Chapter 25: Robbery (Please Bookmark, Follow, and Vote for the Month)

Selena placed He Ao, who still looked a bit dizzy, at the entrance of the hot dog shop, then went off to line up for hot dogs.

However, He Ao's attention was entirely focused on the energy that had suddenly emerged in his chest.

That energy was extremely faint, much less than what He Ao had breathed in in the main world, but as he continued to breathe deeply, the energy was constantly replenished.

The energy of the Copy World seemed much more stable and rich than that of the main world. In the main world, other than the tide-like surge at dawn, He Ao's deep breaths could not gather any energy inside his chest cavity.

While adjusting his breathing, He Ao began to guide the energy within his chest, following the route he had tried before.

But he soon encountered obstacles. If the pathways in He Ao's original body were wide and clear thoroughfares, then those in 'Ande's' body were winding and narrow trails. The guided energy dissipated almost as soon as it left the chest cavity.

The efficiency of energy utilization was far lower than in He Ao's original body.

So, was it the effect of the Vermilion Fruit?

He Ao estimated that the pathways in his original body should be similar, if not worse, than Ande's, because when he took the Vermilion Fruit, he could distinctly feel it clearing some blockages in his body. Perhaps that was some kind of 'aptitude'?

And the role of the Vermilion Fruit was to enhance aptitude?

Suppressing the speculation in his heart, He Ao began to increase the frequency of his breaths.

Although 'Ande's' body had far lower aptitude than He Ao's original body, which had consumed the Vermilion Fruit, the concentration of energy in the Copy World was much higher than in the main world. As He Ao breathed faster, more and more energy was generated in his chest cavity, and He Ao kept guiding this energy through the 'narrow trails.'

As the saying goes, with great force, bricks fly. As He Ao absorbed more and more energy, it finally escaped the chest cavity. Even though the pathways were even narrower outside the chest cavity, the degree of energy dissipation was also reduced.

In this manner, He Ao moved the energy through the atrium and, with difficulty, reached the fingertip of his left middle finger.

Then he froze because, when he tried to let the energy return, he found that the return pathway was completely blocked.

He tried to use energy to break through the blockages, but it took a good while to erode away an imperceptible amount from the obstructions.

By now, he was beginning to struggle to sustain the high-frequency breathing; such breathing was extremely distracting and physically draining, and it put a great deal of pressure on the lungs. Even the physique of an Ande 13 could not sustain it for long.

Just as He Ao was about to give up, he suddenly noticed the energy accumulated at his fingertip. If he stopped now, that energy seemed like it would slowly dissipate, and judging by the current absorption efficiency of his body, most of it would be lost.

Allowing it to disperse directly seemed a bit wasteful.

Perhaps he could guide the energy outside the pathways? For instance, directing it outward as a weapon?

He Ao thought about it and tried to guide the energy from his middle finger to the outside.

Guiding energy to the outside was much easier than directing it through the 'pathways'. After a short while, an invisible, sesame-sized 'energy cluster' appeared above He Ao's middle finger.

The energy cluster had no physical form, but He Ao could clearly sense its presence. He carefully controlled the cluster, letting it leave his body.

As soon as the energy left He Ao's body, it began to fluctuate, maintaining its shape for only a brief one or two seconds before suddenly exploding.

He Ao only felt a breeze brush past his fingertip, accompanied by a slight tingling sensation.

This 'little energy bomb' had very low damage, even unable to break through his defenses.

He Ao sighed, slowly returning to a normal breathing rhythm. He had originally thought he had gained a long-range attack method.

After some thought, he opened his personal attribute panel.

[He Ao (Ande)]

[Permission Level: Ordinary Player]

[Physical Fitness: 15 (13) (In the Copy World, ordinary people are 10, in the main world they are 5)]

[Skills: Talent Sequences 272: Super Memory (Soul Binding) (F-Class)]

[Mechanical Modification: None]

[Martial Arts: Qi Induction (F-Class) (Not Usable)]

[Character Ability: Basic Firearms Mastery, Qi Induction (No Rank)]

Other things remained unchanged, but an additional 'Qi Induction' appeared in the character abilities.

With no rank, He Ao's recent energy guidance had almost no enhancement to Ande's physique; it could be said he merely got a start.

However, this 'Qi Induction' being listed under character abilities probably meant that this ability couldn't be taken back to the main world, but He Ao could test out some of the circulation pathways from that little book to see if they were correct within the Copy World.

After all, while the cultivation results from the Copy World couldn't be taken along, the 'experience' could.

Once He Ao's breathing had steadied, he leaned against the wall, looking across the street.

The colorful neon lights almost lit up half the street; it was the entrance to the Crown Casino. He Ao watched as people came and went in front of the casino entrance, a ceaseless stream.

He sighed softly. This world was truly chaotic.

It was at this moment that something occurred to him, and his gaze locked onto a lady in a red bandage dress within the crowd.

She had a head of golden brown hair, a pair of long, straight legs, and a burgundy bandage dress that traced her graceful silhouette. The short hem barely covered her full and round buttocks, which appeared and disappeared tantalizingly with every swaying step she took.

The lady seemed to notice that someone was watching her; she paused and turned around.

"You're already on duty?" Selena's laughter came from beside him as she handed him a hot dog, "This place has really good ones, just a long wait in line."

"Not really, I was just checking to see if there were any suspicious characters."

He Ao took the hot dog, but when he looked back towards the entrance of the casino, the lady in the red dress had disappeared.

Not sure if it was an illusion, He Ao always felt there was something different about that lady, so he turned to Selena, "Does Mu Xiu have any abilities to change his appearance or disguise himself, like turning into a woman?"

"No?" Selena thought for a moment, standing there as if accessing some data,

"Mu Xiu's disguise skills aren't sophisticated; he tends to directly peel off a person's skin and use it to disguise his biological information. This can only fool machines and some not-so-strict cameras. He only disguises himself when entering the city, and according to current intelligence,"

Selena paused, "he especially hates women. In his past few crimes, he killed all the dancing girls or special workers in the Red Light District."

Hate women?

He Ao fell into thought.

"Th...this is a robbery."

It was then that an immature voice came from behind He Ao.

He Ao turned around to see a pitch-black handgun and a trembling little boy holding the gun.

The boy looked at the hot dog in He Ao's hand and swallowed.