Chapter 97: Mental Communication

After lowering her expectations to the minimum, Du Jia Jia could already accept any weird special ability, but when the moment arrived, she still felt nervous.

"So, what exactly is my ability?"

"Then you have to ask yourself." Tang Jing spread her hands.

"Ask me?"

"Little Yellow comes over every now and then, surely because of you. Think about what you do each time before it comes."

"This..."

Du Jia Jia fell into thought: "It seems I didn't do anything..."

"When the little kitten first came, what were we doing?"

"It seems the water tank had just been completed, and we were waiting for the rain." Chang Junyan said.

"Then what?"

"Then, when mentioning whether the sound of rain would deafen us, Tang Jing started to popularize things about hearing..."

"Du Jia Jia, when Tang Jing was speaking, what were you doing?"

"I wasn't doing anything." Du Jia Jia said, feeling wronged.

"Then what were you thinking about then?"

"I..."

Du Jia Jia seemed to really recall something, her face a bit embarrassed, she hesitated for a while before sheepishly saying: "I completely couldn't understand what Tang Jing was saying, so I felt bored and wanted to find something fun to do..."

Everyone looked at each other, then several people burst out laughing with a puff.

Obviously, Du Jia Jia's words voiced the feelings of many.

Tang Jing wasn't angry either, just gave a helpless smile.

Chen Mu laughed: "So, you were bored, and this cat came to play with you?"

"That's a bit exaggerated." Du Jia Jia, although she faintly felt there might be some connection, rationally dared not be sure.

"Then, before that mouse was brought over, what were you doing or thinking?" Chen Mu asked again.

Du Jia Jia lowered her head, pondered for a moment, then her face suddenly turned a bit strange.

"I... possibly... maybe... perhaps it's because of cooking."

"What about cooking?"

"I... I that day when I was cooking, I secretly tore off a small strip of meat and tasted it, feeling it wasn't enough but embarrassed to eat more... In short, I really wanted to eat meat... Could it be because of that..."

"Case closed!" Qian Fei slapped his thigh.

Chen Mu also felt a mix of laughter and tears, recalling when Dong Junwei first suggested letting Du Jia Jia take charge of the kitchen, he had worried that this gluttonous girl would pluck every feather.

"I really only ate a tiny bit, a very small strip of meat, and only that once..." Du Jia Jia said, full of regret and guilt.

Dong Junwei smiled: "Snacking before a meal is a chef's privilege; just consider it tasting the dish."

Chen Mu said: "So, when you're bored, the cat comes to play with you; when you want to eat meat, the cat brings you a mouse—that's roughly the idea."

Tang Jing said: "For now, this is the most reasonable explanation."

"That's impressive."

"But what exactly does this ability mean? Controlling animals?"

He Ying said: "I recall a former companion whose ability was to mentally control non-human animals; could it be that after he died, Du Jia Jia randomly inherited this ability?"

"Probably not."

Tang Jing shook her head: "Not long after we became small, we all collectively experienced a headache; if I'm not mistaken, that moment we all already had special abilities, just discovered at different times, and back then your companion was surely still alive."

"Indeed." He Ying nodded, agreeing with Tang Jing's words, and said: "Moreover, that person needed to actively control animals, with targets at most like ants; even flies were hard, let alone cats."

Dong Junwei said: "Du Jia Jia doesn't even need to face the little kitten; as long as she thinks about it in her heart, it will come to fulfill her wish— isn't that much stronger than that person?"

Tang Jing, however, shook her head: "Not necessarily."

"How so?"

"From what we can see now, at the initial stage, special abilities overall maintain a balance; the more miraculous and powerful an ability appears, the greater its difficulty and limitations; conversely, abilities that seem unimpressive actually have a wider radiation range."

"Not very clear." Most people were utterly confused.

Tang Jing said: "Take Du Jia Jia and He Ying's former companion as an example; active mental control, at first glance is a very powerful special ability, but precisely because of that, the objects he can control are all very small, and the difficulty is also great."

"But looking at Du Jia Jia, from the start she could influence animals the size of cats; it's very likely that this influence's effect isn't good, at least impossible to reach the level of mental control."

"That sounds somewhat reasonable."

"For another example, Zhao Xiao Yan's Enhanced Sense of Smell has only an average effect, but its radiation range is broad; while Wei Dalei has Infinite Strength, yet it only works in melee range; perhaps under some rule, this is fairness."

"But Chen Mu's ability also works well and has a large range of effect." Du Jia Jia seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

"That's because Chen Mu's mental strength is far stronger than others', which is also a major trait of special abilities—growth potential. Actually, think back: when Chen Mu first started, his ability's target was merely a staple; its precision and speed could not compare to now, but nowadays he can easily control objects hundreds of times heavier."

"Alright."

Du Jia Jia couldn't refute, so she accepted the explanation, but then asked: "Then... what exactly is my ability?"

Tang Jing said: "This still needs further research and experimentation."

"Is it that troublesome?" Du Jia Jia obviously couldn't wait any longer.

Tang Jing smiled: "Special abilities are an extremely complex system; in fact, even Chen Mu's and the class monitor's abilities still have many things that can't be explained clearly."

"Alright." Du Jia Jia resigned.

"However." Tang Jing changed tack and said: "We can make a bold assumption."

"What?"

"I guess Du Jia Jia's ability is probably mental communication with animals."

"Mental communication?"

"Yes, in terms of effect, compared to direct mental control it's obviously much weaker, but it can explain why Du Jia Jia could from the start influence animals the size of cats."

"In other words, can I communicate with Little Yellow?" Du Jia Jia, suddenly interested, said.

"I'm not sure about mutual communication, because most animals' intelligence hasn't reached this level; even among their own kind, at most it's just some information transmission and conditioned reflexes, and there's still a big gap from human-style communication."

When she said this, Tang Jing saw everyone's thoughts start to scatter again, so she could only smile and say: "In short, that's roughly the meaning, but Du Jia Jia's ability still has many things that need to be confirmed, such as why only Little Yellow received her thoughts."

"How do we confirm that?"

"Let's take it slow."

Although Tang Jing couldn't explain it clearly at the moment, her fighting spirit instead became even more vigorous; she then revealed a meaningful smile and said: "Du Jia Jia, why don't you and your Little Yellow try communicating face to face first?"