Yuche didn’t bother hiding his skepticism the mont he heard Zhenlan say ’that part is easy’.
It wasn’t easy the first ti he tried to absorb a crystal core the size of his nail, and it wasn’t any easier by the tenth ti he did it.
In fact, every ti he looked at a crystal core, he broke out in a cold sweat that he would deny to his dying breath.
Nothing about this world was easy, but he also didn’t contradict the other man.
After all, Rouxi didn’t spoon feed them when she introduced the cores... and he wouldn’t spoon feed Commander Li and his n either. Whether they lived or they died had nothing to do with him.
The military commander looked at the crystal in Zhenlan’s hand before looking back at the man. "Easy for who?"
"Fair point," purred Lingyun, and Yuche could see the almost psychotic glee in his eyes as he stared at Li. Yuche shook his head but didn’t say anything. Apparently, Lingyun needed to see a lot more blood before he could settle down.
That was fine. He just hoped that there wouldn’t be any more blood in the living room. He didn’t want to have to be the one to clean it up.
Zhenlan rolled the pale blue crystal between his fingers before shrugging. "Hold it. Focus on it. Pull the energy into yourself."
The room was silent for several seconds, and Yuche could only raise an eyebrow. Well, that was as clear as a puddle of mud.
And the way Commander Li was staring at him, he must have thought the sa thing.
Eventually, the commander sighed, "I hate all of you. That wasn’t an explanation so much as... you know what? I don’t even know what that was."
Lingyun grinned never shifted. "That’s normal. And I’d be more worried if you didn’t hate us at this point."
"It’s the only explanation," Zhenlan replied, ignoring Lingyun’s comntary completely. "If you try to think too hard about it, you’ll just sit there holding a zombie brain until everyone gets bored."
Lingyun humd, not at all annoyed by the fact that he was being ignored. "As a public service announcent, start small. The little ones will still knock you on your ass for a while until your body gets used to them. The big ones are how idiots explode."
Commander Li’s expression didn’t change, but several of his soldiers went very still.
"Explode," Sun Ming repeated.
"Sotis," Lingyun answered cheerfully, nodding his head like a bobble head. "Or their powers eat their nerves. Or their organs give up. Or they just die without the fun sound effects."
"That was not a public service announcent," Luo Xin muttered. "That was a threat with footnotes."
Commander Li looked at the boxes for a mont, then stepped forward and held out his hand.
Nobody moved and Yuche watched him closely, a hint of respect in his eyes.
The commander wasn’t asking one of his n to test the process first. He wasn’t looking around the room for soone expendable or brave enough to volunteer. He had heard the risk, accepted it, and placed himself at the front of the line without making a speech about it.
That was good.
It still didn’t make him safe.
Li wasn’t an enemy, but he also wasn’t family. Giving him power ant making a useful man more useful, but it also ant making a dangerous man more dangerous. Rouxi might not have cared about that. Rouxi believed people rembered lessons better when they hurt enough to matter. Yuche wasn’t Rouxi.
"Fighting," Commander Li said.
Chenghai looked up from the crates. "That one’s mine."
He dragged a smaller box closer and flipped the lid open. White crystals shifted against each other inside, most of them duller than the colored cores around them but still carrying that strange inner light. Chenghai sorted through them with one hand before choosing one of the smaller pieces and tossing it toward Zhenlan.
Zhenlan caught it, glanced at the size, then handed it to Commander Li.
"Start with this one," he said. "It’s small enough that it probably won’t kill you."
Commander Li looked down at the white crystal in his palm.
"Probably."
"Rouxi usually considers that good odds," Lingyun replied.
Yuche did not look away from Commander Li when the man closed his fingers around the core.
"Anything else we should know?" Zhao Rui asked.
"Wrong mutations can cause problems."
"Define problems," sighed the man.
"Death," replied Lingyun like he was talking about puppies and kitties.
Sun Ming pinched the bridge of his nose. "Everything ends in death with you people."
"That’s because most mistakes in the apocalypse end in death," interjected Yuche, his voice cold.
Nobody really had an argunt against that.
Commander Li was still holding the white core while several of his n exchanged uncertain looks. How long would it take for the crystal to do whatever it was supposed to do? What was the crystal supposed to do?
The crystal hadn’t exploded. The commander hadn’t died. But the crystal was still a crystal.
So... that ant it didn’t work?
That alone was enough to keep everybody’s attention.
Everybody except Yuche.
His attention had shifted several seconds ago. The vine wrapped around Rouxi’s neck had lifted its head as if it had just woken up and had finally slled coffee. The movent was subtle enough that nobody else noticed it, but now the vine was practically vibrating with excitent.
The little monster hadn’t left Rouxi’s neck since they found her at the hotel. It had moved just long enough to snap at Lingyun, but other than that... it was so lethargic that Yuche was starting to get worried.
But now it was staring at sothing like how Rouxi stared at snacks and energy drinks. Yuche followed its gaze, to the boxes of cores sitting at the other end of the living room.
Was that what it needed?
For a brief second, Yuche allowed himself to hope. Right, if Rouxi had used all of her powers, if she had been completely depleted, then she would need cores to help replenish her energy reserves. Once those were topped up, her body would stop trying to eat itself to make more power.
A smile twitched at the corners of Yuche’s mouth as the vine took off like a bat out of hell... or a toddler that just spotted a chocolate cake.
"Oh no," muttered Lingyun, his eyes going wide as he watched the vine move like it had grown legs. "That can’t be good."
"Or it is perfect," replied Yuche, his voice so soft that only the other man could hear him.
The vine ignored everyone in the room completely. Its tiny mouth opened, revealing rows of venomous teeth as it slithered directly toward the nearest crate and the largest crystal.
Yup, just like a toddle with cake.
The vine was inches away from it’s target when Zhenlan stepped forward, causing the vine to have to slide to a stop.
"No," snapped Zhenlan like it was disciplining a dog. "Absolutely not."
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