Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 151: Chapter 141: Inner Demon

But this clearly wasn’t the time to be studying Crystal Stones.

”This must be it.” At the base of the northern Crystal Stone wall, Lin Yu found a small, waist-high pedestal.

There was a small, diamond-shaped indentation on top of it.

Logically, something with an extremely high Spirit Attribute Value had to be placed here, perhaps to trigger some kind of mechanism.

’A diamond-shaped item with a high Spirit Attribute Value?’

Tang Mo carefully thought through the contents of her Space. She really didn’t have any diamond-shaped objects.

However...

Tang Mo silently walked over to another wall, took out a small knife, and started prying at it.

She might not have anything suitable, but wasn’t this entire place full of suitable things?

Prying off a High-level Crystal Stone and carving it into a diamond shape should be worth a try!

Carrying the freshly carved, diamond-shaped Blood Red Crystal Stone, Tang Mo returned to the small pedestal. Shoving aside the useless onlookers, she pressed the Crystal Stone into place.

Everyone present was a Spirit Attribute Superpower User. A familiar pulse of spiritual power instantly radiated from the center of the pedestal and spread rapidly toward the wall behind it.

With a deafening BOOM, the wall crumbled to dust under the effect of the spiritual power’s light wave, revealing a door-shaped opening.

The opening was obscured by the spiritual waves, making it impossible to see what lay beyond.

The secret room fell silent. That light wave had been powerful enough to pulverize a wall. What if it had swept over them?

Stunned by such power, no one dared to act rashly, even though they knew the Spirit Power Pearl might be just beyond that door.

Tang Mo used her spiritual power to probe the door that had appeared out of thin air.

The spiritual power on the door was strong but lacked any hint of aggression, which she found strange.

Although her spiritual power couldn’t penetrate the door to see the scene behind it, her intuition told her that what lay beyond was not filled with malice. At the very least, it wasn’t a dead end.

’If there’s a door, it’s meant to be entered.’ Tang Mo decided to trust her gut. She stuffed Jingjing into her backpack and strode inside.

After Tang Mo’s figure completely vanished beyond the door, the crowd outside exchanged glances and waited quietly for a few more minutes before they, too, stepped through.

After all, they had all come this far with great difficulty. There was no way they were going to let some little girl from the outside beat them to the punch.

As Tang Mo stepped through the door, the scene before her sent her into a daze.

It was the Wen Family’s home in S Base. Tang Mo’s mother was sitting on the large sofa in the living room, playing with Yangyang, her face glowing with happiness and maternal love.

”Momo, you’re back!”

Lin Yi looked up, saw Tang Mo, and cried out in pleasant surprise.

”Mom.”

The cold mask on Tang Mo’s face softened, revealing a rare tenderness. She walked to the sofa and sat down, steadying Yangyang, who was just learning to walk.

”Don’t leave again now that you’re back. A girl like you doesn’t need to work so hard. Your Uncle Wen is very powerful now. He can take good care of you, so you can just relax and live like a little princess here.”

Lin Yi lovingly straightened her daughter’s hair.

Tang Mo savored this brief moment of intimacy, her eyes slightly narrowed in contentment.

”Mom, don’t worry about me. As long as you and Yangyang are safe here at the base, I can rest easy.”

”Is it that you won’t listen to anything I say now?!”

Lin Yi’s attitude suddenly turned cold, a complete one-eighty that startled even Yangyang, who had been smiling at his sister. He burst into tears with a WAIL.

Tang Mo didn’t talk back, but she didn’t relent either, merely coaxing her little brother softly.

”Can’t you just spare me the worry? A girl running wild like you, what will people at the base say about your Uncle Wen? Is it because we don’t feed you or clothe you? Are you deliberately trying to make our lives difficult!”

Lin Yi’s voice grew increasingly shrill.

Hearing this, Tang Mo’s hand paused.

”Aren’t you getting along well with that boy from the Qin Family? He’s the highest-ranking official in the base now. If you marry him, not only will you be able to help your Uncle Wen, but you’ll never have to worry about your future again. You silly girl, when will you ever wise up!”

Lin Yi once again took Tang Mo’s hand, her tone once again filled with affection.

But Tang Mo just looked up at Lin Yi and slowly pulled her hand away.

She had never told Lin Yi about her and Qin Ling. She had also told Qin Ling not to say anything. There was absolutely no way Lin Yi could have known.

All of this... was fake.

”Mom, did you know? In my last life, after I got out of school, I couldn’t find you anywhere. I was so scared, so I went to find Qin Ling. I thought to myself, ’I don’t need my pride anymore. That bullshit pride is worthless compared to my mother.’”

Tang Mo sat on the sofa, speaking as if to herself.

”Back then, Qin Ling had gone home and changed his ID number. I couldn’t contact him no matter how I tried.”

”Later, I begged Song Qing to take me to S Base, but I couldn’t even get past the Qin Family’s gate.

”They said they didn’t welcome beggars there.”

”I looked down at my clothes then. They were dirty and tattered. I had nothing. No Jade Pendant, no attribute value, no food, no mother...”

”After that, I lived on my own. It was hard, to be honest, but I kept going.”

”One day, I saw Qin Ling during a mission.

”He was surrounded by people. He had become a man of few words, but he was still as handsome as ever, as if he were glowing.

”Back then, I was just cannon fodder in my team, the one who attracted the mutant beasts’ attention. I was uncontrollably, madly desperate to just say hello to him.”

”But do you know what, Mom? He didn’t even recognize me.”

”He once said he liked me. He said he wanted to take me home, but he couldn’t even recognize me anymore. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. My concentration slipped, my feet slowed for a second, and I was killed by a mutant beast. And then I ended up here, now.”

Lin Yi stood to the side, completely dumbfounded, with no time to even react.

But Tang Mo, as if she didn’t care at all, continued speaking.

”When I opened my eyes again, I’d figured it out. I’d really figured it out. People... you can’t rely on anyone. The only real security is in your own strength. I must become strong, so strong that I can live well in this world without depending on a single soul.”

”I admit I like him, but that doesn’t mean I can completely rely on him. I can’t do it. In this world, the only one I can trust is myself.”

Having said her piece, Tang Mo tilted her head back, trying hard to force back the tears welling in her eyes.

This life had been too smooth, causing Tang Mo to think she had forgotten many things from her past life.

But you don’t forget. The things that change your beliefs, the lessons etched into your very bones—those are things you never forget in your entire life.