Without hesitation, Lu Li bought the module at once. He already had an idea for optimizing the skill, and it seemed he could even combine it into an incomplete minor skill.
After buying the skill, Lu Li had planned to test it immediately. But when he looked at his surroundings and checked his condition, he found that his mental energy was recovering painfully slowly. He was even starting to feel dizzy. His Shadow Magic, on the other hand, was plentiful. It was already evening, and the Shadow Magic that normally took about an hour to replenish now needed only half an hour.
Feeling his empty stomach, Lu Li gave up on optimizing the skill right away. It was already dark, and his uncle's family generally wouldn't save him any food. There'd be nothing to eat if he went back, either. He stretched, left the grove, and headed west across the river.
"Ugh..." A hook to the gut landed, and a blond-haired punk clutched his stomach and collapsed in pain. Several other thugs were sprawled on the ground nearby. Lu Li bent down, searched the blond punk, and pulled out his wallet. He took the only two hundred-yuan notes inside, tossed the wallet onto the punk, then turned and walked toward the brightly lit sign of an internet café not far ahead. His shadow stretched long behind him.
"Bastard!" The blond punk cursed bitterly as he watched Lu Li's back. That bastard had just walked up to their gang and started swinging without saying a word. There had been seven of them, yet he'd taken them all down with ease. The blond punk glanced at his companions. Some were unconscious, while others were in too much pain to get up. Clutching his stomach, he stood. He understood that if he didn't do something today, he wouldn't be able to stay their leader.
He pulled a folding knife from his pocket and roared to psych himself up, then chased after Lu Li. He ran faster and faster, feeling the wind brush past his ears. His grip on the knife tightened. He could feel something awakening within him, as combat instincts surfaced in his mind. His eyes slowly grew unfocused. This was... this was the genetic lock! Damn, he was the protagonist!
The blond punk drew his arm back, brimming with excitement. He was almost close enough to reach that bastard. Imagining the bastard's pain and despair after being stabbed, he seemed to pick up speed. Scum like this were meant to be stepping-stones for a protagonist like him. "Take... this...!" "Aah!"
Lu Li turned around and saw the blond punk sprawled on the ground. He seemed stunned, lying there with a bewildered look on his face. A pitch-black tentacle slipped back into Lu Li's shadow a short distance from his feet. Lu Li glanced at the punk, shook his head, and walked toward the internet café. The man's heart was racing, his pupils were dilated, and there had been a peculiar smell on him earlier. He had probably taken some kind of hallucinogen and was suffering from delusions.
After Lu Li entered the internet café, his keen hearing still picked up the blond punk's furious cursing: "Which bastard tripped me? I was this close to unlocking the genetic lock..."
Lu Li rented a computer and asked the attendant to order him some takeout. Then he began researching and planning his skills, listing the various shortcomings he'd discovered in his tests and considering whether they could be fixed. If not, he would figure out how to work around them when using the skills, then readjust the modules.
After saving the information he'd found and finishing the last bite of his takeout, Lu Li paid and logged off. When he left the café, the thugs were gone. Something seemed to be roiling inside the shadow before him. Anyone else who noticed would have thought it was only a trick of light, but Lu Li was actually controlling his shadow without pause. He could now extend a tentacle from his otherwise flat shadow with a mere thought.
As he walked through the dark alley, he reached the outskirts of the city. Most of the houses here were empty. Leping wasn't a large city, and many young people chose to seek their fortunes in the provincial capital. Most of those who stayed in Leping lived in the busier neighborhoods across the river, in Hedong and Hexi. This area was mostly made up of old houses, and its tangled alleys gave it an unsafe feel. Aside from some elderly people who were used to living here and those with no other choice, few people came around. At least, not at this hour.
Looking at the houses marked for demolition in red, Lu Li guessed that it wouldn't be long before this area became bustling, too. But that had nothing to do with him. Walking in the dark, he could feel a pleasant sensation coming from his shadow, and the Shadow Magic in his body had grown more active. After strengthening his shadow earlier, Lu Li had noticed a change in his vision. Even without any light, he could make out his surroundings to some extent in the darkness.
A stray dog sensed Lu Li approaching and let out a low, rumbling growl. The next moment, a mass of darkness surged up from the ground and covered its mouth. Two shadow tentacles wrapped tightly around it.
Lu Li walked up to the dog and gently stroked its head, then turned and left. The shadow tentacles slowly flattened out. Freed from the shadow's restraints, the dog immediately collapsed onto the ground and wet itself in terror. It whimpered continuously, its muffled cries revealing its fear. After a while, it recovered enough to flee, not daring to look back.
Lu Li stood by the rear door of an abandoned, vacant house. He'd looked around the area and found that none of the houses were occupied. Weeds had overgrown the narrow path, and it looked as though no one had been there for a long time. Standing before the crack in the door, Lu Li recalled testing his shadow. He could freely control whether it was flat or three-dimensional. The flat shadow behind him slid forward and slipped under the door. A tentacle rose up inside and pulled back the bolt.
He pushed open the door, sending dust billowing into the air. Lu Li looked inside. It was a typical little one-story house, and the floor bore traces of the previous occupants' move. Moss had grown in the corners. Apart from a few nearly ruined pieces of furniture, nothing remained.
One shadow tentacle closed the back door while another wiped a chair clean. The two tentacles seemed separate, but their shadows remained connected on the ground. Otherwise, Lu Li couldn't maintain his link of consciousness with them, and the shadows would dissipate.
"This place seems pretty good. I'll use it." Lu Li looked around, then had the shadow tentacles start tidying up the house. He figured he'd need to test and study his skills regularly, and he also needed a hidden base. His options were limited for now, so he'd have to settle for an abandoned house. Later, he would find a way to set up a better one.
Tomorrow, they'd enter a new instance. Everyone could guess which story it had been adapted from. The hint was the volume title: "Bubbles."
Before you continue