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| ← Ch.022 | Ch.024 → |
Just as He Jin prepared to jump down, a crisp and sweet voice rang out from afar."Over here!"
Hearing the sound of prey, the hungry zombies turned towards the sound with their stiff movements. But they were too late to react. Pebbles shot out at the speed of lightning, hitting them and cleanly cracking their heads open.
More than a dozen zombies fell to the ground at the same time, greatly alleviating He Jin's burden. He Jin stared at the fallen corpses at his feet and saw small holes in their head. The strength needed to accomplish such a feat was indeed great. This kind of one-shot kill showed that the boy was much stronger than he thought; it also told him that the boy possessed a large number of skills other than just stunning the homeless man. He thought he had already seen the boy's full strength. He hadn't expected Gong Lixin to have a few more tricks up his sleeve. No, it may be more than just a few tricks.
'Was he really an underage child?' He Jin's were filled with uncertainty.
The primary-level zombies were walking dead with no abilities and were incapable of thinking for themselves. They only possessed a strong desire for fresh flesh and blood. Due to this, the zombies were fearless when faced with Gong Lixin's fierce moves. The zombies turned their heads and rushed towards him. The rest of the zombies stared at the top of the truck. However, those few zombies could no longer pose He Jin a threat.
"What are you doing? Run!" He did not immediately jump off the truck to escape but moved to face Gong Lixin on the other side of the road.
Gong Lixin lifted his foot, but did not turn to run away. Instead, he rushed towards the group of zombies. He Jin saw his daring action and his heart suddenly squeezed, as if it almost forgot to beat, his mind blanked as he watched the boy's suicidal actions.
However, he was soon stunned. He saw Gong Lixin rushing towards the group of zombies. Standing on his tiptoe, the boy easily jumped on top of the zombies' head, stepping on them and using the group of zombies to run forward. The ones who were stepped on fell flat to the ground as Gong Lixin made his way to the truck.
Using his legs, several zombies were kicked and were flung underneath the cars. Gong Lixin looked up and waved at He Jin, "He Brother, come down."
He Jin stayed stunned for a while, the child had to yell a few more times before he returned to Earth and jumped off the truck.
"He Brother, let's go." Gong Lixin held He Jin's wrist, as he led the way to the abandoned building. The warm and soft touch on his wrist sent a small current throughout He Jin's body. He immediately woke up from his daze and caught up to Gong Lixin.
Seeing their prey jump over their heads, the group of zombies screamed and turned to chase after them. Gong Lixin kicked a dead zombie towards the group, making the zombies at the front fall. The fallen zombies couldn't get back up because their joints were stiff and were unable to bend. The zombies behind them began to fall because of the obstruction.
The zombies fell one by one, like dominoes. Apart from lying on the ground, there was nothing else they could do. The scene was quite spectacular and funny.
He Jin hurriedly glanced back and squinted, his mouth pressed into a thin line as if he was trying to hold back his laughter. The decisive and tragic moments of his past flashed in front of his eyes. Even as they were escaping from danger, they were relaxed and at ease. With this child, there was no need to panic or despair in such a situation.
Laughing a few times, he strode to the teenager's side. The two came to a tacit understanding and together, killed the zombies that they crossed along the road. They successfully reached the abandoned building wall without any accidents.
"Have you practiced martial arts?" He Jin asked while leaning against the wall as he gasped for air.
"Yeah." Gong Lixin nodded in affirmation.
"It's no wonder your skills are better than mine. I have been practicing martial arts for more than 20 years and I probably don't even come to half of your strength." He Jin calmly patted Gong Lixin's head, not at all envious or embarrassed. Sometimes martial arts had to do with talent. In two or three years, someone with outstanding talent could reach a small success while someone with poor talent would need to practice for ten to twenty years before they could even condense a tiny amount of internal force. It made others envious.
"Actually, He Big Brother can also become more powerful." He Jin's indifferent attitude towards his skills made Gong Lixin less tense. He held He Jin's wrist."He brother also has energy in his body. Big Brother just doesn't know how to use it."
Just outside the building, Gong Lixin pulled He Jin's wrist towards him and explored the lurking energy within He Jin. This energy was not like his internal force. Internal force was compressed and circulated in the Dantian. This energy was instead spread all over He Jin's body and was circulating through eight strange veins.
It was exactly as Gong Xiangyi had said. Because of his curiosity, he had intentionally probed Gong Xiangyi's pulse and found this same energy in her body. However, Gong Xiangyi had more of this energy than He Big Brother.
"Oh? I can't feel it at all." He Jin tried to sense the energy in his Dantian, but after half an hour he was unable to feel anything special in his body.
"He brother's energy is not in the Dantian but in the meridians. This energy is not internal force but instead the energy from a special ability. After half a month, the zombies will evolve and nuclei will form in their heads. He Brother can collect these nuclei and use them to improve his strength." Gong Lixin told him the truth as he recalled Gong Xiangyi's words.
He Jin's expression changed slightly. He looked directly into the child's crystal-clear eyes as he leaned closer to the boy. He whispered, "Lixin, is there someone you know who can predict the future?" Apart from this conjecture, he really couldn't find any other reasons for the other's knowledge.
"Yeah." Gong Lixin nodded, saying nothing more.
He Jin's expression became unreadable, but he no longer asked any questions. After a moment of thought, his pair of eyes narrowed and locked onto the teenager's face, his voice becoming a little tight."You told me such important information. Are you not afraid I will use this knowledge to destroy you in the future? Are you not worried?" Who knows if such a big secret can stay hidden? He Jin had mixed feelings in his heart when the child revealed the secret so casually.
"Everyone will know eventually, telling you was no big deal. And, even if you become stronger, you can't beat me." Gong Lixin blinked and gave him a very honest answer.
He Jin's body stiffened. He didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. He really didn't deserve to be next to this child. Still, he would offer his life to this teenager. Even if the child let him die, he wouldn't have any regrets. For some inexplicable reason, he felt a little lost when he heard the child's answer.
Gong Lixin paused before continuing."And, He Big Brother would never go against me. You are not that kind of person." He truly believed this as he was extremely sensitive to people's intentions. He knew who to avoid and knew who he could trust to protect his back. Just like Lu Yun. Although he appeared to be very arrogant, Gong Lixin didn't hate him for it, because he felt a soft and kind heart was hidden beneath Lu Yun's arrogance.
Hearing this, He Jin smiled and laughed. Unconsciously relaxing, the feeling in his heart disappeared. He was filled with happiness because Gong Lixin trusted him so much! This was the answer he had been subconsciously waiting for.
He was glad that he had returned to school and found this clean and clear boy in front of him. In this teenager, he could not see the despair and helplessness that others would feel during the apocalypse. On the contrary, the teenager had a calming effect on the people around him, bringing great hope to those around him.
Gong Lixin didn't know that He Jin was very moved because of his simple words. He walked ahead and went straight into the building. Seeing as how he didn't hear He Jin's footsteps, he looked back and saw that He Jin was staring at his palm. He stared at his palm as if he could see through it and see the energy hidden in his meridians.
Gong Lixin thought about it before saying, "The energy needs to be mobilized." He returned to He Jin's side and condensed his internal force into his fingers. He slid his fingers over He Jin's arms, forcing the energy in his arm meridians to gather in the man's palm.
"From the shoulder to the Quze, then to the Neiguan and the Shenmen and finally, to the Lao Palace." He slowly explained the route of the energy flow, his fingertips finally stopped at He Jin's palm. Gong Lixin retracted his fingers from He Jin's palm. Without the suppression of Gong Lixin's internal force, the energy that had been forcibly condensed began flowing from He Jin's Lao Palace
A strong gust of wind came out of He Jin's hand, blowing into his face.
His dark cat-eyes were full of surprise as he took in the small whirlwind in He Jin's palm."He Big Brother has a wind ability." Gong Lixin took two steps back to avoid the wind.
He Jin was surprised into silence, but his mind was thinking at a high speed. He remembered the energy route Gong Lixin guided him through. Modern people didn't understand the rules of operation of the meridians. Therefore, future ability users only knew that their abilities were mobilized by their mental power. In future fights, they not only consumed physical strength but also mental strength as well. Although this power was strong, it didn't last long.
It was because of this that Gong Lixin's guidance on how to mobilize his energy made him faster than others when it came to using his mental powers; it also would help him last longer than other ability users in a fight. It was thanks to this that he became one of the top powerhouses in the future. Of course, this would all occur in the future.
The whirlwind in the palm of his hand disappeared completely. Although he only used his ability for a few seconds, He Jin felt the exhaustion hitting his body. He swayed a few times before he almost fell. Gong Lixin held him in his arms.
"What happened to me? I can't muster up any strength in my body!" He Jin looked very tired and very pale, but light shone in his eyes due to his excitement.
"The energy in your body was used up so you collapsed. You will feel better after resting for a while.
The energy of abilities and internal force were quite different. The internal force accumulated in the Dantian and kept growing. The energy of ability lurked in the meridians. When the latter was exhausted, one could only wait for it to slowly recover or look for crystal nuclei to supplement themselves. But people still had a period of weakness with the latter recovery method. That meant, Gong Xiangyi's immense amount of accumulated power was just like this. Compared to his ability to fight for several days without being exhausted, Gong Xiangyi's capability was much worse than his. This was something Gong Lixin thought about quietly.
"Lixin is also an ability user?" He Jin asked, seeing how the child knew so much about abilities.
"Hn, something like that." Gong Lixin replied ambiguously, subconsciously hiding his own special power. He Jin saw that the other didn't want to talk about it and no longer asked. He Jin was relying on the child to stand due to the exhausted state his body was in.
"He Brother, you're fine! That's great!" Wu Ming and the others were worried and were just about to run out to check the situation; they were surprised to see the pair standing by the wall.
"I already told you that Boss Gong would be able to save He Big Brother." Wang Tao went ahead with a smile.
"Gong Lixin, thank you so much! If there's anything you ever need, tell this Lu Yun and this Lu Yun will go through fire and water to get it for you." Assassination and kidnapping was a frequent occurrence in his life. He Jin saved Lu Yun's life many times and to him, He Jin was a protective older brother. This made him even more grateful to Gong Lixin. He began to worship Gong Lixin even more. Seeing that He Jin was exhausted but unharmed, he patted his chest and said that he would take over for the thin Gong Lixin in holding He Jin up.
"No, it's not a problem." Gong Lixin shook his head, his expression uncomfortable. It was just bringing He Big Brother back; he didn't feel like he did anything earth-shattering. Lu Yun's enthusiasm, he couldn't afford it.
"Alright, let's go in and talk about it." He Jin subconsciously stopped Lu Yun, who moved his hand towards Gong Lixin, and faintly opened his mouth. The people smiled and promised to find a clean place to rest inside the unfinished building.
CrazedCookies: Bonus chapter of the week. Thank you Hide and Jessie for the Ko-Fi!
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