But then she rembered sothing important.
In her previous life, Alana’s power had never hard anyone.
After a brief pause, Ivy nodded. "Co with ."
They brought Alana directly to Ember.
Ember was lying on the bed, her face pale, one hand pressed weakly against her abdon.
Without hesitation, Alana stepped forward and placed her hands over Ember’s stomach.
A soft glow spread instantly.
Ember felt warmth, not burning, not overwhelming, but gentle, like sunlight filtering through closed eyelids.
The pain that had been gnawing at her insides for weeks began to dissolve, lting away as if it had never existed.
She opened her eyes slowly.
"The pain... it’s gone."
To confirm the results, they imdiately ran another examination.
All of the dical equipnt being used had been salvaged by Ivy’s teams.
Long ago, Ivy had assigned Martha the responsibility of organizing trade missions, exchanging food supplies for machinery and technical equipnt.
Martha had exceeded expectations. She led specialized scavenger groups that searched hospitals, abandoned factories, and storage depots.
Entire truckloads of machines had been transported back piece by piece.
Because of that foresight, the base now possessed enough diagnostic equipnt to detect even complex illnesses.
Looking at the humming scanners and blinking monitors, Ivy felt a surge of gratitude. ’If we hadn’t done this... we would never have known about Ember’s condition.’
When the results ca out, everyone leaned forward anxiously.
The tumor had shrunk.
It had not disappeared completely, but its size had reduced drastically.
Relief washed over Ivy like a wave. It was proof that Alana’s ability was working.
She imdiately turned to her. "Continue the treatnt."
Alana nodded without hesitation. "I will."
While this small victory brought celebration to one side of the base, another part of the operation was facing a very different challenge.
Jay stood inside the research wing, staring at the latest reports spread across the tal table.
The full antidote for the zombie virus was nearing its final testing phase. Months of effort, failed trials, and dangerous experints had led them here.
But when the latest results arrived, the atmosphere in the lab turned grim.
They had not created a complete cure.
What they had produced instead was sothing... incomplete.
A pseudo-antidote.
It was called "pseudo" for a reason. When administered to a zombie, it did not restore the body fully, nor did it reverse the infection entirely.
However...
For five minutes, the zombie regained rationality.
Five minutes of awareness.
Five minutes of humanity trapped inside a decaying body.
Though it was not a complete cure, it at least gave the researchers an opportunity to understand what the infected truly experienced.
The pseudo-antidote allowed a brief window of awareness, a fragile mont where the fog inside the zombies’ minds cleared just enough for communication.
To test it properly, the research team began controlled experints using the zombies that had been captured and transported back to the base.
The results were far more enlightening than anyone had expected.
They discovered that transformation into a zombie did not completely erase human consciousness.
It was not like death, nor was it an endless blackout. Instead, awareness flickered irregularly, like a dying candle struggling against the wind.
During most of their wandering, the infected existed in a hazy state, neither fully conscious nor entirely gone.
But whenever they saw a human, sothing twisted violently inside their perception.
Their instincts surged forward, overriding reason, and they began to view the person not as another human being, but as food, delicious, irresistible food.
One restrained zombie, after receiving the pseudo-antidote, trembled as it spoke in a broken voice,
"I... I knew... but I couldn’t stop... everything slled like at."
It was not just one account.
Many of the revived subjects described the sa horrifying sensation.
They were aware at monts, trapped inside their own bodies, watching themselves hunt, unable to resist the overwhelming urge.
The testimonies forced the entire research team to reconsider their understanding of the infection.
The antidote was no longer just a dical goal. It had beco sothing closer to liberation.
While the research continued and Ember underwent repeated treatnts, Ivy turned her attention to sothing else, the upgraded temporal storage.
She wanted to see the changes herself.
The mont she entered, she stopped in her tracks.
Previously, the space had been bright, but now it was radiant.
Sunlight filled the environnt completely, bathing everything in a gentle spring glow.
The air carried a soft warmth, neither hot nor cold, and a faint fragrance like blooming flowers drifted through the breeze.
It felt less like a storage dinsion and more like stepping onto a peaceful island floating beneath a painted sky.
White clouds moved lazily above, and an artificial sun illuminated everything, though the source of the light itself was nowhere to be seen.
’This... is storage?’ Ivy thought, stunned.
She tested the building function.
"I want to construct a structure."
A response imdiately echoed around her, calm and chanical.
[How many floors would you like to build?]
Ivy blinked. "What is the current limit?"
[There is no limit at this ti.]
For a mont, Ivy nearly jumped in surprise and excitent.
But just as quickly, the system added another clarification, and her enthusiasm deflated slightly.
[Only upto 10 floors though.]
Even so, it was still an enormous upgrade compared to before.
Trying to calm herself, she asked, "What about multiplication capacity?"
[Items may now be multiplied up to one hundred and fifty tis.]
Ivy nodded slowly, absorbing the information as she continued exploring. Then she asked, "Are there any new features I should know about?"
[There is a significant change. Previously, living creatures could not be raised within this space.]
Ivy imdiately understood why that mattered. Before, even if fish were stored here, they would never reproduce. They could only be preserved and taken out. Growth had been impossible.
But now...
[You may breed living beings within the temporal storage. Agricultural cultivation is also permitted.]
Ivy’s eyes widened.
"I can grow vegetables here?"
[Confird.]
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