Chapter 172: Liang Yan

As the foremost key middle school in Shangshi, Ziwei High School's facilities in every aspect live up to that title.

The school has two playgrounds in total.

Outside the school is a medium-sized sports venue that can hold 5000 spectators, with a standard 400-meter track, used for the annual sports meet, and sometimes other schools even come to rent it.

Meanwhile, the on-campus playground where Qingbei is located has no plastic track; it is only used for daily radio calisthenics and the flag-raising ceremony, or for holding exchange activities like this one with Yi Zhong.

To give it a more natural feel, the playground is surrounded by planted greenery trees, and the ground does not use overly professional turf but is directly planted with zoysia grass, which is cheap, resistant to trampling, and has strong regenerative ability.

And the most conspicuous thing is the flagpole in front of the playground.

Although two months have passed, the national flag above still flutters in the wind, spirited.

Liang Yan strides toward the direction of the flagpole.

Without Xin Ping, this combat-type ability user, his solo journey's difficulty has greatly increased; earlier the road was basically paved, but as he neared the playground, buildings became fewer and the road mostly turned into grassland.

The grassland that once looked flat now seems, to present-day humans, like a vast forest, with the zoysia grass's slender leaves larger than a person.

Liang Yan walks with difficulty through the grassland.

The road was already hard to travel, and he must constantly guard against dangers that might appear around him.

A grasshopper happened to hop to a spot not far from his side.

Liang Yan frowned, paying it no heed.

This thing only eats plants, so it poses no threat to humans; although it looks huge, like an airplane, as long as it doesn't hit him, there's no problem.

However, contrary to expectation, that grasshopper somehow jumped again, and it happened to come down onto Liang Yan's head.

Liang Yan was startled.

The grasshopper's speed, he simply could not dodge.

The next moment, light blazed on his hands.

The energy ball that had previously frightened Chen Mu reappeared.

And this time.

The energy ball's scale was much larger, and in almost an instant it enveloped Liang Yan's body.

At that moment, the grasshopper happened to land on his head, but before it could touch Liang Yan, one of its legs, together with the surrounding weeds, was wrapped up inside the energy ball.

Liang Yan was sealed inside the energy ball, his body utterly immobile, like an insect trapped in amber.

The grasshopper was obviously startled as well, beginning to struggle violently, but its thigh was tightly sealed inside the energy ball, making escape impossible.

Finally, after abandoning one hind leg, it fled.

The energy ball gradually shrank.

Bit by bit, Liang Yan's body was revealed, and his movement regained freedom.

Half a minute later, the scene returned to its original state.

Only now there was an extra grasshopper hind leg.

Liang Yan let out a breath, raised both hands to look at them, and shook his head somewhat helplessly.

Who would have thought that the energy ball, which looks extremely aggressive, is actually a defensive asset.

Anything wrapped inside suffers no harm, and of course cannot move.

What is known so far is that this energy ball is not a solid entity; all physical attacks are ineffective against it, not even Xin Ping's wind blade can scratch it.

This ability was initially hoped for highly by Qingbei, and Liang Yan was very pleased, after all just looking at it is incredibly cool.

However, after further research, they discovered it has a major flaw.

First, the energy ball cannot be launched.

It can only expand from the center of Liang Yan's two palms, consuming everything in the process.

One can imagine that under normal circumstances, the first thing to be consumed would be Liang Yan himself.

Therefore, later Qingbei positioned this ability for defense.

Of course, if the distance to another person is close enough, Liang Yan can also achieve mutual destruction with the opponent.

But the problem is that any object, even a person, swallowed by the energy ball suffers no harm; even if completely enveloped and unable to breathe, once out they remain lively and unharmed.

The specific principles and rules of this, the Qingbei Special Ability research team, also have no clue.

Moreover, the energy ball must be exerted at Liang Yan's full strength to be sustained; once relaxed, it disappears immediately, and for an exertion like just now, he can maintain it at most about ten minutes.

The situation of this ability is undoubtedly somewhat awkward.

In terms of construction, it is basically useless.

In combat, although it has some strategic utility, the conditions for use are too harsh, and solo fighting merely allows defense, not offense; even this defensive means is quite laughable, as opponents need only wait nearby until his mental strength is exhausted, then step in and strike.

Therefore.

Liang Yan was forced to seek another path.

Since this ability's greatest advantage lies in being showy, he might as well develop it in that direction.

Simply put, it's used to scare people.

The effect turned out surprisingly good.

In several skirmishes with Yi Zhong, Liang Yan stood at the rear of the team holding two energy balls, and the enemy always felt wary.

And afterward, it even scared away Chen Mu, who had defeated Xin Ping.

When Liang Yan joined Qingbei, it was merely for survival; later he was moved by the organization's ideals and resolve, and also wanted to contribute to humanity's future.

But often he feels he is merely a clown.

This is also why he increasingly dislikes Xin Ping: despite having great ability, he only knows how to scramble for petty gains, show off, and ultimately ruined his own prospects.

Liang Yan felt a capsule in his pocket, found a good direction, and continued on his way.

……

……

When the sun rose to its highest point, Chen Mu and the five others just happened to walk into the shade beneath the big banyan tree.

After shrinking, their resistance to heat seemed somewhat stronger than before, but being directly exposed to the summer's scorching sun was still not pleasant.

The addition of the three new members mainly slowed their marching speed, especially Yu Yuan, who, being rather plump, sweated after a few steps and often wanted to rest.

There was really nothing to complain about.

Chen Mu calculated the distance, then appropriately reduced their walking pace and increased rest breaks along the way, just making sure they could get home before dark today.

Before leaving the shade of the banyan tree, Chen Mu found another spot to rest.

Then he took out the remaining potatoes and tomatoes.

"We should arrive in another two or three hours; let's finish the remaining food."

Upon hearing the word 'food,' Yu Yuan and the others' eyes lit up.

Although they wouldn't feel hungry, they hadn't touched water for two whole months, and including Yu Yuan, the three were already craving desperately; before, with no food in sight, they weren't bothered, but now the plump red tomatoes were right before them, making their mouths water.

Chen Mu was quick-eyed and quick-handed, immediately stuffing a potato into Li Bo, who was about to drool, and said:

"No more drooling on the ground from now on."