Chapter 71: Has Sister Su Miao Developed a Split Personality?

Crisis averted.

Su Miao added a splash of alcohol and continued eating her hotpot.

The weather had been getting noticeably colder lately, making hotpot the perfect meal for such days.

Yet, with the string of incidents that had kept arising, Su Miao found the beef hotpot before her had lost its savor.

Not far from Villa No. 36, the survivors watched the wildcat flee, each halting in place and catching their breath, hearts pounding with lingering fear.

They had thought their lives were hanging by a thread.

“It smells so good over there!”

Someone sniffed the air, envy written plainly on their face.

“That must be beef hotpot. Two months ago, I hosted several hotpot dinners—ate so much I got sick of it.”

A companion boasted proudly, but as he spoke, he began to cry.

He remembered how, unable to finish the meal, he'd tossed the extra beef into the pot, pretended to have eaten everything to avoid wasting food and losing his deposit.

“Come back!”

Someone, drawn by the aroma, tried to walk over, but was quickly pulled back.

“Don’t you realize whose place that is? The Murderous Witch lives there. Do you want to die?”

At the mention of the Murderous Witch, those who had been heading over immediately stopped.

They had narrowly escaped death.

But they were desperately hungry.

After their supplies had been seized by the company, they’d fled into the mountains, hoping for a chance at survival.

Who could have predicted that, aside from mutated giant rats, there would be such dangerous wildcats lurking? The slightest lapse in vigilance could cost them their lives.

Their existence was so precarious—risking death at any moment for a bite to eat—while the Murderous Witch could enjoy hotpot every few days without ever leaving her home. They were consumed with envy.

Now that the torrential rain had finally ceased, the aroma of beef hotpot carried far and wide.

Su Miao paid no attention to this. She was pondering how to resolve the present—and future—crises she might face.

She had only two bullets left for the sniper rifle.

There were a little over two hundred rounds for the AK-47, but that was nowhere near enough.

For defense, she could use the Magic Space Array, which could block a large area when deployed, but only from one direction.

If someone attacked from behind and she failed to react in time, she would be in grave danger.

For offense, she had Fireball.

She could generate compressed blue magical fireballs, regular fireballs, and large fireballs. Their power was considerable, but the attack range was quite limited.

Then there was Waterball.

Much like Fireball, Su Miao could create large waterballs; if controlled properly, she could drown someone within them.

The same issue remained—Waterball’s attack range was too short.

She could use the Magic Space Array to absorb bullets and counterattack, but this method had its limitations. It required absorbing enemy attacks first, and its range depended on the type of explosive used by the attacker.

Moreover, her magic space was ultimately just a cube, each side a kilometer in length—a bit too small.

If she absorbed an attack that was too powerful, the materials stored inside the space would be destroyed, which would be a costly mistake.

The hallucinogenic magic potions she could concoct were little more than support.

There was another spell.

[Starlight Bloom]

Su Miao spread her palm, and a dreamlike point of starlight slowly floated upward. It burst soundlessly, scattering a sky full of exquisite radiance.

Was this considered an offensive spell?

Su Miao’s face darkened.

What a joke.

Perhaps she could innovate in potion-making, creating more magical concoctions to toss out in times of danger, but even these would be limited by range.

Unless she could devise a magical poison mist that spread rapidly through the air.

But if the wind shifted and blew the poison mist back toward herself, the consequences would be disastrous.

Still, it would be wise to brew more potions for emergencies.

Yet this brought a new problem.

She lacked ingredients for potion-making.

Su Miao gazed at the fading starlight before her, at a loss.

“Sister, it's so beautiful!”

Xia Xiao’an gazed at the wondrous starlight with longing. “Sister, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but were you thinking about offensive magic?”

Su Miao glanced at Xiao’an. This phrasing sounded familiar—something she’d seen online, called ‘tea-speak’.

Hmm, was her mind just read?

“Yes, I was thinking about offensive magic,” Su Miao replied seriously.

Xia Xiao’an suggested, “Sister, why not try tossing some offensive spells into your magic space every day? See if they can be stored inside and released when needed?”

Su Miao considered—perhaps this was worth trying.

She activated the Magic Space Array before her, condensed a blue fireball, and tossed it into the array.

In a blink, the blue fireball vanished.

Was it successful?

She peered into the magic space—sure enough, a blue fireball had appeared inside.

It really seemed to work.

No, wait—Su Miao sensed more closely. Once inside the magic space, the fireball’s energy began to slowly dissipate, as if being absorbed by the space itself.

Yet the fireball contained so much magic that it was barely noticeable without careful observation.

Even so, Su Miao was delighted.

As long as she deposited enough blue fireballs, she needn’t worry about the space absorbing them; she could still have plenty to unleash when necessary.

Yesterday, just one blue fireball had blown that white Persian cat to pieces. With enough blue fireballs, she could surely kill a wildcat.

And once she accumulated more, could she hurl them at the parking lot and obliterate the company’s thugs in a flash?

Su Miao’s eyes sparkled.

With renewed determination, she condensed six more blue fireballs and deposited them into the magic array.

When her magical energy was nearly spent, she stopped.

Now, only one problem remained.

When deploying the Magic Space Array, how could she launch these blue fireballs for long-range strikes?

Her requirements were modest—if she could bombard targets ten kilometers away, that would suffice.

If not, even two kilometers would do.

That way, she could flatten the parking lot.

Xia Xiao’an watched as her elder sister’s face broke into a smile. She couldn’t reconcile this with the timid Su Miao she usually saw—she suspected Su Miao might have split personalities.

“Sister, someone’s coming downstairs.”

“It’s Chang Jieming from the security team. He’s brought beautiful mushrooms.”

“Alright,” Su Miao nodded.

At that moment, a polite knocking came from below.

“Miss Su Miao, I am Chang Jieming. Thank you for saving us,” he called from downstairs.

Su Miao took her AK-47 and went downstairs. As before, she activated the Magic Space Array in front of her, used Waterball to move aside the cabinet blocking the door, and tried to maintain a cold expression.

“What is it?”

“Miss Su Miao, these are the beautiful mushrooms we’ve gathered recently,” said Chang Jieming, setting down a large bag. “We escaped in a hurry, so we only managed to bring this one bag.”