The matter of Xu Duoduo's spatial ability was of utmost importance. The team couldn't afford to be careless, so after finishing breakfast, they set out together, pnning to visit the mysterious shop near the city center.

  "Isn't that shopkeeper supposed to be super elusive? Last time, there was only a mechanical parrot and a wooden puppet in the store. Who knows if we'll even be able to contact the owner," Chen Xiaofei muttered as soon as they stepped out, looking genuinely worried.

  Wang Weihu reassured him, "If the shopkeeper left those things in the store, they must know everything that's going on. The pce is probably covered in surveilnce. How could they sell anything without keeping an eye on the shop?"

  "Let’s just see when we get there," Qin Luo said. "But Wang’s got a point."

  Meanwhile, Bai Shu silently swapped out his gsses for a new pair, as the previous ones had cracked during their morning antics.

  Chen Xiaofei noticed and let out a cold "hmph." He had resolved to stop talking to Bai Shu for three days after the morning's incident. His face still hurt, and he was determined to hold a grudge. That guy was even more savage than he was.

  Xu Duoduo, her hair still fluffy from the shower, looked back and forth between her teammates, her mood light and cheerful. Going out with everyone was her favorite thing to do.

  As the 3A Team reached the bottom of their building, they ran into some familiar faces—Zhang Chi and Mu Enya. The two were in the middle of a conversation when they happened to cross paths.

  "Oh my! It’s the little zombie!! Baby, I finally get to see you again!"

  Mu Enya squealed with delight and rushed over, pulling Xu Duoduo into a tight hug and nuzzling her affectionately. "Ah, baby, you smell so nice! What shampoo do you use?"

  Qin Luo was caught off guard and immediately pulled Xu Duoduo back into his arms, holding her protectively. He gred at Mu Enya with suspicion. "Why do you always have to hug and nuzzle people out of nowhere?"

  He still remembered the st time Mu Enya had suddenly kissed Xu Duoduo on the cheek.

  Mu Enya, now deprived of her hug, rolled her eyes. "What’s wrong with me greeting her? Baby clearly enjoys sticking close to me."

  Xu Duoduo was genuinely happy to see Mu Enya. Her appearance reminded Xu Duoduo of a friend she had before the apocalypse. Though many of her memories had become hazy since turning into a zombie, the sense of familiarity was undeniable when she saw Mu Enya.

  To show she remembered her, Xu Duoduo took out the charm Mu Enya had given her from her spatial storage.

  Mu Enya’s face lit up with joy. "Ahhh! I knew it! You didn’t forget about me!"

  She was so excited she nearly jumped up and down.

  Xu Duoduo smiled shyly and let herself be pulled aside by Mu Enya, the two of them diving into a private conversation about girl stuff.

  Qin Luo watched helplessly as his little zombie was so easily whisked away. He couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected. *Sigh*, but he couldn’t show it.

  Chen Xiaofei clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk, poor Captain. The little css monitor doesn’t want you anymore."

  Bai Shu calmly pushed up his gsses and joined in, adopting a mock-serious tone. "Support for lonely elderly folks…"

  "Get lost!" Qin Luo snapped at them.

  Wang Weihu, meanwhile, sighed deeply at the antics of his captain and teammates. He turned to Zhang Chi and greeted him politely, "Hello, Captain Zhang."

  Zhang Chi gnced at the three bickering men and couldn’t help but chuckle. "Your team seems to get along really well."

  Wang Weihu felt a bit embarrassed. Who would’ve thought that the famously formidable and brutally efficient 3A Team acted like this in private? He forced an awkward smile.

  The two captains chatted for a bit, exchanging updates on their test missions and sharing stories from the field.

  "The situation in I City has been rough tely," Zhang Chi said with a sigh. "They just got hit by another typhoon, and the damage is severe. Seawater flooded the city, making it even harder to recover weapons and supplies. Headquarters initially pnned to establish a small survivor base innd near I City, but now it looks like a full evacuation might be the only option."

  Hearing this, Qin Luo, Bai Shu, and Chen Xiaofei immediately stopped their antics and leaned in to listen.

  "I City is a coastal city, so it’s not surprising that typhoons hit it hard," Bai Shu said calmly. "Especially in the apocalypse, with weather becoming increasingly extreme, coastal cities are no longer suitable for survival. Evacuating is only a matter of time."

  He recalled how their team had once considered going to I City but had ultimately decided to head to C City to secure a stockpile of food instead. In hindsight, it had been the right choice.

  "If I City does evacuate, the pressure on the three major bases will increase significantly," Qin Luo remarked. "The popution is already growing rapidly. If we take in all the survivors from I City, the three bases will be completely overwhelmed."

  The situation across the country was dire. Headquarters had been trying to establish more survivor bases in other locations, but luck and geography weren’t on their side. Pces like R City, which had been overrun by a massive mutated banyan tree, were simply beyond saving.

  The three major bases had been built early on with significant resources and strategic locations. They were now humanity’s strongest fortresses, meant to serve as a foundation for rescuing other cities. But things weren’t looking good.

  More and more cities were falling. Would humanity really end up confined to just three bases? The thought was suffocating.

  Chen Xiaofei muttered to himself, "Humans have ruled the world for so long… Is it time for us to step aside?"

  Would mutated animals and pnts take over the Earth? But those creatures cked emotions, driven only by the instinct to devour and evolve. If that happened, the entire pnet would become a blood-soaked battlefield.

  The topic grew heavy.

  Zhang Chi sighed. "What can we do? We’ll just have to take it one step at a time."

  For now, all they could do was focus on their missions. C City hadn’t been fully recimed yet, but there was still hope. The 3A Team had only completed one of many tasks there, and rescue operations were ongoing in other areas.

  Zhang Chi suddenly brought up a regretful thought. "It’s a shame about Ping’an County in C City. I heard your team managed to bring back some food from there st time. If only you had a spatial ability user back then, you could’ve brought everything back to the base."

  That way, the massive food warehouse wouldn’t have been swallowed and contaminated by the swamp monster.

  Qin Luo and his team felt a twinge of guilt but also relief. Thankfully, Xu Duoduo had secretly collected everything. Otherwise, it would’ve all been destroyed.

  Bai Shu, ever the smooth liar, put on a regretful expression and said seriously, "In the apocalypse, deying the collection of supplies even by a moment is a loss."

  "Isn’t that the truth?" Zhang Chi agreed with a sigh.

  Chen Xiaofei whispered to Qin Luo, "Bai Shu is so sneaky. He lies without even blinking."

  Qin Luo clicked his tongue but wasn’t surprised. Bai Shu had always been cunning. Honestly, none of them were simple. Even Wang Weihu, who seemed like a big, goofy guy, was sharp when it mattered.

  Xu Duoduo, meanwhile, was learning a lot from Mu Enya. She realized that the situation outside was getting worse. The areas around the three major bases had already been scavenged multiple times, leaving only the most dangerous zones untouched. Future missions would only grow more challenging.

  Mu Enya’s expression turned somber. "We lost four team members on this st mission. Since the apocalypse began, so many familiar faces have disappeared. Honestly, I’m just really happy to see you all again."

  Because in this world, you never knew if there would be a next time.