Chapter 335: Making an Enemy

Gu Chen came forward to explain, walking right past Zhang Biyun on the ground and hurrying over to Xie Ning’s side.

Zhang Biyun’s raised hand froze in midair. She felt the blood flow faster from the wound on the back of her neck as her heart sank into the depths of an abyss.

’Gu Chen... he didn’t even spare me a glance? He just walked right past me?’

’Even if it were a stray cat or dog bleeding out on the ground, anyone would at least glance at it, much less a living person like me.’

Gu Chen acted as if she was completely invisible.

And it wasn’t just him. Lu Wei and the others also hurried past her, one after another, without a single person caring whether she lived or died.

Zhang Biyun felt the blood run cold in her veins. A wheezing sound escaped her throat as she choked out in grief and indignation, "Gu Chen, for... for the sake of the... the Zhang family in the Capital, you can’t just leave me here to die."

"She must have also absorbed a Speed Ability User previously." This would explain why, after not having seen her for some time, Zhang Biyun had managed to awaken so many different types of superpowers.

’Absorption?’

’So this absorption ability really is an insanely powerful special superpower.’

’Good thing we dealt with her now.’

Xie Ning reflected inwardly.

’If this woman had been allowed to get stronger, reaching Fourth or Fifth Rank, she might have actually been able to kill me with ease, just like she’d dreamed.’

’Good thing the brainless Zhang Biyun was too impatient and came right for me.’

’Well, it makes sense. When you get an insanely powerful special ability like that, you can’t help but want to test it out on your enemies.’

’A pity she was too eager.’

Xie Ning drew her knife and delivered the final blow to Zhang Biyun’s head, sending her to join her father and brother.

Even at the moment of her death, Zhang Biyun couldn’t fathom how she had died so easily.

As the Energy Crystal popped out of Zhang Biyun’s body, Xie Ning stored it on the terrace without a second glance.

She wasn’t very interested in this strange superpower, feeling that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

’If your superpowers are too many and varied, it’s probably hard to advance in Rank, isn’t it?’

"What else did your investigation find?" Xie Ning turned and walked toward Gu Chen.

Gu Chen turned to the stone-faced, baby-faced young man. "Xiao Bai, gather all of these, and the bodies by the tents. Burn everything."

Zhai Ruobai’s baby face fell, and he secretly glanced at Lu Wei.

"Go on." Lu Wei shot him an expressionless glance, then left him behind to follow their leader.

Zhai Ruobai instantly felt like an unwanted child, disliked by his superiors and used as their personal trash can day in and day out.

Gu Chen ignored Er Bai’s resentful gaze and pulled Xie Ning forward, continuing with his report. "What do you want to know? Is it about the special absorption superpower?"

Xie Ning nodded with interest. "Tell me. That superpower sounds incredibly strong, like having a cheat code. If you had it, could you become the ultimate Superpower User? Possessing every kind of ability?"

Gu Chen chuckled and glanced down at her. "I’m sure you had your doubts. This absorption ability is special and seems powerful on the surface, but it actually has huge drawbacks."

"Although it can absorb any kind of superpower, the absorbed superpowers can never grow stronger."

"Oh." Xie Ning’s eyes lit up.

’Just as I thought! A chaotic collection of every superpower under the sun is useless!’

"The absorbed superpowers are permanently fixed at their initial level, and you can only absorb from people of a lower Rank than yourself."

"In other words, Zhang Biyun had previously absorbed from First-Rank Earth Element and First-Rank Space Ability Users. Do you think that’s useful?"

"Useless," Xie Ning said, shaking her head.

Most Superpower Users out there were Second Order Superpower Users now.

And quite a few Third-Rank Superpower Users had emerged as well. Absorbing a First-stage Superpower might seem decent right now.

But in the long run, it was practically useless.

In six months or a year, when everyone else had reached Third, Fourth, or even Fifth Rank, what good was a power that’s still stuck at First Rank?

In a fight, no one cares how many different kinds of superpowers you have.

"Yes, very useless," Gu Chen nodded. "Furthermore, because this absorption ability isn’t a conventional superpower, advancing its own Rank is also extremely difficult."

"Imagine having eighteen different types of superpowers, but they’re all stuck at First or Second Rank."

Xie Ning couldn’t help but laugh. "Right. A jack of all trades, but a master of none. That really would be a headache."

"Let’s go. We’re heading back to the base now."

"How’s the loading of the supplies coming along?"

"Two more trips by air and we’ll have it all." Gu Chen smiled and squeezed Xie Ning’s hand. "Captain Zuo said that it’s all thanks to Ningning that we were able to find this huge stash of supplies so quickly and efficiently."

Xie Ning thought for a moment, then smiled, her lips pursed. "If Zuo Li knew I found another batch of supplies for her, she’d be really happy, wouldn’t she?"

The smile on Gu Chen’s face vanished, inch by inch.

Xie Ning didn’t notice and continued cheerfully, "The supplies I found for the captain are no less than this batch from the Barbarian Base."

"At this rate, we should have no problem getting through the six-month Ice Age."

"The captain will be so happy. I’ll go tell her later."

Gu Chen was not smiling at all!

’He suddenly realized Ningning pays more attention to Zuo Li than she does to me!’

’Why?’ The thought made him a little upset. He tugged her hand, pulling her to his side. "Girlfriend, why don’t you worry about how you’re going to explain us to your grandparents when we get back?"

Girlfriend?

The entire group following their captain, Lu Wei included, turned to stare at their leader, their faces plastered with confusion.

’When did Ningning become the boss’s girlfriend?’

’So when did they start dating?’

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Gu Chen turned to look at his brothers. "We’re not dating. We just upgraded from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Ningning agreed."

Xie Ning: ???

’When did I ever agree to that? This guy is shameless, twisting the truth like this.’

’If he didn’t look so handsome with those smiling, curved eyes, I’d have already started punching him.’

"Not dating?" Lu Wei and the others stared at Gu Chen, completely baffled.

"We are not. Absolutely not. Dating is such a waste of time!" Gu Chen declared with a completely straight face. "We aren’t going to ’date.’ From now on, as boyfriend and girlfriend, we’ll spend our time together training, advancing our superpowers, setting up stalls to earn Crystal Cores, and... we’ll kill the monsters, and my girlfriend can follow behind and pick up all the leftover Crystal Cores!"

Lu Wei glanced at the expressionless Xie Ning, then turned away to hide his laughter.

’I’m glad you think that way, young man,’ Xie Ning thought. She was particularly satisfied with the part about them fighting monsters while she followed behind, picking up the spoils.

Xie Ning considered it. ’It seems this ’girlfriend’ position doesn’t come with any disadvantages for me at all.’

Gu Chen happily pulled Xie Ning forward. "Girlfriend, we’ll head back to the base in a bit. First, let’s go dig a bigger cellar for us."

"So, with Chaoyang Base... I guess we’ve made a permanent enemy of them, huh?" Xie Ning asked in a low voice.

"Don’t worry. So what if we have? The Ice Age is about to start. I doubt they’ll be able to come looking for revenge."