Lu Shiyan held her swaying body, his voice filled with unprecedented anxiety: "Where does it hurt? How does it hurt?"
Xiao Han and A Mo also immediately gathered around, their faces full of worry.
"It's just... a cramping pain in waves... and a bit of a pulling down sensation..." Su Wan bit her lower lip, the discomfort in her abdomen growing increasingly intense.
"Damn it! Could it be that she's going into labor?!"
Xiao Han exclaimed, then immediately felt it was wrong, "No, that's not right, it's only been a few months, how could it be so fast!"
Lu Shiyan's face was so dark it could almost drip water. Without a word, he directly picked Su Wan up in his arms and strode out of the supermarket: "Let's leave here first and find a safe place."
Although his movements were urgent, the way he held Su Wan was very gentle, as if afraid of jostling her.
Su Wan leaned against Lu Shiyan's broad chest, smelling the faint mixture of gunpowder and blood on him, and the panic in her heart calmed down slightly. She could feel the steady strength from Lu Shiyan's arms, and his hurried yet feigned calm heartbeat.
"A Shi, will... will I be alright?" Su Wan's voice was tearful; she was truly afraid, afraid that something might happen to the child.
"Don't overthink it, you'll be fine." Lu Shiyan looked down at her, his voice still cold and hard, but with a hint of comfort, "I'm here."
These simple three words were like a strong heart stimulant, calming Su Wan's chaotic thoughts considerably.
The four quickly evacuated the supermarket and returned to the ground. Li Kui and Li Xinhu had been guarding the car, and when they saw them return, they were about to speak when they saw Su Wan, pale-faced, in Lu Shiyan's arms, and were immediately shocked.
"What happened to Sister Su Wan?" Li Xinhu asked anxiously.
"Get in the car first, we'll talk after we leave here." Lu Shiyan didn't explain much, directly and carefully placed Su Wan into the back seat of the off-road vehicle, letting her lie flat.
The off-road vehicle quickly started and drove away from the perilous shopping center.
Inside the car, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.
Su Wan lay in the back seat, the pain in her abdomen becoming more intense with each wave. She gripped Lu Shiyan's hand tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white from the effort.
Lu Shiyan sat beside her, "Quickly take out the energy stone and absorb it... Hurry!"
Su Wan took out an energy stone from her space and held it in her palm. A warm glow emanated from the energy stone, and a pure and gentle energy slowly seeped into Su Wan's body.
A strange thing happened.
As the energy from the energy stone continuously flowed in, the cramping pain in Su Wan's abdomen miraculously began to lessen, and the unsettling pulling down sensation gradually disappeared.
She could clearly feel that the little one in her belly also seemed to sense this comfortable energy, and the previously somewhat restless fetal movements became smooth and regular.
"It... it seems much better..." Su Wan let out a long sigh of relief, her tense body also relaxing. A hint of color finally returned to her pale face.
Lu Shiyan had been closely watching her reaction, and seeing her expression ease, his suspended heart finally relaxed a little.
"What exactly is going on?" Xiao Han watched, dumbfounded, from the side, "Could it be that the fight just now affected the fetus?"
Su Wan shook her head, a hint of confusion and lingering fear on her face: "I don't know either... it suddenly started hurting just now... but, it's much better now."
Lu Shiyan pondered for a moment, then said: "It's because you can't use your power. You actually awakened the Space Barrier Ability early on... I noticed it the first time you killed a zombie in the villa."
The first time?
She suddenly remembered that afternoon in the villa when she first mustered the courage to face a zombie.
The moment the zombie pounced, its movements did indeed pause for a split second. At the time, she thought she was just seeing things due to fear.
So... so it was already happening back then...
"That's your ability, Space Barrier."
Lu Shiyan spoke each word clearly, dispelling all her confusion.
"Your body simply cannot withstand this kind of consumption! The stomach pain just now was a warning!"
"The energy stone can save you once, but it can't save you for a lifetime!"
His tone suddenly intensified, each word hitting Su Wan's heart.
"From now on, without my permission, you are absolutely forbidden to use it again!"
"When you encounter danger, you have only one task—immediately hide in your space!"
"Got it." Su Wan replied softly, her voice carrying a hint of grievance she hadn't even noticed. She turned her head to the other side, looking at the rapidly receding dilapidated streetscape outside the window, not wanting him to see her reddened eyes.
A Mo, driving in the front, kept his eyes straight ahead.
Xiao Han, in the passenger seat, was grimacing as he disinfected and bandaged the wound on his arm.
The wound was deep enough to see bone, scratched by a mutated rat. He hissed in pain but dared not make much noise, afraid of angering Lu Shiyan in the back seat.
"Hiss... that hurts like hell." Xiao Han finished treating his wound and let out a sigh of relief.
He glanced in the rearview mirror; Su Wan had her face turned away, and Lu Shiyan's expression was icy.
No, this won't do. It'll be too uncomfortable if it continues like this.
Xiao Han's eyes darted around, and he decided to break the silence.
He cleared his throat and exaggeratedly said: "I say, Lu Da Shao, don't be too angry. Sister Su Wan didn't do it on purpose. Besides, you can't blame her entirely for this."
Lu Shiyan looked at him coldly through the rearview mirror.
Xiao Han shrank his neck but still bravely continued: "Think about it, you tried to use your Wood-Type Ability to investigate before, and it was pushed back, right? What does that mean? It means this little thing in your family is naturally not a quiet one!"
"It has its own power and is very overbearing, not letting its own father get close. What do you call this? This is like a crooked beam making a crooked lower beam... Ah, Pooh! This is like a dragon begets a dragon, a phoenix begets a phoenix. Can your Lu Da Shao's offspring be ordinary?"
"It probably started cultivating in the womb! That situation just now, it's probably because the little one felt its mom was in danger, got anxious, and wanted to lend its power to its mom! So, the real culprit isn't Su Wan, it's that little rascal who hasn't even been born yet!"
These words made everyone in the car's expression turn strange.
A Mo's mouth twitched, and he almost lost his grip on the steering wheel.
Li Kui and Li Xinhu dared not speak at all, wishing they could disappear on the spot.
Su Wan also turned her head, glaring at Xiao Han with a mix of annoyance and amusement. What did he mean, 'little rascal'?
Lu Shiyan's face grew even darker. Xiao Han's words made him very displeased, especially terms like "crooked beam" and "little rascal."
"You," Lu Shiyan's voice was cold, "think your injury is too light?!"
"Uh... no, not light, it's very serious, I'm about to die from excessive blood loss." Xiao Han immediately raised his hands in surrender, shrinking his neck and daring not to say more.
But his clowning around still loosened the tense atmosphere in the car a bit.
Su Wan touched her lower abdomen, a murmur also rising in her heart. Although Xiao Han's words were crude, they... didn't seem entirely without reason.
The appearance of that power was indeed always accompanied by unusual movements of the fetus in her abdomen.
Could it be that this little one was really protecting her?
After leaving the city, the convoy found a relatively secluded abandoned gas station to rest.
Li Kui and Li Xinhu were responsible for vigilance and clearing any potential threats around, while Xiao Han was ordered to "rest his injuries," which in reality meant he was deprived of the right to move freely and could only sit in the car with a bitter face.
Lu Shiyan helped Su Wan out of the car and had her sit on a relatively clean chair in the gas station's convenience store.
"Are you hungry?" His voice had softened considerably.
Su Wan nodded. After a big battle, using her ability, and having her fetus agitated, she now felt weak all over and urgently needed to replenish her energy.
She took out a large pile of food from her space: canned goods, bread, and some previously roasted mutated pork.
Just then, a faint "squeak, squeak" sound came from the corner of the convenience store.