Apocalyptic Disaster: I Hoard Billions in Supplies and Kill the Saint

177: Chapter 177 Kidnapping a Fire Child to Raise at HomeThe distance shortened to ten meters.

The humanoid flame’s pace was not fast, but every step made the surrounding air hum.

It had no mouth, no facial features, yet it could somehow make people feel that it was ”looking.”

”Sister Ye...” Zhang Tianjin instinctively gripped his gun, but Ye Nanxing raised her hand to stop him.

”Don’t move.”

She stood calmly at the very front, letting the burning ”figure” draw closer and closer.

Six meters.

Four meters.

Two meters.

The Fire Spirit stopped.

Right in front of Ye Nanxing, an arm’s length away.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched to the limit.

Chu Yunting moved his feet lightly, quietly adjusting his angle, ready to block the Fire Spirit’s retreat at any moment; Zhou Cheng’s fingers were on the Space Anchor Point switch, waiting only for Ye Nanxing’s order.

In this silence—the Fire Spirit’s ”chest” trembled slightly.

It was a peculiar change.

The originally raging flames now seemed to have ”emotions”: jumping, contracting, then jumping again—it was as if it were ”mimicking breathing.”

Ye Nanxing’s eyes widened.

[It... is learning from humans.]

She slightly extended her right hand, slowly opening her palm, reaching toward the ball of fire.

Zhang Tianjin’s eyes widened: ”Damn, Sister Ye, are you for real?!”

”Quiet,” Chu Yunting said coldly, ”She is attempting to synchronize frequencies.”

The Fire Spirit did not retreat.

Instead, it leaned forward slightly.

The moment Ye Nanxing’s palm approached its ”flame chest,” space suddenly vibrated!

[Semi-intelligent life detected · Fire attribute · Energy level: B+ (Critical)]

[Establish synchronized sensing?]

Ye Nanxing did not hesitate: ”Yes.”

The next second—Boom!!

Deep in the forest, it felt as if the entire area was shaken by some invisible aura.

All the flames ”bowed” at the same moment!

The scorching fruit on the trees also emitted a faint fluorescent glow, as if ”responding.”

The moment the Fire Spirit handed over the ”seed”—a strong consciousness surged into Ye Nanxing’s brain.

Her pupils contracted slightly, and then she became as if frozen, her palm maintaining the contact posture, her body unmoving, even her breathing seemed to have stalled.

Zhou Cheng noticed the abnormality immediately: ”She has linked to the spiritual realm—”

Chu Yunting’s eyes darkened: ”Resonance has been activated.”

Zhao Wei looked at the ”scorching fruit” slowly rotating in Ye Nanxing’s palm, like a crystal formed from starlight, and a sense of awe inexplicably rose in his heart.

”It’s... it’s like receiving the language of another civilization.”

Zhang Tianjin swallowed, muttering: ”She isn’t... ’chatting’ with the fire, is she?”

Consciousness was pulled in.

It was blazing fire, a deafening roaring sound, a boundless crimson wave, like a magma sky overturning, pressing against every inch of her soul.

But she stood firm.

The spirituality of the thermal clothing on her body floated slightly in the space, and the lingering charm of the spirit spring wrapped around her consciousness like silk threads, becoming her shield.

In the center of the sea of fire, a humanoid fire slowly took shape.

No face, no vocal cords, yet it ”spoke” those low words:

”...You are not from here.”

”You have... the scent of cold on you.”

”Spirit Spring... Stone... You come from... another world...”

Ye Nanxing did not respond immediately.

Her heartbeat slowed slightly, but she was extremely clear-headed.

This was not conventional ”ability-based mind-reading,” nor was it spiritual pollution.

This was a ”two-way telepathy.”

She could perceive its ”form of thought.”

She could feel its ”loneliness”—

It was a consciousness that had almost never been understood, one that could only instinctively survive by burning.

No language, no culture, not even ”living”—it was just ”existing.”

It was like a bundle of fire that suddenly had a ”self.”

It wasn’t smart, but it—craved connection.

”...They are extinguishing... We are burning...”

”Will you... extinguish me?”

”Or... do you want me to burn you?”

Its voice drew closer, the emotion not angry, but hesitant—even, carrying a trace of... begging?

Ye Nanxing’s heart stirred.

[It is asking me if its way of existence should be ”erased.”]

[It perceives that I carry ”cold”—spirit spring, space, logic, rules.]

[And it is ”heat”—chaos, explosion, devouring, destruction.]

She suddenly realized:

This was not encountering an enemy.

It was a seed of an alien civilization that had just learned ”who am I.”

She did not rush to respond.

She was just watching, thinking, weighing.

Her gaze was clear, and in the spiritual realm of the fire, she spoke softly:

”I will not extinguish you.”

”And I will not be burned by you.”

”But—I can give you a choice.”

She slowly extended her hand.

”Come with me.”

”I will not force you.”

”If you are willing, hand over your seed.”

”I will protect you.”

”I will let you be in another place, not just burning, but... living as a ’person’.”

The Fire Spirit fell silent.

The waves of the sea of fire swayed gently, the originally restless flames gradually becoming calm, even gentle.

It was as if it were—thinking.

As if for the first time, it knew it wasn’t ”only capable of burning.”

But—could ”live.”

A moment later.

It trembled, drifting forward half an inch.

Subsequently, a fire core like a scorching crystal detached from its body and floated to Ye Nanxing’s palm.

The Fire Spirit had no language.

But this was the most direct answer.

[It chose her.]

Meanwhile—the surging fire waves outside suddenly stalled.

Ye Nanxing stood quietly before the sea of flames, cradling a red-gold fire core in her palm, like a rising morning sun, its temperature astonishing yet not burning her in the slightest.

Chu Yunting instinctively raised a hand, rare gravity in his eyes:

”She succeeded.”

Zhou Cheng held his breath, almost forgetting to press the data record button:

”...It’s not control, nor is it suppression.”

”That fire... floated over on its own.”

Zhang Tianjin was stunned for three seconds, then suddenly muttered:

”Damn... don’t you guys think—this scene is a bit absurd.”

”Like what?”

”Like kidnapping a child.”

Zhao Wei was about to speak, but upon hearing this, he immediately added:

”Right, right, right, I was just about to say that!”

”Kidnapping a fire child to raise at home, gentle and obedient, and even voluntarily recognizing a mother?”

”Sister Ye, you’re the leader of a Fire Spirit trafficking ring, aren’t you?!”

After saying this, he couldn’t hold back and laughed, as if releasing a strand of absurd yet shocking emotion from his tense nerves.

But as he laughed, he stopped.

Because at this moment, the fire waves had truly stopped.

Ye Nanxing slowly put away the fire seed in her palm, that small spirit core quietly stored into the space, without struggle, without rejection, only a kind of peaceful belonging.

She said softly:

”It is willing.”

”Then I will take it to see—if there are any other ’ways of living’ in this world.”

Chu Yunting looked at her back, his eyes calm as water, but at that moment, a realization deeply arose—she was not ”collecting abilities.”

She was... ”accepting the future.”

Zhou Cheng muttered:

”This is not ’control’.”

”This is—symbiosis.”