Chương 98: Magneto? Me?

Me?

"Zoe, you're awake?" Faint morning light had already appeared outside the window. Amber sunlight slanted in through the gap in the curtains, hitting the opposite wall and casting a warm hue over the entire room. Claire was dozing in her chair. Hearing a rustling sound beside her, she opened her eyes to see Zoe's large eyes blinking at her with a bewildered expression.

"Claire...? I'm not dead? Where am I..." She shook her head from side to side, her gaze sweeping across the unfamiliar room.

"You're in 302, my place... Vince saved you. How do you feel right now?" Hearing Claire say this, she finally relaxed. The memories in her mind were like a shattered photo wall, pieces flashing by rapidly.

"Saved me... I..." She suddenly remembered that short, ferociously fast monster. She remembered throwing herself forward to protect the others, driving her spear into the monster's body. And finally, she remembered only a field of blood-red filling her vision and the agonizing pain in her shoulder and arms...

"Ah!" Claire just said Vince saved her—she hadn't amputated her limbs, had she?! In the TV shows she used to watch, if your hand was injured, they chopped off your hand; if your foot was injured, they chopped off your foot; if your head was injured, they chopped off your head! She gasped sharply and bolted upright in bed, subconsciously raising her hands to confirm if they were still intact.

However, the moment she raised her hands and focused her attention entirely on them, she could clearly feel a bizarre fluctuation spreading outward from her palms. It was as if she were enveloped in a sentient bubble. Within this range, certain objects gave off a familiar tactile sensation, feeling exactly like an extension of her own limbs. With just a single thought... What... what is this... Clack. A soft sound rang out. Claire was drawn by the noise.

She subconsciously turned her head and was shocked to discover that the source of the sound was a pair of stainless steel medical scissors resting on the nightstand. These were the scissors Claire had used to cut open Zoe's clothes. She had casually set them down here after she finished. And right now, those scissors were trembling unnaturally, violently vibrating against the table and emitting a rapid tap-tap-tap sound. Immediately after, they actually stood up on the table!

Trembling slightly, as if supported by an invisible hand, they slowly levitated into the air...

"Ah..." Startled by this sudden supernatural phenomenon, Claire shrank back. She covered her mouth, her eyes filled with absolute disbelief. Whoosh— The scissors, slowly rotating in mid-air, suddenly seemed to lock onto a target. They transformed into a streak of silver light, flying straight toward Zoe's hands! A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. However, the scissors didn't stab her.

Instead, defying the laws of physics, they abruptly stopped dead in mid-air, hovering less than an inch from Zoe's palm. As she turned her palm upward, the scissors remained suspended above it, slowly rotating...

"Claire! This..." No matter how thick-nerved Zoe usually was, faced with a supernatural phenomenon happening to her own body, she was so panicked she was practically speechless. She didn't dare move the hand holding up the scissors, while her other hand tightly gripped the hem of Claire's shirt, looking at her nervously.

"Don't be afraid. Relax..." A steady voice came from the doorway. Vince was leaning against the doorframe; nobody knew when he had arrived. His expression was calm, but a sharp glint flickered in his eyes. He had been sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The moment the two girls started talking, he had woken up, but he never expected to walk in and witness such a shocking scene. He had originally thought that after a night's rest, as long as Zoe's Health Bar had mostly recovered, that would be enough.

He figured she would then follow Claire's path—killing zombies to slowly raise her Max HP and constitution. He never anticipated such an unexpected outcome... Above Zoe's head floated a green Health Bar. The bluish-purple border around it had completely stabilized. The shape was identical to Claire's, with only a subtle difference in color. But unlike Claire, Zoe's Max HP had completely surpassed hers! Vince was certain that when he last saw her last night, her Max HP was 105.

Yet right now, her Health Bar actually read [129/150]! But what shocked Vince the most wasn't just the Health Bar—it was the blue energy bar hovering right below it! It should be known that even for Vince, the energy bar had only appeared after he obtained an intact Crystal, and it only expanded to 200 points after his Max HP hit 600. And Zoe's current energy bar was [298/300]... 100 points more than his own!

"Relax. Just like slowly setting down an object you're holding in your hand, let your arm relax... relax..." As Vince spoke, he walked over and sat on the edge of Zoe's bed. He slowly reached out, pressed his hand over the stainless steel scissors, and gently pushed them down toward Zoe's palm. Guided by this physical pressure, Zoe slowly relaxed. The instant their palms touched, it was as if Zoe had finally broken free from some sort of trance.

She abruptly retracted her hand, letting the scissors drop onto the blanket. She let out a long, heavy exhale. Her gaze swept over Vince and Claire beside her, completely dazed and at a loss for words.

"I... Dage... what is..." Vince picked up the scissors and stuffed them into his pocket. He then firmly grabbed Zoe's cheeks with both hands and squished them. Looking at the Health Bar above her head, he broke into a smile.

"Congratulations. You hit the jackpot..." All of this completely overturned Vince's original hypothesis that 'Awakening' simply meant becoming a budget version of himself. He had thought Zoe would just become a second Claire, but he never expected her to wake up and immediately display such a badass superpower... Why? What was the difference? Vince's first instinct was to look over at Claire. Why did she only get the ability to grind Max HP point-by-point by killing zombies, without any accompanying superpowers?

Could her Awakening path have been flawed? Looks like I'll need to feed her some more blood later and test it out... Question after question churned in his mind. He had been feeling a bit smug about having reverse-engineered one Awakening pathway, but now he realized his understanding of this world's core mechanics barely scratched the surface. He checked Zoe's wounds. They were basically all healed, leaving only faint marks and scabs over the injuries. They would likely be completely gone in a few more hours...

"Put your clothes on. Come out in a bit and we'll test out your superpower..." With that, Vince turned and headed back to the sofa in the living room. It seemed that regardless of the type of Awakening, the most crucial aspect was still this inhuman recovery speed. It wasn't until Vince walked out of the room that Zoe finally realized she wasn't wearing any clothes!

Her clothes had been cut away by Claire, and because she was completely bewildered and shocked by her superpower the moment she woke up, she hadn't noticed at all! Nearby, Claire also only realized this upon hearing Vince's words. She turned her head, glared at Vince's retreating back, and hurriedly got up to rummage through the wardrobe. Luckily, Zoe had previously scavenged some clothes that fit her from the apartments downstairs.

After a bit of shuffling around, blushing bright red, she was finally led out of the bedroom by Claire.