Luo Yuan walked into the living room and saw that Ning Xiaoran had been moved onto the couch. Her entire body was as red as a cooked prawn, which looked quite similar to Wang Shishi's condition when she had evolved.
"Don't get too close to her. Step back a little and be careful,” Luo Yuan said. Every single evolution was a gamble. No one knew what kind of superpower they would develop, and he was trying to prevent any unnecessary accidents.
Everyone quickly stepped back with a confused expression. After an hour, Ning Xiaoran was still in a coma. Luo Yuan began to get worried as he remembered that Wang Shishi had not taken such a long time to evolve. He walked up to her and placed his hand on her forehead. He was shocked to discover that her body temperature was extremely high. It was probably around 60-degrees Celsius. That kind of temperature was enough to cook meat.
Luo Yuan sighed and shook his head. Then he said softly, “Her body temperature is a lot higher than normal. She probably won’t last long. Get ready to cremate her.”
“That's impossible! She was perfectly fine just now!” Cao Lin looked panicked. There were tears in her eyes. The two of them were roommates. She was very close to Ning Xiaoran and she could not believe she was going to die soon.
“Perhaps, there might be a miracle?” Huang Jiahui said, feeling sad. Then she added, “Anyway, we don’t know the evolution process well enough yet. Her case could be different than Wang Shishi's, right?”
"I hope so!" Luo Yuan nodded, putting his hand into his pocket. He realized that he had thrown away all his cigarettes this morning in order to practise his Determination. Huo Dong quickly offered him one, but he declined. Then he turned around and asked Lin Xiaoji, “When did you evolve?”
Lin Xiaoji tried to remember as he said, “It was a few days ago, during the chaos in the central district. I had been starving for days and had begun to feel dizzy. Basically, I ate whatever I could find. I even ate the cotton inside my quilt. Honestly, it was f*cking disgusting, I couldn’t sh*t for days afterwards.”
The women looked at him and frowned.
Lin Xiaoji did not notice their gazes as he continued, “I was quite lucky that day. A mutated beast had been shot by a fighting jet and died right in front of my building. I was going to die soon too, so I went out of the house and brought some meat home. I swallowed it right away. I fell asleep afterward, and was an evolved survivor when I woke up."
Luo Yuan did not know what to say. He thought Lin Xiaojie had been too lucky.
“Ning Xiaoran’s eyes are moving!” Cao Lin realized Ning Xiaoran’s eyes were moving while Luo Yuan and Lin Xiaoji were talking. She was so surprised, she forgot about Luo Yuan’s advice and rushed to her side and held her hand.
Luo Yuan wanted to stop her, but it was too late. Cao Lin was shocked by an electric current as soon as her fingers came into contact with Ning Xiaoran’s skin. She immediately stepped back. Luckily, Luo Yuan was there to support her, otherwise, she would have fallen to the floor and gotten embarrassed. The current did not stop, but ran into Luo Yuan’s body through Cao Lin's skin. His heartbeat fluctuated for a few seconds and then only slowly went back to normal.
“What kind of power is this? A shockwave? It doesn’t seem like it,” Luo Yuan thought as he tried to feel and understand the power.
“Are you alright, Cao Lin? Did you get hurt?” the women asked Cao Lin as they saw her shocked expression.
Cao Lin placed her hand on her chest and said with a pained expression, "I'm not sure, I feel like my heart is going to break. It's horrible, I thought I was going to die!"
“Don’t worry, let’s get you some water. Don’t move, let me check if you're injured.” Huang Jiahui brought her a chair and gave her a cup of water.
Cao Lin took a few sips and rested for a while. She got slightly better, but she got anxious again when she looked at Ning Xiaoran.
A moment later, Ning Xiaoran slowly opened her eyes. She got up from the couch and asked miserably, “What, what happened to me? Why am I lying down?”
“Congratulations Ning Xiaoran! You have evolved!” Luo Yuan said with a smile as he walked towards her.
Ning Xiaoran was stunned. “I, I’ve evolved?” she said uncertainly.
Luo Yuan nodded. She still could not believe it and she turned to look at the rest of them. She realized their gazes had gotten very different and strange in a such short time. They looked alert, envious, and enthusiastic at the same time. Some of them were trying to keep a distance from her. Even her closest friend was looking at her in alert.
She felt extremely insecure and quickly touched her face and asked, “Do I look ugly now?”
"You're still beautiful. Nothing has changed." People would be scared of her powers after her evolution, but that was a price she would have to pay. Luo Yuan did not explain as much to her. He believed she would understand sooner or later.
Ning Xiaoran looked shy and quickly lowered her chin, avoiding to look at him.
Luo Yuan changed the topic and asked, “Can you control your power?”
“I don’t know what my power is,” Ning Xiaoran said softly. She was still confused and did not know what her evolved power was.
Luo Yuan took a glass from the table and filled it with some water. Then he said, “Try to hold the glass and increase your strength gradually. Feel the changes inside your body.”
Ning Xiaoran naturally held the glass tightly. She suddenly felt a warm energy circulating inside her body and rush towards the glass. The water inside the glass began to boil and rose up to 30-40 cm in height. Ning Xiaoran got shocked and dropped her hand instinctively, causing the glass to fall.
Luo Yuan was able to catch it in time and hand it back to her. He said patiently, "This is your power. It's like your limbs, you shouldn't be afraid to understand and control it. Try again."
Ning Xiaoran took a deep breath and held the glass in her hand once more.
“Try slowly. Increase the strength gradually and then keep it in check,” Luo Yuan said. Ning Xiaoran’s power was stronger than he had imagined. No matter how strong the mutated beasts could be, their internal organs were weak. She could easily kill them using her power.
The water was boiling again, but much slower this time. It took about 10 seconds for the boiling to subside.
Luo Yuan nodded and said, “Your power is still weak, you can’t even kill primary level beasts. You should practice more when you have the time. It could help you upgrade your power. Don’t waste your talent.”
Ning Xiaoran kept nodding her head and looking at Luo Yuan, admiring him. He was always so handsome with his fair skin and his power to provide security during such a chaotic period. Innocent girls could not resist him.
Everyone could sense that Luo Yuan was treating Ning Xiaoran differently. Those who had not evolved were not happy as they knew she had been promoted to Wang Shishi and Huang Jiahui's level. If anything happened, Luo Yuan would definitely save her first. She was more useful and valuable now, and they all envied her.
Later in the afternoon, Ning Xiaoran felt like everyone was trying to avoid her. They even refused to accept her help. She was depressed because she felt like she was being isolated by the group. She was not sure whether her evolution had been a gift or a curse.
Luo Yuan noticed and asked to talk to her. He said, “Many people are afraid of people who own a gun, but they are more afraid of a gun in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to use it. That’s very dangerous, because he or she might hurt someone accidentally. You must learn how to control your power. Look at Wang Shishi. Her mind power is as dangerous as yours, but she had mastered it. That’s why people aren’t as afraid of her as they are of you. You need to master your power if you want things to go back to normal.”
Ning Xiaoran kept nodding her head, inspired.
“Other than controlling your power, you need to learn how to use it. This place will not be safe forever. We could be in danger anytime soon. You need to learn how to protect yourself. If you want to reach your maximum power, you need to get close to your goal.”
Ning Xiaoran was frightened and she said anxiously, “But... but I've never practiced before.”
“Don’t worry, I can teach you.”
Luo Yuan's Free Combat skill was only at 5 points, but it was enough to teach an elementary student like her.
“Alright,” responded Ning Xiaoran, biting her pink lips.
"Let's start with the stance, which is the basic principle of martial arts. It helps strengthen your legs and improve your body stability. If you can't take a stable stance, you will fall easily and your power will be affected. You're a beginner, so let's start with ten minutes today and increase by five minutes every day.”
Stance was very important to people who learned martial arts, and those who had a strong stance were more powerful than those who did not. Luo Yuan showed her the correct way to take a proper stance. Ning Xiaoran was shy as there was a lot of skin contact between her and Luo Yuan throughout the practice.
“Brother Luo, could you teach me as well?” Lin Xiaoji asked as he watched them from the doorway.
“Come and join us then. Start with the stance practice.”
Huo Dong and the rest were too shy to ask.
Luo Yuan realized this and said, “Let’s all learn together. Please ask Wang Shishi to come as well.”
Although Wang Shishi possessed the power of telekinesis, some physical training would also be beneficial to her as it would help strengthen her Determination. Everyone got excited and Sun Xiaowu quickly fetched Wang Shishi. Everyone had seen Luo Yuan’s power and most importantly his knife skill, which was amazing. Even if they could only manage to learn a little from his skills, it would still be useful.
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