The Ever-Widening Gap

Xiao He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind still replaying the battle of the day, a flame seemingly ignited within him.

"This battle was really good..." Xiao He sighed with satisfaction, then turned over. Ye Wanqing was already fast asleep beside him, her eyelids fluttering slightly, her brows furrowed as if she were having a nightmare.

"This silly girl..." Xiao He frowned and thought to himself, then smiled and said, "I'll even protect your dreams."

He then recalled the Nightmare, triggered the "Dreamweaver," and then came into contact with the White Light representing Ye Wanqing.

The next moment, he entered Ye Wanqing's dream.

The scene shifts, Xiao He appears outside a classroom window. Through the window, Xiao He can see Ye Wanqing sitting in the classroom, but she is not quite the same Ye Wanqing he knows now. She is more like the Ye Wanqing Xiao He first met, a little chubby but still very cute, with a kind of naivety and innocence. Her timid appearance immediately arouses Xiao He's protective instincts.

"Ah, is this what my Xiaoqing looks like in high school? So cute..." Xiao He couldn't help but exclaim. However, Ye Wanqing was sitting alone in a corner, while everyone around her was laughing at her.

"With breasts that big, are you a dairy cow?" "They must have been rubbed so much, right? You should thank your boyfriend." "Take a few steps and see, Ye Mengniu, isn't this how you seduce men?" The surrounding students kept making mocking remarks.

"These bastards, bullying my woman?" Xiao He was furious. He flashed into the classroom and punched the laughing black figure in front of him. With a "bang!", the black figure turned into smoke and disappeared.

"Get out!" Xiao He roared angrily, raising his hand and waving it around. The group of demons and monsters in front of him vanished instantly.

"Old Xiao!" Ye Wanqing exclaimed joyfully, hugging him tightly and nuzzling her face against his. "That's great! I knew you'd come! Hehe, Old Xiao, my Old Xiao... I love you the most."

"Alright, alright." Xiao He patted the back of her head and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Sweet dreams, baby."

"Sweet dreams?" Ye Wanqing looked up at Xiao He curiously, but Xiao He simply stroked her face gently, then waved his hand and began to weave a new dream for Ye Wanqing.

The next morning, Xiao He stretched and woke up to find Ye Wanqing sleeping soundly beside him, her face full of a happy smile.

Seeing her like this, Xiao He felt that his blood sugar was a little too high.

"Ugh..." At this moment, Ye Wanqing stretched and woke up, and immediately smiled brightly when she saw Xiao He.

"Old Xiao!" Ye Wanqing happily cried out as she snuggled into his arms. "Hehe, I love you the most, Old Xiao."

"This silly girl..." Xiao He couldn't help but chuckle, patting her bottom. "Alright, alright, let's get up. I have some important business to discuss with you at the arena after breakfast."

"Mmm!" Ye Wanqing responded cheerfully, but still clung to him.

This result surprised Xiao He a bit. He had only given the girl a sweet dream, but it unexpectedly increased his favorability towards her.

However, Xiao He wasn't going to the arena to watch the match today; he had something he wanted to confirm.

This is what he was thinking about last night: what kind of ability would he gain if Sebastian were the Trigger?

He was also interested in Raven. So today Ruiwen, Xiao He wanted to ask Ye Wanqing to change the contestant numbers of these two people and find a place to test their new Superpower. However, the Dragon Country's competition this week was already over, and the next competition was the second round of Group A's round-robin tournament next Monday. Where else could he test his Superpower?

"Oh, you're here?" Upon seeing Xiao He, Cui Man reached out and patted his head. "I have a task for you today: go to the prison and persuade the remaining guys to come and work as security guards for me. We're already short-handed here."

"This is truly heaven's help!" Xiao He thought to himself, but outwardly remained calm. "No problem!" Then, Xiao He asked curiously, "But why are we suddenly short-handed? Wasn't yesterday our busiest day?"

"It's all because of yesterday," Cui Man sighed, "That we mobilized a lot of manpower, which has led to a shortage of staff for subsequent shifts. If any Mutant were willing to help, we could free up a lot of manpower."

At this point, Cui Man looked around, seemingly wary of something, and whispered, "Besides, there's one more thing... The second round of the round-robin tournament starts next week. This is the round that will determine everyone's advancement, so every country will be going all out to get points. For this reason, they've brought some 'newcomers' from their countries."

"A newcomer?" Xiao He raised an eyebrow, recalling Makina from the United Kingdom.

That somewhat eccentric woman was the LV5 Mutant that United Kingdom later found and sent to them to participate in the competition. It seems that during the three weeks of the competition, people from various countries were not idle either, as everyone was looking for new combat power.

"They're just newcomers," Cui Man chuckled. "There are roughly two scenarios. First, after watching Old Xie's matches, those people realized that 'combat ability' isn't directly related to Mutant's rating, so they sent over some Mutant they had previously overlooked. The second scenario..."

At this point, Cui Man frowned and said, "It's because these people have run out of options, so they've resorted to using some dangerous individuals."

"You mean, like those people in our prison?" Xiao He asked, somewhat displeased.

Cui Man nodded. "Although they used various pretexts to cover up the truth, we still managed to uncover the truth about those 'newcomers' they had arranged, thanks to our advanced decryption algorithms. They were basically all dangerous individuals, and we reached some kind of cooperation agreement with them."

"Let these people participate in the competition? This is clearly just a case of wanting to stir up trouble, isn't it? Anyway, it's not being held in their country, so the security issues are our responsibility?" Xiao He said unhappily.

"Yes." Cui Man reached out and pinched Xiao He's cheek. "So my requirement is that they can send the people over, but we must pick them up ourselves. A group of people will arrive soon; you go and give them a hard time."

"Understood." Xiao He nodded. "Then I'll head to the prison now."

Then, Xiao He turned to Ye Wanqing, gave her a wink, and the two went to the side alone. Xiao He then whispered, "Xiaoqing, I need you to help me change the contestant code names for two people."

"Give me a kiss and I'll fix it for you," Ye Wanqing said with a smile, pointing to her face.

"No, that won't do. I want two kisses." Xiao He leaned over and kissed Ye Wanqing on both cheeks.

"Hehe..." Ye Wanqing smiled sweetly at him, her little nose wrinkling as she laughed, "I'll fix it right away."

After Ye Wanqing changed Sebastian and Raven's contestant code names, Xiao He also used Dimensional Walker to come to the prison, preparing to "persuade" the remaining people to help the Special Response Department carry out security tasks, and "incidentally" see what Superpower Sebastian and Ruiwen had triggered for him.

Upon arriving at the Mutant Prison, Xiao He immediately frowned: Why has it become so desolate...?

Before, when Yue Feng and his group were here, there would be people here, but now the courtyard is completely empty.

"Although Yue Feng, Li Xue, and Qin Weize did move out of here, and the Oliver brothers went to work as security guards, it shouldn't be this deserted, right?" Xiao He muttered, frowning.

Thinking of this, Xiao He shook his head with some regret and sighed, "I think it's time to give these poor guys some roommates... Coincidentally, some unruly guys will be sent to Dragon Country next week. If anyone causes trouble, we can lock them up here to keep the poor folks company."

Muttering to himself, Xiao He entered the prison and greeted everyone, "Hi, my darlings, I've come to see you."

The group sat in the common lounge, eating fried chicken while watching the Mutant Competition.

"Have you all become shut-ins?" Xiao He asked with some dissatisfaction. "Go out and exercise more, or you'll gain weight."

The crowd glanced at him sideways, but seemed uninterested in him. After all, they had watched the recent matches and personally experienced Xiao He's strength, and their experience was even more profound than that of the people on the field.

After all, Xiao He was restricted by the competition rules on the field, but when it came to beating them up, he could beat them up however he wanted.

Seeing that the people present lacked fighting spirit, Xiao He figured he wouldn't be able to test his Superpower here today. But that was alright; there would be another chance at the airport. He also had other business at the prison, so Xiao He cleared his throat and prepared to begin.

"Well, the arena's a bit short-staffed lately," Xiao He said, arms crossed. "If anyone's willing to help with security there, that would be great."

"Wow, that was a beautiful shot!" Liu Yufei couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration when he saw the exciting part of the match.

"Indeed, this guy Superpower quite well," several people around him echoed.

No one noticed what Xiao He said... At that moment, a vein throbbed on Xiao He's forehead. He came up behind Liu Yufei, smiled slightly, and pressed down on his shoulder.

"Hey, the match is really exciting!" Liu Yufei suddenly became a little impatient.

Xiao He ignored him, only recalling the image of Makina in his mind. Back then, that woman had triggered some kind of Superpower for him that targeted "gods," but it didn't work on Yue Feng. Now, he could try it on Liu Yufei.

At that moment, Liu Yufei felt as if he had been electrocuted. With a jolt from Xiao He's hand, the Old God within Liu Yufei reacted automatically, his flesh forming sharp blades that stabbed towards Xiao He's face.

However, it was the tentacles on Liu Yufei's body that screamed, while Xiao He's hands emitted a strong white light.

Liu Yufei quickly broke free from Xiao He's grasp and scrambled backward until he leaned against the wall, staring at Xiao He with a terrified expression. "You, you..."

A white flame was burning on Liu Yufei's shoulder, continuously damaging the "god" within him, but Liu Yufei himself appeared unharmed.

"I see... Directly harms Divinity?" Xiao He looked at his right hand, pondering, then went over and extended his left hand to Liu Yufei, smiling apologetically, "Sorry, sorry, my hand slipped."

"Who would believe you?!" Liu Yufei said irritably, grabbing Xiao He's left hand. But this time, a black flame instantly wrapped around Liu Yufei's body along his left hand. He fell to the ground in pain and roared, but the flesh tentacles on his body were unaffected.

"The left hand attacks the main body beyond 'Divinity'..." Xiao He raised an eyebrow, "It's indeed very effective against that crazy woman, Makina."

Then Xiao He suddenly came to his senses and quickly used Purification to dispel the black flames on Liu Yufei's body. He said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Come on, it's alright now. I've deactivated my Superpower, don't be afraid..."

But Liu Yufei kept backing away, shaking his head, with an expression that said, "I will never believe you again."

"Well," Dulentine, who was using sound waves, cleared his throat and said seriously, "I've been thinking about it again, and I think that as prisoners, we really should do something meaningful. Humans should help each other. We ourselves are products of indifference, so we shouldn't let this indifference continue to spread. Therefore, I'm the first to agree to help the warden."

"Have you no shame..." Danny Wu chuckled dryly and whispered, "If you'd said that from the start, I wouldn't have looked down on you. Heh, tui!"

"Oh, right." At this moment Xiao He turned to Danny Wu, "Do you know that your boss is the Raven Ruiwen I fought yesterday? You guys probably haven't met him yet, right? Aren't you going to meet him in person?"

"..." Of the eight people present, apart from Zhang Shan and Jin Shaokang, the others were all members of Raven, but unlike Oliver and Ivan, they were not among the founders, so they had never seen Ruiwen's true face.

So... the guy who was almost completely dominated by Yinglong yesterday was their organization's leader?

In that instant, Danny Wu felt his future had lost all hope. In his view, Yinglong kept throwing prisoners into this jail, and one day Yinglong would be unable to handle the people inside. But now...

Even their leader, the man who surpassed LV5, was utterly powerless against Yinglong.

Resisting means certain death!

Realizing this, Danny Wu understood that they only had one way out.

"Thinking back on it," Danny Wu cleared his throat, "I think Dulentine's point is valid, count me in."

After a moment of silence, the others chimed in. "Let's not pretend anymore!"

"Me too!" "Me too! It's no big deal!" "I'll go help out too!" Everyone chimed in.

Xiao He nodded in satisfaction. "That's right, everyone benefits, isn't that great?"

But at that moment, Johnny Leiden suddenly appeared in front of Xiao He.

"Let me see what you've got," Johnny said, arms crossed, then his body began to convulse, and four Clone appeared around him.

"What do you mean?" Xiao He raised an eyebrow with interest, but Johnny and his four Clones had already attacked.

However, Xiao He, having gone through three rounds of competition, was no longer the "Yinglong" he had been at the beginning.

Xiao He calmly faced the approaching five men, then slid to the left to adjust the distance. Johnny's Clone lacked true consciousness, merely obeying basic commands, and therefore had no tactical concept. As long as Xiao He adjusted his position, they would only continue their attack.

Therefore, Xiao He's goal was achieved: this way, Johnny and his four Clones could not attack him at the same time, creating a time difference in their attacks, allowing him to deal with each Clone one by one.

Xiao He raised his left hand to deflect the first person's fist, and at the same time, he threw a Russian Swing Punch with his right hand, causing the Clone to fall backward. He then followed up with an uppercut, defeating the first Clone.

At this moment, the second Clone had already arrived at his side, and its right hand transformed into a hand chop, slashing at Xiao He's neck.

But in the instant he was hit, Xiao He deftly pushed off the ground, dissipating the force of the blow. Then he kicked the Clone in the chest, sending it flying. Using the reaction force from the kick, he adjusted his position and, with power from his waist and legs, unleashed a whirlwind kick that swept across the third Clone's face.

This attack used the Flying Swallow Whirlwind Kick technique to simultaneously attack two Clones. After delivering the kick, Xiao He landed on the ground using the recoil, quickly ducked to dodge the attack from the fourth Clone, and simultaneously adjusted his stance to deliver a Russian Grand Swing Punch.

The fist passed through the Clone's arms protecting his head and struck him squarely in the face.

That left only Johnny's true form. Suddenly, Xiao He had an idea and delivered a mid-range kick to Johnny's waist.

Then, in the instant Johnny defended, he tried to change to a high kick, but his knee made a "crack".

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Xiao He hopped around a couple of times, clutching his knee, looking rather comical. "Damn it, the Lane-Shift Kick is definitely not a skill you can learn just by watching a few times."

However, the people around them did not laugh. On the contrary, they suddenly felt a chill: the person in front of them was no longer the one who had captured them in the past. Yinglong was now a real "monster".

"..." Johnny seemed a little speechless, and replied calmly, "You used too much force. If you don't kick with full power on the first strike of Lane-Shift Kick, there's no room for variation."

"Ah, right..." Xiao He pondered, resting his chin on his hand: When Sebastian kicked the Lane-Shift Kick, it seemed that he did not use his full strength in the middle of the kick, leaving room for subsequent changes.

"Do you know how to Lane-Shift Kick?" Xiao He asked enthusiastically. "Teach me!"

"I know a little bit, but I wouldn't call myself an expert," Johnny said coldly as he turned around, then returned to the sofa to continue watching the game. Suddenly, however, he slammed his fist on the coffee table.

While everyone was looking on with bewildered expressions, Johnny coldly said, "I'll take the security job."

"Huh?" Xiao He burst out laughing. "What's wrong with you guys... so arrogant."

In fact, Johnny wasn't trying to please anyone; he was just trying to dispel his anxiety.

From his previous duel with Xiao He, he had realized that Yinglong in the outside world was constantly devouring its enemies and growing stronger. The current Yinglong didn't need any Superpower to defeat him; it could kill him instantly through hand-to-hand combat alone.

This widening gap frustrated him greatly, so he needed to do something to change the situation.

He'd do anything, even be a dog for the Special Response Department, he wanted to go out into the world and find a way to become stronger.

Johnny wasn't the only one with this idea...

"I'll go too." Jin Shaokang stood up and replied coldly.

As for Xiao He, he suddenly came to his senses and regretfully realized: I forgot to test the abilities that Sebastian and Ruiwen had triggered for me!