All on His Own

Chen Xuan had never imagined he would one day rescue someone in space.

He had no space gear whatsoever. He was relying entirely on his own abilities. If anyone aboard another spacecraft—or any astronaut—had seen this, their jaw would have dropped.

He imagined taking a deep breath and managed to calm his nerves a little. There was still time, but he and the girl had been thrown in different directions. The longer he waited, the farther apart they would drift.

First, he had to reach the girl.

And for that, he needed the Thousand Thoughts Sword.

Chen Xuan summoned a sword of energy behind him and grabbed it as it swept past his side!

His body jerked to a stop, halting his backward flight.

Just as he had expected, the energy sword could not only appear anywhere within his sight—it could also serve as an anchor! The instant its hilt turned solid, it gave him a point of leverage strong enough to change his trajectory.

Chen Xuan quickly gauged the girl's direction, then shoved off with both hands. The sword remained "nailed" in place, while the reaction sent him flying toward her.

After half a minute of pursuit, Chen Xuan realized this was too slow. He made another energy sword appear directly behind the girl, its hilt striking her.

It worked. She stopped tumbling, and her drift slowed considerably.

With him chasing and the swords holding her back, the gap between them gradually closed until they were right beside each other.

Chen Xuan caught her hand and pulled her close.

The girl did not respond.

At the sight of her pale face and the bloody foam at her lips, Chen Xuan knew things were bad. This customer had taken a direct hit from a 30 mm Gatling gun with her bare body, so she was clearly no ordinary person. But she could not endure space as well as he could, and she was plainly losing consciousness.

Chen Xuan pressed his hand against her ear, then bit down on the back of that hand and shouted, "Hang on! I'm here to save you!"

Sound could not travel through a vacuum, but vibrations could carry through physical contact. By the time they reached her eardrum, it must have sounded something like a drum being struck underwater.

She weakly opened her eyes and looked at Chen Xuan, then slowly shook her head. All desire to live seemed to have vanished from her gaze.

"Back in the N43 hall, you wanted someone to reach out and help you, didn't you? I'm the hope you wished for!" Chen Xuan had no time to be cryptic. "If you've already given up, why not try what I say? Things can't get much worse!"

She stared blankly at Chen Xuan, her lips moving twice.

Chen Xuan had no way to tell what she meant. With no better option, he said, "I'll take that as a yes!"

He pulled out the Scanner Gun with one hand, aimed it at the girl, pressed the button, then dragged Eight Trigrams Palm out of his inventory and placed it in the offer.

She still showed no reaction.

The next second, however, three entries appeared in the trade window.

"Mind Fortress" LV5.

—You built high walls around your mind, convinced you were still a normal person. But who knew? This was the price you had to pay for power.

"Protocol Birth" LV1.

—Born, raised, and destined to die with a mission to fulfill, the course of your life was like an arrow that could never turn back.

"Free Will" LV1.

—The extent to which life understood the mysteries of the universe. The broader its knowledge, the freer its will. Caution: approach Forbidden knowledge carefully. It may bring unpredictable destruction.

All three abilities were purple-tier.

Chen Xuan gave a soft exclamation. This was his first time seeing abilities with the same name but different grades. Compared with his own white-tier LV2 ability, this purple-tier LV1 version was far more dazzling.

While adjusting abilities for the villagers of Mala Village, he had discovered that an ability with a given name could pass through his hands only once: into his inventory and back out. After that, even if someone else possessed the same ability, he could no longer take it into his inventory. That kept him from farming the Ability Store's Performance Points by repeatedly trading the same ability. Seeing a purple-tier ability with the same name appear in the trade window answered a question he had been wondering about: level and grade were probably two separate measures.

Ordinarily, no one would trade three purple-tier abilities for one white-tier ability.

Even someone encountering such a trade for the first time could easily tell they were not equivalent.

The buyer and seller might see the offer presented differently, but its substance was essentially the same.

If she had offered so much at once, either she could no longer judge clearly, or she had given up and was letting Chen Xuan do whatever he wanted.

Chen Xuan, on the other hand, had to consider which ability he could take without affecting her too much. After two seconds of hesitation, he selected "Protocol Birth" and pressed confirm.

Then he used Shopkeeper Recall without a moment's hesitation!

In the blink of an eye, he was back inside the wrecked Ability Store.

The Ability Transaction itself was not the point. What mattered was making the girl a genuine customer! Now he could summon a customer again and "invite" her into the Ability Store!

The Ability Store was in little better shape. It tumbled along with N43, wrecked merchandise floating everywhere. Half the hall had struck the broken ring-shaped framework, crushing the entire dome. The structure could come apart completely at any moment.

By a stroke of luck, though the Gatling gun had riddled the interior with holes, the front door was still largely intact.

Chen Xuan pulled down the roller shutter with all his strength.

The instant the colored-steel shutter clattered into its lock, he sent the new customer an invitation.

The shaking stopped at once. Merchandise that had been floating in the air fell to the floor. Then Chen Xuan heard a dull thud. He turned to see the girl in the middle of the Ability Store, sprawled flat on her back.

He waited a moment to make sure nothing was wrong, then walked slowly to the window and took a careful look outside.

The silver hall had vanished like a mirage. In its place stood the apartment complex's old buildings and narrow lanes.

Only then did Chen Xuan finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"One of these days, this lousy Ability Store is going to get me killed."

Last time, it had transported him onto the route of Joan of Arc's retreat. This time, it had dropped him straight into a falling Space City. Who knew what absurd place it would send him next? Worse, the Ability Store was no invincible sanctuary. If its door got smashed, wouldn't he be unable to return at all?

But complain as he might, he still could not bear to give up being shopkeeper and go back to working a regular job.

Besides, this trip had certainly been thrilling enough.

Even now, the excess adrenaline and dopamine left him a little lightheaded.

When he returned to the girl, she appeared to have passed out. She lay motionless on the floor, with only the faint rise and fall of her chest showing she was alive.

Her most obvious injury was still the gunshot wound in her abdomen. The skin around it was charred black and curled back, a frightening sight. Knowing it had been caused by a 30 mm firearm made it even more frightening.

Chen Xuan knew nothing about medicine, but he knew a gunshot wound was a physical injury. Eating a Blood Orange would surely help.

After prying her mouth open and feeding her the medicine, he suddenly felt that she looked strangely familiar, as though he had seen her somewhere before.

He thought for a moment, then pulled off the girl's hood.

The hood was attached to her bodysuit. Earlier, he had only noticed how snugly it fit, revealing almost every curve. Now he realized it was probably an underlayer. The hood was likely meant to be worn beneath a helmet, and the bodysuit would be easier to fit inside a spacesuit.

The connectors with sockets on her suit proved there was more to it than met the eye.

As soon as he removed the hood, a cascade of brilliant hair spilled out.

"Brilliant" was no exaggeration. Under the light, her hair shifted between pink, pale violet, and deep blue, like an iridescent color-shifting film. Yet the colors looked entirely natural, without the stiffness or dryness of dyed hair. Almost every strand felt as smooth as silk.

Chen Xuan brushed her damp bangs aside, revealing the girl's face in full.

Like her hair, her face bore strikingly dramatic makeup. Deep pink eyeshadow nearly encircled her eyes, and her lashes were so long they looked like extensions. Her lips were small, their color strongly metallic. In theory, heavy makeup like that should have been easily ruined in a fierce fight, yet hers had remained unchanged throughout. Future cosmetics really were something else.

Chen Xuan also noticed several data ports below her ear. A nearby indicator light changed from dark yellow to green. Perhaps that meant her condition was improving. At least for the moment, her life seemed to be out of danger.

Why had someone like her been sent into space? What wish had she held in her heart that had brought the Ability Store to her? He would have to wait until she woke to learn the answers.