Chapter 189 - 188: How the Steel Was Tempered

Chapter 189: Chapter 188: How the Steel Was Tempered

"Wow! Sister Qing! Let me try too!"

Seeing Su Qing display her Divine Power, Chu Zhaozhao excitedly ran to the tree. She grabbed the axe handle with both hands, braced her foot against the trunk, and pulled with all her might, gritting her teeth!

THUNK!

With a soft sound, the axe came free from the trunk. But its weight of over a hundred pounds fell entirely into her hands, instantly making her lose her balance. She hugged the axe and tumbled backward...

"Ahhh—"

Luckily, just as she was about to hit the ground, she remembered her Superpower. She stopped the axe in midair and used it to pull herself unsteadily back to her feet...

"How is this so heavy...?"

She saw Su Qing swing the axe and figured it wasn’t heavy. She’d been completely blindsided.

"I... Hah!"

Copying Su Qing, she raised the axe with both hands, let out a sharp cry, and swung it at the unlucky little tree again!

BANG!

This time, however, the axe didn’t bite into the wood. It only left a large gash on the trunk, sending splinters flying!

But the shock of the impact tore the axe from her grasp, and it fell to the side...

"This is the weapon I prepared for Wang Yuanhua. It’s fine for you to test it out, but it’s definitely not the right fit for you..."

Seeing Chu Zhaozhao about to try again, Lin Fan quickly gave them an out.

"Stop torturing this poor tree. Once you’ve killed another hundred zombies, I’ll get you new weapons..."

He reached out and ruffled the hair of Chu Zhaozhao, who was trying to use her power to make the axe cut down the tree. He then grabbed the axe and returned it to his storage space.

"Not bad... such a precise strike. Have you had training?"

Lin Fan walked over to Su Qing, took her hand to rub it, and said teasingly,

"Should I make a great axe for you later?"

After all, strength alone doesn’t mean you know how to wield an axe. An ordinary person has to practice for ages just to chop firewood, or they’ll swing improperly and have the blade bounce right off the wood.

Chu Zhaozhao was a good example. With her Superpower, she could lock the weapon at a fixed angle and make corrections on the fly, as if she were pressing down on the blade itself. But once she switched to controlling it by hand, she immediately couldn’t strike accurately.

Luckily, the wood absorbed part of the impact, so the handle’s vibration didn’t split the webbing of her hand as it had with Lin Fan. Still, the blow wasn’t easy on Su Qing; Lin Fan could feel her forearms still trembling slightly.

"I... I don’t know..."

She looked at her own hands in stunned disbelief, as if she were truly comprehending her own power for the first time.

Before, when using the spear, she felt she was just imitating Lin Fan’s movements. Or perhaps because she was so used to seeing Lin Fan take down a zombie with a single thrust, it never felt particularly jarring. But that axe strike just now made her truly understand what Lin Fan meant when he said they would get stronger with every zombie they killed.

Getting stronger wasn’t just about a simple increase in power; it was an all-around improvement of her entire physical system—reaction speed, balance, mastery and control over her own body, from explosive strength to stamina.

Just a few days ago, she would have needed a break after carrying a single bag of rice downstairs, yet now she could swing a great axe weighing over a hundred pounds. She felt dazed for a moment.

"No, thanks. I think the shield and spear are fine for me..."

As if unaccustomed to this axe-wielding version of herself, Su Qing politely declined Lin Fan’s enthusiastic sales pitch.

"Alright, then..."

Lin Fan was just being polite; he hadn’t really intended to make her an axe. After all, her strength hadn’t reached the point where it could overcome all techniques, and blindly adding more weight would just be a burden.

But that strike made him suddenly realize something. If every Awakened One had a Superpower, then perhaps Su Qing’s wasn’t an external ability, but one manifested in her body itself.

After all, Lin Fan’s own control over his body and his skill with these weapons were inextricably linked to his past work experience.

Catching monkeys and herding gorillas, cleaning the rockeries and their crossbeams, and hanging from a safety harness over the bear enclosure to retrieve dropped items had all honed his excellent balance and agility.

Even routine check-ups and injections for the herbivores were extremely dangerous. If you didn’t want to get another tetanus shot, you had to find a way to dodge the hind legs of a zebra, the headbutt of an antelope, or the peck of an ostrich.

This had maxed out his reaction speed, and he practiced close-quarters dodging daily. After all, many of his "colleagues" were quite unruly; all they thought about was sneaking a bite out of you when you weren’t paying attention.

Closing sluice gates, turning massive wrenches, and wrestling with stubbornly resistant animals like kangaroos and deer had given him a knack for grappling.

Not to mention how to use a spear accurately.

The best way to get a big, heavy, and arrogant animal like a tiger to move quickly from one enclosure to another was to take a push pole over two meters long and, when it wasn’t looking, jab it in the butthole.

Mastery is one percent talent and ninety-nine percent being forced into it by life.

This day-in, day-out training was why he could hit the bullseye the very first time he picked up a spear.

The boost in constitution from his awakened power and his health bar had only greatly accelerated that process.

But Su Qing was different. How could a retired female announcer wield a great axe so precisely on her very first try? It could only be attributed to her Superpower.

No wonder she could handle a weapon set like the spear and shield, which looked simple but was actually difficult to apply in practice. She had some innate talent.

"Brother Lin, what the heck is this thing on the back of your greatsword...?"

Although Chu Zhaozhao couldn’t lift the greatsword, she was able to use her Superpower to pick it up and plant it in the dirt. She circled it, sizing it up, and suddenly noticed a strange, hammer-like protrusion on the spine of the blade. It was hollow and concave, and she couldn’t help but ask,

"Is it for decoration?"

"Er... just think of it as a counterweight..."

This "hammerhead" jutting from the sword’s spine was about forty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide—twice the width of the blade itself. It looked like a narrow, trapezoidal bowl had been welded onto it. Calling it a tool for bludgeoning people was a stretch; it looked more like some kind of mold.

If you looked at the greatsword only from its spine, it looked like a giant... ear scoop?

"You could also flip it over to smash things. Imagine—WHAP!—stamping an oval-shaped imprint on a monster’s face. How cool would that be... Anyway, how’s your hearing? Are your ears feeling any better?"

Lin Fan asked Chu Zhaozhao and Xu Qian.

"Tsk..."

Chu Zhaozhao wore an expression of disbelief. Her ears had only just started to recover, and now she was complaining that other people were too loud.

"They’re a little better... You don’t have to shout!"

"I can hear a little bit now, too..."

Xu Qian added quietly.

"Good,"

Lin Fan nodded and glanced at his watch. It was a little after three in the afternoon.

"Wait here for me for two minutes. I’m going to get something..."

With that, he headed toward the entrance of the residential complex.

...

A short while later, Lin Fan returned to the group, holding a blue and white plastic object.

It was a megaphone.

Lin Fan clumsily inserted four batteries.

VMMMM—

A piercing squeal of feedback erupted from it.

"Little Brother, what are you doing with that... Ah, I know!"

Su Qing looked at him in confusion, but then her eyes lit up with understanding. She covered her mouth and started to laugh.

It seemed the Giant-Armed Zombie from earlier had been lured down by Lin Fan and Chu Zhaozhao’s bickering, as they each tried to out-shout the other.

For Lin Fan to bring out a megaphone now, it was obviously for luring monsters.

"Let me, let me! My hands are free!"

Chu Zhaozhao, of course, understood this as well. She excitedly snatched the megaphone, eager to be the one to lure the monsters. But as she enthusiastically pressed a button, a sudden, loud recording blared out:

"BUYING OLD APPLIANCES—!"

The blast of sound made everyone jolt back, and even Chu Zhaozhao herself scrambled to press the off button.

"What the heck is this thing!"

She looked at Lin Fan and the others, her face a mask of embarrassment. After composing herself, she said,

"Let me try again..."

The commotion also drew the attention of the people moving supplies in the distance. Fortunately, this building had already been cleared, so the noise didn’t cause any trouble.

"You guys are almost done, so head back first. Wait until we’ve gone through all these buildings..."

Lin Fan quickly shouted to them.

"I’ll call you when it’s time to come back in."

"You got it, Brother Lin!"

Those men weren’t stupid. They saw what was about to happen and knew what the group was planning. They quickly ran toward the buildings near the main street to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"Testing, testing, one, two, three—"

Chu Zhaozhao’s voice boomed from the megaphone.

"Brother Lin! I figured it out, I figured it out! Let’s go, on to the next building..."