"True, but you can choose reliable partners. You share common goals, common interests, and common enemies—cooperation is inevitable. After all, humans are social creatures; fighting alone is far less effective than teamwork. With proper leadership, you can carve out a path to survival. The zombies will eventually be eradicated, and the masterminds behind them will surely pay the price. Humanity will ultimately usher in a new dawn, and the order of the human world can be restored."
"Can it really be restored?"
"Yes. You are the hope of all humanity."
The man's eyes gleamed with light. He immediately knelt before Shen Yunyun, kowtowing repeatedly.
Shen Yunyun returned to the basement, took off her mask, and looked disdainfully at the pile of crystals of various sizes and colors. What was she supposed to do with these things? Even turning them into crafts would creep her out—could she sell them with a clear conscience? She couldn't bring herself to do something so unscrupulous.
She decided to take two crystals to show Boss Gu tomorrow. If he wanted to buy them, she'd sell them to him. If not, she'd find a place to bury the lot.
As she stared at the crystals, a massive bubble suddenly enveloped her. She had accidentally triggered another wish.
After the familiar scene shift, a man stood before her, clad in a gold-trimmed red robe and a jade crown. His face was like polished jade, his brows and eyes like a painting, carrying a faint scent of herbs. He was ethereal and otherworldly, a celestial being descended to earth.
The moment Shen Yunyun saw him, only eight words came to mind: "Immortal demeanor, divine presence." She had seen many handsome men, but this one surpassed them all in looks, stunning her into silence for a long while.
The celestial man smiled gently and pulled out a silk handkerchief. "Miss, wipe this."
*Slurp.*
Her mouth had been open so wide that drool was dripping out.
Shen Yunyun was mortified, wishing she could vanish on the spot. Instead of taking his handkerchief, she grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth and said, "I was just thinking about something delicious—a big trotter, you know?"
"I know."
"I got lost in thought for a moment, that's why I... why I lost my composure."
The man's eyes held a smile, free of any romantic implication.
"This bottle contains Youth-Renewing Pills, and this one Longevity Pills."
Shen Yunyun snapped back to reality. So this was a cultivation master—a pill cultivator, no less. Her Interdimensional Trading Hub was truly impressive, connecting to all kinds of worlds.
"You want a top-grade fire spirit stone?" Shen Yunyun had just reviewed the man's trading wish.
"Indeed."
She stared at the two green jade bottles floating in midair. Even setting aside the pills' effects, the bottles themselves were worth a fortune. She considered whether she could keep both items by offering something else.
"Tell me about your pills."
The man said, "The Youth-Renewing Pill grants eternal youth, making a seventy-year-old crone look like a sixteen-year-old maiden. The Longevity Pill, as the name suggests, extends one's lifespan."
Shen Yunyun raised an eyebrow. "So, how old are you?"
"I am three hundred and six years old."
Shen Yunyun: "..."
She had thought he was a handsome man around her age, but he turned out to be an ancient relic. Three hundred years old.
She was very tempted. She wanted both pills—she could keep them to take slowly. Even if she couldn't revert to looking sixteen, maintaining her current twenty-year-old appearance was worth it. She needed the Longevity Pill even more; as a night owl, she might drop dead one day without such a miraculous remedy.