neighbors from now on, I hope we can coexist peacefully. That’s all. We’re leaving.”

With that, she turned and walked away. The ability users immediately followed, and to Sister Hong’s shock, Professor Lin, the researchers in white lab coats, and even dozens of ordinary people eagerly followed Shen Yunxuan without a second thought.

Sister Hong was utterly stunned. Thunder Base had always had a great reputation. Between Blazing Flame Base in the west and Snow Wolf Base farther east, Thunder was the preferred choice for outsiders seeking refuge. Never before had she seen so many people abandon Thunder Base in favor of another place.

And it wasn’t even an established base—it was just an idea at this point. These people weren’t following a location; they were following Shen Yunxuan.

What kind of influence does she have? Just who is this woman?

And what did that ability user, Qi Zhan, mean when he said Blazing Flame Base had been wiped out?

Moments ago, she had been wary of dealing with Shen Yunxuan, insisting on conditions for any potential trade. But now that Shen Yunxuan was about to walk away, Sister Hong suddenly realized she couldn’t afford to let this opportunity slip away. She hurriedly stepped forward.

“Captain Shen, isn’t it? Let’s not be so hasty. You’ve come all this way—letting you leave just like that wouldn’t be Thunder Base’s way of treating guests.”

Forcing a smile, she added, “Since you traveled overnight, you must be exhausted. Why don’t you come inside for a while? Have some tea while I invite our leader and deputy leader. Even if we don’t end up trading, we can at least get to know each other. After all, we might be neighbors in the future.”

This was exactly what Shen Yunxuan had been waiting for.

She gave a small nod. “Then we’ll accept your hospitality.”

With that, she snapped her fingers.

It was such a simple gesture, but somehow, everyone felt as if the sound had echoed directly into their ears. A chill ran through them—what kind of ability was this?

And then, from a distance, more than twenty figures rushed toward them at incredible speed. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, and most importantly… they were gliding through the air, like martial artists performing qinggong in an old wuxia film.

These were the soldiers Shen Yunxuan had initially left outside. But now that she had assessed the situation, she decided to reveal them—to make a strong impression. Judging by Sister Hong’s expression, her strategy had worked.

Shen Yunxuan instructed the newcomers to guard the supplies Qi Zhan had brought—after all, it was nearly two-thirds of an entire base’s food supply, spanning multiple trucks. The sheer scale of it was overwhelming.

The soldiers immediately obeyed, breaking into small groups to surround the trucks and scanning the area, their posture and grip on their weapons unmistakably military.

Hong Jie’s heart pounded. These people… they’re trained soldiers?

Shen Yunxuan had also mentioned serums. Who exactly was she? Could she be part of a government faction?

Just then, Shen Yunxuan turned back to Sister Hong with a friendly smile. “Would it be possible for us to tour your base? Some of the people with me have always been interested in Thunder Base. If they decide to stay and your base is willing to accept them, that would be beneficial for both sides. Likewise, we’d be happy to host you for a visit once our own base is established.”

This was a clear gesture of goodwill—but also a test of fairness. If Thunder Base refused to allow them to look around, then future negotiations would be difficult. And if things soured, Shen Yunxuan’s group would adopt the same closed-off stance toward Thunder Base.

The apocalypse was already difficult enough. The human population was dwindling, and no one knew if things would get even worse. It was always better for bases to form alliances rather than treat each other as rivals. No one could guarantee they wouldn’t face disaster one day—and when that happened, it was far better to have a neighbor willing to lend a hand than one waiting to take advantage of their misfortune.

Sister Hong quickly understood the stakes. She smiled. “Of course. You’re welcome to look around.”

It was just a general tour—nothing classified. The truly sensitive areas wouldn’t be accessible.

She led them inside.

From their conversation, Shen Yunxuan could tell that Hong Jie’s influence in Thunder Base had grown significantly since their last encounter. That was a good thing. Negotiating with a familiar face was always easier.

Thunder Base was larger than Blazing Flame Base, and its infrastructure was more practical. Unlike Blazing Flame, it didn’t separate ability users and ordinary people into different living quarters. Instead, housing was assigned randomly upon entry, though later, residents could earn contribution points to improve their living conditions.

Some people valued comfort and would trade their points for better housing. Others cared more about resources and saved all their points for extra food.

Everyone in the base was required to work. The system was similar to an old labor-credit system—daily productivity determined how many contribution points one earned. If someone fell sick, they could take leave, but they wouldn’t earn points. The more effort someone put in, the better they lived.

For those who struggled to survive, the base wasn’t overly charitable. They provided a ten-day grace period for newcomers. If someone couldn’t adapt after that, they were left to fend for themselves.

Sister Hong also arranged for Professor Lin and his researchers to tour the scientific facilities. Naturally, the classified sections were off-limits. But she hoped that by showing them Thunder Base’s advanced equipment, she could persuade them to stay.

Scientists were always in demand.

However, Sister Hong could tell—despite their fascination with the facilities, their hearts weren’t in it.

They weren’t drawn to the high-tech labs.

They were loyal to Shen Yunxuan.

This made Sister Hong sigh inwardly. If she had agreed to the trade at the very beginning, she wouldn’t have lost all her bargaining power and ended up in such a passive position.

That was just human nature—Sister Hong hadn’t even seen Shen Yunxuan’s so-called serum yet, nor had they discussed specific trade terms, but her mindset had already undergone a drastic change. This was exactly what Shen Yunxuan intended. With her heightened intelligence, she could easily anticipate and manipulate such psychological shifts, adapting at the right moment to secure the greatest advantage in negotiations.

Sure enough, when she entered the meeting room and met Thunder Base’s leader and deputy leader, their attitude was incredibly polite. They treated her as an equal, showing not even the slightest hint of condescension.

Both the leader and deputy leader of Thunder Base had the unmistakable presence of military officers, as did the several people standing behind them. This naturally created a sense of mutual respect upon their first meeting. However, the Thunder Base leader quickly realized that Shen Yunxuan herself was not from the military, which made him all the more curious about why she was leading a group of elite soldiers.

Knowing Shen Yunxuan was in a hurry, they didn’t waste time on irrelevant questions. After a few polite exchanges, they got straight to the point. The Thunder Base leader asked the most pressing question:

“Captain Shen, what is the current state of Blazing Flame Base?”

Shen Yunxuan glanced at Qi Zhan. He stepped forward and reported, “We wiped out ninety percent of Blazing Flame’s forces. Their leader lost an arm and fled, and seven or eight other ability users managed to escape in the chaos, all of them wounded.”

Among the dozen people attending the meeting from Thunder Base, someone gasped in shock. Less than ten survivors? That was practically complete annihilation. Blazing Flame and Thunder had always been considered equals in power. If Shen Yunxuan’s group had taken them down so effortlessly, didn’t that mean they had the capability to destroy Thunder Base as well? A wave of unease spread through the room.

Noting their reactions, Shen Yunxuan smiled. “It was just a coincidence. Originally, I was only passing through and had no intention of alerting either of your two bases. But when Blazing Flame spotted us, they launched an ambush without warning, trying to take us down while we were worn out from fighting zombies. Naturally, we had to defend ourselves. Afterward, we found Qi Zhan and his people being oppressed by Blazing Flame and decided to lend a hand. The situation escalated from there.”

She spoke lightly, as if it were a trivial matter, but the Thunder Base leader felt chills run down his spine.

She was just passing through? And because Blazing Flame attacked her, she ended up wiping them out? If it was that easy for her, what kind of power was she really backed by? And why had she come here?

Even more unsettling was the fact that in just a day or two, Qi Zhan’s group of over ten ability users, Professor Lin and the researchers, and several dozen ordinary people had all willingly chosen to follow her. What kind of influence did she have? What level of charisma and leadership made so many people pledge loyalty to her in such a short time?

Even if he rallied his entire base, he couldn’t guarantee that so many people would follow him so unwaveringly. This realization made him even warier of Shen Yunxuan.

Wanting to shift the conversation, he changed the topic to the trade. “Sister Hong mentioned that Captain Shen has some serums available for trade. Could you tell us exactly what kind of serums they are? And what would you like in exchange?”

Shen Yunxuan replied, “I believe the leader has already noticed—everyone under my command is an ability user. Two days ago, they were not.”

The faces of the Thunder Base leaders shifted subtly. Sister Hong had already speculated about this during the base tour, gathering information from the long-haired man, who practically worshiped Shen Yunxuan and had inadvertently let things slip. From what she had gathered, Shen Yunxuan’s subordinates had all been ordinary people just two days ago.

But such an idea was too absurd. Now, hearing Shen Yunxuan confirm it herself, they were truly stunned.

Then they realized—if this was due to an ability-triggering serum, the implications were enormous. The Thunder Base leader’s gaze burned with intensity. If this serum truly existed, it meant every single person in their base could become an ability user. The base’s overall power would skyrocket, and for ordinary people, it would be the ultimate lifeline for survival.

After his initial excitement, the leader keenly asked, “If Captain Shen had access to such an incredible serum, why didn’t you use it earlier?”

Shen Yunxuan replied, “To be honest, there was no need before. While the serum is extremely beneficial, I’ve always worried about potential side effects and was reluctant to let my people use it. Besides, it is incredibly rare—I wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary.

But on this mission, my people were too engrossed in battling zombies and ended up collapsing from high fevers. There was a real risk of them turning into zombies, so I had no choice but to use the serum to keep them safe. So far, it has worked well—some of them have already reached level two.”

As she spoke, Zheng Lin, Li Xue, and a few others standing behind her activated their abilities, demonstrating their control over fire, water, and other elements.

Just two days after awakening their abilities, they had already advanced to level two—and they wielded their powers with ease. The first thought that crossed the Thunder Base leader’s mind was that Shen Yunxuan’s group must have an advanced training method to accelerate ability growth.

Moreover, based on what Shen Yunxuan had said, the leader began to form a theory about her origins. He was convinced she must be the daughter of a powerful base leader—like a princess of the apocalypse. And these soldiers around her? They were her royal guards.

Normally, a princess would reside in the safest part of a major base, meaning her guards wouldn’t have needed to fight much. But now that she was out in the real world, she had begun to understand its dangers. Since resources were abundant, she had generously used the serum to ensure her guards were fully prepared to protect her.

Sister Hong had mentioned that Shen Yunxuan possessed spatial abilities—perhaps even abilities that none of them could recognize. It was possible that her powers weren’t conventional abilities at all, but something ancient and mysterious.

It sounded far-fetched.

But considering everything that had happened, was it really that impossible?

With the apocalypse wiping out the old world, could it be that hidden aristocratic families had finally stepped out of the shadows?

And if so…

Who exactly was Shen Yunxuan?

Thinking along these lines, the leader began to suspect that Shen Yunxuan might be the daughter of a high-ranking official. As a soldier, he had an instinctive respect for the country’s leadership, which made him unconsciously more respectful toward her as well.

Shen Yunxuan continued, “At the moment, I don’t have any particular needs—I just want as many high-level crystal cores as possible. It’s too troublesome to go around hunting high-level zombies one by one.

I have three tiers of serums: high, medium, and low, each with different prices. The lowest tier is an anti-virus serum. Even if someone is bitten by a zombie, as long as they inject this serum within 24 hours, they will have a 100% chance of not turning into a zombie and a 30% chance of awakening an ability.

“The medium-tier serum increases the probability of ability awakening to 60%. The high-tier serum guarantees a 100% awakening.”

Even when Shen Yunxuan bought these serums from the system, they were expensive, so she had no intention of offering them cheaply. After telling them the corresponding crystal core prices for each tier, she added, “Perhaps you can buy fewer and take them to your laboratory for research. My supply is limited, and I need to keep some for my own people, so I won’t lower the price.

Additionally, the food supplies Qi Zhan brought can also be exchanged for crystal cores—both high and low-level. If you have enough, you can keep everything.”

Sister Hong was surprised. “Everything? But earlier, you mentioned wanting to establish your own base. Won’t you need these supplies?”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “I have more in my space.”

Another casual remark, yet once again, it sent shockwaves through the people of Thunder Base.

She has more in her space? That meant her storage ability was enormous—so large that the supplies from those trucks were just a fraction of what she had. Just how massive was her spatial ability?

Food was invaluable in the apocalypse, and what she had taken from Blazing Flame Base was likely all they had left. Thunder Base, despite being larger, didn’t have much more. And yet, Shen Yunxuan, who was merely “traveling,” had such an abundance of supplies stored in her space?

How powerful must her original base be?

For a brief moment, many of them even envied the idea of joining her base. But no matter how much they probed, Shen Yunxuan’s responses were airtight. She didn’t reveal a single clue about her home base—not even the direction it was located in.

This reminded Sister Hong of their encounter years ago. Even back then, Shen Yunxuan had been just as secretive. But back then, she had been terrified at the sight of zombies and lacked any combat ability. Now, she was a powerhouse on par with Thunder Base’s leader—commanding both authority and presence.

A sudden thought struck Sister Hong: Could Shen Yunxuan be the heir of a major base?

Perhaps years ago, she had sneaked out for an adventure, gotten frightened after being stranded alone, and then returned home to train rigorously. Now, this trip might be part of her final test before officially inheriting leadership of her base.

Shen Yunxuan ignored their wild speculations and glanced at her watch. Apologetically, she said, “We have other matters to attend to. Please make your decision within the next thirty minutes. After that, we’ll be leaving.”

“So soon?” The leader was surprised. This was a major deal, yet Shen Yunxuan was treating it with complete indifference. It was clear that she truly didn’t care whether the trade happened or not.

Which made sense—she only wanted high-level crystal cores because she found hunting zombies tedious. If the deal didn’t go through, her team could simply continue hunting in the wild.

The leader requested a brief discussion and asked Shen Yunxuan’s group to wait in the meeting room with some tea. Shen Yunxuan readily agreed, smiling as she let them do as they pleased.

Her relaxed attitude created even more psychological pressure for the people of Thunder Base. This was their base, their territory, yet Shen Yunxuan acted as if she was merely passing through.

And those words—“just passing through”—hit them even harder. Sister Hong had last seen Shen Yunxuan years ago. If she left this time, who knew when they would meet again? If they missed this chance to trade for the serum, they might never get another opportunity. Or worse, if another base obtained the serum first while they didn’t, they would fall behind and eventually be swallowed up.

So there was nothing to hesitate about. Crystal cores could always be hunted again, but this serum was invaluable—they absolutely could not afford to miss out.

Some skeptics raised concerns about the possibility of fraud. But then others pointed out that Qi Zhan’s group was undeniably from Blazing Flame Base, and some even recognized Professor Lin, who was a nationally renowned researcher.

Sister Hong also noted that many of the ordinary people Shen Yunxuan had rescued were young and attractive. The fact that Shen Yunxuan had saved them was already an act of kindness.

Overall, after weighing all the factors, they concluded that the risk of deception was low. It was worth the gamble. And even if they somehow lost out, at worst, they would only be down some crystal cores. With the addition of the food supply trade, it was a deal that could only benefit them.

As a result, their discussion lasted only a few minutes before they made their decision.

The entire base was mobilized to collect crystal cores, with an announcement that anyone who contributed would receive double contribution points. Residents enthusiastically participated, eager to support research into the serum that could prevent zombification and awaken abilities.

The people of Thunder Base had immense faith in their leader. When they heard about the serum’s potential, excitement spread like wildfire. In no time, a massive pile of crystal cores had been gathered.

The leader even contributed all the cores the base had in reserve, along with his personal stockpile—amounting to more than two thousand crystal cores.

Most of them were low-level, but there were over a hundred level-three and above cores. For Shen Yunxuan, this was a huge windfall.

In return, they exchanged for the food supplies and purchased twenty low-tier serums, ten mid-tier serums, and five high-tier serums.

Actually, the people of Thunder Base felt like they were asking for too much. After all, Shen Yunxuan’s serum was incredibly valuable. They truly wanted it—not just for immediate use but to provide ample samples for their research institute. That was why, even after Shen Yunxuan stated she wouldn’t lower the price, they still put forward their request. As they looked at her, they hoped she wouldn’t negotiate too aggressively.

Shen Yunxuan also looked at them, her fingers unconsciously tapping on the table. On the surface, she seemed deep in thought, weighing the pros and cons. This made the people of Thunder Base nervous, wondering if they should proactively reduce their request a little.

In reality, Shen Yunxuan was simply surprised. Just moments ago, she had felt a surge of faith energy coming from the important figures of Thunder Base. Through this interaction, she realized that the base was indeed as good as the long-haired man had described.

The faith energy she sensed likely came, in part, from the fact that she was surrounded by soldiers and had saved so many people, creating a natural sense of kinship.

In the apocalypse, humanity faced extreme hardships. Seeing the slightly anxious looks in their eyes, her heart softened. People should help each other, and besides, she wanted to build good relations with Qi Zhan and his group.

Shen Yunxuan didn’t haggle at all. With a wave of her hand, the serums they had requested appeared on the table. Then, with a light motion of her fingers, the vials of serum slid across the table and stopped right in front of the Thunder Base leader.

This was the first time the people of Thunder Base had seen Shen Yunxuan in action. They hadn’t sensed any fluctuation of ability energy, yet she had effortlessly moved the serums across the table. It only strengthened their belief that she was practicing some kind of special cultivation technique, making them even more eager to know where she came from.

The leader scanned the vials and was shocked. “There are ten extra mid-tier serums?!”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Consider it a gift. I hope you succeed in your research and help humanity go further in the apocalypse.” With that, she stood up and casually swept the crystal cores on the table into her storage pouch. “We’re leaving now. Arrange for the food supplies to be unloaded.”

The leader and the others quickly got to their feet, still a little dazed. “Why not stay for a meal before you go?”

Shen Yunxuan waved a hand dismissively. “We have important matters to attend to. Maybe next time.”

With that, she turned and walked away, leading her people without hesitation. The people of Thunder Base noticed that Shen Yunxuan was completely in charge—throughout the entire transaction, she had never consulted with anyone. Her subordinates showed no reaction either, no objections, not even a change in expression. This made them even more certain of her status and authority, ensuring they would treat her with the utmost respect.

The leader instructed his deputy to see Shen Yunxuan off while he personally led a team to escort the serums to the research institute. He also ordered immediate testing to verify their effectiveness. While the smoothness of this transaction left them feeling slightly overwhelmed, they still had to be cautious.

For the first trial, the test subject was none other than the leader’s own daughter.

As the daughter of a level-five lightning-ability user, she was highly capable and had been helping him manage the base efficiently. However, she was an ordinary person, without abilities. Given her and her father’s significant contributions to the base, no one had any objections to her receiving one of the high-tier serums.

Moreover, the leader choosing his daughter for the trial was a sign that he was taking on the risk personally. If the serum had any problems, she would be the first to suffer. This was the kind of leadership that had earned the trust and loyalty of Thunder Base’s residents.

Deep down, the leader strongly believed in Shen Yunxuan’s credibility. He didn’t know why, but after just an hour of interaction, he already had a strange sense of faith in her. He was starting to understand why so many people from Blazing Flame Base had chosen to follow her.

The serum was incredibly rare, and if this worked, his daughter would finally gain an ability. As he personally injected the high-tier serum into her, he was both nervous and excited.

Inside the research institute, the scientists gathered around, carefully observing and recording every change in the leader’s daughter. At first, there was no reaction. Some people even started whispering, worried that they had been deceived.

But as time passed, her face started heating up—not from fever, as they initially feared, but from awakening fire abilities. She simply lacked control over the energy, causing her entire body to heat up.

The leader quickly called for a fire-ability user to guide her, helping her learn how to release a fireball. Ten minutes later, she successfully formed a small fireball in her hand.

At that moment, the leader’s eyes reddened with emotion. He hugged his daughter tightly before rushing to the front gates to thank Shen Yunxuan.

His daughter had an ability now!

With these serums in their possession, the entire base’s strength would skyrocket. His gratitude toward Shen Yunxuan was immeasurable.

Shen Yunxuan could feel the faith energy radiating from him. She smiled and shook his hand. “It was a pleasure doing business. I hope we’ll have more opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

“Definitely! Absolutely!” The leader had already made up his mind—Thunder Base had to hunt more zombies, collect more crystal cores, and ensure they had enough to trade the next time they met Shen Yunxuan.

Maybe, after several trades, she would even be willing to bring them to her base. If that happened, they might get the chance to formally reintegrate into the government and become an official military force once more.

By this time, the food supplies had been fully unloaded. Shen Yunxuan turned to the people she had rescued and told them they had a choice—if they wanted to stay in Thunder Base, they could, but if they wished to follow her, they would go with Qi Zhan to help build the new base.

Since the new base was still an unknown, more than twenty ordinary people chose to stay behind. Thunder Base readily accepted them, wanting to show goodwill toward Shen Yunxuan. However, Professor Lin and the other researchers were resolute in their decision to follow Shen Yunxuan.

She smiled at them and simply said, “Get on the truck. Let’s go!”

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆