When the Storm Came

The other customers in the coffee shop had obviously noticed the commotion too.

Unwilling to let meaningless trash ruin her time, Wu Xin snapped her fingers crisply.

In the next instant, invisible threads bound their limbs, and the light in the bystanders' pupils dimmed.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked, staring blankly at Lin Yue with her emerald-green eyes.

"Could it be that you really can see the future?"

She scoffed and dismissed the idea. "That's impossible too."

"Because if you really could see the future, you'd have seen how you die by now."

Lin Yue didn't intend to waste any more words on her. She turned and took Chen Xi's hand.

At the same time, an electronic mechanical voice sounded in Chen Xi's mind.

[CG generation failed; converted to Wish Power charging: 72%]

[Current charge: 72%]

How much?

Still reeling from the shock, Chen Xi cursed her damn luck.

If the CG had been generated, it would most likely have been a high-quality one of rare rank.

After this period of exploring her abilities and receiving occasional vague prompts in her mind, Chen Xi had more or less figured out how the Wish Power system worked.

When a low-quality CG failed to generate, it granted anywhere from 0% to 10%. The same pattern applied to the other ranks: ordinary gave 20% to 40%, rare 40% to 80%, and epic 80% to 150%...

As for the blessing system, every 100% Wish Power should raise a CG's quality by one rank, from low-quality to epic.

Going from epic to mythic took 200%, while advancing from mythic to legendary required a whopping 500% Wish Power.

At the thought, Chen Xi frowned. Why did this sound so much like a game she'd played in her previous life? The one where you had to use fodder when enhancing equipment and all that.

"Hey? Hello, are you still there?"

The call from beside her brought Chen Xi back to her senses, away from the Panel Info she'd been absorbed in.

She turned her head. Lin Yue was practically pressed against her arm.

"Why are you standing so close?" she said, but made no move to put distance between them.

Like a child, Lin Yue whined, "You were ignoring me! I called you hundreds of times."

"Are you mad because I pulled my arm away just now? Don't be. I'll grab it again right now." As she spoke, she reached to hug Chen Xi's right arm.

The black-haired girl subtly pulled her arm away, dodging the attack.

"Let's not. It's the middle of summer. If you're not hot, I am."

"And it definitely wasn't hundreds of times."

At most, she'd called out a few times.

Ignoring Chen Xi's inexplicable insistence, Lin Yue walked along, kicking a pebble off the road as she lowered her head. "I think it's terrifying."

"Just thinking about how she could say something like that without changing expression makes my back go cold."

Chen Xi was once again amazed by the way the girl jumped from topic to topic. By now, though, she could keep up with Lin Yue's train of thought.

"So we absolutely can't lose to her," Lin Yue murmured.

"Don't worry. We'll win."

Chen Xi was much calmer. After all, they were far stronger than they'd been in the previous cycle.

Even if Wu Xin had been holding back, the worst that could happen was a mutual defeat.

Drip.

A raindrop splashed against Lin Yue's brow. She raised a hand and wiped away the water.

"It's starting to rain. I bet it'll reach its peak tonight."

She checked her phone. It was 5:37 p.m.

The final battle was just four and a half hours away.

Chen Xi looked up at the sky as the raindrops began to fall steadily.

"Let's end all this tonight."

Once Wu Xin was no longer holding her back, she'd be free to soar as high as the sky and swim as far as the sea.

"That should do it."

On the rooftop, Chen Xi controlled the water to precisely shatter a flowerpot.

Having regained Rain Lord's ability, her proficiency was naturally far greater than it had been in the previous cycle.

With just a few casual motions, she'd already found that familiar feeling again.

And besides...

Rain stretched from sky to earth as fierce winds howled.

"Other than Rain Lord's domain, I've never seen rain this heavy before," Lin Yue marveled from the rooftop doorway.

"Is this what a super typhoon is like? The rain's being blown sideways."

And Tianhai City wasn't even in the storm's core.

"How does it feel?" she asked, looking at Chen Xi, who stood calmly in the rain.

The moment the downpour touched the ring of water around Chen Xi, it was automatically absorbed.

"I'm terrifyingly strong right now." Chen Xi clenched her fist as a water column nearly half a meter thick burst up around her.

She still hadn't reached Rain Lord's former level, but she was clearly approaching the strength of a Second Rank.

Sometimes, the environment was a major factor in supernatural battles.

"Let's go. We're heading to the school."

Worried the downpour might disrupt their trip, they'd practiced in an abandoned neighborhood a little way from the school.

With a ring of water surrounding Lin Yue, the two of them walked through the storm without getting a single drop on them.

The rain was so intense that they could barely see the road five meters ahead. Chen Xi simply strode boldly down the street.

On the way to the school, Lin Yue also told Chen Xi that Wu Xin was "undying."

"I think we'll have to completely destroy her body to truly kill Wu Xin."

Lin Yue's thoughts raced on as she continued speculating. "She reminds me of a character from a manga I've been reading lately. Wu Xin's like a necromancer who can keep controlling her own body even after she dies."

"The two of us can take her in close combat. She won't be able to handle it."

Lin Yue had now mastered the Butcher, and her physical abilities were already on par with Chen Xi's before she went Berserk.

On top of that, she now had powerful regenerative abilities. Unless an injury was severe enough to cost her a limb, Lin Yue could recover quickly.

With the typhoon bearing down on them, the academy gates had been temporarily locked. The two had to circle around and climb over the low wall.

Chen Xi glanced at the time. "It's nine thirty."

They reached the teaching building and began slowly climbing the stairs. When they got there, they found that someone had already pried open the rooftop door.

"Looks like you're in a hurry to die."

That playful yet infuriating voice sounded again. They both looked toward the corner.

Wu Xin sat with her legs crossed on a beach chair made of threads, beneath a canopy woven from the same threads.

"Yeah."

"We're in a hurry to..." Lin Yue reined in her anger as the Chainsaw Cleaver appeared in her hand. "...take your damn head!!!"