Depriving Abilities

In just two days, Tu Ran had seen more species in this world than she ever thought possible.

She decided that no matter what kind of alien she came across next, she wouldn't be surprised.

She walked all morning without finding a way out of the dense forest.

Her portable water flask was nearly empty; she'd drained it long ago.

The scenery around her was an unbroken green.

Towering trees stretched as far as the eye could see.

She felt like she'd be trapped here forever.

Tu Ran licked her parched lips and sat down against a tree to rest.

Wasn't the Threshold supposed to have plenty of springs? Why couldn't she find one?

She was dying of thirst.

After fifteen minutes of rest, Tu Ran stood up and continued on.

Persistence paid off. An hour later, she finally heard the sound of water trickling.

It was crisp and clear.

Tu Ran could already imagine the cool, clear stream washing over her body.

She quickened her pace.

Spring, here I come!

But just as the sound of water grew louder, she heard the chirping of birds mixed in.

If she were back home, the lively birdsong would have made her sigh, "Nature is truly wonderful."

But here, she was in a world full of mutated species.

Any species could kill her.

The sudden birdsong struck Tu Ran as a danger signal.

She wanted to turn around and leave.

But she was too thirsty.

Tu Ran hesitated for a second, then firmly headed downstream.

It didn't matter if she drank what they left behind.

Flowing water purifies itself.

Keeping a safe distance, she followed the sound of the water.

Finally, she reached a spot where she could no longer hear the birds, and cautiously approached the stream.

It was a thin trickle, almost dry.

Though she didn't know what the birds had been doing upstream, the water that passed was crystal clear.

Tu Ran didn't drink right away. She took out a trace-element detector and dipped it into the water for a while.

The mineral concentration was within the acceptable range for human consumption.

Without further hesitation, she filled her flask halfway and drank it all in one gulp.

Then she refilled the flask, screwed the cap on tight, and hung it at her side.

With no map and no destination, Tu Ran chose her direction purely by whim.

She could go whichever way she wanted.

What she really hoped was to encounter some lone alien that she could defeat.

Because she wanted its inner core.

Their superpowers attracted her.

From the hook snake's memories, she knew that only a few aliens could form inner cores and gain abilities.

The Federation had captured some aliens, but no word of abilities had ever surfaced.

One possibility was that the Federation was simply unlucky. The specimens they caught were ordinary, so even if the Research Institute sliced them open, they'd find no inner core.

Another was that the Federation already knew about abilities but, fearing public conflict and unrest, had kept it secret and conducted investigations quietly.

Tu Ran thought back to the Federation's recent policies and the questions Xie Xu had asked her on their last night together.

He had been curious about how she spotted the infectious alien's true body inside the little girl.

That meant he didn't know about abilities.

Given his position in the Research Institute, if he didn't know, the Federation was unlikely to know either.

So the second possibility could be ruled out.

But how long could the first hold?

If eating an alien's inner core granted a superpower, would the Federation still let the Pioneers into the Threshold?

Would the top financial magnates behind them be willing to give up such a treasure?

Absolutely not.

They would find ways to hoard those inner cores and keep ordinary people from ever getting near them.

So time was running out for her.

She couldn't afford to be timid anymore.

Realizing this, Tu Ran began to head upstream.

She had to see if those chirping birds were still around.

She had to take a chance.

While she could still stay in the Threshold, she wanted to gain as many abilities as possible.

As she walked up, the birdsong grew clearer.

The flock sounded cheerful, probably splashing in the water?

Tu Ran slowed her steps, approaching cautiously.

Half-crouching, she hid behind a low shrub near them, her body concealed.

She gently parted a gap in the leaves and peered through.

Seven or eight pheasant-like birds were scattered on either side of the stream, pecking at two fish in the water.

The fish were still alive, wriggling and dodging.

But with so many pheasants, they couldn't escape.

The fish were crimson like carp. Pioneers had seen them in the water before and named them Henggong fish.

So far, these fish had shown no aggression, and compared to other aliens, they were relatively docile.

The pheasants themselves weren't that strange, either, except for the feathers on their necks: thick, long, and drooping like little wings, almost covering their entire bodies.

They were small compared to the giant two-headed monsters she'd seen earlier—about shoulder-high to Tu Ran.

There were no other companions nearby, and she judged she could handle this group.

But first, she had to deal with her camera bracelet.

Tu Ran reached into her pack, found the black bag holding various medicines, emptied it out, tore it into strips, and wrapped all the bracelets tightly.

That was a temporary fix. When the chance came, she'd have to get rid of the bracelet too.

Shouldering her machine gun, she opened fire on the pheasant monsters.

The pheasants were too focused on their meal to notice anyone lurking, so the attack caught them off guard.

Bullets tore through their skulls from behind, and two pheasants toppled forward, splashing into the stream as blood washed downstream.

The rest panicked, scattering with frantic chirping. They had no idea where the bullets came from, or even what bullets were. All they knew was that after a loud bang, their companions fell bleeding.

One pheasant kept pecking at its fallen companion's body, trying to wake it, but the other wouldn't budge.

It cried out mournfully, flapping its wings, the thick feathers on its neck puffing up, making it look like a fuzzy egg.

Tu Ran couldn't bear to watch its grief. She aimed at the back of its head and fired.

Bang!

It collapsed onto its companion's body.

The remaining pheasants flapped their wings to fly, but their heavy bodies kept them low and slow. Their size made them perfect targets.

Tu Ran didn't even leave the bush. She just crouched there, aimed at the sky, and fired a dozen shots.

One by one, the clumsy birds dropped from the air.

They hit the ground.

They splashed into the stream, sending up sprays of water.

Tu Ran stepped out of the bush, slinging the gun onto her back.

She walked over to one of the pheasants, still gasping its last breath.

The pheasant, seeing the two-legged creature approach, opened its beak wide in shock, its small eyes full of disbelief.

When Tu Ran crouched down, it tried to scramble back in terror, but its round belly pinned it in place.

Tu Ran's hand touched the fluffy feathers on its neck.

She was about to speak, but remembered the holographic camera bracelet would record her voice. She paused, brow furrowing deep.

As long as she was in the Threshold, she couldn't escape the bracelet's watch and recording.

It would hinder her actions and cost her more energy.

She needed to make a decision.

Keep hiding like this.

Or go bold.

If she kept hiding, many of her moves would be restricted, and she'd miss chances to get inner cores.

If she went bold, she'd have to be ready to stand against the Federation.

Of course, there was a third path: find a way inside the Threshold to remove the bracelet and leave it there forever.

That way, the Federation would never know what happened.

Weighing the pros and cons, Tu Ran chose the second option.

She didn't need to hide anymore.

During her time in the Threshold, she would eat as many inner cores as she could and gain as many abilities as possible. That way, even if the Federation put a bounty on her head, she wouldn't die quickly.

Tu Ran looked at the pheasant and asked, "Do you have an inner core?"

Every time she asked an alien if it had an inner core, a memory would surface in its mind showing the core.

That saved her from flipping through its memories like a book just to find that detail.

Sure enough, as soon as she asked, she saw where the inner core was.

It wasn't in this pheasant's body. It was in the chieftain of their pheasant clan.

This round, egg-like pheasant and the others were just errand birds gathering food for their leader.

The chieftain had wanted Henggong fish today, so they'd been half-flying, half-walking all morning, finally finding two.

"Want to live?" Tu Ran stared into its beady eyes and spoke.

She needed to recruit a minion.

The memories she'd just read showed that this one wasn't too bright.

It had been a free spirit in the forest, living wherever food was, eating ten times a day, then moving on when the feast ended.

The only reason it became the chieftain's servant was because the leader promised endless gourmet treats.

The fool actually believed it.

But since joining the clan, it had gone hungry nine times in three days. Whenever it found some tasty game, it had to offer it up to the chieftain first.

It wanted to run away, but wherever it went, the leader would assign it helpers—supposedly to assist, but really to keep it from escaping.

After three months in the clan, it had even lost weight.

After reading its experiences, Tu Ran summed it up in three words: easy to handle.

Using it as an inside informant would make capturing the pheasant chieftain much smoother.

"Chirp chirp chirp."

"I can't understand you," Tu Ran stood up. "Can you speak human?"

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp."

It was a pheasant, for goodness' sake. How could it speak human?

But it knew how to make Tu Ran understand.

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp."

It pointed its wing at the two fish in the stream, its round eyes straining toward them.

Tu Ran followed its gaze.

With several pheasant bodies lying in the stream, the flow had backed up, and the two Henggong fish were still splashing around.

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp."

Those two fish have inner cores. Eat them and you'll gain their abilities, and then you can understand our language.

Tu Ran couldn't understand what it was saying, but she had no intention of letting those two fish go, anyway.

They were aliens, after all. Worth checking for inner cores.

Tu Ran left the plump pheasant and headed for the stream.