Ch 188: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

They thought about it and realized they couldn’t get involved, so they finally decided to withdraw from the battlefield and leave the place to Li Jin.

Through the eyes of the plants, Mu Xing observed clearly that Li Jin’s speed and pressure were both much stronger than when he had first awakened his powers.

So… abilities could actually be strengthened through stimulation?

After a while, Mu Xing sensed something was wrong and shouted sternly, “Li Jin, stop!”

At the same time, several vines shot out and tightly bound Li Jin’s limbs.

Even in his berserk rage, the boy’s strength was shocking—he tore through several vines. Fortunately, when Mu Xing used his plant powers, the one thing he never lacked was vines, and he still managed to subdue him.

Looking down at the two men on the ground, they had already collapsed, completely unable to resist.

If he hadn’t stopped Li Jin, the boy might very well have beaten them to death.

Li Jin struggled for quite a while, until Mu Xing guided a surge of green energy into his body.

Li Jin suddenly felt his mind clear, snapping out of the frenzy.

Dazed, he recalled what he had just done, then looked uneasily at Mu Xing. “Instructor, just now…?”

Mu Xing said calmly, “Nothing too serious. But you may need to come with us back to the capital for a detailed checkup.”

Remembering how he had lost his reason just moments ago, Li Jin also felt uneasy. He agreed without protest.

Then he suddenly remembered something urgent and blurted, “Instructor, Major Gu—what about my family?”

Gu Zhao reassured him. “Don’t worry. That person has been captured. Your parents are safe.”

Li Jin rushed home himself, and only after seeing his parents unharmed did he finally relax.

The next morning, he told his parents he was going to the capital for training, that if he performed well he might be recommended for university. He also, out of worry about retaliation, persuaded them to take a trip away for a while. Then he left with Mu Xing and the others back to base.

As for the three people from Zero, they were naturally taken as prisoners.

Mu Xing brought Li Jin to the research institute for testing, while Gu Zhao took the others away for interrogation.

Li Jin’s results soon came out: his body temperature was higher than normal, and his central nervous system was unusually active. In this state, his emotions were very prone to spiraling out of control.

He replaced Mu Xing as the research institute’s newest “precious subject.”

Meanwhile, Gu Zhao managed to pry out a lot of information from the captives. As suspected, Zero was currently contacting awakened people worldwide.

China wasn’t their best target, because the country’s management of outsiders was too strict, not suitable for their operations.

But in most other places, awakened individuals were hiding, difficult to find. Only China had publicly released awakened data—people like Li Jin, whose identities and addresses could be directly obtained.

They had actually known that Li Jin was being observed. But ever since his identity had been revealed, so many people curious about him had come by to say hello that two more watchers didn’t stand out.

More importantly, they never thought Li Jin would reject them.

In their view, someone who awakened such powerful abilities was naturally destined to stand at the top of the world. How could he possibly resign himself to living as an ordinary person?

And weren’t they just providing him with the perfect platform?

Thinking this way, they confidently contacted Li Jin without even bothering to hide their identities.

Who would’ve thought the kid’s first reaction would be to report them to the government?

Was he crazy?!

No one knew how Gu Zhao did it, but within three days, everything those three could reveal had been wrung out of them.

It turned out none of them were Chinese nationals, and the murders they carried weren’t even committed in China.

As for how to deal with them, Gu Zhao hadn’t yet decided when Mu Xing spoke up.

Mu Xing needed manpower.

At the agricultural institute, he already had a huge stretch of land.

Apart from one field used for hybrid experiments, the rest were filled with bizarre crops he had created through his powers.

They weren’t easy to grow.

Forget mass production—survival itself was hard, even with constant observation, recording, and manual cultivation.

Mu Xing took custody of those captives. The research institute injected them with a control drug that stripped away most of their abilities, ensuring they posed no threat, then handed them over to Mu Xing.

They became farmhands.

Especially the plant-type ability user—he was incredibly useful.

Not long after, the agricultural institute’s official account released a video.

In it, a man in a hat dug up a basket of green sweet potatoes from the soil.

A nearby reporter washed one, cut it open with a knife—the flesh inside was also tender green, looking very fresh.

The reporter took a bite, then smiled and explained, “This is a new melon-flavored sweet potato developed by the agricultural institute’s plant-type ability user. Eaten raw, it tastes no different from honeydew melon. Cooked, it has a unique flavor of its own.”

Officials confirmed that after repeated testing, the new product was harmless to humans, and combined the advantages of both sweet potatoes and melons, with extremely high nutritional value.

Finally, ten citizens were randomly selected from the comments to receive five pounds each of the new product for free.

Unsurprisingly, the post went viral.

Not only did netizens flood it with comments and shares, but soon an online craze erupted for awakened individuals posting pictures of their powers.

A fellow plant-type ability user posted a video of his own big yard.

He said emotionally, “As someone who kills any plant I try to raise, I have no idea why I awakened plant abilities, but reality is just this strange. Unlike the big boss at the Agricultural Institute, I can’t fuse plant genes—my power only makes plants grow faster. Here, let me show you my garden after just three days!”

The video showed a yard full of flowers of all kinds, blooming together in orderly beauty. Lush branches, vibrant blossoms, a scene breathtakingly gorgeous.

The naturally plant-loving Chinese netizens cried out in envy.

A girl who owned three cats posted her own clip.

Her awakening wasn’t a special power, but beastification.

In the video, two little gray ears grew on her head, her fingers sprouted sharp claws when she got excited, and her eyes turned into golden slit pupils.

The girl looked helpless. “Now my three babies think I’m one of them. They meow at me all day long—and the weird part is, sometimes I actually understand what they’re saying.”

Netizens: !!!

So cute!

We want to pet her!

Then a guy who could discharge electricity proudly showed off how he could charge phones and laptops with a touch, even changing his username to “Walking Power Bank.”

…

Meanwhile, foreign forces spying on China: ???

The same awakening of powers—why is the style here completely different from everywhere else?

In other countries, large-scale ability-user organizations had already formed. They openly opposed governments, demanding more rights.

Some, intoxicated by their sudden power, lost control of their desires. According to reports, in the last month and a half, robbery and murder cases worldwide almost equaled an entire year’s worth.

In some places, government officials were even assassinated—just for criticizing ability-user chaos online.

Tensions between ordinary people and ability users were escalating, and some nations had even deployed armies to hunt them down.

Against this backdrop, China looked absurdly harmonious.

Why were their ability users so obedient? Why, after gaining such power, were they still content to live like ordinary people—using fire abilities to cook, plant abilities to farm? Was this real?

Didn’t the government fear unrest by letting these dangerous people live freely? Didn’t ordinary citizens fear that someone who could kill them with a gesture lived next door? Why were they laughing it off?

Foreign powers couldn’t make sense of it. Quietly, they started to view China’s free-roaming ability users as fat sheep.

Almost every awakened person who hadn’t hidden their identity online received all kinds of “invitations.”

All with the same theme: your talents are wasted like this. Join us—we’ll give you supreme status and wealth.

Good move—China’s awakened immediately reported these accounts to Dragon Fang.

Gu Zhao followed the clues. The quick-witted slipped away, but the not-so-smart ones were all tracked down by Dragon Fang.

Injected with ability suppressants, they were all dumped onto Mu Xing as laborers.

A few months later, foreign organizations watched the Agricultural Institute’s official channel in disbelief—spotting their own former comrades.

Wearing straw hats, shorts, and slippers, they stood expressionless in fields, digging dirt, weeding, planting crops. Utterly miserable.

Some protested, accusing China of violating international norms by illegally detaining foreign ability users, suspecting they were weakening other nations this way.

General Tian would chuckle and say, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand. When did we detain your ability users? Be specific. Oh, that farmer? He’s just a regular farmhand. You say he’s your ability user? Then explain—why would your people suddenly appear on China soil without registration? Was it illegal entry, perhaps…”

In the end, no one could explain clearly, and the matter always fizzled out.

But within China, things were different.