Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Tenth Layer of the Supernatural Realm
Natalie's analysis made sense to everyone who heard it. However, after knowing this, everyone became even more worried.
Because Tilly often didn't eat enough, and what she ate was packaged food, which contained various chemicals and artificial ingredients, making her body worse and worse, she suffered from severe malnutrition.
Her arms were as thin as chopsticks, and there was little flesh on her face. The nine-year-old child looked like she was seven or six.
Could such a body withstand the consumption during awakening?
"Then, what should we do?" Paige anxiously said, "April, Tilly is so weak. She definitely won't be able to hold on. Do you have a way to help Tilly?"
Mason, Tilly's father, looked at Natalie solemnly and said, "Captain, please help my daughter. As long as you are willing to help, no matter what the outcome, my life is yours. I'm sorry, but I have nothing else of value to give."
Natalie frowned slightly. She didn't like such scenes. "Listen to me first."
Upon hearing this, Mason had no choice but to be silent and listen.
"You mentioned before that corpse crystals contain energy that can improve the body, and eating corpse crystals has no adverse reactions. My idea is to try feeding Tilly a corpse crystal."
After a pause, Natalie added, "As for whether it will work, I'm not sure. We can only leave it to fate. If you agree, I'll go get the corpse crystals."
The latter sentence didn't need to be asked at all. Because the little girl Tilly had already fallen completely unconscious, there was no way she could survive in this state.
They could only try. And they couldn't afford to pass up even the slightest glimmer of hope in this situation. In addition, everyone agreed with Natalie's analysis and felt that this was the best method.
So, Mason said solemnly again. "Please, Captain, help Tilly."
After all, corpse crystals were precious, and Natalie's willingness to give one was a great kindness for them.
Natalie went back to the bedroom to get the corpse crystals.
In fact, corpse crystals were in her inventory, but Matthew and Natalie had agreed to keep the existence of their inventories a secret from others as much as possible.
In this apocalyptic world, the knowledge that they could stockpile unlimited items, food, and water would only create problems for them.
Perhaps this wasn't true for everyone, but surely someone among the survivors would suspect that they were stockpiling more resources than they were entitled to.
Currently, they have plenty of resources thanks to the looting of the nomad camp, but what if they ran out? Or what if someone, thinking they had too many resources in their inventory, submitted false reports after reaching the shelter?
Matthew and Natalie didn't want to deal with unnecessary problems.
Natalie went to her bedroom, took the corpse crystals out of her inventory, and came back.
But then a new problem arose.
The smallest corpse crystal in the bag was the size of a big button. Furthermore, corpse crystals were very hard in their normal state, so they were definitely hard to swallow. And because Tilly was already unconscious, feeding it directly might choke the child to death.
Everyone tried various methods, but even smashing it with an iron hammer couldn't break the corpse crystal.
For a moment, everyone was a bit dumbfounded.
"How can it be so hard?" Paige asked in surprise, "I remember after I ate it, it quickly digested, and my stomach felt warm."
Apparently, while the corpse crystals weren't afraid of iron hammers, they had a weakness for stomach acid.
"Let me see it," Matthew said, and Natalie then handed the corpse crystal to Matthew.
Everyone also looked at Matthew with hopeful eyes.
And Matthew didn't waste any time. With the corpse crystal in hand, he directly squeezed it with force.
But it didn't budge. It was indeed very hard.
Matthew squeezed again, and this time, a small white aura sphere appeared on his finger. To break the corpse crystal, he actually had to use his Tremor-Tremor Fruit Ability.
-Crack
This time, it finally had an effect.
Under the effect of the powerful Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the small corpse crystal was directly shattered into powder. It almost turned into dust.
Seeing this scene, everyone was horrified.
They had just tried to smash the corpse crystal with an iron hammer, but they couldn't even scratch it. Its hardness was almost as great as that of a diamond. Maybe even more.
Unexpectedly, in this man's hands, it was so easily pulverized.
"What are you still standing there for?" Matthew said, "Get some water and give it to Tilly."
Soon, the powdered Corpse Crystal, mixed with water, was fed to Tilly. After feeding it, everyone watched Tilly with concern, observing her condition.
The little girl's face was originally extremely pale, and she was sweating profusely, looking incredibly weak.
But two or three minutes after eating the corpse crystal, her complexion quickly regained a hint of color, and the cold sweat no longer flowed as heavily as before.
"It's working! It's working!!!" Paige cried out in surprise.
Mason also let out a heavy sigh of relief, watching his daughter with a tense expression.
Natalie walked over and touched the child's forehead. It was still very hot.
"You all take turns to observe her condition. If there's any problem, call me immediately." She said.
Upon hearing Natalie's words, everyone nodded.
Paige said, "April, I understand. You rest."
Natalie nodded and returned to the bedroom with Matthew to sleep. Of course, it was just sleeping.
Because the conditions were too poor, water was precious, and they couldn't even take regular baths.
Neither of them had bathed in ten days or so, and they were both people accustomed to cleanliness, so how could they be in the mood for sex?
There was nothing they could do. The apocalypse was just like that.
...
A night passed.
The next day, after Natalie woke up, she and Matthew quickly washed up and immediately went out to check on Tilly's condition.
"How is Tilly?" Natalie asked.
It was clear that the Cooper family hadn't slept all night, staying up to guard the little girl.
"Her situation is still stable for now," Paige said, "But the high fever hasn't gone down."
Natalie walked over and touched the child's forehead. It was indeed true. It seemed that awakening an ability was indeed very dangerous.
Holy Land on Blue Marble was convenient, fast, and without danger. They were quite lucky in this respect.
"Now, she can only rely on herself. All we can do is wait. Keep observing." Natalie said.
Everyone nodded. Mason stood up and said, "I'll go drive."
His eyes were bloodshot and red, clearly from worrying all night.
"Uncle Mason, you haven't closed your eyes all night. Let me drive." Zeke Cooper said.
Then Mason said he was fine, but Zeke kept insisting.
Seeing the uncle and nephew arguing, Natalie said, "Don't argue, we're not leaving today. We'll rest here."
Anyway, she and Matthew planned to reach Thunder God Shelter after a 10-day journey, so it was better to stay here for another day.
"This..." Paige said in a low voice, "Someone just came to rush us, asking when we're setting off."
The "someone" she referred to must be those people outside.
Natalie immediately frowned and said, "Go tell them they can leave whenever they want. They don't need to wait for us. Tilly is at a critical moment now and cannot be jostled. We will wait until she wakes up."
As soon as these words came out, Mason didn't know how to express his gratitude.
So, the convoy stayed put for another day. Because Matthew and Natalie didn't leave, the others didn't dare to leave at all.
Even a fool would know that following the two powerful figures would definitely be safer.
If they went to Sacramento by themselves, they would definitely encounter more than one near-death experience along the way.
...
It wasn't until past two in the afternoon that Tilly's fever finally broke, and she slowly woke up.
"Tilly? Are you awake? That's great." Paige, who was guarding nearby, immediately shouted, "Uncle Mason, come quickly, Tilly is awake."
Mason, who was inspecting the car chassis outside, immediately crawled out from under the car and rushed towards the RV.
"Dad," Tilly called out.
Seeing his daughter safe and sound, Mason burst into tears, rushing to his daughter's side, "Tilly, is there anything uncomfortable?"
Tilly thought for a moment, then touched her stomach and said, "Dad, I'm hungry..."
Natalie was also alerted and came over. Just as she heard this, she picked up a packaged loaf of bread and handed it over.
"Eat."
"Thank you, Sister April."
Tilly thanked politely, then began to eat heartily. After the girl finished eating, Natalie then asked curiously, "Tilly, what ability did you awaken?"
Tilly didn't react for a moment, showing a puzzled expression.
Paige then said, "Tilly, April is asking if you've noticed anything different about your body?"
Tilly was a smart child and then understood Paige and Natalie's meaning.
She thought for a moment, raised one hand, and slightly exerted force.
Immediately in the center of her palm, a soft green light appeared, vibrant and full.
Seeing this scene, everyone's eyes lit up. Clearly, Tilly had successfully awakened an ability.
However...
"What kind of ability is this?" Paige asked curiously.
Tilly didn't explain. Her gaze swept around the RV, and when she saw a pot of an unknown plant that was almost withered on the shelf nearby, the little girl's eyes immediately lit up.
She ran over, brought out the plant, then stretched out her hand and pinched a yellowing leaf.
Then her ability activated.
Immediately, this almost withered plant actually came back to life at a visible speed and began to grow rapidly, presenting a scene of vibrant life.
Seeing such a miraculous scene, everyone was stunned.
Even Matthew showed a surprised expression.
"This!!! Is this the ability Tilly Awakened? It's too amazing," Paige said blankly.
"My head is so dizzy..." Tilly said, then she let go of the plant and sat down on the sofa. She looked a bit weak.
"What's wrong? Tilly, where are you uncomfortable?" Mason quickly asked.
Tilly thought for a moment and said, "So tired, so sleepy, Dad, Tilly wants to sleep."
"It should be due to excessive consumption," Natalie said from the side, "Tilly just finished the awakening process, and she was already weak. Using her ability now probably led to excessive consumption."
Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, Natalie suddenly said, "Regarding the ability Tilly has awakened, I suggest you keep it a secret. Absolutely do not tell anyone."
Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, Natalie said, "She can revive plants. Such an ability, appearing in this apocalyptic environment, I think I don't need to emphasize her importance anymore, do I?"
Then Matthew interrupted and explained, "Plants occupy a very important link in the food chain. Later, as her ability grows stronger, she might be able to help produce enough food to feed a large shelter. Maybe even more. Tilly even has the potential to be humanity's savior from this apocalyptic environment."
At that moment, Natalie spoke again and added, "Once the news gets out, all major shelters will definitely fight over her. If she falls into the hands of someone with ill intentions, Tilly might be reduced to a tool for cultivating food."
Upon hearing these words, Cooper family members were all startled. Mason's eyes, in particular, showed deep worry.
Could Tilly's talent be a curse rather than a gift?
---------------
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.219: Our Worlds Are Quite Similar
Ch.220: Reaching the Borders of Sacramento
Ch.221: Some Rotten Apples