Test

Reke extended his right hand, just about to give the other party a demonstration.

The leader saw Reke move and was startled. He turned his head to scold Fourth, then bowed respectfully toward Reke and said, "May I ask what you need from us, sir? We will cooperate fully."

He could sense that Reke was not lying, and given the boy's strength, there was no need for him to deceive them.

Reke scanned the group, only then looking at the leader properly.

The corners of his mouth twitched. What a bunch of misfits—if they weren't four-eyed, they were long-legged with short arms, or bird-people with wings.

He didn't stop to think that he himself had a monkey tail; by his own classification, he belonged in the misfit category as well.

"It's nothing major. I just want to ask where your city is and if you can take me there."

"Don't call me 'sir.' My name is Reke; just call me that."

Reke waved his small hand, speaking with a relaxed expression.

"Reke, why don't we find a place to stay first and talk slowly?" the leader asked cautiously.

Reke looked at the wounds on their bodies, nodded indifferently, and followed behind him.

The others were confused, not understanding why their leader was so respectful toward a child.

They looked at the leader with eyes full of questions.

The leader shook his head slightly at them, not daring to say anything more.

Reke saw their little exchange but couldn't be bothered to pay it any mind.

The group ran for over half an hour before returning to their dwelling.

It was a corner of a canyon where they had dug a cave into the mountain, containing a few tents and an energy detector.

They were already near the edge of the grasslands, meaning they had sprinted back over a hundred miles without encountering a single wild beast.

Everyone found it incredible. If there was anything different from before, it was just the addition of Reke.

They finally understood the leader's intention; he must have seen something special about the boy.

While the others prepared dinner, Reke wandered around the energy detector.

"Four-Eyes, what is this?" Reke asked, tilting his head toward Four-Eyes.

The leader was stunned for a moment before realizing Reke was addressing him.

He walked over to the device and began to introduce it.

"Reke, this is an energy detector. It can detect energy signatures within a thousand-mile radius."

"Damn, isn't this the same thing as a combat power scouter?" Reke said, pleasantly surprised.

"?"

"Reke, I don't know what your combat power scouters look like, so I can't answer that," Four-Eyes replied honestly.

"Let me ask you this: does this thing give a numerical value for the energy it detects? What is yours?"

To such a simple question, Four-Eyes blurted out, "It can detect values. My value is 900."

After hearing this, Reke sensed it for himself and found that this thing was indeed similar to a combat power scouter; he calculated that Four-Eyes' combat power was also around 900.

He hurriedly asked, "Does this thing have a maximum limit? What is the highest value it can detect?"

Four-Eyes had never really paid attention to this question, mainly because they had no need for it.

He turned his gaze toward Fourteen, a man who was the exact opposite of Thirteen.

Thirteen was long-legged with short arms, while Fourteen was short-legged with long arms.

His arms hung down to the bottom of his calves, his body was under 1.55 meters tall, and he was a male of average build.

"Fourteen, you know more about this. Explain it to Reke."

Fourteen put down what he was holding, came to the instrument, and said, "The numerical limit of this thing is 20,000."

Reke's face fell. A limit of only 20,000 was useless to him.

Unwilling to give up, he continued to ask, "Why only 20,000? Can the limit be adjusted higher?"

Fourteen pondered for a moment and replied, "The reason it's 20,000 is that energy of that magnitude can already destroy a planet; there's no need to set it higher. The highest value we've detected so far is only 10,000."

"As for your question about raising the limit, it's possible, but since it hasn't been tested, we can't be sure how much power the instrument can withstand."

Reke's mood rose and fell with Fourteen's words.

He suggested, "Remove the limit, tell me how to operate it, and I'll go test the maximum capacity."

"This..." Fourteen hesitated. This thing wasn't cheap; their team had spent most of their funds to purchase just two units. If Reke broke it, he would be heartbroken.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Reke noticed the other party's hesitation and asked kindly.

"No problem. Fourteen, just listen to Reke."

As the leader, Four-Eyes could guess what Fourteen was thinking and made the final decision.

"Fine." Having received the leader's order, Fourteen no longer hesitated. He picked up his tools to adjust the settings, and after explaining the operation process to Reke, he went to prepare dinner.

Reke carried the instrument to a distant spot, turned it on, stared at the display, and began to flare his energy.

"8,000, 12,000, 30,000, 50,000, BANG!"

The device in front of Reke exploded; after he channeled half of his Qi into it, the machine could no longer withstand the pressure, though fortunately, Reke had caught sight of the 50,000 reading just before the blast.

As for the members of the Budaso Adventure Team, once they understood what Reke was about to do, they had swarmed toward the cave entrance.

They watched Reke's test from afar; although only their leader, Four-Eyes, could actually see the numbers clearly, the others were just there to join in the excitement.

The moment the device exploded, the group jumped in fright, unsure if Reke had been injured.

But when Four-Eyes saw the figure of 50,000, his legs went weak on the spot, and he collapsed onto the ground, a puddle of liquid seeping from his trousers as he fell into a state of catatonic shock.

"Boss, what's wrong? Did you see the number?"

"Boss, are you okay?"

"Boss, did one of your old injuries flare up?"

"Uh? Boss, you wet your pants."

"Holy crap, is this the legendary 'scared pissless'?"

Among the group, only Seventh remained silent, walking over to the leader to pull him up from the ground.

Four-Eyes finally snapped back to reality, paying no mind to the mockery of his younger brothers and sisters.

He glanced down at his pants and gave a bitter laugh: "Damn it, I've really embarrassed myself this time."

Seventh's hoarse voice rang out: "Boss, what exactly was the number you saw?"

Four-Eyes held up five fingers, his face filled with terror as he said: "50,000, and that wasn't even his limit—it was the limit of the device."

At this, even Seventh could no longer maintain his calm expression; they all stared at their leader with wide eyes, doubting their own hearing.

They finally understood why their leader, a man of such immense courage, had been scared to the point of wetting himself.

All thoughts of joking vanished, leaving their minds in complete chaos.

It wasn't until Reke flew back into the cave, rubbing his stomach and asking: "Why are you all standing here? Is dinner ready?"

"If it's ready, let's go eat; I'm starving to death."

"We're sorry!"

As soon as Reke's voice rang out, the group bowed in unison to apologize to him.

It left Reke completely bewildered, having no idea what kind of game they were playing.