I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 730: Lock the Door

What on earth is Cousin Wu You’ai thinking? How can she be so reckless?

"Those little experiments you used to do... involved highly poisonous medicine? Isn’t that illegal? By the way, why did you make it?" Jing Shu couldn’t help but ask curiously.

"Ahem, times were chaotic back then, weren’t they? Although I had the ’if you can’t beat them, join them’ sort of mindset, I also worried about what would happen if my family encountered such things. Crucially, when the chaos was at its peak, I ran into the Wu Family. They actually targeted my mom. Seeing she was doing well, they came after us again..."

"I have no personal limits, but my mom is my absolute limit."

"So I thought, if they kept pushing us, I’d poison them. After all, I had made my threats clear. But who knew they would just vanish after that? I eventually forgot about the highly poisonous medicine."

Jing Shu nodded. "I see. Next time the Wu Family comes looking for you, tell me. We’ll drive them out together. What kind of people are they, anyway."

Wu You’ai nodded and continued, "This highly poisonous medicine is different from ordinary ones. When you want to use it, just mix the main ingredient with the black auxiliary one, add some dishwashing liquid, and it will rapidly expand thousands of times. The expanded substance then releases highly poisonous fumes to incapacitate enemies. Within its range, it doesn’t distinguish between friend or foe."

"You only need a tiny bit. Don’t use too much, or the range will be too vast and you might harm yourself. When you throw it, you must run far away. It’s best to wear a gas mask; otherwise, don’t breathe at all. Through my experiments, anyone who can’t escape the poison cloud will die within five minutes."

"It’s a bit slow-acting, but it’s persistent."

"The poison cloud is also corrosive. As it expands rapidly, it releases billions of molecules. These molecules will corrode any living matter they touch. If it gets on the skin, the poison will seep in, but it won’t be fatal."

"It has a wide range, making it suitable for poisoning enemy camps. It’s also long-lasting, continually releasing harmful molecules, though its toxicity will diminish over time."

Jing Shu nodded repeatedly, her mind already racing with ways to use this highly poisonous medicine. At this stage, using it to kill enemies... isn’t really necessary. With my skills, I have dozens of ways to deal with opponents. But this kind of wide-ranging highly poisonous medicine is effective against all living creatures...

So, if we encounter other troublesome Dark Creatures on the road, I wonder if it would work? Or if I provoke people from some unknown faction in the future and get chased, throwing a glob of this stuff into their headquarters... That would be much more effective than explosives.

Finally, Jing Shu asked, "By the way, is there an antidote? What if an ally gets accidentally poisoned..."

Wu You’ai shrugged. "Nope. When I created it, I didn’t intend for anyone to survive. So, you have to be very careful. If you’re exposed to a little, as long as you don’t breathe, you won’t die."

"Badass!" What else could Jing Shu say? This was so typically Wu You’ai!

Developing a poison without bothering to create an antidote.

"What’s this highly poisonous medicine called?"

"Let’s call it Pharaoh Poison Snake."

After bidding farewell to Wu You’ai, Jing Shu immediately divided the Pharaoh Poison Snake into ten portions and stored them in her Magic Cube Space alongside her personal stash of explosives. She then placed dishwashing liquid in an adjacent compartment, ready for immediate use in special situations. So thoughtful of me.

I can’t trust putting this stuff with anything else. What if it contaminates other food and I poison myself to death? In short, I have to be extremely careful with this; it’s far too dangerous.

They were busy until late at night. Grandma Jing even took out and prepared some of tomorrow’s breakfast before everyone finally went to sleep.

Jing Shu slept very restlessly that night. Or rather, ever since the most recent upgrade of her Magic Cube Space, her sleep had been uneasy.

At first, Jing Shu didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just normal pre-migration anxiety and restlessness.

But as she practiced the new formulas for the Magic Cube Space daily, her sleep grew increasingly troubled each night. She started having strange dreams, something that hadn’t occurred in all the years since the apocalypse. After all, ever since drinking from the Spiritual Spring, Jing Shu had always enjoyed her food and slept like a log, closing her eyes and waking up at dawn feeling refreshed and secure.

At first, they were strange dreams, filled with various animals. Later, they became supernatural dreams, and then terrifying ones, like living through a horror movie—being chased by ghosts, eaten by ghosts, all while knowing she was dreaming but unable to wake up.

Sometimes in her dreams, Jing Shu was omnipotent, able to soar through the heavens and traverse the earth. Other times, she was as ordinary as anyone else, even losing her Magic Cube Space, forced to helplessly watch herself being devoured bite by bite by evil spirits. Apart from the absence of pain, everything else felt terrifyingly real.

The next morning, when she woke up abruptly at dawn, it felt as if something heavy had been pressing on her chest while she slept. However, she had almost entirely forgotten the dreams. After moving her body a bit, she felt fine again.

Grandma Jing said she was possessed by something unclean. Jing Shu went to see Hao Yunlai, who told her very seriously, "You are very clean. Your body’s yang energy is abundant, and there’s nothing unclean about you. My brothers and sisters can all attest to that."

Jing Shu also went to her Master to have her pulse taken. Her Master said, "You’re as robust as a young calf! Your heartbeat is so strong—THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. I’ve never encountered one so vigorous."

So, based on her experiences, Jing Shu suspected these nightly dreams might be related to the Magic Cube Space. She became quite determined about it. The more trouble the Magic Cube Space seemed to cause her, the earlier she would go to bed, ready to lucidly go on a rampage the moment she entered her dreams.

Sometimes, when a ghost tried to eat her and she couldn’t fight back, Jing Shu would bare her teeth and bite the ghost in return. Or, when many things chased her, she would stubbornly refuse to run. Hmph, I just won’t run. Let’s see what you can do about it.

She would even feel a strong urge to urinate, always searching for a toilet in her dreams. But no, I won’t go. I’ll just hold it in. Jing Shu would defiantly refuse.

In short, whatever her subconscious prompted her to avoid or escape, Jing Shu would deliberately do the opposite.

「The next morning」

As the lights in the RV switched on, the whole family began to stir.

Jing Shu got up, sporting dark circles under her eyes. She casually tied her hair into a Wanzi bun, rinsed her mouth, spitting the used water into the pot of the transplanted orange tree, and then sat down to eat fish ball and vegetable soup. We’re migrating soon, no need to wash my face too often. Must conserve water.

Breakfast was still lavish. The handmade fish ball soup alone was so savory it could make your tongue drop off. They also gnawed on a few warm, fall-off-the-bone tender chicken feet, ate some steamed buns, and had a simple meal of fried eggs and sausages.

"Let’s go."

"Alright."

"Lock the door securely, and set up those simple traps the old man made. We’ll still need to live here when we get back."

"Alright, got it."

After the large family finished eating and tidying up, Jing Shu drove the RV, slowly pulling away from the villa they had lived in for five years.

It was very cold that day, with snow falling like goose down.