Mysterious Drift Bottle

Amid one natural disaster and man-made calamity after another, Earth had descended into chaos.

Some people were delighted, some were grieving, and others were run ragged.

The eruption of Mount Fuji had an enormous impact!

Yet international aid was scarce. Leaders around the world all opted for verbal expressions of sympathy, wishing Fusang a swift recovery from the disaster, a return to order, and renewed prosperity.

There was no actual action whatsoever. Earthquakes kept striking everywhere, and logistics had all but ground to a halt. Every government had its own hands full. Anyone who dared donate to foreign friends would be savaged by their own citizens, and a few deranged gunmen might even come crawling out of the woodwork!

Some countries even argued that the enormous quantities of toxic gases released by Mount Fuji's eruption were continually polluting the surrounding atmosphere.

The spreading toxic dust would affect life in neighboring regions and reduce crop yields.

Not demanding compensation from Fusang was already generous enough!

Great Xia.

The Special Affairs Processing Department.

A large group of researchers had gathered in a small room to discuss the latest intelligence.

They had worked for so long without a single complaint. For true researchers, the emergence of supernatural phenomena was nothing short of the dawn of a new world!

An elderly professor with graying hair ate a late-night snack while poring over a supernatural investigation report with keen interest.

"Theoretically, there are around a thousand people with Superpowers in our country at present, but we've only located six hundred. Most have physical abilities, including but not limited to immense strength, bodily regeneration, long-range vision, and exceptional hearing."

"Not a single one has abilities like the invisibility, fire breathing, electrical discharge, or bodily levitation seen in the Mysterious Zones."

"You mean... the abilities that emerge in the Mysterious Zones are stronger?" Li Xianfeng frowned, eating fried noodles at the table.

"That's possible, but not necessarily the case," the expert explained.

"We investigated the first wave of people with Superpowers and found one trait they shared: their vision, sense of smell, and sense of taste far exceeded those of ordinary people. They already had this trait before awakening their Superpowers."

"Most claimed that some strange current of warmth inside their bodies caused their abilities to awaken. However, current medical equipment cannot detect this so-called 'strange current of warmth.'"

"Sounds like the sort of nonsense qigong frauds spout." Li Xianfeng laughed. "What a world..."

The expert continued, "We've given this element the shorthand name 'spirit.' It's actually very complex, and its mechanism of action remains a mystery."

"We could even go further and propose that all things possess spirit. Most people actually have innate abilities of their own, but those abilities exist in either an 'activated' or 'unactivated' state. If you can sense it, you can activate your ability. If you can't, you can't."

"Physical abilities like immense strength, bodily regeneration, and long-range vision are relatively simple and easier to activate."

"Invisibility, fire breathing, levitation, and other Superpowers are extremely complex, making them difficult to activate."

"If the Mysterious Zones really contain higher concentrations of the mysterious element 'spirit,' then the higher the concentration, the greater the likelihood of activating complex abilities. The reverse would also hold true."

Li Xianfeng considered this for a moment. Only time and experimentation could test these claims of uncertain validity.

He asked another question. "Zhang Ming, the man trapped in Zone 16-is his ability only physical?"

The old professor replied, "It's hard to say. He's certainly stronger than an ordinary person, but he seems somewhat weaker than someone with a genuine immense-strength ability."

Abroad, a weightlifter with the "immense strength" ability could already lift a 400-kilogram barbell. That was roughly eight times what an ordinary person could lift, far beyond the world record!

Judging by Zhang Ming's fights, he did not seem to possess such a powerful physique.

"Can Superpowers be trained?" Li Xianfeng asked again. "Is there an upper limit?"

"For now... we don't know. But there should be an upper limit. Surely nobody could punch straight through Earth? At present, none of them are particularly powerful. They're unlikely to affect social order."

Li Xianfeng asked again, "Do people with multiple abilities exist?"

As the name suggested, a person with multiple abilities possessed more than one Superpower.

"We don't know."

"Even if such people exist, they could probably only activate those abilities inside a Mysterious Zone at present."

"In the short term, I don't think anyone on Earth will develop multiple abilities."

The expert adjusted his glasses and said, "In the future, as the rules of the Mysterious Zones continue to spread, the number of people on Earth with Superpowers will increase dramatically."

"I'd even predict that nonliving objects could develop supernatural properties. I've named these nonliving objects 'strange objects'!"

Cloud Sea Shelter.

Having just finished using the bathroom, Wang Fumin cheerfully sought out Lu Tuyu and said with a furtive look, "Lu, I picked up something really strange... It looks odd. It's not a monster, just a really strange thing."

Lu Tuyu was absorbed in the shocking news of Mount Fuji's eruption.

The news was so outrageous and bizarre, and once it was linked to the total wipeout in Mysterious Zone 7, the entire internet had exploded!

All manner of freaks had crawled out of the woodwork. The flame wars between bleeding hearts and vicious trolls were enough to make anyone's scalp crawl.

Tapping his phone screen and holding forth online, he said without looking up, "What treasure could you possibly find in a bathroom? Is it edible? Does it taste good?"

"A bottle." Chuckling, Wang Fumin pulled a brown glass bottle from his pocket.

Lu Tuyu took the glass bottle and looked it over. It was a bottle for Huoxiang Zhengqi medicinal liquid, with a few drops still left inside. "Aren't these bottles everywhere?"

"You don't get it," Wang Fumin explained. "The moment I picked it up, a strange voice sounded in my mind. This thing is called the 'Mysterious Drift Bottle.'"

"I'm its owner. If I throw it into the sea, the Drifting Bottle will be found by any creature I designate."

"Only the person you designate and you yourself can pick it up? Seriously...?" Lu Tuyu examined it for ages but could not make head or tail of it.

To him, it was nothing more than an ordinary glass bottle.

Lu Tuyu rubbed his chin and pondered for a while. Having figured out nothing, he handed the bottle back. "Mount Fuji has actually erupted. Objects developing supernatural properties isn't all that hard to imagine."

"Should I hand it over to the government?" Wang Fumin asked.

"If you want a commemorative banner and five

hundred yuan, go ahead and hand it over." Lu Tuyu pursed his lips. "My advice is to keep it as your own treasure."

Wang Fumin said, "How about we send the Drifting Bottle to that young guy in Mysterious Zone 16? Write him a letter?"

"The internet's been buzzing about how Mount Fuji's eruption is closely tied to the destruction of Mysterious Zone 7. We should tell him to be careful and make sure he doesn't get himself killed!"