Chapter 13: Superpower Transformation

Chapter 13: Ability Change

Lin Su grumpily turned down Fu Yun and told him to hang those things in the kitchen and never let them appear in his sight again.

He closed his eyes to calm himself, but it didn't work after a moment. Somewhat exasperated, he grabbed Fu Yun’s wrist, pinned him down, and pressed close to his ear, gritting his teeth: “Wait until later, and you’ll see—your brother will be just fine.”

“And more than fine! You just wait!”

Fu Yun blinked. The haystack beneath them sank a good bit, the pale skin of his cheek brushing against the straw, prickling slightly. He couldn’t help turning his head to avoid it.

A hand gripped his chin, turning his head back. The voice, low and urgent, buzzed right in his ear, demanding: “Huh? Say something.”

“…Oh.” Fu Yun answered blankly. “Brother, do you not want to see a doctor? Or not want to drink the medicine?”

Thinking of this, he frowned: “But that’s no good. You have to see a doctor, and the medicine isn’t bitter either.”

A vein popped on Lin Su’s forehead. He reached out and clamped a hand over those noisy lips, leaning in close, staring straight into Fu Yun’s eyes: “Shut up. Just you wait.”

Then he pushed himself up and let Fu Yun go. Before he could catch his breath, he heard the kid mumble: “Fine, fine. If you don’t want to see one, then don’t.”

Lin Su: …

Forget it. Why bother arguing with this little fool?

-

Lin Su still didn’t get his afternoon nap. Xu Lei came by with his son.

He brought a cartload of roof tiles and a half-basket of food.

“My mom told me to come fix your roof tiles,” Xu Lei said bluntly, stating his purpose.

His son, Xu Xiaohu, was sharp and lively, with a sweet mouth: “Uncle Lin, my grandma said your leg’s no good, so she told my dad to fix the roof. In the basket are some snacks she made herself, for you to taste.”

“Uncle Lin, that sturgeon was really tasty! It’s my first time having it! Thank you, Uncle Lin. You’re so amazing—you even caught a sturgeon, and a huge one at that! My dad’s never caught one.”

Xu Lei, who was quietly climbing onto the roof, suddenly asked: “There wasn’t any hook on the rope. How’d you catch it?”

His face was full of puzzlement. After all, he’d been rowing and fishing for more than ten years, and this was the first time he’d seen someone catch a fish like that—like the fish had jumped right into their arms.

Xu Lei’s tone was normal, just genuinely curious. Lin Su wasn’t rattled and replied with a casual smile: “How would I know? I didn’t really mean to catch a fish. I just tied a piece of pork to tease Fu Yun, and somehow it got caught.”

“Maybe the fish had some issue and lost its way, jumping right into someone’s arms.”

Lin Su then called Fu Yun to pass tiles to Xu Lei, while he took the food out of the basket, naturally changing the subject.

“Is this… fresh vermicelli?” In the basket was a basin of milky white, soft, coiled vermicelli.

“This is mung bean vermicelli. Grandma made it last night. Uncle Lin, try it—it’s super fresh,” Xu Xiaohu eagerly answered.

Recently free, Xu Shi planned to slowly dry some vermicelli, since last year’s stock had all sold out.

“Uncle Lin, what’s cooking in your pot? It smells incredible!”

Xu Xiaohu had smelled the rich, strong aroma since arriving but hadn’t dared to ask. Standing under the eaves handing tiles to his dad with Fu Yun, the scent grew even stronger, hanging in the air, and he couldn’t hold back.

“Fish-head soup,” Lin Su said, stirring the vermicelli soaking in water. “Perfect timing on the vermicelli. You and your dad stay for dinner. I’ll whip something up for you.”

“Sure thing, thanks, Uncle Lin.”

It was still early after lunch, so Lin Su leaned against the persimmon tree out back, watching the three of them work.

Though he said he was watching all three, his eyes were fixed on Fu Yun.

No reason other than that Fu Yun was easy on the eyes in every way.

He stood half-turned, his strikingly handsome profile framed by a cascade of dark hair. A slender, fair neck peeked out from his coarse gray-brown tunic.

His build was tall—at least 1.8 meters by the look of it—towering over the other guys in this area. Years of gathering herbs in the mountains had made his body sturdy and well-proportioned. As he bent to pick up tiles and reached to hand them over, the broad movements revealed the graceful lines of muscles beneath his clothes.

Arms, waist, hips, thighs… Every part of his body was packed with immense, powerful strength. Fu Yun’s physique wasn’t as fragile as his face.

This was a strong, powerful man—at least in Lin Su’s eyes.

He stared for a long time before shifting his gaze to the weeds under the tree. Among the dense grass lay a broken, dead tree stump, its trunk rotted away, only the roots stubbornly clinging to the soil.

Thinking of that unusually large sturgeon, Lin Su decided to study how his Superpower affected the plants and animals of this world, to avoid causing trouble in the future.

The water he produced with his ability did attract zombie mutants, mutated beasts, and mutated plants—it acted like a universal nutrient supplement, with the effect of clearing toxins and impurities.

But this attraction was minimal. The Ability Water’s effect was negligible, with no immediate results. Unless taken in large amounts or over a long period, it was almost useless.

What really drove mutants crazy was the spiritual energy Lin Su cultivated from the crystal core in his dantian.

In his past life, Lin Su discovered his ability crystal core was in his dantian, while others—including mutants—had theirs in their brains. On a whim, he combined the crystal core with his family’s Cultivation Technique to artificially create a Spiritual Pill. To his surprise, it worked. From then on, while others leveled up their abilities, he started cultivating immortality.

In the end, it attracted a bunch of high-level mutants coveting his spiritual energy.

But that was for contaminated, mutated apocalyptic creatures. For normal world organisms, the ability water’s effect should be amplified several times.

That’s why Lin Su had the idea of using ability water to fish.

His ability level had dropped, his spiritual pill shattered, and his spiritual energy was nearly zero. He had only released a single drop of ability water. Even if the effect was amplified several times, it was still insignificant.

But for creatures without intelligence, it was enough. Catching small fish and shrimp to tease Fu Yun was fine.

Who knew it would hook a big one?

Lin Su didn’t think the ability water had a huge effect on this world’s creatures.

Not only had Fu Yun been drinking ability water for two days without noticeable change, but the biggest beneficiary—Lin Su himself—showed no obvious improvement.

This new body hadn’t been visibly nourished. The malnutrition common in this era hadn’t improved, and his broken leg still ached constantly.

That sturgeon had also eaten the pork wrapped in ability water, and Lin Su hadn’t sensed any change in it before or after.

Since the ability water’s effect hadn’t increased, why had it attracted such a large sturgeon, but no other small fish or shrimp?