The First Order

In the house at Junmin Alley, Wang Yuchi and the others were going through some revision materials Zhou Yingxue had recently bought for them. In the kitchen, soup boiling could be heard. The thick broth was simmering with a quiet bubbling sound within the earthenware.

The smell of the soup floated over from the kitchen to the living room. Wang Zhe, who was sitting next to Wang Yuchi, said, “I’m working so hard on these questions that I’m smelling chicken soup.”

Zhou Yingxue walked out of the kitchen. She had ladled out a small bowl of chicken soup for all of the students. Wang Yuchi looked up and asked, “Ms. Yingxue, is Brother Xiaosu really going to be fine? Why don’t we go and help him? We have nanomachines in our bodies as well.”

Zhou Yingxue said with a smile, “Your top priority right now is to study hard. He even specially instructed me to look after you guys. Don’t you know him? Who could possibly pose a threat to him in this city?”

“That’s true.” Wang Yuchi nodded.

Zhou Yingxue then picked up all the trash bags in the kitchen and living room while humming along to Li Ran’s song. She said to the students, “I’m taking out the trash.”

With that, Zhou Yingxue went outside.

But as soon as she opened the door, she was startled. However, she still stepped out as though nothing was wrong. She saw some vague figures moving around within Junmin Alley. It looked like an ambush had already been laid all around the house!

Just as Zhou Yingxue was about to reach the garbage bin, someone abruptly charged at her from the shadows. They wanted to quickly subdue Zhou Yingxue to prevent her from screaming for help.

But before they could even close in on Zhou Yingxue, some strange plants in the house started spitting out khaki-colored lumps in succession at an extremely fast rate.

The people who wanted to attack Zhou Yingxue did not expect such a turn of events at all. After all, someone had already checked out this house from a vantage point in the distance and everything looked normal. Other than there being some plants in the yard, there was nothing suspicious.

However, it was precisely these plants that caught the thugs off guard.

As the large potatoes struck them one after another, the goons were all thrown into disarray as they suffered serious injuries.

After all, the Potato Shooter was no longer a simple food crop after Zhou Yingxue’s power enhanced it. It had regained its dignity as an offensive plant!

A lot more thugs who were lurking outside rushed over. They were already prepared to attack if they realized there were people guarding the house!

A superhuman followed this group of thugs. When he saw Zhou Yingxue’s appearance, his eyes lit up. “Don’t hurt that woman. I want her alive.”

But at this moment, Zhou Yingxue, who was standing in the front yard, suddenly held up something glowing green in her fingers and threw it on the ground. The thugs were stunned. When the green glow disappeared into the ground, countless vines started sprouting from the soil. In just the blink of an eye, leafy vines were spreading rapidly outwards.

The creeper vines’ tentacles covered the entire house in an instant with Zhou Yingxue standing at its center. The thugs who tried to break in through the windows at the back of the house were immediately wrapped up by the creeper vines’ thorny vines. The sharp spikes stabbed into them mercilessly and started sucking their blood without stop.

Everything happened in an instant.

Ever since Zhou Yingxue obtained this power, she had not used it. It was not that she did not want to use it, but that her master was too powerful, so there was no chance for her to show what she was capable of.

As such, even Qin Sheng and the others did not pay much attention to Zhou Yingxue. They only treated her as a normal superhuman who followed Ren Xiaosu around.

But only Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue knew her current self had probably already become a top-tier figure among the superhumans.

To Ren Xiaosu, Zhou Yingxue was still that maidservant who liked munching on melon seeds. Recently, she even took a liking to cooking soup and preparing meals.

But to the enemy, she was as good as a hidden monster.

The thugs were wrapped up by the countless vines before they could even get a chance to shoot. Someone wanted to pull the trigger to warn their companions at the rear, but they had already lost all their strength. There was a poison within the thorny vines that could paralyze people instantly.

The superhuman who said he wanted Zhou Yingxue alive suddenly looked aghast. He remembered the rumors about the creeper vine at the Wang Consortium’s stronghold. In an instant, he linked that to everything he was witnessing before his eyes. Could the creeper vine under this woman’s feet be the thing that had wiped out an entire stronghold’s population?

He immediately felt a tingling sensation in his scalp and wanted to retreat. But when he turned around, he realized a green wall of vines had appeared behind him at some point in time and blocked him from escaping.

Zhou Yingxue laughed and said, “You guys should have brought some gifts since you were visiting. So then, why don’t you offer me your life?”

Ten minutes later, Zhou Yingxue went back into the house. Everyone outside had disappeared, and the creeper vines had furled up and were hidden somewhere by Zhou Yingxue. It was as though nothing had happened at all.

Wang Yuchi looked at Zhou Yingxue, who had just come in through the door, and asked, “Ms. Yingxue, why were you gone for so long? I thought I heard you talking to someone just now.”

“Oh, it was just someone that got lost.” Zhou Yingxue smiled and said, “Have you guys finished the chicken soup? I’ll get you some more.”

…

Meanwhile, the same thing was happening outside the orphanage.

Hu Shuo was giving a basic education lesson to the children. “How many ways are there to write a secret letter? Which one of you knows the answer?”

A child raised his hand. “Sir, you taught us three ways to write one. They can be done with onion juice, aminophenazone tablets, and starch water.”

Hu Shuo laughed happily and said, “I’ll teach you all the fourth method today. First, take two pieces of paper and wet one of them with water before placing it on the table. Then, place the dry sheet on top of the wet one. After that, write on the dry sheet of paper with a pencil and let the ink penetrate onto the wet sheet below. After allowing the paper to dry completely, the handwriting will become invisible. But you can make it reappear by wetting it with water again…”

The children were listening with keen interest, including Zhang Baogen who was standing off to the side. However, he felt a little curious. “Director, do you intend for these children to…”

Hu Shuo shook his head. “I can only teach you guys the skills, but you have to choose your own paths. I can’t force anything.”

Hu Shuo suddenly looked at the main entrance of the orphanage. Then he said to Zhang Baogen, “I’m going out for a while. Bring the children into the house. We’re ending today’s lesson here.”

With that, Hu Shuo walked out of the orphanage. After that, the screams of intruders and gunfire came from outside the front yard.

Hu Shuo returned to the orphanage less than half an hour later. Zhang Baogen examined him when he came back. Other than a few bloodstains on him, he looked as though nothing had happened.

Zhang Baogen asked with concern, “Director, what happened?”

“I think the disbursement of funds from the Riders may have attracted some robbers. Don’t worry, I’ve already handled it.” Hu Shuo said with a smile, “Let’s continue with our lessons.”

After the destruction of the Li Consortium, Hu Shuo had faded from everyone’s sight. When Chen Wudi was asked to assess the old man’s combat prowess back then, he could only muster up a “what the fuck” in response!