Chapter 89 Are You All M?

Nobody else had noticed Qiu Wuji standing off in the distance.

Head Chef Jin and his wife hurried over to thank him, overjoyed. "Third Brother, you were incredible! If it hadn't been for you, it'd have been GG for us today."

"It wouldn't have come to that. That flashbang of yours was something else — once you were out on the main street, he wouldn't dare try anything." Chu Ge was being modest; in truth he couldn't help showing off a little. He badly wanted to go over and talk to Qiu Wuji...

Fortunately, the normal procedure would have meant a statement and a whole string of headaches. Lin Wuyang quietly cut him some slack: "Seeing as you're wearing that mask, you don't want your identity out there messing up your life. The bureau supports that. I'll come find you on my own for the questioning later — if you want to head home now, go ahead."

Chu Ge knew the man was deliberately making things easy for him, and murmured in his ear: "Hey, Chief Lin, won't people talk about you doing this?"

"Talk? Like hell anyone'll talk! We caught a serial killer — this is enormous! So what if an enthusiastic citizen doesn't want his identity exposed and get targeted for revenge? We ought to be protecting him! I'm going to get you a good-samaritan award and the bounty for catching a wanted fugitive, how about that?" Lin Wuyang said, bristling with righteousness. "That's how it'll be. It's not like I can't find you — we'll talk later."

Chu Ge hesitated, then said quietly: "Ask him what he learned about my power. If you can, I'd like that kept quiet."

"Keeping it from the public is a given. Keeping it from the higher-ups is more or less impossible. But whatever comes up, I'll tell you."

"That works." Chu Ge genuinely wanted to know just what the hell Rong Fu had copied, and how a snarling killer could get copied straight into an idiot. Then how come I didn't turn into an idiot...

By now Rong Fu had been knocked unconscious. The cops dragged him into the squad car like a dead dog, then turned to look at Chu Ge with something odd in their eyes.

This was a wanted fugitive who'd been on the run a long time, with several lives on his hands, and this Huluwa had single-handedly beaten him into this state without taking so much as a scratch. Wasn't this the one who ought to be the priority for monitoring?

Lin Wuyang was also rubbing his chin and sizing Chu Ge up. "I get the feeling my luck's improved ever since we old classmates got back in touch."

Chu Ge said earnestly: "Chief Lin, you came out of Chinese Language and Literature — one minute it's a long-winded post, the next it's Constable Lu. I really think you should cut back on leading from the front on call-outs. Desk work suits you better..."

Lin Wuyang said: "A guy who writes books can turn into a steel Huluwa, so what's wrong with a Chinese major going out on a call? I'm off. We'll talk later."

"Shh! Keep your voice down — your whole family writes books!" Chu Ge glanced around; the Jins were a fair distance away, so he let out a breath and stepped closer. "By the way, have you two thought about moving somewhere else?"

"We'll see." Head Chef Jin sounded a little deflated. "To hell with running a restaurant — right now I want to train. If you hadn't shown up, Black House would've been wiped out by one man this time."

"I think Black House isn't hidden enough — it should be more secret, if you two really want to live a normal life."

"Is that why you wear the mask?"

"Yes." Chu Ge turned to that lovely figure at the street corner, his voice softening. "If I didn't want to figure out how we can be together forever, I wouldn't bother with any of this power business at all."

"You knew I could hear that. You said it on purpose." That was the first thing Qiu Wuji said as she rounded the corner.

"I didn't." Chu Ge took off his mask and, quite naturally, took her hand. "You know it's true."

Qiu Wuji looked at her hand and didn't pull it free.

Chu Ge asked in return: "So you sensed I was in danger and came out specially to protect me?"

Qiu Wuji said with a straight face: "You're overthinking it."

Chu Ge: "..."

"I can't sense whether you're in danger... What I sensed was the sign of a foreign power invading this world. I calculated that you were fighting someone, so I came out to have a look. My divine soul hasn't recovered from its exhaustion, and I had to take medicine specially for it — what a waste."

Aren't you still running out here because I was in danger? You expect me to believe it was for fear the world would be destroyed? Such a tsundere.

Thinking of how she'd sensed he was fighting someone and frantically dosed herself with medicine to rush out, Chu Ge's heart went even softer. His face was all smiles, but all he said was: "That soul-recovery pill — I already gave it a mention in yesterday's chapter. I said Elder Yang has refined a new batch, no side effects."

"Only you would think of that!" Qiu Wuji sneered. "Do you have any idea you made at least three mistakes just now..."

"Yes, yes, I know..." If you only showed up after he copied the power, then by that point I was already beating him one-sided, and you still spotted three mistakes — you'd have cursed me to death over everything before that...

"But overall it wasn't bad." Qiu Wuji hadn't seen the earlier part, and was quite satisfied; smiling, she said: "This man does have some skill. Setting his power aside, his fighting is likely a match for Yueying's, maybe even a little better. To beat him without a scratch — all that training lately wasn't wasted."

Chu Ge said: "If he's a bit stronger than Yueying without his power, then once he copies a power, doesn't that mean even Yueying couldn't beat him?"

Qiu Wuji asked: "So his ability is copying other people's powers? No wonder the world felt like it was being scanned. That explains it."

"Yeah, and it's forced one level higher. I'd say that ability plus his fighting skill makes him unbeatable in a duel. I still don't understand how I won."

Qiu Wuji shook her head with a faint smile. "Copy a power, force it one level higher... it's really not as impressive as you think."

"How so?"

"What isn't yours isn't yours... The long study of how to use one's own ability, and all the other methods one trains in to suit it — none of that comes along with a copy, and you can't wield a stolen power like your own arm just because you took it. This Sect Master will state it flatly: if someone copied every ability I have, I would still cut him down with ease. That ability is for bullying amateurs. Anyone who's fought his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood will only sneer at it."

Hearing this, Chu Ge suddenly felt it made sense. No wonder Rong Fu was only rated A-minus. At first hearing it sounds incredibly impressive, but it means nothing; keep reassessing him and his rating might drop even further.

Qiu Wuji said unhurriedly: "Abilities are very likely not unique. You may meet similar opponents in the future. Don't let the copying scare you off at first sight — have the conviction that so what if you copy me? Step into my area of expertise and you're only seeking your own death."

Chu Ge said: "But my power — they don't seem able to copy it. Or they copy it and can't use it?"

Qiu Wuji's slender brows shot up, and she turned to glare at him. "It may not be about copying your write-a-book-create-a-world business. It could be copying your Golden Bell Shield or your footwork, your combat abilities. Are you an idiot? Can't you draw one conclusion from another?"

Chu Ge shrank his neck.

A shrew's roar — can't take it, just can't take it.

"By the way..." he began cautiously. "I haven't seen this Sect-Master-lecturing-people side of you in a long while. The full majestic bearing."

Qiu Wuji blinked, then didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Are you people all M?"

Chu Ge seriously wanted to stick a QQ chat sticker over her face.

Confirmed two-dimensional.

Qiu Wuji's gaze skimmed past the roadside; her expression shifted slightly, and she suddenly stopped and said with a straight face: "I want cotton candy."

Chu Ge: "?"

"Buy ten. Lose one and I'll hit you!"

Chu Ge's eyes rolled. "You just called me an M — isn't hitting me a reward? Shouldn't you threaten me with something else?"

Qiu Wuji thought it over and decided he had a point. "Then what would be a better punishment?"

Chu Ge pointed at his own face. "For example, a kiss. That punishment's way too harsh, wuwuwu..."

"Bang!" Chu Ge was slammed spread-eagle onto the ground. Qiu Wuji huffed off to the roadside stall herself: "Cotton candy. Ten of them — the one lying over there is paying!"