Chapter Sixty-Eight: "Grand Aunt" (Unlocked)

Chapter Sixty-Eight: [Great Aunt]

A shadow flickered before his eyes… An intense light… then darkness once more.

He seemed to hear voices, but the words were indistinct. “He… Qiu Yun… Black Knight… blood…” The voice sounded familiar, but Chen Xiao could no longer discern it.

Sensation slowly returned to his body, only to be followed by waves of excruciating pain that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The voices faded, replaced by strange, intermittent noises: at first, a buzzing and grinding, like the whir of some electric drill, then the harsh hiss of a cutting tool, and after that, the crackle of electricity.

His senses flickered in and out. Each time he regained a little feeling, the agony overwhelmed him and he would slip back into unconsciousness—then awaken, only to be claimed by pain again. Chen Xiao couldn’t remember how many times this cycle had repeated—three? Four?

But gradually, one thing became certain in his mind:

I’m not dead.

I’m still alive.

That, at least, was a blessing.

…

Ting-ting-dong-dong.

A chubby man tapped curiously on the glass dome with fingers like drumsticks, mouth agape as he stared at the young man submerged inside. Curled up in the liquid, Chen Xiao looked like a fetus in the womb.

Bang!

As the fat man gawked, he received a hard knock on the back of his head.

“You lazy oaf! Daydreaming again! Get to work! Or do you want to go hungry tonight?”

The saccharine voice made the fat man blanch. His jowls trembled as he forced a fawning smile. “Big Sis, I wasn’t slacking, I—”

“Don’t call me Big Sis! You’re supposed to call me Great Aunt! I’m old enough to be your grandmother, so you’re getting off easy! I only picked you up on a whim, you fat lump!”

“Yes, yes, of course, Great Aunt. And, uh, Great Aunt, I’m a person, so could you not refer to me as ‘a lump’?”

Crestfallen, the fat man hastened to his chores, checking the wires around the giant tank, then grabbing a bucket and broom to clean up.

Within the tank, Chen Xiao could hear the muffled, distorted sounds of their voices through the liquid.

Yet… those voices… so familiar…

That woman—was it… Zhu Rong? And that man—why did his voice sound so familiar?

Zhu Rong… Did they rescue me?

…

At last, after four days, Chen Xiao opened his eyes and could finally see his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was a pudgy, fleshy face, staring fixedly at him, beady eyes darting about. When the fat man realized Chen Xiao was awake, his whole face quivered, and he turned and dashed away, shouting at the top of his lungs:

“Great Aunt! Great Aunt! Pretty Boy is awake!”

Great Aunt… Pretty Boy?

Chen Xiao felt a surge of confusion before memories began to resurface. Wait, wasn’t this guy that bandit?

Soon, the three notorious owners of Dead-End Street gathered in the room, pointing and murmuring around the tank where Chen Xiao floated in the liquid. Especially Zhu Rong, whose brazen gaze made Chen Xiao wish he could shrink away. The sensation of being scrutinized while naked was anything but pleasant.

“He seems about recovered,” Old Tian said, rubbing his chin. He pulled a lever, and with a whoosh, a drain opened at the bottom of the tank, rapidly emptying the liquid.

Old Tian and Gong Gong lifted Chen Xiao out, wrapped him in a blanket, and deposited him on a bed. Only then did Chen Xiao realize—this was the secret room beneath the Dead-End Street café!

He had no idea where the giant fish-tank-like container had come from.

With the three old oddballs staring at him, Chen Xiao felt his scalp prickle. After a moment, he managed a wry smile. “Looks like I’m not dead after all.”

“No, you’re not,” Zhu Rong said, stroking her chin and staring at Chen Xiao with unconcealed curiosity and interest sparkling in her eyes.

Old Tian folded his arms and grinned. “Kid, I always thought you had potential, but even I didn’t expect you to pull this off. You took down a top-tier A-rank ability user, and you’re just a rookie…”

Gong Gong fluttered his fingers with an affected laugh. “Xiao, you’re absolutely ferocious~~~~”

“Hahaha! The Black Knight suffered a huge defeat this time! Not only did he lose Qiu Yun, one of his pillars, but even that tyrannosaurus—rumor has it he was crippled! Chen Xiao…”

“Tyrannosaurus? Crippled?” Chen Xiao was taken aback.

Suddenly, all the clues clicked into place in his mind—blood! And purification!

Clearly, the purification serum had fused with his blood, giving it the power to “fuse” and “purify.”

The fusion allowed him to acquire other ability users’ powers. For example, when Alice kissed him, her saliva not only poisoned him but also transferred her DNA, granting him her two abilities: toxin and mimicry.

At the same time, his blood had another effect: purification.

In short, it could devour the powers of other ability users.

The first to suffer was Black Seven, whose ability was consumed by the serum, which then merged into Chen Xiao’s body.

The second was Qiu Yun. At the time, Chen Xiao had only meant to poison Qiu Yun with the toxin he’d gained from Alice. After being kissed, he realized he could acquire others’ abilities this way. So, after obtaining the toxin, he decided to use it on Qiu Yun, pricking himself with a wooden spike, then stabbing Qiu Yun.

But Qiu Yun, though immune to poison, still fell to Chen Xiao.

The reason was the purification now fused in his blood.

For any ability user, Chen Xiao’s blood had become the deadliest poison.

He thought back to when he’d barbecued his own blood and knocked out the tyrannosaurus—could the purification in his blood, carried on the smoke, have infected the tyrannosaurus as well? The creature was not only poisoned, but his powers devoured by the purification?

Suddenly, Chen Xiao’s heart clenched.

What about Cabbage? She had powers, too…

But then he relaxed—he’d told both Cabbage and Young Master Xu to plug their noses. They probably hadn’t inhaled any toxin.

As Chen Xiao fell into thought, Old Tian sat beside him, took a towel, and dried his damp hair.

“Kid, you’re lucky this time. When we dug you out of the rubble, your body was like a rag doll stomped by an elephant. We scraped together everything we had to save your life! That tank of repair serum used up all our reserves.”

Old Tian chuckled.

“How did you find me?” Chen Xiao sighed.

“Thank Zhu Rong,” Old Tian said, glancing at her. “She and Alice have been rivals for decades and know each other’s habits well. When we heard about the attack on the Xu mansion, we scoured the city for possible hideouts. Eventually, we found that abandoned factory—but we were a step too late. Otherwise, you might not have nearly perished with Qiu Yun.”

Chen Xiao sighed. “What about my friends? Young Master Xu and Cabbage…”

“They’re both safe, under police protection for now.” Old Tian smiled. “But there’s a problem… After you were kidnapped, the police searched your home, and that blue-blooded girl was taken away.”

Chen Xiao shot upright.

Yaya?!

“Damn! Yaya doesn’t have any identification!” His face changed. “If the police find out she has no legal papers—”

“That won’t be a problem.” Old Tian waved a hand. “We’d never leave her in trouble. Don’t worry, we’ve taken care of it. The police won’t make any trouble… But Chen Xiao, there’s something else you need to know. Brace yourself.”

Old Tian’s face turned grave. “You’re in serious trouble now. To put it simply, since we brought you back, our instruments have detected major issues with your body. You’re alive, but whether you’ll stay that way… is another question.”

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