Chapter 89

Besides being surprised that many people had awakened, Chen Mu was also worried about something.

The abilities of the three people he killed actually produced side effects!

Could it be that everyone is like this, but some are more obvious while most people can't tell for now?

Fortunately, so far no one has shown any signs of this problem.

"You said you've all awakened, so what is your ability?"

"Actually I'm not entirely sure either, but if I had to describe it, I can make things lighter."

"\"Reduce an object's mass? \" Chen Mu blinked."

"\"More or less, that's the idea. \""

"\"Nothing else changes? \""

"\"I guess so... \""

"\"Volume, temperature, hardness—none of those will change? \" Chen Mu unconsciously sped up his speech."

Lu Shanshan obviously seemed a bit dazed by the question, hesitated a moment, and answered timidly: "I... I'm not really sure."

Obviously.

Lu Shanshan's group's research on Special Abilities is far inferior to that of Chen Mu, Tang Jing, and others; they basically only know a rough outline.

This isn't hard to understand, after all they don't even have three square meals a day—who has the energy to study abilities?

But Chen Mu was very interested in Lu Shanshan's ability.

Reduce an object's mass.

The first impression this ability gives is that it's convenient for transporting supplies.

Make things light, then combine with Wei Dalei's kind of powerhouse, and you can haul back things you'd never dare imagine.

For example, a whole box of instant noodles?

Of course.

For Chen Mu, this ability has a deeper meaning.

Looks like we can't let her go.

But then he thought of He Ying.

Their abilities seem somewhat similar.

"\"Can you reduce your own body weight? \" he asked next."

"\"No. \" Lu Shanshan immediately shook her head, obviously having tried that before.

Chen Mu instinctively glanced at He Ying, only to see that she was also looking over; her gaze flicked past him and landed on Lu Shanshan.

The person He Ying was questioning was the boy named Lu Liangliang, the same guy who had a brief scuffle with Chen Mu.

Obviously, He Ying also learned about Lu Shanshan's ability from him.

Chen Mu suddenly realized something and asked: "What's your relationship with that Lu Liangliang?"

Lu Shanshan instinctively glanced at Lu Liangliang in the distance, then lowered her head and said: "He's my brother."

"Real brother?"

"Yeah, he's a year older than me, but we're in the same class."

"What's his ability?"

"Exactly the opposite of mine—he can make things heavier."

After hearing that, Chen Mu was obviously a bit dumbfounded—does this ability even come with family ties?

Is the awakening of abilities related to bloodline?

Who knows if father-son, mother-daughter, or even more distant blood relations might also have a connection?

Since there's nothing else to compare it to, Chen Mu doesn't know whether this situation is an isolated case.

But it's obviously that the manifestations of Special Abilities are far richer than he imagined—for example, the three people he killed possessed a currently unseen synergistic combination of abilities.

And Lu Shanshan and Lu Liangliang, if it's not a coincidence, might perhaps unveil another layer of the mystery of Special Abilities.

Chen Mu now even feels a bit grateful that these guys showed up for tonight's raid, yet also a bit regretful—if they'd come earlier, maybe there could have been more research subjects.

He seems to have somewhat understood Tang Jing's mindset.

Thinking of Tang Jing, Chen Mu turned his head and glanced at her—only to see this academic ace smiling as she questioned the boy named Cao Zishan.

Cao Zishan seems to live up to his name; he's tall and big, just one size smaller than Wei Dalei, and a bit stouter than Qian Fei.

At this moment, he keeps nodding and giving a foolish grin at Tang Jing, obviously having been molded by the academic ace into being very obedient.

"\"What ability does that Cao Zishan have? \""

"\"He... is a bit special. \" Lu Shanshan organized her words and then said: \"His ability is Infinite Strength. \""

Chen Mu stared blankly for a moment.

So far, it seems no two identical abilities have been seen, not even similar ones.

He didn't know this was a major rule of Special Abilities.

Perhaps identical abilities cannot coexist in this world, or perhaps only after an ability user dies can that ability appear in someone else.

Of course.

These are all just his and Tang Jing's usual brainstorming; after all, they've only seen a handful of ability users, so they can't really summarize any patterns.

But upon hearing Lu Shanshan's words, it seemed Cao Zishan was similar to Wei Dalei?

Yet judging from Lu Shanshan's tone, it didn't seem that simple.

"\"What do you mean by 'special'...? \" Chen Mu asked."

"\"Cao Zishan's Infinite Strength has one limitation: there can't be anyone nearby... \""

"\"No one allowed? What does that mean? \" Chen Mu couldn't understand it for a moment."

I actually don't even know how to describe it; his ability is quite special—it seems that the farther people are from him, the greater his strength, and conversely, if someone stands close to him, he becomes just like an ordinary person, completely unable to use his ability.

Chen Mu was instantly speechless.

What a good teammate.

Really, all kinds of weird and wacky abilities exist.

When there's no one around him, he has Infinite Strength—this sounds a bit goofy no matter how you hear it.

Do you have to find a secluded spot just to do some manual labor?

Although this ability isn't completely useless, it feels weird; at least in combat, it's probably not reliable, and I don't know whether the limitation applies only to humans or to all animals.

If it's the latter, that's truly speechless.

He's basically just a labor machine?

Or rather, a machine that can't cooperate with people!

Of course.

The effect of an ability often requires long-term exploration and investigation to discover its advantages; moreover, proficiency and the strength of one's mental power also have a great influence, and one cannot judge an ability's merits at first glance.

In short.

These four people's abilities are not bad.

Chen Mu naturally thought about whether to recruit them into the team; if they weren't lying, given their current situation, they logically wouldn't refuse.

But after all, this is only the first meeting, and strictly speaking they are still hostile, so we need to observe them for a while before deciding.

Besides, they might not even be willing.

From Lu Shanshan's previous behavior, it's clear she had a decent relationship with the three people who died by Chen Mu's hands; this might become a grudge between the two sides.

Chen Mu raised all the other questions he had thought of, and Lu Shanshan answered them fluently; it seems she wasn't deliberately concealing anything.

About half an hour.

Everyone's questioning has ended.

After leaving Wei Dalei to guard these four people, Chen Mu, Tang Jing, and the others gathered together.

After cross-checking, we found that what these four people said basically matched.

It seems they indeed weren't lying.

Dong Junwei asked, "How should we deal with them?"

"They don't seem to have any ill intent; they just wanted to steal some food, and we have no grudge against them, so I think we could consider accepting them."