Yu Li compared her supernatural abilities in this life with those from her previous life.
In her previous life, the supernatural ability she awakened was strength; as long as she wasn’t dead or injured, the power within her would continuously flow, allowing her to stand invincible and fight endlessly.
Had her body not been polluted later, with the contamination value rising higher and higher inside her, eventually causing her to collapse, she might not have died.
Gene warriors never die from battle; they die from pollution.
That was their fate.
It was also the fate of all humanity after the apocalypse. A century after the apocalypse, humanity was still struggling to find a way to purify the pollution, attempting to save a world that had already turned into wasteland.
Having been in this world for so long, Yu Li finally confirmed that the people of this world cannot awaken.
Because this place is peaceful; it has never experienced an apocalypse that could destroy everything. The world’s magnetic field is stable, and it doesn’t alter the energy fields of living creatures, preventing humans and other creatures from awakening or mutating.
Only Yu Li is the exception.
Her body belongs to the second branch of the Yu family from Qingshi Village, but her soul does not.
Because of the infusion of her soul, when she became this world’s “Yu Li,” her body changed, allowing her to fortunately enter the awakening period and awaken a life-related supernatural ability.
Of course, because of the stability of the world’s magnetic field, her ability is extremely weak.
To have awakened at all is a stroke of luck, but that doesn’t mean her ability can be as powerful as those of the gene warriors from the apocalypse. That was the result of a special environment.
Supernatural abilities can grow and become stronger through cultivation.
In the chaotic magnetic field of the apocalypse, there is a type of energy that can be absorbed to cultivate supernatural abilities and strengthen them.
This world has no such magnetic field, and even if she spent her entire life, her abilities might not grow much.
Yu Li is quite calm about this.
After coming to this world, when her strength was weakened to less than one-tenth of what it was in her previous life, she had already accepted it.
Fortunately, although the original body was a girl, her strength was not weak. When her soul was infused, it somewhat enhanced the strength of this body. While it hasn’t reached the level where she can fight with other species, it’s enough for self-defense for now.
After all, this world is full of ordinary people, and there are no terrifying creatures like other species here.
She can still continue to practice martial arts, as physical training can also increase strength.
In the darkness, Yu Li reached out her hand and grabbed the hand of Fu Wenxiao, who was next to her.
He was deeply asleep and didn’t react when his hand was grabbed.
Yu Li knew that as long as she didn’t grab his neck and make him feel a sense of crisis, he generally wouldn’t wake up. His body was too weak—so weak that as long as there was no danger, he would fall into a deep, heavy sleep.
Yu Li transferred a bit of her life ability to him as a test.
Not long after, her face turned pale, and she collapsed weakly.
The test once again made her realize how fragile her awakened life ability was. It was truly minuscule, like a strand of hair. Each transfer could only temporarily alleviate Fu Wenxiao’s physical discomfort, and nothing more.
If this were her previous life, this level of weakness would have been shocking, practically equivalent to having no ability at all.
Truly… too weak, far too weak.
Yu Li was embarrassed to even mention it. If her ability had been like this in her past life, she wouldn’t have dared to tell anyone she had awakened an ability.
Fortunately, she still had strength and physical combat skills, enough to protect herself. Otherwise, relying on this life ability alone…
Ugh, it was far too weak.
Yu Li took a deep breath. The expenditure of her ability left her body extremely fatigued, and her consciousness began to blur.
Before falling asleep, she thought that if every use of her ability left her this weak, she would need to eat more.
In this world, there was no apocalyptic magnetic field to cultivate her ability, so she could only extract nutrients from food and convert them into her ability, though the amount she could convert was limited.
—
When Yu Li woke up again, the sky outside was already bright.
She sat up with a rumbling stomach, so hungry that she felt she could devour an entire cow. Turning her head, she saw Fu Wenxiao sitting by the window reading a book, though she didn’t know how long he had been awake.
Hearing her stir, he looked up and said warmly, “Li Niang is awake. Are you hungry?”
“So hungry,” Yu Li said. Her stomach growled loudly, a dramatic protest of emptiness, and she was sure he must have heard it—otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked if she was hungry.
Fu Wenxiao said, “Perfect timing. It’s almost noon, and Mother should have finished cooking.”
Yu Li got out of bed nimbly.
Her legs felt a bit weak when she stepped down. She wasn’t sure if it was from hunger or the exhaustion of depleting her ability last night.
She hastily dressed, slipped on her shoes, and dashed toward the kitchen like a reincarnated hungry ghost, even though she had eaten just before dawn.
Fu Wenxiao: “.…” Is she really this hungry?
Fu Wenxiao slowly turned his head to look out the window. The autumn sunlight outside the eaves was brilliant.
His hand rested on the open pages of the book. He had spent the entire morning without taking in a single word, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of his own body.
He wondered if it was just his imagination, but upon waking today, he felt lighter, without the usual grogginess and the oppressive heaviness that accompanied waking. The persistent, bone-deep pain and chilling cold that he had grown used to seemed to have eased slightly.
Even though there had been some fuss last night, he should have ended up like Yu Li—sleeping until noon.
Yet, he had woken up early.
And upon waking, he didn’t feel too uncomfortable. In fact, his mental state was quite good, allowing him to sit there and read.
Fu Wenxiao couldn’t figure out the reason and decided to let it go for now.
Perhaps it was because she had woken up, putting his mind at ease, which improved his mood and, in turn, positively influenced his physical condition.
After all, a person’s emotions do indeed affect their physical state.
—
Yu Li arrived at the kitchen and was immediately greeted with joyful hugs from two children.
They were helping Zhou Shi stoke the fire and cook. Seeing her, they were both surprised and delighted, rushing over to throw their arms around her. Yu Li wrapped an arm around each child, rubbing her face against theirs affectionately while glancing at the pot on the stove. She asked, “Mother, what are we eating today? I’m so hungry!”
Zhou Shi replied, “Wait a little longer, it’s almost ready. I made preserved meat rice. Some time ago, I exchanged a piece of preserved meat with Da Zhuang’s family next door, so I decided to cook it today.”
The family’s own preserved meat had long been finished, but Aunt Zhou’s family still had some. Knowing Yu Li loved it, she had brought a piece back.
Thinking that Yu Li would be starving when she woke up, Zhou Shi decided to make preserved meat rice, which was hearty and filling.
Yu Li’s eyes lit up.
The first time she ate meat after arriving in this world was in cured meat rice, and the flavor had left a lasting impression on her.
Despite the lingering heat of the autumn tiger season, which made the weather uncomfortably warm, and the greasy nature of preserved meat rice, someone with a poor appetite like Fu Wenxiao would find it hard to eat.
But for Yu Li, there was no such thing as being too full.
She loved it.
Zhou Shi cooked a large pot of preserved meat rice, not only in quantity but also in taste, surpassing the version made by Yu Jin.
Yu Li ate ravenously.
Zhou Shi brought out a bowl of green vegetable soup and a dish of steamed eggs from the kitchen, reminding Yu Li to eat slowly and not choke.
She didn’t sit down to eat herself but continued working in the kitchen, making scallion pancakes. She stacked the freshly made pancakes in a bamboo basket and brought them over, ready to be taken whenever anyone wanted.
The two children exclaimed in delight, their eyes sparkling. There was so much food today!
When they saw Yu Li holding a pancake in one hand and chopsticks in the other, shoveling a few bites of preserved meat rice into her mouth before taking a bite of pancake, finishing all the rice and pancakes, they were utterly stunned.
While Yu Li usually ate a lot, she had always exercised restraint. But today, she had eaten several times her usual amount.
As they ate, Zhou Shi mentioned to Yu Li that Yu Yin had come by in the morning. Upon learning that Yu Li had woken up in the middle of the night, she had been very happy but hadn’t come to disturb her since she was still sleeping and had left shortly after.
Since Yu Zhu was still bedridden and there was a lot of work at home, Yu Yin had recently stopped coming over to learn embroidery, choosing instead to help out at her own home.
Additionally, early in the morning, Tu Laoda had also sent something over.
Learning that Yu Li had woken up, Tu Laoda was relieved. He asked Zhou Shi to tell Yu Li to rest at home for a few more days and focus on recovering her health, without rushing to return to work at the butcher shop.
In the past, seeing her so full of energy, they hadn’t realized that someone as thin as her was likely suffering from deficiencies. She should have been resting and nourishing her body instead of getting up before dawn every day to work.
Tu Laoda even felt a bit guilty, thinking he hadn’t taken proper care of her.
Zhou Shi thought this was the right approach.
The doctor had said that Yu Li’s body was severely depleted and might not sustain her for long if she didn’t take care of herself. She resolved to let Yu Li rest more and focus on rebuilding her health.
So even when Zhou Shi noticed how much Yu Li was eating, she didn’t think it was a problem. In fact, she believed food nourishment was a good idea.
—
Yu Li finished the last bowl of vegetable soup, finally feeling full and satisfied.
“Li Niang, are you full now?” Zhou Shi asked, mentally calculating Yu Li’s food intake. It seemed that two days without food had really left her starving, and her appetite had grown. She decided she’d need to cook more in the future.
Yu Li touched her stomach, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Mother, I was just especially hungry today. I don’t really need to eat this much normally.”
If she ate this much every day, she would definitely scare people.
It was probably because last night, after transferring her life ability to Fu Wenxiao, she had depleted her energy, which left her feeling extremely hungry.
Yu Li recalled the scene from two days ago when her ability had awakened and vaguely understood. At that time, she had used her own body as a sacrifice, extracting her ability to the extreme and depleting her life force.
This explained why, after the doctor’s examination, the conclusion was excessive physical exhaustion and severe loss of Yuan Qi.
That wasn’t wrong—when a person’s life force was consumed, wasn’t it natural for their vitality to be gravely damaged?
Fortunately, the ability she awakened was a life ability, one that could repair her own body. Her body would recover quickly and even become healthier than anyone else in this world.
In that case, severe loss of Yuan Qi wasn’t such a big deal. She could just eat more, accumulate some ability energy, and use it to heal herself.
With this thought, Yu Li felt greatly reassured and decided to work harder to earn money in the future, so she could eat and drink to her heart’s content.
Unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t need to overdraft her life force to save others. She could simply eat more on a daily basis, converting the nutrients from food into ability energy. That should be enough, right?
Returning to her room, Yu Li had this thought as she saw Fu Wenxiao.
Fu Wenxiao’s health was indeed very poor, but he wouldn’t die immediately. If she transferred a little bit of ability energy to him every day, his body would gradually recover.
In a year or two, he should be able to fully heal.
Fu Wenxiao had just finished eating and was sitting leisurely, drinking water. Noticing her gaze, he asked, “Li Niang, what’s on your mind?”
Yu Li sat across from him and said slowly, “I just remembered that it’s been over half a month. I was planning to check with the study these past two days to see how much money we could get.”
She hadn’t forgotten that Fu Wenxiao’s handwritten rare manuscript was still being auctioned at the study.
Now that she knew she might need to eat even more in the future, Yu Li valued money even more.
Only with money could she buy food and various things to eat, ensuring she wouldn’t go hungry.
Fu Wenxiao chuckled and said, “If it’s sent to the prefectural city for auction, after deducting the study’s twenty percent, the amount you’ll get should be around two to three hundred taels.”
There were plenty of wealthy people in the prefectural city, and the allure of a rare manuscript would attract even more interest.
Yu Li was no longer the naïve girl who would get overly excited at the mention of two or three hundred taels of silver.
The main reason was that she knew she would become a gold-devouring beast in the future, with an enormous appetite for money. No amount would ever feel like enough.
Two hundred taels sounded like a lot, but considering how much she might eat in the future, it wouldn’t last long, would it?
Just then, Zhou Shi entered with a tray holding two bowls of medicine.
Yu Li looked at it, puzzled. Why did Fu Wenxiao need to drink two bowls of medicine now? Poor thing.
As she sympathetically looked at Fu Wenxiao, Zhou Shi placed one of the bowls in front of her.
Yu Li: “.…”
“Li Niang, the doctor said your body has suffered severe loss of Yuan Qi and needs to be replenished properly,” Zhou Shi said gently. “This is medicine to nourish your body. From now on, just like Xiao Ge’er, you’ll drink a bowl every morning and evening until your health is restored.”
Yu Li: “…”
Yu Li was so shocked that she was left speechless.
Why did she have to drink such a dreadful thing too? Back in the apocalypse, she had consumed enough of those awful nutrient solutions and compressed rations, which tasted exactly like the medicine in this world.
She really didn’t want to consume something like this.
Weren’t white rice, steamed buns, noodles, braised pork, soy-braised meat, roasted chicken, sesame pancakes, and the like far more appetizing?
Seeing the expression on Yu Li’s face, Fu Wenxiao pressed his fist to his lips, hiding the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
She never concealed her emotions, and her expressions were easy to read, making her thoughts plain as day. Her wide, round eyes revealed just how shocked she was, making her look pitifully comical.
Zhou Shi also found it amusing but reminded herself that Yu Li’s body had been too severely depleted. If she didn’t replenish her health, it might shorten her lifespan.
“Be good, Li Niang, just drink it. You won’t need to drink it for too long—about half a year should do.”
Yu Li’s eyes widened. Half a year?
That was terrifying!
In the end, Yu Li drank it.
She had no choice. Zhou Shi was watching her with the determined air of someone who wouldn’t leave until the task was done.
Yu Li could refuse anyone, but she couldn’t refuse the person who cooked for her. If she couldn’t eat Zhou Shi’s food, she wouldn’t even sleep well.
When she drank the medicine, Yu Li felt so miserable she thought she might explode.
Coming to this world, she had thought she had finally escaped the strange-tasting nutrient solutions and compressed rations, only to find this world had medicinal decoctions instead. When people got sick, they had to drink this black, strange-smelling liquid that tasted absolutely atrocious.
It gave her the illusion of being back in the apocalypse.
After she finished the medicine with great suffering, Fu Wenxiao offered her a piece of candied fruit.
Without thinking, she opened her mouth and ate it, chewing hard in an attempt to mask the awful taste in her mouth.
Fu Wenxiao froze mid-motion, watching her pained expression. Slowly, he withdrew his hand.
Feeling the dampness lingering on his fingertip, his ears flushed red. Whatever he had been about to say, he completely forgot, his gaze turning slightly unfocused.
Because of the overwhelming effects of the medicine, Yu Li felt utterly drained and lay on the bed, unwilling to move.
However, when she noticed that her ability was recovering more quickly than before, she suddenly sat up, her eyes widening in shock.
“Li Niang, what’s wrong?”
Fu Wenxiao, half-asleep, sensed her movements and opened his eyes to look at her.
It was already past noon, and he had been planning to nap to regain some energy.
Yu Li turned to look at him. The man with silky, ink-black hair cascading loosely over his shoulders lay quietly, his refined and handsome face pale and fragile, exuding a glass-like fragility.
It seemed as though even a light touch might shatter him.
He was very quiet when he slept, never moving around carelessly. However he lay before sleeping, that was how he woke up. He didn’t even have bad habits like teeth grinding or snoring.
If it weren’t for her discomfort with sharing a roof with someone else, he might truly be the ideal roommate—so quiet and unobtrusive that he wouldn’t disturb anyone’s rest.
“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep,” Yu Li said.
Fu Wenxiao softly acknowledged her words and closed his eyes again.
In the afternoon, when Fu Wenxiao woke up, he heard Yu Li asking, “Xiao Ge’er, are medicinal herbs in this world very expensive?”
Although he had just woken up, his mind was not foggy. He keenly caught the phrase “this world.”
He sighed inwardly, wondering what kind of environment she had lived in before. She was clearly very cautious, yet she would occasionally unconsciously reveal certain details.
Although he worried that she might accidentally expose herself outside, Fu Wenxiao didn’t feel it was appropriate to point it out to her.
“It depends on the herb,” Fu Wenxiao replied. “Some are very cheap, while others are expensive. Things like ginseng and lingzhi are quite pricey…”
Being well-versed in medicinal herbs, he easily began explaining the types, effects, and prices of the herbs in this world, as well as how they were processed.
Yu Li listened intently, enlightened, and then asked what ingredients were in the tonic she had drunk that day.
Though Fu Wenxiao hadn’t seen the prescription, he had a general idea of the herbs used to replenish vitality and those that could nourish the body. He listed them one by one.
Yu Li was surprised to learn how expensive the tonic was—much more costly than the medicine Fu Wenxiao drank.
Was it because it contained ginseng root?
She stared blankly for a while, sensing the recovered energy in her body, her thoughts churning.
It seemed that medicinal herbs were far more nutritious than food. After drinking that bowl of tonic, her energy had indeed recovered quickly. If needed in the future, perhaps she could drink two bowls.
But— it tasted so awful!
Yu Li frowned deeply in seriousness. Why did such disgusting things exist in this world? And to top it off, they were expensive.
Fu Wenxiao didn’t know why she was asking all this, but seeing her pained expression, he found it amusing.
He said gently, “Don’t worry. You’ll only need to drink it for a few months. Once your body has been nourished and healed, you won’t need it anymore.”
Yu Li glanced at him, thinking that she didn’t really need to be nourished. She could use her ability to heal her body.
However, the energy was limited. Every time she used it up, it would take several hours to recover. On the other hand, the tonic sped up her recovery significantly.
But she really didn’t want to drink it.
Yu Li decided that she would first use her ability to repair her body. Once it was fully healed, she wouldn’t need to drink the tonic anymore.
Tonic, she thought, should be reserved for critical moments.
As for Fu Wenxiao… he seemed healthy enough to last a few more months, so there was no rush. Once her own body was in good shape, she could help him heal.
When his body recovered, he should be able to earn more money.
Yu Li had already started planning how to use his money. People in this world highly valued lifesaving kindness. If she saved him, he would surely repay her. By then, his money would be hers to spend—that would count as repaying his debt, wouldn’t it?
And with that, she made up her mind.