Split Up and Act

(Thanks to the Demon Who Never Forgot His Original Aspiration and ilovemmsid for the monthly votes, and thanks to Goldfish Breeder for the donation. Today, I sorted out the male and female leads among the character profiles. PS: I can no longer think of any way to scam "recommendation votes" ← ponder those quotation marks carefully.)

Their abilities could not be activated. Whether it was Ye Wanqing or Xiao He, neither of them could be of much help. But this once again highlighted the limitations of their team: if either one of them had a problem, then neither of them would be useful.

That was precisely why they needed other Superpower users to handle special circumstances.

As Xie Haining and Xia Yu entered the flooded area, they too left the convoy and began operating on their own.

Since she had to fight, Xia Yu's uniform differed from Ye Wanqing's. She wore pants rather than a skirt. She pulled a small bottle from her pocket, opened it, and drank it.

"That's the Enhancement Serum prepared for her. It contains carefully measured proteins from various organisms," Cui Man explained. "In a situation like this, she probably needs mobility more than fifty times the strength, right? She'll likely choose something balanced, like a spider..."

"What weaknesses does her ability have?" Xiao He asked curiously.

"Yes, it has some," Cui Man explained. "She has to be careful about what she eats normally. She can't eat raw foods like sashimi, and if she accidentally swallows a fly flying toward her while walking, she'll transform too. That's why she has to wear a mask."

"What the hell..." Xiao He shot Cui Man a suspicious sidelong glance. Was this woman serious?

"According to our subsequent research, the bodily fluids she absorbs also depend on the species. For example, if she wants to gain a cat's strength, she needs to consume a relatively large amount of cat serum. But for tiny organisms like insects, only a minute amount of bodily fluid is needed," Cui Man added. "Other than using her own serum to reverse the transformation, exhaustion will also forcibly end it."

With that, Cui Man took out a tablet. "Let's see how she performs, shall we? She should be able to save quite a lot of people."

Judging from her performance, Xia Yu was not much different from a superhuman Mutant. She jumped higher, ran faster, and possessed greater strength. The difference was that her hands allowed her to cling to walls, making climbing easier.

Watching her like this, Xiao He suddenly grew interested. "Can she shoot webs in that form?"

"No. She can only shoot webs after fully transforming into a spider," Cui Man said, shaking her head.

Xia Yu leaped nimbly between buildings while drones followed her, livestreaming the entire way.

Before long, Xia Yu came across a group of pedestrians stranded atop a car. They had tried to wade through the water to leave, but the current was simply too strong. One of them lost his footing and was swept away by the raging water.

Xia Yu immediately sprang forward and jumped into the water, grabbing the person being carried away. Her tiny body was nearly submerged by the floodwater, yet she effortlessly lifted the victim over her head and hurled him onto the dry ground nearby.

"The contrast is so huge... She's obviously such a tiny kid," Xiao He said with a curl of his lips.

"Sometimes, it takes people like her stepping forward to give others strength," Cui Man said, folding her arms. "Even such a little child is working so hard. How can those big, strong men just sit there and watch?"

Sure enough, encouraged by Xia Yu, the bystanders watching from the side began joining the rescue effort. They found ropes and supported one another as they reached toward a family trapped on a car roof, then everyone worked together to pull them toward shore.

Xia Yu, meanwhile, jumped onto the roof of another bus that still had passengers inside. After reassuring the passengers, she jumped back into the water and began pushing the entire bus toward the shore.

Her tiny body pushed such a massive bus, with more than a dozen people still aboard. The contrast created a powerful visual impact.

"She did very well, didn't she?" Cui Man said with a satisfied nod. "She works hard in training too."

"Completely unlike someone else," Ye Wanqing said, shooting Xiao He a glance.

"Can't be helped. Our abilities are different," Xiao He said lazily, propping up his chin. "Even if I trained, the effect would still be the same after my Superpower activated... Besides, I do train."

As he spoke, Xiao He continued watching the footage transmitted by drones from around the city. In reality, the armed police and firefighters had rescued more civilians than the Mutants, but what moved Xiao He the most was the way ordinary people were saving themselves and each other.

The somewhat stronger men entered the water to pull women and children who were about to be swept away back to shore. Crowds on land found ropes and worked together to forcibly pull people trapped in subway stations up. A driver who had just escaped from one vehicle immediately rushed to another to save those still trapped inside. Scenes like these could be seen everywhere.

Xiao He had grown weary of much of the ugliness this world displayed. Ordinary people desperately searched for love, while wealthy people changed girlfriends every week, keeping one in public and another in secret.

It was precisely because of that ugliness that he had initially been indifferent toward working as Yinglong, wanting only to lie around and make some money.

But the scenes before him greatly encouraged him. Evil existed in this world, but so did goodness.

People did not actually need "superheroes" like Yinglong, because they themselves were heroes.

Because of that, Xiao He felt that he ought to do something too, whether he was Yinglong or merely an ordinary Chinese citizen.

Thinking of that, he could not help growing restless.

"Don't rush. Isn't this how you persuaded Wanqing too?" Cui Man soothed him, patting Xiao He's shaking leg. "The root cause of this flood was the H River's rising water level, which caused the levee to burst. Most of the armed police and firefighters are currently trying to seal the breach, but they're moving too slowly. As long as you can find a way to plug the breach, everything else will become much easier."

Xiao He nodded and calmed down again. Cui Man was right. He had to find a way to solve the problem at its source.

Until then, they could only count on Xia Yu and Xie Haining.

Xia Yu was currently running all over the city, actively rescuing people. Her ability was quite powerful, and she had cleared several particularly troublesome areas where people were trapped. But one person's strength was ultimately limited; she could not change the overall situation on her own.

As for Xie Haining, there was even less he could do. His Superpower was not meant to enhance his physical abilities, but to slow his perception of time and give him more time to process information. Xiao He had actually thought this ability was useless, but Xie Haining was handling things surprisingly well. At the moment, he was rescuing a family of three trapped on the roof of a single-story house.

Xie Haining bounded forward, using submerged car roofs and roadside trash cans as footholds to quickly reach the house. Then he grabbed hold of its air conditioner unit, flipped himself over, and landed nimbly on the roof.

"His movements are so smooth, like flowing water..." Xiao He said, frowning.

"Yeah, that counts as part of his ability," Cui Man explained. "With his perception of time slowed, he can adjust his balance at the fastest speed possible. His ability is actually extremely suited to bringing out human combat techniques, and he barely makes mistakes while moving. Don't underestimate him. He's much stronger than you think."

"But..." Xiao He pressed his lips together. "His physique is still that of an ordinary person, isn't it? How is he supposed to save that family of three?"

"I'm curious too." Cui Man shrugged. "Let's see what he does."