I Contracted Myself

Safe House.

Liu Sishan sat cross-legged on the ground, meditating.

Many people might immediately think of various mystical techniques when they hear about meditation. However, in this world, meditation is quite similar to that on Earth and doesn't have such magical effects.

On Earth, people are often too busy with their daily lives to find the time to meditate. But in this world, Awakeners, due to their strong Mental Strength, find it easier to enter a meditative state.

Meditation can help reduce stress, depression, and anxiety, improve focus, memory, and creativity, enhance sleep, relieve physical pain, and boost immunity.

Therefore, many Awakeners in Mingzhu City meditate while on night watch.

Suddenly, Liu Sishan opened her eyes, surprised to see a semi-transparent attribute panel appear before her, displaying Zuo Xiangming's attributes.

After she finished reading Zuo Xiangming's attributes, Feng Laixian's attribute panel appeared.

"Zhang Ping?" she called out tentatively.

However, Zhang Ping, who was inside her, did not respond. This meant that Zhang Ping's consciousness was still on the other side in Mingzhu City. She guessed that Zhang Ping had used the Appraisal Skill, and because his main body was here inside her, she could also see the results of the skill.

"Captain, we have new intel."

Liu Sishan closed her eyes, comparing Zuo Xiangming's and Feng Laixian's abilities in her mind. After a moment, she opened her eyes and took out her badge to contact Situ Shibai.

...

Mingzhu City.

Chen Weihua walked ahead, followed by two Awakeners carrying six crates of fruits up the city wall.

She quickly assigned dozens of Awakeners to throw these fruits. Since the fruits were covered in spikes, she chose Awakeners who were tall and strong, with various arm protections.

"Weihua, don't keep us in suspense. What are these fruits for?" Zhang Ping asked helplessly.

He had asked Chen Weihua once in the warehouse, but she hadn't told him, keeping it a secret instead.

Although Zhang Ping had learned to identify materials from Liu Tiefeng and knew many plants and fruits not found on Earth, he had no idea what these fruits were for.

These were fruits he had never seen before.

"You'll find out soon," Chen Weihua said with a smug smile.

Zhang Ping was speechless.

He could have used the Appraisal Skill to find out the answer directly.

But if he used the Appraisal Skill now, Chen Weihua would also see the results. He didn't want to spoil her moment, as interrupting a woman's show-off moment wasn't a gentlemanly thing to do. So he decided to wait and see.

Under Chen Weihua's direction, several Awakeners threw the fruits at the living corpses, but the fruits were quickly blocked by a few of them.

When the living corpses blocked the fruits, they exploded.

The fruits attacked indiscriminately.

They covered a 360-degree area, and if any Awakeners were nearby, they would also be hit.

Fortunately, the living corpses were far from the Awakeners on the city wall, so the explosions only affected the living corpses and those near them.

However, some of the spikes landed on Feng Laixian, who immediately felt a new toxin entering his body.

"This poison!"

Feng Laixian felt a different kind of pain.

The corpse poison in his body and this new toxin were both corroding him, but they were also counteracting each other, giving him a chance to breathe.

Moreover, because the new toxin was highly destructive, his recovery speed increased, alleviating his current predicament.

He painfully tore off the flesh infected with corpse poison and roared to the sky, "More! Keep going!"

Earlier, many Awakeners on the city wall had tried to stop the attack when they saw it affecting Feng Laixian. But hearing his roar, they realized it was helping him, and they looked at Chen Weihua with embarrassment and confusion.

"These fruits are called Thousand Needle Fruits. When they experience a strong impact, they explode, shooting out the surface needles. These needles contain Fire Poison, making the victim feel like they are being scorched by the sun."

Chen Weihua smiled slightly and explained to the surrounding Awakeners.

Scorched by the sun?

Zhang Ping immediately realized that for Feng Laixian, the Thousand Needle Fruits might help him release the Red Emperor Flames faster.

Many abilities can be significantly enhanced or certain latent abilities can be activated with the right materials or stimuli.

Liu Sishan had once speculated that his abilities had such latent mechanisms. For example, he awakened as a Wind Whisperer after touching the Wind Gem, making it hard not to connect the two.

Such materials that can enhance abilities or activate hidden traits are called 'Concord Materials' in Mingzhu City.

In fact, the simpler the ability, the easier it is to guess what one's Concord Material might be.

For example, water-type Awakeners often carry several bottles of water when they are weak, and fire-type Awakeners carry kerosene...

As for non-elemental Awakeners, most of them are unclear about what their Concord Material is or even how their abilities work.

If the body is likened to a smartphone, then the ability is like an app.

As the sole user of this app, the user only needs to use it without understanding its code structure or how it operates. With continuous feedback on the user's habits, the app will automatically update, gradually aligning with the user's habits, eventually becoming the version the user desires.

In other words.

Everyone uses their abilities based on their feelings and habits, and the abilities will gradually conform to the Awakeners' habits.

In Mingzhu City, most Awakeners who know their Concord Material discovered it by accident, stumbling upon the material that enhances their abilities. Few Awakeners specifically research this.

Specialized research requires a lot of time, money, and effort.

Moreover, relying too much on Concord Materials can gradually make one's abilities dependent on external substances.

The more an Awakener relies on external substances, the more their abilities will require external stimuli or activation to be used.

For example, an Awakener who can release a fireball might always add kerosene to enhance its power. In the future, they might gain a 'Kerosene Enhancement' ability, increasing the fireball's power tenfold or a hundredfold when kerosene is added. But ultimately, this dependence on Concord Materials is detrimental, making the Awakener weaker without them.

Therefore, most Awakeners, even if they know which materials can enhance their abilities, won't use them often, only resorting to them in desperate situations.

Feng Laixian was in such a situation now.

If the Thousand Needle Fruits could indeed speed up his release of the Red Emperor Flames, it could turn the tide of the battle.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

At least for now, he didn't mind relying on external help.

Next, several Awakeners continued to throw the Thousand Needle Fruits at the living corpses.

Zuo Xiangming wasn't foolish; he quickly realized that these fruits were beneficial to Feng Laixian. He controlled several living corpses to block the attacks.

However, the Thousand Needle Fruits had strong penetration, and the needles shot out at high speed after the explosion. Unless Zuo Xiangming built a fortress around Feng Laixian, he couldn't block all the needles.

After several rounds of attacks, Feng Laixian had dozens of needles from the Thousand Needle Fruits embedded in his back. The spots where the needles had pierced swelled into red pustules, emitting wisps of heat.

The needles melted in the high temperature, forming a black liquid that slowly flowed down his back...