Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Physical Evolution, Freezing Breath
Duan Feng watched the two off-road vehicles disappear, then turned his gaze back to Chen Yu.
"So, how are you holding up?"
Chen Yu: "I’m fine. It feels good."
"Chen Yu did great. The captain wasn’t wrong about him. He’s got a lot of potential," Tie Niu chimed in.
Duan Feng nodded. "It’s good you’re getting used to it. This line of work is very dangerous, but high risk means high reward. You’ll understand later."
Chen Yu nodded lightly.
Being a Mercenary was a high-risk profession.
You could make money fast, but you could also die fast.
Situations like today’s weren’t rare. In fact, they could get much worse.
However, making money was secondary to him.
The main goal was to increase his strength.
If you were strong enough, the money would come rolling in!
This run had been risky, but his Source of Life for the second Evolution was full. He could evolve as soon as he got back.
"Let’s go. We should get out of here before that thing comes back with other mutated beasts," Duan Feng said, heading in a different direction. Chen Yu and Tie Niu followed close behind.
「...」
At 5:00 PM, Chen Yu took a car back to the city.
The day’s patrol was finally over.
Only after returning to the city could he truly relax.
Team Twelve’s headquarters lobby.
Chen Yu followed Duan Feng into a room.
Inside, Captain Li Qing was sitting on a sofa. He stood up when he saw Duan Feng and Chen Yu enter.
"Chen Yu, congratulations on passing your assessment. I now officially welcome you as a member of Qing City Safety Zone’s Twelfth Mercenary Team."
Li Qing was all smiles.
’An assessment?’
Chen Yu was taken aback.
"Wasn’t I a member before?" Chen Yu blinked.
Li Qing: "You were only halfway there before. Now, you’re a truly qualified Mercenary. Your results have been registered with the Mercenary Association. Not bad. Better than the others."
"It’s a path every new Mercenary has to take. Don’t worry about it," Duan Feng said calmly from the side.
Chen Yu: "What would have happened if I failed?"
"Then you’d be toast," Duan Feng said.
"..."
Li Qing looked at him and said, "It’s covered by a confidentiality agreement. I couldn’t tell you about it beforehand."
Chen Yu nodded.
He hadn’t expected today’s patrol to be an assessment.
But it didn’t really matter to him.
’I need to use the Mercenary Team’s resources to kill mutated beasts and strengthen myself. I guess that’s my own ’confidentiality agreement’!’
"Duan Feng, take him to his living quarters. Help him out if he needs anything."
"No problem." Duan Feng nodded.
"Goodbye, Captain."
Chen Yu said his goodbyes and followed Duan Feng out of the room.
「...」
After leaving the Team Twelve headquarters, Duan Feng quickly led Chen Yu to a nearby residential area.
Tianshui District.
They went to Building Three, took the elevator up to the nineteenth floor, and when the doors opened, Duan Feng walked up to an apartment door.
He took out a key and handed it to Chen Yu.
"Open it and take a look."
Chen Yu took the key and opened the door.
The apartment had simple furnishings. Chen Yu walked in and looked around. It had three bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
Air conditioning, furniture—it had everything.
The place was clean with no strange smells, looking like it had been cleaned recently.
Duan Feng stood to the side, watching Chen Yu. "This belonged to the previous team member, but he’s... no longer with us. What do you think? If you don’t like it, I can get you another one."
"There’s no problem. This place is fine. It’s convenient," Chen Yu replied.
"Alright then. This will be your place from now on. If you have any problems, just let me know."
"Okay."
Chen Yu nodded. After giving a few more instructions, Duan Feng left.
Chen Yu stood at the window, looking down at the scenery below.
The landscaping in Tianshui District was well done. Despite being surrounded by high-rises, it didn’t feel too oppressive.
After gazing out for a while, Chen Yu gave Ma Xiang a call.
He told him his new address and what was going on. He also called Xu Xiao. After all, he had stayed at their place for two days, so he felt he should let them know.
After hanging up, Chen Yu sat on the sofa and summoned his interface.
Looking at the Source of Life displayed, he was very satisfied with today’s haul.
’One hundred and thirteen...’
’I wonder what Skill I’ll get from this Evolution.’
’Let’s evolve first.’
Chen Yu thought for a moment and quickly made his decision. Upgrading his skills could wait. Evolving his physical talent came first.
Right now, increasing his strength was the top priority!
Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel safe.
[Consume one hundred points of Source of Life to evolve the talent Infinite Physique?!]
’Yes!’
The moment he confirmed it, Chen Yu felt a vast torrent surge through his body.
BZZZZ—!!!
A hum resonated from his body as the torrent washed through his limbs and bones.
The humming continued. His muscles, bones, and flesh all seemed to undergo a metamorphosis in that instant.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!
As his body vibrated, his vision, strength, and mind all changed.
In an instant, the world became incredibly clear in his eyes.
He could even see the fine dust particles floating in the air.
His vision was unbelievably sharp!
Inside him, the searing torrent raged, several times stronger than what he had felt during his first Evolution.
A physical Evolution was an all-around enhancement!
His Dantian had expanded significantly, and the amount of Qi inside his body had also increased, doubling in volume.
The vortex of Qi more than doubled in size, and he could faintly feel the acupoints in his body vibrating.
[Physique Evolution successful. Skill acquired: Cryo Breath]
A line of text appeared before his eyes. Chen Yu stared at the new Skill.
’Cryo Breath...’
’What kind of Skill is this?’
Chen Yu froze.
With a thought, information appeared before him.
[Skill: Cryo Breath. Exhale a breath and freeze the world!]
HISSS...
’It’s that powerful!?’
Seeing the simple and clear description, Chen Yu’s eyelid twitched.
Exhale a breath and freeze the world!
Six words summed it all up.
’Looks like this Skill is pretty damn awesome!’
Snapping back to his senses, Chen Yu glanced around and picked up a glass from the coffee table.
With a flash of thought, the Skill activated instantly!
WHOOSH...
A stream of air blew out, and the glass in his hand was instantly covered in a layer of frost.
The air temperature plummeted.
It was as if the air conditioner had been turned up to full blast. Not only was the glass frozen, but the temperature of the entire living room dropped in an instant.
"Not bad."
Chen Yu’s eyes lit up.
He liked this Skill. It was simple and direct.
If just a simple puff of air could have this effect, the power would be even greater if he used the Skill with his full strength.
Coming back to his senses, Chen Yu gave a light squeeze, and the frozen glass in his hand shattered like a potato chip.
’I wonder what kind of power it would have at full blast,’ Chen Yu wondered.
But this was obviously not the right place to use it at full power, so he held back for now.
’If I could freeze a mutated beast solid in one breath, I could kill it instantly. That would be so damn satisfying.’
An image formed in Chen Yu’s mind.
He tried it a few more times. Activating the Cryo Breath Skill consumed some of his Qi.
The consumption wasn’t much—a drop in the bucket compared to his current Qi reserves.
But he had no idea what it would be like at full power.
Calming down, Chen Yu summoned his interface and checked it again.
Name: Chen Yu!
Talent: Infinite Physique (Tier Two 0/1000) [Unique Talent]
Skills: Spirit Devour (Beginner 0/100), Cryo Breath (Beginner 0/500)
Source of Life: 13 points
’Good, that’s not too outrageous.’
Looking at the interface, Chen Yu felt a sense of relief.
The third Evolution required one thousand points of Source of Life, which wasn’t outrageous.
However, the cost to upgrade the Cryo Breath Skill was a bit high.
The first upgrade alone required five hundred points, which was even more than what was needed for the second physique Evolution.
That was equivalent to killing five hundred hyena-beasts.
Even for level-one Earth-Spine Rats, he would need to kill two hundred and fifty of them.
For him, that number was a lot of pressure.
Adding the Source of Life needed for his next physique Evolution, he was afraid level-one mutated beasts wouldn’t be enough. He would have to kill stronger ones.
