Xu An frowned. Without Zhou Haimei's explanation, Xu An understood the meaning of the conversation.
In this selection competition, women's space for survival was already difficult, and it could be said that every point was crucial.
And it was an indisputable fact that women were naturally weaker than men in terms of strength.
But now the official had issued such a rule, wasn't it just telling all participants openly?
Were people like Xu An and Zhou Haimei, like fat meat that had reached their mouths, able to have their points snatched away at will?
At this moment, many girls were watching the score list with great interest. Seeing that Xu An and Zhou Haimei's expressions were not right, they followed their gaze to the notice board in the corner.
Suddenly, everyone's expressions turned unpleasant.
But no one dared to stand up and express their dissatisfaction.
At the very beginning of the competition, it was stated that all competition rules were to be interpreted by the official. If one felt it was unfair, they could choose to withdraw.
This was also why Xu An remained silent.
They were like fish on a chopping board, with no right to resist.
"It's okay, Xiao An, don't be afraid. Since the official is doing this, then we'll become so strong that no one will dare to have any ideas about us."
Xu An thought the same way, but she didn't have Zhou Haimei's confidence to say it so resolutely.
However, Xu An's expression was enough to explain everything.
But apart from these two sisters, others were not in such good spirits.
Many girls stood there nervously, hesitating.
Xu An glanced at the group of girls indifferently, said nothing, and left with Zhou Haimei.
Xu An's mood was still not high until she returned home. When she got home, she found a note left by Xu Yan.
"I took Gou Dan for a walk, the food is in the pot."
Xu An went to the kitchen. The food was still warm. She served the food.
The springy and chewy noodles, paired with sweet and sour appetizers, instantly relieved Xu An's day's fatigue.
While eating, Xu An did not forget to send a message to Lao Shu, asking about the doctor behind Qin Chuan.
And at this moment, Xu An, who was eating heartily, had no idea what kind of stir her competition with Zhou Xiong that morning had caused in the second layer of the Lighthouse.
While eating, Xu An checked her balance, thinking with a little smugness that as long as the Lighthouse didn't fall, the transaction coins she had would be enough for her and her mother to spend for ten years.
As she was thinking, Xu An put down her bowl, linked to her smart brain, and opened the mall's ordering system, ordering a set of smart brain equipment for her mother.
Xu An had discovered this online mall system in the Lighthouse while surfing the internet before.
As time passed, the various commercial models on the Lighthouse were gradually being built and perfected, which provided convenience for many homebodies who didn't like to go out.
When purchasing, Xu An found that the second generation of smart brains had already been released. Unlike the first generation she was currently using, which required linking every time, the new ones were more convenient.
Not only that, but the mall also had a trade-in system for the first-generation smart brains, which could be depreciated by 50%.
Xu An calculated that her first-generation smart brain had only been bought for less than a year, so she didn't upgrade it, but bought a new one for her mother.
She then placed the order.
Xu An browsed the online mall and found that the items in the mall were not many. If she were to compare them, she had more things in her space.
But there was one thing that caught Xu An's attention, and that was the medical pod.
Xu An knew that there were hospitals on the Lighthouse, but she heard from Zhou Haimei that there was a medical device called a medical pod in the hospitals on the Lighthouse.
Xu An had only seen medical pods in sci-fi movies and had never seen one in real life.
She never expected that she could pre-book a medical pod treatment in the online mall.
However, since they were not sick at the moment, Xu An temporarily suppressed her curiosity.
When Xu Yan returned with Gou Dan, she saw Xu An practicing boxing.
Crystal beads of sweat slid down Xu An's fair shoulders and shoulder blades, which were clearly defined by her muscles. Xu An was wearing a sports vest and boxing gloves, facing the modified sandbag in front of her, dodging and training by herself.
It wasn't until half an hour later, when Xu Yan held a glass of water and offered it to Xu An, that she realized her mother had returned.
"Mom."
"Drink some water first. How was the competition today?" Xu Yan didn't know her daughter's thoughts and thought she was just going to participate in a competition to relax.
Little did she know that Xu An was actually aiming for those last mercenary spots.
"It was okay, I won them all." Xu An never spoke with certainty. Her "okay" meant very good.
Xu Yan naturally understood her daughter and smiled.
"Don't train too hard. It's okay if you lose, just consider it exercise."
Xu Yan knew that Xu An had always been competitive since she was young, and she was afraid that Xu An was insisting on winning these competitions out of competitiveness.
"By the way, do you know that a family moved in next door to us?"
Xu An drank the water her mother handed her and replied, "I know, what's wrong?"
"I always feel that young man is strange. Why does he wear a hooded jacket everywhere? Is his face not presentable? But the young man is quite warm-hearted."
"What's wrong?"
"Just now, downstairs, Gou Dan ran too fast, and I almost fell. It was that young man who caught me quickly. If it weren't for him, I would have had a really bad fall today."
"However, Nannan, is that young man, like you all, a martial artist? I didn't even see the other person, and he had already appeared behind me and supported me."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu An patted Gou Dan's head, her face full of reprimand.
"Run slower next time, what if Grandma falls! No canned food for three days!"
Hearing this, Gou Dan let out a whine. It had been lying lazily on the ground, but it suddenly stood up. The half-human-high Gou Dan kept rubbing its head against Xu An's small leg, whining and acting spoiled.
Xu An didn't care about its habit of acting spoiled when it made a mistake. Punishment was punishment, and she really collected all of Gou Dan's canned food from the refrigerator into her space.
Seeing that her mother was serious, Gou Dan squeezed out a few tears from its eyes with a wronged look, which made Xu Yan laugh.
Xu An deliberately diverted her mother's attention. Her thoughts were completely different from Xu Yan's. She felt that this man might be coming for them.
That vigilance, honed from living in the apocalypse for years, made her immediately suspicious of the man.
If he hadn't been waiting deliberately, how could he have been so coincidentally there to support Xu Yan?
Xu An never believed in coincidences.
But Xu Yan said that the man in the hooded jacket had not appeared from the beginning; he only appeared when she was about to fall.
Xu An had only one guess, and that was that this man was stalking them.
Them, her and her mother.