Leaving Ye Qianxue with the security team, Yan Zimo went to the market alone.

The market dealt in all kinds of goods, from clothes and food to weapons and ammunition. But there were two things it absolutely wouldn’t touch: heavy weapons and ammunition, and slaves.

The ban on slave trading was easy to understand. It was no different from human trafficking—in fact, it was even worse. The government cracked down hard on it as soon as the apocalypse began, and with the public actively reporting any offenders, slave trading had all but disappeared in Huaguo. Other countries overseas were another matter, though. Europe, for example.

Heavy weapons and ammunition meant explosives capable of causing widespread destruction. Hand grenades just barely fell outside that category. It included 155 mm howitzers, mortars, armor-piercing rounds, and other military supplies. Selling any of them on the black market was strictly forbidden. Still, the profits were enormous, and plenty of people kept trading them in secret. It wasn’t until a year ago, when the Huaguo Government brought down a group of corrupt officials, that the trade was finally stamped out.

Yan Zimo strode straight to a weapons maintenance shop, pulled a receipt from her pocket, and handed it to the clerk at the front desk.

“Hello. I’m here to pick up the weapon I left with you for maintenance on July 20.”

“Of course. Let me look that up for you.” The clerk took the receipt and entered the number printed on it into the computer.

A short while later, someone emerged from the hallway in the back, carrying a small tachi.

“Hello. This is the weapon you left with us yesterday. Please check that everything’s in order.”

The blade wasn’t long—only 2.9 chi, or about a meter. Unlike steel, it was a deep, translucent blue, its color as profound as it was clear. Lines were engraved along its surface, and on closer inspection, they looked like streaks of lightning.

Yan Zimo was a longtime otaku, so she’d named the blade “Thunder Cutter.” Just as the name suggested, it could strike like lightning and cut down an enemy in a flash.

The moment Thunder Cutter reached Yan Zimo’s hand, it transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot into her body, startling the nearby staff.

As Thunder Cutter entered her body, Yan Zimo felt her Esper ability leap with joy. Waves of surging energy kept flowing through her.

Thunder Cutter had a special history. Yan Zimo hadn’t bought it; she’d inherited it from her teacher.

Most people knew Yan Zimo as a lightning Esper who’d already broken through to the Seventh Tier. She’d killed countless enemies in the Jiangning Military Base’s many operations and earned the title “Azure Thunder.”

But they didn’t know that Yan Zimo had a teacher.

When Yan Zimo’s body had changed into a woman’s, she’d only just gained her lightning ability and had no idea how to train it. Her strongest attack could barely kill a small zombie.

During one mission outside the base, she met Ye Qianxue. Yan Zimo was determined to bring Ye Qianxue back with her, but the journey was anything but smooth. They were hunted by all kinds of mutated creatures, and more than once, the two of them came close to death.

As they fled from the mutated creatures, the two stumbled into a forest that the Huaguo Government hadn’t set foot in once since the apocalypse began.

After escaping their pursuers, Yan Zimo and Ye Qianxue wandered blindly through the lightless forest, like a pair of headless flies. By pure chance, they fell into a pit.

There was nothing in the mysterious pit except a single blade, blue from end to end.

The moment Yan Zimo saw the blade, she couldn’t look away. What a beautiful weapon! It was crystal clear, and its faint blue glow formed a whirlpool that drew her mind in.

She grasped the hilt.

The blade, which had been giving off a faint glow, suddenly blazed with light. Its blue radiance filled the entire cave. Yan Zimo and Ye Qianxue both felt the energy inside them growing stronger, its purity increasing with every moment. By the time the light faded, their Esper abilities had both reached the Fourth Tier.

Without those incredible opportunities, how could Yan Zimo have reached the Seventh Tier in just five short years since the apocalypse began? And how could she have gained a Thunder Domain unlike any other? The others who’d awakened their abilities around the same time as her were only at the Third or Fourth Tier!

As Yan Zimo reveled in her good fortune, she discovered a memory inside her mind.

From that memory, Yan Zimo learned that Espers had been active in the world for a hundred years before the apocalypse began. Her uncle, Yan Shan, was one of them. There hadn’t been many Espers back then, but a few stood out above the rest. It was only when the apocalypse arrived that their numbers suddenly surged.

The last scene in the memory showed the blade’s original owner summoning a bolt of lightning from the sky. It tore through the mountain range, burying the blade there.

Yan Zimo guessed that the person who’d left the blade behind had likely reached the Ninth Tier—or even higher!

She’d also gained all kinds of methods for training her lightning ability, along with techniques for attack, defense, and more. They were all recorded in her mind.

Even now, Yan Zimo still found it hard to believe it had really happened. After that day, she and Ye Qianxue hadn’t told anyone. They’d kept the secret buried deep in their hearts.

“Ah! I’m spacing out again. No, no—I need to focus.” Yan Zimo came back to herself.

She slapped her cheeks hard with both hands. Her fair, rosy face turned bright red, making her look especially cute.

After picking up Thunder Cutter, Yan Zimo also went to a weapons shop and bought some hand grenades, pistol ammunition, and other supplies. By the time she’d finished, it was nearly dark.

“It’s getting late. I should go get Qianxue and head home.”

Yan Zimo returned to the security team and dragged Ye Qianxue away, even though she still didn’t want to leave.

Bai Xiaoling called after them, “Master, teach me more next time you come back!”

What the heck? She’d become her apprentice in no time at all. What kind of spell had Ye Qianxue put her under? Should she warn Bai Xiaoling not to go down the wrong path?

“Big Sis, I wasn’t finished talking. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?” Ye Qianxue pouted, clearly unhappy that Yan Zimo had dragged her away.

“We have to meet up early tomorrow. If you don’t get to bed soon, you won’t be able to drag yourself up, you lazy kitten. As soon as we get home, you’re going straight to bed!”

Yan Zimo used a skill called “Big Sister’s Authority” to make Ye Qianxue behave.

“Mmm... I want to sleep with you, Big Sis.”

Ye Qianxue kept pouting and begging. Yan Zimo had no choice but to give in.

Yan Zimo warned her, “We can sleep together, but don’t try anything weird. Otherwise, I’ll kick you right out of bed.”

“Oh? And what counts as ‘anything weird’?”

Yan Zimo stumbled at the question, her face turning bright red. She glared at Ye Qianxue. “The things you’re always thinking about!”

Ye Qianxue grinned wickedly. ‘Once we’re in bed, won’t I be the one calling the shots? Big Sis, just give in already!’ Just imagining Big Sis in all sorts of different positions made Ye Qianxue ecstatic.

When Yan Zimo opened the front door, she saw that the living room lights were on. She couldn’t help glancing at Ye Qianxue.

“Why are you looking at me, Big Sis...? It was daytime when we left.”

Right! She’d left during the day, so there was no way the lights should be on! Yan Zimo suddenly realized.

“Then is someone inside?”

Yan Zimo’s expression changed at the thought. Instinctively, she pulled Ye Qianxue behind her as electricity crackled over her body.

Yan Zimo moved forward slowly. When she reached the living room, she saw a broad figure sitting on the sofa, its back to her.

The lightning around her suddenly flared. “Who are you?”

“It’s me.” The figure on the sofa slowly turned around.

“Uncle?” Yan Zimo trembled from head to toe.

Ye Qianxue heard her and cried out too. “Uncle?”