Tom Encounters His Nemesis

"Let me cut your arm open to see what good stuff you've grown inside!" Hearing Linda's teasing words, Tom took two steps back. 

This girl seemed genuinely excited, and no matter how you looked at it, she didn't seem to be joking. So Tom explained, "No, I don't have any mutated organs inside me. I just resonate with these gems and crystals, gaining abilities. It's not just me; there are several others in our camp."

"Abilities?" Linda's eyes sparkled again, and she tilted her head, her blue eyes fixed on Tom as if he were a beloved toy. "What other abilities? Show me!"

Tom sighed but decided to indulge her request, given her strong curiosity. So he demonstrated his enhanced strength, speed, and heightened defense abilities.

"Wow!" Linda snatched the blue crystal excitedly, jumping up in joy. "This world is so amazing! Compared to this, the problem of shrinking people by 24 times is trivial! Oh God, have you finally heard my prayers? Have you brought me to such a magical world?"

Watching the excited girl, Tom couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated. God? Magical world? Trivial? Did she think all these dangers and costs were just a game?

"How old are you this year, Miss Linda? Where are your parents?" 

Linda closed her eyes and felt around for a while. Seeing that the blue crystal didn't react, she immediately felt disappointed and tossed it aside, picking up the yellow gemstone instead. "A lady's age is a secret. Are you a country bumpkin? Why do you need to ask? And... you have no observation skills at all. Although this is a two-bedroom apartment, did you not notice that I'm the only one living here?"

This Linda looked like she was barely in her teens at best, maybe even underage, and living alone? Remembering the five-year-old child, Xiao Bao, who was eaten by the mutated cat, Tom decided not to inquire further about Linda's parents, as it might touch on sensitive topics. "Alright, I was too presumptuous."

Linda tried the yellow gemstone again and found it ineffective, pouting unhappily. Then she reached out her hand again. "Bring it here."

"What?" 

"Other gemstones! I need to try them all."

"They're in the backpack. Come with me; it's too bloody here." Tom picked up the crystals and gemstones and led Linda back to the living room.

He took out the green and red gemstones from the Crystal Energy Backpack of the Old Street No. 0 Armor. Linda snatched them away and began testing them separately. Since Tom had fulfilled her request, she was satisfied and in high spirits.

"You gave me gemstones to test, so I'll answer your question. I, Linda, am fair. The fact is, I came to Senchuan to find a job, but I found out that the boss of that company was too arrogant, so I didn't want to go. I randomly picked a house to rent on the map, and ended up here."

The red gemstone also didn't react. Seeing her pouting and tossing the red gemstone aside, Tom picked up the green one. Her demeanor was like that of a spoiled child picking toys in a toy store. 

But then he realized, wasn't she just a teenager? He shook his head, laughing, "Is this the house you rented? These custom-made facilities must have been ordered online?"

"Yes, but when the old horse tracked my phone, he bought this house for me. He ordered these custom-made facilities online. I had only been here for a few days when a group of people came to renovate without asking me first. I found it annoying, but they didn't even bother to ask before spending so much of my money. So I decided not to go back and instead got a set of solar charging module kits, which surprisingly come in handy now."

Hearing this, Tom knew that the girl in front of him was a rich girl, a very rich one at that. But she kept mentioning the "old horse." "Old horse... Who's that?"

"My dad!" Linda tossed aside the green gemstone, clapped her hands, and accepted the reality that she hadn't awakened any abilities. "Dad Ma is very naggy. I rarely go out, so I don't want to go back."

"Your dad's surname is Ma? Then your mother's surname is Lin?" 

Linda, who was examining his worm-type gun, sneered disdainfully at his words. "I've said I'm mixed-race. My dad's surname is Ma, so naturally we're siblings. What foreign woman in any dimension would have the surname Lin? Is your brain malfunctioning?"

Alright... being looked down upon... Tom felt a bit embarrassed. "Your father's surname is Ma, and your mother's surname isn't Lin... Then why are you called Linda?"

"Because I like it, is that not allowed? I don't want to be named Ma; I just picked Lin. Doesn't 'Ma Meiqi' sound awkward no matter how you say it? How do you say that vulgar phrase again? 'Ma what'?"

Hearing this, Tom gave up on arguing with her. She was just a half-grown child after all. He looked around for suitable iron items. The worm gun's ammunition was down to one, so while it was still relatively safe, he decided to replenish it.

After searching around, he found nothing and had to come back to ask the landlord, "Miss Lin, do you have anything made of iron here? I need to replenish some ammunition."

"This thing's ammunition? Yes!" Linda abandoned the worm gun and took him to the kitchen, pointing to a cabinet where there were screws. Tom used his 4.5 times arm strength to open the cabinet and picked out a few screws. He then demonstrated his ability to shape metal in front of her, which caused her to exclaim in amazement.

Such abilities were very practical in a world where everyone had shrunk. Linda immediately thought of various possibilities for the future and realized that Tom wasn't lying about making this set of armor himself.

She helped Tom load the ammunition while pestering him to explain the principles of repulsion launch. Then she asked Tom to list all the types of abilities he knew, while also branching out into discussions about shelters. Although Tom concealed the part about the exchange technology, this little girl immediately detected the information he held back.

Tom remembered the warning on the display not to easily disclose information to outsiders, as it could lead to being hunted down. Naturally, he didn't want the girl to be implicated, so no matter how she asked, he wouldn't answer.

This made Linda very unhappy. It seemed that seeking knowledge was the most important thing to her. She said grumpily, "Fine, I'll tell you my age. I'm 16 years, 4 months, and 12 days old this year. Now, you should tell me who told you about the technology to turn blank crystals into conductive materials!"

Now it was Tom's turn to roll his eyes. Linda completely misunderstood his intentions, thinking she was being stingy for not telling her. By revealing her age, she thought she could exchange information.

"No, I won't tell you because some things would put you in danger."

"What could be more dangerous than being attacked by bugs everywhere?"

"You don't understand! Alright, close the windows. Your house is still safe. Stay here. I'll go upstairs to see what's going on. There are a few people gathered there who might need help."

Linda became anxious and immediately grabbed his arm, not letting him put on the Old Street No. 0 Armor. "You have to take me with you. If I know how exciting it is outside, what's the point of staying in this crappy house?"

"Exciting?" Tom looked at her in surprise. "You said outside... exciting?"

"Yes! Giant ants, cockroaches, and probably mosquitoes and flies are all getting bigger, and they have more powerful attack methods. The whole world has changed. I've been stupidly researching a rubbish algorithm in this crappy house for two months. I'm so dumb! Instead of waiting for rescue, I should go out and see the world now that I'm still free!"

"No, miss, you've got it wrong! No one's coming to rescue you! It's likely that everyone in the world has shrunk, at least the people in this area. The building I live in was on fire for a day and a night, and no police, fire department, or passersby came to put out the fire or even watch. No one!"

Linda grabbed Tom's arm, stunned. Seeing her blank expression, Tom thought she was struggling to believe that the end of the world had come, so he prepared to comfort her. But after waiting for a while, she suddenly jumped up, raised her hands, and shouted loudly, "Fantastic!"

"Don't cry... What?" Tom was so shocked that he dropped the leg guard on the ground, unable to believe what he had heard. But from Linda's excited and happy face, he couldn't find any sign of misunderstanding. "Fantastic?"

"Of course! Haha! You're right, the end of the world has come. There was no response from any organizations during the fire. It's certain that everyone in the entire city has shrunk. As a cosmopolitan city like Senchuan, it's impossible for isolated experiments. For these villains who shrunk people, to bear the retaliation from the country, they must have shrunk people from all over the earth, or should I say, people from developed countries with military capabilities. Haha! Isn't this great?"

With this realization, Tom admired the girl who claimed to have an IQ of 183 a little bit. Maybe she really was a genius. But Linda became even more excited... How much did this girl long for such things?

"Don't forget, those creatures become stronger and mutate after eating humans. We humans are the best food for them."

"Wrong, it's a ticket to evolution! So we're in high demand now!" Linda snapped her fingers and proudly said, "This completely subverts the principles of biology. It's so wonderful. I think one organization alone couldn't have done it. It definitely involves intervention beyond today's civilization. Aliens? Gods? Well, it's all the same!"

"If that's the case, why are you excited? Even a slightly larger ant could eat you now. It's very dangerous outside!"

"You've been outside for over two months! If you're going out, you won't... let a lovely and beautiful girl like me die, right?" Linda said, putting on a pitiful look, complementing her beautiful mixed-race face. Even Tom almost couldn't resist.

Tom shook his head, avoiding looking at her, and continued to put on the Old Street No. 0 Armor. "You should stay in your own house. I'll go upstairs to check the situation."

"No! I don't want to stay here; it's scary!" Seeing that her performance just now was effective, Linda immediately grabbed Tom's arm and shook it vigorously, pleading softly, "Please, pretty please, take me out with you!"

With her shaking, Tom's arm accidentally touched her chest, and he quickly withdrew his arm. "No, it's too risky outside, I can't take you with me!"

"You're going to take me away eventually, right? You don't even dare to take me to the safer floor, how can you guarantee you'll take me outside?" 

Tom thought about it and realized she had a point. The environment inside the building was more stable, with just the need to be careful of mosquitoes. If he didn't let her adapt first and took her outside, it would be dangerous. With her attitude of eagerly awaiting the apocalypse, she might not listen and run to dark places like that other person, ignoring warnings, and get drained of blood by mutated mosquitoes.

"Alright!" Tom said helplessly.