Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

"Type?"

This time, Bai Xiaolu and her brother were both confused. "Are abilities classified?"

"How about this—"

Seeing that Bai Xiaolu knew nothing about superpowers, Boss Gold Tooth said, "Let's not talk about the type for now. Just tell us how you utilize your abilities. According to the people of Tombstone Town, you must've used your 'ability' to kill 'Master Snake' of the Heaven Wolves Gambling House, right? Tell us more about the battle."

At this point, there was no room for reservation. Under the instruction of her brother, Bai Xiaolu confessed everything honestly.

As I expected, it is 'mind power'. No wonder it can compete with my legions and trigger such intense brainwaves. Very good!

The gold-tooth boss grinned and said unhurriedly, "Let me tell you something, kid. The so-called 'ability' is divided into five types, which correspond to four basic forces: strong forces, weak forces, electromagnetic forces, and gravitational forces, as well as the mysterious 'mind force'.

"Among them, the 'Electromagnetic Force' of the first type and the 'Heart Force' of the fifth type are the two most commonly-seen 'ability'. By controlling the 'Electromagnetic Force', one can automatically change the temperature of the object and its surroundings by triggering electric arcs and flames, thereby deriving the ability to change the friction and various classical physical forces. It is one of the 'ability' that has the widest range of applications, the most variations, and is relatively easier to cultivate.

"The fifth form of 'Heart Force' is quite popular, too. Telepathy, attack and defense of brainwaves, hypnosis and anti-hypnosis, collective brainwave resonation, explosion of the subconsciousness… All such things fall into the category of 'Heart Force'.

"On the other hand, the number of people who cultivate in the art of 'gravity, where the strong and the weak interact with each other' is relatively small. Their training methods are also very strange and belong to a field that has yet to be developed by human beings. However, once they have some accomplishments, their destructive power is also the strongest. By cultivating in the art of 'gravity', they can move mountains and overturn seas, change the terrain of the land, and even absorb endless strength from the movement of the sun, the moon, and the stars. By cultivating in the art of 'gravity, the strong and the weak interact with each other', they can change the relationship between neutrons and protons and electrons in the depths of the atom at their will, thereby changing the essence of matter. They can turn rocks into diamonds, flesh and blood into steel, and even forcefully tear apart the atoms. They can even use their fists to blast out a nuclear bomb. In theory, all these are valid.

"But right now, other 'ability' has nothing to do with you. You just need to focus on the 'strength of heart'.

"Hey, kid, do you know that the way you used the power of the heart in the past was a complete waste of God's gift and that you were just messing around with your brute force? Your precious ability allowed you to squander like this without causing any backlash. You are truly lucky to still be alive today!

"However, you won't be so lucky forever, unless you learn from me how to utilize the power of the heart.

"Are—are you willing to teach me?"

Bai Xiaolu asked in disbelief.

This time, even without her brother's reminder, Bai Xiaolu had already sensed a scheme.

In the cruel world after the nuclear war, there were no 'unintentional pieces of meat'.

Behind every seemingly attractive benefit were rusted hooks. Every inch of hope that seemed bright meant deeper, darker desperation.

"I know what you are thinking."

The leader of the Gold Tooth Gang was not surprised by Bai Xiaolu's wary expression. He smiled and said, "If I am still the leader of the Citibank Gang, and the Citibank Gang is still as powerful as yesterday, I have ten thousand ways to exploit the greatest value in you. I can sell you to the 'Contract' at a high price, or I can lock you in my own laboratory and try to absorb your strength. I can even send you to a bloody arena where you can make money by fighting with your 'heart'.

"It's a pity that you've seen my miserable state. Even if I wanted to sell you to someone else, how could I guarantee that they would pay me obediently instead of capturing me and turning me into a pathetic gladiator, experiment subject, or even a donor of organ transplantation?

"I've thought about it carefully. The safest approach is to train you well and treat you as an assistant or even a brother sincerely. I hope to form a solid alliance with you. After all, the odds of survival of two 'persons' fighting side by side are much higher than those of one. If we can survive and make a comeback, the odds of success will be higher if we have another 'person' as our trump card. What do you think?"

Bai Xiaolu pondered for a long time. "Fair enough."

"Besides, I need to do something with your ability.

Boss Gold Tooth put his hand on his chest and pointed at Wan Zanghai in the distance. "What's wrong with that kid? Is he really the son of the laboratory director of the Gold Mountain Clean Water Company?"

"I don't know."

Bai Xiaolu shook her head. "Boss Gold Tooth should know that I'm not his classmate at all. We met on the way. He is a lizard, a liar, and he cheated me of my weapon!"

"But the chip that stored the experiment log and the molecular formula should be real.

Boss Gold Tooth sniffed and said, "The intelligence and mission that the 'Agreement' gave me was to attack 'New Gold Mountain' and retrieve some files from the laboratory of the Gold Mountain Clean Water Company. But they didn't tell me that the files were so valuable, nor did they tell me that a f*cking magnetic explosion infantry factory was guarding the laboratory!

Boss Gold Tooth's fury made Bai Xiaolu shiver again. She felt that she was talking to a burning lion.

Forget it. Whoever he is, as long as the chip is real.

The gold-tooth leader looked at Bai Xiaolu. "Listen, I need you to hypnotize him and get the password of the files from him in the next few days."

"Me?"

Bai Xiaolu was dazed. "I don't know hypnosis."

"Nonsense."

"Why else would I teach you how to utilize the 'strength of the heart'? Hypnosis is just a very simple trick that you can learn very quickly," the gold-tooth leader said.

"But—"

Bai Xiaolu was still confused. "Boss Gold Tooth, you are an expert in mental power, too. Why didn't you hypnotize him in person?"

"Firstly, he has probably figured out who I am. He is very wary and fearful of me, and his mental defenses have been raised to the maximum. Under such circumstances, it will not be easy for me to hypnotize him. But you are different. You have been acting very weak in front of him. He does not know that you are also an 'ability user'. He will not be suspicious of you.

The leader of the Gold Tooth Legion continued, "Secondly, my ability, 'Legion', is a large-scale area-of-effect ability that is more suitable for an army of thousands of soldiers. If I hypnotize a single target, it will be like using a mountain axe to embroider flowers. It is not appropriate. If I am not careful, I will burn his brain, and the password will be destroyed.

"Based on your description, I found that your ability is more suitable for small-scale precise attacks. Hypnosis is the most suitable skill for you.

"Thirdly, I would like to see how capable you are and whether or not you are qualified to be my 'assistant' or even my 'brother'. Consider it a test.

"Are these three reasons enough, kid?"

"I—I understand."

Bai Xiaolu thought for a moment and agreed with Boss Gold Tooth.

His brother, on the other hand, sneered. "Promise him, Little Lu, but don't believe him completely. Right now, it seems that Boss Gold Tooth's wounds are much more serious than we imagined. Even his 'ability' has been greatly affected. He is so weak that even an ordinary teenager would not be able to hypnotize him. He is like an arrow at the end of its flight. We can only grit our teeth and persist. Chances are that our recovery speed is even higher than his. But we don't need to verify the matter right now. Let's trick him into learning the method to train his 'strength of the heart' first. Then we can sort it out later."

Bai Xiaolu took a long breath and nodded her head hard. "We promised Boss Gold Tooth, but we don't know how you are going to guarantee that."

"Promise. Haha. The most useless things in the world are promises and guarantees.

Boss Gold Tooth waved his hands and said, "If I am strong enough, I can guarantee your loyalty with my fists. If you are stronger than me one day, please kill me painlessly. Everything I have is yours!"

Bai Xiaolu held her breath, not knowing what to say.

Boss Gold Tooth, on the other hand, burst into laughter. He turned around and shouted at Wan Zanghai in the distance, "Hey, kid. Are you done?"

"Immediately, immediately!"

Wan Zanghai nodded and bowed like a pet lizard.

"Your companion has confirmed your identity. I'll believe you for now. Prepare some food when you're done. I'm going to dig out the bullets and stitch up the wounds inside my body right now. It will consume a lot of my strength. I need to eat a lot of food!"

Boss Gold Tooth continued yelling, "This is your best chance to kill me. Your weapons and ammunition are all here. Do you want to try?"

"I wouldn't dare. I wouldn't dare!"

Wan Zanghai shivered and waved his hands, trying to hide further away.

The gold-tooth leader wiped his blood-stained beard. He curled his lips and commanded Bai Xiaolu, "Get the first aid kit and help me dig out the bullets and stitch up the wounds!"

…

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Bai Xiaolu dug out twelve bullets from Boss Gold Tooth's body, which was as thick and thick as a boar's.

If it were not for the blood on the ground and the muscle spasms that he could not control with his will, he would have suspected that he was faced with a well-camouflaged killing machine or a new type of biochemical modification man.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Bai Xiaolu began to stitch up Boss Gold Tooth's wounds and spray antifungal foam.

But Boss Gold Tooth took out a thick notebook from his pocket and handed it to Bai Xiaolu. He said softly, "Be careful. Don't let the little devil see you."

Bai Xiaolu took the notebook and looked at it. The notebook was somewhat rolled up, but it felt very smooth to the touch. Obviously, its owner had touched it often. She could vaguely see that many pages were soaked in blood with a faint smell of blood.

The cover of the notebook was marked with the 'Alliance' logo, with a line of Russian written below.

Russian was one of the two common languages of the 'Alliance', but it was rarely used in the 'Association'.

Wasn't Boss Gold Tooth's patron the 'contract'? What was going on?

Bai Xiaolu shook her head, indicating that she did not understand Russian.

Boss Gold Tooth took out a round lens from his pocket, which was just enough for him to put on one of his ears. After a "beep" sound, the lens followed Bai Xiaolu's line of sight and automatically translated the Russian, which turned out to be notes and the author's name.

"On the Strength of the Soul, Yuri Aix."

—

Well, I've discovered that my writing speed is close to 10,000 words a day. I can't stop writing!