A Little Accident

"Su Jingyao, do you want a piece of candy? My treat."

Zhang Ping slumped over his desk, holding a green six-sided crystal in his hand, and squinted at his deskmate Su Jingyao as he asked.

Su Jingyao glanced at the six-sided crystal, expressionless, and spat out a single word: "Scram."

"If you don't want it, you don't have to, is there any need to be so mad?" Zhang Ping pulled his hand back and muttered quietly.

The veins on Su Jingyao's forehead slightly bulged, and she retorted unhappily: "Zhang Ping, although you awakened a trash ability and I very much understand how you feel, if you leave school and still go around asking people like this all the time, believe it or not, you're going to get beaten to death."

"A trash ability is actually pretty good, I was only asking you, how could I possibly ask anyone else?" Zhang Ping muttered under his breath.

Su Jingyao speechlessly rolled her eyes at Zhang Ping, then continued filling out her graduation application.

"Are you really planning to graduate?" Zhang Ping glanced over and asked.

Su Jingyao said indifferently: "I've already mastered all the knowledge in school, and the ability I awakened is very suited for combat. Only by experiencing true actual combat can one grow stronger and stronger, so joining the Patrol Team is a decision I made long ago."

"But you're only seventeen." Zhang Ping sighed.

Su Jingyao gave Zhang Ping a look of disdain and said: "Zhang Chen next door applied for graduation a week ago, and by now he's probably already left the city with the Investigation Team to go do actual combat against Mutated Beasts. He's only 16."

"Mm-hm, what a genius." Zhang Ping sighed.

Seeing that Zhang Ping didn't show any expression of envy or jealousy, Su Jingyao inwardly sighed softly.

Back then, Zhang Ping was also one of the hardest-working students in the class. On the day he awakened his ability, he frantically experimented with it, but very quickly his ability was appraised as a Useless Tier ability by the appraiser. Zhang Ping suffered a massive blow as a whole, and even skipped classes for several days.

By the time Zhang Ping came back to class, he had already turned into the current laid-back state.

"Even though your ability was appraised as a Useless Tier, there are so many mutated creatures in the world, perhaps one day I'll find a creature willing to accept you, and at that time your ability will have room to shine..." Unwilling to bear watching Zhang Ping give up on himself, Su Jingyao looked at Zhang Ping and said earnestly.

Zhang Ping slumped on the desk and said dismissively: "Forget it, do you think any creature would completely hand its life over to someone else's control? I'll give it to you, do you dare eat it?"

"..."

Thinking of the six-sided crystal in Zhang Ping's hand just now, Su Jingyao was momentarily left speechless.

Just seeing the six-sided crystal made her feel a sense of rejection in her heart; the feeling was akin to seeing feces, making her involuntarily want to stay far away.

"Alright, I've already accepted the fact that I'm a piece of trash. Actually, being trash isn't bad either. Come back and honestly farm the land, maybe I'll live longer than you lot who go around fighting and killing." Zhang Ping smiled.

He truly thought that way.

After all, whether it was the Patrol Team, the Investigation Team, or free adventurers, the casualty rates were not low.

Whereas staying in the city as a farmer, although the treatment was very poor, one could barely manage to survive, and the casualty rate was far lower than that of combat professions.

If one wanted to die of old age in bed, staying in the city was already the safest option.

In his past life, Zhang Ping was a member of a private rescue team.

During a night rain, he received a rescue mission and encountered a landslide while heading into the mountainous area to search for and rescue lost hikers, dying on the spot.

By the time he came to his senses, he had already transmigrated into the body of Zhang Ping, who had been angered to death by his own ability.

After absorbing Zhang Ping's memories, he had only a single thought: wasn't it just awakening a Useless Tier ability, was there any need to anger oneself to death?

Although he was quite grateful to the original body, otherwise he might not have been able to transmigrate and would have truly died.

Still, truth be told, the original Zhang Ping's psyche was far too fragile.

As for abilities and whatnot, he didn't have any special skills in his past life, yet he still managed to brazenly cling to life. Since it was a Useless Tier ability, he would just pretend he didn't have it.

However, the ability Zhang Ping awakened was actually rather interesting.

He could consume physical and mental strength to manufacture a type of six-sided crystal. Any creature that willingly ate this six-sided crystal would be completely controlled by him, with both flesh and soul becoming his private property.

Mm.

It sounded seemingly powerful.

Yet there was a prerequisite, which was that the target must genuinely and willingly accept it, otherwise even if it was eaten, it would be passed out completely intact.

His predecessor had tried this on numerous creatures, such as kittens, puppies, snakes, mice, and so forth, but every single one of them ended in failure without exception.

To this end, his predecessor had even viciously tortured several kinds of animals, forcing them to accept the six-sided crystal, but the outcome didn't change in the slightest; it seemed the rejection on the soul level was absolute.

In the end, the more the predecessor thought about it, the angrier he got, coughing up a mouthful of blood in despair and getting himself angered to death by his own ability.

Naturally, Zhang Ping wouldn't be that extreme or radical now.

Although his ability had no practical use, he didn't truly lack any ideas.

The six-sided crystals he manufactured were actually quite pretty, so could he polish them and sell them off as gemstones?

After all, rich people all had rather unique tastes, what if he could sell them for a good price?

After class, Zhang Ping packed up his things and returned to the dormitory area together with Su Jingyao.

Both he and Su Jingyao came from orphanages and had lived in the school dormitories ever since enrolling.

"Don't wait for me tomorrow, I'm moving out of the dormitory tonight." Su Jingyao said as she walked.

Zhang Ping nodded and smiled: "Mm, take care on the way."

"You too."

Su Jingyao glanced at Zhang Ping, reluctance hidden deep within her eyes.

The two separated at the dormitory entrance, Su Jingyao entering the female dormitory and Zhang Ping entering the male dormitory.

Zhang Ping's dorm was on the fifth floor. Originally he had three roommates, but all three failed their awakenings and had left the school a week before the original Zhang Ping had worked himself to death out of anger, so now he was the only one in the room.

"Compared to failing their awakenings, this guy actually has it much better."

Zhang Ping opened the dorm door, remembering the confused and painful expressions of his roommates when they left the school, and muttered inwardly.

He put down his backpack, took a shower, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

One hand lifted, and gradually green particles appeared in his palm. As his stamina and Mental Strength consumed rapidly, the particles quickly grew larger and finally turned into a six-sided crystal.

According to the examiner's analysis, his ability belonged to a composite type. Following the naming rules for superpowers, it should be called Greed Gem.

Because this ability was too greedy.

It wanted everything, wanted to control everything.

Yet precisely because it was too greedy, any living organism would instinctively repel the Greed Gem, making it a useless ability.

Test the hardness first!

Zhang Ping held the six-sided crystal and muttered to himself at this point.

If this kind of crystal was hard enough, perhaps it could be used to make something, like chain mail completely inlaid with six-sided crystals; the defensive power shouldn't be bad.

He took out his pocket knife and tried to cut the crystal.

Unfortunately, the hardness of the crystal wasn't as high as it looked on the surface. The knife quickly cut the crystal in half, and judging from the tactile feedback during the cutting, the hardness should be about the same as bone.

Zhang Ping was a bit disappointed, but upon seeing the cut crystal, he actually felt a bit tempted.

He really couldn't be blamed for craving it.

After the crystal was cut, the surface was smooth, crystalline, and brilliantly colored, a bit like gummy candy or white jelly with added chlorophyll.

Just based on its appearance, this thing seemed quite delicious.

Wait!

Zhang Ping suddenly startled, then his gaze fell upon the cut crystal, and he couldn't help pondering inwardly: What would happen if I ate the Greed Gem myself?

Could he perfectly control himself?

Wouldn't that be legendary one-hundred-percent body control?

Clearly, this was a path his predecessor had never imagined!

Should he give it a try?

Anyway, the worst-case scenario was just controlling himself.

The more Zhang Ping thought about it, the more tempted he became. He simply picked up the split six-sided crystal, opened his mouth, and swallowed it whole.

Other creatures would instinctively repel the six-sided crystal, but he wouldn't.

After swallowing the crystal, he acutely sensed subtle changes occurring in his body.

This change was hard to describe, tasting a bit like Sword Unity.

It could only be experienced and not put into words.

After a long while, Zhang Ping opened his eyes and a thought stirred: Go pour a cup of water!

Next, it was completely not him controlling his body; rather, the body automatically went to pour water.

This feeling was very magical, just like the body moving on its own without needing him to control it.

Although he still had sensation and the stamina consumed was still his own, the process of pouring water was irreversible. Even if he wanted to go to the bathroom or do something else midway, as long as the command wasn't changed, the body would persist in going to pour water.

Do 500 push-ups!

Zhang Ping raised his cup to drink water, ending the previous command.

Then a thought stirred, and he issued a command once more, whereupon his body began to automatically do push-ups.

After 500 push-ups, Zhang Ping collapsed flat on the floor like a dead dog, unable to get up, yet he wore a happy smile.

Because his predecessor had originally been a workout fanatic, this body could normally do 250 push-ups, but now through a command, he could do 500 push-ups.

This already surpassed the limit that willpower could persist through.

If there were no commands, Zhang Ping estimated he would reach his willpower limit at most around 300 push-ups.

Although this ability still wasn't particularly useful, superpowers were truly too interesting.

Zhang Ping lay down for half an hour, then got up and patted the dust off his body.

Even though he could manipulate his body into action through thought, the body was still an ordinary body, and facing those blade-proof Mutated Beasts in the wild, it was still completely useless.

However, he wasn't disappointed; after all, he was already mentally prepared to stay in the city and farm.

If this ability could be used for farming, once he had spare stamina in the future, it might not be impossible for it to have other uses.

After showering again, he went downstairs to eat in the cafeteria, and then returned to the dorm to rest.

The next day, in the dead of night.

Zhang Ping was still sleeping, yet his eyes had already opened on their own. He got dressed, left the dormitory building, and started running the moment he reached the sports ground.

This was the routine Zhang Ping had set the previous night: wake up at 4:00 AM to run.

Although his consciousness was still asleep, his body had moved on its own.

The state was somewhat similar to sleepwalking.

By six o'clock, he had regained full awareness, and he was already sitting in the cafeteria with a bowl of white porridge and three steamed buns placed in front of him.

He looked at the buns and white porridge, his eyes involuntarily lighting up slightly as the corners of his mouth curled into a trace of a smile.

"It really works!"

In truth, Zhang Ping had only been giving it a try; he hadn't expected his body to truly execute every single operation according to his command.

Yet he also held a shred of doubt, which was: since his consciousness had been sleeping, why was his body able to move?

Could it be the subconscious?

Never mind. Since this method was useful, exercising his body would be convenient from now on.

"Classmate Luo Shiyu, good morning!"

"Classmate Luo Shiyu, I've already bought breakfast for you."

"Classmate Luo Shiyu really is too perfect. Wuwu, just thinking about how I won't be able to see Classmate Luo Shiyu after graduation makes me want to have a good cry."

"I wonder which of the Three Great Squads Classmate Luo Shiyu plans to join after graduation?"

At this moment, a commotion arose among many students not far away. Zhang Ping was unsurprised, knowing that the campus belle from the next class had arrived.

Luo Shiyu, the class belle of Class Two next door, was also the campus belle of Pearl Ability Academy. The most terrifying thing was that she captivated both men and women; her admirers included not only male students, but quite a few female students among them as well.

For instance, Zhang Ping's former roommates had been admirers of Luo Shiyu, but after failing their awakenings, they had left the school in utter despair.

With thoughts of Luo Shiyu on his mind, Zhang Ping raised his head while eating a bun, and the next second, his pupils abruptly constricted.

He quickly lowered his head to drink his porridge, using it to mask the shock within his heart.

In his memory, Luo Shiyu was a slender girl with a beautiful appearance.

Yet just now, he had seen a massive, two-meter-tall upright fox with a girl's human skin plastered to its forehead, walking swaggeringly right in the middle of everyone. Yet shockingly, everyone remained completely oblivious, all looking at it with adoration.

What on earth was going on?

Zhang Ping felt a tumult in his heart as Luo Shiyu slowly approached amidst the flattery of many students.

"Classmate Zhang Ping, good morning!" the giant fox greeted him in a hoarse voice as it passed by his side.

Deep in his mind, Zhang Ping ordered himself to remain calm, nodding with an expressionless face as he said, "Classmate Luo Shiyu, good morning."

Fortunately, "Luo Shiyu" did not linger, instead continuing forward and greeting other students along the way.

Zhang Ping finished his breakfast at a normal speed, and only then did he stand up and leave the cafeteria just like usual.