The Interdimensional Reseller – CH118

Chapter 118: The Rise of Ability-users

“Miss Shen from the capital, the research results are in. The ingredients of the elixirs match almost exactly with the medicinal compounds previously extracted from Chu Anzhi’s blood.”

Shen Yutong frowned. “There are only three elixirs. We probably need to keep one for research. Will the remaining two be enough to save everyone?”

“They should be. The detox elixirs are highly effective. We’ve already extracted a small amount from Chu Anzhi’s blood, and it’s helped many.”

Shen Yutong nodded in relief. “That’s good.”

“Miss, the elixirs are rather special. Some ingredients couldn’t be analyzed. They may be rare herbal components. Replicating them won’t be easy.”

Shen Yuxing nodded. “I know. Let’s focus on saving people first.”

The difficulty in replicating the elixirs didn’t surprise Shen Yutong. One of the reasons traditional Chinese medicine declined was due to the disappearance of many medicinal herbs.

“Miss, should we investigate this further?”

Shen Yutong shook her head. “Forget it. Recently, ability-users have been appearing one after another. The Shen family should shift its attention to recruiting ability-users.”

As one of the Five Great Families of the Imperial Capital, the Shen family held significant influence in the military.
The sudden emergence of many ability-users made Shen Yutong feel a strong sense of crisis.
Online, many people were advocating for ability-users to become the dominant force of the new era.

Some of these people did indeed possess bizarre abilities. If ability-users could continue to grow stronger, then the country’s upper powers might face a major reshuffling.

The government had already established a special task force for ability-users.
After undergoing training, many ability-users were beginning to rise rapidly.

A doctor dissolved two elixirs into water, divided it into more than ten portions, and administered them to several poisoned individuals. After taking the medicine, the poison in their bodies rapidly faded, and they gradually returned to normal.

In the hospital room, several doctors watched this unfold, trembling with excitement.
“It’s truly miraculous. What kind of detox elixir is this? Its effects are unbelievable!”
“This elixir clearly works for more than just scorpion venom. If only we knew the formula…”

Some ingredients couldn’t be identified, and replicating it would be no easy task. The doctors in the ward buzzed with heated discussion, and the experts present were visibly excited.

The doctors who had originally treated Chu Anzhi didn’t look pleased.

Previously, when Chu Anzhi recovered, the credit had been given to the hospital staff. The doctors involved in his treatment were celebrated as heroes, and many regarded them as saviors.

Now that the elixir’s effectiveness had been confirmed, their former “achievement” looked like a joke. But with everyone immersed in amazement over the miraculous medicine, none of the other doctors paid them any mind.

At that moment, a group of people entered the ward.

“Big sister, thank you,” Shen Jun said sincerely.

Shen Yutong looked at Shen Jun and shook her head, replying, “You were too careless. Fortunately, this time it turned out okay.”

Shen Jun gave a sheepish smile. “Yeah, luckily.”

Shen Yutong took a deep breath and said, “That ancient tomb is really bizarre. And you guys—once you saw the scorpions, why didn’t you get out sooner?”

Shen Jun gave a bitter smile. “We seemed to fall into some kind of illusion at the time.”

Shen Yutong frowned and said, “The location of that tomb is very unusual. It must’ve been chosen by a powerful feng shui master. Whoever’s buried inside definitely wasn’t ordinary.”

Shen Jun nodded. “Before us, two other groups had already entered the tomb. One group blasted it open with explosives, and the other took the spirit stone.”

Shen Yutong asked, a bit puzzled, “Are you sure the spirit stone was taken? Couldn’t it have been absorbed by the scorpions?”

Shen Jun narrowed his eyes. “We detected a special energy fluctuation from the scorpions. That energy suddenly disappeared a few days ago. It’s likely the spirit stone was taken then, which triggered the scorpions to turn on each other.”

Shen Yutong frowned. “Someone who can quietly steal the spirit stone must be a formidable figure.”

Shen Jun nodded. “These days, all kinds of ability-users are popping up—it’s a real headache.”

“The police caught one recently,” he added. “This ability-user could swap the positions of two objects. He set his sights on a piece of jewelry in a store display, and used his ability to switch a pebble with the gem. It was the first time we’d seen a theft like that—completely untraceable. He committed over ten similar crimes before finally making a mistake.”

“One store had wisely installed a micro-signal transmitter in their jewelry. After the piece disappeared, they tracked the signal and found the guy—along with over a dozen priceless items in his home.”

“Luckily that shop owner was cautious, or who knows how long he would’ve gotten away with it.”

“Ability-users committing crimes are really difficult to deal with. Even the authorities are overwhelmed right now.”

*

In the Capital, at the Li Family residence.

“How’s it going, Xiao Ya?” Riqingyang asked.

Li Ya shook her head, a little disappointed. “The online shop still hasn’t reopened.”

Riqingyang frowned. “Still? It’s been closed for days.”

“They say they’re out of stock, and the reopening date is unknown. Honestly… it might never open again.”

Riqingyang looked regretful. “If I’d known, I would’ve bought more of those wooden carvings.”

Mo Ya nodded. “Yeah…”

A few days ago, a spiritual master came to their home and saw the wooden carvings. He instantly took a liking to them, saying they were perfect materials for making magical artifacts. High-quality spiritual artifacts are incredibly rare and highly sought after by the wealthy.

Their family already had a few on display, but after hearing the master praise the carvings so highly, Riqingyang gave them all to him. Elder Li had planned to buy more, but to their surprise, the online shop had closed.

Li Ya said, “Some online customers left reviews saying the carvings helped calm the mind, relieve anxiety, and even ward off evil. That made them very popular.”

“Lately, with the rise in ability-users, things like antiques, jade, and century-old spiritual herbs have skyrocketed in price. Even those wood carvings, by association, are now considered mystical items. That probably explains why they sold out.”

Elder Li shook his head. “Idiots! If they knew it was good stuff, they should’ve kept quiet! That way, we could’ve quietly made a fortune. But now the shop’s closed, and I bet the owner’s already made enough money and won’t reopen anytime soon.”

“These clueless people…”

Li Ya shook her head. “Grandpa, spiritual masters have been super active lately.”

Elder Li nodded. “Yes, apparently, a unique substance has been detected in the air. It’s believed to be responsible for the sudden surge in ability-users. Government agencies are researching how to utilize this substance.”

“The human body reacts differently depending on the person. Those who can adapt to it become ability-users.”

“In the past few days, ability-users have been emerging nonstop, and many spiritual masters are getting anxious.”

“These spiritual masters have long had extraordinary abilities, and many wealthy families secretly hire them as consultants. Famous masters can charge millions for a single service.”

“But now, the rise of ability-users is threatening their status.”

“Unlike the intangible abilities of spiritual masters, ability-users have real, visible powers. When ability-users first started appearing, the authorities kept it under wraps to avoid panic and conducted secret research. But now, there are too many to hide.”

“Some careful ability-users are still keeping their powers secret—but many feel like they’re Superman and can’t wait to show off to the world.”

Li Ya frowned. “It seems like Jin Family’s Jin Jie has ability-users her powers.”

Jin Jie was a friend of Li Ya’s. She was the daughter of Jin Family’s original wife, who had passed away due to poor health when Jin Jie was seven. Not long after, Jin Jie’s father remarried. The new wife entered the household with a pair of six-year-old twin sons—clearly a prearranged affair.

With a stepmother came a stepfather. Jin Jie grew up reserved, quiet, and overly cautious.

It might be like that saying—”if you don’t erupt in silence, you perish in it.” Jin Jie ability-users a strength-based superpower. The first thing she did after awakening was to send her two younger brothers to the hospital, and then she disappeared. Li Ya heard that she might have joined the National Bureau of Paranormal Abilities.

There were some outside organizations recruiting superpowered individuals, and the National Bureau of Paranormal Abilities was also recruiting. All major forces were scrambling for talent.

Jin Jie’s ability was fairly ordinary, but compared to some weird or niche abilities, hers was actually quite practical. Li Ya felt a bit envious. Though strength-based powers were considered basic compared to some of the more exotic ones, it was still a superpower! Even though there were already quite a few ability-users individuals appearing, compared to the vast population, it was still not a large number.

Illya was sitting on the sofa watching a children’s talent show when Chu Feng walked over to her and said, “You like watching this?”

Illya said with a bit of amazement, “The children here are amazing! They can sing and dance, and they’re all incredibly talented.” The kids where he came from were totally different—always running wild around the village.

Chu Feng thought to himself: Kids are more or less the same everywhere. The talented ones are usually “nurtured” with money.

Kids from rich families spend tens of thousands a month on talent lessons—if you pour in that much money, you’re bound to get results.

“Next up, we welcome little Miss Xu Qingqing to perform a puppet dance.”

A little girl dressed like a doll ran onto the stage. Several doll-like puppets followed behind her. The girl bounced to the center of the stage, and the puppets bounced and twisted along with her, swaying their waists and hips.

Illya glanced at Chu Feng and asked curiously, “Are those puppets electric?”

Chu Feng shook his head. “Probably not. Puppets that flexible haven’t been invented yet.”

Those puppet dolls had glowing eyes—they didn’t look like dead objects, more like living beings.

Illya frowned, “So that little girl…”

Chu Feng nodded slightly, “Probably a superpowered one.”

One of the dolls flew into the air and did a 360-degree spin, drawing gasps of awe from the audience.

Chu Feng frowned and thought to himself, Has the world really changed this much?

Superpowered individuals were appearing on talent shows now? Weren’t they afraid of being labeled as freaks? Or maybe there were just so many now that people didn’t find it strange anymore. So, while there still weren’t too many, some were rushing to debut. As the saying goes: Get famous while you can.

Later, when there are more and more superpowered people, the novelty will wear off and it won’t be so special anymore.

Chu Feng and Illya were watching TV when the phone rang. It was a call from Lin Zhigao. After Chu Feng hung up, he frowned slightly.

Illya hugged a panda plushie and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Chu Feng put down the phone and said, “The wood shop’s closed. Quite a few people went to Zhigao’s place asking when it’ll reopen.”

The wood carving shop had been closed for a while now. Chu Feng hadn’t been short on money lately and didn’t plan on reopening it anytime soon. They weren’t in a rush, but some people who wanted to buy carvings couldn’t wait and had gone straight to Zhigao’s house.

Illya blinked, confused. “Wood carvings are that popular?”

Chu Feng chuckled. “Something like that. The materials we use in our shop aren’t ordinary. With so many ability-users individuals showing up lately, maybe someone noticed something.”

Illya tilted his head. “People here are really boring, huh? It’s just wood.”

He had recently begun to understand the value of money and knew that a large wood carving could sell for millions—enough to buy several cars. And if it were snacks, it could buy a whole house full.

Chu Feng gave an awkward laugh. “Yeah… some people are a little too idle.”

But if it weren’t for all these idle folks, how would he make money?

Illya blinked excitedly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Let’s go buy some appliances today!”

Chu Feng nodded. “Alright.”

Illya looked at Chu Feng and said, “Let’s buy a water heater, so we can take hot showers over there too.”

Chu Feng nodded again. “That should work.”

Illya beamed, “That’s great!”

Chu Feng shook his head and thought: We stayed over there for days, and Illya’s been dreaming about hot showers the whole time. Going from luxury back to frugality is hard.

Illya clapped his hands. “That’s awesome!”

Chu Feng smiled, “As long as you’re happy.”

Chu Feng started to consider whether they could build a bathhouse on the other side. Taking hot showers in winter sounded like the perfect idea. No matter how the world changed outside, as long as he could live his life well, that was enough.

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