Chapter 49: Demons Have Something to Say

"Can you trust me now?"

Chang Xin stepped out of the darkness, dropping hundreds of pounds of horse meat onto the ground with a look of triumphant satisfaction.

Zong Ni and Chen Ye hurried over. Though clearly reluctant, they still placed the horse head and a few smaller chunks of meat they were carrying onto the ground.

At the sight of the meat, the Wu siblings' eyes lit up instantly, filled with longing.

However, remembering their subordinate status, they quickly suppressed that yearning look, not wanting to disgrace their master.

Liu Hen gave Chang Xin a deep look, then extinguished the campfire and led the Wu siblings onward. "The firelight will definitely attract more dangers. Let's get out of here first."

"Indeed, I can sense a large number of monsters rushing toward this place."

Chang Xin hoisted the horse meat back onto her shoulder and followed, bringing Zong Ni and Chen Ye with her.

After the group had walked a considerable distance, a horde of monsters arrived at their previous location, occupying the area entirely.

Once they had hiked several thousand meters in one breath, Chang Xin finally spoke, "You must have another companion, right? Why not call them out for an introduction?"

Throughout the journey, she had been keeping a close eye on her surroundings, suspecting that the little girl was nearby, yet she could find no trace of her whatsoever.

Even with her previous tracking methods, she was completely unable to locate the little girl, which she found exceedingly strange.

Liu Hen knew Chang Xin was referring to Little Black Stone. The fact that the other party was aware of Little Black Stone's existence—coupled with her ability to quickly track him down in the pitch darkness—made him deeply uneasy.

"What was that ability of yours earlier?" he countered.

Chang Xin didn't mind Liu Hen's evasion and answered sincerely, "My ability is [Silver-Armored Queen]. I can bestow titles upon warriors. Currently, I can only confer it upon one person, but I have a premonition that as my power grows, I will be able to bestow it on more. What I used before was a temporary bestowal. Permanent bestowal requires the other person's wholehearted willingness."

She brought up the subject again, "Let's cooperate. You've seen my ability. With your help, I can permanently grant you power, making your combat prowess even greater and giving you stronger self-preservation capabilities."

"As long as you agree, you will be my first warrior. But don't worry, what I said before still stands; we will stand on equal footing."

She looked at Liu Hen with expectant eyes. "If we cooperate, we can undoubtedly achieve great things. There will definitely be a way to seize the resources of the people in the camp and ensure that everyone on the surface has food to eat."

Zong Ni, Chen Ye, and the Wu siblings behind them couldn't help exchanging glances.

Such ambition was far too grand for them to dare utter a word.

"That ability of yours..."

Liu Hen asked curiously, "Does bestowing warriors consume your own energy to sustain it, or what?"

"Temporary bestowal consumes my energy to maintain," Chang Xin replied.

"But permanent bestowal does not drain my power. It belongs to a kind of... contract? I suppose you could call it a contract, I've heard that term before."

Pausing for a moment, she continued to explain, "After a permanent bestowal, the recipient needs to rely on their own strength to condense armor. That armor becomes their source of power, and it can be continuously upgraded. As for how far they can ultimately improve, it still depends on their own efforts."

"It can be continuously upgraded?"

"This..."

"Sister Chang's ability is incredible!"

Zong Ni, the other young woman, and even the Wu siblings were somewhat stunned, uncontainable yearning flashing in their eyes.

Although receiving the bestowal seemed to only enhance physical strength, completely incomparable to genuine supernatural powers, it would still be enough to grant them self-preservation in the misty night world.

Unfortunately, Chang Xin didn't think much of them at all; her primary candidate was Liu Hen, who was also a supernatural awakener.

"It can be continuously upgraded..."

Liu Hen had to admit that Chang Xin's supernatural ability was formidable, extraordinarily so.

If she could bestow the title upon a sufficiently large number of warriors, perhaps she really could—my ass!

Her ambition was vast; she actually wanted everyone on the surface to have food to eat.

To accomplish such a feat, relying on strength alone was far from enough.

The environmental constraints were simply too severe. Crops could not possibly grow on the surface, and he had no idea how the people in the camp obtained their food in the first place.

Moreover, the underground harbored terrifying nightmares, and the people of the surface might not be able to adapt to subterranean life anytime soon.

He couldn't tell whether Chang Xin's mindset had fractured and she had become delusional from suddenly gaining supernatural powers and extraordinary strength, or if she truly possessed hidden depths.

Judging solely by the current circumstances, however, achieving that goal would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

After all, maintaining a large following would undoubtedly require massive amounts of food.

Of course, that was assuming Chang Xin could actually bestow the title upon more warriors in the future. Just one or two, or even... hundreds or thousands would still be useless.

A few hundred or a few thousand powerful individuals could at best carve out a territory and act as local kings.

Yet, that same truth remained: without food, everything else was just an illusion.

"Have you ever seen other supernatural awakeners?" Liu Hen asked.

Earlier, he had suspected that Hong Ming might be an awakener.

Now, however, he wasn't so sure, because it seemed one didn't necessarily need to be an awakener to possess formidable strength.

As for his own golden cheat, he wasn't even certain if it truly counted as a supernatural power.

Judging by Chang Xin's behavior, if awakeners in this world possessed similar miraculous abilities, their social status must be extremely high, and they certainly wouldn't be wandering around outside.

"No," Chang Xin shook her head.

"I've heard of awakeners before. Those... well, people like us have very high status. Aside from newcomers like us who have just awakened, everyone else is practically sheltered and revered by major factions. It's impossible for them to roam around outside."

Liu Hen shared this sentiment, reinforcing his belief that the number of supernatural awakeners in this world must be very small.

"By the way, have you ever encountered those horse-riding people?"

He asked again, "Those people have metal inside their bodies like cyborgs. Could they also be the handiwork of supernatural awakeners?"

"The handiwork of supernatural awakeners?"

Chang Xin was startled. "Now that you mention it, it does sound a bit similar. But I'm not sure either, because I awakened recently myself and have never seen such cyborgs before."

Those cyborgs were clearly outsiders.

At that moment, a monster blocked the path ahead. She dropped the horse meat, rushed forward with a flurry of punches and kicks, and easily dispatched the obstruction.

Picking up the magic crystal, she returned to her spot, hoisted the horse meat back onto her shoulder, and asked as she walked, "Where are you heading?"

"This area is no longer safe. Let's leave first."

Liu Hen didn't reveal his destination directly; they weren't that familiar with each other yet.

"True, very few people used to come around here," Chang Xin said, looking troubled.

"With so many powerful beings, my plan will be even harder to complete."

With that, she looked at Liu Hen. "Can't your ability store items? Pack the horse meat away, won't you?"

"Aren't you afraid I won't return it to you?" Liu Hen raised an eyebrow.

"We're already our own people. As my first warrior, what's mine is yours, isn't it?" Chang Xin replied without changing her expression.

"...... I haven't agreed to that. Besides, a bestowal like yours must have restrictions; I'm not interested in that kind of power."

Liu Hen was speechless, but he didn't refuse. With a wave of his hand, he stored the horse meat from Chang Xin's hands, followed by the smaller chunks of meat from Zong Ni and Chen Ye.

"This ability of yours is far too convenient."

Chang Xin's gaze grew even more fervent, convincing her all the more that Liu Hen was the primary helper she needed.

Having an ability like this to carry supplies would save her an immense amount of physical effort.

Liu Hen ignored Chang Xin's burning gaze. As a transmigrator, he had his own pride, and since he could also be considered a supernatural awakener, he had no intention of submitting to anyone.

At least from what he could tell so far, his golden cheat was only stronger than Chang Xin's ability, not weaker.

The only drawback seemed to be that the enhancements of the complete thermal set were fixed and required upgrading through his own efforts.

*Master, another demon is approaching. It's not coming close yet, but it might have sensed my presence,* Little Black Stone's slightly puzzled voice suddenly rang in Liu Hen's mind. *It seems to have something to say to me.*

Liu Hen frowned and gestured for everyone to halt.

Chang Xin looked confused and was about to speak when her expression suddenly shifted.

For within her field of vision, a massive wave of darkness was rolling in like a tide, and an oppressive aura was drawing closer by the second.

A sharp sense of crisis made her instinctively reach to summon her armor, only to have Liu Hen suddenly press down on her shoulder. "Don't provoke it just yet."