CH 42

After the Great War, Shen Qingjia began again the daily monotonous cycle of opening her eyes, eating – training – training – training – training – sleep.

Today, Shen Qingjia is one of the few peak level 4 ability users standing at the top of Phoenix City, one of the best in both close combat and long-range lethality, but she has recently felt that she has entered another bottleneck. If she does not break through in time, she may be stuck at peak level 4 for her entire life.

However, the more she tried to move in the wrong direction, the more she deviated from the right direction, and the more impatient she became, the more clueless she became.

Shen Qingjia condensed a fireball in her hand, feeling her fine control over the elemental energy, and was in distress when the doorbell of the villa rang again.

Shen Qingjia sighed and reluctantly went to open the door, “What are you doing here again?”

Outside the door was surely the murderous loli Xia Yu.

She took out a wet towel from her spatial ring to wipe her face, her eyes impatient, “What are you doing here again?”

In the past few days, Xia You has been coming to her villa all day long, asking about the training methods for the team members.

She thought that if she told Xia Yu everything she knew, she would be able to settle down, but she didn’t expect her to come back today.

Xia Yu grunted coldly and leaned against the wall with her hands on her shoulders.

“Staying in the villa every day without even going out to see the outside world, you’re a soul who’s going to turn mouldy and become a rotten egg, I was only trying to drag you out for a stroll out of the goodness of my heart.”

“…… I’m sorry I’ve turned into a rotten egg!!!”

“Cut the crap on that, will you go or not!”

“No.” Shen Qingjia cast a glance at her, “In a few days we will be going on a mission to the major bases in the north, I don’t want to be the weakest one in the team.”

Xia Yu stared straight at Shen Qingjia and smiled a moment later. Although she was born with a sinister and harsh aura and was still young, now when her eyebrows were relaxed and she smiled slightly, even the most critical person had to admit that this was a very, very beautiful girl.

This beautiful girl said, “Still really boring, so that’s why I hate you the most, Shen Qingjia.”

“The feelings are mutual.”

Xia Yu was not annoyed, “Shen Qingjia, you and I are very much alike, I hate you as much as I hate myself. That’s why every time I see you, I want to stab you a few times.”

Shen Qingjia, “?”

“In a week’s time the eight bases in the north and south will soon be conducting diplomatic relations. We have a high chance of meeting the person we want to meet this time up north.” Xia Yu’s lips smiled lightly, so crude it looked surprisingly a little tender, “So you’re going to use this look to meet that person?”

“Cold, selfish, heartless, cruel …… you want to use this face to meet her?”

Shen Qingjia was in a trance for a moment, suddenly remembering that a long, long time ago, someone had said this to her with a smile, “Sure enough, Shen Qingjia you look the best smiling ……”

“I always had the understanding that my only and ultimate purpose was to see my sister, and the reason I was so desperate to be strong was to find her. But Shen Qingjia, do you still remember your original purpose?” Xia Yu’s tone was light, yet it pointed straight to Shen Qingjia’s heart.

“Even if I’m a crazy perverted psychopath, in front of my sister, I still want to show her a warm and innocent face. People are social animals, only in the crowd can we find our lost human qualities.”

Shen Qingjia was silent for a moment, neatly put all her weapons into her spatial ring, put on her jacket and said to Xia You, “Let’s go!”

Phoenix City, as the only three large human bases in the south, was undoubtedly well-constructed with various classified management facilities. There are three deputy city lords under the City Lord, and there are eight departments: military, foreign affairs, personnel, information, supervision and discipline, scientific research, logistics, and civil affairs, as well as a hidden department that only receives direct or The Phoenix city has collective working hours from 8am to 11am and 2pm to 6pm, with Saturdays and Sundays as holidays. On the rare occasions when they are free, the ordinary people of the city usually make all sorts of handicrafts, raw crystal cores and sell all sorts of odd things for a small amount of extra money.

This is the other side of the city from the ability user settlement, where few ability users come to hang out. The high and mighty with their eyes above their heads don’t have the time to come here – it’s the equivalent of a ‘slum’ for them.

This street was called Strange Street, and as the name implied, it was the most common place for ordinary people to gather on holidays.

Xia Yu walked in front of her, looking like she knew this place well. ” This sort of place can give many things, even if you want Durex condoms you can get plenty of them.”

“…… that kind of thing I wouldn’t want, you bastard!”

Xia Yu looked intently at the stalls on both sides of the road and lazily said, “What does it matter, you’re not really out shopping anyway.”

The fourteen or fifteen year old girl’s ebony hair was on her shoulders, her body was thin and slender, her complexion was a fair and delicate ivory colour, and the whole person was like a porcelain doll that people couldn’t help but hold in their hands and love …… Of course if anyone did, they would definitely be dismembered and broken up immediately and then thrown over the wall to feed the zombies.ders from the City Lord.

Both of them were wearing casual clothes with their level 4 badges removed, wandering around with smiles on their faces, looking no different from ordinary teenage girls of their age.

“Shen Qingjia, do you remember, this is the life of an ordinary person, however, when ability user stands tall for a long time, they always forget that they are still human.”

Xia You picked up a jade carving on a stall and played with it. The boss saw Shen Qingjia and co. dressed cleanly and with an extraordinary aura around them, he immediately began to be attentive to his introductions.

“You two, this Hetian jade carving was hand-carved by a Ming Dynasty master, with a seal mark engraved on the bottom, in the old days the value number could easily be sold for several million yuan, but now it can be sold to you for just one level 1 crystal core!”

In fact, this kind of thing is similar to a luxury collector’s item, after the end of the world, the value is almost worthless, a piece of poor quality level 1 crystal core can be exchanged for a large number of it, the shopkeeper is lavishly shouting the price, waiting for the customer to sit down and pay back the money and open his mouth to discount the price countless times.

Xia Yu took the jade carving and looked at it in the sunlight, casually took out a crystal core from her pocket and threw it to the owner, turned around and left.

“Eh! Wait a minute ……,” the boss put the crystal nucleus on the simple energy detector, but suddenly closed his mouth, held the crystal nucleus tightly and put it into his own pocket vigorously.

Someone next to him came over with a gossipy face, “What’s wrong old Zhang, did that fellow just give you a counterfeit crystal nucleus?”

Old Zhang laughed dryly a few times and held tightly to the level 2 crystal core in his pocket, “No …… no, the colour is good, I earned a small fortune today, my treat for the night!”

The level 2 crystal cores can be exchanged for 200kg of food in this post-apocalyptic world, enough for an adult to live frugally for three years.

In fact, it’s not just a small profit. Nima [1] just throws away the second level crystal core, what a brainless loser. Please come and patronise me more!

“Because a small level 2 crystal nucleus can get ordinary people pleased and ecstatic ……” Xia Yu’s voice is soft, no other emotions can be heard.

Shen Qingjia gave her a strange look, “Don’t tell me you’re going to say next that you’re so envious of this carefree life of ordinary people because you can’t get it so you as a level 4 you’re melancholy and sad blah blah blah or something ……”

Xia Yu squinted at Shen Qingjia, “Don’t look at me as one of those brainwashed people who only know how to have a good time, how can a weak person without strength in the end times protect the people they want to protect, I, Xia Yu, am the one who advocates that the peaceful world is fought with fists!”

Shen Qingjia curled her lips, did not speak.

Xia Yu was very excited to shop around, “So, what do you feel after throwing away the cultivation matters and looking at these?”

“Feelings? I feel like I’m just as bad as ever. You expect me to feel like a human being and then I’ll help you with a knife when I see something wrong, but this kind of bloodthirsty Virgin Mary rescue story doesn’t fit my high end style at all! “

Xia Yu, “…………”

From the street stroll to the end of the street, unknowingly two hours have passed, Shen Qingjia gaze quietly looking around the noisy crowd, since the end of the world, rarely does she do anything else except cultivating to let time pass.

The noise, the constant hawking of stall vendors, the thin and pale people coming and going. The middle-aged man not far away sold a bamboo basket he had woven and was so happy that he kissed his wife on the cheek.

Further away, some women or men in revealing clothes sit in chairs, wearing make-up so heavy that their original faces cannot be seen, waiting for some other man or woman, who doesn’t care about their looks, to sweep them into the small building and exchange their bodies for 1 to 3 pounds of grain half an hour later.

This is the life of ordinary people, the busyness of ordinary people, the happiness of ordinary people, the kindness of ordinary people, the despair of ordinary people, the resentment of ordinary people.

Shen Qingjia looked at all this, “Although being educated by a murderous maniac like you is indeed a little …… but since we are human beings, no matter how selfish or cold we become, the warm and beautiful other side of the human soul is something that I must always preserve. Not only because of my void and dying conscience, but because someone from my heart and soul wants us to always just smile.”

After all, not everyone is a Saviour or Greatest Villain, who can slaughter a city without changing expressions and reducing Earth’s population easily, they were once ordinary people, who would be sad, who would feel guilty, who would doubt the value and meaning of their existence, and this depressing thought would become a knot in their hearts over time.

People actually have a dual nature.

No one is ever as noble as the good guys in brain-damaged TV shows, or as vicious and sinister as the bad guys. In human nature, cruelty corresponds to gentleness and selfishness corresponds to kindness. In the past, Shen Qingjia wanted to suppress her pure and virtuous side and use absolute calmness and coldness to gain more strength, but she was increasingly unable to do so.

Now that Shen Qingjia’s mind is clear, she almost immediately feels the bottleneck at the peak of level 4, which she stuck for a long time, begins to loosen little by little.

The author has something to say:

It’s Single Day again…… (Why there is such a holiday ah simply gave me a fatal blow to the soul!)

Xiao Qingjia is heading north to find her lover.

I’m about to reunite the two but bear with me.

I feel very unhappy today（：＿」∠）(Softly laying on the ground)

The author is serious and cool and witty and awesome! ←← Repeat that a hundred times, a hundred times!!!

Translator’s notes :

[1] In this content, this fit more like, a fucker? Anyway, like I said in the previous chapter, I will keep Nima as it is and this will be the last time I make a note for that.