"Hey, man, do you need help?"
When Xu Xiao woke from his coma, he could feel someone gently nudging him.
He instinctively tried to resist, but his whole body felt as though it had been filled with lead. It was so heavy he couldn't lift a single finger.
"Steve, be careful. He's got a gun and blood on him. He's probably a fugitive."
Another voice spoke up.
"Maybe we should leave and get the police to handle it," a timid voice interjected.
The person who had first nudged him hesitated, then nodded and got up to leave.
"Let's go outside and call the police, then. My phone doesn't get any signal down here."
The three were the original story's main trio: Steve, a Black man, and the cousins Andrew and Matt.
Guided by fate, the three of them had still found the cave and come to explore it.
But because Xu Xiao had arrived first and claimed the Superpower Crystal, they found nothing apart from the immobile Xu Xiao.
The fortuitous encounter destined for the three of them had slipped away because Xu Xiao had beaten them to it.
It was hard to say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Now, as the three departed, Xu Xiao was once again alone in the cave.
Unlike before, though, Xu Xiao was awake. He was struggling to regain control of his body and get moving.
Move! Come on, move, damn hand!
I don't want the government to find me and drag me off for experiments.
Having witnessed the cruelty of large organizations during the apocalypse, Xu Xiao didn't dare gamble on America showing him mercy.
The story had featured the government, after all, from the officers beside the underground chamber where the Superpower Crystal had collapsed to the government that recovered Andrew at the end.
It all showed that America was determined to obtain this kind of strange power.
Unfortunately, reality wasn't a game that could be driven forward by willpower alone, even if Xu Xiao had fused with the Superpower Crystal all by himself.
No matter how he roared and screamed in his heart, his body showed no sign of movement, and his superpower was nowhere to be found.
In the story, it took the main trio about a week to master their telekinesis well enough to control a tennis ball. Xu Xiao couldn't even activate his telekinesis yet.
He didn't know whether two or three hours had passed before several police officers arrived and brought him out of the cave as an unidentified person.
Because they found nothing on Xu Xiao to prove his identity, and because of the bloodstains and guns on him, he was identified as a suspect in several serious crimes in town.
But because Xu Xiao continued pretending to be unconscious after the police arrived, he still received some humanitarian aid.
Xu Xiao was sent to the nearest Seattle Bala General Hospital for treatment, under twenty-four-hour surveillance, of course.
The police department that had responded also reported the incident to its superiors, but it didn't attract much attention.
"The patient is in very poor physical condition. It appears to have been caused by long-term malnutrition and overwork."
"His blood sample results are back. There's something unusual about his body. I'm requesting further tests."
"My God! His brain cells are abnormally active, at least five times more active than a normal person's!"
"God, his hippocampus and pineal gland are actually absorbing nutrients from his body to grow!!"
"This is the greatest discovery. At this rate, he will be a new discovery far beyond humanity."
At the hospital, the attending physician was beside himself with joy as he held Xu Xiao's test results.
Perhaps I should keep this guy's condition under wraps. A unique physical mutation-he's a rare experimental subject!
The abnormalities in Xu Xiao's body had given him a bold new idea. As long as he could figure out the cause of the mutation, he would surely gain both fame and fortune!
The attending physician informed the hospital director, and the two hit it off at once, planning to secretly study the mysteries of Xu Xiao's body.
On the hospital bed, the nutrient solution entering Xu Xiao's body through the IV replenished his nutrients, nourishing his increasingly frail frame.
If someone had brought Xu Xiao a mirror at that moment, he would probably have been startled by his own appearance.
The apocalypse had already left Xu Xiao extremely lean, and now it had added frost to snow.
The flesh all over his body had shriveled away. The main thing separating him from a skeleton was the layer of human skin wrapped around him.
Evolving the body with the Superpower Crystal clearly required a great deal of nourishment, and that was a severe burden for the chronically malnourished Xu Xiao.
In the story, Andrew and his two companions all suffered nosebleeds whenever they used their powers.
That showed that this powerful telekinetic ability did not come without a cost.
But the wasting of his body did not affect Xu Xiao's mental alertness.
"I've never perceived my own consciousness so clearly before."
That was Xu Xiao's understanding of his own condition.
Perhaps it was the price he had paid in physical wasting, or perhaps it was because he had claimed the entire Superpower Crystal for himself.
Xu Xiao could already faintly sense the existence of his telekinesis.
It was a marvelous feeling, like having an extra pair of hands that no one else could see.
No, not just hands. It was more like a thin mist that could change shape at will according to his thoughts.
But for now, the mist was still extremely fragile. Even when Xu Xiao concentrated, he could only make it move a strand of his hair.
This feels awful. My telekinesis is stronger than the original protagonist's, but now that the police have me, I probably can't keep it hidden for long.
I need time. I don't need the months the main trio had. Two weeks at most-no, one week!
Just give me one week, and I'll definitely be able to use this power in combat. It'll help me get out of this predicament!
Xu Xiao calmly analyzed his situation. Overall, it wasn't too bad.
Unlike Andrew when he was discovered in the story, Xu Xiao had, first of all, never revealed that he had superpowers.
That way, even if modern instruments detected some clues, they wouldn't immediately draw the attention of the higher-ups and get him sent to a laboratory in America.
Secondly, although he had no registered identity, the blood on him was all his own.
With only a few guns and the bullet-riddled Chevrolet, it would also be hard to convict him anytime soon.
The only thing he was worried about right now was the discovery of his physical abnormalities.
As long as no one reported those abnormalities to the higher-ups, and he had some time to develop, he could use this power to protect himself.
As for gathering energy and transmigrating back, now wasn't the time for that either.
In America, all he faced was an army of ordinary people. If he went back, he would have to face an outer-city patrol and ability users.
Although he didn't know how time passed between the two worlds, his cheat had told him that when he returned, he would be at the exact coordinates from which he had transmigrated.
Without power, going back would lead Xu Xiao down a dead end.
Having thought it through, Xu Xiao settled down to sleep peacefully in the hospital bed.
Some things couldn't be controlled by human will.
He would struggle only over what he could influence and leave the rest to heaven.