Zhang Ying's eyes brightened slightly as she studied Ye Buyu with a strange look. "After your treatment just now, Shadow Wall seemed even weaker. Your ability might be healing for humans, but poison for Calamities."
"Let's try again, just to be safe."
What could Ye Buyu say? She could only suffer and enjoy it at the same time.
She found it strange too. Why did healing turn into poisoning when she used it on Calamities?
Did everyone else's healing abilities work this way, or was hers special enough to treat them differently?
"Wrong." Little Whale appeared just in time to explain. "There's no difference in treatment. I told you, the essence of a normal healing ability is energy transfer.
"When used on humans, it turns into the power humans need. When used on Calamities, it turns into the power Calamities need. The result is the same healing for both.
"But your ability doesn't really play fair. It's pure healing. The only reason it produces different results in humans and Calamities is... you're genuinely trying to heal Calamities back into their original forms.
"With some of their Calamity power removed, they naturally show signs of being hurt. To everyone else, that looks like you've damaged them."
Little Whale's explanation was clear, and Ye Buyu understood.
Other people's healing abilities gave you money to buy whatever you wanted to eat. Hers handed you food-nothing but big steamed buns. You had to eat them whether you wanted to or not, and she forcibly charged you for them too.
What an absolute thug.
Ye Buyu pressed a hand to her forehead, speechless. No wonder Little Whale had been emotionally unstable before. Who wouldn't lose it over that?
From the dew-damp morning to the blazing noon, and finally to the setting sun, the crimson sunset reflected in their eyes as a weary, world-worn exhaustion filled every cell of their bodies.
Only then did this small experiment finally end.
Ye Buyu dragged her aching legs back to the dorm. Even her smooth, silvery-white hair had turned frizzy, and her dewy garnet eyes had lost their sparkle.
She looked just like a kitten that had been thoroughly mauled. All she could do was accept her fate.
After a quick wash, she flopped onto the bed and fell into a dead sleep. On her second day at Four Symbols Academy, Ye Buyu had already been brought to her knees.
Several days passed like this. Thanks to Zhang Ying's endless feeding, Ye Buyu finally crossed the threshold and became a first-tier Awakened.
Unfortunately, Ye Buyu still couldn't learn to sprinkle cumin... no, sprinkle radiance.
Her treatment methods were still downright gangster. To heal you, she had to slap you first.
What even was this? Couldn't she just use her healing ability normally?
Little Whale laughed inside the consciousness space. "I already gave you a skill, but you won't learn it."
Ye Buyu ranted furiously in her mind. "Is that a skill I can learn right now? Thousand Tides Tracing the Moon is a god-tier rewind skill!"
Little Whale flicked its tail. "Oh, is that so? Then I'll make up an ordinary one for you."
Ye Buyu stopped in her tracks. Make one up on the spot?
"Gun Oath. Compress your ability into bullets, then shoot them out of a gun. How's that?"
Ye Buyu's face twisted for a moment. "Not great. How is that any different from slapping people? Everyone else heals by bathing people in holy light, but I have to shoot my teammates first?"
Inside the consciousness space, Little Whale clicked its tongue and shook its head. "A slap doesn't do much damage, but it's incredibly humiliating. A gun isn't like that. Everyone gets a bullet, no exceptions. All beings are equal. Isn't that wonderful?
"Besides, beyond three paces, a bullet is fastest. Within three paces, a bullet is even faster. You need a ranged attack. Keep up with the times."
Ye Buyu said nothing. She just kept falling apart.
She covered her face in despair. Would any team really want her in the future? What kind of sucker would accept a healer who poisoned her own teammates?
Come to think of it, she didn't even have a gun. She'd have to get one first.
Over the past few days, she had accumulated quite a few materials. She would exchange them for credits first, then check the academy's Equipment Room for something suitable.
When she arrived at Four Symbols Academy's Equipment Room, Ye Buyu was quickly dazzled by the vast array of equipment. It was like a museum, with every piece stored separately and labeled with its level, abilities, and the credits required to exchange for it.
People hurried back and forth. Some brought weapons in for repairs, some came to choose better equipment, and others took materials to instructors from the Artifact Refinement Department, ready to spend a fortune on a custom piece.
Little Whale had only this to say: "What do you need custom equipment for right now? With your first-tier strength, just get an ordinary piece to play around with. What, were you hoping to play with a nuclear bomb?"
Ye Buyu curled her lips. "You must have been thrown out as the price of using [Whale of Wailing] because your mouth was too nasty."
Little Whale was so angry its tail went rigid. "You're the one who caused it, and you have the nerve to say that? Go look at the eighth piece on your right. That one should suit you."
Ye Buyu pressed her lips together. Little Whale had a foul mouth, but its advice was still sound.
The moment she saw the equipment in the display cabinet, Ye Buyu fell in love with it. The silvery-white gun looked as though it had been bathed and polished in moonlight. Pale red patterns were engraved along its barrel-a relief of a blooming Otherworldly Flower.
"Level-three equipment, Flower Edict. Forty credits. This is the one."
After paying the credits, Ye Buyu walked out with the gun, humming a little tune. Along the way, she heard plenty of people discussing the upcoming Gaokao.
"Whoa, are the Social Security Bureau and the universities really going this hard this time? They're holding the Gaokao in a Level-Four Red-Label Zone. In previous years, it was always in a Third-Level Blue-Label Zone."
"They really aren't treating the candidates like people this year. There's a huge difference between a War-Torn Zone and a controllable zone. Our academy is only level two."
"Yikes... looks like the earlier [Whale of Wailing] attack on the River of Forgetfulness, which pushed the apocalypse progress bar forward, really had a major impact."
"I hear there are quite a few promising talents this year. Besides Mu Bingge, who took first place in the Genius Rankings as soon as she arrived as a special recruit, plenty of others have started making a name for themselves. Maybe they want to make things harder for these geniuses."
"With the University Alliance's experts there, nothing too serious should happen as long as they don't go looking for death. I hear this year's Gaokao candidates have all reached the second tier. They should at least be able to protect themselves a little."
First-tier Ye Buyu's shoulders slumped. She looked utterly miserable. Ha ha. So everyone was already at the second tier.
Didn't that make her a truly one-of-a-kind specimen?
When she thought about how she had never even seen a proper Blue-Label Zone, yet was about to enter a Level-Four Red-Label Zone, Ye Buyu felt that her life was shrouded in darkness and her future had lost every last glimmer of light.
She wouldn't... be the first one eliminated, would she?
Blowing bubbles, Little Whale offered a suggestion. "I suggest you go back, look up some information, and get familiar with your new skill. Otherwise, with the way you blunder around blind, you might not even be able to tell Calamities from Awakened.
"But it's fine if you can't tell them apart. Fire one bullet and either one is in for a bad time. Now that would be spectacular."
Before you continue