The Absolute Favorite in the Apocalyptic Rebirth

At dawn, the two awoke to the sounds of human activity.

A faint light slipped in through the window, revealing the first hint of daybreak in the sky. A glance at the time showed it was around five o'clock. Judging by the sounds outside, the people in the oasis were already up and working.

When Lou Ling and Lou Dian got up and opened the door, they saw many young men wiping their weapons in the open space in front of the wooden house, seemingly preparing to go hunting.

It had been two days since they arrived at the Angel Ya Oasis. During these two days, they had wandered around the oasis. Qin You hadn't restricted their movements. As a Level Four peak wood-elemental ability user, any place with mutated plants served as her surveillance, allowing her to keep track of their whereabouts.

The Angel Ya Oasis was vast. It took them half a day to explore it fully. Afterward, they sat for a while on the grassy patch by the lake, enjoying the natural scenery. The reflection of the sky on the clear lake was a touching sight.

During this time, the Bach siblings, who happened to be on patrol, became their guides, introducing them to the basic situation of the oasis. They didn't know anything more in-depth. From the siblings, they learned that the oasis housed over ten thousand people, with about a thousand ability users. The rest were tourists lost in the desert or original inhabitants. There were no elderly people living there, and even the children, like Funa, were healthy and resilient. Frail children didn't survive. Everyone had their own tasks, and although it seemed safe, it wasn't absolute.

The desert held dangers no less than densely populated cities. While there wasn't much threat from zombies, there were mutated beasts and zombie beasts. The food here consisted mainly of mutated beasts, requiring daily hunting expeditions.

When Lou Ling heard that ordinary people here could also eat the meat of mutated beasts, she was incredulous. However, to avoid appearing surprised, she used candy to coax the Bach siblings, subtly trying to find out more, but naturally, she discovered nothing. The Bach siblings were just desert natives who had sought refuge in the oasis. As ordinary people, they only knew what they were supposed to know.

However, the Bach siblings were very respectful of Qin You, whom they called the Sage. From their words and expressions, Qin You had become an unapproachable deity in their minds. It seemed that ever since mutated beast meat became their food source, both ability users and ordinary people could eat it.

The Bach siblings' attitude was understandable. Qin You, with her high ability level, was the protector of this oasis. Even terrifyingly ferocious mutated beasts couldn't penetrate the desert's red willow forest to threaten their safety. With Qin You guarding the oasis, providing these people with a relatively safe haven in the cruel apocalypse, they were naturally grateful, revering her as a god.

"This Miss Qin is a good person," Lou Ling praised after hearing about Qin You's deeds. It was rare for an ability user to treat ordinary people equally. She had seen many ability users who didn't consider ordinary people as human, even believing their existence was a waste of food, throwing them to zombies during encounters.

As soon as she finished speaking, a certain man patted her head pityingly and said, "You can think that if you want!"

Seeing his sarcastic expression, Lou Ling knew she was wrong again, or rather, her normal thinking couldn't keep up with his abnormal pace. Standing outside his world, she was mocked by him. Lou Ling remained silent, deciding to understand the situation before speaking again to avoid further ridicule.

It wasn't her fault for thinking that way. Seeing this peaceful oasis, full of greenery, isolated from the yellow sand, with people living and working in peace, although monotonous, everyone had food to eat. Having witnessed so much darkness in the apocalypse, facing this oasis resembling a paradise, she naturally felt a surge of emotion.

The people in the open space in front of the wooden house noticed them coming out and turned their gazes towards them. They had been there for two days but hadn't mingled with the oasis residents. They were still unfamiliar faces, naturally attracting attention.

Lou Dian calmly took her hand and walked down the steps of the wooden house, raising an eyebrow at them and saying, "We'll go out with you today."

The leader was a rugged, tall, and sturdy middle-aged man. He exuded a special aura, like a hardened soldier. He was the captain of the ability user team, named Qin Zheng. Hearing the name, one could guess he was from the Qin family and had military experience.

Qin Zheng sized them up, noticing their lack of weapons and glancing at their backpacks. Recalling Qin You's instructions, he nodded in agreement.

As they were about to set off, the Bach siblings ran over.

"Sister Ling!" Funa called out in a clear voice, "Are you going out with Captain Qin?"

Lou Ling looked at the girl carried by Bach and, seeing the worry on their faces, smiled, pulled Funa into her arms, and said, "Yes, be good, Funa. We'll bring back delicious food for you." Over the past two days, Lou Ling had grown fond of the cute and obedient Funa. Similarly, the Bach siblings had become less guarded around them.

Funa nodded. Due to insufficient food, she was rather thin, which accentuated her large eyes. When she blinked at people, it softened their hearts.

Lou Ling patted Funa's head, waved goodbye to the siblings, and followed the group out. The people in the oasis watched them leave, their eyes flickering as they noticed the Lou siblings trailing behind the group. They began to whisper amongst themselves.

Lou Ling rolled her eyes inwardly. It went without saying what these people were whispering about. It was nothing more than them coming to the oasis, doing nothing, and freeloading. If the Sage hadn't remained silent, these oasis residents would have driven these two lazy freeloaders away. Heaven knew that all the mutated beast meat delivered these past days had been stored by Lou Dian in his spatial storage. They ate food they had prepared beforehand. They had no intention of staying here permanently and naturally didn't care about these people's opinions.

They took a different exit.

There were twenty people in the hunting party, plus Lou Ling and Lou Dian, making a total of twenty-two. Qin Zheng led the way, passing through another forest, and then using a strange gait, they exited the forest.

The forest exit led to a grassy area where several military jeeps were parked.

After refueling the vehicles, everyone got in. Lou Dian pulled Lou Ling into the same jeep, squeezing her to the innermost seat to prevent her from being touched by other men. He sat beside her, separating her from the others. Although she was close to Lou Dian, the strange smell in the jeep still made her uncomfortable. When he pulled her into his arms, Lou Ling didn't struggle and simply leaned against him, feeling slightly better.

"Tsk!"

Hearing the mocking scoff, Lou Ling turned her head and saw everyone in the jeep looking at them with derision, seemingly finding her too delicate and looking down on Lou Dian's fair and handsome, noble appearance. They thought they were just putting on a brave face by coming along. Besides mockery, there was also a lewdness in their eyes, a probing, teasing look, as if they were treating them as playthings.

Lou Dian remained indifferent, seemingly oblivious. Lou Ling glanced at them, equally silent, continuing to feign fragility.

"Tch, even in the apocalypse, still so delicate. Truly a useless woman!"

"Forget it, since she's a woman, as long as she can satisfy a man in bed, we shouldn't ask for too much!"

"She's quite fair and tender, I wonder…"

The unrestrained, suggestive voices abruptly stopped as the tip of a gleaming dagger pressed against the neck of the man sitting next to them, even piercing the skin, drawing a trace of blood.

Lou Dian asked politely, "What did you say?"

Everyone in the jeep fell silent. The men who had been leering at them changed their expressions, seemingly unable to believe Lou Dian would actually make a move. After all, they were outnumbered, and anyone with sense would choose to avoid conflict.

The man whose neck was pressed against the dagger flushed dark red, then turned livid. Feeling the sting from his neck, he stammered, "N-nothing, you misheard."

"Oh, is that so?" Lou Dian didn't retract the dagger, continuing calmly, "I hate hearing others say anything about my woman. Remember this. I'll be very displeased!"

"…Understood."

The dagger poked cruelly, drawing more blood before being slowly withdrawn. The men sitting in the same row with them involuntarily shifted aside, pressing themselves against the side of the jeep, feeling slightly safer. They looked at Lou Dian with a mixture of anger and fear. They had initially wanted to retaliate, but feeling the blood flowing from their necks, they decided to suppress their anger.

Lou Dian's sudden action not only stunned those men but also made them retract their leering gazes. However, after Lou Dian lowered his eyes and ignored them, the men in the jeep exchanged glances, their eyes revealing a cold and malicious glint. Inwardly, they wished they could strip these two naked and have their way with them.

If their captain hadn't forbidden them, on the very first night these siblings arrived at the oasis, they would have snuck into their wooden house and taken them, just like they did with those who strayed into the oasis. Whether male or female, anyone with decent looks would become their tool for venting their desires. Indeed, the Lou siblings' clean appearance, handsome and refined features, and delicate jade-like beauty were exceptionally striking among this group of rough men and women, making them quite alluring.

They had initially thought these siblings would be easy to handle and that they could have some fun on this trip. Who knew they were different from what they had imagined? Although different, there were only two of them. As long as the Sage gave the word, could these two siblings possibly resist the entire oasis?

After half an hour, the jeep suddenly stopped. Mutated beasts appeared ahead.

Lou Ling jumped out of the jeep and saw the men chasing a mutated camel in the yellow sand. The mutated camel, unlike its docile pre-apocalypse counterpart, had become extremely irritable. With a single kick, it sent the nearest man flying, rolling into the yellow sand. Another kick sent a fire-ability user flying.

Lou Ling watched, speechless. This mutated camel was indeed large and powerful, but weren't these men being kicked around too pathetically?

Lou Dian stood by the side, observing calmly. His composed demeanor naturally infuriated these ability users. Thinking these two were useless, someone deliberately lured the mutated camel towards them.

Captain Qin Zheng noticed their actions and was about to say something when he saw a cloud of yellow sand swirling in the distance. More mutated beasts were approaching – two even larger and more powerful camels, clearly coming to rescue the besieged camel. Seeing the two camels appear, everyone's faces changed drastically. They were confident in dealing with one, and could barely manage two, but three at once…

The scene immediately descended into chaos.

At this moment, the camel charging towards Lou Dian and Lou Ling was already upon them, kicking up a cloud of yellow sand.

Author's Note:

Today's goals:

Lou Ling's goal: Deal with the mutated camel!

Lou Dian's goal: Deal with all creatures coveting his sister!

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