Chapter 36: The Youth, Ling Yao

“Kid, what did you see? Are you playing crazy again?” A rough voice roared at the young man who was writhing on the ground in pain.

Blood streamed from the young man’s eyes, seeping through his fingers, silencing the speaker.

“Big Brother, the way he looks, could it be he encountered a master who discovered he was spying and blinded him?” The rough-voiced underling suggested.

The “Big Brother” was a tall, sturdy man with a full beard.

Hearing his underling’s words, he couldn’t resist kicking the young man on the ground. “Useless thing! Getting discovered like this! Let’s go, we can’t stay here.”

After speaking, the bearded man gathered his remaining seven or eight underlings, hurriedly packed their things, and fled.

“Master Hu, don’t leave me!” Unable to see, the young man endured the pain, trying to get up. But because the riverbank was covered with round stones, he fell again before he could stand.

He resorted to groping wildly on the ground with both hands, accidentally plunging them into the fire. Blisters immediately erupted on his rough hands, causing him to roll on the ground twice more in agony.

But his hands were too painful. Disregarding the danger of the river, he reached out, wanting to soak his hands in the water to alleviate the pain.

Unexpectedly, just as he touched the river water, his hand was grabbed and pulled away from the riverbank.

“Who is it? Is it Master Hu? Are you back?” The young man groped around, trying to touch the person who had pulled him.

Chu Xihen took two steps back and said, “No, just passing by.”

“It’s you? I remember your voice. You’re the one who killed my owl.” The young man immediately became frightened, struggling to get up and run.

But as a newly blinded person, his escape was arduous. He stumbled and fell every few steps, often ending up back where he started, barely moving two meters after much effort.

Finally, the young man gave up, got up on his knees, and began to kowtow. “Sir, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have spied on you. They forced me to do it! If I didn’t work for them, they would have killed me! Now they’ve abandoned me and run away. Sir, if you don’t mind, please spare my life. I’ll follow you from now on, working like an ox or a horse!”

Chu Xihen then carefully examined the young man. He was covered in dirt, his clothes were tattered and stained, his face was smeared black, obscuring his true appearance, and his hair was so greasy it could be used for cooking.

If he didn’t know the apocalypse had only just begun a few days ago, he would have thought the young man had been struggling in this world for ten years.

Being this filthy was definitely intentional; it must be a disguise the young man had deliberately created.

But Chu Xihen was more interested in the young man’s ability.

“You can control beasts?” Chu Xihen asked.

Hearing this, the young man stopped kowtowing. Though it seemed like he was kowtowing forcefully, his forehead wasn’t actually touching the stones. “Control beasts? I wouldn’t go that far. Currently, the largest thing I can control is just that owl.”

Before, he could only control sparrows, but after two days of scorching sun, many common small birds had died. Forced by the bearded man, he tried to control the owl for the first time tonight. Who knew that just as he established a visual connection with the owl, he would be discovered by Chu Xihen!

“Where did you get this skill?” Chu Xihen asked again.

This young man didn’t seem very strong. He shouldn’t have obtained a skill card by killing a mutated creature, and even less likely in a dungeon. If he could get such a special skill in a dungeon, his strength definitely wouldn’t be lacking.

If he was hiding his strength and acting so pitiful, then he was even more tolerant than him.

The young man was silent for a moment, then resignedly confessed, “I had it before the apocalypse. But back then, I could only communicate with some birds. After the apocalypse, I discovered I could control them and share their vision.”

Possessing a special skill before the apocalypse, yet not a game survivor. This was a Chosen One like Lou Su and Bai Jinli!

“What’s your name?” Chu Xihen crouched down, looking at the young man’s tightly closed eyes, with two streaks of blood running down his thin face.

“My name is Ling Yao,” the young man said.

Chu Xihen was stunned for a moment. “01? A code name?”

This made him mistakenly think the other party was an experimental subject who had escaped from some laboratory.

But the young man corrected him. “Not the number 01, it’s the ‘Ling’ that means clever, and the ‘Yao’ that means premature death.”

Chu Xihen frowned slightly. Both Ling Yao’s surname and given name were strange.

He exchanged a bottle of medicine from the store and gave it to Ling Yao. “Apply it to your eyes. We’ll talk more after your eyes are better.”

Ling Yao took the medicine with trembling hands, carefully applying the ointment to his eyes, afraid that large movements would waste the medicine and he would be beaten.

He also knew this medicine must have been exchanged from the dungeon store. Since this valuable thing was being given to him by the big boss, he had to cherish it.

The ointment felt cool and soothing on his eyes. After a few minutes, his eyes were able to open, and his vision went from blurry to clear. Then he saw Chu Xihen sitting not far away, staring at him.

Seeing Chu Xihen’s fair and delicate appearance, Ling Yao couldn’t help but gasp.

This guy was really bold. Daring to wander around so late at night with such a conspicuous face?

It was only because Hu’s group was too cowardly, never considering that the person attacking them was just a seemingly weak pretty boy. Otherwise, Chu Xihen would have been in trouble tonight.

But now it was the apocalypse. As long as you had a strong skill, it wasn’t impossible to defeat ten people at once.

Perhaps Chu Xihen had a very strong skill?

Mainly, the owl he controlled died too quickly. He not only didn’t see what Chu Xihen was doing in the woods, but he didn’t even see how his eyes were blinded.

“B-Big Brother, what’s your name?” Ling Yao had just come of age, so calling Chu Xihen Big Brother was fine.

He felt that calling him sir might not be pleasing to the other, as Chu Xihen clearly wasn’t a vulgar person like Hu Gang.

“My name is Chu Xihen. Call me whatever you like.” Chu Xihen sized him up. “Do you have any points left?”

Ling Yao shook his head. “No, I was robbed by Hu Gang, the group that ran away before you came, as soon as I left the dungeon. I have no points or any cards.”

So before Chu Xihen arrived, his life was in Hu Gang’s hands, and now it was in Chu Xihen’s hands.

“How did you run into them? Didn’t you try to escape?” Chu Xihen didn’t think Ling Yao was a very docile child. He must have been severely dealt with by Hu Gang’s group to be so obedient.

“I ran into them as soon as I left the orphanage. All my belongings were robbed. After they discovered my ability, they kept me to be their eyes, and when they saw someone nearby, they would go and snatch their skill cards and points,” Ling Yao said, lowering his head.

He was afraid Chu Xihen would see the unwillingness and anger in his eyes.

As long as he wasn’t dead and Hu Gang’s group wasn’t dead, he would avenge this sooner or later.

“How did they discover your ability?” Chu Xihen didn’t need to look to know what Ling Yao’s eyes looked like at this moment.

Ling Yao whispered, “They beat me until I revealed my ability. They said they would cut off my ears if I didn’t tell them.”