Chapter 35: Yang Shubai’s Teaching

"I have an immature idea," Lin Xiao nodded and replied, "I think it might be worth a try."

"Really? Do you really have a way to do it?" Huang Lingzhao asked, pleasantly surprised.

She had already given up hope, never expecting that Lin Xiao might actually be able to help her.

"I'm not sure yet. I need to find someone to help me brainstorm. Could you... could you please come back tomorrow morning? If the plan is feasible, I will give you a definitive answer."

As he spoke, Lin Xiao couldn't help but sigh inwardly: the person he would see tomorrow morning would be another version of her. Just as the person he saw today was no longer the same "her" who had faced the thief with him.

Huang Lingzhao, however, couldn't afford to worry about such things. She happily took a notebook from her backpack and solemnly recorded the appointment. Clearly, this notebook contained information she deemed most important and essential to remember. Reading it should be the first thing she did every morning after waking up.

After confirming the meeting for tomorrow, Huang Lingzhao rose from her chair. "Then I won't disturb you any longer. I'll be going now."

"I'll see you out."

Lin Xiao knew that for her, every second was precious; the ticking clock of her life's countdown was constantly looming over her head.

Walking her to the door, Lin Xiao reached out his hand. "Take care."

Huang Lingzhao gently shook his hand. "Thank you."

With a tacit understanding, neither of them said "goodbye."

Watching Huang Lingzhao's retreating figure, Lin Xiao's mood remained heavy. His method was to create a supernatural item imbued with a "memory" ability, allowing Huang Lingzhao to, in a sense, utilize his memory-related powers.

Lin Xiao glanced at the "Time" wristwatch on his left wrist. This watch was an ordinary item Yang Shubai had purchased from a store, but after her modifications, it possessed the effect of countering mental-type abilities. In essence, by using this watch as a carrier, she allowed him to share a portion of her own abilities. Therefore, Lin Xiao intended to ask Yang Shubai how she had managed it.

Lin Xiao closed the shop door, hung the "Closed" sign "once again," and walked out onto the street. His heart felt heavy; even if his method worked, it would only allow tomorrow's Huang Lingzhao to read a small fraction of today's memories. Ultimately, the essence remained her notebook—the data transfer efficiency would be much higher, but it still couldn't resolve the agony of having to "die" every single day.

But this was the absolute limit of what Lin Xiao could achieve.

While lost in thought, Lin Xiao reached the back door of Yang Shubai's shop. She shouldn't be awake yet, but before he could raise his hand to knock, he heard a soft "click"—the back door opened from the inside on its own.

A ball of white fur bounded out joyfully. "Woof! Woof! Woof!"
(Finally seeing you again, so happy! So happy!)

Little White wagged its tail even more enthusiastically than a dog. Lin Xiao couldn't help but laugh; perhaps after spending so much time with it, he had actually learned to understand the "dog language" spoken by a cat?

As Little White hopped back and forth in excitement, Lin Xiao took a bag of dried fish from his pocket, knelt, and placed them into its food bowl. Watching the creature "woofing" in gratitude while devouring the fish, Lin Xiao found it amusing: even if it considered itself a dog psychologically, its feline instincts were unavoidable physiologically.

"Has your master woken up yet?" Lin Xiao asked, stroking Little White's head.

"Woof!"
(She's up!)

"She's actually not sleeping in?" Lin Xiao was quite surprised. Ordinary people found it hard to overcome sleeping in, let alone a Dream-type esper. Lin Xiao suddenly noted that, aside from the night she stayed up late to help Detective Yue Chongguang remove his memories, which caused her to sleep until noon the next day, Yang Shubai rarely slept in. Did this have something to do with her Vow of Pain?

Lin Xiao shook his head, brushing off such unnecessary conjectures, and walked into the shop.

The moment he turned the corner into the foyer, his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

In the morning light, Yang Shubai was leaning against the bar counter making coffee. Her fluffy curly hair spilled over her shoulders, still carrying the lazy aura of someone who had just woken up. She was wearing only a silk white short nightgown that ended just above mid-thigh, revealing a pair of long, straight, beautiful legs.

Her skin was dazzlingly white in the morning sun, with lines flowing smoothly from her rounded thighs down to her slender ankles. Most lethal of all was when she turned around; the silk fabric clung to the curves of her body, subtly outlining a graceful waist-to-hip ratio.

It was the first time seeing such a seductive side of Yang Shubai, paired with her extremely innocent face. The impact of such a stark contrast was dizzying.

Lin Xiao: (一`´一)
Lin Xiao: (一`´≖)
Lin Xiao: (一`´⊙)
Lin Xiao: (≖`´⊙)
Lin Xiao: (⊙`´⊙)

Lin Xiao realized then that Little White had told him Yang Shubai was awake, but had failed to mention she had just woken up and hadn't changed yet.

Seeing Lin Xiao staring at her with wide eyes, Yang Shubai rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Do you like what you see?"

Lin Xiao nodded honestly. "I like it!"

"Have you seen enough?"

"Not yet. Am I acting as lecherous as any other man right now?"

"For the sake of that face of yours, I don't feel like I'm losing out by letting you look. The fact that you're trying to lower my opinion of you even at this moment proves you're different from other men! Don't bother trying to smear yourself; I won't give up on observing you," Yang Shubai said.

Lin Xiao: "..."

Why is it so hard to lower her curiosity about me? And I'm not really trying to smear myself; it's just that you really are too beautiful...

Yang Shubai asked with a smile, "Coming by so early, are you looking for a free breakfast or... did you get into some trouble again?"

Lin Xiao composed himself and raised his left hand to reveal the "Time" watch. "I wanted to ask how to use abilities to create supernatural items."

Yang Shubai leaned lazily against the bar, the morning light outlining her graceful curves through the silk nightgown. She took a slow sip of coffee and explained in a measured tone, "There are two types of supernatural items."

"The first type is a disposable tool; it's useless once consumed. When making these, you don't need supernatural materials, just ordinary materials with high spiritual affinity."

"The 'Time' watch on your wrist belongs to this category of disposable tools. The reason I chose it was because the star sand inside the watch has a very high spiritual affinity."

Lin Xiao nodded thoughtfully; making such items was similar to "drawing talismans." The finished product was akin to a potion or a spell, serving as a one-time consumable.

Yang Shubai continued, "The second type is permanent supernatural equipment. These require supernatural materials during creation, which allows them to provide a continuous energy supply, thus enabling repeated use."

Lin Xiao nodded again in understanding; this was equivalent to "forging," creating objects similar to magical artifacts.

After the introduction, Yang Shubai asked, "Guess which of these two types of supernatural items is harder to create?"

Common sense would suggest that forging is harder than drawing talismans, but the phrase from the front page of the Esper Manual flashed through Lin Xiao's mind: "Everything has a price." The price for drawing talismans was clearly lower because it didn't require supernatural materials, so it should logically be more difficult.

So, Lin Xiao asked, "The disposable tools?"

Yang Shubai didn't answer, instead asking with a smile, "Why do you think so?"

"I just feel that the lower the cost, the higher the requirements must be," Lin Xiao replied truthfully.

Yang Shubai gave a satisfied smile. "Most people get this question wrong. You not only got it right but also grasped the essence. And you say you're 'very ordinary'?"

Lin Xiao: "..."

Fell into another trap...

Yang Shubai didn't dwell on it and continued, "Creating supernatural equipment only requires a Level 2 esper, while disposable items require a Level 4 esper."

As soon as the words left her lips, Lin Xiao's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the watch on his wrist: was she at least a Level 4 esper?