Chapter 19: Explosion

Dong Junwei kept her eyes closed, focusing all her attention on the iron lump in her hand, but this frightened the others into stepping back a few paces, fearing the squad leader would directly detonate the iron lump.

Stop stop stop!

Don't heat it anymore.

……

Everyone hurriedly spoke up to stop them.

Dong Junwei then opened her eyes, seeing the iron lump in her hand emitting green smoke, she herself jumped, and reflexively let go.

Thud!

The heated iron lump smashed onto the ground.

This is……

Looks like it really can change an object's temperature? Chen Mu turned his head and asked Tang Jing.

Hard to say for now.

Tang Jing then said to Dong Junwei: "Squad leader, do you feel anything in your own hand?"

No. Dong Junwei shook her head.

How did you do that?

I didn't do anything, just as Chen Mu said, I focused my mind on this iron lump, and it became like this on its own.

Did you have the thought of 'heating' it?

No.

Then can you make it cool down?

I'll try.

Dong Junwei now realized that the iron lump had been heated to this extent by herself, yet she herself would not be burned.

She bent down, picked up the iron lump again, began to focus her mind once more, but this time she silently wished for it to cool down.

However, after about a minute, the iron lump not only showed no sign of cooling, but the green smoke increased, even giving the impression it was about to turn red-hot.

Squad leader, stop!

Dong Junwei had just discovered her ability, and it was fresh and exciting; with no one interrupting, she was likely to really melt the iron lump.

She hurriedly stopped her hand.

The temperature of the iron lump seemed to stop rising.

It's not temperature control." Tang Jing said.

Only heating? Chen Mu asked.

Maybe, we'll study it more later.

Having another research subject made Tang Jing look quite pleased. Dong Junwei and Chen Mu exchanged a glance, the former probably also feeling what it's like to be treated as an experimental subject.

However, Dong Junwei herself also seemed to want to know exactly what her ability was, and she readily agreed.

Let's head back quickly.

A group of nine people.

Returning with a full load.

When they came, Wei Dalei and several other boys took turns pushing the flat cart, but once it was fully loaded, others could no longer lend a hand, because there was only one handle, so others wanting to help couldn't.

But for Wei Dalei, this amount of weight was no problem.

The flat cart was still rather crude; each of its four wheels was smooth enough on its own, but making them all exactly the same size was beyond Chen Mu's current control, and if he insisted, it would take a long time.

Squeak…… squeak……

After being loaded with rice grains and water.

The flat cart's noise became even more unpleasant.

……

Although the distance wasn't far, the round trip plus the time everyone spent killing rice worms and bathing meant that by the time they returned to the original storage room and lay down on the towels, it was already approaching noon.

Wei Dalei, Zhu Hao, and others were busy moving the water buckets off the flat cart, while the rice grains remained on it.

To this day, the group has no fixed campsite, simply living around the towels.

After a busy morning, the first feeling was hunger.

Oh no, the cake is gone.

Even if not finished, it can't be eaten.

We have rice now.

But we can only eat it raw.

……

Eating raw rice has poor nutrient absorption and is likely to cause indigestion, stomach pain, and diarrhea; in the short term, to avoid hunger, we have no choice but to do this, but long-term it definitely won't work." Tang Jing explained a few sentences, then smiled: "But now this seems no longer a problem."

Squad leader?" Chen Mu said.

Exactly, so we're really lucky; although we're not yet clear on the squad leader's exact ability, just heating the iron lump alone is already enough to solve our current problem.

Chen Mu's half iron lump, being too hot, could only be held by Dong Junwei all the way.

However, after returning to the place, this hot iron lump still showed no sign of cooling down.

Chen Mu naturally thought of using it to cook something.

However, Tang Jing said to Dong Junwei: "Squad leader, why don't you try heating the rice grains directly?"

Dong Junwei nodded.

Upon hearing there was food, Wei Dalei hurriedly brought over a grain of rice from the flat cart.

But be careful; if successful, it might turn into popcorn, and that explosive force should not be small.

I know.

After speaking, Dong Junwei pressed her palm onto the rice grains, just as before, closing her eyes to concentrate.

However, it was disappointing.

The rice grains showed no reaction at all from start to finish.

Why is this happening?

Could it be that it only works on metal?

Let's try something else.

After speaking, Tang Jing picked up a stone from the ground.

If the concrete floor is of ordinary quality, over time it will become sandy, and with some sand blown in from elsewhere, the floor at this moment is far from clean by human standards.

Even being level is a struggle.

So-called stone is actually just a larger grain of sand.

Before Dong Junwei and the others met Chen Mu, they used it to repel ants.

Dong Junwei held the stone in one hand and repeated the same trick.

She waited about a minute.

The stone showed no change at all.

Is it heating up?

Chen Mu stepped forward, brought his palm near the stone, quickly tapped it with his finger, and immediately pulled back.

Then he shook his head at everyone.

Ah...

Everyone let out a sigh.

Dong Junwei also let out a small sigh; regarding her ability, she found it increasingly incomprehensible, perhaps truly as Chen Mu guessed—only capable of heating metal.

This ability isn't bad.

Especially now, it perfectly solved the problem of cooking rice.

But it still lacks self-defense capability.

She and Chen Mu shared the same thought: if they couldn't survive the present, saying anything was useless; if a centipede ran in while they slept tonight, their rice-cooking problem would be solved for both them and the centipede.

Dong Junwei felt mixed joy and worry, and finally stopped thinking too much, casually tossing the stone away.

Perhaps with a bit of venting, Dong Junwei put a little extra force into it; the stone traced an arc and landed heavily on the ground.

Boom.

A sudden blast sounded, startling everyone.

Everyone hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound.

It was exactly the stone Dong Junwei had just thrown.

Only to see that on the ground over there, a blackened patch had been blown out.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded.

The explosion wasn't large—at most a somewhat bigger firecracker—but that an ordinary stone could release such force left people bewildered.

What's going on?

Did the stone turn into explosive?

Dong Junwei herself stood there stunned, not knowing what to do.

While everyone was chattering in discussion.

Tang Jing suddenly said, "I think I somewhat understand."

How?

I estimate that Dong Junwei's ability is a kind of energy infusion, but it produces different effects depending on the target material.

"Metal heats up, while stone explodes?" Chen Mu added.

"Although a more precise description might be needed, for now this seems about right." Tang Jing nodded.