Mother Xu smiled as she lifted a clay pot from the fire and handed bowls and chopsticks to her two children. “I made this specially for you. You can start eating.”
She then sat down on the couch, gently touching a large tear in Xu Song’s sleeve with a worried look.
“The day after you left, someone came to our door, claiming to be acting on orders from Elder Wu. They said they were here to help us build a shelter. Coincidentally, my sisters had also brought over the things we processed that day, which they just delivered to the yard.”
“They said that because you both performed exceptionally well during the mission and saved everyone’s lives, the higher-ups at the base are very grateful. So they came here to assist us and mentioned that this is the treatment that a D-class squad should receive. These additional lands, along with the ones we originally rented, are now declared tax-free. They even brought two earth-type ability users to help with the construction of the walls and a metal-type ability user who helped us set up the shelter.”
“They also brought a pair of rat pelts and a large dog kennel for us—oh, by the way, I put that wolf fur inside the kennel for Abu. It’s cozy in there. When the weather gets warmer, we’ll let it sleep outside directly.”
After finishing her explanation, Mother Xu looked at her two children with some concern and asked, “How was your mission? Did you encounter any dangers?”
Both children had some scrapes and damage to their jackets. When the people from the base came to visit, Mother Xu initially thought something had happened to her children, and these items were compensation. However, she later found out that although they had encountered a few dangerous attacks, her two children were unharmed and had contributed the most. The base had come to make amends with them.
When they arrived, they even hinted that they hoped the news about the free shelter and rent exemption wouldn’t spread too widely, as it might cause complications. Even though Xu Song and the others were indeed formidable, that’s just how the world works—people are not concerned about scarcity but rather inequality. Mother Xu naturally didn’t want to stir up trouble.
Xu Song picked up a meatball and blew on it to cool it down. This kind of warm food was perfect for winter. It was so comforting!
“Nothing much happened. It’s just that those ability users we encountered were pretty useless, which made us look more capable…”
*Smack!*
He got a slap on the head from his own mother.
“Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on just because you didn’t tell me. I had Tiancheng ask Xiao Shu, and it doesn’t lie!” Mother Xu gave him a stern look, making Xu Song shrink back.
“Mom, there really isn’t much to it. We encountered a flock of birds on our way back today. These birds have become quite crafty; they drop objects from high altitudes like projectiles, causing some damage to the convoy. But both of us are fine.” Yue Zheng quickly reassured her.
When her own son spoke, Mother Xu might not believe him, but when Yue Zheng chimed in, even though she knew he was trying to comfort her, she found it more trustworthy.
“By the way, Tiancheng and Tianyou, take out your crystals.” Yue Zheng suddenly remembered the pouch, and the sooner they infused it with energy, the better. After all, the energy within the pouch would gradually diminish over time.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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She then saw the two of them each take out a pouch and affix it to the children’s crystals. In an instant, the substances within the pouches flowed into the crystal at a visible rate.
The two crystals were quickly filled, and they handed them back to the excited children. “Wear these, and when the energy inside is absorbed, continue to refill them.”
“What exactly are these for?” Mother Xu curiously picked up a purple pouch, inside of which flowed a lightning-like electric current, which was exceptionally beautiful.
“We’ve already absorbed energy from them once. It seems like the abilities we emit have become faster… I’m sure there are benefits to using them. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how much energy the crystals can store. ” Xu Song explained.
As they were talking, the purple pouch in Mother Xu’s hand seemed to slip from her grasp and fell. She was startled and reached out to catch it, but instead, it bounced off her hand and landed on the half-finished gloves she was making.
“Oops!” Mother Xu reached out to pick it up but accidentally discovered that the pouch had been pierced by the needle on the glove she was working on. Her hand was also pierced at the same time, and an electric purple light burst out, touching her bloody hand. “Ah!”
A surge of electric purple light entered Mother Xu’s hand the moment she touched the pouch, and the shocking sensation climbed up her hand through the wound, making her feel as if she had been electrocuted.
“Mom!” Xu Song was startled, and he didn’t even notice the spoon in his hand falling to the ground. He quickly embraced his mother, but the electric current seemed to linger on Mother Xu’s body and didn’t flow into Xu Song.
Yue Zheng immediately got up and subconsciously glanced at the pouch. The electric purple radiance inside had already disappeared. Blood was flowing from Mother Xu’s hand, some of which fell onto the empty pouch.
Mother Xu’s mouth had a bloodstain, and Xu Song was so frightened that his heart almost stopped beating. He no longer had a father, and he couldn’t afford to lose his mother!
“Xiao Shu!” Yue Zheng made a quick decision and immediately looked at the small tree standing by the coffee table.
The small tree swayed, and a brilliant green light enveloped Mother Xu.
The bleeding from the corners of her mouth and eyes stopped, and Mother Xu’s trembling body gradually calmed down. After a while, when the green light had completely dissipated, she opened her eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.
“Mom, Mom!” Xu Song hugged his mother, his voice trembling with tears. His mother’s appearance, with blood at the corners of her eyes and mouth, resembled the look of those zombies right before they died. Those people died because of energy, and his mother almost suffered because of his mistake…
The more he thought about it, the more regretful he became. How could he let his mother touch that thing? He knew very well that the pouch contained energy, and his mother was just an ordinary person without abilities!
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Mother Xu reassured, although she felt a bit weak, her spirit was strong, and her mind was clear. She saw how frightened her son was and quickly patted his back to comfort him.
Xu Song’s hands were trembling, and he reached out to wipe the blood from his mother’s mouth. Mother Xu saw the blood and hesitated for a moment before wiping it herself. She looked at the blood on her hand, then at her dumbfounded son. She raised her hand and directly wiped the blood onto Xu Song’s jacket…
The emotional atmosphere and the feeling of surviving a disaster were instantly ruined by Mother Xu. Xu Song shook his hands, looking at his mother as if she had gone crazy, wondering, “Mom, what are you doing?”
“Oh, your clothes have been a mess for the past few days anyway. They need a good wash.”
So, you wiped the blood on my clothes, huh? So, you’re not worried that the blood might stain the clothes and be hard to clean?
Yue Zheng, who was equally shocked, quickly adjusted his emotions. “Mom, do you feel okay? Is there anywhere on your body that doesn’t feel comfortable?”
Mother Xu looked down at her hands, then at her body, and raised her head with bloody spots on her face and at the corners of her eyes. She shook her head. “No, I feel fine…” She hadn’t finished her sentence when a strange purple spark burst out from her hand, causing Xu Song, who was sitting next to her, to scream.
“Xu Song!” Yue Zheng, who was worried about his little wife, immediately embraced him and checked if Xu Song was injured.
Mother Xu stared blankly at her hand as she noticed that something strange had just emerged from it. After a while, another small lightning spark appeared from between her fingers.
“Son… Mom seems to have… changed too,” Mother Xu, unexpectedly awakened her abilities, and traced the source back to that purple pouch.
It took Xu Song quite a while to calm down, and Mother Xu, after numerous tests, managed to control her erratic electric abilities. In her own words, as someone of her age, she’d rather learn how to instantly prepare a full meal than discharge electricity.
Unfortunately, Mother Xu’s wish was probably beyond the capabilities of abilities, and only magic might achieve such a feat.
Finally regaining some stability, Xu Song analyzed and concluded that until now, people without abilities who wanted to awaken them needed to meet the following conditions.
- Possess a pouch containing energy with ability attributes.
- Have a wound on their body.
- Pierce the pouch while allowing the energy inside to flow into the body through the wound.
- If they weren’t instantly killed or exploded by the energy, then there was a chance they might gain abilities.
Unfortunately, these four conditions were extremely difficult to fulfill. Even Mother Xu, if it weren’t for Xiao Shu promptly releasing its healing light, she might not have survived.
As for whether there would be other ways to obtain abilities in the future, Xu Song didn’t know. That was something for the base scientists to research; it had nothing to do with him.
And now, his own mother had unexpectedly gained the power of lightning. It could be considered a blessing in disguise.
“All right, all right. It’s already so late. Let’s go to sleep, and we can discuss this tomorrow!” Mother Xu waved her hand, conjuring a streak of lightning that nearly struck Xu Song’s hair. But Yue Zheng, acting swiftly, immediately grabbed him and leaped two meters backward.
Mother Xu, with her newfound abilities, was scarier than the mutant beasts outside!
Mother Xu blushed for half a second, then took the two children to bed. Xu Song finally breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
After several days of continuous battles, despite it being winter, they had still sweated a lot, and neither of them had changed their clothes. Now that they were back at the base, it was only natural to take a hot shower.
Xiao Shu had refilled the water tank, and there was still enough electricity left for a few more days of use in the car. However, if the snow didn’t stop tomorrow, they would need to consider buying electricity from the base.
While pondering this, the bathroom door behind him was pulled open.
“Hmm?” Seeing Yue Zheng walk in, Xu Song had a question mark hovering above his head and felt uncomfortable. He turned his body slightly and asked, “Do you need to use the toilet?”
However, Yue Zheng didn’t head for the toilet but instead began undressing.
“Let’s shower together, it’ll be quicker,” he said after seeing Xu Song freeze up.
Xu Song lowered his head, continuously glancing at his abdomen. His six-pack was still there.
Then he looked down at his own abdomen and reached to touch it, why was it like that even after exercising every day?!
A hot body pressed up against his back, and both of them squeezed under the shower together.
💖💖💖💖