Ch142 - Banana Flavored Boss Gong (2)
Translated by Hua Li^_^
Seeing the soul-body reflection of Ju Bel from the system feedback, Gou Llang was very surprised.
Ju Bel's soul-body was not the original soul-body of this world. It was clearly a case of the cuckoo taking over the magple's nest, yet it hadn't been ejected by the primary divine rules.
How could this be?
The system was also astonished and immediately reported this issue to the main system.
Gou Liang continued examining Ju Bel's soul-body reflection.
He came from a C-level world, with a background similar to the current world before the apocalypse, just not as technologically advanced. He was an orphan, living a simple life as an ordinary office worker in his original world, earning a meager salary and still trying to suppor an orphanage on the verge of bankruptcy, not faring well at all.
His Journey to this world began with a novel called 'Apocalypse Chronicles'.
Because of his difficult life, he appeared optimistic and strong on the outside, but deep down, he was pessimistic, secretly wishing for the world to end tomorrow so he could escape his immediate hardships.
Thus, he was a die-hard fan of apocalyptic novels.
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[Ding, Executor NO.00401, please take note.]
[During the scattering of fragments across various worlds, there was an incident at the Time-Space Management Bureau's soul-body reception station, where several soul-bodies were displaced into other dimensional worlds. The bureau has assigned personnel to retrieve these soul-bodies, so please focus on your mission and do not concern yourself with this matter.]
This was the first time Gou Liang had heard of such a thing.
He raised an eyebrow, figuring that since Ju Bei had arrived in this world before the dimensional lockdown, it wasn't too surprising.
However, he couldn't help but question Ju Bei's intelligence.
He believed he had entered a book, which was fine, but the problem was that the protagonist of 'Apocalypse Chronicles' wasn't Shi Buyu, but Jia Nanzhu, the earth-element ability user.
Have you ever heard of an earth-element ability user as the protagonist in an apocalypse story?
Gou Liang clicked his tongue, feeling justified in his anger-the beloved target of his mission turned out to be a mere cannon fodder in the book, and he died in a rather pitiful way! Even Gou Liang couldn't help cursing: "Lousy author, with a tiny excuse for creativity!"
The book described Jia Nanzhu's rise to dominance during the apocalypse and his harem conquests.
The author was quite a tease, blatantly showing how every male lover of Jia Nanzhu carried the shadow of his true love, Ju Bei-the lover Jia Nanzhu kept and who died during the apocalypse. Not only that, after the protagonist grew tired of each lover, the author would have them meet an untimely end.
In this way, Jia Nanzhu was portrayed as the deeply devoted male lead, eternally loving one person while having a constant substitute by his side.
This nauseated Gou Llang.
Thankfully, the author had some conscience and labeled it as a "scum novel" in the synopsis.
Before his transmigration, Ju Bei not only read it with relish but was also foolish enough to believe it. When he realized he had become Jia Nanzhu's true love, he was overjoyed, already mentally scripting a sweet, romantic story of a million words.
Fortunately, the teasing author did not involve Gou Liang's cherished target excessively. The novel didn't feature much about him.
After separating in the Jia family's underground laboratory, Shi Buyu, the "strength ability user," never crossed paths with the protagonist again. The story focusing on Jia Nanzhu naturally didn't include Shi Buyu.
It wasn't until the second-to-last chapter that Shi Buyu was mentioned to have awakened a devastating lightning ability through a stroke of luck.
Yet, in a plot twist, before Shi Buyu could make a name for himself as the world's only lightning ability user, he sacrificed himself in the next chapter, right where the author abandoned the story.
Skimming through the book, Gou Liang cursed the unreliable author and fell into deep thought.
While the plot of 'Apocalypse Chronicles' was rather mindless, the world's background was thoroughly fleshed out.
Whether it was the beasts or the early chapters where Jia Nanzhu and Shi Buyu parted ways, the descriptions perfectly matched the real-life events here. The scenes were vividly detailed, as if the author had witnessed them firsthand.
Considering that the mission world began a new cycle upon the target's vital signs disappearing, Gou Liang couldn't help but speculate if the author of 'Apocalypse Chronicles' was indeed from this world. Perhaps the events he wrote about, whether Jia Nanzhu's scummy behavior or the battles against the beasts, were truly his personal experiences.
Given that Ju Bei could transmigrate here, it wasn't impossible for someone else to transmigrate to Ju Bei's original world.
Just as he was about to delve deeper into the possibilities, Gou Liang was suddenly snapped back to reality by the mention of himself from Shi Buyu and his team.
"Boss, what do we do with this fat guy?"
The question came from Zhou Gao.
Like Yu Lin, he was a top soldier personally trained by Shi Buyu. They retired due to injuries sustained during high-risk missions and were kept as bodyguards by Shi Buyu in the Shi family.
The system's scanning eye locked onto them as they spoke, beginning to scan their data.
Zhou Gao.
Physique Enhancement: Strength.
Potential: Speed, Fire Element Ability.
Gou Liang thought: This guy really needs some discipline. Listen to the disdain in his voice when he calls me "this fat guy," humph.
"Old Zhou, you should be more compassionate. He's not completely dead yet. It's not easy to survive in this world. We should help if we can. If it doesn't work out..." The speaker suddenly laughed, "Look at his size. The beasts would love him as a human shield."
Yu Lin.
Physique Enhancement: Speed.
Potential: Strength, Ice Element Ability.
Compared to the sharp-tongued yet soft-hearted Zhou Gao, this one was truly not someone to mess with.
"Brother, you should watch your words."
Yu Sen.
Ability: Wood Element.
Physique Potential: Speed, Strength.
Although Yu Sen and Yu Lin were biological brothers, Yu Sen was a straightforward and honest person inside and out.
"Alright, you guys are just looking for an excuse to slack off! Get the bodies moving, and let the boss give them a proper send-off. It's unpleasant to leave them piled here!"
Qin Bei.
Physique Enhancement: Strength..
Potential: Speed, Wind Element Ability.
The scanning eye then focused on the last person, who was silently working and hadn't said a word.
Jiang Ren.
Physique Enhancement: Strength.
Potential: Speed, Metal Element Ability.
Gou Liang had already analyzed the beast's blood and core, both of which contained soul power.
A person's intelligence, senses, physique, and potential are all greatly proportional to their soul power. A person with strong soul power would excel in at least one of these areas. For instance, the original host had a soul power many times greater than the average person, hence his superior intelligence.
If a living person directly consumes soul power, they can assimilate it to enhance one of their attributes.
The attributes of strength and speed require the least amount of soul power, with speed requiring slightly more than strength.
Thus, it's easier for those who consume the beast's blood to exhibit a noticeable difference in strength. If their inherent soul power is slightly higher, it will directly manifest in their speed.
Soul power itself is harmless, and while there is an upper limit to how much soul power a soul-body can bear, consuming one beast's blood wouldn't be fatal. The differing reactions to consuming the beast's core and blood are due to the purity of the soul power; the core contains pure soul power, while the blood contains many impurities.
If the consumer's soul power cannot purify the incoming soul power, these impurities will directly cause the soul power to explode, separating the soul-body from the flesh-which is generally considered death.
Gou Liang had calculated that as long as the original soul power is ninety times greater than the consumed soul power, the original soul power can neutralize the impurities in the beast's blood.
And the soldiers accompanying Shi Buyu naturally had sufficient soul power.
Once Zhou Gao and the others piled up the scattered bodies, they looked at Shi Buyu, who was carefully arranging the corpses of the Shi family.
Soon, after Shi Buyu finished his task, he retrieved a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and was about to light it when he noticed that they had finished tidying up the corpses.
"So, it's time already."
He sighed, putting the cigarette back into the pack.
"Captain..."
"Boss..."
Yu Sen and the others looked at him with concern.
They had already tried to give him as much time as possible to say goodbye to his family.
But the pain of parting with the deceased wouldn't lessen with time.
Shi Buyu smiled slightly. Soon, a blue-violet current flowed across his fingers, gradually forming an electric sphere that slowly grew larger, enveloping his loved ones.
He said, "Dad, Mom. You always said that whether you were buried in the ground or cremated, as long as you were together, it was fine... Your son is unfilial, sending you off with so many light bulbs. If you're unhappy, come find me, talk to me, scold me however you want..."
"Big Brother, Second Brother, take good care of our parents down there. I know I'm being redundant; over the years, I haven't been around to honor them, but you two have taken such good care of our parents. Much better than I ever could... Truly."
He rambled on, his voice growing a bit choked, but he quickly quieted down.
After a final glance at his family, encased in the blue-violet dome of electricity, Shi Buyu clenched his fist-
A burst of thunderous power erupted!
In a split second, the bodies within the electric sphere vanished, leaving only black ash floating in the air.
Shi Buyu carefully gathered the unrecognizable black ashes. He had been thorough-his parents, brothers, two sisters-in-law, and five nieces and nephews were reduced to a small handful of ash.
He placed the ashes into a box, gently touched the cold metal container, then looked up, his expression calm once more.
He smiled as he pulled out the cigarette pack and tossed it to Yu Sen. Placing the sealed metal box in his pocket, he joked, "Keep an eye on those cigarettes for me. I'm down to my last pack and need it to get me through the next few decades. If anyone dares to smoke my cigarettes, I'll smoke them out."
The five of them breathed a collective sigh of relief, laughing. Zhou Gao, whose nicotine addiction surpassed Shi Buyu's, even called him stingy, saying he'd be happy just to sniff the smoke.
Yu Sen solemnly put away the cigarette pack, saying, "Don't worry, Captain, I'll make sure they're safe!"
With that, he gave a textbook military salute.
Shi Buyu lazily touched his temple with his fingers in a mock salute, praised him for being a good soldier, then proceeded to deal with the pile of bodies the same way.
After finishing everything, he checked his watch and said, "Let's take a five-minute break, then we'll leave as planned."
"Yes, sir!"
The five men straightened up and responded in unison.
Shi Buyu waved them off, "No need to be so serious when we're running for our lives. You're making it seem like we're heading to our deaths."
He chuckled at his own words, then turned his attention to the conspicuously overweight body lying alone on the ground, now even more noticeable with the bodies removed.
With a look of disdain, he said, "Who's going to carry this fat guy?"
Yu Lin was the first to say, "Boss, I'm driving!"
Zhou Gao chimed in, "I'm driving the second car!"
Qin Bei and Yu Sen spoke simultaneously, "We'll handle defense!"
The five of them glanced at Jiang Ren, who remained silent. However, even the honest man wasn't easily swayed.
He shook his head, signaling his stance.
"So, none of you want to carry this fat guy?" Shi Buyu looked at the group, who were shaking their heads in unison, and clicked his tongue, "I guess this means I really have a grudge against all fat guys named Tang."
With that, he stepped forward, grabbed Gou Liang by the collar, and attempted to lift him. Suddenly, Gou Liang let out a groan.
"Damn."
Shi Buyu was startled. Hearing the voice, he inexplicably felt his ears heat up, and even his waist seemed to tingle.
Facing the grimacing face of Gou Liang, contorted in pain, Shi Buyu felt the strange sensation dissipate.
He cursed under his breath, "Damn it," but his movements became more gentle as he set Gou Liang down. "Yu Sen, check him out and see what's wrong."
Yu Sen quickly stepped forward.
He didn't notice the fleeting discomfort Shi Buyu had shown, but he measured Gou Liang's temperature and said, "He's running a fever of 50 degrees, Boss. This matches the symptoms of an ability awakening that you just explained to us, doesn't it?"
Shi Buyu put aside his distractions and took a closer look. Indeed, it was the case.
Zhou Gao chuckled, "This 300-pound guy is certainly different; he does everything slowly. I bet others can digest that energy in 24 hours, but for him, it probably hasn't even penetrated the fat layer!"
"Ha ha ha, Old Zhou, I haven't seen you in years, and your tongue's gotten even sharper."
Qin Bel burst into laughter.
Yu Sen asked, "Captain, should we bring him along?"
Shi Buyu nodded. If Gou Liang's awakening failed, it would just be a matter of one electrical charge; he wouldn't let him become food for the beasts.
Once the five-minute rest was over, Yu Lin drove the modified escape vehicle out of the Jia family's underground garage.
The supplies in the vehicle had been packed when they decided to part ways with Jia Nanzhu's group and didn't account for Gou "Fat" Liang's size.
Qin Bei gestured, and they transferred a bunch of supplies from the first vehicle. It took all of them working together to get everything settled.
Zhou Gao cursed and grumbled, "This damn fat guy sure knows how to cause trouble."
Qin Bei added, "I heard he can barely walk. In the future, while we're out there risking our lives, we'll have to feed him too? Why should we? And I heard he eats even more than your average fat guy?"
Having spent seven or eight years in City A, Yu Lin had heard of Tang Tang. He was troubled by the thought, "That's the rumor. Probably because he uses his brain so much, it burns a lot of calories. He eats at least double what a fat guy his size normally would."
As soon as he finished speaking, the men all paused their work.
They glanced at the two vehicles stocked with supplies, calculated based on the consumption needs of the five of them, and realized that these supplies, enough for them to survive for three years, might not even last six months with the fat guy around.
However, the remaining supplies they had brought from the Shi family had already been given to Jia Nanzhu as a lodging fee. If they had known they'd be feeding this... livestock... Sigh, hindsight is 20/20!
Zhou Gao said seriously, "Boss, there's still time to ditch this pig."
"Alright, enough of that-"
Shi Buyu had just picked up Gou Liang, ready to toss him onto the vehicle, when he heard a ripping sound-the clothing couldn't handle Shi Buyu's strength and Gou Liang's weight and tore apart.
The six men present: ...
Gou Liang: Can I request a do-over for this scene?! (> <)