Chapter Six: Supernatural Abilities

Twenty days had passed, and Serra had vanished without a trace, as if he had truly disappeared from the world. Of course, everyone knew this was impossible, but it was still baffling—why had Serra gone into hiding again, and for a full twenty days without showing himself? No one could make sense of it. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

What no one could fathom was that Serra was now on an unnamed island in the Pacific, clad only in swim trunks, reclining on a beach chair, enjoying the sea breeze and sunbathing, a beer in hand. He looked utterly at ease.

“I thought Peter’s powers had failed, that Nakamura’s strange brain tumor meant he could only travel through space, not time, and that no one could threaten me anymore. But then along came this Tang Yi fellow—what a headache!” Serra muttered to himself, draining his beer in one long gulp before tossing the empty bottle away. The bottle arced through the clouds and vanished from sight.

Tang Yi was still unconscious, yet his brain was more active than ever. If he’d been awake during this period, he would have seen that the source of his superpowers was constantly thickening and expanding; trapezoidal forms were sprouting like bamboo shoots after the rain, each one giving birth to an orb of power. More strange still, some pairs of trapezoids were merging into larger ones, forming rectangles instead of their former squares, with grooves shaped like the number eight, and their power orbs fusing into figure-eights as well. Most important of all, now every power orb fit tightly into its groove, none floating as before.

At last, after thirty days and nights of unconsciousness, Tang Yi groaned—a sign that he was finally waking. The first thing he blurted out was, “Mother of God, I’m starving!”

In the peacekeeping force’s mess hall,

“Serra hasn’t shown up again?” Tang Yi asked between ravenous mouthfuls of noodles, listening to Liu Shanquan recount what had happened during the month he’d been out cold, every so often interjecting a question.

“That’s right. Serra’s behavior this time is really abnormal. There might be an even bigger plot brewing, for all we know!” Liu Shanquan absentmindedly tapped his fingers on the table.

“Ugh... now I’m really full!” Tang Yi let out a long, satisfied burp.

“Are you a pig? You ate eight huge bowls!” Liu Shanquan finally stopped tapping. “To be honest, even if you went a year or two without food, you’d be fine—so why are you so gluttonous?”

“Well, of course I know that. It’s just habit, eating three meals a day. Besides, even if I can now live forever, I still burn energy every day—of course I need to eat. Not to mention I’ve been hungry for thirty days straight! Ugh...” Another long burp.

“By the way, I haven’t asked you yet—what happened that day to make you collapse?” Liu Shanquan asked, puzzled.

Tang Yi scratched his head sheepishly. “Well, you saw Serra, right? I was so focused on absorbing his powers to make myself stronger. I just wanted to take his original superpower—the one for understanding and repairing things. But as soon as I absorbed it, my power source mutated and started crazily drawing in all Serra’s other abilities. My power source was about to blow up; I thought I was done for. Luckily, Serra ran away just in time. I couldn’t suppress the explosive surge and passed out. Honestly, if Serra had stayed even ten seconds longer, we’d all have been blown to dust—him included!”

“So it was that close, huh? You know, at the time you had nearly two thousand different superpowers, and with Serra’s added in, if you two had exploded, all of Washington—no, all of America—would have been obliterated!” Liu Shanquan said with conviction.

“Yeah, more than two thousand powers. It wasn’t just America—the whole world was at risk! Lucky to be alive, I guess—I must be destined for greater things.” Tang Yi shuddered at the thought.

“So what now? I’m planning to head home to China for a while—do you want to come with me? Or are you going to keep wooing Claire?” Liu Shanquan grinned mischievously.

“Stop right there! You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want. Sure, Claire’s beautiful, but she’s still a foreigner, and I’m a pretty traditional guy—” Tang Yi didn’t get to finish before Liu Shanquan suddenly spit out his tea in a spray that drenched Tang Yi’s face.

“Ugh! Don’t you have any manners, spraying spit everywhere?” Tang Yi wiped the tea from his face.

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help it—you’re hilarious!” Liu Shanquan was laughing so hard he nearly passed out.

“Poor choice of friends,” Tang Yi sighed. “But seriously, I need to go back to China, too. My powers have changed so much—I need to analyze them properly. Not so easy to do abroad, right?”

“That’s true. When should we leave? But with the current international situation, we’ll need a special flight.”

“No need. Haven’t you seen my powers? Just let the director know, and I can take you back home in a snap!” Tang Yi looked smug, the picture of a little man who’d struck it rich.

“Haha, true enough! With your help, going anywhere is easy!” Liu Shanquan smacked his forehead. “Let me think—where should we go for fun? Otherwise, it’s a waste of your powers. Should we go to the moon, Mars, or Saturn...?”

Tang Yi quickly cut him off. “Enough! If you want to die, don’t drag me with you. Mars, Saturn—give me a break! Let’s go get leave approved!” He dashed out of the canteen before Liu could reply.

“Wait for me! Always running off like that!” Liu Shanquan grumbled, always a few years older than Tang Yi but constantly outmaneuvered by him.

“Ready?” Tang Yi put a hand on Liu Shanquan’s shoulder.

“Ready! Let’s go!”

“All done!” Tang Yi lifted his hand from Liu’s shoulder.

“What? Already? My god—this is Shanghai headquarters!” Liu Shanquan looked around in shock and hollered.

Tang Yi ignored his outburst and went straight to see Professor Feng, the head of Shanghai headquarters. After finishing his business there, he returned to his dormitory and locked himself inside.

He stayed shut in for three days and nights—no food, no water, no sleep. During that time, Tang Yi tested every one of his powers. He found that his absorption and cloning abilities had fused with the comprehension power he had taken from Serra; also, Wu Datu’s wind and water manipulation powers and Wang Siying’s healing and life-draining abilities had fused as well. Several other abilities had also merged, but those needn’t be detailed for now.

At this point, Tang Yi was practically a super Superman—immortal, able to heal others and drain their life, control thoughts, create illusions, forge memories, suppress others’ powers, and with a superhuman memory capable of reading at lightning speed—over two thousand superpowers in total. In short, he was half a god.

After analyzing his abilities, Tang Yi made a decision: he was going to dedicate himself to study and self-improvement. He went to Professor Feng to claim his salary, then headed out shopping. At a supermarket—always crowded no matter the time—Tang Yi strolled along, half-squinting, quietly absorbing others’ superpowers wherever he went. After a month of evolution, his power source had changed drastically—now, as soon as he absorbed a power, he fully comprehended and mastered it, no need for endless practice as before. Tang Yi guessed this was the effect of Serra’s original ability.

He wasn’t wrong—Serra’s original power had a sinister side, giving him an addiction to cracking open people’s skulls—an urge that only grew stronger with time. Tang Yi was fortunate: after merging Serra’s power with his own, he no longer needed to open skulls to acquire abilities, thus avoiding the dark side of Serra’s gift.

Seeing his power source swelling, new trapezoidal forms fusing seamlessly with orbs of power, Tang Yi was delighted—grinning foolishly, half-drooling as he wandered the aisles, earning the wary stares of other shoppers.

“This is embarrassing—better finish up and get out of here,” he thought, noticing the gathering crowd.

When Tang Yi returned to Shanghai headquarters, he was carrying two backpacks stuffed with drinks and bread. He’d decided to use his photographic memory to read every book, watch every movie—everything in the world.

He went straight to the library on the eighteenth floor, which was partly computerized—the front filled with rows of desks, eight in each row, twelve computers per row. Farther in were long reading tables, five rows of ten each. The largest area was given over to classic multi-level bookshelves, neat and orderly.

Few people were inside, and the atmosphere was hushed. Tang Yi quietly picked an out-of-the-way desk, dropped off his bags, and went to get books. When he returned, a huge stack—at least a hundred—floated along with him. He sat and began flipping through them at lightning speed, scanning each book in minutes. He was like a living super-scanner, absorbing every word through his eyes. In a little over ten minutes, the whole stack was done, and he went back for more. After a dozen trips, he grew lazy and simply beckoned with his hand—books would zoom over, then zoom back when finished. “My telekinesis is getting smoother and smoother,” he thought, humming to himself in triumph.

He had no idea how long he spent repeating this gesture. He went through one whole backpack of snacks as he finished off the shelves, stretching and yawning at last. The library was now eerily quiet, even more so than when he’d entered, but Tang Yi thought nothing of it. Next, he headed for the computer area.

“Hmm, why is this one frozen?” He poked the power button, but nothing happened. “Never mind, I’ll try another.”

That one was frozen, too. Ten more computers, all dead. Some had frozen screens, others wouldn’t turn on at all. Tang Yi finally realized something was wrong and went to find the staff member—but the man was frozen mid-drink, unmoving. “Hey, aren’t you tired holding that pose so long? I’m tired just watching you. Hey...” Tang Yi was startled by something else—a fly hung motionless in the air, its wings still as stone. “Holy crap! I’ve stopped time without realizing it. No, not stopped time—I’ve entered a gap in time. I can move through time, not just space, though I can’t actually turn back the clock. Still, this is almost invincible! Coupled with my immortality, time is like rice to me—endless! Hahaha!” Tang Yi burst out laughing.

After his fit of laughter, Tang Yi slipped back into normal time, watching the world around him come back to life. He checked the computer clock: it was already four in the afternoon—he’d come in at ten. Not much time left; he’d better read more. He grabbed the mouse, then remembered he had a power for controlling computers—why not use it?

At once, his mind was flooded with information, and within seconds, he’d copied all the data from every computer and server in the local network—e-books and all—directly into his brain.

“My god, this is amazing! I’m set for life... ha ha ha!” Tang Yi suddenly shouted, startling everyone in the library. Glares of murderous intent shot his way, so he stuck out his tongue and hurriedly grabbed his bags and fled.

That night, Tang Yi borrowed a laptop and hooked it up to the internet in his room. By morning, he had copied a vast trove of online data into his mind. If he ever decided to play a prank, who knows how many countries would suffer—but, fortunately, Tang Yi had no interest in such mischief. All he wanted was to absorb all the world’s knowledge.

Serra’s sudden disappearance had left Tang Yi with the perfect window of time. In the days that followed, he scoured the world for books and information—even secret government archives—using his powers to break in where necessary and stealing every scrap of data he could find. With abilities as monstrous as his, there was nowhere in the world he couldn’t go. After a month, he returned home with his mind bursting at the seams; from then on, apart from his duties, he had no idea what to do with himself. So he began his plan for a global tour—a trip around the world in a day, powered by his abilities and a bit of leave, mainly to seek out crowds from which to absorb more superpowers.

Another Sunday arrived—Tang Yi’s time for his round-the-world jaunt. At dusk, he teleported back to his dorm from Egypt, content and satisfied. He had barely set down his backpack when his communicator buzzed.

“Tang Yi, this is Professor Feng. Serra has reappeared. You must report to Peacekeeping Headquarters immediately!” Professor Feng’s voice was urgent.

“Damn, got it. Serra really is a handful,” Tang Yi muttered, exasperated. He quickly changed clothes and teleported straight to the headquarters conference room.