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To be fair, hot pot and shabu-shabu really do feel more lively when there are more people. It's a pity that Xie Haining has to go home to be with his wife and kids whenever he has a spare moment, otherwise the Four Cornerstones would have been there today.

After a hearty meal and drinks, Cui Man left with Xia Yu, completely satisfied. They still had a lot to do.

"Darling! Next time I'll take you to my house to celebrate! We'll have hot pot!" Cui Man's face was flushed, and she was excited, probably a little drunk. Xiao He patted her head and coaxed, "Okay, okay, I'll definitely do it next time, be good."

"You guys go back, I'll keep an eye on Sister Man," Xia Yu said with a smile. "There are people from the Special Response Department waiting for us down there."

Xiao He nodded, watching them get on the elevator, while muttering to himself, "Really... they get this excited after just one bottle of beer. If you can't drink, don't drink."

"Actually, I think this is quite enjoyable," Ye Wanqing said with a smile.

"I'm quite happy..." Xiao He nodded, turning to look at the remaining pieces of the game, "But at this moment, it's also very painful."

"It's okay, I'll help you. It'll be much faster if the two of you do it together," Ye Wanqing said with a smile.

It took them an hour to clean up the table, dishes, hot pot, and leftover food.

"Old Xiao, let's use the remaining ingredients to make noodles tomorrow. We can make a mixed noodle dish," Ye Wanqing said, putting the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator. "So as not to waste them; they're all fresh ingredients anyway."

"That's wonderful." Xiao He nodded in satisfaction. He couldn't help but think that if the two of them got married, they would probably live like this. Thinking about it, living like this every day didn't seem so bad...

It was already quite late after dinner, and after finally cleaning up, it was almost nine o'clock.

"Are you still going for a walk?" Xiao He asked hesitantly, "It's already quite late."

"Go ahead. Are you tired?" Ye Wanqing asked Xiao He curiously. "It's gotten into a habit; I always feel uneasy if I don't go for a walk..."

"Then let's go." Xiao He shrugged.

After arriving downstairs, Xiao He extended his hand to Ye Wanqing.

"My hands are a little cold," Ye Wanqing asked hesitantly. "It's getting cold..."

"It's nothing, it'll just help cool me down." Xiao He said nonchalantly, taking her hand.

Wow! This is real ice! Xiao He silently gasped, feeling the chill in his heart. It was indeed cold; the temperature in Beichang City was already below ten degrees Celsius in November, but it shouldn't be this cold, right?

"Let's go." Xiao He said calmly, taking Ye Wanqing's hand and walking forward.

His hands are so warm, so big and warm... Ye Wanqing thought to herself, and couldn't help but smile.

The two walked and talked. After a while, Xiao He came to Ye Wanqing's other side and extended his hand. "Come on, switch hands."

Ye Wanqing felt a warmth in her heart, and she tried desperately to force a smile onto her face, but she forced it back and simply obediently extended her left hand.

Damn! This hand is even colder! Xiao He gritted his teeth, desperately trying to suppress a hiss.

"It's getting cold, you should wear more clothes," Xiao He advised.

"Okay..." Ye Wanqing muttered resentfully, but secretly she was overjoyed: No way, I'll let you warm my hands from now on!

The next morning, Xiao He ate breakfast while browsing the news on his phone.

News headlines such as "Experts from M Country say the 'Plastic Decomposition Plan' is a conspiracy; the chemicals produced after Plastic Decomposition will exert mind control on civilians and turn them into lackeys," "World Environmental Organization and Greenpeace have been bought off; M Country will withdraw from the organization," and "Y Country and A Continent will refuse to join the environmental agreement" have been flooding social media.

"A bunch of idiots..." Xiao He rolled his eyes and muttered.

"Sigh, so if humanity ever goes extinct, it's definitely because of its own actions," Ye Wanqing said helplessly, peeling an egg and handing it to him. "Eat it?"

"Hmm." Xiao He responded, took the boiled egg and ate it in one bite, then drank a sip of noodle soup. "But it seems like the O Continent isn't very united this time. Look, D Country and F Country are planning to adopt this environmental protection plan."

"It would be best if they fought amongst themselves..." Ye Wanqing said irritably, pushing the egg pancake in front of Xiao He, "Eat more."

This incident displeased Xiao He somewhat. Ultimately, those Z-guests didn't care about the future of the world; they only cared about their own status.

However, Xiao He's main concern right now is the Mutant Competition, and he's actually looking forward to it. "Watch me slap you all in the face!"

But before that, they must find enough Mutant; otherwise, they won't even have enough people, and the Mutant Competition will be out of the question. They need five people plus a substitute, which means they need three more people, including himself, Xie Haining, and Xia Yu.

In addition, the prison needs to be equipped with more "Trigger".

After all, directly strengthening enemies in the arena carries certain risks in that situation.

Because the person whose name has been changed will not be affected, when people around him call him "Lin Tiannan," the person whose name has been changed will notice something amiss.

For Xiao He, the most important thing was to conceal the truth about his abilities. As long as no one knew the details of his abilities, he would be invincible.

"Old Xiao, Sister Man sent me all the remaining assignments, there are quite a few," Ye Wanqing said, pressing her phone. "She let you choose one yourself. Just pick whichever one you're more interested in and work on it. I'll help you change the name."

"What are they? Let me see?" Xiao He said, moving closer to Ye Wanqing.

"Here." Ye Wanqing handed over her phone, but only a tiny bit, so Xiao He had to lean closer to see the words on it. Now, their faces were less than ten centimeters apart.

She smells so good... Xiao He couldn't help but swallow: he especially liked the faint scent of grass and mint.

Ye Wanqing's heart skipped a beat: So close! Her body temperature is radiating outwards, should she move away a bit...?

But in the end, Ye Wanqing did not choose to stay away. Instead, she remained motionless, feeling her hair stand on end. She could only silently count the multiplication tables to distract herself and prevent herself from blushing.

"Environmental protection and energy, desertification, freshwater scarcity, excessive carbon emissions, nuclear pollution, ozone layer depletion, Food Crisis, biodiversity..." Xiao He glanced at these problems and immediately frowned. "So many problems... Little Pufferfish, which do you think we should choose?"

"Seven times eight equals fifty-six!" Ye Wanqing said abruptly.

Xiao He looked at her with a confused expression.

"Oh, I mean, whatever..." Ye Wanqing said, then, realizing what was going on, punched him. "Don't call me Little Pufferfish!"

"This girl is so cute," Xiao He couldn't help but think to himself.

"Xiaoqing, just point to one," Xiao He said, pointing to her phone.

Why is this idiot calling me that now!? Doesn't he know I'm trying hard not to blush?! Ye Wanqing thought to herself, covering her mouth, and turned her face to the side, casually pointing at her phone screen.

Beneath her slender fingers was the prominent title. "Environmental Protection and Energy."

Xiao He raised an eyebrow. "Hey, this does seem pretty good. Although those people don't care about 'environmental protection,' they definitely care about 'energy.' With his Superpower, he can definitely create an environmentally friendly energy source that can meet the world's needs. At that time, he doesn't believe these cancerous elements will still be able to interfere."

"Even if you beg me on your knees, I won't give it to you then," Xiao He thought to himself, then replied, "This one will do."

However, since the Mutant Competition is a team event, including team battles, Xiao He not only has to deal with these scientific issues recently, but also needs to ensure his practice of combat skills and obstacle courses.

The problem with his abilities is that he becomes weaker when facing weaker opponents.

Directly changing the names of participating members might expose their abilities, so the best approach is to bring along a "Trigger" like Jin Shaokang or Yue Feng. However, by strengthening himself in this way, he would only gain the ability to defeat the "Trigger," not the ability to defeat his opponents on the field.

The best solution would naturally be to bring multiple "Trigger," but just in case, he also needs to refine his own skills.

He came to the Special Response Department for training as usual that day, but he had a new test item today.

"Because there might be team battles later," Cui Man explained, "So we'll change Old Xie and Xia Yu's names to 'Lin Tiannan' to trigger your ability. Now we'll see how you remove them from your brain's 'whitelist'."

"I roughly know how to do it. I just need to treat them as 'opponents' in the competition, and I should be able to trigger my ability," Xiao He replied. "But is it okay to change their names? Won't it be exposed during the competition?"

"It's okay. The contestants use code names when registering, not their real names. After all, the identities of Mutant must be kept secret. Even if they're all called Lin Tiannan, as long as the code names are different, they won't be discovered," Cui Man said casually, then turned to Xie Haining behind her. "Actually... I've always been curious, what kind of Superpower would emerge if you and Old Xie faced off? Let's give it a try."

Xie Haining smiled, then walked to the boxing mat in the center of the training room. "Let's go? We'll just stop short of a fight."

"Hmm." Xiao He nodded and followed him onto the field, where Ye Wanqing changed Xie Haining's name.

Xiao He stared at Xie Haining in front of him, reminding himself: Although he is not an enemy, he is a sparring partner, and I must defeat him.

A peculiar feeling welled up within him, a feeling he had never experienced before. Undoubtedly, it was a new ability, Xiao He couldn't help but wonder: what kind of Superpower had been developed to defeat Old Xie?

"I'm going in now?" Xie Haining got into position.

(Today's → Quick Entry for Recommendation Tickets)