Chapter 117

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan came over too.

Gao Yuxuan looked confused. “Why’d you burn it out?”

When Guo Jun saw him, it was like seeing a savior. “Yuxuan! Yuxuan!”

He hurried over, grabbed him, and asked for advice. “How did you get the car started yesterday?”

Gao Yuxuan said, “A steady voltage of twelve volts. Actually, holding it steady for three to five seconds is probably enough.”

Guo Jun: “?”

Gao Yuxuan: “...Huh?”

Guo Jun asked, “You can control the voltage?”

Gao Yuxuan looked surprised. “You can’t?”

Gao Yuxuan was thrilled.

Though everyone’s path to enlightenment was different, Guo Jun had awakened his superpower later yet surpassed him in strength. Since those who attained mastery could serve as teachers, Guo Jun technically counted as his senior.

Gao Yuxuan had never expected there to be something he could beat Guo Jun at.

“The night before last,” Gao Yuxuan said, “Zhao Yi and I practiced all night.”

At the time, both their superpowers had still been extremely weak. But they had practiced over and over, even creating a chart to quantify their results.

Zhao Yi’s little dirt clumps could only be measured roughly—“three punches to smash one” or “five punches to smash one.”

Gao Yuxuan’s electricity, however, could be measured.

He could obtain precise data.

Lower voltage meant weaker current, which also consumed less physical and mental energy.

As an engineering-minded man, he had something of an obsession with precision, so he practiced again and again.

In the end, he mastered the technique of releasing electricity with precise control.

Of course, that was only possible with low voltage and weak current.

By the time of the battle at Duoduo Supermarket, controlling the precision of a high-voltage electric python like Guo Jun’s would be much harder.

In combat, all that mattered was power and speed.

Insufficient power was Gao Yuxuan’s weak point.

In short: he was weak.

The minivan’s electrical system had already been burned out.

A few cars were scattered along Jixiang West Street.

Brother Dong picked one that looked sturdy and hard to break down, then shouted several times, “Does this car belong to anyone? Anyone? If nobody claims it, I’m taking it.”

No one answered, so he treated it as abandoned property.

Cui Haiyang helped him pick the lock, while Gao Yuxuan helped start the car.

Guo Jun had actually wanted to try again, but Brother Dong stopped him. “Go home and practice. Don’t use me as your test subject. I’m in a hurry to get home.”

Truthfully, nobody liked Brother Dong. But everyone knew he was trying to get home to his parents, wife, and children.

So even though they disliked him, they still lent him a hand.

Once the car started, Brother Dong climbed in and rolled down the window. “Thanks, everyone.”

Then he added, “Take care.”

He wasn’t a good man, but at least his farewell was sincere in that moment.

Everyone felt a little sad and said, “Take care.”

Brother Dong also thanked Zhou Wang for taking him in the previous night, then waved at the people who had gathered to watch the commotion.

Many of them instinctively waved back.

In a world overrun by zombies, who knew whether they would ever have the chance to meet again? They might as well say goodbye.

Brother Dong turned the steering wheel and made a U-turn, occasionally glancing outside.

He saw Jiang Cheng standing at the west gate of the Youth Apartments. The big man stood with his hands on his hips, bending slightly as he listened to her.

That tall, handsome man leaned his shoulder against the gatepost, arms crossed over his chest. One of his long legs was straight, while the other was folded over, its toe touching the ground.

The two girls were discussing something nearby.

Many of the elderly residents of Jixiang Garden began to cry when they saw this stranger leaving.

The metal-element superpowered person stood in front of the minivan whose electrical system had burned out, shaping the hood.

The front of the vehicle had already been turned around. Brother Dong didn’t see the finished result, but he could tell it was being shaped into something resembling a shoulder guard.

The car drove out of Jixiang West Street. The main road ahead was deserted.

The residential district of the Technology New Area looked like an empty city.

The moment he left Jixiang West Street, all the warmth and bustle of human life disappeared.

Outside lay a world filled with zombies.

Fortunately, he had a home. His parents, wife, and children were waiting for him there.

Brother Dong stomped on the accelerator and sped down the empty road.

At the entrance to the Youth Apartments on Jixiang West Street, Li Jiangbing said, “I was just thinking about whether I could put out that fireball. Then I realized I didn’t have any water nearby.”

At that moment, Li Jiangbing became acutely aware of the limitation of his superpower.

A fire-element superpower only needed a tiny flame to get started.

But however much water he needed depended on how much water was available nearby. That made his ability far too limited.

After all, it was obvious that a water-element superpower wasn’t meant for combat.

Jiang Cheng asked, “Can you purify wastewater now?”

Li Jiangbing replied, “No problem anymore. I just need more practice. The more I practice, the faster I’ll get, and the more water I’ll be able to produce.”

Jiang Cheng nodded, then asked, “Can you extract water directly from the air?”

Li Jiangbing blinked. “Huh?”

Ever since the one-jin-of-iron-and-one-jin-of-cotton incident, Jiang Cheng had realized just how little culture this man possessed.

“There’s always water in the air,” she reminded him. “Otherwise, why would we use a humidity meter to measure the humidity in a room?”

“Oh.” Li Jiangbing rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll give it a try.”

He focused. First, he had to sense it.

The instant he did, he realized Jiang Cheng was right. There really was water all around him, filling the world between heaven and earth.

It was inexhaustible and infinite.

If he had been able to extract water from the air just now, could he have put out Cao Jiacai’s fireball on the spot?

But...

Li Jiangbing relaxed his shoulders and panted twice.

Jiang Cheng asked, “Is it very difficult?”

Li Jiangbing nodded and explained, “It’s much harder than extracting pure water from that... that... that wastewater.”

Song Jingshuo was right beside them, leaning against the gatepost with his arms crossed. At those words, the corner of his mouth twitched.

You have the nerve to tell Jiang Cheng what you extracted that pure water from?

Jiang Cheng raised her head and looked at the blue sky and white clouds. The autumn air was crisp and clear.

“That makes sense. The air is especially dry this time of year. It would probably be much easier in summer, when it’s raining or unbearably humid.”

She told Li Jiangbing, “Go back and practice slowly.”

But Li Jiangbing said, “I’ll try again.”

He focused once more and exerted himself, clenching both fists.

Jiang Cheng watched as the veins on the backs of his hands and across his forehead bulged. Before long, blood began to trickle from one of his nostrils.

Why was he getting a nosebleed so quickly?

Song Jingshuo frowned and warned him, “Don’t push yourself too hard!”

But Li Jiangbing was determined. He could feel the unpleasant pressure building in his head, yet he gritted his teeth and endured it. When even his ears began to ache, he suddenly said, “I did it.”

Song Jingshuo: “?”

Song Jingshuo pushed away from the post and came closer. Only then did he finally see it clearly.

Half a foot in front of the tip of Li Jiangbing’s nose, a tiny marble-sized ball of water floated in the air.

It was so transparent that they hadn’t noticed it before.

But when someone moved and changed the angle, the water ball refracted the sunlight, making it visible.

Song Jingshuo carefully considered his choice of words and offered a venomously sarcastic compliment. “Adorable.”

Li Jiangbing was furious.

If he hadn’t been concerned about ruining the handsome man’s image, he would have wanted to grab Song Jingshuo by the neck and force him to say it again.

“Do you know how exhausting this is?” he huffed.

Jiang Cheng, however, followed up with another question. “How exhausting?”

Li Jiangbing answered solemnly, “Extremely exhausting.”

He tried to explain it to Jiang Cheng using his less-than-impressive command of the language.

“Controlling water that’s already there doesn’t take much effort. It’s as natural and easy as walking.”

"Extracting pure water from sewage is a bit tiring, but not that exhausting. It's like lifting a 15-kilogram dumbbell. It has a bit of weight, but it's no big deal for me. I'll get used to it with some practice."

"However, extracting water from the air feels like trying to lift a 120-kilogram barbell. It's so heavy right from the start, with no buffer at all."

Li Jiangbing was still recalling that feeling just now and trying to describe it more clearly: "The water is indeed in the air, but there are other things in the air too. Ah, right, it's just the air."

"Anyway, there is a kind of... um..." between the water and the air.

Song Jingshuo said, "Gravitational force?"

"Right!" Li Jiangbing continued, "When I want to extract the water, I have to separate it from the air. But the gravitational force between the water and the air is just giving me a hard time. It's like a tug - of - war."

As he said this, he gestured with his hands as if he was pulling and tugging.

Jiang Cheng said, "Reaction force?"

"!!" Li Jiangbing slapped his palm with his fist, "Great word!"

In the microscopic world, there are interactive forces between particles. There is an attractive force, that is, electromagnetic force, including dispersion force and induction force, between water molecules and other gas molecules in the air.

These forces in the microscopic world are, of course, tiny and imperceptible to humans in the macroscopic world.

But for the particles in the microscopic world, they are powerful or even huge.

When Li Jiangbing tried to separate the water molecules from the gas molecules, he actually intervened in the microscopic world with his superpower as the interface.

Once he intervened, he could no longer be considered purely in the macroscopic world.

When he tried to separate the water molecules, what was projected and transmitted to him at the interface between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds was not the imperceptible electromagnetic force for humans.

It was directly like a 120 - kilogram barbell.

So heavy right from the start.

That's why Li Jiangbing had a nosebleed in just a short period of time.

"The intensity has been increased," Li Jiangbing's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Song Jingshuo asked, "What do you mean?"

Li Jiangbing described it with the most appropriate example he could think of: "Without considering the muscle issue and just talking about improvement through weight, which is more useful, a 15 - kilogram dumbbell or a 120 - kilogram barbell?"

"And! And this barbell can improve my ability much faster than the dumbbell!"

In just two days, everyone was exploring the methods of improving and advancing their superpowers even during the battles in "Buyduoduo".

It has now been confirmed that a person's superpower has a certain amount, just like a person's strength, which can be exhausted.

When you start having a nosebleed, it means you are approaching exhaustion. The more blood flows from your seven orifices, the closer you are to the limit and death.

But as long as you don't die, if you stop and rest, and recover your strength, your superpower will increase.

Song Jingshuo and Jiang Cheng immediately understood.

Purifying ten batches of urine indoors might not consume as much energy as extracting a few drops of water from the air.

And the time taken is very short.

Li Jiangbing has found a shortcut to improving his water - based superpower.