New Ability Acquired

Right after Zhang Chen swallowed the female ghost, in an office on the eleventh floor of the Jinxi County Public Security Bureau, nearly three kilometers from Zhang Chen's home, a man in a police uniform sat savoring the coffee in his cup. He was in his thirties, with a tall hooked nose, light eyebrows, and a sharp air between his brows. His eyes were neither large nor small.

The man suddenly frowned, set down his coffee cup, and rose from his seat, walking toward the window. He stared outside with tightly furrowed brows, in the direction of Zhang Chen's home. Before long, he smiled faintly, returned to his seat, and continued drinking his coffee.

Elsewhere, on the Sports Ground of First Elementary School in Jinxi County, even farther from Zhang Chen's home, stood a woman about twenty-five years old and 1.7 meters tall. She had a melon seed face, wheat-colored skin that gave her a healthy, lively look, and a striking figure. She wore a full white Nike tracksuit with pink trim, while her slightly curled brown hair was tied into a relaxed, playful braid.

At that moment, she was leading the Children before her through warm-up exercises. Suddenly, she turned her head and looked toward Zhang Chen's home, then immediately turned back as if nothing had happened.

Yet beneath an old tree at the entrance to Wanhe Garden, a monk dressed in robes was likewise gazing toward Zhang Chen's home. This person was none other than Puhu from Sanxue Temple. He raised a hand and drew several shapes in the air, then flicked his sleeve and quietly departed.

Zhang Chen lay on the floor, exhausted to the point of death. The bathroom was completely wrecked, and there was a skeleton beside him. How am I supposed to explain this when my parents get home?

As he worried over this, shattered glass, stones, and other debris on the ground suddenly began floating into the air. Pieces of glass gathered into a drinking cup and returned to the sink counter. Broken chunks of stone slowly fused back into the cracked wall, restoring it completely. The skeleton beside him also floated back to its original place. To Zhang Chen, it was as though time itself had reversed—except Wen Jing and her son had not returned.

Zhang Chen had no idea why all this was happening. Having just returned from death's door, he could not be bothered to think about it. It had saved him some trouble, anyway.

Just as Zhang Chen tried to get up, he felt a warm current rush from his abdomen to his brain. At the same time, an aged voice sounded.

"Zhang Chen, you have consumed one complete low-level Vengeful Infant. Saturation gained: 12%. Bite strength increased. No skill acquired.

You have consumed one incomplete low-level Ghost. Saturation gained: 4%. No skill acquired.

You have consumed one complete low-level Fierce Ghost. Saturation gained: 21%. Skill acquired: Telekinesis. Because the Fierce Ghost and a Corpse Ghost in your body are a Twin Body, the skill has been affected."

Zhang Chen

Main Soul Slot status: Activated

Main Soul: Gluttonous Ghost

Saturation: 55%

Main Soul compatibility: 35%

Secondary Soul Slot status: Not activated

Number of Skill Slots: 3

Used Skill Slots: 1

Skills possessed: Telekinesis (Evolvable)

Telekinesis: You can manipulate invisible force through thought. Current proficiency: 0%.

Physical condition: Poor

Perception ability: High

Overall evaluation: Poor

When the voice entered Zhang Chen's mind this time, he suddenly remembered hearing it once before—after meeting the man in black and returning home, just before he fell asleep.

So it really was that black bead near my heart that turned me into this. This Main Soul, the Gluttonous Ghost... its compatibility with me is only 35%, yet it's already this powerful. Right, I remember it was only 30% before. Taking care of those two ghosts must have raised my compatibility with this Main Soul.

Zhang Chen did not feel the relief of surviving a brush with death at all. Instead, he was extremely excited. He had gained a supernatural ability and could kill ghosts and level up just like in a game. Zhang Chen had no idea that the real danger had only just begun.

Right, I also got something called Telekinesis. Zhang Chen muttered after standing up. He remembered how that female ghost's invisible force had nearly killed him in a single hit.

In fact, Zhang Chen had heard of Telekinesis in everyday life before. Some people supposedly possessed the ability to move objects through the air. After experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed and studied them, they found that every one of those people had extraordinary memories and astonishing computational abilities, practically like human computers. Their brains had more synapses than ordinary people's, allowing information to travel extremely actively and producing brainwaves roughly seven times stronger than normal in an instant. Their ability to move objects through the air came from those powerful brainwaves. Yet the experts had never been able to determine how brainwaves could become force.

Zhang Chen looked at the glass cup on the sink counter and tried to make it float. Before long, the cup trembled slightly, then stopped responding. However, the toothbrush inside slowly rose into the air. It moved very slowly and shook faintly. Following Zhang Chen's thought, it gradually returned to the cup.

The power seems pretty weak, but it still looks awesome. Zhang Chen excitedly jumped up, only to slam straight into the ceiling. He winced in pain and kept rubbing his head.

"Let's try again." After saying that, Zhang Chen focused on a small comb. Sure enough, it slowly floated into the air, though with great difficulty. After putting the comb back, Zhang Chen thought of something.

Why isn't there any cooldown? That female ghost had to wait a long time after using it once before she could use it again. Could that Twin Power have mutated the skill?

After thinking that, Zhang Chen aimed at a towel and concentrated. Suddenly, the towel merely twitched slightly. Then Zhang Chen felt something flowing from his nostrils. He wiped it with his hand and found bright red blood. At that moment, a wave of dizziness rose in his head. He hurriedly braced himself against the wall with both Hands to keep from collapsing. The dizziness did not fade, so Zhang Chen could only support himself along the wall and stagger step by step toward his bedroom.

He pulled out some tissues from the bedside cabinet and stuffed them into his nose, then collapsed onto the bed. The entire room swayed from side to side as though he were riding in a spaceship, making him feel terribly sick. It took more than ten minutes before the sensation gradually eased.

Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch. This ability may not have a cooldown, but using it repeatedly seems to damage my brain. Zhang Chen helplessly sat up from the bed, removed the tissues from his nose, and began calming down from the excitement of gaining supernatural abilities.

Sigh, this matter really is settled, but the relationship in that family was far too complicated. If my deduction is right, Wen Juan—the older sister—had looked down somewhat on her younger sister's idleness since childhood. But since she was still her biological sister, she cared for and helped her greatly, even sending her money after they grew up. Then the older sister met the man she believed was her true love and married him. Because she had lost her father when she was young, Wen Juan was almost obsessively dependent on her husband.

But happiness seemed short-lived. After they had been married for some time, her husband, who wanted children, never received news that his wife was pregnant. In desperation, he took her to the hospital for an examination. When the report came back, it stated: The woman had fertility problems and could not bear children. After that, although her husband said nothing on the surface, their married life grew worse and worse.

Then, at this time, her younger sister moved into their marital home because she had nowhere else to stay. When the husband saw Wen Jing, who resembled his wife but was younger, he developed improper thoughts. During his time living with the two sisters, he also discovered that Wen Jing cared deeply for her older sister and always put her first. Taking advantage of that, when he was alone with Wen Jing, he told her that Wen Juan could not get pregnant and said that he and his wife desperately wanted a child. The younger sister, who had grown up relying on her sister, actually agreed.

According to that husband, he only intended to borrow Wen Jing to have a child. Who knew that he would put all his heart into Wen Jing as well? Wen Jing had also started to like this handsome man who treated her well, but every time she was with him, she felt conflicted and guilty toward her sister. Still, under the man's constant reassurance, she did not think too deeply about it.

Wen Juan, who had always regarded her husband as the sole support of her life, suffered a reality even more painful than her own infertility. She placed all her hatred on her younger sister, believing that her sister had stolen her husband and taken everything from her. Watching her sister's belly grow larger by the day, even coming to comfort her, Wen Juan wore a faint smile on the surface while inwardly wishing to cut her sister into a thousand pieces.

Once the seed of madness was sown, it could not be taken back. When her husband and sister's child was born, that seed finally grew into a towering tree. One night, Wen Juan came out of the bedroom and saw her husband holding her younger sister as they slept together sweetly. She actually smiled faintly. She carried the newborn from the crib into the bathroom and shoved it straight into the toilet. Since the opening was too narrow, Wen Juan kept flushing furiously while forcing the infant downward with all her strength.

Wen Jing was awakened by the sound of flushing. Seeing the empty crib, she immediately got up and went to the bathroom, where she found her sister Wen Juan laughing wildly at the toilet. Before Wen Jing could ask what was happening, Wen Juan pulled out a long-prepared knife from her waist and killed her younger sister.

When the husband woke in the morning, he found himself alone in the bedroom. He went to the bathroom and saw his wife covered in blood, along with Wen Jing lying in a pool of blood. He froze completely. Yet this husband had only one path left. If he called the police, then once people learned that he had been sleeping with his wife's younger sister, even if the law did not punish him, society would abandon him.

So he pretended to be deeply remorseful, held his wife Wen Juan in his arms, and made her believe that he still loved her. Then the two of them buried Wen Jing's body inside the bathroom wall, thinking that everything would be fine.

Poor Wen Juan was just as foolish. She thought that this meant she could continue living with her husband again. She had no idea that the man would get rid of her the moment he had the chance.

Yet less than two days later, the man's body began growing weaker and weaker, gradually becoming the dead infant's prey. Zhang Chen remembered the agonized face on the man's stomach beneath the Vengeful Infant, as well as the voice telling him that aside from the infant and female ghost, he had also consumed an incomplete low-level Ghost. It seemed that after the man was eaten by his own son, he had suffered inhuman torment all along.

One who brings disaster upon himself cannot escape it. It seems that the younger sister, even after being killed by her older sister, still loved her and believed that everything was her own fault and that man's fault. That's why she only killed the man. Sigh, what kind of relationship was that? Zhang Chen suddenly realized why only his father had been targeted. That woman was probably planning to kill every man. If he had been a few days later, his father might already have been in trouble.

Remembering the instant when he was about to be killed, Zhang Chen thought of his parents' past care and concern, which had allowed him to survive.

I should play fewer games from now on and try studying harder. At least that would make my parents happy. Maybe it could even make Wang Yizhi notice me. Zhang Chen smiled, got to his feet, and checked the time. It was nearly five o'clock, so he rushed into the kitchen, intending to make dinner for his parents that night.