Chapter 3: Superpowers, Meeting Parents

Tu Shan touched the long, thick bangs on her forehead. She felt this was Tu Sanmei’s scheme—using those bangs as a shield for her thick-skinned nature.

She was currently filled with questions, but she couldn't leave; she had to at least get things cleared up first.

"When does Ling Yang’s rent expire?"

Mother Wang frowned and roared in her booming voice, "What do you want?"

Tu Shan spoke with righteous indignation, "The rental period isn't over. Either you refund the money, or I stay until the end. You choose."

Mother Wang looked as disgusted and furious as if she’d just swallowed a fly. "Can your damn face get any thicker? You sold the furniture in my house to buy food, turned my room into a latrine, and I didn't even ask you for compensation. Now you, you damn woman, have the nerve to ask me for a refund? Have you lost your mind?"

Tu Shan stepped back to avoid Mother Wang’s spit and touched her forehead. Very good, her bangs were protecting her. "Regardless, either refund the money or let me stay. As for the furniture and your food, I believe Ling Yang has already compensated you. Don't even think about scamming me."

He had indeed compensated them; Ling Yang was not the type to take advantage of others.

Mother Wang was so angry her face turned green. Was this about the money?

It was about the fact that she didn't want to see this disaster of a woman anymore.

But Tu Sanmei still held the title of Ling Yang’s wife, and until the divorce was official, anything could happen.

Even for Ling Yang’s sake, she couldn't burn all her bridges.

"Fine, Tu Sanmei. You have three days left in this room. If you keep yapping after three days, I’ll skin you alive."

Tu Shan was disappointed. Only three days? Wasn't it until the end of the month?

But this would work too. Just in time to be sent back home; she could properly deal with her former in-laws.

Before going back, she had to prepare. After all, she realized Tu Sanmei’s memories seemed incomplete, always fragmented, and this body was quite weak.

Three days should be enough.

"Fine."

Seeing Tu Shan agree so readily, Mother Wang instinctively felt something was wrong.

She scrutinized her suspiciously for a long time, and only after seeing Tu Shan’s calm expression did she snort and leave.

The other matrons and aunts were indignant at Mother Wang’s decision, their eyes cutting into Tu Shan like knives.

Tu Shan felt that no matter how thick her bangs were, they couldn't block these glares. Not daring to stay any longer, she hurried away.

As she walked out of the courtyard, she could still hear the sound of spitting behind her.

Her straight spine slumped, and she let out a turbid breath, her tense spirit finally relaxing.

A sense of powerlessness and hunger followed immediately.

Tu Shan’s knees went weak, and she nearly collapsed face-first.

She suddenly remembered that Tu Sanmei had died of illness. Because she was too busy putting up big-character posters, she hadn't eaten, drunk, or sought medical help, literally working herself to death.

Her head was dizzy, her body felt limp, and she was alternating between chills and fever—her cold must have been quite severe.

The top priority was to find medicine to survive.

She raised her hand, palm facing up, and channeled the energy within her body. A green sprout slowly condensed in her palm.

Tu Shan was pleasantly surprised. The wood-element ability she had awakened in the apocalypse had returned with her. How wonderful.

Although it was less than ten percent of her peak, as long as she ate more and absorbed the wood-element energy from the air and food, she would surely recover to her prime.

With her ability, she had another layer of confidence and security.

Not far outside the residential area was a wild forest. Her current body couldn't go far, so she could only head to the forest to see if there was anything useful.

The body that had died of illness was in terrible shape; each step felt heavier than the last. By the time she finally reached the forest, there was nothing to eat except for a few scattered, crooked trees.

Even the fallen leaves had been picked clean by people to take home as firewood; there was nothing here but dirt.

The glaring sun made her dizzy, and the distant mountains were starting to blur into double images.

Gritting her teeth, she walked a bit further.

Luck was on her side; she found some wild vegetable roots that had been dug up.

Tu Shan placed her palm over the roots and channeled her ability. The dying roots regained their vitality, sprouting tiny green buds and slowly growing larger.

Dandelion—it was both a wild vegetable and a medicinal herb, good for clearing heat and detoxifying.

Once it grew to its best state, Tu Shan ate it raw.

The bitterness spread in her mouth, but she didn't even blink.

The apocalypse was a harsher environment than this; food was even scarcer. To survive, she had endured every kind of bitterness.

This bit of dandelion bitterness was nothing.

After eating the tender leaves, she used her ability to stimulate growth three more times until the roots could no longer withstand the energy and crumbled into powder. Only then did she regretfully stop.

Things stimulated by her ability were a hundred times more effective than those grown naturally; whether eaten or absorbed, they were more beneficial for her to accumulate energy and restore her physique.

The dandelion’s detoxifying effects were amplified by her ability, killing eighty or ninety percent of the virus in her body.

Her fever broke, her head no longer felt heavy, and the heatstroke had dissipated significantly.

Although she had used up most of her energy and her stomach wasn't full, her body no longer felt so miserable.

Tu Shan let out a long breath. Feeling more energetic, she wanted to see her parents.

If she remembered correctly, today should be the day her soul dissipated.

In her dreams, her father was beaten to death by Tu Liang—that was her own delusion.

When she dissipated, her father was still alive. She didn't know what happened afterward.

Thinking of the scenes that might appear from her dreams, Tu Shan grew anxious.

The place she lived now was in the north of the state city. It was a house Ling Yang had specifically rented for her because she kept pestering him to let her follow the army, and he couldn't stand the harassment.

In the rolling mountains she saw when she looked up was the military district where Ling Yang worked.

Because it was the closest residential area to his workplace, it had managed to appease Tu Sanmei, who hadn't been able to move into the family compound.

In reality, it was still ten or twenty miles away from the military district, with checkpoints every few steps along the mountain road. It wasn't easy for Tu Sanmei to get there.

Moreover, not just anyone could enter the military district.

Tu Shan’s parents had been assigned by Tu Liang to the slums in the east of the city to do the dirtiest and most exhausting work.

To get there, she had to cross the entire city. There were buses, but Tu Shan had no money, so she had to walk. With her ability-assisted jogging, it still took over two hours.

When she arrived around one in the afternoon, outside the public toilet where her parents lived, Tu Shan saw the two old people supporting each other as they came out.

They seemed even more haggard and aged than in her memories—hunched over, hair white, walking with a limp, their faces covered in bruises and swelling, their skin torn and raw.

Her parents were old. Over the past six months, they had suffered all kinds of verbal abuse and beatings, endured heavy, filthy labor, and suffered psychological trauma; their bodies had long since collapsed.

This beating had nearly cost them their lives. That they could still stand and walk was entirely due to a single breath of willpower.

But even so, they still had to sweep the streets, clean the toilets, and accept everyone’s judgment and humiliation.

Tu Shan’s eyes burned. They were still alive. Her parents were still alive. As long as they were alive, there was hope. She would definitely make Tu Liang pay back double what he owed her family.

"Tu Sanmei?" Father Tu asked, puzzled.

Father and Mother Tu didn't hold much anger toward Tu Sanmei. They had looked into the Tu family before and knew a little about Tu Sanmei’s situation.

Tu Sanmei had never done anything to them or to Tu Shan.

Therefore, they didn't take their anger toward the Tu family out on her.

But Tu Sanmei was still a member of the Tu family; seeing her, they couldn't muster a smile.

Tu Shan’s drifting thoughts were pulled back by Father Tu’s voice. She looked up and met his puzzled and annoyed eyes. For a moment, she panicked; she hadn't realized she had walked right up to her parents.

Then, unable to hold back her joy, she spoke hurriedly, "Mom, Dad, I’m back."

The couple, who had just been unwelcoming, instantly changed their expressions.

Father Tu angrily questioned, "Tu Sanmei, stop spouting nonsense. Who is your father? What are you doing here?"

Tu Shan hurriedly explained, "Dad, I’m not Tu Sanmei. I’m Tu Shan, your Shanshan."

The couple’s expressions instantly turned ferocious.