12, Kuangfeng, come to my side

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Although this duo looked a bit odd, they didn't seem out of place on the bus at all, as if they were born to ride public transport. Nonetheless, Xin Chen appeared somewhat more attractive than Gu Tao, except for his disgusting otaku expression, especially when he grinned stupidly at his paper doll wife while playing on his phone. Gu Tao really felt like punching him at those times.

"Are you guys not aggressive by nature or something? I've read some novels in my free time, and the Taoist priests in them always seem to wander around freely, like wild cranes in the clouds, and they're quite good-tempered."

"Hmm."

"So what do you do if someone causes you trouble?"

"Hmm."

"Hey, are you listening to me!"

"Saber is really cute." Xin Chen raised his head, still with that creepy smile, "Ah, what were you saying?"

Gu Tao stared into his eyes, gritted his molars, then heaved a silent sigh, "I prefer Aqua."

"You like the ditzy type of girl, huh?" Xin Chen lit up as if revived at the mention of this topic, "Actually, Monkey King Jiazi isn't bad either, you should check her out when you've got time."

Who is the most annoying type of person? Probably someone who doesn't play by the rules. When I first met him, he seemed like an utterly guileless donkey. Later I found out he was actually a crafty big brother type, but now, on a second look...ugh, otakus are so gross.

"Junior brother, with all your high tech, do any have the function of a power bank?"

"None, beat it."

"What kind of alien are you, with neither this nor that." Xin Chen muttered as he put his dead phone back in his pocket, "Junior brother, you know, we're actually not Taoists."

"Then what are we?"

Gu Tao turned his head and frowned, "Do you have some other title?"

"Well, it's like this. A Taoist is a Taoist, but our Taoist Sect is not actually made up of Taoists, but cultivators. Our ancestors expanded their skills, and from that, the world's Taoist orders were born. So in reality, we are the parent company of all Taoist orders. We possess the spells of all the orders in the world. How about that? Impressive, right?"

"Impressive my ass."

Gu Tao didn't feel like responding. Those so-called spells weren't that impressive. Still the same old argument: anything mysticism can do, science can also achieve; it's just a matter of different approaches, but the outcomes converge. Clairvoyance, super hearing, instant travel thousands of miles, transportation by spirits - none of this stuff needs Gu Tao's tech, and even Earth's present technology can manage these so-called magical feats.

"Junior brother, you still don't believe me."

"Dude, give me a reason to believe you. You're always deceiving me, and now you've cursed me with a spell that I can't shake off. How can I trust you?"

"Still refusing to call me senior brother?" Xin Chen shook his head in disappointment, "Forget it, forget it, there will be other days."

"Who are these other days?"

"Your grandpa."

The rest of the journey passed without conversation. Xin Chen leaned against the window, lost in thought, while Gu Tao sat next to him, head bowed, relentlessly calculating those spells turned into formulas in his notebook, seemingly the picture of tranquil times.

With an awkwardly long screech of the brakes, the bus driver turned around and bellowed that it was the last stop. Gu Tao and Xin Chen stood up together, stretched lazily in sync, and then got off the bus, one after the other.

Xin Chen was an otaku with no sense of style—dressed in a thin yellow windbreaker that made him look like a delivery guy and carrying a backpack. Gu Tao wasn't much better, with his old hoodie that had its print worn off, faded jeans, and his ever-present pouch. Looking the part, they wouldn't have to fear being robbed in the middle of the night, as they obviously appeared broke.

"Junior brother, have you ever been in love?"

"No, get lost."

"Is that so? Once you finish the San Geng Good Words, I'll introduce you to the little sister of our sect."

"Didn't you say it was just us two?"

"The little sister is an external disciple, the old man's illegitimate daughter." Xin Chen smiled mischievously, "She's really pretty. The old man said she was meant for me, but I refused. Now, I'm giving her to you."

"Why does that sound so wrong?" Gu Tao turned to look at Xin Chen, "What are you up to now?"

"Nothing much. Your senior brother here has someone in his heart. And the little sister is too familiar, it wouldn't be right to make a move. Since you're still single, she'll be yours, keeping it within the family, so the wealth doesn't flow to outsiders."

I've never seen such shamelessness. To talk so lewdly as if it's normal, what kind of offer—so vile! Gu Tao silently sympathized with the little sister.

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"Look, this is a photo of our junior sister." Xin Chen barely managed to turn on his phone and flicked to a photo, boasting proudly, "You have no idea how many people are chasing after her."

"What's her WeChat ID?" Gu Tao squinted at the photo, "She looks pretty tall."

"She's one-seventy-two, almost as tall as me with high heels, just a tad shorter than you." The more Xin Chen talked, the more excited he got, "Long legs! Here, I even have a photo of her taking a bath when she was six. I'll email it to you later."

"Sounds good." Gu Tao chuckled, "The air-raid shelter is just a left turn ahead."

Upon entering the air-raid shelter, Gu Tao unlocked the defense system and then led Xin Chen into his secret base. However, as an outsider, even though he was added to the whitelist, he still had to go through three scans. Only after completing the scans did the spaceship's spiral staircase slowly extend down.

"Captain, welcome back."

Xin Chen now looked like a curious baby, touching everything east and west, not even sparing an alloy tray, though he didn't have permission to go many places. But wherever he could reach, he touched thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Gu Tao was seated in the lab operating a super-large virtual scanning system. When he turned his head and saw Xin Chen about to touch everything there, he coughed hastily, "You can't just touch everything in the lab. There are many high-energy reaction devices here, you'd be zapped instantly."

"Oh, oh..." Xin Chen quickly withdrew his hand, "Junior brother, this place is really advanced."

"Yeah, about three thousand five hundred years ahead of Earth." Gu Tao continued to operate the system without looking up, "Don't move. I'm going to scan you first and then test your abilities."

"Could there be any danger?" Xin Chen swallowed, "Brother, I'm still young and tasked with leading you onto the right path."

"Don't worry." Gu Tao turned his head with a wicked smile, "You won't die. Sit in that chair."

Gu Tao pointed to a chair that looked unremarkable and didn't seem to be electrified. After observing it for a while, Xin Chen set his bag aside and sat down.

After he sat down, several high-speed ray probes began to revolve around him slowly, looking quite sci-fi.

"Junior brother, what is this for?"

"Don't move, scanning your brain and body functions."

As the ray probes rotated, Xin Chen's data slowly appeared on the screen. Gu Tao recorded the values while comparing them with those of an average human, and the comparison... truly made his calves go weak.

Why weak in the calves? Hehe.

The average human's brain development level is generally between six and twelve percent, but Xin Chen's was at twenty-seven percent, meaning his brain energy was a hundred thousand times that of an ordinary human. On the mother planet, this would qualify him as a tier three super-evolved being. What did such an existence imply? It meant his mental strength could directly destroy most organic life on Earth. Simply put, with a death glare, when launching an attack, he could instantly kill lions, tigers, and elephants in about two seconds. For ordinary humans, they were gone in the blink of an eye.

But it wasn't just his brain that was highly developed, his muscle density, bone density, and cellular vitality were unprecedentedly terrifying. What astonished Gu Tao even more was the existence of a special protein in his body, a protein that was an energy carrier, moving freely throughout his body, responsive to the rays' light, and beginning to flicker rapidly.

His skin, bones, and organ tissues, under the stimulation of this protein, increased in density even further, reaching level eight hardness, and even exhibited self-oxygenation effects.

Self-oxygenation! He was supplying oxygen to himself, practically a highly efficient internal combustion engine. Judging by his bone and muscle density, if hit by his full-powered punch, the result would likely be no different than being struck head-on by a high-speed bullet train.

After getting the results, Gu Tao's lips trembled with excitement. He carefully saved the scan results and then, suppressing his excitement, turned back to Xin Chen, "Now, let's proceed to the energy reaction test. Stand behind that transparent cover over there."

Xin Chen uttered an "oh" and stood behind the object, tapping the cover, "What is this? A gas chamber?"

"Yes, yes, a gas chamber."

Although Gu Tao said so, in his mind he was mocking the idea. After all, even if it really were a gas chamber, there was probably no gas that could effectively harm him. While there was no way to test his corrosion resistance, the analysis of his skin suggested the guy could probably bathe in aqua regia without much trouble.

After turning on the device, Gu Tao coughed, "Take a deep breath."

Xin Chen took a deep breath, and the machine began to analyze his oxygen needs and conversion. After recording these data, Gu Tao switched on the energy reaction device, "Now, let's discharge."

"Ah? Discharge?" Xin Chen thought for a moment, then touched his head and laughed awkwardly, "Pika pika..."

"Hey, I'm not telling you to act cute, discharge... I mean, release energy." Gu Tao glanced sideways at Xin Chen, "Release the energy inside you all at once."

"Oh, oh, oh... I thought you wanted me to mimic Pikachu."

After saying this with an embarrassed laugh, Xin Chen's expression became serious. He clasped his hands in front of his chest and began to murmur, but midway through, he suddenly lifted his head, "Junior brother, is this thing sturdy?"

"It's not something you can break easily." Gu Tao observed the energy changes closely, "Release it."

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