Chapter 61

Nan Yuan sat quietly for quite a while before finally feeling like he had regained control of his body.
Without even furrowing his brow, Nan Yuan said, "Shushu, I'm going to change clothes first."
The clothes he had been wearing were soaked with sweat and had been cut open by uncontrolled energy beams.
"Okay. I'll wait outside."
Tao Shushu switched the map to outside the door and knocked to signal to Nan Yuan that she had stepped out.
Only then did Nan Yuan show a slightly pained expression. The high-density energy surge had left his muscles with a lingering, strain-like ache. He frowned and raised his hand to put on his clothes.
Meanwhile, when Tao Shushu looked up from her phone, she met Li Anyu's astonished gaze. "What's wrong?"
"Shushu, are you playing a pay-to-win dating game?" Li Anyu asked.
"It's a raising game."
"With such a handsome character?" Li Anyu was baffled. "And your dialogue is just too..."
"It's a raising game. Never mind, I'm going to play a bit more." After saying this, Tao Shushu lowered her head to look at the game interface again, a slight smile curling at the corners of her lips because Li Anyu had praised her character's looks.
Her character was much more handsome than Qin Rui.
In the game, Nan Yuan had already changed his clothes.
Tao Shushu used an exploration action on Nan Yuan to confirm that his body showed no abnormalities, and she felt relieved.
Next, Nan Yuan demonstrated several new abilities he had acquired.
He raised the particle gun without loading an energy orb, yet a stone two meters away shattered with a crack.
"Compressed light energy serves as the bullet," Nan Yuan explained.
Tao Shushu observed the shattered stone. "That's really impressive. The energy is highly concentrated, and the impact is powerful."
Nan Yuan coughed lightly. "The effective range is about ten meters. Beyond that, the energy dissipates."
"Ten meters is already quite remarkable," Tao Shushu said sincerely.
Previously, the particle gun used energy orbs as ammunition sources, but these orbs needed to be replaced. No matter how fast Nan Yuan was, there was still a half-second gap when swapping energy orbs.
But by switching to light-based energy, he could attack continuously without interruption. As long as his own energy was sufficient, there was no risk of running out of ammunition.
Tao Shushu thought for a moment. During the day, with ample light, Nan Yuan could control the environment. But at night, when light was insufficient, Nan Yuan's abilities wouldn't be able to function at full capacity.
As if sensing her concern, Nan Yuan smiled and began demonstrating another ability.
The base was already dimly lit. Tao Shushu blinked and realized Nan Yuan had disappeared.
"Huh?" She tapped her finger on the screen.
Nan Yuan froze, her finger had landed on his lips.
He didn't know how to react.
The girl's touch was light, and since it was across time and space, it couldn't really be considered physical contact.
Moreover, she was just trying to locate him, with no other intentions.
But Nan Yuan couldn't stop his ears from turning bright red.
His thoughts were in turmoil, but the pressure on his lips quickly disappeared as she moved her finger away.
Nan Yuan quickly released his control over the light waves.
As the refraction and reflection of light returned to normal, Nan Yuan suddenly became acutely aware of his flushed ears. Instinctively, he superimposed the original light spectrum to conceal their redness.
When he spoke again, his voice was noticeably hoarse. "Shushu."
Tao Shushu touched Nan Yuan's shoulder, looking left and right. Combined with the dialogue box above his head, she could confirm it was indeed Nan Yuan.
So, had Nan Yuan just demonstrated invisibility?
That ability was way too cool.
Tao Shushu poked Nan Yuan. "Is this also achieved by controlling light?"
Nan Yuan nodded. "Yes. The opposite is also possible, refracting my shadow to another location."
An artificially created mirage. Tao Shushu's eyes lit up. Her cub's abilities were incredibly useful.
Nan Yuan wasn't as optimistic. "There are still some abilities I haven't fully mastered. Besides, artificial intelligence doesn't rely on visual imaging, they might have infrared sensing, thermal imaging..."
"Nan Yuan is already amazing!" Tao Shushu ruffled his hair. "You're the first person to evolve so many abilities, and your powers are super cool with lots of derivative uses. Don't rush it."
Hearing Shushu's praise, Nan Yuan smiled. He had been too impatient, too eager to avenge his parents, too desperate to find her, so he was dissatisfied with his current abilities. But within the base, he was already very strong.
"I'll practice more later," Nan Yuan said.
"Mm!"
Just as they were about to leave the barren planet, Nan Yuan's third evolution was undoubtedly a morale booster for the entire base. Everyone's spirits were lifted.
Watching the joyful survivors, Tao Shushu suddenly remembered something. "By the way, have your memories recovered at all?"
Nan Yuan nodded. "I remembered the details of my father telling me to leave with my mother, but I still can't recall the specific mission coordinates he gave me."
"Don't worry, maybe it'll come back to you later," Tao Shushu comforted him.
Nan Yuan carefully stored the evolution records Tao Shushu had helped document. Looking at the characters, he asked, "Shushu, is this the writing from your side?"
"Yes. Can you understand it, Nan Yuan?" To be safe, Tao Shushu had written it in both English and Chinese.
"I can understand the drawings you made," Nan Yuan said.
"Oh." Since the system hadn't automatically translated it, Tao Shushu said, "Then I'll read it out loud, and you can record it yourself."
Tao Shushu read at a steady pace, while Nan Yuan swiftly jotted down notes.
With each line he wrote, Nan Yuan would glance at the characters Tao Shushu had written.
After finishing the last line, Nan Yuan pointed to one of the characters Tao Shushu had written.
"Water refraction..." for the character "water,"
"Sweat volume..." for the character "water,"
"Replenish moisture after evolution..." for the character "water,"
"Shushu, is this character 'water'?" Nan Yuan asked.
Tao Shushu followed Nan Yuan’s fingertip and saw the character she had written. "Yes, it’s the character for 'water.'"
She answered instinctively, then realized the character "water" had appeared multiple times. Yet Nan Yuan had recognized it so quickly, his intelligence was truly remarkable. She had recorded at least thirty entries, and in just a few seconds, Nan Yuan had managed to identify the character "water" among over a thousand Chinese characters.
Nan Yuan traced the strokes of the character "water" from Shushu’s writing on the paper and mimicked it. "I’m honored to have learned a character from Shushu’s world."
Every item Shushu gave him bore a mark, and the very first character of that mark was always "water."
Nan Yuan narrowed his eyes. It seemed he had found a clue to her existence.
"Nan Yuan, you’re incredibly smart," Tao Shushu exclaimed.
Nan Yuan smiled. "Shushu, when you come online, I’m often busy and can’t talk to you. Could you leave your textbooks with me? That way, you can study on your own even when I’m not around."
"Hmm?" Tao Shushu was genuinely a little tempted. Mainly because she had been studying every day and was now in a phase of burnout. Only the thought of her "cub" boosted her efficiency. But she still needed to check if the system would allow it.
"Besides, I want to learn the language of your world. With artificial intelligence being so advanced, communicating in a new language would prevent our conversations from being deciphered by enemies," Nan Yuan said slowly.
Tao Shushu thought it made sense.
Although she could only see the dialogue box, Nan Yuan was speaking aloud, which posed a risk of exposure in his environment.
In history, there were examples of using dialects as wartime communication languages.
"Alright. But we need to confirm that the C1 star systems have never encountered the writing from my world. Artificial intelligence is too knowledgeable."
"Mm," Nan Yuan nodded. "Most planets have museums documenting the languages, scripts, and civilizations of all races in the C1 star systems. When we reach the next planet, we’ll go and check."
"Okay," Tao Shushu agreed.
Nan Yuan had to join the celebration of the surviving humans. His evolution was undoubtedly an inspiration.
Everyone looked at him with eager anticipation.
Tao Shushu also bid Nan Yuan farewell and put down her phone.
Seeing this, Li Anyu squeezed next to Tao Shushu. "Shushu, tell me you won’t fall for a 2D character, don’t tell me you will, please don’t!"
Tao Shushu grabbed Li Anyu’s mischievous hands. "Of course not, don’t worry."
But then she remembered Nan Yuan, forcing himself despite his weakened state, setting off fireworks at his fingertips for her, his smiling face behind the colorful lights. Her heart couldn’t help but race.
Nan Yuan wasn’t a 2D character.
But he didn’t exist in the same dimension as her. Tao Shushu thought it over, 900,000 gold coins. Well, maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
At worst, she’d spend her whole life studying, she’d save up eventually.
Shaking off the strange thoughts in her head, Tao Shushu said seriously to Li Anyu, "We’re still just high school students. Don’t think about dating."
Li Anyu patted her chest in relief. "That’s the Shushu I know! You were so engrossed in that handsome guy earlier, I didn’t even dare ask for gossip."
"Shushu, did you know? Some talented fan made a bunch of fanworks and firmly stuck the label ‘eunuch’ on Qin Rui."
"Apparently, the student council pressured the forum moderators to delete all related posts."
"Later, someone from the student council remembered they could send a legal notice. But when they asked, the moderator said everything had already been deleted, and no information could be traced."
As the hidden mastermind behind it all, Tao Shushu kept her achievements to herself. But she suddenly felt something was off, the forum moderator was Shen Yichen.
This wasn’t the first time he’d helped her.
Although she was sure no one could trace it back to her, after all, the system had helped post it, Shen Yichen was clearly obstructing Qin Rui’s side. What was his motive?
Tao Shushu frowned, deciding to keep an eye on it later.
After enjoying the delicious food, Tao Shushu prepared to head home to continue studying.
But as she was leaving, she unexpectedly ran into Wang Tianba.
Wang Tianba had been badly injured in his fight with Qin Rui, and his face was still covered in bruises, looking quite a mess.
Tao Shushu restrained herself from laughing on the spot.
Wang Tianba spotted her too and quickly ran over. "Shushu, what a coincidence running into you here."
Tao Shushu rolled her eyes and tried to walk around him.
But Wang Tianba stubbornly blocked her path. "Shushu, I know I was deceived before and wrongly blamed you. Give me a chance, please."
"What chance?" Tao Shushu said bluntly. "Wang Tianba, I don’t like you. Move aside."
"Shushu, what can I do to earn your forgiveness…"
"There’s nothing to forgive. Move." Tao Shushu coldly stepped past him. "You were so devoted to Su Momo before, and now suddenly you’re saying she’s in the wrong? It’s creepy, ugh. Also, I like handsome guys, really, really handsome ones."
Tao Shushu glanced back at Wang Tianba’s face, shook her head with a sigh, and walked away.
Wang Tianba: …