The Villainous Female Side Character Pretends to Be an Omega in the Apocalypse and Raises a Cat - Chapter 41

The pharmaceutical factory was larger than they had anticipated. Neatly arranged metal shelves, long unattended, were coated with a thin layer of dust.

Chi Yingdong lightly touched the shelves with her fingertips, storing both the shelves and the medicines on them into her spatial inventory.

In addition, all the medical equipment within sight was continuously absorbed into her space.

“Captain Chi’s ability is really something,” Qiu Yi remarked, her eyes filled with envy.

Luo Zhiyin and Han Li felt the same way.

Han Li, however, thought more deeply. She casually remarked, “It’s fine. We’re a team, after all. The captain’s space can help store our things too.”

Qiu Yi: “That’s true.”

Luo Zhiyin glanced at Han Li and then caught on, saying, “Not bad, Captain.”

Gu Meng, who had been left behind, immediately raised her hand. “Me too, me too.”

Chi Yingdong: “Mm.”

She knew they were using this topic to express their loyalty to her.

Compared to silencing them permanently, she much preferred this solution.

The group arrived at a door marked “Records Room.” Gu Meng immediately perked up, quickening her pace to step forward.

Having been protected all the way, it was finally her turn to shine.

Gu Meng pulled a laptop from her backpack, her fingers dancing swiftly across the keyboard as lines of code flashed across the screen.

Seizing the rare moment of respite, Luo Zhiyin and the others sat down on the floor.

But their nerves remained taut. The apocalypse was fraught with unknown dangers that could strike at any moment, and no one dared to let their guard down completely.

Chi Yingdong walked a short distance away. The calico cat perched on her shoulder let out a series of soft meows.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

Chi Yingdong was actually a bit shaken, though she hid it well.

Cat owners always fear their pets going missing. Even though the one she had raised was a bit different, the feeling was the same.

“Meow, meow.”

Meng Qinghe lifted her head and nudged Chi Yingdong’s hand, rubbing against it affectionately.

Chi Yingdong assumed the calico was just bored and simply offered her hand, letting it do as it pleased.

The calico immediately extended its claws and began tracing patterns on Chi Yingdong’s palm.

On her pale, almost translucent skin, the scratches left faint red marks.

The kitten seemed pleased with the effect and traced more vigorously.

A slight stinging sensation spread across her right palm, but Chi Yingdong paid it no mind.

With her other hand, she gently stroked the kitten’s back, a trace of indulgent laughter shimmering in her eyes.

Gradually, Chi Yingdong realized the kitten wasn’t tracing randomly.

Every stroke of the calico’s claws seemed deliberate, first a horizontal line, then two vertical ones.

Though the movements were clumsy, they were exceptionally focused, as if the kitten was trying its utmost to depict something.

Chi Yingdong narrowed her eyes, following the marks with her fingertips and mentally tracing along: horizontal, vertical, vertical…

Was that “gene”?

The calico seemed to sense Chi Yingdong’s attention and slowed down to trace the characters again.

Gene serum.

Chi Yingdong confirmed what the kitten was trying to convey.

Her gaze shifted slightly backward, where the little black snake was coiled. After being injured, it had kept its distance, following them from afar.

Chi Yingdong clenched her hand, piecing everything together in her mind. She now had a clearer understanding of the person who had followed them.

It was Ye Rourou.

Anything the female protagonist went to such lengths to obtain must hold extraordinary value.

On this point, Chi Yingdong and Meng Qinghe were surprisingly in sync.

For Chi Yingdong, the gene serum was merely a bonus, not something indispensable.

But if the gene serum could be useful for Little Calico, then she absolutely had to get her hands on it.

Gu Meng didn’t keep everyone waiting for long.

With a soft click, the door swung open.

As they stepped inside, the scene that greeted them took everyone by surprise.

Instead of the expected mountains of folders, there was only a desktop computer, its bulky frame nearly filling the entire room.

Over a month into the apocalypse, water and electricity had been cut off in many places, yet this computer was still running, its low hum echoing through the room.

Luo Zhiyin stepped forward and lightly pressed the power button. The screen lit up instantly, displaying a password prompt.

Everyone instinctively turned to Gu Meng.

Her fingers danced swiftly across the keyboard as she attempted to crack the password.

However, layer after layer of formidable firewalls stood like an impenetrable fortress, making the decryption process exceptionally challenging. Every step was met with resistance.

Chi Yingdong, concerned about Ye Rourou, who had followed them, thought for a moment and said, “Let me store this computer in my space for now. We can work on cracking it slowly back at the base.”

“Is your space big enough?” Han Li asked.

She wasn’t sure how large Chi Yingdong’s storage space was.

But since Chi Yingdong had already stored an entire pharmaceutical factory’s worth of supplies earlier, it was unlikely she had room for more.

Chi Yingdong pursed her lips and replied calmly, “One more computer won’t be a problem.”

Gu Meng, sweating profusely, tried several more lines of code but still couldn’t gain access.

Not wanting to delay the team’s progress, she decided to follow Chi Yingdong’s suggestion.

Just as Chi Yingdong was about to touch the computer to store it away, Gu Meng thought of another solution.

“Give me five minutes. I’ll remove the storage card from this computer and take it with us.”

Five minutes later, Gu Meng handed the storage card to Chi Yingdong.

The card, no larger than a thumb, was not taken by Chi Yingdong. “You keep it,” she said.

“Oh, okay.”

Gu Meng placed the storage card into a protective case and tucked it into a hidden compartment in her backpack.

On their way out of the pharmaceutical factory, Chi Yingdong neither encountered Ye Rourou nor found anything resembling the gene serum.

Stopping in front of their vehicle, Chi Yingdong turned to the others and said, “You all head back to the base first. I’ll return on my own later.”

Their gazes fell on the curled-up Little Calico in Chi Yingdong’s arms, and they automatically assumed her reason for staying behind.

As for the little black snake that had been following them, they trusted Chi Yingdong to handle it.

“Stay safe. We’ll wait for you at the base,” Han Li reminded her.

Watching the vehicle gradually disappear into the distance, Chi Yingdong turned around, still holding the kitten.

Re-entering the pharmaceutical factory without her companions by her side, Chi Yingdong no longer held back.

She moved swiftly, her sharp eyes scanning every corner as she meticulously searched for anything she might have missed earlier.

The little black snake struggled to keep up, panting heavily, its small black eyes casting a resentful look at Chi Yingdong and Little Calico.

Chi Yingdong and Little Calico were in the office of the pharmaceutical factory’s director when they heard unfamiliar footsteps.

This was the last unchecked room and the most likely place to find the gene serum.

The footsteps outside grew closer.

“Qiao Ying, it seems we’re too late!” Ye Rourou’s voice carried a note of urgency.

“Don’t rush,” Qiao Ying soothed softly. “Let’s search more carefully. The gene serum’s packaging is ordinary, they might not have noticed it or taken it with them.”

Both voices were all too familiar, and Chi Yingdong immediately recognized who they were.

Even without her involvement, the two female leads of the original story had met and were now working together, such was the force of the plot.

Chi Yingdong had already planned to investigate the cause of the temporal rift through Qiao Ying and was looking for the right opportunity to meet her.

But for now, their goals aligned, making it unsuitable for them to cross paths.

The calico kitten pricked up its ears at the words “plain packaging,” and its big eyes instantly lit up as it scanned the office.

On the storage cabinets in the room stood a collection of artificially aged calligraphy, paintings, and ceramics, making it clear that the collector had rather mediocre taste.

Amidst this pile of fake antiques, a bottle of milky-white potion lay quietly, entirely unremarkable.

Every inch of the pharmaceutical factory had already been thoroughly searched by them. Anything that had even the slightest chance of being the gene serum had been collected by Chi Yingdong into her space.

Chi Yingdong stared at the bottle of potion, and the little black snake followed her gaze.

The little black snake slithered up the cabinet, coiled its tail around the potion, and handed it to Chi Yingdong.

Chi Yingdong glanced at the calico kitten, and when the little cat nodded, she flicked her fingers and stored it in her space.

The area outside the office was crowded with people, but fortunately, the floor this office was on wasn’t too high.

Chi Yingdong quickly retrieved a pre-prepared rope from her space and walked to the window.

She deftly secured the rope to the steel reinforcement on the windowsill, gave it a firm tug to ensure it was secure, then looked down and exchanged a glance with the calico kitten.

Understanding her intention, the kitten tightened its claws, firmly gripping her collar, ready for what was to come.

The next moment, Chi Yingdong leaped out, swiftly descending along the rope.