Chapter 371: Bestowal
Zhang Chenze never expected that the "lot" she had calmly held for half the day would also "escape." Caught off guard, she allowed it to slip into the swarm of insects as well.
"What the hell... What is this?!"
If this "lot" also had a mechanism, why hadn't it escaped from the start? Why now?
Could it be... that this wasn't a "mechanism" at all?
"Wait..." Zhang Chenze forced herself to calm down. "Could this be what they called an 'Echo'?"
Because everyone's rooms were completely sealed, and her own room was packed with locusts, she couldn't tell if she had truly "Echoed," let alone know the name of her "Echo."
But in the other rooms, it seemed the "lots" hadn't fled. Only hers had escaped.
There was only one answer: this situation was caused by her own "Echo"—a transcendent ability that no one else possessed.
She fought to steady her crumbling thoughts, blocking out the chirping of the insects in the room, and did her best to replay what had just happened.
What was the principle behind the "lot" escaping?
The first time the "lot" fled, she had been holding it in her right hand while crushing a locust with her left.
In that instant, the "lot" in her right hand had turned into a locust.
It was a bizarre kind of "fairness," like a "substitution" beyond comprehension.
"Wait..." Zhang Chenze felt as if she might truly be losing her mind. "Does this even make sense...?"
If killing something could turn something else into that thing, wasn't this ability far too strange?
Lin Qin had said that all "Echoes" could be seen as a kind of "transcendent ability," but was this one even useful?
"No..." Zhang Chenze's brow slowly furrowed. She had already killed so many locusts, so why had only that one "lot" turned into a locust?
She slowly raised her left hand, looking at the crushed remnants of locusts on it, and felt a sudden realization.
Could it be...
That only things killed with her "left hand" would affect things in her "right hand"?
Earlier, she had only been stomping locusts to death with her feet, keeping this strange ability from activating. Now, using her left hand to search, she had inadvertently killed a few more dying locusts...?
"What am I even doing..." Zhang Chenze shook her head, feeling like she had abandoned all rational thought and was now analyzing things like a madman. She shook her head again to stay clear-headed, then muttered to herself, "Since those two 'lots' have turned into 'locusts'... there's only one way to find them now."
Zhang Chenze peeled off her torn suit jacket, shook the locusts off it, then swung it around to drive away the vast sea of insects on the floor.
With a loud *buzz*, a massive swarm of locusts, startled, rose from the ground and flew into the air.
The whole room suddenly descended into chaos. Countless locusts crashed into each other frantically, making Su Shan, watching from the side, tense up.
Zhang Chenze paid no heed. She shielded her face with her left hand and kept waving the jacket with her right, determined to ensure her left hand didn't kill any more locusts—she didn't dare imagine what would happen next if it did.
In a matter of seconds, her plan worked. Though the "lot" had turned into a "locust," it had no wings. Even if it tried to escape, it could only bounce along the ground, making it especially conspicuous.
One "lot" burst out from the pile of corpses, trying to leap into the air. Zhang Chenze's reflexes were sharp. She took a quick step forward and caught it firmly in her hand.
Flipping her hand to look, it was indeed "Warm Sun Caresses the Earth"!
"Great!" She didn't have time to search for the other "lot." She hurried to the table and tossed it in.
For this year's "summer," she wished that autumn would still bring "Warm Sun Caresses the Earth."
Zhang Chenze held her jacket, leaning on the table with her left hand as she was about to sigh in relief—just as a locust happened to fly under her palm. In that incredibly coincidental moment, it was crushed flat by her hand.
Before she could panic, the suit jacket in her right hand suddenly began to twitch violently. The movements were so eerie they sent chills down her spine.
"Ah!"
Zhang Chenze threw the jacket and stumbled back several steps, feeling every hair on her body stand on end. Every drop of blood, from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, turned ice-cold.
The jacket flapped its sleeves in midair, then, as if shifting its form, landed on the table.
It propped itself up on its sleeves, slowly lifting its collar, seemingly staring right at Zhang Chenze.
"What the hell... Don't scare me..."
Zhang Chenze nervously stepped back, only to see the suit jacket "spread its wings and take flight," launching itself off the table and charging at her, waving its sleeves frantically.
Because the floor was littered with insect carcasses, Zhang Chenze could barely move. She was quickly tripped and fell.
At that moment, the jacket pounced on her, clawing wildly.
Su Shan had been watching this entire scene unfold from the side, and by now, she was too stunned to speak.
This ability called "Soul Shift" was far too bizarre. Not only had the "lot" moved, but now the "jacket" had come alive. Did any of this even make sense?
Would these things hurt their owner?
On the opposite side of Su Shan, Lin Qin felt her mind growing blank.
In this freezing room, she curled up in a corner, desperately trying to preserve her body heat. She had never imagined that, when it was unbearably cold, you could stop feeling the cold altogether.
She was just a little sleepy.
As the frigid wind, blowing at negative thirty degrees, continued to pour down, the sensation of cold gradually faded. Instead, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
"I'm so tired..."
Lin Qin exhaled a puff of warm breath. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt the wind stop. A few seconds later, a wave of hot air rushed in.
The temperature of this hot wind didn't seem high, but it sent a searing, agonizing pain coursing through her entire body.
That sharp pain not only dispelled her drowsiness but also made her collapse to the ground, screaming in agony.
Her previously broken leg had gone numb from the cold, but the hot wind brought back the sensation of pain.
The hot air blew across her body, feeling as scalding as boiling water, making her scalp and limbs twitch uncontrollably.
Su Shan saw a large amount of steam rising in Lin Qin's room and knew she must have been saved, but her condition was too dangerous.
From the start of the game until now, Lin Qin had suffered two "Calamities" in a row, and both were highly lethal disasters.
"Lin Qin... hold on." Su Shan whispered. "We'll leave this cursed place sooner or later..."
Lin Qin moved her fingers, then grabbed the table to slowly stand up.
Though her whole body ached, it didn't seem to affect her movement.
"Did you all do nothing this round?" She wiped the steam off the glass with her hand. "We were so close to killing that dog..."
After confirming that Qin Dingdong's room had encountered a "Calamity," Lin Qin looked at the "lots" on her table. Including the new "neutral lot" she had drawn this round, she had a total of four.
She had to use these four now...
Wait.
Four?