If the function of the crystal core was to stimulate a body’s energy magnetic field, which attracts the energy from the heaven and earth into the body, before evolving into psychic energy.
Cheng Ming and the rest of their psychic magnetic field depended on their individual physique, but Gu Ning’s mysterious space was like an incomparably huge black hole. Therefore, when they first forced open the psychic magnetic field inside their body it resulted in such a shocking effect.
On the first time, because Gu Ning was alone when she stimulated her powers, the magnetic field shut down after the space had gained enough energy, and those attracted energies that were not absorbed by others vanished in the end.
This time, it was also the wrong play and wrong move.
Gu Ning’s black hole magnetic field opened again, attracting an extremely large amount of energy, and after the space had absorbed enough energy, Gu Ning’s magnetic field closed again. Although the energy was not absorbed by Gu Ning, it was absorbed by Cheng Ming and the rest who were opening their own magnetic fields. This caused them to absorb enough psychic energy to expand their capacity of psychic energy storage in their bodies as they stimulated it for the first time.
With so many people stimulating their psychic energy at the same time, the magnetic field activated by each crystal core attracted different amounts and types of energies, thus it caused so many special abilities to mutate into new elements.
They gained great advantages even though they had made the mistake of relying on Gu Ning’s magnetic black hole.
Of course, these were things that even Xiang Xu’s spiritual energy could not detect. The only thing that could be ascertained was that stimulating the magnetic field of psychic energy with Gu Ning had brought them great benefits.
After Xiang Xu confirmed the news, Brother San, Luo Long, and Zhong Xu were very regretful. They glanced over to Jia DaoZhang, Cheng Ming and the rest who were curiously exploring their special abilities and all they could do was to hold back their pitiful tears of envy.
They wished that they could spit out their crystal cores and try again.
Zhang XiaoBai asked seriously: “Then, in that case, wouldn’t Gu Ning absorb several times more energy than we do?”
“Well, the psychic energy fluctuations which I had detected from the start within her body were already very strong.” Xiang Xu replied with a slight pause and a slightly confused expression: “Yet Sister Gu Ning’s body seems to be a bit strange, normally the fluctuation of the psychic energy would last until she wakes up, but she seems to have absorbed it all at once while still asleep.”
Huang MengYao suddenly asked with some uneasiness: “Last time, she fainted after eating the crystal core too, right? But she didn’t develop powers after she woke up……”
Zhang XiaoBai subconsciously asked: “Then what if Gu Ning didn’t develop her powers this time again?”
“What about that? Is she not our Gu Ning anymore if she’s without any powers?” Brother San glared at him, then swept his gaze around the soldiers’ faces and said gravely: “I hope you all understand that the majority of the credit, that you guys could develop special abilities today was all because of Gu Ning. I have acknowledged Gu Ning as my niece, thus making her a member of the Third Company. I don’t care about the other people, but I hope that as long as you all consider yourselves to be members of the Third Company, you will treat Gu Ning as one of your own, regardless of whether she has developed special abilities or not.”
Although this speech from Brother San was directed at the soldiers of the Third Company, he was also harbouring the intention of *knocking the mountain to shake the tiger. His meaning was clear, so that Cheng Ming, Jia DaoZhang, and the others would not get too carried away and forget that they had gained so many benefits all thanks to Gu Ning. There was also a vague fear that if Gu Ning didn’t develop her powers, they would just leave her.
(T/N: 敲山震虎 qiāo shān zhèn hǔ translated as knocking the mountain to shake the tiger means a deliberate show of strength as a warning.)
With the rise of special abilities users, ordinary people who had not yet developed their special abilities became vulnerable. Even if Gu Ning was powerful, she was still no match in front of an even more powerful special abilities user. In fact, if Gu Ning really didn’t develop her special ability, then even if she didn’t need to be taken care of, her parents on the other hand who also didn’t have any power, were an unbearably heavy burden. Also, it would be human nature for them to leave them according to the post-apocalyptic situation. Yet Brother San stood in Gu Ning’s shoes and naturally did not want them to leave, which was why he had taken the opportunity to remind the soldiers.
Luo Long replied righteously: “Brother San, do you even need to say that? I owe my life to Gu Ning, and from now on Gu Ning’s parents will be my parents too!”
Zhong Xu twisted his words and replied with a smile: “Luo Long, when is it your turn huh? There are so many of us here waiting to be Uncle and Auntie Gu’s son, so get in the line and wait!”
The other soldiers all burst into laughter. The atmosphere, which had become tense due to Brother San’s stern words, relaxed once again.
Sitting beside Father Gu and Mother Gu, Huang MengYao said solemnly to Father Gu and Mother Gu who were also amidst the laughter: “My life was also saved by Gu Ning, even if Gu Ning didn’t have a special ability, I wouldn’t leave.” She made her stand very clear.
Mother Gu kept quiet and just patted on Huang MengYao’s hand, while her eyes were slightly teary. Father Gu also smiled gratefully, he was sincerely happy for Gu Ning. Gu Ning had changed a lot since the apocalypse happened, she was getting more and more silent as days went by, and her strength and bravery were surprising even to them. They had been very worried that being ruthlessly abandoned by Lu JiaZi and the others would cast a big shadow on Gu Ning’s heart and cause her personality to be twisted. They didn’t want Gu Ning to become a cold-hearted person, all they ever wanted was Gu Ning to live a happy life. Yet just as they feared, after their reunion, they could sense that Gu Ning seemed to be more indifferent and cold. There was always a wary look in her eyes.
However, today they suddenly felt a lot more at ease. With such a group of people by Gu Ning’s side, she should be getting better.
All the way past lunch, Gu Ning showed no sign of waking up.
Mother Gu and Father Gu were both a little worried, but Jia DaoZhang comforted them and said: “Don’t worry, last time Gu Ning also slept for this long.”
Only then did both Father and Mother Gu put their minds at ease for a bit.
By three o’clock in the afternoon, Gu Ning woke up.
Seeing that Gu Ning was awake, those who had been chatting and sleeping all gathered around her at once, asking: “Gu Ning, how is it? Do you feel anything?”
“Gu Ning, did you develop your special ability?”
“Do you feel like there was a very wonderful force flowing through your body?”
Gu Ning was surrounded by a group of concerned faces, her heart was touched yet felt helplessness. In the end, she smiled and then shook her head.
As Gu Ning shook her head, even the air seemed to be frozen.
The crowd suppressed their disappointment that welled up in their hearts and all tried their best to squeeze out smiles and said: “Gu Ning, your marksmanship was so good, and it’s not a big deal if you don’t have special ability. Look at that Yan Yu, her face turned so pale when the gun pointed at her.”
The slightly tanned Shi Tou chimed in: “That’s right, that’s right. Even if you don’t have any special ability, you still have us. Our Brother San already said that you are a part of our Third Company, so we will kill the zombies for you, and just taking care of our parents will do!”
“How did it become your parents again?” Zhang XiaoBai interjected.
Shi Tou replied: “Didn’t we say that Gu Ning’s parents are everyone’s parents? Then aren’t they our parents?”
Jia DaoZhang squeezed to the front and comforted her: “Gu Ning, don’t worry. Just look at Xiang Yi, if once doesn’t work, try it again, if twice also doesn’t work, then try it for the third time, if not, then four times or even five times. The *sincerity splits open gold, and will always succeed in the end. Don’t you agree too, Xiang Yi?”
(T/N: 精诚所至, 金石为开jīng chéng suǒ zhì ， jīn shí wéi kāi translated as sincerity splits open gold which means with a will, one can achieve anything.)
Xiang Yi’s expression instantly changed a few times, before he squeezed out a sentence in between his gritting: “Spit out my crystal core.”
At once, Jia DaoZhang dryly coughed for a little bit and then awkwardly smiled.
“What are you all gathering here for? The fresh air is all being s*cked by all of you!” Brother San yelled at them, then squeezed himself to the front of Gu Ning and said: “Gu Ning, don’t worry. Since you have called me Uncle San, then I will recognize you as my niece. From now on, you, elder brother, and sister-in-law will all be our main protecting target from Third Company. Even if you don’t have any special ability in the future, as long as I’m alive, I can assure you that no one will bully you.”
Gu Ning didn’t hesitate to trust the promise made by Brother San. Of course, she knew that making such a promise would mean that he wouldn’t hesitate to carry three burdens which would be her and her parents. She glanced at the concerned faces that were vaguely tense and knew that all their various words of comfort were in fear that she would be disappointed and upset because she had not developed her powers. For some reason, the disappointment in Gu Ning’s heart was suddenly swept away, and she suddenly felt very touched and even wanted to cry a bit.
In order not to lose her cool too much, Gu Ning smiled and replied: “Won’t you guys show your results to me?”
Afterward, she learned that everyone but her and her parents didn’t develop any special abilities. Even Cheng Ming, Jia DaoZhang, and Zhang XiaoBai, the three of them had mutated special abilities that seemed so unbelievably powerful.
Gu Ning remarked helplessly: “It seems that I don’t have any psychic energy because of my family’s genetic heritage.”
When Father and Mother Gu knew that Gu Ning was fine, their hearts, which had been worried, finally relaxed and they just smiled helplessly.
The crowd laughed very sensibly.
Gu Ning smiled and suggested: “Brother San, today is a great day. Why don’t we celebrate by having something nice to eat tonight?!”
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
Of course, they had this intention, but they were concerned about Gu Ning, so they had planned to leave it at that. At this point, seeing that Gu Ning didn’t seem to be faking her happiness, they all relaxed and bickered again about what they wanted to eat this evening.
Huang MengYao smiled and chimed in: “I can take care of starting the fire.”
Zhong Xu continued: “Then I’ll take care of the water.”
Brother San helplessly interrupted their giddy division of labour and said: “First of all, we have to get something we can cook to eat, right?”
Gu Ning’s eyes brightened and she smiled: “Brother San, have you forgotten about those chickens that Wang JiZhong keeps in his backyard?”
Brother San froze for a moment, and when he met Gu Ning’s bright eyes, he instantly understood that Gu Ning was preparing to settle the scores with Wang JiZhong.
Mother Gu suddenly remembered something and asked after looking around: “Ugh. Gu Ning, where’s your Auntie HongJuan?”
Gu Ning stunned: “Isn’t she with you guys?”
Mother Gu replied: “Nope she isn’t. This morning when she saw both of us were worried, she said that she would go to the gate and check if you guys were back. Your father and I were old and forgetful. We were so happy to see that you guys were back then and we assumed that she had followed you all back in and didn’t pay much attention to her. What if something happened to her?!”
Gu Ning instantly had some bad premonition, but still reassured Mother Gu and replied: “It’s probably nothing, what could go wrong. I’ll go out and look for her right away.” Then she passed a wink to Father Gu.
Father Gu understood and interjected: “I just saw her playing with the kids in the hallway. You didn’t see her. Why not NingNing, you go out and look for her.”
“Alright.” Gu Ning stood up as she replied.
“Oh no, oh no!” Suddenly, several young boys rushed in sweating profusely, panting, and reported to the room full of people: “We just saw the red-headed granny at the back playground and she is being taken there! They said she stole something and were going to shoot her!”
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(T/N: Sorry for the late update as I was held up in an event yesterday. Thank you for your kind patience and understanding =) )
(Editor: De Vile)
