Lingquan didn't respond at first. Qingran could feel his silence pulsing through her mind like the pause before a storm.
[Good call..] he finally said, quieter now. [But don't assume you'll be the only one with the idea.]
She scowled. "Meaning?"
[The objective was global, Qingran. The Apocalypse System didn't issue it to you alone. It issued it to everyone in the zone. Every survivor who saw that broadcast is thinking the same thing you are. 'Find the cure.' Some just want to live. Others… want leverage.]
Qingran's stomach churned. She remembered the way some of the ability users had looked at her during past interactions, like measuring her worth, calculating what they could get out of her. If they found the cure first…
"They'll ruin it."
[Or they'll try to take it by force. Extract it. Use it to form a monopoly on survival. That's what humans do. Especially when backed into corners.]
She swallowed thickly. "Then I need to move faster than all of them."
