Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Seeing the two of them emerge, Lin Fan casually tossed a spoon, sending it flying toward the top of Chu Zhaozhao’s head.

Chu Zhaozhao still had her head down, her face flushed and a little bashful.

But even without looking up, the spoon stopped abruptly in midair before flying back toward Lin Fan on the couch...

"Hey, don’t shun your doctor! I’m the one who helped you, how can you treat me like this... Go on, thank the doctor..."

There wasn’t much force behind the spoon, so Lin Fan caught it easily and continued to joke.

"Hmph... Thank you, Doctor!"

Chu Zhaozhao pouted but still thanked Lin Fan with great sincerity.

Su Qing walked over to the couch and gave Lin Fan’s shoulder a light pinch.

"Stop teasing her. What exactly is going on?"

Hearing Su Qing’s question, even Chu Zhaozhao suddenly perked up. Her eyes widened, her awkwardness forgotten, and she scooted closer to Lin Fan, sitting on the edge of the couch to look at him.

"How should I know... Superpowers, mutants, stuff like that. In any case, it’s a good thing... Here, let’s test it out. Catch!"

As he spoke, he tossed the spoon into the air. Chu Zhaozhao seized it with her power, leaving it to hover motionlessly over the coffee table.

"Forward..."

"Backward..."

"Left..."

"Right..."

"Great. Now that you’ve mastered basic movement, come on, try to snap it..."

After a series of tests, they temporarily concluded two things: first, she could only control metal objects, and second, she could only control their movement, not bend or distort them.

Even with Lin Fan patiently coaching her, trying to get her to imagine she had two virtual hands that could bend the spoon, all he got in return was a blank stare from Chu Zhaozhao.

It was like how you can’t bend your forearm or your shin, only your joints.

"This thing is just... straight. I can’t bend it..."

Chu Zhaozhao explained.

According to her, she wasn’t controlling things by grabbing them with virtual hands. Instead, anything within a certain range felt like an extension of her own body; she just had to "flex," and it would move.

For now, that range seemed to be about three meters. The heavier the object, the faster Chu Zhaozhao’s energy drained. Moving Lin Fan’s spear, for instance, cost her about one point of energy per second.

This made Lin Fan abandon his attempts to train her using knowledge he’d picked up from comic books.

"Hehehe... hehehe..."

Seeing Chu Zhaozhao having the time of her life, making three spoons dance and fly between her hands, Lin Fan decided to let her experiment on her own.

His own crystal abilities were almost all activation-based, not control-based. He had no idea how to manage an inherent power like Chu Zhaozhao’s.

"Er... can you try to rip that radiator off the wall...?"

Lin Fan said, a sudden idea striking him as he pointed to the radiator by the door.

Chu Zhaozhao let the three spoons fall into her hand, then reached out and began to focus her power...

GRUMBLE... GRUMBLE...

The radiator had just begun to tremble when a rumbling sound came from Chu Zhaozhao’s stomach. She pouted, turning to look at Su Qing.

"Sister Qing... I’m hungry..."

Only then did they realize they’d spent the entire morning investigating this superpower and hadn’t even eaten.

"Let’s go. First, let’s go home and wash up..."

It seemed Chu Zhaozhao had her energy back; she was even feeling hungry now.

Watching Chu Zhaozhao’s cheerful excitement, Lin Fan couldn’t help but compare her to Su Qing in his mind. ’One is a genius who soared to the heavens in a single step, while the other can only accumulate power slowly...’

’Is that really how it is?’

Su Qing herself might not have realized it, but her gaze toward Chu Zhaozhao held not just envy, but also a hint of quiet disappointment.

Lin Fan reached out and gave Su Qing’s hand a gentle pull, then turned to leave. As if remembering something, he looked back at Chu Zhaozhao and said:

"You get cleaned up too. Come over to my place to eat in a bit."

With that, he walked out, and the two of them returned to their own apartment.

The moment he closed the door, before Su Qing could even speak, Lin Fan pulled her down onto the couch.

He then found a bowl and placed it on the coffee table.

"Sister Qing, you need to try drinking some more of my blood..."

As he spoke, he picked up a scalpel from the coffee table and made a quick incision in his wrist. Fresh blood immediately welled up.

’Having just woken up, my body feels especially sensitive. This morning’s cut hurts more than both of the ones from yesterday.’

"Hiss... Forget it, just drink it directly..."

He was about to let his wrist bleed into the bowl, but then changed his mind. He extended his wrist directly to Su Qing’s lips, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Su Qing’s eyes widened at the sight, but she instantly understood Lin Fan’s intentions.

’I was the first one to get the key to awakening, but Zhaozhao manifested a completely different kind of power. The only reason must be that she drank the blood directly, and I didn’t.’

’So Lin Fan’s action now is to make up for that missing link...’

At this thought, Su Qing felt a surge of emotion. She gripped Lin Fan’s wrist with both hands, parted her small lips, and began to suckle...

GULP... GULP...

The occasional brush of Su Qing’s tongue against the wound sent a tingling numbness through his arm, lessening the pain considerably.

He watched his Life Value, which had just been fully restored, drop point by point from the blood loss. After it had fallen by 5 points, Lin Fan mentally equipped the Activation Crystal.

’The others only got about three points worth of blood, but for Su Qing, I let it drop by five before stopping...’

However, ten seconds passed, and the purple border around her health bar showed no change from drinking the fresh blood.

Lin Fan’s heart sank.

He had hoped to close the gap between their abilities this way, but the result was a clear "no."

’Maybe this wasn’t the reason Su Qing didn’t have a flashy superpower.’

’After all, it was the same for Zhaozhao. As long as the colored border solidified and stabilized, the awakening was considered complete. Aside from the color, the shape, thickness, and even the texture of Su Qing’s and Zhaozhao’s health bars were basically identical.’

’From that perspective, it just means that Zhaozhao awakened her unique special ability. The one that belongs to Su Qing must also exist, just hidden in less obvious details, waiting to be discovered...’

Suddenly, a tingling sensation at his wrist snapped Lin Fan out of his thoughts. He looked down to see that Su Qing, having noticed the bleeding had stopped, was now licking the wound with the tip of her tongue...

When she saw Lin Fan looking, her clear, dark eyes darted upward in a look full of provocation.

Provoked by her look, Lin Fan decided to stop worrying about the mysteries of awakening. He pulled his wrist from her lips, swept her into his arms, and carried her into the bedroom, tossing her onto the bed.

’It’s better to live in the moment...’

"Sister Qing... You ate my Crystal Stone yesterday, and you still haven’t paid me back..."

Lin Fan shut the door behind him, a wicked grin spreading across his face as he spoke to Su Qing.

Not to be outdone, Su Qing wrinkled her nose. "Zhaozhao ate one too, go make her pay you back..."

She rolled over and dove under the covers, leaving only her eyes showing, blinking playfully at Lin Fan.

"I’ll worry about her later. Today, I’m making you pay me back first!"

Lin Fan rubbed his hands together and pounced...

"Aaaah—Help me—"

Su Qing squirmed under the covers as items of clothing were tossed off the bed one by one...

...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

"Big Brother... Sister Qing..."

"Where is everyone? Didn’t you tell me to come over for food?"

Having washed up and changed into a fresh set of clothes, Chu Zhaozhao stood blankly outside the door, clutching three spoons in her hand.

She knocked for a while, but when no one answered, she turned and ran upstairs.

"Bro! Bro! Look, I’m a superhero now too!"

"Get up, Bro!"

...