In the orphanage courtyard, a little girl picked flowers and wove them into a wreath. She was Skye, who had only recently arrived at Mary Orphanage.
Once the wreath was finished, Skye happily carried it over to Xia Zuo, her little feet hurrying along, and held it up before him.
"Big Brother Xia Zuo, this wreath is for you."
Beneath the wreath, Skye's hopeful gaze fell on Xia Zuo's face through its opening. She hoped he would accept it.
"Then I'll take it. Thank you, little Skye."
Xia Zuo chuckled and accepted the wreath. A lovely smile immediately bloomed on Skye's face, and she happily ran back to the flowers.
Over the past few days, Skye had grown familiar with the orphanage. As for how she and Xia Zuo had become so close, that began with a certain incident.
The orphans were all very sensitive children because they lacked their parents' care. A rebellious mindset could easily develop in a group like this. In particular, some of the slightly older children often bullied the others, especially those who had just arrived at the orphanage.
The newly arrived Skye was one such child. Not long after her arrival, a few older orphans had planned to bully her. Xia Zuo had promised Matron Mary that he would look after Skye, so when he saw those orphans bullying her, he chose to step in and help little Skye.
Xia Zuo had actually encountered this sort of thing himself, but how could he possibly let a few little brats push him around? He had taught them a lesson. He hadn't expected them to remain unrepentant and even turn to bullying Skye, so he stepped in and taught them another lesson.
To Xia Zuo, this was just something he did in passing, but in Skye's eyes, his action meant far more than a casual helping hand.
Without her parents beside her, life as an orphan had made Skye terribly lonely. There was even an invisible wall in her heart, separating her from the outside world. Yet now Xia Zuo was willing to stand up for her like this. It deeply moved her, and even stirred an unfamiliar feeling within her closed-off heart. That feeling was called warmth.
It was precisely for this reason that Skye grew close to Xia Zuo and even became a little clingy. Xia Zuo noticed this change but said little, merely smiling faintly. After all, having another little sister wasn't a bad thing.
Watching Skye run back to the flowers, Xia Zuo chuckled. He said nothing more and instead began thinking about matters in the outside world.
Over the past few days, Xia Zuo had considered what S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra might do next, as well as the path he would take. Most of the time, however, he was still working hard to improve his abilities.
Power remained the world's theme song. Only with sufficient power could one have a say. Xia Zuo understood this very well, so he had been doing his best to increase his strength. There was only one way to upgrade his first Eye Ring, the Geass Eye: accumulate enough emotional fluctuations.
Xia Zuo had already confirmed this through Natasha. However, Natasha couldn't possibly appear at the orphanage right now, so he couldn't gain emotional fluctuations from her. Still, that wasn't his only method. He could do other things to obtain emotional fluctuations.
Imagining the arrival of various crises, along with other things, could all trigger emotional fluctuations in Xia Zuo himself. Even watching adult action movies had this effect.
Of course, Xia Zuo was delighted when he discovered that adult action movies also worked, and he wasted no time getting the show on the road.
"I'm not doing this to learn any techniques. I'm doing it to increase my strength."
With that mindset, Xia Zuo excitedly watched those movies. Under these circumstances, his emotional fluctuations continued to accumulate, and just now, he had felt that the accumulated emotions seemed to have reached a critical point.
Emotional fluctuations have reached saturation. The first Eye Ring can be upgraded. Upgrade?
Suddenly, a message came from the Ultimate Eye. Xia Zuo's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly nodded inwardly.
Upgrade!
In an instant, a warm current of energy flowed out of the Ultimate Eye totem and gathered in Xia Zuo's eyes!
The next moment, Xia Zuo's eyes automatically transformed into the Geass Eye. The inverted V symbol of an eagle spreading its wings appeared instantly, bursting with light.
"This is... to think there would be a surprise like this!"
An ecstatic look suddenly appeared on Xia Zuo's face. After his first Eye Ring, the Geass Eye, had evolved, he discovered another surprise: the Geass Eye's second ability!
Foreseeing the near future!
Predicting the future was the Geass Eye's second ability. Xia Zuo had originally thought the Geass Eye only possessed Absolute Command. He hadn't expected a second ability, let alone something as incredible as predicting the future.
But this was only natural. Lelouch wasn't the only person who possessed the Geass Eye; others had it as well. The ability of Xia Zuo's first Eye Ring was the Geass Eye, which encompassed all Geass abilities. As long as he could develop them, he might even obtain other Geass abilities in the future. This was definitely a good thing for Xia Zuo.
Xia Zuo searched his memories relating to the Geass Eye and immediately understood where the second ability came from.
This was Bismarck's Geass: foreseeing the near future!
As the strongest member of the Knights of the Round, Bismarck had already been the strongest warrior in the empire, and even the entire world, when he obtained his Geass. Out of loyalty to the emperor, to become the emperor's strongest sword and ensure that the emperor's will was carried out absolutely, Bismarck demanded of himself that he defeat every opponent. With his martial prowess already unmatched, he gained the ability to foresee the near future. This was the origin of this Geass power.
However, this Geass power of Xia Zuo's seemed slightly different from Bismarck's ability. Bismarck could anticipate an opponent's movements up to five seconds into the future, while Xia Zuo could see a particular scene from within the next hour.
Although there was a slight difference, it made no difference to Xia Zuo.
"Let's try out the ability to foresee the near future. Skye, come here!"
At this thought, Xia Zuo couldn't wait to try his newly acquired special ability and called Skye over. There was no helping it. Although he could see the future an hour from now, the Geass Eye fundamentally worked on people, without exception. That was why Xia Zuo wanted to see what would happen to Skye an hour later.
"Coming, Big Brother Xia Zuo."
Hearing Xia Zuo call her, Skye immediately ran over happily, not even noticing that her little feet had gotten dirty.
"Skye, look into my eyes," Xia Zuo said to her. Skye sat and looked into Xia Zuo's differently colored eyes. The next moment, Xia Zuo immediately activated his ability.
Geass's second ability: Foreseeing the near future, activate!
In an instant, Xia Zuo froze, his expression changing drastically, because he had seen a scene from an hour later through Skye!
Endless blood stained the orphanage floor red. Countless corpses lay piled on the orphanage grounds, and blood flowed in rivers, turning into boundless terror!
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