Chapter Sixty-Eight: Grand Aunt (Keep Summoning Monthly Tickets!)
Chapter Sixty-Eight: "Grand-Aunt"
Shadows seemed to flicker before his eyes...
A searing light... then darkness again.
He thought he heard voices, but the sounds were indistinct.
“He... Qiu Yun... Black Knight... blood...”
The voice was familiar, yet Chen Xiao could no longer distinguish it.
His body finally regained a trace of sensation, only to be met with agony radiating from every inch of his flesh.
No one spoke anymore; only strange, intermittent noises reached his ears...
First came a buzzing, grinding sound, like some kind of drill. Then a hissing, electric noise, as if something was being cut with a power tool...
Then, the crackle of electricity, breaking the silence with sharp pops...
His sense of touch faded in and out. Whenever he managed to feel something, the pain would quickly overwhelm him, driving him back into unconsciousness— only to awaken again, then pass out once more from the torment...
This cycle repeated so often that even Chen Xiao lost count—three times? Four?
Yet, gradually, one certainty took root in his heart.
I am not dead!
I am still alive!
For that... he was profoundly grateful.
...
His whole body was submerged in a bath of warm liquid. It seeped through his skin, spreading gentle warmth through his battered form, dissolving the agony that had threatened to tear him apart. The sudden release from pain was so complete, so foreign, that it brought a strange sense of liberation—something he had never felt before.
He still could not open his eyes, but he felt a tube inserted into his mouth, feeding a cool, sweet liquid down his throat, soothing his ravaged body.
This sensation... it was as if he had returned to the womb, a primal memory imprinted in every human’s instinct.
...
Tink, tink, tink.
A chubby man tapped the glass dome with his sausage-like fingers, mouth agape, staring dully at the naked young man within.
The giant tank was like an aquarium, filled with a viscous, emerald liquid. Chen Xiao floated naked inside, connected by slender tubes at his wrists, ankles, and a dozen other points. A thick tube, like one used for a medical gastroscopy, was thrust into his mouth.
Curled up in the green fluid, he looked like a fetus in the womb.
Bang!
As the fat man gawked, he was struck hard on the back of the head.
“You lazy oaf! Get to work! Or do you want to go hungry tonight?”
The sweet, sharp scolding made the fat man’s face blanch; his cheeks quivered as he forced a fawning smile. “Auntie, I wasn’t slacking, I—”
“Who are you calling ‘Auntie’?! Call me Grand-Aunt! I’m old enough to be your great-grandmother! You’re getting off easy calling me Grand-Aunt! I only picked you up on a whim, you fat lump!”
“Yes, yes, Grand-Aunt, you’re right. But can you not call me ‘lump’? I’m still a person,” the fat man whined, then hurriedly bustled off to work, first checking the wiring around the tank, then fetching a bucket and broom to clean.
Inside the tank, the liquid muffled all sound; the voices reached Chen Xiao’s ears distorted and strange.
Still...
Those two voices were so familiar...
That woman—was it... Zhu Rong? But who was the man? Why did he sound so familiar?
Zhu Rong... Had they rescued him?
...
At last, four days passed before Chen Xiao opened his eyes and saw his surroundings clearly.
The first thing he saw was a round, fleshy face looming over him, little eyes darting in their sockets. When the fat man saw he was awake, his jowls quivered and he spun around, bellowing as he ran.
“Grand-Aunt! Grand-Aunt! Pretty boy’s awake!”
Grand-Aunt... Pretty boy?
Chen Xiao felt confused, then his memories returned—wasn’t this the bandit, the fat one?
Soon, all three unscrupulous bosses from Dead End Street’s coffee shop crowded into the room, pointing and gesturing at Chen Xiao, still naked and floating in the tank. Zhu Rong’s brazen stare made Chen Xiao want to shrink away.
Being ogled like this—stripped bare—was hardly enjoyable.
“He looks almost healed,” Old Tian said, stroking his chin, then walked over to a lever and pulled it gently. With a whoosh, a drain opened at the bottom of the tank, and the liquid quickly emptied out.
Old Tian and Gong Gong lifted Chen Xiao out, wrapped him in a blanket, and dropped him onto a bed.
Only then did Chen Xiao confirm—he was in the secret room beneath the coffee shop on Dead End Street!
As for where this enormous tank had come from, he hadn’t a clue.
The three old monsters stared at him, making his scalp tingle. After a long silence, he forced a smile. “Looks like I survived.”
“You did,” Zhu Rong said, rubbing her chin and eyeing him with unconcealed curiosity and interest.
Old Tian folded his arms and grinned strangely. “Kid, I always thought you had promise, but never expected you’d be this tough. You actually took down an esper with an A-class ability—someone like you, just a rookie!”
Gong Gong fluttered his hand and giggled, “Xiao, you’re just too formidable~~~”
“Hahaha! The Black Knight suffered a crushing defeat this time! Not only did they lose Qiu Yun, their main pillar, but even that Tyrannosaurus—rumor has it, he’s done for too! Chen Xiao—”
“Tyrannosaurus? Done for?” Chen Xiao was stunned.
Then, the pieces fell into place in his mind.
Blood! And... purification!
Clearly, the purification serum had merged with his blood, granting him the power to both fuse and purify abilities!
The fusion allowed him to acquire other espers’ powers. For example, when Alice kissed him and transferred her toxin through her saliva, her DNA was passed to him, and he gained her two abilities: poison and mimicry.
But his blood also possessed another function: purification!
In short, it devoured other espers’ powers!
First, Black Seven had been unlucky—her ability was devoured by the serum, which then fused with Chen Xiao’s body.
Then, Qiu Yun fell victim. At the time, Chen Xiao only meant to use poison against him—after Alice’s kiss gave him her toxin, he realized he could acquire others’ powers this way. So he pricked himself with a wooden spike, then stabbed Qiu Yun.
He hadn’t expected that Qiu Yun, immune to toxins, would still fall to him.
It all came down to the purification in his blood!
To any esper, Chen Xiao’s blood was the most lethal poison imaginable!
He recalled roasting his blood to poison Tyrannosaurus—could the purification agent in his blood, when heated and released into the air, have infected Tyrannosaurus too?
Had Tyrannosaurus not only been poisoned, but also had his abilities devoured by the purification in Chen Xiao’s blood?
A sudden thought struck him.
Bai Cai! She had powers too...
But he relaxed—thankfully, he’d had Bai Cai and Xu Ershao block their noses at the time, so they hadn’t inhaled any tainted air.
Seeing Chen Xiao lost in thought, Old Tian sat beside him, wiping his damp hair with a towel.
“Kid, you’re lucky to be alive. When we dug you out from the rubble, you were like a rag doll trampled by an elephant. We had to use up every last resource to save you! Just look—one tank of restoration fluid, and our entire stockpile is gone.”
Old Tian chuckled wryly.
“How did you find me?” Chen Xiao sighed.
“Thank Zhu Rong,” Old Tian replied, glancing at her. “She and Alice have been rivals for decades, so she knows Alice’s habits and hiding places. Once we heard about the attack at the Xu mansion, we searched all the likely hideouts in the city. Finally, we found that abandoned factory—but we were still a step too late... otherwise, you wouldn’t have nearly died with Qiu Yun.”
Chen Xiao sighed. “What about my friends? Xu Ershao and Bai Cai?”
“They’re both safe, under police protection,” Old Tian reassured him. “But—we do have a problem. After you were kidnapped, the police visited your home, and that blue-blooded girl living with you was taken away.”
Chen Xiao shot upright.
Ya Ya?!
“This is bad! Ya Ya doesn’t have identification!” Chen Xiao’s face paled. “If the police discover that—”
“That’s not an issue,” Old Tian waved a hand. “You think we’d just sit by? Don’t worry, it’s all been handled. The police won’t cause any trouble... But Chen Xiao, there’s something you need to be prepared for.”
Old Tian’s expression grew serious. “Now, you’re in real trouble. Simply put, after bringing you back, our instruments found a major problem with your body. Yes, you survived—but whether you’ll stay alive is another question entirely!”
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Chapter Sixty-Eight: "Grand-Aunt" (Unsealed)