9 Triggering the Quest

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Lin Qiu was utterly incredulous, her face filled with resistance.
“It’s fine, Mom. From now on, I’ll be the one digging. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Li Xiaoxiao understood her mother’s reluctance.
Lin Qiu looked at her daughter and sighed; she just found it too disgusting.
However, since this was something they would have to rely on in the future, she knew she had to overcome it and not hold her daughter back.
“Give me some time. I’ll get used to it.”
Li Xiaoxiao turned away, secretly smiling. Her mother was far from weak.
Survival of the fittest—this saying held true at all times.
For the zombies on this floor, Li Xiaoxiao left the killing to Lin Qiu, standing by to watch and offer tips on how to kill with the least effort.
Lin Qiu adapted quickly.
After killing the third zombie, she even took the initiative to dig into the zombie’s skull.
Seeing her clearly disgusted but forcing herself to endure it, Li Xiaoxiao felt a pang of sympathy.
Yet she didn’t stop her.
Upon reaching the twelfth floor, Lin Qiu froze at the pile of debris blocking the fire escape door.
Li Xiaoxiao pretended not to notice and headed downstairs.
Lin Qiu sighed and followed, seeing that Li Xiaoxiao wasn’t moving.
Although Li Xiaoxiao had spoken of her past life, Lin Qiu had no memory of that and still found it hard to be harsh on her elder daughter.
But between an older sister and her child, Lin Qiu still leaned towards her daughter.
The electric scooter looked no different from those in the real world but was much faster, nearly matching the speed of a motorbike.
With Lin Qiu on board, Li Xiaoxiao weaved through the streets and soon arrived at the nearest mall.
The zombie outbreak happened in the early morning hours; the mall was closed and its doors locked tight.
But this was already the third day of the apocalypse, and looting had been rampant—the glass doors had long since been smashed open.
Li Xiaoxiao rode straight to the entrance. After Lin Qiu dismounted, she summoned the scooter into her spatial pocket with a thought.
Recently, more supernaturals had appeared, but she wasn’t afraid of anyone discovering her spatial ability; after all, she didn’t want to reveal her healing powers just yet.
Moreover, in her previous life, many people had spatial powers, acquired through various means—it wasn’t a secret.
Inside, the place was a mess: counters smashed, goods either taken or strewn about, trampled and chaotic.
A few corpses lay sprawled in the lobby—humans killed by humans, not yet mutated.
“Bang!”
A zombie fell from upstairs, unlucky enough to smash its skull so badly it couldn’t get back up.
The supermarket in the basement was noisy; the chaos downstairs was audible even from the stairwell.
Li Xiaoxiao had no plans to go down.

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On the first floor was a jewelry store; the counters had been looted clean, with only a few gold chains left scattered on the floor. Beyond that were mobile phone and digital stores and several skincare shops, which Li Xiaoxiao ignored.
She led Lin Qiu upstairs directly. The second and third floors housed various clothing, shoe, and hat stores, which Li Xiaoxiao methodically collected one by one.
She only needed to stand at the shop doors, her mind enveloping the entire store, and everything inside was absorbed into her spatial pocket without her needing to enter.
Lin Qiu stared in amazement, silently impressed.
Her daughter’s spatial power was truly extraordinary; just this floor’s haul covered over a hundred square meters.
Li Xiaoxiao kept Lin Qiu close, wary of any unexpected dangers.
She took everything indiscriminately.
Until order was restored, these items couldn’t be reproduced and would serve as valuable barter goods in the future.
The fourth floor sold dining supplies; the fifth housed a food court, cinema, and karaoke bars.
Li Xiaoxiao emptied every kitchen she entered, including stoves, cabinets, and cookware. Behind the kitchens were storage and cold rooms, stocked with all kinds of ingredients, all now in her spatial pocket.
She also secured six high-powered generators.
The food court’s stock was modest but better than nothing.
After gathering the upstairs goods, Li Xiaoxiao and Lin Qiu headed to the warehouse behind the underground parking garage.
This was the supermarket’s basement warehouse, stocked with even more goods than the supermarket itself.
The warehouse door had double locks: a chain lock and a combination lock.
Li Xiaoxiao sliced through the chains with her knife and then had her system decode the combination.
Pushing open the door revealed a warehouse packed with neatly arranged goods, categorized by type. With a thought, Li Xiaoxiao absorbed everything.
[Ding! Spatial task completed. Reward: unlimited storage space. Subsequent tasks unlocked.]
At once, Li Xiaoxiao’s spatial pocket expanded infinitely, stretching beyond sight.
[Host, collecting 50,000 cubic meters of water and 10,000 cubic meters of soil will unlock spatial ecology.]
“Ecology? Able to sustain living things?”
[Yes, host.]
At this, Li Xiaoxiao’s eyes brightened—such a wonderful prospect.
“Is there a time limit?”
[No, host. Completion can be anytime.]
Though the system said there was no rush, Li Xiaoxiao knew she had to act quickly. Once the viral rain fell, water and soil would be contaminated.
She did not want pollution inside her spatial pocket.
It was four in the afternoon now, and she prepared to move to the next location.
[Host, a new triggered task is available. Accept?]
“Tell me about it first.”
[Triggered task: Rescue sonic attacker Lin Shuangshuang. Reward is generous.]

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Sonic attacker? Such a person was a natural nemesis to void breachers, capable of tremendous potential if properly trained.
However, Li Xiaoxiao had never heard of Lin Shuangshuang in her previous life.
“Accept!” she decided without hesitation.
[Target locked: Employee break room, northwest corner of the basement level.]
The northwest corner? That was closer from the warehouse upstairs.
She immediately turned and re-entered the warehouse. Lin Qiu wondered why her daughter had gone back again but said nothing—wherever she went, Lin Qiu followed.
———
“Let me go! You bastards, get off me!”
Lin Shuangshuang struggled fiercely beneath two men pinning her to the ground.
She was the warehouse manager of this supermarket.
Two days ago, because a shipment was arriving, she had come early to open the store—no one could have predicted the apocalypse would break out.
She had hidden in the supermarket for two days. Since yesterday, looters had been breaking in.
Terrified, she took refuge in the innermost employee break room.
But today, a group of men had found their way into the break room.
Upon seeing her, their intentions turned sinister as they surrounded her.
Lin Shuangshuang tried to escape, but five burly men blocked the door; she couldn’t get out.
She screamed for help, hoping someone would come, but four more men guarded the outside, and in this chaotic world, no one had time to care for her.
In her struggle, her nails scraped a man’s face, earning her a brutal slap.
“Damn it! You filthy bitch! How dare you hit me! If you won’t drink, you’ll have to suffer the consequences!”
Lin Shuangshuang’s face immediately swelled.
Her hands were pinned above her head, her legs tightly held by another man.
Her heart filled with despair—she was terrified and furious. Why? Why was this happening to her?
Could she not escape today?
Perhaps death was the only release.
She closed her eyes in hopelessness.
“Rip!”
The sound of tearing fabric echoed repeatedly in the employee break room as the men laughed, their eyes gleaming like hungry wolves fixed on their prey, Lin Shuangshuang.