Impressive Twice Over

Because the meat, vegetables and other ingredients in the refrigerator were limited, and it was a late-night snack, Xiang Kun simply made a pot of noodles. However, some of the seasonings were added after they were served in bowls, and the noodles were cooked in several batches, making some a little soft and some a little chewy, to accommodate the slightly different tastes of the group.

It was unusual that everyone was slurping and eating their noodles without saying a word. Even the most lively Yang Zhen'er and Little Chubby Girl were focused on eating. Xiang Kun could clearly sense that they hadn't eaten enough for dinner and were hungry now. The late-night snack Xiang Kun made was truly a godsend.

After dinner, we chatted for a while, and everyone started to feel sleepy, especially Tang Baona, who obviously didn't go to sleep until 4 a. m. and didn't get enough sleep during the day.

As everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, Xiang Kun followed Lao Xia and Little Chubby Girl to the room to check on Gold Glitter's recovery.

In fact, Xiang Kun doesn't need to physically touch or see Gold Glitter to understand her condition in detail. He can even remotely help her accelerate some blood circulation and improve the healing of subcutaneous wounds by controlling nearby "Super-Linked Object" in a "Hyper-Sensory State".

However, Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple couldn't fully understand this yet. They only knew that Xiang Kun had a way to treat Gold Glitter, so they treated him like their "attending physician." His personal visits and touching of Gold Glitter made them feel more at ease.

Xiang Kun returned from Peng City yesterday and had already examined Gold Glitter's injuries before Yin Xue fell into a deep sleep. Now, more than a day later, Gold Glitter's recovery speed is even faster than Xiang Kun originally expected.

When I saw Gold Glitter yesterday, he was still listless. But when I saw him again tonight, he was able to tilt his head back and chirp at Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun understood its meaning: it was indicating that it wasn't that it couldn't defeat the "mutated giant bird," but was injured due to a sneak attack; the other party was cunning and treacherous, not that Gold Glitter was incompetent!

Xiang Kun held Gold Glitter for a while, but instead of putting it back on the mat where it was resting, he put it back in his cage.

"Gold Glitter can get up now. You don't need to let it lie down anymore; it can stand up. Restore its appetite and feed it more. Soon it will be flying around again," Xiang Kun instructed Little Apple.

This little chubby bird, Gold Glitter, has a big appetite and produces a lot of droppings, so it's easy to clean up its droppings once it's back in its cage.

With Alice's help in perceiving things, Little Apple learned that Gold Glitter had stood up again in the cage. Overjoyed, she quickly went to find the birdseed she had prepared in Chongyun Village and fed it to Gold Glitter.

In fact, according to Xiang Kun's analysis of Gold Glitter's cognitive information under "Hyper-Sensory State", it is already very different from ordinary canaries. Although it is still fundamentally different from "Mutated Creature", under the influence of the "Super-Sensing Item System", it can not only have a certain connection with "Super-Linked Object" and "Emotion-Infused Object", but even at the physical level, it has broken through the limits of ordinary canaries, as if it has unlocked the lock in its genes and awakened some ancient genes.

Even without the super-healing ability of a "Mutated Creature," it wouldn't be difficult for such Gold Glitter to recover quickly with Xiang Kun's help.

Seeing that Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er had gone back to their room to sleep, the Little Chubby Girl standing next to Xiang Kun gently tugged at his sleeve.

Although Xiang Kun could hear the Little Chubby Girl clearly even when she spoke softly, he still squatted down to be at eye level with Little Chubby Girl.

Liu Shiling asked softly, "Uncle Baldy, when are you going to go and eliminate that villainous monster who injured Gold Glitter?"

"Don't worry, Little Bell, it won't get away. I'll take care of it sooner or later, and I'll definitely tell you then," Xiang Kun said, gently pinching the Little Chubby Girl's cheek.

Liu Shiling clasped her two small hands together, looking somewhat conflicted and hesitant, and said, "Uncle Baldy... can I help?"

Xiang Kun laughed, "You've already been a huge help. If it weren't for you and Little Apple showing their power the night before last, Gold Glitter would have been finished!"

Gold Glitter, now back in its cage, chirped crisply, clearly expressing its dissatisfaction. Egg Pie, however, meowed at Gold Glitter, seemingly implying that "Xiang Kun is right."

When she got back yesterday, Xiang Kun had already praised Liu Shiling once, so although she was secretly pleased, she still said somewhat shyly, "Actually, it's mainly because Little Screw, Roast Chicken Wing Sister, and Little Apple Sister are amazing..."

The Little Apple that was feeding the Gold Glitter said, "You're already incredibly amazing, Little Bell! You can even summon lightning, you're so strong, you're practically a fairy from a fairy tale! If it weren't for that bird... that insect being so fast, you would have wiped it out long ago!"

"And your 'Chocolate' and 'Ice Cream' are really powerful too. Without them, Alice wouldn't have been able to beat... or that bug so easily! You're much better than me!"

"Yes, Little Bell is amazing." Xiang Kun said, then looked at Lao Xia: "Lao Xia, you agree, right?"

Xia Libing nodded. "Yes."

After giving him a pep talk and some praise, Xiang Kun patiently guided him, saying, "However, you can't face monsters alone yet. You still need to study hard so that you can better understand and master more powerful 'magic' in the future."

Liu Shiling asked in a daze, "How much knowledge do I need to learn to master truly powerful 'magic'? Like... Roast Chicken Wing Sister?"

"No need, your Roast Chicken Wing Sister has two master's degrees, she's too amazing, there's no need," Xiang Kun said with a smile.

"Two keys." Liu Shiling was a little confused and murmured, "Is it because the powerful 'magic' is hidden in the box and locked, and we have to learn enough knowledge to get the key?"

"Uh, you're not wrong... but it's not the key, it's... Little Bell, do you know what you're going to study after kindergarten?" Xiang Kun thought for a moment and said.

"Elementary school," Liu Shiling replied.

Do you know what comes after elementary school?

"Junior high school students, high school students, college students," Liu Shiling counted on her fingers.

Xiang Kun said, "Your Roast Chicken Wing Sister is even better than a college student, and she's been good at it twice."

Liu Shiling instantly understood the "level difference" involved, and a look of frustration flashed across her face, just like when she realized how many times farther the distance from the moon to the earth was than the distance from kindergarten to home, and her plan to go to the moon to catch rabbits was extinguished.

Xiang Kun quickly said, "That's why I said it's unnecessary. As long as you can finish junior high school like your Little Apple sister, you'll have the foundation to access 'powerful magic.' Of course, if you want to become even more powerful, you need more knowledge, just like your Little Apple sister and Roast Chicken Wing Sister are still studying."

The Little Chubby Girl's eyes lit up again. Kindergarten → Elementary School → Middle School → High School → University → twice as good as University—that's too far-fetched, too many levels to skip. But going from kindergarten to middle school doesn't require so many leaps; it seems like an achievable task.

"Don't worry, Little Bell, I'll tell you the whole story after I defeat that monster that bullied Gold Glitter." Seeing the Little Chubby Girl's adorable, excited expression, Xiang Kun couldn't help but pinch her cheek again and said with a smile.

After encouraging the Little Chubby Girl and reinforcing her idea that studying hard and striving for excellence is the key to a "magical future," Xiang Kun told her and Little Apple to get some rest, while he called Lao Xia to go out.

Xiang Kun led Lao Xia into the mountains. He led the way while Lao Xia used his mobile phone to provide light from behind.

While climbing the mountain, Xia Libing asked, "Can you sense the connection between Sister Nana and the 'Super-Sensing Item System' through the Coin?"

"Yes, but we can only vaguely sense a weak connection between Nana and the Coin. Nana's connection with the 'Super-Sensing Item System' is probably not complete yet." Xiang Kun said, recalling what he had seen earlier, and asked, "Did you lend the Coin to Zhen'er because you thought she also had a way to connect with the 'Super-Sensing Item System'?"

"She not only borrowed Coin from me, but also from Sister Nana, Little Bell, and Little Apple to try them out, but she felt mine was the most convenient," Xia Libing said.

Xiang Kun laughed. This Yang the Third actually had pretty accurate intuition. She guessed that Lao Xia and the others were so good at flipping Coin that it might be related to the Coin themselves, but she couldn't find any evidence to prove it, so she only had a vague judgment.

Today, she originally wanted to coax Lao Xia into giving her the Coin, but Lao Xia naturally refused. So in the end, Xiang Kun gave her a "Lucky Coin" instead. She was quite disgusted with it, thinking that Xiang Kun's Coin was definitely not as easy to flip as Lao Xia's. Only when Xiang Kun flipped the Coin in front of her did she happily accept it.

On the way, Xiang Kun Lao Xia the tasks he had arranged for Alice to complete during her slumber and the situation regarding the observation of various extrasensory information.

As soon as he brought up the topic, Alice requested to manifest, but both he and Lao Xia knew what Alice's purpose was in wanting to manifest at this moment, so neither of them agreed.

Having reached the area where the Little Chubby Girl had attracted five lightning strikes the night before last, Xiang Kun stopped. Xia Libing stood beside him, gazing into the distant mountains. "Are you going to track it down?"

She knew that although the "mutated bird" did not ultimately cause serious consequences, and Gold Glitter's injuries were not fatal, judging from her current recovery trend, she would soon be able to fly around again, Xiang Kun must be very concerned.

"Based on my cognitive model of the 'mutated bird's' behavior and decision-making, after being brutally beaten by your combined forces, it should have already penetrated deep into Jiangyou Province that very night. Moreover, it is unlikely to return to the Chongyun Mountain Region or Wushu Mountain. It might even have gone to a more distant place, and its evolutionary mutations will likely become more covert and stealthy."

Xiang Kun paused slightly, then changed the subject. "However, no matter how it evolves to be more stealthy, as long as it remains a 'Mutated Creature,' it will have nowhere to hide under extrasensory information. Finding it is only a matter of time."

After saying that, Xiang Kun produced a crispy pork knuckle in his right hand. He made an exaggerated baseball pitching motion and threw the crispy pork knuckle into the depths of the forest.

The pig's trotter disappeared after flying only a short distance, but the tungsten steel sphere that was originally wrapped by the pig's trotter continued to accelerate forward and disappeared into the darkness.

Although Xia Libing couldn't see the tungsten steel ball disappearing into the darkness after the pig's trotter vanished, she knew the principle behind the "Pork Trotter Throwing Technique" developed by Alice. She knew that with over two hundred "Super-Linked Object" already covering the area, the tungsten steel ball thrown by Xiang Kun would have a greater acceleration distance and stronger penetrating power.

Xiang Kun looked at Xia Libing: "Hold out your hand."

After placing a "Super-Linked Object" tungsten steel sphere in Xia Libing's palm, Xiang Kun said, "Give it a try. Don't worry about the tungsten steel sphere part; Alice will take care of it for you."

Xia Libing nodded, and a fragrant tungsten steel ball appeared in his palm. Then, within a radius of several dozen meters in front of him, a thick fog rolled in, visibility was extremely low, and the aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

As Xia Libing assumed a throwing stance, Alice, who had finally received permission to appear, also appeared beside her and assumed a throwing stance in sync with her.

With Alice's crisp "Yay--Hey!", the crispy pig's trotter in Xia Libing's hand was thrown out and quickly disappeared. The tungsten steel ball continued to accelerate, flying for more than twenty meters, piercing through a tree trunk as thick as an adult's thigh, and then deeply burrowing into the soil not far away.

As the pig's trotter flew through the air, a row of fireworks exploded in the forest along the trajectory of the tungsten steel ball.

Seeing this scene, and then seeing Alice, who had finished throwing and was peeking out from Xia Libing's side with a "I'm awesome, aren't I?" expression, Xiang Kun couldn't help but feel speechless.

The barbecue-scented mist that Lao Xia had Alice create served to conceal and hide herself. After all, her "fire control radar" was Alice, so she didn't need to lock onto targets with her own eyes, which made it quite useful.

But what's with those exploding fireworks? That was a "Emotion-Infused Object effect" we created as a birthday gift for Lao Xia, using the emotion projection from the Emotion-Infused Object on Lao Xia's wristband. Now, only Xiang Kun and Lao Xia can see this illusion. What's the point?

Alice's flamboyant style of behavior definitely didn't come from him! Xiang Kun thought to himself.

Seemingly noticing Xiang Kun's complaint, Alice exclaimed, "I was helping Lao Xia determine the trajectory of the projectile, so she would know where the ball went!"

Xiang Kun ignored her and said to Xia Libing, "In the future, I will continue to deploy 'Super-Linked Object' deeper into the mountains and forests. The main focus will still be on tungsten steel beads, because they are small enough and well-hidden, able to blend in with the gravel in the soil, making them difficult to detect. Moreover, with the 'Super-Sensory Link connection model' that Alice helped establish, we can connect 'Super-Linked Object' in large quantities; my previous stockpile can be quickly used up. As for the deployment method, I plan to have the level 2 ant colonies of Zero Zero One and Zero Zero Two continue to reproduce, evolving into level 3, 4, and even 5 and 6 ant colonies. These colonies will not need flight capabilities, will resemble ordinary ants in appearance, and will reproduce, hatch, and grow faster than ordinary ants. They will be able to obey the commands of Zero Zero One and Zero Zero Two to a certain extent, allowing us to deploy 'Super-Linked Object' deep into the soil of all mountainous forest areas."

After discussing his comprehensive "Super-Linked Object" plan and deployment plan with Lao Xia in the mountains, Xiang Kun Lao Xia back to the village. Lao Xia went back to his house to sleep, while Xiang Kun drove the MPV parked outside to Tongshi Town.