Chapter 124: Yun Yao’s Echo
The four of them formed a temporary team and began heading into the city.
The group did look somewhat strange.
Yun Yao and Tian Tian—two people who had absolutely nothing in common—had somehow teamed up.
"Sis, what did you do before you came here?" Yun Yao asked casually.
"I… I was…" Tian Tian was at a loss for words when faced with Yun Yao’s glamorous appearance. Her face was written with self-loathing, and she couldn’t even form a sentence.
"She’s currently unemployed at home," Qiao Jiajin suddenly interjected. "Don’t you see how little she’s wearing? That’s pajamas."
"Oh? I see." Yun Yao nodded. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Yun Yao, and I’m the lead singer of an idol group. You’re very pretty, sis. If you don’t have a job, have you considered becoming an aidoru?"
"Ai…doru?" Tian Tian clearly hadn’t heard the term before.
"Don’t you follow celebrities?" Yun Yao patiently explained. "Aidoru is just a transliteration of 'idol,' meaning a celebrity performer."
"I’m already this old…" Tian Tian gave a bitter smile. "And I’m not worthy of being an idol."
"Not worthy? Sis, you seem really upset." Yun Yao suddenly grew serious, staring at Tian Tian as she asked, "Has someone bullied you before?"
"I…"
Qiao Jiajin patted Yun Yao on the shoulder at this point and said, "Pretty girl, you seem to really like chatting. How about we talk instead? Stop bothering her."
"Oh?" Yun Yao was drawn to Qiao Jiajin’s attention. "And what do you do?"
"Damn…" Qiao Jiajin let out an awkward laugh. "Now that you ask, I don’t really have a proper job either."
"What’s going on?" Yun Yao looked at the two of them with confusion. "Was your interview room the 'unemployment special'?"
Then, as if remembering something, she turned to Qi Xia. "Qi Xia, what about you? You’re so smart—you must have a great job, right?"
Three questions left three people baffled.
"How about you change the subject?" Qi Xia said.
He finally understood why the little glasses guy and Jin Yuanxun couldn’t handle this woman. At this rate of conversation, only Qiao Jiajin could probably keep up with her for a few exchanges.
"Change the subject…?" Yun Yao thought for a moment, then asked again, "What are you all good at?"
"I don’t have anything I’m particularly good at," Qi Xia said. "I just read a few more books than most people."
"I can tell." Yun Yao nodded with an admiring look. "I like well-read men."
"I’m not really good at anything either." Qiao Jiajin shrugged. "I just know how to fight."
"Fight?" Yun Yao was taken aback. "That’s the first time I’ve heard that listed as a 'specialty.'"
"Uh…" Qiao Jiajin didn’t know how to respond, so he just forced a dry laugh. "And what are you good at?"
"Me?" Yun Yao suddenly stopped walking, turned to the three of them, and said, "My luck is really good."
Really good luck?
Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin exchanged glances.
"That specialty sounds even more unreliable than fighting," Qi Xia said. "Are you planning to use your luck to lead us to win the games?"
"Why not?" Yun Yao smiled. "I’ve had incredible luck since I was a child, so that’s my specialty."
"There’s a difference between blind confidence and a specialty," Qi Xia said. "'Luck' is, after all, an uncontrollable thing. Unless you…"
He paused mid-sentence, slightly startled.
He turned his head to look at Yun Yao, a glimmer of disbelief in his eyes.
"That’s right. It’s exactly what you’re thinking." Yun Yao nodded with a smile. "You really are sharp. It’s called 'Strong Luck.'"
Qi Xia wished he hadn’t guessed correctly.
Yun Yao’s "Echo" was actually "Strong Luck"?
If that was the case… then there was nothing in this world that could truly stump her.
"Damn… what are you two even talking about?" Qiao Jiajin was clearly lost. "What’s 'Strong Luck'? Whose name is 'Strong Luck'?"
Qi Xia didn’t answer. Instead, the more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became.
Compared to these people, he had been far too reckless.
All these "Echoers" with their superpowers had been cautiously forming groups to play the games, while he had been staking his life against the "Zodiacs" with nothing but his mortal abilities.
"So you can win every battle?" Qi Xia asked.
"Win every battle?" Yun Yao looked at him quizzically. "Oh, I almost forgot—you don’t fully understand 'Echo' yet. So you probably don’t know… winning every battle is absolutely impossible."
"Impossible?" Qi Xia clearly didn’t follow. He lowered his voice and asked, "If your superpower is 'Strong Luck,' how could you possibly lose? Even if you were facing a black bear, the bear could suddenly die of disease, right?"
Yun Yao thought for a moment, then replied with a serious expression. "Qi Xia, who told you that 'Echo' is a 'superpower'?"
"Isn’t it?" Qi Xia said. "The things Echoers do, the power they display—none of it is normal for ordinary people. Isn’t that a superpower?"
Yun Yao nodded slightly after hearing this. "No wonder you think that… but the reality is a bit different. Qi Xia, 'Echo' is not a 'superpower.' It’s a 'belief.'"
"Belief?"
That word was far more abstract than "superpower."
Qi Xia suddenly recalled Jiang Ruoxue’s explanation—she had also said "Echo is a very abstract thing."
"It’s hard for me to explain this feeling." Yun Yao raised her own hand and looked at it, then continued, "In short, my 'Echo' doesn’t guarantee a one-hundred-percent success rate. In fact… the chance of failure isn’t low."
"So…" Qi Xia blinked. "You mean you might activate 'Strong Luck,' but you might also fail?"
"Yeah, that’s exactly it." Seeing that Qi Xia understood the principle, Yun Yao nodded happily.
But looking at Yun Yao’s cheerful expression, Qi Xia couldn’t smile at all.
He thought Yun Yao was crazy.
What kind of lousy "Echo" was this?
Sometimes you could have "Strong Luck," sometimes you couldn’t.
By that logic, he himself could be described as having intermittent "Strong Luck."
But Yun Yao had definitely retained her memories—she was a real Echoer.
It was hard to imagine her surviving so boldly up to now relying on such a useless ability.
Qi Xia decided to stop dwelling on this strange "Echo" and changed the subject. "What game should we participate in?"
"Whatever." Yun Yao smiled. "I feel like our team is pretty strong. We can take on anyone."
"Alright." Qiao Jiajin nodded as well. "Liar boy, last time I was tied up and couldn’t show my full potential. I’ll give you a demonstration this time."
Tian Tian also spoke up. "If there’s something really dangerous, I want to go first."
Qi Xia slowly covered his forehead. He felt like this team had problems everywhere.