Time Freeze
Tu Ran's gaze involuntarily drifted toward the top of his head.
【Time Freeze】
Description: Can pause time for one second. Within that second, you are the only being in the entire universe who can perceive the flow of time.
Level: Beginner
Tu Ran: Such an advanced ability, and the description is so fancy too... "The entire universe, only you can feel the passage of time"...
Meanwhile, her own ability only ever introduced itself as—"literal meaning."
Tu Ran: ...
If Zhao Yan only had this one ability, Tu Ran would've assumed he'd gotten it by accident, just like she'd accidentally gotten the "Wheel of Time" from eating that bug.
However, when she saw the second and third abilities floating above his head, she knew—Zhao Yan had already figured out the whole inner core thing.
【Mind Control】
Description: Control any object you wish within a ten-meter radius through sheer willpower. The weight of the object depends on the user's own physical strength.
Level: Intermediate
【Telepathy】
Description: Capture the thoughts of any species within a ten-meter radius and transmit thoughts over long distances.
Level: Beginner
Tu Ran: ?! Holy crap!!
Does that mean everything she'd just been thinking had been heard by Zhao Yan?!
Sure enough, his gaze had already shifted toward her at some point.
Their eyes met, and a voice suddenly echoed in Tu Ran's mind: You can actually see that I have abilities? I'm curious—how are you doing it?
He was baiting her thoughts to drift in the direction he wanted to know.
When someone asks a question like that, the average person's mind immediately conjures up the answer.
Just like when she used Illu—
Tu Ran immediately cut off her own train of thought.
Too dangerous. She'd nearly failed to slam the brakes and spilled her secrets. Indeed, thoughts were the hardest thing to defend against.
It was already ten o'clock. The conference room door closed, and Xie Zhao began to speak from the head of the table.
"I'm glad to see you all here. As per usual, today's meeting will begin with—"
Tu Ran shot to her feet.
Xie Zhao's words died on his lips as he paused.
"Tu Ran, is there a problem?" Xie Zhao looked at her. Out of courtesy, he didn't seem annoyed by her sudden interruption. Instead, he asked politely.
Her inexplicable behavior seemed especially strange in the silent conference room. Everyone's eyes were on her, including Li Wenchuan, who sat beside Xie Zhao.
Tu Ran couldn't care less.
She absolutely could not stay within ten meters of Zhao Yan.
"My ear was injured inside the Threshold, and my hearing's been affected. I can't quite make out what Commander Xie is saying, so I'd like to request to sit a little closer to you," Tu Ran said without batting an eye.
Li Wenchuan frowned at her, clearly not buying her story. He was already mentally speculating about what Tu Ran might be scheming by trying to get close to Xie Zhao.
Xie Zhao paused, clearly not expecting that reason. "Fine," he said. "Sit wherever you like."
Tu Ran turned, dragged her chair across the room in full view of everyone, and sat down to Xie Zhao's left without the slightest hesitation.
At this distance, she was at least ten meters away from Zhao Yan. She had no worries about him catching her thoughts now.
She shot a defiant look at Zhao Yan. He only glanced at her indifferently before turning his full attention back to Xie Zhao.
Xie Zhao was going over the Pioneer Team's losses inside the Threshold.
"Our thirty-sixth expedition into the Threshold had a total of 842 personnel. As of ten o'clock today, with the Threshold gate now closed, 581 have come out. Thirty percent remain inside, their fate unknown. Four hundred forty are present here; the remaining 141 are at the Medical Department receiving treatment."
Xie Zhao set down his electronic tablet and looked at everyone in the room.
"These numbers aren't good. Our Pioneer Team has suffered heavy casualties. I'd like to ask you all—what do you think went wrong?"
No one spoke. More than four hundred heads lowered in unison.
Indeed, no matter their age, everyone had an inexplicable fear of being called on by a "teacher."
Xie Zhao was their commander, but back during training, he'd also taught them things. In a sense, he was their teacher.
"Tu Ran, why don't you share your thoughts."
His dark green eyes turned to the woman closest to him.
Tu Ran: ...
So she should've lowered her head too, huh?
Too late now. The eyes of everyone in the conference room were fixed on her face.
This woman who had performed brilliantly during training, then spent a year in obscurity—they'd almost forgotten she existed.
Li Wenchuan stared at Tu Ran, his brow furrowed tight.
She was way too conspicuous today.
Tu Ran racked her brain for the right words. "Um... I think it's a matter of probability," she said. "The casualty rate inside the Threshold largely depends on where you're sent once you enter. If more people get dropped into treacherous terrain, the chance of survival naturally drops. If most people end up in areas with weaker alien forces, the survival odds go up."
Xie Zhao nodded. "That is indeed a factor. However, according to the latest data released by the Research Institute, the number of pioneers sent to each region of the Threshold is almost equal."
"Desert zones and island zones have the highest mortality rates; plains and plateaus are low-risk zones with high survival rates. If each zone receives the same number of pioneers, then the probability issue you mentioned doesn't exist."
He paused, then added, "Or rather, there would be minor fluctuations at best, but nothing like this time, where 30% were left behind. Keep in mind that in the previous thirty-five expeditions, the worst had only 22% stranded inside."
"We've been learning from our experiences. By all logic, that number should be getting smaller, not suddenly spiking like this."
Tu Ran pressed her lips together, at a loss for words.
What was she supposed to say? That it might be because of inner core disputes? Infighting?
Like her, who had taken out three pioneers?
Fortunately, Xie Zhao didn't press her further.
Probability, after all—who could really say?
The odds of winning a million-dollar lottery jackpot are 0.000001%, and yet some people win it twice.
"There's one more thing to announce at this meeting," Xie Zhao said. "The second batch of pioneers has completed their training. Tomorrow evening, a graduation ceremony will be held for them. If any of you would like to attend, you're welcome—it'll be a chance to relax and unwind."
"Great!"
"We get to see our juniors!"
"Definitely going!"
"Didn't realize they were graduating already."
"Finally, someone to share the burden on our shoulders."
The conference room buzzed with excitement, the earlier gloom lifting as people chatted among themselves.
Xie Zhao raised a hand to quiet them. The chatter died down, and the room returned to a silence so deep you could hear a pin drop.
"Zero has already informed each of you, but as of this class onward, we will be adopting a combined method of holographic recording wristbands and memory readers for reconstructing scenes inside the Threshold."
Everyone nodded in unison.