Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63
This time, Song Xiaoran moved to the front of the group.
Worried about further Aberrant attacks, Ling You’er chose to possess Gu Lingxue. As the team advanced, Ling You’er explained the details of her Ability to Gu Lingxue.
Simple possession consumed very little energy, but assisting with or controlling another person’s Ability would rapidly drain her mental power.
Gu Lingxue nodded seriously, and the topic between the two quickly shifted to the subtle atmosphere between their other two teammates, then extended further into the interaction patterns of the teammates they knew.
The two of them instantly started gossiping like mad in private.
【Wow, they’re literally comparing notes now…】
【Xie Chang’an, turn around and look. Song Xiaoran, you too. If you don’t, they’re going to dig up even your underwear colors.】
【Honestly, I didn’t expect Song Xiaoran to be pretty gentle within Class S.】
【He’s so cold right now. He doesn’t look like it.】
【This is making me curious about Class S now. Ji Qing is also pretty lively inside Class S, so they must already get along really well there.】
【There were signs of that as early as the start of the semester.】
【With Shao Huayu there, the atmosphere in Class S can basically be kept under control.】
【Zhou Que is hot-tempered and impulsive, but he listens to Shao Huayu.
Shao Huayu’s prestige in the great-family circle is way too high. The two from great-family backgrounds will both listen to him. Other than Ji Qing maybe being able to suppress him a little, I can’t think of what kind of conflict Class S would even have.】
【Having fewer people is an advantage.】
【What I’m actually curious about is how Shao Huayu and Ji Qing get along.】
Without realizing it, the topic of the manga’s barrage comments had shifted to how Class S interacted with one another.
Ji Qing could tell that the readers were extremely interested in Class S. Since most of the readers of Ability Hunter Academy were teenagers, and people at that age were almost always drawn to strength, Class S, as the apex of the school pyramid, naturally had an enormous amount of discussion around it.
During the Individual Competition, the two participating members from Class S had already demonstrated their strength.
Because of that, the readers had become even more curious about the remaining members of Class S, not to mention that the manga’s main plot had already clearly pointed toward the development of “the protagonist rising to Class S.” At this, Ji Qing smiled meaningfully. “Once Xie Chang’an makes it into Class S, that’s when things will really get interesting.”
Among his current classmates— aside from Ling You’er, the rest of their manga portrayals were all very different from the impressions they gave off in reality.
Ji Qing was also baffled by how Zhou Que had managed to establish two similar yet not quite identical personas at the same time, while You Xingluo had practically vanished from the manga from start to finish. Ji Qing even suspected that manga readers still could not clearly remember what You Xingluo looked like.
The dignified head of the You family had completely degenerated into a background character in the early part of the manga.
Was this a distortion of human nature, or the collapse of morality?
Ji Qing was extremely excited to see how the forum would react once You Xingluo’s identity came to light. Shao Huayu’s status as young master was practically written on his face, yet You Xingluo had not exposed anything at all. He was practically becoming a hidden time bomb for the forum.
In the manga, the group stumbled into a rocky sea cave by the shore.
Holding a flashlight, Song Xiaoran studied the route ahead toward the surging current. Since he had not brought the vine earring with him, everything after coming onto the island had to be judged by himself, but Song Xiaoran could clearly feel that something was abnormal here.
In the past, he had always been able to smoothly sense the forest’s summons. Only here had that perception become intermittent and broken.
【A Child of the Forest?】
【Song Xiaoran’s Ability feels insane. If you dropped him into a tropical rainforest, he could directly rule the place. Other than not being suited for air and sea combat, all his buffs for land combat are maxed out.】
【In the wasteland, where would air combat even come from?】
【Humanity lost air superiority a long time ago, and they’ve basically lost control of the sea too. Didn’t the teacher specifically pull Chang’an aside before the competition and explain Xicheng and the ocean situation to him?】
【Oh right.】
【And yet a Song Xiaoran like that is only the Third Seat.】
【Now I’m ridiculously curious about the strength of the other two, especially Ji Qing. Yuexia, hurry up and draw it already. I want to see Ji Qing fight.】
【Wait—am I the only one actually analyzing the plot here?
If Song Xiaoran is really a Child of the Forest, then doesn’t that basically confirm the Team Competition boss isn’t a plant-type Aberrant? (Though, does the Team Competition even have a boss?)】
Ji Qing’s fingertip suddenly stopped.
He put down the mouse in his hand, leaned back in the chair, and his expression turned grave. The appearance of this section in the manga proved one thing: the issue was not with the Aberrant vine, but with Song Xiaoran himself.
The key reason their team had been able to discover the Aberrant octopus and reach the entrance to the cave had been Song Xiaoran’s perception.
Even as Ji Qing secretly relaxed, a trace of doubt still rose uncontrollably in his heart:
Why was Song Xiaoran able to do that?
Was it because of his Ability, or because of his mental power? None of that was certain yet, but now that Ji Qing knew the result, he felt he could let the professor conduct his research without worry. After all, a convenient detection method was not going to be developed within the next few years.
The four-person team’s exploration continued.
After another round of discussion within the team, the group decided to go deeper into the cave. Their formation was: Song Xiaoran in the lead, Gu Lingxue in the middle, and Xie Chang’an guarding the rear.
Gu Lingxue felt dejected about this. She felt that ever since the Individual Competition, she had not been of much use, and now she was being protected between two boys again. Although she very much wanted to prove herself, she also knew she might only make things worse.
With a blank face, Ling You’er remarked, “Just let those stinky boys handle it. In the end, I’ll be the one cleaning things up anyway.”
【I’m dying, hahaha.】
【Ling You’er is so confident in herself.】
【This really shows both of their personalities well. Yuexia really loves this kind of contrast. I thought Ling You’er had been timid before, but it turns out she’s actually pretty confident.】
【Huh—】
【Don’t tell me you don’t know about Ling You’er’s performance in the Team Competition?】
【Ling You’er is just socially anxious! Though the way social anxiety looks from the outside is pretty similar to timidity too. (facepalm)】
【She is from a great family, after all.】
“It feels like it’s a matter of achievements,” Ji Qing said, rolling his eyes thoughtfully.
Ling You’er had real accomplishments backing her up. Children from the great families never lacked experience in dangerous zones. As for Gu Lingxue… she had not had any experience in the Ability world before, and even now she still did not have any battle record impressive enough to show.
So it was only natural that Gu Lingxue would be more prone to insecurity.
What a pity. A trace of regret flashed through the depths of Ji Qing’s eyes: he had quite liked the confident and open way Gu Lingxue had spoken when she first arrived at the school. But looking back on it now, the two of them really had had a bit of that “newborn calves are not afraid of tigers” feeling.
As expected of the manga’s main cast, who had dared to destroy a bandit hideout by themselves back in Volume One.
The next chapter switched to the perspective of the other teams.
The manga marked the current time and the island location in the upper-left corner to help readers sort through the Team Competition timeline. Shao Huayu, Zhou Que, and Feng Youyou worked together and completed a one-sided slaughter on the beach.
The three of them coordinated cleanly and efficiently, with their goal fixed directly on first place in the Team Competition.
The narration described what the group had seen after landing on the island and the route they had taken. It even made a point of explaining that they had chosen the most dangerous route. After showing the team’s situation, Zhou Que discovered signs of species evolution on the beach.
The topic between the three of them instantly turned grave.
At that point, the barrage comments split in different directions:
【Species evolution? A lord?】
【Their teamwork is so good. Unlike the protagonist’s team. Everyone over there is just wearing themselves out internally, TAT…】
【I feel like Zhou Que’s attitude isn’t as terrible as the forum made it sound, right? During all this, he was asking Youyou for her opinion, and when using fire control, he was careful not to affect his teammates. His arrogance in the Individual Competition was probably just because the two of them were opponents at the time, right?】
【That’s true.】
【If I hadn’t already seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn’t have been able to imagine this was Zhou Que.】
【Shao Huayu’s commands are so clear too.】
【Hey, hey, hey, focus on the lord and species evolution for me!】
【You really can’t see any of that information from Chang’an’s team at all. I get it now. So Yuexia is using multiple teams’ experiences to piece together the truth of the island?】
【And yet all I know is that there’s a boss. (facepalm)】
Ji Qing suddenly smiled helplessly.
He understood how serious Shao Huayu’s discovery had been, but he had not expected most readers to focus instead on each team’s situation. Ji Qing muttered to himself, “Their resentment really does run deep.”
The manga perspective switched again in the next chapter.
After many chapters, Ji Qing finally saw a front-facing shot of himself in the manga again. While killing flying fish, he spoke with You Xingluo about what they had seen on the island, and the manga also briefly reviewed his encounter with the starfish the day before.
They discussed “the island’s changes” and, step by step, gradually inferred the truth of the island.
【Wow…】
【That’s amazing. I still haven’t understood anything on my side yet, and the two of them have already started peeling away the truth layer by layer.】
【This You Xingluo is pretty impressive.】
【He’s from a great family and gets along well with Shao Huayu. Could he possibly have some hidden identity?】
【That lines up with the analysis from the big forum posters!!!】
【This is giving me the feeling of an ensemble drama. Every team is searching for the truth, and each team’s progress is different. Okay, I get it now. Next, the three teams are going to converge, share information, and fight the island boss together.】
【Is the plot moving that fast?!】
“Heh.” Resting his chin in one hand, Ji Qing smiled helplessly. “What other process were you expecting? If things could come to a smooth conclusion at all, I would already be thanking heaven and earth.”
At the time, the situation had been critically urgent.
Seen purely from the manga’s perspective, it really did have a steadily escalating sense of tension.
Song Xiaoran’s team, as the team closest to the island’s core, understood the island the least. Shao Huayu’s team, as the team bold enough to take risks, understood the island’s danger, but not its exact cause. Ji Qing’s own team knew what was happening on the island, but they could not find the direction.
At that time, all three teams had been feeling their way across the river.
Liu Mu soon appeared in the manga.
The manga narration specifically explained why the three of them had split up, then reviewed Liu Mu’s Ability from Ji Qing’s point of view. When Ji Qing saw this part, something about it felt strange, probably because the manga version of himself had been given fabricated inner thoughts.
Liu Mu stepped forward and read the flying fish’s memories, and his expression changed drastically at once.
After hearing Liu Mu’s explanation, You Xingluo instantly realized that something was wrong. In a grave voice, he said to the other two, “This lord… it has the ability to trigger a new Black Tide.”
【Huh?】
【Holy shit, is it really that serious? What boss are we even supposed to be fighting right now?】
【Don’t panic.】
【“Has the ability to trigger one” and “is trying to trigger one” are two different things.】
【An Intelligent Aberrant, a lord, a Black Tide, species evolution… with all those labels stacked together, I have a really bad feeling about this. It honestly feels like Aberrant civilization is going to grow to a height humanity can never reach, and then humanity will keep getting pushed back step by step.】
【Don’t be so pessimistic.】
【You’re worrying about nothing.】
【The protagonist is only in his first semester right now. What I’m actually curious about is how high the future plot is going to go, when Yuexia is already drawing things like “has the ability to trigger a Black Tide” this early. (No need to doubt it, I believe Yuexia has an outline.) (smile)】
It would probably rise to the level of “Aberrant infiltrator,” wouldn’t it? Ji Qing blinked innocently.
Right now, Ji Qing still did not know whether he would be able to preserve the identity of “Qing.” Compared with his other two identities, the identity of this one was much trickier. The Infected were still humans, at least. Aberrants, however, directly fell outside the category of humanity.
The next chapter of the manga returned to Xie Chang’an’s team.
By now, the readers had basically figured out the island’s situation. They understood what was coming next even more clearly than the team members who were still exploring it. A great many readers began shouting warnings at the protagonist through the screen:
【Don’t go in like that!】
【Everyone, please stay on your guard, ahhh!】
【Closest to the culprit, but also the least able to understand the current situation. Yuexia’s setup here is amazing.】
【Our Chang’an really is the man who’s been charging forward recklessly from Volume One until now.】
【Is this even something he gets to decide?】
【The readers understand the situation better than the protagonist, and now we’re watching the protagonist walk straight down the wrong path. What kind of bizarre development is this?】
【I’m so scared of what’s coming next.】
Just as the barrage comments were frantically flooding the screen, the situation changed abruptly. A gigantic Aberrant octopus suddenly thrust out its tentacles from the underground river in the cavern and seized the humans present. Xie Chang’an sliced through the octopus tentacle binding him with a backhand strike, but still fell into the underground river.
Because Song Xiaoran was inside the cavern, his Ability could not take effect immediately.
Just as he was about to make use of the moss on the cave wall, Gu Lingxue was violently dragged into the underground current. Seeing that, he blinked blankly, decisively gave up struggling, and simply waited for the tentacle to carry him away from where he stood.
In an instant, only the utterly isolated Xie Chang’an remained at the scene.
Xie Chang’an: “…Ah.”
【I’m dying, hahahahaha.】
【He resisted the hardest, and somehow he’s the one who got left behind instead.】
【Chang’an, you… does Yuexia have a grudge against you or something, hahaha?】
【This is so funny.】
【Stop laughing already! Our protagonist has a temper too!!! Laugh! Go ahead and laugh louder!!!】
After standing there dumbfounded for a moment, Xie Chang’an immediately came back to his senses.
He put away the Tang saber in his hand, took a deep breath first, and then dove straight to the bottom of the river. Although the move was extremely reckless, there was no room left for him to think about whether it was reasonable. What filled Xie Chang’an’s mind at that moment was the safety of his companions.
Perhaps because the island itself was not that large, Xie Chang’an soon caught sight of dim, blurry light in the water.
His companions’ voices drifted toward him like duckweed, vague and unreal.
With difficulty, Xie Chang’an pulled his focus together, and then he heard the encouraging voices of his teammates.
When he finally used ice to break the surface, his teammates had already begun fighting the Aberrant octopus. Ling You’er’s translucent figure flickered in and out before his eyes. Looking at Gu Lingxue, who was soaked from head to toe, she said in approval, “Yes, exactly like that!”
【Ling You’er reacted so fast.】
【She can directly control Xuexue’s body, but she still chose to let Xuexue learn how to handle it herself.】
【Feels like she noticed Xuexue’s inferiority complex.】
【She handles the hard parts herself, and during ordinary times she just supports from behind the scenes. ‘Ghost Possession’ is way too godly. It’s basically a life-saving skill for rookies.】
【Song Xiaoran is the one who’s really amazing. His on-the-spot reaction speed was ridiculously fast.】
【If he hadn’t reacted that quickly, Gu Lingxue and the others still wouldn’t have been able to breathe underwater.】
【He even gave Chang’an a hand in the middle of the fight.】
【The way those two coordinate in the middle of battle is seriously beyond criticism.
I want to take back every inappropriate thing I ever said about Song Xiaoran and Ling You’er. They’re so good, TAT…】