Chapter 419: Ability Out of Control
It looked like he was recording some sudden inspiration. No one in the group disturbed him. Even the tone of their conversations had dropped a few notches.
In fact, Lu Weiyi was passing notes to Zhuang Mingxu—just like students in school. Only now, the note was an entire notebook, with both of their handwriting on it.
He told Zhuang Mingxu about the discoveries they made this time and discussed arrangements for the newcomers. In the end, they didn’t reach a conclusion—only agreeing on one thing: keep it confidential for now.
From a distance came Ning Yuan’s loud voice reminding Li Qing and the others to stay alert, while the nearby trucks echoed with thunderous snores. Around Lu Weiyi, it felt like two completely different worlds.
The words on the paper gradually shifted from serious business… to sweet nothings.
Zhuang Mingxu’s firm handwriting wrote:
“I miss you very much.”
Lu Weiyi was in the middle of writing when, before he received a response, Li Zhuang—who had been sleeping nearby—suddenly seemed to fall into a nightmare. His forehead was sweating, his breathing became erratic, and he began to struggle. Unconsciously, his powers leaked out, causing the ground to distort. The parked vehicles began to jolt, waking everyone inside.
Antonio, carrying Dean in his arms, was the first to jump down and asked alertly, “Was that an earthquake?”
“No,” Lu Weiyi replied immediately, and shouted, “Li Zhuang!”
By now, the earth had formed a wall encircling Li Zhuang, enclosing him completely. Anyone who tried to approach was instantly attacked.
The rest of the team quickly got off the vehicles, confused by what they were seeing and unsure of what was happening.
“Is he… having a nightmare?” Antonio asked, puzzled.
“Seems like it. Take the others and fall back,” Lu Weiyi said. As he stepped forward, a spike of earth as thick as a man suddenly curled up like a scimitar and shot toward him.
Antonio moved to help, but the moment his ability stirred, the earthen spike turned on him, forcing him to defend himself instead.
“Everyone fall back!” Lu Weiyi commanded. With an S-class ability user losing control, the ground around Li Zhuang began to shake violently. It caved in and then suddenly erupted upward, with cracks spreading wider like a full-blown earthquake.
“Be careful!” Antonio warned as he retreated toward where Ning Yuan was stationed with the others.
“Li Zhuang! Li Zhuang—!” Lu Weiyi kept calling his name, hoping to wake him, but the surging earth energy forced him to retreat farther and farther—until they were separated by hundreds of meters.
Any use of his mental power was instantly sensed and countered by Li Zhuang’s ability, launching an immediate counterattack.
Lu Weiyi deeply regretted training him to guard against mental abilities—now it had completely backfired.
Seeing Li Zhuang almost bury him alive, Lu Weiyi quickly spread his spiritual power in all directions, drawing away the attacks, and at the same time commanded Little Green Vine to strike at him.
But Li Zhuang’s instincts were razor-sharp. The moment anything moved, he sensed danger. As the vine neared, a massive two-meter-high earthen fist formed and came crashing down toward Lu Weiyi.
“What the hell, Old Li?!” Ning Yuan shouted in the distance.
Lu Weiyi condensed his spiritual power, coating his arm in SS-level ability. As the giant fist neared, he struck it head-on.
The impact sent his hair flying, and with a deafening boom, the cloud of dust completely obscured him.
Ning Yuan instantly launched an attack on Li Zhuang. With clenched fists, Li Zhuang brought his arms together in front of his chest, and two more enormous fists materialized in mid-air like they were being remotely controlled.
The first one lunged forward. Ning Yuan summoned an ice wall to block, but it shattered instantly under the force. Dodging just in time, he cursed, “You’ve f**king lost it!”
Suddenly, something wrapped around Ning Yuan’s waist and flung him aside. He saw Lu Weiyi, now covered in dirt and grime, rush forward again and meet the next attack with another punch.
He shattered that one too. As a third fist came, Lu Weiyi again broke it cleanly.
As the two giant fists crumbled, four more appeared in mid-air. But Lu Weiyi was unfazed, responding as lightly as ever. Every single one of his punches struck home with precision, breaking each of Li Zhuang’s attacks.
The surrounding terrain stopped shifting—Li Zhuang had focused all his ability on battling Lu Weiyi.
Ning Yuan noticed that Li Zhuang seemed to be losing the upper hand. But even though the battle wasn’t directed at him, the sheer force of the energy clashing in the air was affecting him. So he backed off and joined Antonio and the others who were now just watching.
Nearby trees were shattered into splinters by the energy blasts, fragments flying through the air. The smell of crushed leaves and sap hung thickly, and small animals scurried away in panic.
“So this is what SS-level ability looks like?” Antonio stared intensely at the scene. “Do you think I stand a chance against Lu in a fight?”
“Take a guess,” Ning Yuan replied.
“I don’t think metal fists would shatter,” Antonio said.
Ning Yuan considered it. It wasn’t realistic to form huge metal structures externally—covering one’s arms was more likely. Recalling the energy that had struck him earlier, he looked at Antonio with pity.
“I think your arm might explode.”
“Into shrapnel,” he said, nodding toward the dirt fragments flying everywhere.
Antonio shrugged. “Doesn’t look like Li is winning.”
“The thing is, Lu Weiyi doesn’t even know hand-to-hand combat. He’s just brute-forcing with ability. But Li Zhuang is skilled in close combat,” Ning Yuan said, clearly not optimistic.
“But you forgot—Li’s ability level limits him. Right now, he can only form those giant fists, and he doesn’t seem able to control too many at once,” Antonio pointed out.
As he finished speaking, a Little Green Vine suddenly lashed Li Zhuang from an unknown direction.
“F**k!” Li Zhuang cursed, eyes snapping open. His sharp gaze followed the direction of the vine. At the same time, a massive hand was already forming above his head.
Lu Weiyi flicked his wrist again, and the vine cracked against Li Zhuang’s body with a loud smack.
“What the hell is going on with you two? Can’t you just talk it out instead of fighting like this?” Ning Yuan rushed over, relieved to see Li Zhuang awake.
“You awake now?” Lu Weiyi said coldly.
The massive hand above Li Zhuang disintegrated into dust and fell to the ground. Rubbing his temples, he stepped forward—only to trip and fall straight into the ground.
Zheng Jun quickly used his earth ability to seal the cracked ground and helped pull Li Zhuang out of the hole, glancing uncertainly between him and Lu Weiyi.
“We’re all teammates here. Whatever it is, talk it out,” Li Qing said, still nursing her injuries as she stepped between them to mediate.
“He had a nightmare and lost control of his ability,” Lu Weiyi explained lightly, then asked, “What did you dream about? I called your name for ages.”
Li Zhuang rubbed his temples, feeling like his head was about to explode. Ever since his ability level had increased, he hadn’t experienced this kind of debilitating headache from overexertion in a long time.
“Give me a crystal core,” he said, reaching his hand toward Lu Weiyi.
Lu Weiyi quickly tossed him two packs. After absorbing them, Li Zhuang’s condition visibly improved.
“I dreamed about things from the past,” Li Zhuang answered his earlier question, then glanced at Lu Weiyi and teased, “Did our little young master get hurt?”
“Of course not,” Lu Weiyi raised his chin proudly, absorbing his own crystal cores while showing nothing on his face. But inwardly, he resolved that he needed to start learning close combat when they got back.
“Anything happening at the base? Have you been in contact with them?” Li Zhuang asked Antonio.
“Spoke to them yesterday. Everything’s fine,” Antonio waved it off, then looked at him suspiciously. “Anyone in particular you’re asking about?”
Li Zhuang ignored him and turned to Lu Weiyi. “When are we heading back?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Lu Weiyi replied, watching him. “Why? Are you in a rush?”
“…It’s fine.” One day shouldn’t make that much difference, Li Zhuang thought.
Lu Weiyi motioned for everyone to go back to sleep and resumed his night watch. But Li Zhuang stayed sitting nearby, not resting again.
“If you’re in a hurry, we can leave at first light. We’ve already harvested quite a bit.” They had mined two sizable coal veins—enough to last the base two to three years.
Li Zhuang absentmindedly fiddled with a grass blade he’d picked up from the ground. After a long pause, he said, “No rush. Since we’ve already burned the fuel, might as well bring more back.”
Lu Weiyi didn’t say anything more.
The next day, the group continued on. Li Zhuang didn’t show anything outwardly, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. While scouting a mine alone, he actually got pecked by a mutated bird—on the face, no less.
Dean stared at the deep, exposed wound on his cheek, shocked. He’d seen a lot of people injured in the team before, but this was the first time he’d seen Li Zhuang hurt like this. “What happened? It nearly got your eye.”
Dean asked anxiously while covering the wound with healing energy, stimulating cell regeneration.
“Wasn’t paying attention,” Li Zhuang said, trying to chuckle, but Dean stopped him.
“Careful, or it’ll heal unevenly,” Dean muttered. “Luckily, I’m already an expert cosmetic surgeon.”
Lu Weiyi glanced over and issued a command. “Everyone take a break. After lunch, we’re heading back to the base.”
Li Zhuang looked up at him, opened his mouth, then let out a light laugh and said nothing.
There was still a team waiting at the Capital base for pickup. After some thought, Lu Weiyi decided to have Li Zhuang take the others back to base directly, while he and Antonio would escort Ning Yuan to the Capital to pick them up.
“You’re not heading back yourself?” Li Zhuang asked.
“There might be a lot of supplies over there I need to retrieve,” Lu Weiyi said, then stared at him for a moment, connecting the dots from everything that had happened recently. He asked in disbelief, “Don’t tell me… you’re worried about Xu Yi?”
Li Zhuang didn’t deny it. Seeing Lu Weiyi’s surprised expression, he clicked his tongue and said, “I dreamed that he died.”
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and added in a quiet voice, “Blew apart into chunks.”
“There was no one around him.”
Before, he hadn’t known Xu Yi was worried about leveling up. But after finding out, he kept seeing the image of him curling up alone in a locked room before they left—like a helpless kitten unsure of who to trust.
