Chapter 590: Chapter 590: Think More about Yourself

That night, many people in Pengcheng City saw the unparalleled lightning storm. Lightning directly struck between the city’s buildings, but did not cause any substantial damage. For them, it felt like they were watching a 5D movie.

Nor was it just in Pengcheng City, in many places around the world, people had similar illusions. They heard thunder and even thought that the thunder was booming nearby, only that they didn’t see the actual scene like the people in Pengcheng City did.

Liu Shiling and Yang Zhen’er, the two “culprits,” had already returned home. After a hot bath and changing into their pajamas, they were savoring the hot mushroom beef soup brought in by takeaway delivery.

Yang Zhen’er checked her phone and muttered, “Chef Xiang’s phone is not connecting. I wonder what he’s up to.”

Then she turned to Liu Shiling, who, like herself, was sitting cross-legged on the chair, her chubby face flushed from the hot soup. She moved her chair closer to Shiling and said:

“Come on, Little Lingdang, tell me what just happened. That lightning storm… that booming thunder, how did it bring rain? It was so sunny before… Was it me, you, or Chef Xiang? How did your five coins just fly up into the sky?””

“Uncle Bald said that if you think things through yourself, you’ll understand. If you really don’t understand, just ask him.” Liu Shiling tilted her head back and said before continuing to drink her soup. Having gotten wet in the rain and now having a hot bath and hot soup, it felt incredibly comfortable. She had been asked the same question by Yang Zhen’er at least ten times since it started to rain. As per Uncle Bald’s instructions, no matter what, she would reply with this sentence.

“Chef Xiang is obviously tricking me! And I can’t connect to him at all now!” Yang Zhen’er said angrily, then she saw that Shiling had no more beef in her soup bowl and added with a mischievous smile, “Little Lingdang, I still have several pieces of beef here. Want them all?”

Liu Shiling was about to say yes, but suddenly remembered something. Looking at Yang Zhen’er’s expression, she immediately said, “Thank you, but it’s okay, Sister Zhen’er, I’m full!”

“You’re not full!” Yang Zhen’er declared firmly, “I know by the look in your eyes, you definitely haven’t had enough!”

“I’m full!”

“Little Lingdang, how about I order you some wontons? You like this restaurant’s wontons, right? And maybe a egg pancake too?”

“Sister Zhen’er, my stomach isn’t that big.”

“Just the wontons then?”

After hesitating for a second, Shiling shook her head and said, “No, thank you, Sister Zhen’er. I have to go home and feed Custard Pie. He needs his late-night snack too.” Normally, when Sister Zhen’er offered to buy her food, she would not be too coy. But right now, she knew that Zhen’er was casting a “sugar-coated cannonball,” trying to bribe her for information.

“Didn’t I install an automatic feeder for Custard Pie? We can control it with the phone, And give it food at any time.” Yang Zhen’er took out her phone and said.

“But… I need to keep an eye on him. I can’t let him eat too much.”

“We can control the feeding quantity. If you miss Custard Pie, let’s go hold him. Sleep with me tonight, as your mom is working late again. I’ll tell her, she will agree.” said Yang Zhen’er.

“No… I… I have homework to do.”

“You can do it here. I can help you.”

“Sister Zhen’er, I really can’t tell you.”

“I’ll buy you something delicious tomorrow. How about that custard we had last time? Or maybe a salted egg yolk bun? Yes, the National Day holiday is almost here and I’ll take you back to Chongyun Village for the holiday. I’ll have Chef Xiang prepare your favorite steamed meat buns are made in advance, okay?”

“Sister Zhen’er, if I don’t tell you, will you not take me back to Chongyun Village?” After finishing her mushroom beef soup, Liu Shiling looked up, her young face filled with innocent concern.

Yang Zhen’er was taken aback. Even though she was certain that Little Fatty Girl had some information that she herself didn’t know, she couldn’t bear to say, “If you don’t tell me, Little Lingdang, I won’t take you back to the village.” But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She could only say, “Of course I will still take you back to Chongyun Village. If I don’t take you along, I’m afraid I’ll be kicked back by Nana, Old Xia, and Chef Xiang. Little Lingdang, can’t you take pity on your Sister Zhen’er and just hint me a little?”

Liu Shiling scratched her head as if she were quite troubled. After some thought, she finally said, “Sister Zhen’er, Uncle Bald wants you to think for yourself, there must be a reason. You’re family now, Uncle Bald definitely has your best interests in mind.”

Yang Zhen’er grumbled, “Your Uncle Bald just wants to make fun of me. Let me think for myself? I don’t even know how I made those illusions before, how those erasures happened, or how you, Little Lingdang, blew up the TV and the refrigerator before. If he really wants me to think for myself, all I can do is guess wildly… Huh?”

While she was talking, Yang Zhen’er suddenly seemed to think of something and paused.

Liu Shiling stretched her neck to look at Yang Zhen’er, and seeing no response after softly calling out her name, quietly cleared the soup bowls and placed them in the sink with dish soap and water. Then she quietly left Yang Zhen’er’s house and returned to her own.

After all, her home was in the same building, just an elevator ride away.

…

Chongyun Village.

As the lightning storm in the distant mountain gradually subsided, the fireworks show above the village also ended.

Tang Baona stared at the tranquil and peaceful night sky, which had returned to normal after the fireworks show, and for a moment felt as if she was in a dream.

“Those fireworks… were arranged by you and Xiang Kun, right? Will such a big fanfare disturb others?” Tang Baona looked at Old Xia and asked with some concern.

“No,” Old Xia replied simply and confidently.

“All that commotion must have startled the whole village. There are a lot of elderly people in the village who might have been asleep and then got scared by all that noise. Maybe they’re cursing… or did you guys give them a heads up?” As she spoke, Tang Baona suddenly realized something was off.

The place they stayed was relatively high in the village, and they could see most of the village from the rooftop. Also, the village had streetlights everywhere. Once night fell and the streetlights lit up, they could see everything clearly. The big fireworks show had just happened, but no one came out to look, which was odd.

On the other hand, when the lightning storm appeared in Chongyun Mountain earlier, some people did come out.

Then Tang Baona recalled that the fireworks seemed to appear out of nowhere in mid-air, quickly rising a certain distance before exploding. Even the fireworks exploding right above their heads didn’t have a whiff of the smell of gunpowder, nor did they see any falling debris as is usual with fireworks.

Could it be fake? An illusion?

Tang Baona then asked Xiao Pingguo, “Xiao Pingguo, did you just hear a lot of fireworks?”

Xiao Pingguo nodded, “Yes, the fireworks were really beautiful… Oh, I mean, when I heard the sound, I imagined a beautiful scene! Happy Birthday, Sister Nana!”

No, asking Old Xia and Xiao Pingguo was not accurate.

— Tang Baona quickly came to this conclusion.

She thought of the lightning storm in Chongyun Mountain, Xiang Kun had asked them to come to the rooftop in advance, saying that there was going to be a “great show”, which showed that he had foreseen this lightning storm and might even have a direct connection with it.

What was Xiang Kun doing in the mountains?

Tang Baona, who had watched a lot of animation and novels before, couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild: Was Xiang Kun working on becoming immortal? Could it be that he had awakened some celestial meridians and the price was his hair? Or was he secretly building some terrifying super machine, capable of attracting lightning and controlling electricity, manipulating the power of heaven and earth? Old Xia resigned and ran over to work with Xiang Kun to set up a research base. Perhaps they are using husbandry research and biological research as a cover, but what they are really doing is constructing a superior weather control machine?

In Tang Baona’s mind, Xia Libing had turned into a figure dressed in military uniform, tall black boots, wearing an eyepatch, and holding a whip.

She remembered, there was once a “lightning storm” in Chongyun Mountain, and then it killed two escaped prisoners.

And then, thinking of “Little Elf”, her talent for sensing the rhythm of all things, Yang Lao San’s recent unusual behavior, the extraordinary abilities of Xiao Lingdang and Xiao Pingguo, she felt that she had grasped some threads of truth, only a thin veil left to uncover.

Originally, she planned to wait until she and Xiao Pingguo had established a basic prototype for their research on the melody resonance of all things and then have a showdown with Xiang Kun to find out the mystery.

But now she couldn’t help it, as she got the feeling that Old Xia and Xiao Pingguo knew more than she did.

So Tang Baona picked up her phone and dialed Xiang Kun’s number, then heard a soft feminine voice:

“The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable, please try again later.”

…

With the help of Alice and a large number of “Super-connected objects” and electronic devices, Xiang Kun was very clear about the situation and the queries of all his friends, whether they were in Pengcheng City or Chongyun Village, be it Yang Lao San, Little Fatty Girl, or Tang Baona, Xiao Pingguo, Old Xia. In fact, this was all part of his deliberate plan.

If it wasn’t for a change in the plan, if it wasn’t for the decision to deal with the threat of the “Ultimate Predator” in the short term, Xiang Kun actually didn’t want to reveal the truth to them in such a direct way and make them aware of the existence of “Super Sensory Item System” so soon.

From the current perspective, whether it was Yang Lao San or Nana, both had made progress beyond his expectations, and there was plenty of time. He hoped that before he explained his situation and their situation directly to them, they could have some “development projects” based on their own unique cognition.

Xiang Kun then turned his attention to Mr. Liang, under the “awning” at his feet, who was already asleep.

After completing his blood-drinking, Mr. Liang had fallen into sleep, but his body had automatically entered into invisibility mode.

This made Xiang Kun realize that Mr. Liang’s invisibility ability was not necessarily “triggered” when needed, but rather, invisibility was his normal state. To “appear” and allow others to see him would require deliberate control and “activation”.

Xiang Kun entered the “Super Sensory State”, observing further changes in Mr. Liang’s body during this phase of transformation through the cognitive information.

Having already observed once before, Xiang Kun was very familiar with Mr. Liang’s cognitive information this time and clearly understood which changes in the cognitive information during this phase of transformation were inherited from the mutated big bird.

Meanwhile, he was also sensing and observing the special cognitive information left in Mr. Liang’s body by the “Ultimate Predator”. His greatest “research achievement” during his time in the mountains was finding a way to sever and shield the influence and control of the “Ultimate Predator” on the special factors and cognitive information left in other organisms.

After temporarily blocking the “Ultimate Predator”, Xiang Kun could sense those special cognitive information without immediately erasing it while under the “Super Sensory State”. Having the conditions for observation, he could further research and decode such cognitive information.

This allowed Xiang Kun to discover more characteristics and essences of the “Ultimate Predator”, based on the accumulation of previously gained information and data, various observable and tangible manifestations. From this, he was able to perfect and update his plans, providing support for his series of actions.

As for the method, of course, it involved utilizing the power of the “Super Sensory Item System” and Alice through a huge amount and densely packed “Super-connected Objects”.

This region within Chongyun Mountain, established by Xiao Luobo and a mass amount of “Super-connected Objects”, served as a barrier that could isolate the “Ultimate Predator’s” protective shield. Hence, he need not erase the special cognitive information in Mr. Liang’s body, nor worry about their plans here being exposed or affected.

Xiang Kun’s original plan was to spread “Super-connected Objects” globally, completely blocking the communication between parts of the “Ultimate Predator”, effectively paralyzing it. Without the ability to threaten Xiang Kun by killing other organisms, Xiang Kun could then gradually cleanse all cognitive information on organisms and thoroughly erase it from the world.

Of course, by then, the “Ultimate Predator” would be no more than a pet or toy of Xiang Kun, completely at his mercy.

However, even though the “Ultimate Predator” might not know Xiang Kun’s specific plan, or what he intended to do, it had clearly sensed the danger, therefore the incident of controlling the mutated big bird to crash into something occurred.

Anticipating the possibility of further actions by the “Ultimate Predator” threatening the friends and family around him, Xiang Kun had no choice but to advance his plans.

Essentially, the way the “Ultimate Predator” controls its body parts and all special factors is similar, on a fundamental level, to how Xiang Kun uses the “Super-connected Objects”. However, it is significantly less advanced, like learning boxing after gaining a hand, while Xiang Kun instantly mastered firearms, artillery, computers, and atomic energy after gaining a hand. It cannot comprehend Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System” and related derivative abilities. Of course, this does not mean that Xiang Kun can easily kill it now. Since it is hiding in underground caves and not poking its head out, Xiang Kun could only kill it if he bombs all the caves, but there are innocent lives above these caves, he could not risk, so it must come out entirely by itself.

Three hours later, Mr. Liang woke up from his sleep, completing this phase of extreme transformation, gradually becoming visible.

Xiang Kun had also noticed before that his own period of deep sleep after swallowing the blood of other “mutants” was always much shorter than normal sleep, but both Mr. Liang’s and John’s periods of deep sleep after drinking mutant blood were far longer than his. Moreover, their blood-drinking cycle was very irregular, unlike him who had always controlled it to around five days for a long time, until recently he found a way to significantly break through this cycle.

After waking up, Mr. Liang checked his condition, communicated with Xiang Kun for a while, then called a few medium-sized drones to set up a communication device with a screen using their installed components.

“I want to introduce someone to you,” Mr. Liang said.

Xiang Kun immediately knew who Mr. Liang wanted to contact.