Chapter 60

Tao Shushu looked at Nan Yuan. His ears were slightly red, and the blood vessels beneath his skin pulsed with powerful energy, as if all his strength was trying to break through the skin barrier.
It must be painful.
Her heart ached for him. "I'll stay with you."
Every artery in Nan Yuan's body throbbed with a fine, dense pain. At this moment, the energy felt like an invasive force, burning with intense agony. Hearing Tao Shushu's voice, he managed a faint smile. "Okay."
How to handle evolution was something Nan Yuan had discussed with Tao Shushu long ago.
Calmly, Nan Yuan walked to a chair. This was his third evolution. The first two times, his consciousness had been blurred. This time, he wanted to grasp the sensation of evolving, not just for his own future, but for the other ability users in the base who might soon face evolution as well.
He pulled out a notebook. "Shushu, could you record my condition?"
"Okay."
Tao Shushu looked at Nan Yuan with concern. Despite the veins bulging on his hands and his fingers trembling, he gritted his teeth without crying out in pain, even offering her a reassuring smile.
She had initially disagreed with Nan Yuan's decision to prolong the evolution process. She had bought him plenty of Health Potions, giving him the ultimate advantage during evolution. But to provide a reference for other ability users, he had chosen not to rely solely on the potions.
Wanting to stroke Nan Yuan's head but afraid of disturbing his evolution, Tao Shushu withdrew her hand and quickly purchased more Health Potions. She comforted herself, thinking that a gradual evolution would strengthen Nan Yuan's control over his abilities, it wasn't entirely without benefits.
Then, Tao Shushu plugged in her phone to charge and quietly observed Nan Yuan.
Nan Yuan made no major movements. With his eyes closed, he controlled the flow of energy, only drinking a Health Potion when the pain in his bones became unbearable.
Tao Shushu held her breath; time seemed to stretch endlessly in that moment. She couldn't help but check the time repeatedly, but each glance revealed only a short while had passed.
Terrifying veins bulged on Nan Yuan's hands. He often had to clench his teeth tightly to suppress the groans threatening to escape his lips.
When the pain was less intense, he would part his lips slightly, take a few deep breaths, and then force a grin in her direction.
Tao Shushu knew he was trying to reassure her not to worry.
But he was clearly in so much pain, sweat drenching his clothes, his brows furrowed into a deep crease.
Tao Shushu's heart ached, yet she couldn't intervene. The pain of evolution had to be endured by Nan Yuan alone.
Health Potions were piled up beside him; Tao Shushu had impulsively bought many.
After more than ten minutes, Nan Yuan's consumption of Health Potions slowed. His condition stabilized, and he even had the composure to offer Tao Shushu a sincere smile.
Nan Yuan clearly felt that, after enduring the initial agony of chaotic energy surges, his control over the energy had strengthened. He could now direct its reinforcement and briefly halt its flow within his limbs.
He still remembered how, during his last evolution, he had inevitably fallen into the nightmare of his mother's plane crash. But this time, when the excruciating pain clamored for him to give up resistance, his mind would recall Shushu's voice.
Her firm promise to stay with him.
Her cheerful, curious remarks about the golden retriever taking off its hat again.
Her smiling praise that he was doing well, her eyes likely curved with joy.
And the inadvertent sob in her voice when she learned about his past...
Thinking of her, his chaotic thoughts suddenly found direction, stay awake, find her.
Just before the pain could overwhelm his rationality, he clung to her as an anchor and regained clarity.
Seeing Nan Yuan smile, Tao Shushu felt slightly relieved.
After waiting another ten-plus minutes, Li Anyu had finished trying on clothes, but Nan Yuan's evolution wasn't over yet.
Li Anyu signed the bill. "Let's go, Shushu."
Tao Shushu hugged her phone and followed.
Li Anyu immediately grew wary. Even when with her best friend, Shushu couldn't put down her phone, had some little temptress bewitched her? Could it be that online friend she mentioned?
"Shushu, you..." Li Anyu leaned in. "Hey, you're not chatting..."
Tao Shushu was pulled along by Li Anyu. "It's the game I'm playing."
Li Anyu felt relieved, as long as it wasn't that online friend. But why did the game character seem somewhat familiar?
Tao Shushu put away her phone, grabbed Li Anyu's hand, and quickly slipped into the restaurant. "Let's sit for a while."
Dragged along, Li Anyu's thoughts about the familiar face soon faded.
Once seated, Tao Shushu started looking at her phone again.
Li Anyu wasn't interested in games and didn't dwell on the game character's face. She opened the school forum and began browsing gossip.
Tao Shushu quickly replenished the depleted health potions and, after a moment's thought, refilled Nan Yuan's water cup and placed it by the cub's hand. Worried that the cub might be hungry after evolving, she went to the kitchen and brought back some food from Nan Yuan's ration.
Nan Yuan remained motionless, sitting there. His expression turned pained once again as he entered the second stage of evolution.
Diligently, Tao Shushu recorded all her observations in a notebook. Concerned that the text might not automatically translate for Nan Yuan, she even added simple illustrations.
After finishing the drawings, Tao Shushu found herself with nothing to do. She felt a vague sense of restlessness but couldn't pinpoint its source. After wandering around the room and finding no more tasks she could do for Nan Yuan, she had no choice but to stop and continue watching him intently.
As she watched, she noticed a small crimson mole on the tip of Nan Yuan's ear. She hadn't seen such redness on the cub's ear before. Puzzled, she blinked and then realized that the cub's skin had undergone a subtle change.
The cub had always been fair-skinned, even after daily exposure to wind and sun on the barren planet, he remained the palest in any crowd. Now, his skin seemed to glow with a faint halo, so white it was almost dazzling, like an angel's aura.
If not for his agonized expression, Tao Shushu might have been completely mesmerized. She patted her racing heart, chiding herself for letting her mind wander while Nan Yuan was in a life-or-death situation.
A while later, the screen suddenly went black, plunging everything into darkness. Tao Shushu instinctively glanced toward the dining area but didn't see Qin Rui. She exited to the main interface, the phone screen was bright. Her heart skipped a beat as she tapped back into the game, but the interface remained pitch-black, with no sign of Nan Yuan.
"Is something wrong with Nan Yuan?" Tao Shushu thought anxiously. She tapped the screen a few times, but there was no response. Panic surged within her, had something gone wrong during the evolution?
[System!] she called out. She poked at the screen, fearing that if Nan Yuan, the only one connected to her, encountered a problem, she might never reach him again. She continued calling for the system.
After frantically tapping several times, the system finally appeared: [Channel error. Retrying.]
Tao Shushu kept clicking the screen, her mind filled with the terror of never seeing Nan Yuan again. She realized that whether Nan Yuan was a game NPC or a "friend" across time and space, she couldn't bear the thought of suddenly losing him.
Nan Yuan sensed the energy within him finally reaching its peak of fluctuation.
All the energies he had fused with, and those about to merge, suddenly settled into submission.
He had finally gained control over them, but it wasn't enough, he needed more energy.
Unable to restrain himself, Nan Yuan instantly absorbed all the light energy in the surrounding space.
An excessive surge of energy flooded into his body.
Straining to avoid being assimilated by the energy, Nan Yuan gritted his teeth and struggled to control its fluctuations.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but he finally managed to release the light energy back into the space, and the world before him gradually brightened.
Before he could even catch his breath, Nan Yuan felt a hand pressing against his face.
The girl's voice carried a mix of anxiety and relief. "Nan Yuan! You're okay, thank goodness."
"Shushu." Nan Yuan smiled. "I'm fine now."
"Glad you're okay."
Tao Shushu let out a long sigh of relief. During those two minutes, she hadn't dared to imagine what might go wrong during Nan Yuan's evolution, helplessly clicking the screen and repeatedly hearing the system's cold "retrying."
Fortunately, Nan Yuan had only experienced excessive energy fluctuations during his evolution, which interfered with the system's communication across the two world dimensions.
She placed two fingers on Nan Yuan's shoulder, not using much force, a gentle, human-like embrace.
Tao Shushu pulled Nan Yuan closer and bombarded him with questions. "Are you hurt anywhere? That was terrifying just now."
"Sorry." Nan Yuan chuckled, obediently raising his hand for Tao Shushu to inspect.
One of his arms had been strained from overexertion earlier and now felt weak.
"Don't move, just sit still." Tao Shushu said, heading to the in-game store to buy some bruise and injury medicine. She applied it gently to Nan Yuan.
Nan Yuan stared at his wrist and smiled.
"Shushu."
"Hmm?" Seeing the dialogue box, Tao Shushu looked at Nan Yuan's face, worried she might have hurt him again.
Suddenly, a few dazzling rainbows burst from Nan Yuan's fingertips.
Gentle rays of light danced at his fingertips, shifting shapes.
"Huh? How did you do that?" Tao Shushu asked in amazement.
She leaned closer to the screen to examine Nan Yuan's fingertips. He wasn't holding any props, and the arc of rainbow seemed to bloom directly from his palm.
"Sorry for making you worry, Shushu," Nan Yuan said. "This is my new ability, controlling light."
"I wanted to give you the most beautiful fireworks," Nan Yuan added.
Before Tao Shushu's eyes, clusters of brilliant light gathered and dispersed, as beautiful as real fireworks.
Tao Shushu smiled. "It's very pretty."
Suddenly, she paused. "No more fireworks."
Nan Yuan's fingers were still trembling slightly. Every time he used his ability to manipulate light, his face grew a little paler.
"Okay." Nan Yuan obediently drank a health potion and refrained from pushing himself to use his ability again.
Tao Shushu fetched a set of clothes for Nan Yuan, but he had been heavily impacted by the energy surge and could barely lift his arms, so changing would have to wait.
Outside Nan Yuan's door, the surviving humans who had sensed the commotion rushed over to check on him.
Nan Yuan coughed lightly. "Don't mind them."
He truly didn't have the energy to open the door right now. All he wanted was to share the joy of his evolution with Shushu first.
Tao Shushu shook her head. "We should at least let them know not to worry." In that moment when she thought she might never see Nan Yuan again, she had been extremely worried too.
Nan Yuan acknowledged with a soft sound.
Only then did Tao Shushu notice a small rainbow on the wall in front of Nan Yuan.
"Nan Yuan, the rainbow in front of you..."
Nan Yuan smiled, "That's light refracted by the water. I didn't do anything."
Tao Shushu looked over and saw that the transparent water bottle happened to refract a beam of light coming through the window, so she stopped worrying.
Before her, the sky over Yancheng had just cleared after a rain shower. A rainbow hung in the blue sky.
It was as if he had brought a touch of rainbow to her city.