After a day and night of rest, Rui Feng had recovered enough to fight again. The others were also fully refreshed, and we set off once more that morning.
“What about the Wasteland Beast core?” I asked. The life force within had dwindled due to our absorption and natural dissipation, but it should still hold value as an ordinary core.
“True, even without life force, a Wasteland Beast core is a precious collectible. We could fetch a good price in the Imperial Capital,” Rui Xin mused, already calculating profits. “Better sell it at an exchange beyond the Sinan Family’s reach. Avoid giving them an excuse to confiscate it,” Mo Xiaohong suggested. Rui Feng immediately shut them down, not even blinking: “Out of the question. A lifeless Wasteland Beast core is useless dead weight. Besides, Ye killed the beast—it’s not your call to make.”
All eyes turned to me, waiting for my decision. Guess I’d unwittingly earned some authority.
“Do as Rui Feng says. A lifeless core might be pretty, but what good is pretty? It won’t fill your stomach.”
The words left my mouth—and they all froze solid.
“…Ye. Hearing *you* say ‘what good is pretty’ feels like sarcasm.”
“Uh…”
Come to think of it, my face was already exposed to them. No wonder everyone lately stood deliberately lower when talking to me—trying to peek under my hood. This wouldn’t do. To avoid triggering some cringey plotline like “rich, spoiled lord tries to snatch me as a concubine,” I’d stayed cautious. Unlike those oblivious baka protagonists who transform while flaunting their beauty, I preferred staying low-key… though nothing I’d done recently qualified as low-key.
But more pressing than that was the “Blood Core” inside me.
This world had no concept of dantian or qi seas—no “inner sight” either. I couldn’t see the Blood Core, only sense it was about half the size of a ping-pong ball. Most of the Wasteland Beast’s blood essence had flowed into it. Was this core a blessing or a curse? A sign of growing power or a hidden illness? Only time would tell.
---
The journey to the second survey point felt effortless compared to the first Wasteland Beast encounter. We only met two packs of lesser beasts along the way, dispatching them without incident. The landscape had shifted dramatically from dense forest—towering trees vanished, replaced by sparse shrubs and exposed gray-white bedrock. Patches of deep green dotted the rocky expanse like an inverted starry sky. Back on Earth, this would be a world-class tourist spot.
The only downside? The path turned steeply uphill halfway. My stamina had improved drastically, but I still loathed inclines on instinct.
“Smooth sailing. Second survey point reached,” Rui Feng announced. I’d worried about his condition, but the ferocity in his punches as he crushed monsters proved my concern unnecessary.
This site was called “Blackrock”—not the cool cannon-wielding girl with fiery eyes, but an actual massive black boulder. It stood like a monolith, obsidian-like and strikingly elegant against the barren terrain.
Sinan Long scanned the area with his compass while we guarded the perimeter. After last time, everyone stayed tense, barely breathing.
“Scan complete. No anomalies,” Sinan Long reported. “By the way, a herd of Twisted-Horn Goats approaches from the east. Evade or engage?”
“Evade. No time wasted on small fry.”
“Understood. I’ll maintain wide-area detection from now on to avoid unnecessary fights.”
I turned to Rui Xin. “If evasion’s possible, why not do it from the start?”
“The first stretch was packed with weak, dense beast packs. Dodging one group meant crashing into another—detection was pointless. But now? Stronger beasts, lower density. Avoiding fights is the smart play.”
“Yoishi. Got it.”
“What does ‘yoishi’ mean?”
“…Never mind.”
---
A beast sprinted like a bullet—a lion’s body armored in gleaming white bone plates, fangs bared in a savage maw. A Boneplate Lion! It lunged at a slender woman, claws ready to shred her—
“Annoying!”
Sinan Yuan’s fist shot out. The moment it neared the lion’s face, a shockwave erupted. The beast’s skull crumpled like paper, and it flew backward, dead before it hit the ground.
“Straggler dealt with. Continue.”
Fifty meters away, Sinan Ying and Elder Hong stood side by side before a massive pale-yellow energy barrier. Beyond it, four Boneplate Lions snarled, clawing and firing bone spikes—uselessly.
“Ready?” Elder Hong asked.
“Yes!”
He flicked his wrist. A slit opened in the barrier. One lion lunged through—
“Feel your Anomaly Power! Merge with it!”
“Yes!” Sinan Ying thrust out her hand. A tiny bubble shot forth, *ping!*—shattering a chunk of bone armor on the lion’s head. No other effect.
“Too weak. Again!”
She fired another bubble. It drifted lazily forward. Elder Hong’s face darkened with dread—
“You fool!”
He threw up a small barrier just as the bubble struck the lion.
***BOOOOM—***
A deafening blast ripped the air. Dust and debris mushroomed skyward, shaking the earth. When the smoke cleared—a crater, fifteen meters wide and three deep, scarred the ground. The lion? Vaporized.
Several guards gasped. Sinan Yuan sighed. Elder Hong’s face turned stormy.
“…Xiao Ying. Explain.”
“Uh… sorry. Lost control of the power…”
“I trusted you when you *swore* you could control it! Is *this* control?!”
“But… the destructive power *is* impressive…”
“Uncontrolled strength is weakness! Training ends here. Reflect on this!”
“…Sigh.”
Sinan Ying slumped to the ground, watching the guards efficiently slaughter the remaining lions.
*To wield Anomaly Power freely… how nice.*
*Why is mine so impossible to control?*
Truth was, Sinan Ying’s power ranked among the Sinan Family’s strongest in raw destruction. But its true terror lay in efficiency: an attack that could level a building would exhaust other users—but for her? Just “a bit tiring.” Yet this power came with a cruel flaw. If bubble strength ranged from 1 (knockout) to 10 (collapse a fortress), hers only hit two extremes: ≤2 or ≥8. Levels 1-2 worked on humans but failed against enhanced foes like that bald thug. Level 8? Overkill—massive area damage that risked self-injury. In the end, Sinan Ying’s Anomaly Power was… hard to call strong or weak.
