Chapter 129: Factorization

From Dong Junwei and Gu Yinglong's conversation, this girl seems a bit slow-witted, but her intellect is fine; she just appears to have lost some memories.

Amnesia—that cliché term—entered everyone's thoughts.

Besides that, Gu Yinglong's words also seemed to confirm some of what everyone had previously thought.

"Sure enough, it's shrinking."

"But where on earth did they get so many potatoes?"

"..."

Dong Junwei continued asking, "How did you do that?"

Upon hearing the question, Gu Yinglong hesitated, then stretched out both hands, making a pushing motion in the air, and said, "Like this."

Obviously, since she couldn't describe it precisely, she could only demonstrate with that action.

But nobody understood it.

Tang Jing stepped forward: "Are those rice and tomatoes and such your handiwork?"

"Mm." Gu Yinglong nodded.

Tang Jing quickly turned: "Da Lei, help bring over a grain of rice."

At first the grain of rice, after having flour, consumption became much smaller; now only the last two grains remain.

When Wei Dalei went to move the rice, Tang Jing said to Chen Mu: "Why not let her out first?"

No one objected.

The iron cage imprisoning Gu Yinglong looked nothing special, very similar to what Chen Mu had made.

But at this size, having nothing special is itself the most special.

Obviously, among the ability users of Yi Zhong, someone can also do something similar.

Although for now there seems to be no repetition of abilities, many abilities can be similar, like Wei Dalei and Cao Zishan, and even completely different abilities can sometimes produce the same effect.

Moreover, the idea that abilities won't repeat is just a guess; the number of ability users everyone has seen, at most twenty or thirty, is obviously insufficient to discern any overarching pattern.

Chen Mu easily opened a hole in the iron cage.

Since the cage's height wasn't enough for a person to stand, Gu Yinglong pushed herself up with her hands, crawled out, and then stood.

Looking at her, her height is even half a head shorter than the previously tiniest Zhao Xiao Yan, truly like an elementary school student.

Just looking at her body, there's nothing unusual; her movements, sitting and lying, are unaffected.

Wei Dalei quickly brought over the grain of rice.

He placed it on the ground.

Tang Jing said, "Can you demonstrate how that rice came about?"

"Oh."

Gu Yinglong nodded, but didn't act right away; instead, she tilted her head toward Tang Jing and said, "You're not with those people from before, are you?"

Tang Jing knew she meant Yi Zhong, so she nodded and said, "We're good people."

"Oh."

Gu Yinglong seemed not to mind much, then squatted down and placed her hands on the surface of the rice grain.

Everyone held their breath, watching intently.

But after waiting a long time, there was still no reaction.

After a full five minutes, just as everyone was getting impatient, Lu Shanshan's sharp eyes spotted something and she called out, "Look."

Everyone looked closely, and saw that on the rice grain, some bumps gradually appeared.

Although the process was slow, it gradually became clear.

Each bump looked like the shape of a rice grain.

Thick and dense.

Covering the entire body.

Anyone with trypophobia would surely get the creeps.

Six or seven minutes later.

Only hearing a splash, those bumpy rice grains all fell off at once.

Scattered all over the ground.

Chen Mu bent over, scooped up a handful, and placed it in his hand.

Sure enough, it was rice, almost identical to the rice in the wooden crate before.

Moreover, looking closely, the shape, size, color, and features of these rice grains seemed as if they were all carved from the same mold.

And that original-sized grain of rice from before now looks as if it has shrunk a notch.

Chen Mu looked toward Tang Jing.

This top student's face showed no surprise; evidently this result was already within her expectations.

"What... ability is this?"

Zhu Hao and the others gaped, unable to comprehend.

Tang Jing said, "It should be another version of Shrinking Objects, even better than that..."

"Because it saves more raw materials..."

Chen Mu finally understood why those potatoes grew completely identical.

It's basically the same potato "giving birth" to them!

"Exactly."

Tang Jing smiled: "If we must describe it, perhaps we could use 'factorization' to characterize it."

"Haha, that's quite vivid."

But come to think of it, that's incredibly impressive, isn't it?

Yeah, give her a car and she could probably break it down into thousands of mini cars, right?

Awesome!

……

But before anyone could indulge in their pleasant daydreams, Tang Jing doused them with another bucket of cold water: "You're overthinking it."

Huh?

Tang Jing chuckled, "Exactly because this ability is so over-the-top, it must come with some restrictions—just like Cao Zishan's."

Cao Zishan's power exceeds Wei Dalei's, but precisely because it's excessive, it comes with restrictions.

Clearly, Gu Yinglong's ability works the same way.

What would those restrictions be?

Perhaps it doesn't work on overly intricate objects, or maybe it only affects a certain category of things. Tang Jing said, then glanced at Gu Yinglong.

Gu Yinglong listened silently, only nodding when Tang Jing looked to her for confirmation: "It only affects plants."

Having said that, she gave Tang Jing a few looks and bluntly remarked, "You're quite smart."

Tang Jing stared back, her expression complex; after a pause, she nodded and said, "Thank you."

Although everyone felt a little disappointed, they continued to discuss enthusiastically.

No wonder the thirty-six wooden crates were filled with vegetables and grain.

Quite obvious.

The Yi Zhong folks—no one knows where they found Gu Yinglong or how they turned her into this.

But it's clear they've always treated Gu Yinglong as a food-making machine, constantly putting her to work—so much so that her few memories consist only of eating, sleeping, and labor.

Perhaps she sleeps so long because she's been forced to overuse her ability, draining her mental stamina.

Upon realizing this, everyone felt a surge of sympathy.

However, there's one thing I don't get.

Dong Junwei furrowed her brows: "If I understand correctly, this decomposition ability just splits the original plant into smaller pieces, right?"

"Hmm." Tang Jing nodded.

"But what's the use for food? The original size is just as edible; shrinking it doesn't increase or decrease the amount—so why bother?"

That thought is virtually identical to the question Chen Mu posed to Tang Jing earlier.

Everyone hesitated a moment, also agreeing that Dong Junwei made sense, and they all turned to Tang Jing.

Tang Jing had been ready to explain to Chen Mu, but Gu Yinglong's awakening cut her off.

She then crouched, picked up a shrunken potato, rubbed it in her palm a few times, and said:

No, quite the opposite—this ability holds revolutionary significance for today's humanity!