Chapter 118: Analysis

By the way, do you know why they came here?

As one of Qingbei's higher-ups, Song Yu pays special attention to outsiders; he doesn't mention Yi Zhong, the obvious enemy on the surface, and other forces within the school cannot be ignored either.

Although such forces are not many now, in every nook and cranny there will always be people huddling together for warmth; especially after last time's encounter with Chen Mu and He Ying, he can almost be certain that there is a moderately sized organization behind these two.

Even within Qingbei, combat-type ability users are scarce resources, so the members truly capable of being sent out to search for survivors are few, and casualties often occur; sometimes after a day, not only are no new people found, but one or two are lost.

Qingbei currently holds no hostility toward forces other than Yi Zhong, and will not use coercive means to recruit them, because in the view of Song Yu and others, these small forces can only last temporarily, cannot endure long, and will either die out on their own or submit.

But regarding He Ying's side, Song Yu has never felt certain; especially after seeing Chen Mu, he always feels this is an uncertain factor.

Zhaotong thought for a moment: 'According to him, he just happened to pass by, but that possibility is slim; I guess he saw us transporting food and came in to scout, not targeting us, because from beginning to end, these two people showed no special malice.'

Are you sure?

Yes, they were probably hiding inside for a while; seeing us not leave, they conceived the idea of ambushing me and Yangbu'an, which is how I detected them. You know, my 'malice perception' ability may not be very useful, but its accuracy has always been quite high.

Zhaotong self-deprecatingly continued: 'That Chen Mu, even when fighting Xiao Yang at its most intense, even once falling to the downwind, never had killing intent; on the contrary, He Ying, in the instant Xiao Yang ambushed, her anger flared greatly.'

Song Yu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed: 'I have exchanged a few words with this guy, but thinking back, I can't tell which are true and which are false; however, looking at it now, his claim that he harbors goodwill toward Qingbei is indeed true.'

Zhaotong asked: 'Then what is this person's stance...'

'I don't understand, but since he doesn't want to be an enemy of Qingbei, we have no need to provoke him actively.'

The two just chatted on like that.

Yangbu'an, however, couldn't take it anymore, interrupting them: 'Two senior schoolmates, there's still someone here who needs help; can you wait a bit before continuing the chat...'

Song Yu turned his head to look at him and chuckled: 'Future strongest Special Ability user, how did you end up in such a sorry state this time?'

'That guy doesn't observe martial decorum, he wormed my details out of me with talk; otherwise the outcome would still be uncertain...' Yangbu'an's defending voice grew lower and lower.

'Consider yourself lucky.'

Song Yu, while speaking, turned his head to the person behind him and said: 'Ma Fei, see if you can get his handcuffs off.'

The male student named Ma Fei had been following Song Yu's side; since entering, he hadn't uttered a word. At this moment he nodded, crouched down, and inspected Yangbu'an's hands and feet.

'Oh right, you're Ma Fei.' Yangbu'an giggled: 'Old Ma, I owe you a favor; if you run into trouble later, you can give my name—you should know who I am, destined to become the strongest...'

Ma Fei seemed to know this guy's bad habit; he turned a deaf ear to the noise, tapped the handcuffs with his knuckles, and turned back to Song Yu saying: 'It's stainless steel.'

Song Yu nodded: 'Can you soften it?'

'The density of steel is rather high; I'll do my best.'

Speaking, he extended his right palm and placed it on top.

About thirty seconds.

'Try breaking free yourself.'

Yangbu'an exerted force with both hands; the originally hard stainless steel turned soft and pliable, and he broke free in an instant.

'Wow, this works; there's also the feet.'

Seeing his ability take effect, Ma Fei wasn't happy; instead he let out a puzzled 'eh'.

'What's wrong?' Song Yu asked.

'It feels like my ability has gotten stronger.' Ma Fei turned over his palm, then seemed to realize something, picked up the stainless steel that had fallen to the ground, placed it in his hand and gave it a little toss, frowning: 'It's a bit weird.'

'Hmm?'

Song Yu took the item Ma Fei handed over, tried it too, and said: 'It's indeed stainless steel, but it feels much lighter.'

'Probably lighter by about half.'

'Maybe this is also a kind of ability.' Song Yu nodded.

'Looks like they also have quite a few people.' Zhaotong said.

Ma Fei said: 'If this ability is brought into Qingbei and combined with others, in construction it would be completely twice the result with half the effort.'

'It also depends on the strength of the ability, but it's definitely worth cultivating; too bad...'

The three chatted, completely ignoring Yangbu'an half-lying on the ground with his legs lifted in the air, who kept shouting:

'Old Ma, feet, and feet...'

……

Chen Mu brought He Ying back the same way; after calculating the time, about half an hour had passed. When he saw Wei Dalei and the others, he was severely scolded.

The five set off again.

He Ying kept looking back all the way, fearing the other side would break their promise and chase after them; only now did she feel somewhat relieved.

She gave the others a detailed recount of what had just happened.

Lu Shanshan and Xue Xu didn't have much to say, but Wei Dalei kept expressing regret, saying that if he had known earlier he should have gone over and settled the matter with Yangbu'an once and for all.

Strongest Special Ability user?

What nonsense, have you asked my Old Wei!

'What about that Zhaotong, guess what his ability is.' He Ying had indeed fought Yi Zhong a few times; she wasn't afraid, but thinking about it she felt a bit uneasy, especially that Zhaotong, who had an inscrutable air.

Chen Mu shook his head: 'Can't tell at all; either he's a master or a pretender master. Anyway, we haven't planned to be enemies of Qingbei, so whoever he is, it's best not to get entangled.'

'Good thing we're wearing helmets; even if we meet again next time, they won't recognize us.' He Ying had the feeling of having just finished showing off and running away; it was quite stimulating.

Chen Mu laughed: 'That's not easy to say.'

'Hmm?'

'I don't know if they recognized you, but I estimate that Zhaotong has already recognized you.'

'Why?' He Ying objected.

'Miss He, you're also a well-known figure in the school, same grade; isn't it strange to recognize you?'

Chen Mu spread his hands and said: 'Zhaotong has been staring at me from start to finish; even if his gaze sweeps over you, he quickly shifts it, which shows he's very familiar with you, subconsciously feeling he doesn't need to focus on you, and instead pays extra attention to me, this stranger.'

'But why didn't he expose us?'

'It depends on the situation; if in that earlier fight the loser had been me, perhaps he would have exposed us on the spot, but in the end it was Yangbu'an who lost, which obviously exceeded Zhaotong's expectations...'

Chen Mu said up to here, paused for a moment, then continued: "Looking at it this way, Zhaotong might really just be putting on a show; he is probably not suited for combat."