Chapter 1105: Concentrating Power

Western region of West Nation, late at night.

The town consisted mostly of patches of green interspersed with wide streets and buildings that were few and far between. Most of the houses were uniquely built wooden cabins. Under the moonlight, the town seemed silent and lonesome.

In the back of the town stretched a vast pine forest and an empty grassland, beyond which snowy mountain ranges reached toward the sky—all part of the unreachable Mist, of course. In fact, half of the town was already devoured by the Mist, and no residents remained in the other half. It had become a forgotten ghost town.

A middle school campus sat in the northern part of the town. The layout was strange with the running track and the teaching building squashed together, while the basketball court stood oddly separated from the running track.

In the brightly lit gymnasium, a few dozen sleeping bags covered the floor, surrounded by piles of everyday items. The basketball crates were filled with equipment and weapons instead.

The awakeners rested inside. Only the patrols were allowed to go out.

The sounds of basketball passing and hitting the backboard echoed in the empty space. War Tiger sat on the bleacher, a half-finished cigarette dangling from his mouth as he tossed a basketball casually at the backboard. The ball bounced at a 75-degree angle before flying toward the bleacher across the court, where it was deftly caught by Old Seven.

Then Old Seven threw the ball back the same way, returning it to War Tiger.

They had been passing the ball like this for nearly half an hour.

It had been three days since they fled from the death monsters. After arriving at West Nation, War Tiger had visited Dragon alone while the others settled down here, planning to discuss their strategy after meeting up with Gao Yang.

Over the past three days, things had been slow outside of the impromptu meeting they held after Nine Frost received a message from Gao Yang. War Tiger was bored out of his mind, or he wouldn’t be playing catch with Old Seven.

Vermilion Bird sat on her sleeping bag, drinking canned coffee while pondering something. Finally, she had a conclusion.

She looked up and tossed the emptied can at the perfect moment to hit the basketball, interrupting its trajectory. The basketball ended up falling at an angle, hitting Zhang Wei in the head and cutting his boasting to Lying Wood, Muzitu, and Bumblebee off. He cried out in pain.

“Stop playing,” Vermilion Bird called out to War Tiger. “Come here.”

“What for?” War Tiger shot back.

“I told you to come!” she said impatiently.

War Tiger reluctantly jumped toward Vermilion Bird. His large frame made almost no sound as he landed on the polished floor beside her.

He shouted at Old Seven, “Your loss. Remember you’re washing my socks for a week.”

Old Seven argued, “Huh? It was Sister Vermilion Bird intercepting the ball.”

“Then tell Vermilion Bird to wash the socks for me.”

Old Seven, who had a secret crush on Vermilion Bird, felt enraged when he pictured it. “No! I’ll do it!”

“Attaboy.” War Tiger nodded in satisfaction. Then he turned to Vermilion Bird and put on a friendly smile. “What may I do for you, Elder Vermilion Bird?”

She rolled her eyes. “Stop messing around. This is business.”

“What business can there be?” War Tiger said skeptically.

She gave him a cryptic smile. “I’ve come up with a way to improve our power to better face our final battle.”

“Oh?” War Tiger perked up. He sat down and crossed his legs, giving her his full attention.

“A cigarette first.” Vermilion Bird curled her fingers at him.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Didn’t you quit?”

“Today’s cheat day.”

“Every day is a cheat day for you.” War Tiger frowned. “No, Little Yang Yang’s gonna scold me when he finds out.”

“How is he going to find out if you don’t tell him? As long as he doesn’t know, I might as well haven’t smoked.” Vermilion Bird gave an unreasonable reasoning. “Come on!”

Resigned, War Tiger fished out an almost empty pack and a lighter, tossing them to her. She lit a cigarette with practiced ease and took a drag, flashing him a smile.

“You know I’ve gotten to level 8 with Equivalent Exchange.”

“And I’m level 7! I’ll get to level 8 soon!”

“This isn’t a competition. What are you, a three-year-old?” Vermilion Bird shot him a glare. “Do you know about my level 8 skill?”

“Yeah,” War Tiger thought for a moment, “Life Mall?”

“Life Bank!” Vermilion Bird barely stopped herself from kicking him. “It permanently transfers life, energy, and Talents between lifeforms.”

“I know,” War Tiger said flippantly before his expression shifted to a sudden realization. “Wait, you’re thinking about transferring Talents?”

Vermilion Bird nodded. “You’ve fought Qilin. You must know that when numerous Talents are concentrated on one person, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.”

War Tiger’s eyes lit up. “So you’re going to do that with one of us?”

“It’s possible in theory, but...” She shook her head. “We don’t have time.”

War Tiger shook out a cigarette and fidgeted with it. “Go on.”

“Life Bank can freely transfer life from one to another, many to one, or one to many, but it comes with many limits. First, both parties must be willing, or there may be a chance of failure, and the effectiveness will suffer. Moreover, those who have done a trade cannot trade again within a year.”

“There are even more restrictions for the trading of energy and Talents. First, it has to be one on one. That means one person’s Talents can only be traded to another person, and the trade is permanent. Moreover, it’s a once-in-a-year deal. I’m no exception.”

“I can make unlimited deals as a mediator, but when I’m either the giving party or the receiving party, I’m under the same restrictions as everyone else. Moreover, the trade restriction doesn’t differentiate between the trade of life, energy, or Talents. Thus, neither Gao Yang nor I can make another trade until a year later.”

War Tiger scratched his head. “So even in the best-case scenario, we can at most transfer the Talents of half of the awakeners to the other half, halving our number while doubling the combatants’ power.”

“Yes.” Vermilion Bird nodded. “It’s impossible to concentrate all Talents on one person.”

War Tiger stroked his chin. “That’ll still be a good thing. It’ll also prevent more sacrifices.”

“That’s what I think.” She eyed their companions. “Those who don’t want to fight can voluntarily transfer their energy and Talents to someone else. Then they will become regular people. They won’t be death monsters’ targets. They needn’t worry about death. If we win, they can live. If we lose, we’ll all die together anyway.”

“Sounds good.” War Tiger chuckled. “It’ll be a hit.”

“Yeah. Let’s have a meeting about it once Gao Yang’s back.”

“Alright!”

War Tiger radiated excitement. There was something for him to do now. He began to browse for Talents that would suit him, not taking into consideration if the original owners would be willing to give up their Talents at all.

Meanwhile, Qing Ling, Nainai, Liao Liao, and Hong Xiaoxiao were having instant noodles together.

“Ugh, I wanna have bullfrogs in hot pot.” Liao Liao stared at the noodles and felt bile in her mouth.

Hong Xiaoxiao sighed. “I miss my mom’s cooking.”

Speaking of food, Qing Ling lowered the instant noodles and thought back to all the delicious food she had eaten: Old Man Liu’s potato noodles in malatang, Officer Huang’s braised shortribs, the spicy fish Gao Yang’s mother made, the beef offal noodles across Li City University, Gao Yang’s Uncle’s spicy clams...

Suddenly, a shudder ran down her spine.