Chapter 32: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (1)
“Are you sure, Host? I suggest you find a safe place to receive the script.” The system said.
“If you don’t tell me, how would I know where a safe place is?” Jiang Zhiyan dodged a stool falling from above, grazing a wound on her leg, her face paling further.
The script was transmitted.
This was an apocalyptic, female-led power fantasy. The story’s backdrop: an alien invasion attempting to exterminate humanity and seize Earth’s resources.
The female lead was named Si Xu, currently a senior at A University. She was among the first wave of naturally evolved humans after the alien invasion. Her ability was “infinite replication.” In the early, low-level stages, she could replicate objects she touched. Later, she could replicate living beings and other people’s abilities. Her cheat was maxed out. Her only weakness was that she would fall into a coma every time she leveled up, and the higher the level, the longer the coma.
She appeared aloof and tough on the surface, but she was actually kind-hearted and dedicated to uniting everyone to resist the aliens.
Jiang Zhiyan was Si Xu’s junior from the same department, also an evolved human, but very weak, with practically no offensive power. Her physical strength, speed, and endurance barely met the standard for evolved humans. Her ability was “atmosphere creation.” In the early stages, she used this ability to survive the apocalypse, repeatedly dissuading people from killing her. However, it became useless later on, as high-level evolved humans could resist the illusions she created.
She was also a “holy mother,” not the self-sacrificing type, but the kind who morally coerced others into sacrificing themselves for her own glory. She had encountered this type of person before when she was a female lead. She usually wouldn’t save them, instead ensuring both the “holy mother” and the person she wanted to save would die together.
Because this was a female-led story, the male lead’s presence was minimal. He appeared early on but was frequently offline. This background character, strictly speaking, wasn’t a true “protagonist.” He was only elevated because he was designated as the female lead’s partner. Si Xu was the sole protagonist of this book.
Jiang Zhiyan checked some lists, confirming her guess.
This also meant that if the male lead died, the small world would be unstable, but not to the point of collapse. Similar to her treatment as the female supporting character, perhaps even worse, as she had many more scenes. Her main role was to annoy the readers from beginning to end. If she died midway, there would be many plot holes.
The apocalypse had just begun, the alien invasion only ten minutes old, and most people would die in these ten minutes.
As she ran, the person behind her was caught by an alien, their waist constricted until their body was ripped in two, organs spilling onto the ground. The person in front of her looked back, their legs giving way as they fell. The next second, they were also snatched by an alien, their head crushed.
Jiang Zhiyan looked down at the burning wound on her leg and quickly ran towards the hiding place assigned to her in the plot. She was about to evolve. Although she wouldn’t lose consciousness, she wouldn’t have the strength to deal with those aliens during evolution.
The hiding place was a storage room in the gymnasium. Relying on the “plot armor,” she successfully made it inside, locked the door, lay down on the high jump mat, and closed her eyes.
“Si Xu is in the dormitory now.”
“Host, how can you be sure Si Xu is the person you’re looking for?” The system didn’t understand. They hadn’t even met.
“I just know, and she wouldn’t deign to be a random passerby.”
Fatigue washed over her in waves, her entire body burning up.
She had a fever. Clutching her head, although it was relatively safe here, she forced herself to stay awake, not falling asleep. This place was too unsafe to sleep in.
It turned out that her decision not to sleep was correct.
The closed door inexplicably opened, but there was no one outside.
Before she could speak, the system quickly closed the door.
“What’s going on? So many bugs in just half an hour. Normally, there’s a buffer period after entering a world, but there wasn’t here. And the door just opened by itself.”
“Sounds like something is trying to kill me.” Jiang Zhiyan mumbled.
Evolution was clearly a very unpleasant process. Jiang Zhiyan felt like her bones and flesh were being pulverized and then reassembled.
This lasted for an hour. She felt like she had just been fished out of a river, drenched in sweat mixed with blood from who knows where. Fortunately, the wound on her leg had healed, otherwise she would be rolling on the floor in pain.
Even a low-level evolved human like her found evolution so painful, she wondered how Si Xu was feeling, if she was crying from the pain.
After resting for half an hour, Jiang Zhiyan got up. According to the plot, she should go out now and be rescued by Si Xu at the designated location.
But…
Her gaze fell on the door not far away.
The moment she opened the door, an alien waiting outside punched at her head. Jiang Zhiyan quickly dodged the fist and the tentacles reaching for her. The tentacles, originally gray, were now crimson, stained with the blood of countless victims.
A folding fan suddenly appeared in Jiang Zhiyan’s hand. This was a cold weapon she brought back from the interstellar era, all the fan bones made of special materials, theoretically capable of cutting through most things.
This world was already experiencing an alien invasion, so having this wasn’t considered a major bug.
“Host, where did you get that? I’ve never seen it before! And why can you pull out a weapon from somewhere I don’t know about?” The system was shocked. It felt like it wasn’t doing a good job as a system. The host had so many secrets it didn’t know about, even after working together for so long.
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t answer. She glanced at the faint scales on the alien’s body, quickly analyzed its weak points, stabbed the fan into its body, then reached in along the wound and directly pulled out the alien’s “heart.”
Her movements were swift and decisive, as if she had done this many times before.
Dark red blood dripped from her fingertips, and she casually wiped it off with a jacket she picked up from the floor.
“Interesting.” She looked at the alien on the ground with two arms and eight legs.
The alien should have broken down the door after sensing her inside, after all, that door couldn’t stop it. But it waited at the doorway, as if following some kind of instruction.
Jiang Zhiyan wiped the blood from her arm and ran towards the designated location in the plot. Passing by a restroom, she went in to tidy herself up.
She had to look pitiful and tragic. Too dirty and miserable, it would be hard to evoke any emotion other than sympathy.
Over an hour had passed, and the number of survivors still moving around had decreased significantly. Most people were hiding, not daring to speak or even breathe.
She glanced at the time, then at the plot, the corners of her lips lifting slightly as she ran towards a certain location.
System: …
Seeing her smile like that in a place littered with dismembered limbs and internal organs, it was seriously worried about Jiang Zhiyan’s mental state, and worried that she would scare other people.
Running quickly attracted nearby aliens. This time, without other passersby to divert their attention, Jiang Zhiyan was almost caught several times. Fortunately, she was nimble, narrowly avoiding the tentacles.
Reaching the designated location in the plot, Jiang Zhiyan tripped over a conveniently placed rock and rolled down a grassy slope. Instinctively protecting her head, she watched as an alien’s tentacles lashed out at her.
The system held its breath nervously.
A mop flew over, pinning the tentacle to the ground. A second mop followed, this time aiming for the alien’s chest. But the material was clearly not strong enough. Upon contact with the alien’s scales, the mop disintegrated, only slightly hindering its movement without causing any real damage. The next four mops all struck the tentacles.
Jiang Zhiyan scrambled towards the person on the other side of the slope. Si Xu, using her ability for the first time, was clearly not proficient. Her speed was also slow. Having just replicated six mops, her face was already pale, and she hadn’t fully grasped her ability yet.
“Senior, let’s hurry and go!” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Si Xu tearfully, her voice trembling, seemingly panicked to the extreme.
“Yes.” Si Xu nodded, glancing back at the aliens.
They found refuge in a nearby office in the administration building.
“Are you hurt?”
Jiang Zhiyan shook her head, wiping away her tears, and leaned against Si Xu, clinging to her waist, her body trembling uncontrollably: “Senior, I was so scared, I’m so glad you came. Waaah, I thought I was going to die.”
System: Painful to watch.
Si Xu didn’t like close contact, but looking down at Jiang Zhiyan’s tears, she hesitated for two seconds and didn’t push her away.
Sitting together on the same chair, Si Xu organized the current information, writing on a piece of paper.
“I just ran here from the dormitory and found that they notice any movement or sound.”
“But there might be other monsters later, I don’t think there’s only one type.”
Jiang Zhiyan immediately closed her mouth and nodded.
“My body has undergone some changes, as you saw. Have you experienced any changes?” Si Xu didn’t elaborate on her ability. It was better not to tell others about something that served as her trump card.
Jiang Zhiyan nodded and tried to grab the pen, but her hand was trembling too much, she couldn’t hold it. She looked at Si Xu, then carefully leaned closer and wrapped her arms around Si Xu’s neck.
“Me too, it seems to be about changing my aura or the atmosphere, I don’t know about anything else, but it doesn’t seem very useful. Just now, I tried to become one of them, but they still chased after me.”
Jiang Zhiyan thought it should be feasible, she just didn’t know what level of evolution was required to truly become one of them.
“Host, it is feasible. You actually succeeded just now, but it only lasted for half a second. At your current level of evolution, you can at most mimic a small cat or dog, or make yourself appear harmless.” The system said.
Jiang Zhiyan: …
What a weakling. Appearing harmless… did someone like her even need to mimic that?
Seeing that Si Xu didn’t react, a look of panic appeared in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes: “Senior, don’t leave me behind, I’ll work hard to become stronger.”
“I’m not going to leave you behind.” Si Xu said. She just wasn’t used to this kind of talk.
Hearing sounds from outside the door, Si Xu covered Jiang Zhiyan’s mouth, looking at the door warily.
Jiang Zhiyan leaned weakly against Si Xu, closing her eyes. She was afraid she would burst out laughing.
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