Chapter 179

Tang Jing continued: "So I now want to conduct the same analysis on you. From what we can see, your growth potential is estimated to be the total amount of food you consume; functionality goes without saying—it's simply one person feeding everyone around them, especially when food is abundant but cannot be stored long-term, which is when it's most effective."

Tang Jing said: "As for quantification, such as how far your feeding range extends, what the energy conversion ratio is, and what happens if there's no food replenishment, and so on."

Tang Jing said: "And control is what you most urgently need to figure out."

Yu Yuan blinked: "Why?"

To be honest, at the beginning your ability was very helpful; without you, Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang might not have survived to now.

Tang Jing said: "But once life improves and food has a steady source, your role diminishes greatly, and may even produce a reverse effect—for example, today's meal, everyone hardly ate anything."

Isn't that fine? I helped you all eat it myself. Yu Yuan chuckled.

But looking at your previous situation, this energy supply of yours only guarantees you won't starve; the craving problem can't be solved. For humans, food's purpose isn't just survival—it's also enjoyment. But with you around, one of humanity's great pleasures disappears. Tang Jing spread her hands.

This...

Recalling how he and Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang used to fight over potatoes and tomatoes, Yu Yuan knew Tang Jing was right—even without mentioning others, after a few days without food, his mouth would crave to death.

What can we do? Yu Yuan asked, brow furrowed.

So control is important. Tang Jing said: "I need you to turn passive into active."

How? Yu Yuan asked blankly.

This requires you to feel and imagine it yourself; you need to better control the energy you ingest, preventing it from being automatically absorbed by the outside world, and ideally you could direct it to specific targets—meaning you could choose who stays fed, and even… you could choose to overfeed someone, even to the point of bursting...

Ah?

Yu Yuan was completely stunned.

If you can achieve that, you'd become a combat-type Special Ability user—no, a slaughter-type Special Ability user. Tang Jing gave an evil smile.

Chen Mu let out a quiet sigh.

Another promising youth headed down the path of no return.

Tang Jing's talent is to draw a big pie for everyone, making them pour their heart and soul into it; the problem is, this pie is incredibly realistic and perfectly reasonable.

But Chen Mu knows that no matter who, truly obtaining that pie is far harder than imagined.

Take Yu Yuan for example: the ultimate goal Tang Jing set for him isn't impossible, but given the current Special Ability rules, achieving it is nearly as hard as climbing to heaven—talent and diligence are both essential, and even some luck is needed.

From Chen Mu's own experience, the growth of Special Abilities emphasizes quantitative change leading to qualitative change; even if the direction is correct, one must exert tremendous effort to make any progress.

Just that alone probably screens out most people.

Yu Yuan's excitement showed all over his face, as if he already saw himself slaying gods.

In his excited state, he ate the tomatoes faster.

But to actually finish the whole box, he'd probably need several more hours.

Chen Mu then interjected, asking a question everyone cared about but felt embarrassed to ask:

Yu Yuan, do you need to use the toilet?

Not at all.

Xiao Pangzi seemed to have found another advantage, puffing out his chest proudly: "Not only that, Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang haven't used the toilet since following me, and they don't even need to urinate."

Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang lowered their heads silently, really wishing they could pretend not to know this guy.

Afterward.

Tang Jing assigned Yu Yuan the task of eating tomatoes until full; if one box isn't enough, get another; if tomatoes run out, there are green peppers and eggplants—these three foods spoil most easily, and everyone hopes Yu Yuan will finish them all at once.

At the same time, he must continually study and train his control ability, and before seeing results, he must keep a certain distance from everyone.

Although no precise quantification has been done, preliminary experiments afterward showed that 40 centimeters is a distance beyond the limit.

That is, as long as one stays more than 40 centimeters away from Yu Yuan, they cannot absorb his energy.

This at least lets everyone enjoy a normal lunch.

Later.

Tang Jing conducted the same steps with Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang, but since their abilities have little negative impact, the urgency is lower, and the top student seems lacking in interest.

On the contrary, Chen Mu chatted with Zhou Xu Liang a bit and confirmed that his storage space ignores an object's mass, only its volume.

Chen Mu's first thought was whether it could be used on humans.

However, such an experiment can't be easily carried out, because any side effects would be no fun.

Chen Mu returned this time, and there wasn't much change at home.

Only, it's said that Du Jia Jia's two cats now get along increasingly harmoniously.

Of course, Little Yellow still wants to be the boss, and Little White has no intention of usurping, so Du Jia Jia's pressure is actually not great.

Others have seen even less change.

Only Wei Dalei now has an extra daily task of winding springs.

Now that Chen Mu brought back the lubricant, many parts run more smoothly; the elevator now has a hint of automation.

Although this is just a small matter.

But for Qiming, it's a big step toward the future.

Automation is something humanity constantly strives for, to the point that it's best to entrust even thinking to artificial intelligence.

The elevator's improvement reminded Chen Mu of the high-position gun turret he'd originally planned; now, aside from Yi Zhong, the friends-and-foes relationship of Qingbei has become murky, and without making some preparations, that simply wouldn't do.

However, the turret's difficulty exceeds that of the earlier watchtower by more than a little.

This is the exponential increase in difficulty that comes after a building's height reaches a certain level.

The most obvious problem is how to make a 2-meter-long vertical track with no fixed middle.

To prevent such a metal track from bending, its diameter must be increased; never mind how hard the project is, just the amount of material needed is already a major issue.

Currently Qiming can only use items on the ground and the first shelf of the rack; although He Ying and others can individually go up to the second shelf and above, trying to bring things down remains difficult.