Chapter 413: The Role of Abilities
Back on solid ground, Zhou He, pale-faced, took a deep breath and wobbled as he stood—looking quite pitiful.
“Not having your feet on the ground just doesn’t feel safe,” he said, drinking some water to recover.
Lu Weiyi scouted the forest nearby. Aside from mutated plants and animals, there were no signs of other life. Li Zhuang brought Zheng Jun along to teach him how to use earth abilities to detect underground mineral resources.
“Nothing,” Li Zhuang said—no signs of coal.
Ning Yuan and Lu Weiyi followed the map, driving northwest. Along the way, Li Zhuang constantly used his powers to scan the ground. Whenever they encountered mutated animals, the team leaders were sent to deal with them.
The mutated beasts were big and fierce. Lu Weiyi picked a few smaller ones to store in his space so they could later be released on North Island to breed. The large ones were ordered to be hunted—for future meat supplies.
What could’ve been a simple escape mission had turned into a life-or-death battle for the A-rank ability users. With Li Zhuang taking on extra responsibility, Antonio and Ning Yuan felt like they were on vacation.
“I finally feel the benefits of being high-ranked. Now I can see the reward for all that hard work in the past,” Ning Yuan said while picking elm seeds from a tree. He pointed to some flower buds the size of a child’s fist not far away.
“See that? That’s probably locust flowers. Brother Xi said you can steam them into buns—super tasty.”
Antonio was a native foreigner and had naturally never eaten such things. In the past, there had been no time to enjoy these little indulgences. Now that the chance arose, he immediately stepped forward and asked Dean if he wanted to try some.
Young Dean was practically a human whirlwind these days. Their team had a harmonious dynamic with little scheming or backstabbing, and he spent all day hanging out with Zhuang Aiyi, a six-year-old, so his mental maturity hadn’t grown much. He immediately shouted that he wanted some.
Antonio paused mid-step and turned to ask Ning Yuan, “Can I just dig it up, roots and all?”
“…Of course,” Ning Yuan replied, feeling a bit silly for cutting branches with a knife.
He looked back at Li Zhuang in the distance, who was supervising a few people as they fought a mutant wild boar. Watching them shed blood in battle, he suddenly felt that they might have brought too few earth-type ability users. Digging like this was way more efficient with them.
Lu Weiyi was using his abilities to scan the surrounding area to prevent surprise attacks from mutant animals. He occasionally sneaked some small animals into his space. It took over half an hour before the wild boar was finally taken down.
Two of the four ability users were completely exhausted. Zheng Jun had the shortest time since his level-up and, even though he gave it his all, wasn’t as adept at using his power. He was pale from both overuse of his abilities and blood loss, realizing on the first day that this mission would not be easy.
Dean quickly got to work healing them, and once the injuries were treated, the group swiftly got into the vehicle. But Li Zhuang grinned at the four freshly healed teammates and said, “You guys can run after the car with me.”
“Wha… what do you mean?” Li Qing asked.
“It means… running.”
Ning Yuan whistled as he got into the driver’s seat. “Then we’ll be off first. Good luck to you all.”
“Stay within 500 meters. If a herd of animals attacks and you’re too far, I won’t be able to protect you,” Lu Weiyi warned. Ning Yuan immediately stepped on the gas and drove off.
Dean stuck his head out the window and saw Li Zhuang say a few words to the group, after which they all gritted their teeth and began sprinting after the vehicle.
“Is this actually useful?” Dean, who had never trained like this, asked curiously.
“It is,” Antonio explained. “Li is having them channel their abilities into their legs to both accelerate exhaustion and get used to the flow of power through their bodies. At higher levels, you can reinforce specific body parts based on your ability type.” He then turned to Dean and asked seriously, “Dean, can healing abilities reinforce parts of the body?”
Dean looked blank for a moment and shook his head. “I don’t know. You can use it locally to heal, though.”
Both of them turned to Lu Weiyi for an answer.
Lu Weiyi shook his head. “Not sure, never heard of it.” As he spoke, he pulled out a small notebook. All three others in the car went pale when they saw it. In a calm tone, he said, “We can test it.”
He looked at Dean. “It’s all yours.”
Dean gave Antonio a resentful look. Antonio clasped his hands together as if begging for forgiveness.
Ning Yuan, watching in the rearview mirror, grinned wickedly and gave Dean a “good luck” look.
At first, five people were running behind them. But as time passed, only four remained. As for Li Zhuang…
He was riding a four-meter-tall leopard. The tall, long-legged beast leapt several meters at a time, thrashing around trying to throw him off, but with Li Zhuang’s ability reinforcing him, he didn’t budge an inch.
The four runners ahead were being chased by the man and his leopard and were barely able to avoid being kicked. They didn’t dare slow down and had to keep dodging nonstop.
Even Antonio commented on Li Zhuang’s twisted sense of humor.
“Let’s worry about ourselves,” Ning Yuan said, flooring the gas pedal. Yet the gap between them was still narrowing.
In less than ten minutes, the four runners had already overtaken the car and were sprinting ahead. Li Qing turned and shouted back at them:
“Hurry up—!”
The road was bumpy, and the car couldn’t go much faster. So Ning Yuan veered off onto another path, leaving Li Zhuang and his leopard to chase after the four while they took it easy in the back.
The leopard-chasing game lasted until nightfall. By then, Li Zhuang had located a coal-rich mountain range. He casually left the leopard to the four to kill and strolled off to mine coal himself.
“Li Yan, to the left!”
“Zheng Jun, earth shield!”
“Don’t you think my S-level powers are being totally wasted? It’s either drilling for oil or digging for coal!”
“Machete, assist!”
“Damn it, could you aim your fireball better?!”
“Argh… argh…”
Less than a kilometer apart, it was like two completely different worlds. On one side, there were the roars of the leopard and four people fighting desperately. On the other, there was Li Zhuang’s complaining voice and three others debating what sauce to use with their meat at dinner.
The difference was so stark it made people want to cry.
“Aren’t powers meant to serve people? So who cares what we use them for—as long as they’re useful, that’s what matters,” Lu Weiyi said nonchalantly. He was using his plant ability to extend a small green branch underground, following Li Zhuang’s powers to locate minerals while also monitoring the surrounding area.
Ning Yuan was roasting wild boar leg, sniffing it now and then. He frowned and asked Antonio, “Is it too gamey? Boar meat can smell pretty strong.”
“Maybe add some ginger. I’ve seen Zhuang do that before,” Antonio offered helpfully, slicing the meat paper-thin with a sharp blade.
“Maybe just use more BBQ seasoning,” Dean suggested.
“Antonio, can you handle training those four tonight?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“Sure—if someone promises to protect my lover,” Antonio replied, casting a meaningful look at Lu Weiyi.
Lu Weiyi made an “OK” gesture at him. Just then, the ground nearby suddenly collapsed with a loud rumble. The noise startled the distant leopard, and before a winner could be decided, it fled in fear.
“What a pity,” Li Zhuang sighed. Watching the huge creature’s light and silent movement as it ran, he murmured, “I still don’t know if leopard meat tastes any good.”
Dean didn’t need to be told—he grabbed the crystal cores from Lu Weiyi and quickly ran toward the injured group to help heal their wounds. Antonio followed closely behind him.
Ning Yuan put down the meat he was grilling and ran toward the collapsed area. When he saw the exposed black coal and the bottomless pit, he gave Li Zhuang a complicated look. “You really found coal?”
Li Zhuang couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or sarcasm and didn’t know how to respond.
“You don’t want to stay warm in the winter?” Lu Weiyi threatened. “Ice maker?”
“Pfft.” Li Zhuang was the first to laugh.
Ning Yuan’s face darkened like charcoal.
“Why hurt each other when we’re all equally bad?” Li Zhuang shook his head at Ning Yuan. “Your meat’s about to burn.”
Ning Yuan hurried over to flip the meat. Antonio returned with the four exhausted people, and Dean buzzed around them like a diligent little bee, adding crystal cores for recovery.
Lu Weiyi had Antonio and Ning Yuan stay alert and guard the area. He then followed the coal vein from the collapse site, collecting all the coal within the underground range Li Zhuang had scanned before returning.
“We’d better fill this place in. If someone finds this pit, they’ll know exactly what happened,” Ning Yuan said as he looked at the several-hundred-meter-long trench. “Now that earth-type ability users can dig so easily, if any local factions take over this area, we might not get another chance.”
Li Zhuang nodded in agreement and started filling the pit with earth from a nearby hillside.
Zheng Jun watched him shift underground layers without disturbing the surface, his eyes full of envy.
“Is this the joy of being high-level?” Li Qing asked.
“Ha,” Dean chuckled, remembering all the odd jobs their team had done. Then he quickly glanced around to make sure Lu Weiyi wasn’t nearby before whispering, “You thinking of using it for a boiler?”
Li Qing gave an embarrassed grin—it did sound a little low-brow.
“Whether it’s running a boiler or making a charger, it’s all to help you refine your control over your abilities,” Ning Yuan explained, fearing they might misunderstand and start disobeying orders. “As you level up, your abilities grow stronger. In battle, if you run out of power, recharging with crystal cores takes time—which could cost your life. That’s why, at this level, we emphasize precision and try to avoid full depletion.”
“Xu Sa’s lightning power used to just be one blast. He couldn’t even control the strength and sometimes electrocuted himself. After frying tons of electronic devices, now he can control the wattage precisely,” Ning Yuan added with a shrug.
“I thought high-level ability users never run out of power,” Li Yan said, glancing at Lu Weiyi. “I’ve never seen him absorb crystal cores.”
