Chapter 192: Friction

Moreover, it's very hard for people to be absolutely rational.

Tang Jing continued: "If someone with greater ability than Dong Junwei joined us now, would everyone accept him as the leader?"

Everyone looked at each other, then shook their heads.

"What's the situation with Qingbei now?"

"Our overall strength is still not bad; at least our combat power hasn't been weakened much. In the several big battles we've had with Yi Zhong, we seem to have had the upper hand."

It's clear that An Ruosuo still inwardly identifies more with Qingbei; when talking about this, her face shows some pride, but it soon fades.

"Last time Song Yu took people to the cafeteria side, they seemed to be repelled by Yi Zhong?" Chen Mu recalled the car-stealing incident.

"That time was a futile return, but no one died; on the contrary, Yi Zhong lost a few people during the pursuit, and Senior Song is still impressive in this regard. However…… the support ability users below have lost all enthusiasm now, and the base construction speed has obviously slowed down a lot."

"Before, at our fastest, we could build a whole floor in a day; now……" An Ruosuo sighed.

Chen Mu suddenly asked curiously: "How many special ability users does Qingbei have in total?"

"Well, Qingbei has 200 people total, over 100 of them have abilities, but many of those abilities are still unknown what they do—for example, someone grew a tail and still doesn't know what it's for..."

As An Ruosuo said that, everyone's gaze shot straight at Zhu Hao.

I thought he'd feel embarrassed, but this guy straightened up and said: "Look, this isn't my problem; others are like that too!"

An Ruosuo continued: "Among the over 100 ability users, only about 20 are combat types, some barely qualify, and the rest are support types like me."

Chen Mu said: "I haven't asked yet—what's your ability?"

"Ah, haven't I said it before?"

An Ruosuo gave an embarrassed smile: "My ability is to polish the surface of objects, making them smoother."

"Reduce friction?" Chen Mu exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, you could put it that way." An Ruosuo nodded.

Most of the Qiming people hearing this showed happy expressions.

What reducing friction means in industry is understandable even to middle school students.

Such a powerful ability, yet forced to flee by Qingbei—it's hard to say whether it's their misfortune or Qiming's good fortune.

"I've seen Qingbei people use a huge iron box to transport rice before; the bottom of that box must have been treated by you, right?"

"Yes." An Ruosuo said: "There are only three such boxes in Qingbei; it's not that the boxes are hard to make, but with my ability it takes about ten days to reduce the friction on the box bottom enough for dozens of people to pull it, and for that I've been scolded several times."

"Why scold you?"

"They say I don't train hard, that I don't keep the organization's construction in mind, but I've already been working hard—I've fainted from exhaustion several times, yet my ability improves very slowly."

"Besides that, what else do they make you do?"

"Basically similar tasks: smoothing the surface of large objects to make them easier to move."

Chen Mu glanced at Tang Jing; seeing this top student obviously show a disdainful expression, clearly looking down on Qingbei's waste of talent.

"Well..."

Chen Mu turned his gaze to the girl beside An Ruosuo: "What's your name, Yang Li?"

"Yeah."

The girl who hadn't spoken since entering gave a slight nod, a bit shy and fearful.

It's clear that between the two, An Ruosuo is more articulate, while Yang Li hardly has any presence.

She glanced at An Ruosuo, obviously hoping her companion would speak for her.

Chen Mu immediately said: "I'm just asking you to describe your ability; don't be afraid, we don't eat people."

The girl's demeanor was like she'd walked into a tiger's den, with all these people around her like tigers eyeing prey; it's rare to see a high schooler this shy nowadays.

Yang Li nervously inhaled, then timidly said: "My…… ability is to release a smell that drives away various bugs and such."

"Jasmine scent?" He Ying interjected suddenly.

"Mm-hmm."

Yang Li's face showed surprise; she seemed odd that He Ying knew this, but didn't dare ask.

Chen Mu also recalled then: when he'd spied on Qingbei moving rice, He Ying had said there was a jasmine scent at the scene; back then Chen Mu hadn't paid attention, never expecting to run into He Ying again over this.

"Can you try it?" He Ying asked.

"Oh."

After Yang Li said that, she made no movement at all, not even changing her expression.

However, almost only a second or two later, a faint fragrance spread out; even Chen Mu, who isn't very sensitive to smells, could clearly smell it.

"Sure enough, that's the scent."

He Ying laughed: "So you're Qingbei's bug repellent? Bring you along when we go out to work and we won't have to fear bugs?"

"Mm." Yang Li nodded.

An Ruosuo evidently felt her companion's answer was too simple, quickly adding: "Yang Li's ability is very practical, but it requires the person to stay awake; once asleep it's useless."

"How long can it last?" Chen Mu's concerned question was more specific.

"Seems pretty long……" An Ruosuo looked at Yang Li.

Yang Li nodded: "It can last four or five hours, but that's already the limit; after it ends she must rest for over an hour."

"That's already quite good." He Ying laughed.

This ability is somewhat like Xue Xu's, but Xue Xu's is an emergency measure, whereas Yang Li's is continuous protection; each has its own advantages.

Of course, Xue Xu's ability has side effects that are really too big.

Yang Li, hearing He Ying's praise, had her eyes brighten a little, she glanced at the other party then immediately lowered her head, but her body visibly relaxed a bit.

Chen Mu took all this in, thinking: how oppressed is this girl normally? Just a ordinary polite remark can make her happy?

It's hard to quickly figure out exactly how these two's abilities work; if we really decide to take them in, later on Tang Jing will have to conduct systematic inquiries and tests anyway.

Chen Mu then asked: "What will Qingbei do to people like you who have escaped?"

I don't know.

An Ruosuo shook their head and sighed: "As of now, no one has escaped from Qingbei yet. After all, even if inside the organization it's a bit tough, and sometimes we get bullied, it's still better than the precarious life outside. With my abilities, if I went out, I probably couldn't last a day."

I remember Song Yu saying you can leave whenever you want, right?

That's what they say, but they also promised equality—now it's still just empty words?

An Ruosuo sighed again and said: "Furthermore, when Senior Sister Xia let us leave, she also warned us, saying the organization might come after us to take us back."