Ying City.
‘Had she only just arrived a few days ago, and now she was already returning?’
Huang Xiu hadn’t been away from home for long, so she wasn’t particularly sentimental. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel a touch of melancholy, wondering why such a remote little county town was plagued by so many disasters.
First, there were Touchpoints, then the Black Tower, and now, suddenly awakened Awakened individuals, once ordinary office workers, were embarking on killing sprees.
Wait a minute…
“Could this matter be connected to the Black Tower?” Huang Xiu asked, her expression grave.
“For now, we don’t know, but my personal guess is that it likely has nothing to do with the Black Tower.”
Yun Ning gazed at the large headshot of the man on the computer screen.
“According to the information gathered by the AI system, Lin Wude happened to be passing by the Baishi Farmhouse on that day due to a family matter. He was most likely affected by the Touchpoint.”
The Baishi Farmhouse was precisely where the associated Void Realm had appeared in the outskirts of Ying City on the day Huang Xiu returned home.
The entire situation, in Yun Ning’s eyes, was quite clear.
Lin Wude had been stimulated by the Void Energy emanating from the Touchpoint at the farmhouse, thereby awakening his ability.
Consumed by the pressures of life, he was ultimately driven by desire to commit murder.
“When do we leave?”
Huang Xiu knew this matter was largely unrelated to the Black Tower, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She hadn’t fully developed yet and certainly didn’t want any involvement with an evil organization that constantly threatened to destroy the world.
Saving the world was best left to the higher-ups.
“Friday evening. We’ll take a red-eye flight,” Yun Ning said, closing his laptop and pushing it aside.
“Junior Female Student, remember to prepare in advance. Your abilities are crucial for this mission; the reconnaissance and excavation will depend on you.”
Huang Xiu nodded her small head upon hearing this. Reconnaissance and excavation were, after all, her specialties.
After they had discussed enough and finished their meal, she returned to her dorm.
That evening, she continued to diligently work on her thousand-word mini-thesis for the ability exam.
‘The Descending World of Trees technique is incredibly powerful, but there aren’t enough tree roots underground in the city for me to mutate… Wood clones have countless uses, but can mutated trees truly resemble humans?’
Huang Xiu remained skeptical.
She looked at the dozens of Wood Release techniques recorded in her document, analyzing their pros and cons one by one.
She searched for the ones that could be adapted by her [Senluo] ability.
‘The Wood Dragon Technique and Wood Golem Technique could be replicated, but without the Chakra effect, their damage would be significantly reduced. Moreover, the Wood Golem Technique is quite similar to my Tree Giant.’
As Huang Xiu considered this, she realized a key difference.
While Wood Release and [Senluo] appeared to be similar types of abilities, their distinctions were profound.
Wood Release could spontaneously create wood from nothing and mutate things from a distance, allowing for control.
However, after the first mutation, a second mutation required physical contact.
‘If I want to replicate Wood Release techniques like the Tree World Barrier, I must act during the initial mutation.’
Huang Xiu stroked her chin, lost in thought.
Facing even a slightly powerful enemy, cutting her hand and sprinkling blood for mutation would definitely be too slow.
‘Therefore, I really need to improve my mutation speed and the range for secondary mutation. Ideally, I should be able to perform a secondary mutation from dozens of meters away, without physical contact.’
Huang Xiu felt she had found a crucial future development direction for her [Senluo] ability.
‘And if I could abandon blood as the mutation medium, that would be even better.’
If she didn’t need blood to mutate plants, her ability would be freed from a significant limitation.
However, Huang Xiu also knew that shedding the blood medium would be as difficult as creating heaven and earth.
This would be akin to altering the fundamental logic of her ability.
‘Never mind, I’ll just write all this down for now.’
Huang Xiu diligently typed on her keyboard, preparing to include these thoughts in the first chapter of her document.
The clatter of the keyboard echoed in the room, startling Huang Xiaoxian, who was sleeping under the bed.
It suddenly flipped over and muttered, “Cleaning! I haven’t cleaned today yet!”
With that, it nimbly crawled out from under the bed, fetched a rag from the bathroom, wet it, and began wiping the floor.
‘Such is the allure of the phone!’
Huang Xiu secretly mused, then refocused and concentrated on typing.
She planned for this paper to have three chapters, each corresponding to a different work. *Naruto* was the first chapter, and after two days of thought, she already had a plan for the second chapter.
She would leverage her incredibly fast touch-typing skills, honed over years of protecting her family register in the valley.
Even with just deleting, revising, and adjusting the structure, Huang Xiu only took an hour to complete the first chapter.
By this time, Huang Xiaoxian had finally finished cleaning the entire room and was now resting on the floor.
“The first chapter alone is 800 words. At this rate, all three chapters should be at least 2,400 words.”
Huang Xiu looked at the first chapter, complete with text and illustrations, on the screen and smiled smugly.
“Dumb, dumb, dumb. You really thought I, Huang Xiu, wouldn’t compete, huh? Watch me stun everyone this time!”
“Master’s laugh is terrifying!” Huang Xiaoxian, lying nearby, was startled.
If not for its master’s face still being so pretty, it would have thought its master had been replaced by some strange creature.
Huang Xiu checked the time; it was only nine in the evening. She decided to press her advantage and continue writing the second chapter.
She hummed a casually made-up tune as she opened a video site and clicked on a video she had long saved.
The video was titled: “Pokémon Plant-Type Species Popular Science.”
Indeed, Pokémon was the second work Huang Xiu had chosen.
Upon observation, she realized that her relationship with mutated plants was somewhat akin to that of a trainer and their Pokémon.
Given this, she could fully draw inspiration from the plant-type Pokémon.
She would twist the direction of plant mutation towards the Pokémon style.
“After all, Pokémon are the product of many people’s imaginations; they’re definitely stronger than plants I randomly mutate.”
Huang Xiu was very pleased with her clever idea.
Without expending too much Void Energy, she could mutate a portion of her plants into bootleg Pokémon.
This would allow her to improve the “quality” of her mutated plants without sacrificing “quantity.”
“Indeed, working in isolation is futile. One person’s imagination is too limited; it’s better to draw more inspiration.”
Huang Xiu nodded in satisfaction and began watching the video.
Beside her, Huang Xiaoxian also took out its phone and started watching an X-Men movie.
Huang Xiu’s casual mention of Wolverine the previous night had stuck firmly in its mind.
After finishing *Digimon* during the day, Huang Xiaoxian eagerly started watching *X-Men*,
And was quickly captivated by the handsome Wolverine.
“Wolverine is so cool… I want to be Wolverine too!”
It looked at its phone with a face full of yearning, completely forgetting its previous dream of becoming a lily.
Time flowed forward, carried along by the video’s progress bar.
Outside the window, the bright moon grew more radiant as the lights in the buildings below flickered and were swallowed by darkness.
Huang Xiu, realizing it was getting late, soon became one of those extinguished lights.
She turned off the room light and went to bed.
At the same time, however, in the same dorm complex, some people were still awake.
Building 6. This room housed new students from the Research Department,
Fang Miaoging also lived here.
The layouts of the dorms throughout the complex were essentially identical.
Fang Miaoging, like Huang Xiu, had chosen the room in the very center.
Currently, her room was brightly lit.
A slender figure was hunched over a computer, working.
“I’ve finally finished reviewing for tomorrow’s two classes.”
Fang Miaoging closed her textbook, stretched, and then glanced at her computer screen, where a message had just popped up.
[I also have the Tremor-Tremor Fruit: Student Fang, could you take a look at this problem? (Problem image)]
She opened the image to find a high school conic sections problem.
The difficulty of the problem would challenge even a typical top student.
However, for a prodigy of Fang Miaoging’s academic caliber, a glance was enough to understand the solution.
It didn’t take long for her to grasp the approach.
After a few quick calculations, she finished writing it down on paper.
She took out her phone, snapped a picture, and sent it. The other person quickly sent another message.
[I also have the Tremor-Tremor Fruit: Thank you, thank you, Student Fang, you’ve been a great help!]
[One Day’s Youth: It’s nothing.]
Fang Miaoging smiled.
She had met this new student from the Exploration Department, who hailed from Yunshang Province, through the school forum over the past two days.
They had successfully entered Tiandu University through special admission, instantly becoming a legend in their school.
As a result, many students often came to chat with them, including a girl they had a crush on.
However, that girl had excellent grades and always came with a stack of difficult problems.
And while this new student’s grades were decent, they couldn’t always answer certain questions.
So, they sought help from Fang Miaoging’s Research Department.
Through their back-and-forth, she and this new Exploration Department student became acquainted.
‘It’s about time; I should be able to ask directly now.’
Fang Miaoging narrowed her eyes like a fox and sent a message she had long premeditated.
[One Day’s Youth: By the way, Student Zhang, I heard that your Exploration Department has a particularly impressive new student this year?]
Ever since returning from the Touchpoint, she had not given up on finding the true identity of that girl.
However, the Research Department and Exploration Department had little interaction, especially among the new students.
It wasn’t until recently that she finally connected with this new Research Department student named Zhang Si.
Speaking of Zhang Si,
On the other end of the computer, he was currently beaming with joy, looking at the thank-you emoji sent by the girl he secretly admired on his computer screen.
“My favorability must have increased! Hahaha!” Zhang Si slapped his thigh, laughing even more brightly than flowers.
He looked at Fang Miaoging’s message and, for a moment, didn’t detect her true intentions, instead marveling.
“So, the reputation of Senior Huang Xiu has actually spread to the Research Department next door?”
“Tsk, tsk, this person is truly terrifying!”
He shook his head, tsk-tsking, and typed a reply.
[I also have the Tremor-Tremor Fruit: So even Student Fang knows about that senior! She’s the only S-rank in our recent batches, and you and I have a really good relationship, you know?]
[One Day’s Youth: Yes, could you introduce me to this senior? I’m quite curious about the only S-rank.]
As this message was sent, Huang Xiu, who was lying in bed, just about to drift off to sleep, suddenly sneezed.
“What’s going on?” She pulled her blanket tighter, feeling a faint, inexplicable sense of danger lingering around her.
It was as if a giant ‘DANGER’ sign had appeared above her head.