Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Radio
Yao Ling?
Fu Juemin blinked. Just then, Fu Guoping came up from behind, instructing his men to wait for the Mouse Demon’s charred corpse to cool before packing it into an iron chest to be taken away.
"It’s burned to a crisp. Would anyone still want it, Second Uncle?"
Fu Juemin casually asked Fu Guoping.
"It might even sell better this way.
How many people do you think could stomach eating it after seeing what that Mouse Demon originally looked like?"
Fu Guoping chuckled dismissively, pointing at the scorched corpse on the ground. "This is much better. We can just grind it into a powder, mix it into a medicinal paste, and roll it into pills..."
’Well, now,’ Fu Juemin thought, ’Fu Guoping has already figured out how to market this charred Mouse Demon corpse.’
A group of men from the Civil Affairs Bureau stayed behind to clean up the rest of the battlefield. Fu Guoping was in a hurry to get to the County Government, so Fu Juemin naturally hitched a ride, having Fu Guoping drop him off at home.
Before they parted ways, Fu Juemin specifically asked his Second Uncle, Fu Guoping, to help him search for the whereabouts of the man in colorful clothes from the Civility Venerable Sect.
The Mouse Demon was dead, but the man in colorful clothes was still missing. If he was still alive, now was the perfect time to strike while he was down. Fu Juemin had no desire to be constantly targeted by a Blood Gate Martial Artist from now on.
After a series of intense battles, with his nerves stretched taut and having gone another night without sleep, even with Fu Juemin’s 4 points of Life and his stamina and energy far exceeding that of an ordinary Bone-Forging Martial Artist, he now felt a deep exhaustion, both mental and physical.
He had someone prepare a hot bath, and after a good soak, he called for a Muscle Therapist for a long session of muscle and meridian therapy to relieve his fatigue. After a meal of medicinal cuisine and ginseng tea... he finally felt completely rejuvenated.
Fu Guosheng was not home; he had gone out early in the morning to discuss business, and Li Tong had gone with him.
Fu Juemin greeted his stepmother, Lin Wanrong, then went upstairs alone to his room.
’[Yao Ling]?’
Fu Juemin pulled up his character panel and looked at the new Talent that had been added, a deep sense of anticipation and curiosity rising within him.
This Civility Venerable Sect Mouse Demon was far less powerful than the Black-Scaled Snake Demon from Taohuang Village. After killing it, Fu Juemin only received half the Golden Energy he got from the Black-Scaled Snake Demon, which converted into just 1 Skill Point.
Furthermore, based on the name alone, this new [Yao Ling] Talent didn’t seem to be a Talent Ability that directly enhanced his combat power.
’I’ll have to try it to find out...’
Since no one was around to disturb him, Fu Juemin decided to test this new Talent right there on his bed.
He quietly activated the two greyish-white words, [Yao Ling]. The sensation was similar to when he first activated his [Soft Bone] Talent.
In an instant, Fu Juemin felt as if his body was sinking endlessly, falling into a dark, bottomless place.
His pupils unconsciously transformed into two dark yellow vertical slits, and his whole body... trembled involuntarily—
At first, it was like rain on green tiles.
A subtle, rustling sound grew louder in the silence, like the first drops of a night rain, approaching from a distance.
This rustling quickly intensified, growing denser and transforming into a mixture of countless fragmented sound waves.
Muffled footsteps, distant laughter, the clinking of cups and plates, a sudden, drawn-out sigh....
These sounds were like an uncontrolled tide, rushing into his mind from all directions, as if a hundred untuned radios had been switched on inside his head at once.
This mental buzzing made Fu Juemin feel slightly dizzy and nauseous, as if invisible needles were repeatedly piercing and churning inside his brain.
He fought back the discomfort, trying to slowly turn his focus as if it were a knob, attempting to constrict it to a certain range. The surrounding cacophony quickly subsided, and the meaningless noise was filtered out, layer by layer....
TICK—TOCK—TICK—TOCK—TICK—TOCK—
Fu Juemin’s tightly closed eyelids twitched. He recognized the sound of the pocket watches ticking in his bedroom drawer.
CREEEAK—
That was the sound of the bed planks beneath him and the solid wood floor subtly warping.
RUSTLE—
That was perhaps the faint sound of rats or ants moving in some hidden corner.
After listening for a while, feeling there was nothing particularly interesting to hear in his bedroom, Fu Juemin tried to expand the range of his sound perception.
Instantly, the sounds he could hear became much richer.
"...The Young Master is back? Where has he been all night..."
"Nanny Wu... *sob*... A stray cat just ran into the kitchen and knocked over the bird’s nest soup I was stewing for Madam... If Madam finds out, she’ll surely kill me..."
"Dual Celestial Venerable! Sun Datou, just hand over the money, haha..."
There was Little Locust Flower’s tearful plea for help, the butler Uncle Chen’s stern reprimand to the servants, the clamor of the Nursing Home guards gambling in their free time....
This experience of eavesdropping from the "shadows" made Fu Juemin feel as if the entire mansion was being stripped of its pretenses layer by layer before his very eyes, leaving nothing hidden.
A playful mood began to stir within him.
At first, he wanted to listen to every sound, but then he slowly began to filter the sources, limiting the direction from which the sounds came...
After activating [Yao Ling], it was as if a peculiar radio had been installed inside Fu Juemin’s body, capable of actively or passively receiving all sorts of strange sounds from the outside world.
The power of this radio could be increased or decreased according to his control.
The more sound sources he received and the finer the details he focused on, the smaller the ability’s effective range. The opposite was also true.
Fu Juemin suddenly had the urge to test the limits of this Talent Ability.
Since he was testing the maximum range of [Yao Ling], he would have to limit himself to a single sound source.
He thought for a moment and decided to use his own name, "Fu Juemin," as the keyword. He would filter out all sounds unrelated to him and then spread his Talent out as far as it could go.
—
At first, there was only silence.
Gradually, faint voices began to emerge.
"Fu Juemin... Fu Juemin..."
"Fu Juemin..."
"Fu Juemin!"
One by one, different voices arose, as if all sorts of people were repeatedly chanting his name in his ear.
’How many people in all of Luan River County are named Fu Juemin?’
’Or rather, how many people were talking about him—the young master of the wealthiest family in Luan River—behind his back at this very moment?’
Amidst the calls of his own name, Fu Juemin searched for a familiar tone.
He gradually began to feel weak; the prolonged use of his Talent was taking a toll on his body.
Just as he was about to give up, a voice suddenly shot into his mind.
"I admit my impression of Fu Juemin has changed..."
The voice was hurried, with a hint of willfulness and audacity. It sounded familiar.
Fu Juemin thought back carefully and confirmed it was the short-haired girl from Saint Gong Girls’ School he had met at the street corner yesterday.
He didn’t know her name, but from the sound of her voice, the girl seemed to be talking about him with someone behind his back.
A spark of curiosity ignited in his heart, and he quickly focused his mind in that direction.
"Just because he grabbed your hand, you’ve fallen for him? Hmph..."
A male voice sneered.
"Bullshit! He was teaching me how to use a gun!"
The short-haired girl immediately shot back, "Yesterday, when a few of us girls were about to be dragged away, why didn’t I see you, Shen Huai’an, step up to help?
Don’t think I didn’t see you hiding among the girls like a spineless coward!.."
"You... You’re spouting nonsense!"
The male voice was tinged with anger and embarrassment.
The short-haired girl’s tone was thick with contempt. "You know perfectly well whether I’m talking nonsense or not.
All I know is that if Fu Juemin hadn’t given me that gun yesterday, the few of us would have been dragged off by those vagrants long ago, and the charity box would have been lost too...
Oh, right, and did you know Fu Juemin also donated one thousand silver coins?"
"He donated money because he has a guilty conscience! He knows he’s in the wrong! His father, Fu Guosheng, has cheated so much money from the common people, it’s only right for Fu Juemin to cough up one thousand silver coins!"
the male voice shouted.
"You..."
The short-haired girl seemed quite infuriated. She tugged hard at the person next to her, urging, "Yunzhi, say something."
Soon, Fu Juemin heard an exceptionally pleasant female voice speak up, hesitant and timid:
"I think... we really should thank Fu Juemin properly."
Fu Juemin blinked, and suddenly felt a warm trickle flow from his nose.
He instinctively clutched his nose and quickly deactivated the [Yao Ling] state.
’Body’s drained... The Yao Ling brand "radio"... is out of battery...’
