Chapter 456: Growth & Death
Despite wearing shades under the awning, obviously just to look cool, Lu Weiyi paid no mind — his attention stayed locked on Zhuang Mingxu’s group, fearing any unexpected developments.
“Why aren’t you joining them?” Xu Yi spat sunflower husks all around—a display of utter disregard.
“Too much trouble,” Lu Weiyi replied, grabbing a few seeds from Xu Yi and glancing at Xu Sa.
Noticing his gaze, Xu Sa smiled and took the rest of Xu Yi’s seeds, dividing them equally with Liu Rui.
In a good mood, Xu Yi didn’t mind and even pulled more snacks from his bag, laying them all out—like a king treating his guests. “Help yourselves.”
Xu Sa and Lu Weiyi ignored his showmanship, lounging casually in their identical base-style posture.
They sat in a high section among base leaders—nobody approached them. Compared to the clustered crowds below, it felt luxuriously relaxed.
“Hey, someone’s sparring down there,” Xu Yi suddenly said.
“Huh? Who… is it? Yu Mengchu?” Xu Sa leaned forward and asked Lu Weiyi.
The four looked down to see three people stepping onto the sparring stage. The one in the center was Yu Mengchu, standing poised and confident.
“She’s doing a spar?” Xu Sa looked back at Lu Weiyi.
Yu Mengchu, a fire-type ability user, was S?rank and remarkably powerful—though not quite up to Liu Rui’s level, she was known across other bases.
When they had just arrived, Lu Weiyi specifically glanced at the members of the Half Moon Bay Base. At that time, she was still chatting and laughing with Lu Xiao and a group of fire-type ability users.
“Are they about to crush some weaklings?” Xu Yi said enthusiastically, standing up and looking around, pointing toward the entrance. “There’s a betting table over there. Want to play a round?”
All three of them shook their heads. Lu Weiyi wasn’t interested in that sort of thing, and both Xu Sa and Liu Rui were genuinely broke.
“I’ll lend you some,” Xu Yi said confidently, patting his chest and turning to Xu Sa.
“You mean one of those ‘if we win, it’s mine; if we lose, it’s your debt’ kind of loans?”
Xu Yi gave him a disdainful look. Since no one else seemed willing to gamble with him, he could only nod and pull Xu Sa along toward the betting table.
Over there, a dedicated host was already holding a microphone and introducing the competitors. Two A-rank fire-type ability users were about to spar, with Yu Mengchu acting as referee to prevent injuries to bystanders.
Nowadays, innovative ability techniques were only seen at high ranks. Low-level users simply couldn’t sustain the energy needed for new attack methods. The two down below were still using basic fireballs, fire dragons, and fire walls—focusing on offense while neglecting defense. That might work against mindless zombies, but when facing opponents with conscious tactics, their weaknesses were immediately exposed.
The duel didn’t even last a full round. Those who had been watching quickly lost interest and turned back to whatever they were doing.
Lu Weiyi glanced a couple of times and lost interest too. He turned to Liu Rui and asked, “Have you reached the mid-stage yet?”
“Still… not quite,” Liu Rui replied, his lack of experience making everything seem fascinating. He munched on snacks while staring intently at the sparring match below, like watching an engaging performance.
In the past two years, their base had developed a lot of support machinery, and expeditions often included weapon assistance. They no longer relied solely on ability-based combat. Lu Weiyi hadn’t paid much attention to dueling techniques in a while and wasn’t sure if new offensive or defensive tactics had emerged as powers advanced.
Before the two who went to bet returned, the battle below was already wrapping up.
“I thought Yu Mengchu was going to fight. If I’d known it was someone else, I wouldn’t have wasted the energy running over. Totally pointless,” Xu Yi grumbled as he returned, folding his arms and flopping onto a bench. “Are we going to be stuck here all day? We’d be better off shopping or taking a nap.”
“You still dare go shopping?” Lu Weiyi shared the sentiment—it was boring.
“Of course! I hope someone bold enough tries to kidnap me again,” Xu Yi said excitedly, looking completely unhinged.
He clapped his hands. “Then I could scam another twenty thousand crystal cores!”
Lu Weiyi was about to insult him for daydreaming when Xu Yi added smoothly, “I’ll split it with you fifty-fifty.”
“…”
The words at the tip of Lu Weiyi’s tongue were swallowed back down.
“You two might as well turn to extortion—it’d be faster,” Xu Sa mocked.
Xu Yi immediately turned to look at Lu Weiyi, his eyes sparkling, clearly inspired by the idea of making money.
He didn’t notice that members of nearby teams had subtly turned their attention toward them, but Lu Weiyi definitely did. If someone misunderstood this conversation, rumors could easily spiral out of control.
“Do you know how many crystal cores Half Moon Bay Base earns in a single quarter?” Lu Weiyi asked.
Xu Yi looked confused and shook his head.
“Since spring this year, we’ve hired over 10,000 earth-type ability users. We pay out over 80,000 crystal cores in wages every day. All of them have been working on our base’s construction for more than two months now,” Lu Weiyi said calmly, “So you do the math—how much does that cost?”
Before Xu Yi could reply, Lu Weiyi continued, “That twenty thousand you got for being kidnapped was just a gesture—out of unity in our fight against zombies. No one really cared about that amount. Extortion? I’d be embarrassed to even say the word.”
The way he casually dropped those numbers was impactful. After all, many people without abilities could hardly save enough cores to upgrade. Those overhearing this conversation nearby couldn’t help showing awkward, envious expressions.
“Tch. It’s not like I’m holding that many cores myself,” Xu Yi muttered. He understood that private individuals could never possess such a huge sum.
Lu Weiyi didn’t want to hear him flaunt wealth in public—especially when he was useless in combat. He suddenly turned to Xu Yi. “You know, I think your ability might have another development path.”
The smile on Xu Yi’s face slowly faded. On the other side, Xu Sa quickly grabbed Liu Rui and said, “I see a group of lightning users exchanging notes over there. I’ll go chat with them.”
“I…” Xu Yi looked toward the gathering of healers, but Lu Weiyi shoved him back into his seat. Xu Yi pulled a pitiful face and said, “I just got kidnapped. My body and mind are traumatized. Can’t you give me a break to recover?”
“I was going to, but you’re just too…” Lu Weiyi didn’t even know how to describe it.
Smoothly, he pulled a small notebook from his storage space—the same one infamous among all his teammates—and laid it on the table. He crooked his finger at Xu Yi and whispered, “Yesterday, I came up with a few undetectable killing methods based on healing-type ability traits…”
These so-called “undetectable” methods actually took advantage of how healing abilities worked. Unlike other powers, which were inherently aggressive, healing was always seen as supportive. No one expected a healer to protect themselves with their ability.
Most abilities would be instinctively rejected when entering another person’s body, but healing powers felt gentle and harmless. That made people used to them lower their guard—making sneak attacks even easier.
“Ever since your power leveled up, you and Dean have focused on medical applications. You’re familiar with the human body’s basic structure by now, right?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“No problem there,” Xu Yi replied seriously, now fully engaged.
“My thinking is this: if healing abilities can repair damaged tissue, nerves, or bones—what happens if the healing goes too far?” Lu Weiyi looked at him with a probing gaze. “Like… over-repairing?”
Xu Yi frowned, not quite following.
“Let me give a simple example. Say an injured leg nerve is healed back to normal. But what if… the healer keeps going? What if the normal nerve gets stimulated and starts growing abnormally?”
“Excessive cardiovascular growth causing blockages… neural overgrowth altering brain tissue… bone overgrowth leading to deformities…”
Lu Weiyi spoke in a soft, calm voice. As he described the scenarios, vivid images flashed through Xu Yi’s mind. He swallowed hard and turned to look at Lu Weiyi.
“…Is… is that even possible?”
“I was just giving an example—leaving you with a way to protect yourself.”
Lu Weiyi closed his notebook with detached indifference. “As for whether it will work, that’s up to you.”
“It looks like a water-type ability user is up next,” Lu Weiyi said, pointing toward the arena.
“…Yeah, water-type,” Xu Yi replied absentmindedly, but his thoughts were still on the scenario just mentioned.
Or rather, it shouldn’t even be called a “possibility.” It was fully feasible. After advancing to A-level, he could already regenerate entire organs. Overstimulating or overgrowing a specific area would be a piece of cake.
He had never considered it before because, in his mind, healers were always the ones who needed protection. That line of thinking had completely limited his imagination.
But now, after Lu Weiyi’s casual mention, it was like a door to a new world had swung open for Xu Yi.
“I’m telling you this so you can defend yourself. If you use it for something else…” Lu Weiyi glanced sideways at him. He didn’t say anything more—but the implication was clear.
“I know where the line is.”
“Heh, you’d better.”
As he warned Xu Yi of this potential, Lu Weiyi had already prepared for the possibility that Xu Yi might use it for other purposes—and naturally, he had countermeasures in mind.
“Self-preservation is a good habit,” he said, patting Xu Yi on the shoulder before walking off toward Zhuang Mingxu.
Xu Yi stood frozen for a moment before realizing what had just been said. He stared after Lu Weiyi’s back, gritting his teeth. Li Zhuang, who had been quietly keeping an eye on things, noticed and shot him a questioning look.
Xu Yi rolled his eyes at him and looked the other way.
The difference between ability users was stark—even among those of the same level, mastery could vary widely. But one thing was constant: in every base, ability users were at the top, treated with respect and admiration.
Even in this place crowded with powerful individuals, many still acted high and mighty. Competitions easily turned aggressive, and what were meant to be friendly sparring matches often took a darker turn.
The leader of the Capital base seemed to understand this well and arranged for several powerful and capable ability users to serve as safety officers. Even healing-type users were on standby.
