Chapter 405: Chapter 405

An Ning couldn't help but marvel; human intelligence really is, at any time, an unbeatable weapon.

As the rumors spread, it became visible to the naked eye that, even with Lu Ting's deterrence as the base leader, people's hearts in the base could not help but become unsettled.

This was only the situation in one sector of Blaze Base. Yet the people here — whether those who, as children, once fought desperately to repel enemies, or those who over the years provided food and necessities, or even those who now enjoyed relative peace within the base — were in some sense indebted to An Ning for having their lives preserved.

Of course, even in the harshest environments, most people still carried hearts of gratitude.

But where there is light, there is always darkness.

An Ning knew in her heart that, in secret, many people's hearts had likely begun to stir with unrest.

In the early morning, after a session of morning practice, An Ning was strolling along the newly built path with Mom and Dad.

Afraid their daughter might run into trouble, over these years whether at home or out, the Lu and Shen couple had never dared let their girl be alone.

In the morning light, from not far away at the school came the clear voices of children reading aloud, soon turning into sounds of punching practice.

Compared to other bases, Blaze Base had developed fairly well over the years, especially for ordinary people inside the base. After all, whether it was Base Leader Zhou or Lu Ting, none of them were rulers who would harshly oppress the lower classes.

Public order within the base was decent, and incidents of ability users bullying ordinary people were rare.

However, when compared to those with abilities, unless one possessed an outstanding specialty or exceptional intelligence, in terms of quality of life and even social status, ordinary people inevitably lagged behind by many degrees.

And with the current surface conditions, the inability to go out to gather or hunt for basic production materials had already blocked most people's path to being worry-free in food and clothing, let alone achieving prosperity.

Surprisingly, even under such harsh conditions, Blaze Base still saw a fair number of children born each year, some families even having two children in three years, continuing to give birth.

"Why? I thought in the apocalypse people would stop having kids."

The system was somewhat puzzled as it glanced at the nearly full nursery class. Especially after learning that most of these children's parents were ordinary people, or that only one parent had abilities.

Isn't having children under such status and conditions just asking for trouble?

After all, lives were barely safe now, and zombie hordes could attack the city at any moment.

"Reproduction is, in the end, a natural instinct!" Listening to the occasional cries nearby, An Ning was not too surprised.

"Besides, although few children awaken abilities, it's not nonexistent, right?"

At worst, the kids could still have a chance to awaken when they grew up. For example, her cousin Shen Muyan awakened his earth-type ability last year at fifteen.

Although its offensive power wasn't top-tier, not as good as wood-type or even water-type in terms of utility, for most people it was already very good.

And earth-type is basically a run-away ace.

With such precedents, who wouldn't be envious?

Having an ability user in the family didn't guarantee full family benefit, but it increased chances of survival and made most people think twice before bullying them.

After all, in the apocalypse, no matter how hard one fought to maintain stability, social order still could not match what it was before.

"Sigh!" Watching a group of kids training desperately, the system couldn't help but sigh.

"No wonder those research labs can never be fully stopped."

Nor was it surprising that a single sentence from that one person could stir such a commotion.

"Let's not talk about lifespan. With such a huge gap in quality of life, who would willingly spend their whole life being inferior, crushed at the bottom?"

"If danger comes and you have no means to fight back, you have to entrust your life to others."

After all, nowadays, for even slightly higher-level zombies, guns and other weapons are already hard to be effective.

"Yeah, who would be willing?"

Facing the dazzling morning light, An Ning for once did not argue with the system. Ordinary people wanted abilities; those with abilities wanted to chase the powerful, to have offspring, to ensure important lovers and family members could also possess such miraculous power.

Glancing at the parents outside the nursery, eyes full of hope, occasionally asking questions, An Ning thought: Pandora's box, in fact, had been opened from the very beginning...

As if merely announcing its return and once again delivering a wave of unstoppable panic to all bases — thoroughly stirring the waters — the figure disappeared once more.

Leaving humans in a state of alarm.

At the Lu family villa, compared to the couple who worried about their daughter daily and stubbornly cultivated their abilities, An Ning was actually the most relaxed, hardly changing her daily cultivation routine.

When asked by her biological mother, An Ning answered naturally, with a face that looked perfectly reasonable despite still being young:

"Since that method has already been chosen, it means that up to now, that zombie leader hasn't defeated my confidence."

"Don't worry. In this situation, given his caution, he definitely won't take reckless action recently."

At most he might probe a little, An Ning couldn't help but think.

Most importantly, her cultivation method currently bore traces of the practices from her past life. As the saying goes, Dao methods follow nature; the more anxious one is, the more likely things go wrong.

But Shen Qing, unaware of the real reason, thought: "..."

Good grief, how can my daughter be so carefree!

What to do, even more panicked...

In short, at this moment, Shen Qing finally understood how helpless the Shen elders had been back then.

Oh well, staying up a little later every day won't hurt; might as well match Ting-ge.

Glancing at her daughter, who seemed clueless about worry and exhausted early in the morning, Shen Qing couldn't help but exhale angrily.

Time slipped by amidst the couple's endless toil. Months passed. Seeing that the figure truly did not reappear, the base gradually resumed normal hunting activities.

However, on this day.

While everyone was battling a pack of mutated beasts, a stranger plume of white smoke suddenly drifted down between the towering trees, mingling with the forest fog and hurtling toward them...