The red rain lasted an entire day and night. During that time, Xie Lingruo learned more about how Zhou Yi and his group had ended up here.
It turned out that there was a research institute to the north, and their mission this time was to investigate it. Of course, she only learned these specifics after Xie Lingfeng revealed his military background.
Another reason Zhou Yi accepted the mission was because he wanted to check if his mentor had survived the apocalypse. His parents were long gone, and his mentor was the only family he had left.
Ancheng Base had prioritized rescuing the families of military personnel as soon as the apocalypse broke out, in order to protect the real interests of those who risked their lives for the country. So, the families of Zhou Yi's comrades were already safely living in the base.
Knowing that Ancheng Base was led by someone from the military, Xie Lingfeng had a favorable impression. After hearing that military families received preferential treatment at the base, his feelings improved even more.
In fact, Xie Lingfeng approached Zhou Yi's group proactively to gather intel—especially once he confirmed they were from Ancheng Base. He subtly probed them for specific details about the base.
Since Zhou Yi had received help from Xie Lingruo and his wound was stabilized, his group's impression of the Xie family also improved.
And when they learned that Xie Lingfeng was also a soldier, they became even more open, telling the Xie family everything they could share.
Xie Lingfeng had a plan: he used this opportunity to subtly reveal his identity to build empathy and trust, hoping to learn more information that would benefit them.
Thanks to his well-executed small talk, Xie Lingfeng soon became like a sworn brother to Zhou Yi and his men. As the strategist-type in his own squad, he was skilled at reading people and navigating relationships.
Of course, Zhou Yi and his group weren't naive—they understood Xie Lingfeng's intentions. But since his sister had helped them and he was a fellow soldier, they didn't treat him as just another random survivor.
Especially after learning that both Xie siblings were ability users, their attitude grew even warmer. After all, in the apocalypse, power is everything, and alliances are based on strength.
This made it even easier for Xie Lingfeng to gather intel—not just because he had the social skills, but because they recognized the Xie family's strength, and they'd already built rapport through trade.
The red rain continued to pour down for an entire day and night. Luckily, both groups had enough supplies, so there was no infighting. If it had been a bunch of desperate people with empty stomachs, conflict would have been inevitable.
During that time, aside from exchanging information, they also thoroughly searched the building inside and out.
Xie Lingfeng discovered a hidden threat—on the second floor, there was a small room that served as an employee dormitory.
Due to the range limitations of Xie Lingruo's psychic ability (about 30 meters in radius), she had missed this room during her earlier scans.
This revealed her overreliance on her ability and lack of vigilance regarding its limits—a hard lesson for someone who had grown a bit too complacent after recent successes.
It was Xie Lingfeng, conducting a full sweep that night, who noticed something strange: one of the walls sounded hollow.
After some careful inspection, he found a hidden door. His instincts as a seasoned soldier instantly kicked in.
Sure enough, as soon as he opened the door, a grotesque zombie lunged out. Judging from its appearance, there were no external bite marks, meaning it had likely turned on its own.
Without hesitation, Xie Lingfeng killed the zombie in one clean strike and covered the body with a sheet from the room.
Originally, he wanted to dispose of the body outside, but given the strange red rain, he decided to conduct an experiment—to observe the difference between a zombie that had been exposed to red rain and one that hadn't.
After wrapping that up, he found no other threats, but he did discover some snacks in the dorm: instant noodles, bread, and water. He gathered them and had Xie Lingruo store them in her space.
Previously, Xie Lingruo had hidden her ability use, fearing the newcomers might have ulterior motives and wanting to maintain the element of surprise in case of conflict. But now that she was sure Coach Yu's group posed no threat, she had no more reservations about using her space ability.
Especially since this group had been honest and openly revealed their powers:
Coach Yu: strength-type ability
Zhou Yi: ice-type
The others: water, speed, and earth-type abilities
When Xie Lingruo first learned they were all ability users, she was shocked. After all, the odds of awakening a power were about one in a thousand. She hadn't expected Zhou Yi and his team to be so lucky.