Had it not been for the utter suddenness of the attack, the Evolvers wouldn't have been caught off guard to such a passive degree. Deprived of solid leverage, most couldn't exert their true strength. Watching fewer and fewer people remain hopping on solid ground, the stifling atmosphere of despair grew heavier by the second.
Right at that moment, a chilling wind blew up out of nowhere, swirling up sheets of dust and sand. Faint, mournful whimpers, resembling weeping and wailing, echoed past their ears. The surrounding Ghostly Qi rapidly converged toward a single spot, coalescing into a tumbling cloud of black mist that wrapped Tali inside.
Yuan Chu instructed, "Release it."
"Where to?" Cloaked in a sinister aura of ghostliness, Tali's every gesture was accompanied by flickering ghostly flames, making her remarkably eye-catching.
"Straight ahead."
Without another word, Tali swung her arms forward. Volleys of Ghostly Qi roared as they flew toward the swarm of Earth-Splitting Spiders, sinking into their bodies in an instant... and then, nothing happened at all.
Tali: ...
"Keep going." Yuan Chu barked softly.
Snapping out of her daze, Tali reconverged her Ghostly Qi. The chilling wind raged wildly as eerie flames flickered and swayed. Just as she hit her absolute limit, she swung her arms out, sending dozens of ghostly fireballs streaking through the air.
A flash of light gleamed in Yuan Chu's eyes. The dozens of flimsy ghostly fireballs abruptly split into hundreds, sweeping over the spider swarm like an overwhelming tide.
Fear!
Stunned for a two-second beat, the Earth-Splitting Spiders broke into a violent frenzy, scrambling over one another to burrow into the ground as if they had witnessed something deeply terrifying. In just a few moments, a massive gap was opened right through the dense spider swarm ahead.
While the Evolvers on the ground were too panicked to pay attention, the live stream audience caught the entire sequence with crystal clarity.
💬 Holy shit, what is that?!
💬 Spectre-type superpower, that looks cool as hell!
💬 If I'm not mistaken, the person who acted just now was the rookie who landed today, right?
💬 Yep, that visage is unforgettable once seen.
💬 Turns out she awakened a Spectre-type superpower. That's super rare.
💬 She's a rookie? Are you kidding me?!
💬 Both are rookies, how is the gap between them this huge?!
While other rookies were still cowering and trembling under the protection of experienced Evolvers, this one was already slinging skills with expert precision?!
With the Earth-Splitting Spiders' attack rhythm thoroughly disrupted, Huo Yin seized the opportunity to swiftly construct stone bridges.
The other Evolvers caught their breath as well, exerting their full power to break free and launching counterattacks against the Earth-Splitting Spiders.
Swaths of Earth-Splitting Spiders were slaughtered. With every spider that perished, the Ghostly Qi enveloping Tali grew a fraction denser, chilling, dark, and terrifying. Within moments, the four-to-five-meter radius around her transformed into a forbidden zone for the living.
"Xiao Chu." Huo Yin used the wind to carry Yuan Chu onto his lap, pulling away from Tali.
Spectre-type superpowers had the ability to trigger the negative emotions of targets, inducing mental chaos. However, it was also an immense trial on the user's own willpower, easily driving them out of control if they weren't careful.
"Are you okay?" Huo Yin looked down at the girl in his arms, his arm tightly wrapping around her waist.
"I'm fine." Yuan Chu leaned comfortably against his chest, letting him carry her as they hovered through the air.
The two sat together in the floating wheelchair high in the sky, a bottomless pit of sand below them and a surging tide of frantic Earth-Splitting Spiders surrounding them. Amidst flying dust, howling cold winds, and dense ghostly mist, the scene possessed a strangely tragic, romantic aura.
💬 What kind of heavenly romance is this?!
💬 Who needs cars for dates anymore? Just put me in a wheelchair and take me to the skies!
Huo Yin was responsible for building bridges, while Tali took care of scaring off the horde. In the end, they successfully broke through the siege, even rescuing several Evolvers along the way, including Whistle, who had risked his life to keep streaming.
Once the crisis passed, the Evolvers swiftly retreated from the Earth-Splitting Spiders' domain. The audience in the live stream chat suddenly realized that the performance of the major established teams wasn't nearly as eye-catching as this ragtag, unorthodox group.
The wheelchair-bound uncle was multi-tasking like a god, manipulating his superpowers effortlessly, the Spectre rookie made a stunning debut, the Healer Feng Chenxiu relied purely on his face to max out his presence, as for the slender girl acting as the wheelchair-bound uncle's lap accessory, she showed off a heavy dose of public affection.
💬 This team is actually super interesting.
💬 In a world where Enhancement Warriors are a dime a dozen, not a single person on this team is an Enhancement-type Evolver! Element, Spectre, Healing, plus an unknown one, almost all of them are rare types! Don't tell me you guys aren't jealous?!
💬 Putting it that way, it really is insane! How luxurious!
💬 Are they recruiting? I want to join.
💬 Just pack up and join our team directly! Free meals, lodging, and marriage pairing included! Endless Source Cores guaranteed, fast-tracked straight to Tier 10!
The internet was in an uproar, though Huo Yin and his companions were completely oblivious to it.
Once they reached safety, Tali passed out from sheer exhaustion. Feng Chenxiu caught her in time, laying her down to provide proper medical care.
"I really couldn't tell she was this strong. It's almost like she was running a cheat code." Feng Chenxiu remarked offhandedly, inadvertently hitting the nail on the head.
Initial superpower awakenings generally didn't exceed Tier 2, let alone for a rookie with zero combat experience. There was no way she should have been able to wield her powers so adeptly, nor should it have possessed such terrifying potency.
Yet the strength Tali had displayed was clearly far beyond what a rookie should be capable of. For a single fear-inducing attack to force back a massive horde of Earth-Splitting Spiders, did that make any sense? Even a Tier 5 or Tier 6 Spectre Evolver couldn't necessarily pull that off!
The reason for this outcome was precisely because Yuan Chu had secretly activated a cheat for Tali.
She couldn't use her own power directly, but borrowing others' hands to channel their superpowers was well within her capabilities. Earlier, she had borrowed Huo Yin's superpower to construct bridges, then leveraged Tali's power to drive away the enemy, seizing every opportunity to cleverly conceal her own tracks.
As an unregistered entity in this world, she had been walking a fine line, constantly probing the edge of being discovered by the Heavenly Dao.
"Everyone, thank you for saving my life." Whistle walked over to express his gratitude.
"Don't worry about it." Huo Yin replied casually.
"I can't just leave a life-saving favor unrewarded." Whistle thought for a moment before speaking.
"I noticed earlier that you also saved several members from Dawn Wind, as well as that Plant-type rookie. If you're interested, how about I find a way to help you recruit that rookie over?"
"Hmm?"
Huo Yin looked over, "You have a way?"
"Their Vice Captain owes me a favor. I'll go over and talk to them shortly. If they genuinely want to express their thanks, they'll show some sincerity."
Half an hour later, Whistle indeed returned with a few members from Dawn Wind, though the Plant-type rookie was not among them.
"Hello, I'm the Vice Captain of Dawn Wind, Iron Tower."
The speaker was a burly man who extended his hand to Huo Yin, speaking earnestly: "I heard from Whistle that you were hoping to recruit that rookie as well. But Plant-type Evolvers are exceptionally rare, so we can't possibly give him up. Besides, the rookie doesn't belong to us yet, Red Blade will still be sending people to negotiate with us. So, we can only offer our apologies."
"It's fine." Huo Yin naturally understood the paramount importance of Plant-type Evolvers, so he wasn't surprised by the answer.
"However, you saved my team members, so we're willing to offer Source Cores as a token of gratitude, or you can select another team member from us." Iron Tower gestured toward the three individuals beside him.
"These three are also rookies we recently recruited. As long as you offer reasonable terms, any of them can go with you."
Trading rookies was a standard procedure among teams. Considering tactical synergy and daily living needs, proper personnel adjustments were entirely reasonable. However, some dominant teams were overly aggressive, offering rookies no say in the matter, whereas others were more open-minded.
Yuan Chu's gaze swept over the three individuals one by one. Iron Tower had claimed they were all rookies, but that wasn't entirely true, at least the blue-haired youth before her was no newcomer.
He had been on Creation Star for three years, never having a fixed team, primarily due to his superpower: Telepathy.
This superpower leveled up notoriously slowly and was currently useless for anything other than reading people's inner thoughts. Nobody liked keeping someone nearby who could spy on their inner secrets at any given moment.
Noticing Yuan Chu's gaze, the blue-haired youth raised his head to look at her, his deep blue eyes resembling a vast ocean. After a few seconds of eye contact, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, he couldn't read a single thought from this girl's mind.
Yuan Chu looked at the other two, both were Enhancement-type Evolvers who had been on Creation Star for less than a year, possessing mediocre potential and questionable character.
Iron Tower spoke politely, but in truth, he offered very little genuine sincerity.
Huo Yin had no shortage of Enhancement Source Cores, while Source Cores of other attributes were rare materials that no one would part with easily. As for picking a person, he couldn't be sure if they were trustworthy.
He turned to Yuan Chu: "Xiao Chu, what do you think?"
Yuan Chu originally hadn't intended to voice an opinion, but when her peripheral vision caught the blue-haired youth, a sudden thought struck her.
Bound by the laws of the Heavenly Dao, she couldn't offer the Child of Luck too much direct assistance, nor could she casually speak key phrases that would alter his fate.
But if there were a mind-reader by her side to voice the information she wanted to convey at the right moments, wouldn't it be much easier to help the Child of Luck avert catastrophes?
In the years to come, Huo Yin would face several life-and-death crises. If she did nothing and said nothing, all their efforts might end up falling flat at the very end.
With that thought, Yuan Chu fixed her gaze intently on the blue-haired youth.
Blue-haired youth: ... He had no idea what she was thinking, but he suddenly felt strangely unnerved.
Huo Yin followed her gaze, studying the guy for a moment before asking, "Brother, what's your name, and what superpower did you awaken?"
The blue-haired youth replied, "Su Moxi, Telepathy."
The moment those words were uttered, both Huo Yin and Feng Chenxiu broke into a deep frown.
"Xiao Chu, do you want him to join us?" Huo Yin looked at Yuan Chu with hesitation.
Feng Chenxiu repeatedly winked at her, yet she still gave a firm, decisive nod.
Huo Yin pondered for a moment before finally agreeing, "Alright. As long as you're willing, you'll be a member of our team from now on."
The blue-haired youth, Su Moxi, looked at them as several distinct messages flooded into his mind simultaneously:
💠Since it's Xiao Chu's idea, let's keep him around and see. (Huo Yin)
💠Ahhhh, why take this guy in?! He can read minds! What secrets will we have left from now on?! And he looks so average, not eye-candy at all. Look at those sneaky eyes of his, he's definitely reading my mind right now! He must be! HE MUST BE! Bastard! (Feng Chenxiu)
💠...Welcome. (Yuan Chu)
The corner of Su Moxi's mouth twitched slightly as he uttered a single word: "Okay."
-----
Yuan Chu: Found a cheat tool for myself.
Su Moxi: ...Heh.
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