Apocalypse Arrives: I Become a Powerhouse by Scavenging

’A potion made from an Eternal Evolution Stone should be an Evolution Potion,’ she thought. ’I just wonder what its effects are.’

After finding the Eternal Awakening Stone, she had gotten curious and done some research on the subject, just in case she ran into one someday.

’Sure enough, hard work pays off. It must be why I’ve just encountered an Eternal Evolution Stone.’

The truth was, the effects of an Evolution Stone weren’t permanent. After an evolution was complete, the user would gradually revert to their original state over time.

The rate of this regression varied, depending on the individual’s physical constitution.

It also gave those who had a botched evolution a second chance, in a way.

’An Eternal Evolution Stone is different from ordinary Evolution Stones. An evolution with this should be permanent,’ Moira Lynch guessed.

As the group was about halfway through the market, Moira Lynch suddenly spotted something interesting.

She walked up to a very conspicuous stall.

This stall must have been set up by the owner of the tunnel marketplace.

Why was Moira Lynch so certain? Because everyone else had their wares laid out on a cloth on the ground—some didn’t even have a cloth. This was the only one that was run out of an RV, complete with a hanging sign.

The RV had two doors. A long line of people snaked out from one, while the other was completely empty.

’What’s going on? Is one for entry and the other for exit?’

But Moira Lynch watched for a long time and didn’t see a single person come out of that door.

"Let’s go in and take a look."

Driven by curiosity, they walked in through the empty door.

"Feel free to look around, customers," a person greeted them enthusiastically as they entered.

At his words, Moira Lynch surveyed her surroundings. The items on display were all feathers of various colors, clearly charged up. On the other side were plain white feathers.

’So, people were lining up over there to buy blank feathers, while this side sold charged ones.’

When she read the descriptions of the feathers’ abilities, she finally understood why no one was over here.

’What kind of abilities are these, anyway?’

[Croaking Feather: Upon use, causes the target to make croaking sounds for three days.]

[Transformation Feather: Randomly transforms the user into a feline animal, granting them all of the creature’s abilities for ten minutes.]

...

Moira Lynch looked over all the feathers. How to put it... most of them were useless, just like the Croaking Feather. There were some good ones, but their prices were absurd.

In short, she couldn’t afford the expensive ones and didn’t want the cheap ones.

However, for Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch, these feathers were more useful than headphones, so...

"Boss, do you take noise-canceling headphones here?"

A few minutes later, the three of them emerged from the RV. Their backpacks were noticeably flatter, and all the headphones in their Space Button had been traded for feathers.

Just then, Moira Lynch suddenly sensed something was wrong. She glanced behind her, then without a moment’s hesitation, grabbed the two people beside her. In the next second, they vanished from the tunnel.

When they reappeared, they were behind a hillside a hundred meters from the tunnel.

Under the cover of Nightshade, no one could spot them.

It was Barry Wallace’s first time witnessing such a feat. He was about to cry out in shock, but Moira Lynch clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up!"

Barry Wallace nodded.

Just then, terrified screams suddenly came from the tunnel below.

The three of them hid behind the slope, not daring to make the slightest sound.

An unknown amount of time passed. The sounds from below vanished, followed by the roar of a truck engine starting up.

As the sound of the truck completely disappeared, Moira Lynch finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Young Lynn, what on earth just happened? Should we go down and check?" Barry Wallace asked, a little worried.

Even now, he still had no idea what had just happened.

Moira Lynch wasn’t entirely sure herself. She had just sensed a group of heavily armed people rushing toward them. She’d felt their killing intent and had decisively fled with the others ahead of time.

Only after confirming it was truly safe below did the three of them leave the small hill and return to the tunnel.

The once "bustling" tunnel was now utterly "desolate."

There were signs of a struggle and escape everywhere. Belongings were strewn about, and the ground was even stained with blood and marked by bullet holes.

They hadn’t heard any gunshots while hiding on the hill, which meant the attackers must have used silencers.

"Looks like everyone was captured. We shouldn’t stay here long. Let’s leave, too," Hugh Finch said.

Moira Lynch nodded. "Yeah."

Barry Wallace was terrified by the scene in front of him, somewhat dazed as he followed behind the two.

"Mr. Finch, Young Lynn, who do you think those people were?"

"They subdued so many people in such a short amount of time. That means they were well-trained and heavily armed, and they were carrying guns. Put all that together, who do you think they were?"

The group arrived a few hundred meters from the air-raid shelter. To avoid leaving tracks, Moira Lynch prepared to use Instant Teleportation for the remaining distance.

As for the car, they directly pushed it down the slope.

"Don’t let go of my hand, or you’ll face the consequences."

Three people, plus a pile of luggage... by the time they arrived at the air-raid shelter, Moira Lynch was already too tired to speak.

This exhaustion wasn’t physical, but mental.

She collapsed onto a nearby chair, completely zoning out.

Barry Wallace, meanwhile, was looking around the air-raid shelter with a fascinated expression.

"This is amazing. You guys are so well-prepared. But... why is it so cold in here?" he said, unable to stop a shiver.

Hugh Finch handed over a bottle of recovery potion.

Moira Lynch took the potion and drank it straight down. "Whew, I’m alive again!"

As soon as she got up, she saw Barry Wallace, whose face was already pale from the cold.

Seeing this, she used her talent to divide the space within the air-raid shelter into two zones: one low-temperature and one normal.

"Doing this will be a huge drain on you," Hugh Finch reminded her from the side.

"It’s fine, it’s not a big deal. Don’t forget, I have three talents, and this also helps me train my precise control over temperature," Moira Lynch said seriously.

She turned and took out a few cakes from the freezer, placing them in the normal temperature zone to slowly defrost.

"Right, that thing from before, what was it exactly?"

She was asking about the Crystal Ball found earlier in the Azure Vista Complex.

"A Crystal Ball for divination. Its ability seems to be seeing the future, but I’m not sure how to use it yet. What about yours?"

"Mine is a green seed. I’m not sure what it’s used for exactly, but I can feel the immense Life Energy contained within it."