Volume 4 Chapter 10 (1/2)
Book 4 Chapter 10 – Li Huaibei’s Surprise
Li Yiming remained sleepless on his bed, staring at the window until the darkness outside gradually turned into dawn, still thinking about his encounter with Fu Bo earlier.
”He's probably a guardian, but he hasn't realized it yet.” Bai Ze knelt down right beside his bed with a cup of milk made from powder.
”I've thought about that, but don't all guardians have to climb the Stage of Ascension during their awakening? So how is it possible that he isn't aware of his own ident.i.ty? Also, his situation about everyone forgetting him, is that the same technique as Mr. Kong?” Li Yiming asked.
”No. In a Dream only makes you forget about the person's appearance, but you'll remember once you meet that person again. This Fu Bo… he has something else. From Another Life.” Bai Ze sipped the milk and licked her lips with a grave countenance.
”From Another Life…?” Li Yiming recalled the details of his conversation with Fu Bo. ”What is it exactly?”
”A pa.s.sive talent, I guess. It's the same thing as your Thunder Immunity, or Thunder Purity.”
”Is that common?” Li Yiming suddenly thought about the four people he knew who each had a pa.s.sive talent.
”Definitely not. Pa.s.sive talents are extremely rare. You'd be struggling to find one person in ten thousand.” Bai Ze rolled her eyes. 'Speaking of which, am I getting something wrong here? Pa.s.sive talents everywhere?'
”So I can still remember him because I'm a bug in the system, right?” Li Yiming was pleased when he heard ”one in ten thousand”.
”Most likely. That's probably why he sees you as such a valuable friend. If you really want to get to the bottom of Mr. Kong's case, you should work on this lead. Also, have you noticed? When we entered the room, the domain disappeared.”
'A guardian who is unaware of his own ident.i.ty… A small, chaotic domain… A poor young kid tortured by solitude… Can I trust what I see? Or is he making all of this up? What about Qing He? Mr. Kong… What kind of mission is this?' Li Yiming put his chin on his hands and stared at the wooden floor as if he wanted to pierce through it and see the young man on the other side.
* * *
In a small coastal city in the South, Li Huaibei had been sitting at his work desk for a while already. His attention was focused on a web novel being shown on the monitor in front of him. He had been reading it for nine consecutive days and nights already. He scrutinized each character, and even punctuation mark attentively, not letting a single bit of information escape his eyes.
It was a new book, and although it had been finished recently, it had barely five hundred views, which was a rather pitiful result. It unpopular to the point that Li Huaibei could not even find it in one of the website that routinely uploaded pirated content.
With a final scroll of the mouse wheel, Li Huaibei reached the end of the novel. He closed his eyes slowly and tried to compose himself. He touched his forehead and gazed at the drops of sweat on his fingertips. 'Sweat… I haven't felt like this is in a long time…'
Li Huaibei knew that his cold sweat was not due to exhaustion from being awake for nine days, but rather to the shock and fear he received from the novel he had just finished.
Nine days ago, Li Huaibei was having a drink in a bar and remembering old times, as it had become an old habit of his, when he ran into a young couple who looked like nothing out of the ordinary.
”Hey, honey, let me tell you a secret.”
”What is it?”
”I can hold a cell phone with my chest now.” The woman craned her neck and whispered into her partner's ear.
”Really?” The man threw a surprised glance at his girlfriend's green s.h.i.+rt. 'Sizable to say the least, but I don't think she would be able to hold a cellphone between them.'
”Well, too bad if you don't believe me.” The woman pursed her lips and turned her head to the side.
”No, I believe you. Show me then.” The man's curiosity was piqued.
”No~!”
”Come on, show it to me.” The man wanted to know the answer, his interest having been aroused.
”N~o~” The woman produced a soft moan and dodged away, pretending to be playing her cell phone.
”Babe, how about just once?” The man insisted. He seemed like a wolf who had found a long-sought prey.
”Really?” The woman raised her head and looked back at her boyfriend shyly.
The man nodded as vigorously as he could.