Chapter 51: A Passive Ability

Lin Chao was stunned.

Alive?

How was it possible!

He did not hear any heartbeat earlier. It was a corpse, yet there was no pulse, nor the sound of blood flowing!

When the corpse spoke, Lin Chao suddenly heard his heartbeat and pulses recover. An exuberant vitality exuded from his very pores, as if had resurrected.

Lin Shiyu and Fan Xiangyu were perplexed. Putting aside from the fact that this person was not suffocated to death when he was swallowed by the snake, he had actually fallen asleep?

Lin Chao pulled a piece of scale out and covered the person’s private part before tapping his face.

“I said stop it…” The person turned around to continue his slumber before he paused as if recalling something and his eyes shot open, a few strangers greeting his sight.

“You guys are…” He sat up in shock and realized that other than the handful of strangers here, there was a reeking giant snake carcass. The vermillion scales triggered the memory hidden deep inside his mind as he shuddered and exclaimed, “Wasn’t I eaten? It – How did it die?”

It was not in Lin Chao’s interest to answer such an uninformed question. He studied the young man with a twinkle in his gaze. He was probably a Self-Evolved and his power must be related to survival; otherwise, he would not have remained unscathed.

“It was of course killed by us.” Fan Xiangyu looked at him dominantly with her arms crossed in front of her. “You’re an Evolved yes? How absent-minded you must be to actually sleep inside its stomach… What’s your name? What’s your special ability?”

“What Evolved?” The young man scratched his head in reply, “I don’t understand what you’re saying. I’m You Qian, I’m twenty-four years old, I – Ah!”

He was abruptly aware that he was naked and almost sprang up from the shock, frantically covering his groin with the snake scale Lin Chao had placed over him earlier.

Impatient, Fan Xiangyu complained, “Alright, alright. What’s the hoo-ha? This lady has seen everything and remains unimpressed.”

You Qian looked wronged. “How can you say that? I’m still a virgin. I’ve yet to marry or date. You… Hold on, who are you guys? You killed this giant snake? How is it possible? What did you use to kill it? Guns? Eh, you don’t have guns. Did you guys use explosives? You…”

“Too many questions.” Fan Xiangyu cut him short crossly and said, “So you mean you don’t even know about your power?”

“Do I have a special power? Why don’t I know…” You Qian asked back in confusion.

Rolling her eyes, Fan Xiangyu refused to entertain him anymore.

“This means that you’ve probably evolved but you didn’t realize it. Try and see if you can control anything around here.” Lin Shiyu guided him after prodding the frame of her glasses.

You Qian muttered, “Little girl, you must have watched too many cartoons huh? Control things? Do you think I have superpower?”

Lin Shiyu tightened her fist and bared her tiny fangs at him, glaring as she spoke, “Do what I say!”

“Brainwashed by anime. What a pity…” You Qian commented in pity shrugging his shoulders.

Zing!

A silver flying knife perched against his throat. The iciness that tinged the sharp blade awakened the skin above the young man’s throat like a needle, causing goosebumps to rise.

“Follow what she said,” Lin Chao said coldly. If it were a normal Self-Evolved, he would be unconcerned. There were hundreds if not thousands of strange special abilities in this world that were not rare or precious, but this person’s power seemed to be different. According to Lin Chao’s comprehension, there was no ability among the known series of powers in the post-apocalypse era that could survive being engulfed by a giant serpent at Level F.

The snake had an extremely high body temperature, around ninety degrees Celsius, and stored very little oxygen in its stomach. Moreover, its stomach acid could at least erode steel. To survive inside of the snake, one must have at the minimum three special abilities.

Air, Rebirth, Flame Manipulation.

One could only stay alive equipped with these three powers simultaneously. Otherwise, death was guaranteed even with Lin Chao’s physique.

Feeling the frost of the blade, You Qian’s scalp tingled numbly. “Okay, okay. I’ll listen to you. Take your knife away. Be careful, don’t shake…”

You Qian finally relaxed after Lin Chao put down his flying knife. Dared not say more, he obediently listened to Lin Chao’s instructions to use the hidden strength in his cells in feeling the various particles contained in the air around him.

Wind, Light, Fire… You Qian tried one by one with Lin Chao’s guidance but his attempts were futile. He was probably not in the Enigma series. Lin Chao then tried to test his Battle aspects, Speed Enhancement, Strength Enhancement…

Nothing worked.

‘Unless he’s in the Supernatural series?’

Lin Chao frowned. The abilities in Supernatural were complicated as they contained an array of strange powers and ranged endlessly. There was no way of testing and judging You Qian, his ability was possibly a passive one!

For usual active powers, the cells would send signals to the brain and the brain would sense the general usage of the ability. Like the arm on one’s body, you only know how to lift it or form a fist naturally; it was an instinct.

Things were different for passive powers.

They generally had to be triggered under certain circumstances and were very rare. Most of the passive power bearers did not know that they were power bearers their whole life.

Staring at You Qian, Lin Chao looked thoughtful and serious.

You Qian involuntarily shrunk under Lin Chao’s gaze, asking pitifully, “You – you don’t have odd tendencies, do you?”

Lin Chao’s train of thoughts was not interrupted. He was rarely disturbed by the outside world when he focused. He could concentrate even if he was burnt alive. After sometime, he figured out a method. Retrieving a set of clothes from the alternate dimension space and tossing it to You Qian, Lin Chao grabbed the city map as well, locking on a first-class hospital nearby as his destination.

“You’re a magician, I see,” You Qian murmured when he saw Lin Chao retrieve the clothes out of the blue before he quickly hiding behind the snake carcass to wear them.

Lin Chao went back to collecting snake scales. When he was done, he asked Fan Xiangyu and Lin Shiyu to leave with Ye Fei and You Qian first. He then tossed the giant snake’s scales and carcass into the alternate dimension space. The enormous carcass was enough to nurture the Golden Hound to its maturity.

Completing the task, Lin Chao then headed towards the first-class hospital nearby. If he could retrieve the microscope there, he could test the particular traits of You Qian’s ability. It could be a top notch passive power that had never appeared in the post-apocalypse era he lived in his past life. If he had not killed the giant snake, death was inevitable for You Qian once the serpent evolved and grew, even if his special power had a potent survival ability.

Lin Chao had an exceeding interest in understanding if this person should have died according to the post-apocalypse history. He wanted to know whom he had unintentionally saved, would be a speck of insignificant dust or a rock that jammed the gears in the spinning wheel of history after his resurrection!