"Oops!"
If Zhou Ziwei wanted to walk towards the door, he would have to step over the young woman... If the young woman had kept her eyes closed, he might have had a slight chance of getting away with it, but now... since the young woman had opened her eyes, unless he could become invisible, there was absolutely no way he could avoid her gaze...
No... I can't let her see my face... otherwise it would be too embarrassing.
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei looked around for something to cover his face, but the two towels in the bathroom were hanging by the door, out of his reach. The only things he could reach were two semi-transparent, sexy pieces of lingerie on the clothesline...
Zhou Ziwei hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't have the courage to cover his face with those two sexy pieces of lingerie... Damn, they were too wicked.
But if he didn't use those two pieces of underwear, Zhou Ziwei would have nothing else to cover his face. Now, if the young woman just raised her head slightly, she would definitely be able to see Zhou Ziwei... In that case, unless Zhou Ziwei left Tengchong immediately, he would lose face big time. And Zhou Ziwei couldn't just kill the innocent young woman to silence her just to avoid losing face, could he?
Damn... why is this bathroom so clean? Even a piece of paper would be nice... wait... paper... there seems to be something I can use as paper!
As Zhou Ziwei thought of this, a thought suddenly struck him. He reached out and touched his body, immediately finding the amoeba still fast asleep on his chest.
Without saying a word, Zhou Ziwei immediately grabbed the little bug and slapped it on his face. Then, he immediately communicated with the sleeping amoeba and told it to spread its body out as much as possible to cover Zhou Ziwei's entire face.
Amoebas are incredibly lazy and have shown almost no intelligence.
However, because Zhou Ziwei had replenished its soul power more than once in the past few days to prolong its life, the little amoeba was still quite dependent on Zhou Ziwei and dared not neglect his commands. It immediately woke up from its slumber and, as usual, released a bioelectric current, making Zhou Ziwei grimace before it quickly stretched out its body and covered Zhou Ziwei's entire face in the blink of an eye... Of course, the seven orifices of the face, such as the mouth, nose, and eyes, were not covered by the amoeba. In fact, gaps were left in all of them according to normal proportions. As a result, Zhou Ziwei felt as if he was wearing a thin mask on his face, without feeling any discomfort at all.
Hmm... this little bug is actually quite clever, so why does it always seem so silly? Uh... could this be what they call being wise in a foolish way?
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly. Now that his face was covered, he was no longer as nervous as before. Even if the young woman saw him and mistook him for a pervert, it didn't matter. He could just break down the door and run away. Who would recognize him then?
So it seems these amoebas are quite useful; at least they can change one's appearance by sticking them on one's face... Even if the appearance is a bit ugly, it doesn't matter, just treat it as a mask...
He looked down and saw the photo the young woman was holding. The photo showed a man in his twenties. He wasn't particularly handsome, but he had a very masculine charm. No wonder he had captivated the young woman so much that she even held his photo while using the restroom.
Zhou Ziwei chuckled to himself as he wondered what the amoeba had transformed him into. If the amoeba's shapeshifting ability could be adjusted even more precisely, he might as well transform into the man in the photograph.
That way, even if the young woman discovers him, she might assume it's her lover coming to meet her... and she probably won't make a scene... giving Zhou Ziwei a chance to slip away unscathed...
Just as Zhou Ziwei was thinking this, he felt the amoeba on his face suddenly wriggle slightly. Zhou Ziwei thought that the amoeba was being lazy and wanted to turn back into a little ball of flesh to continue sleeping. He was startled and subconsciously reached out and pressed his face.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ziwei acted too hastily, and his hand made a soft "smack" sound when he slapped his face.
"who……"
The dazed young woman was finally fully awakened. Her hand trembled, and she dropped the photo frame to the ground. At that moment, she didn't bother to pick it up. Instead, she instinctively clutched the hem of her nightgown tightly with both hands and looked up at Zhou Ziwei...
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly, knowing that what was bound to happen would eventually come. He felt the mutated creature on his face twitch briefly before falling silent again, seemingly not intending to leave. Relieved, he lowered his hand from his face and looked down at the young woman, waiting for her scream so he could make a run for it. He wanted to find a bed sheet or something to wrap himself in if he ran naked up to the third floor, otherwise he might be surrounded by a lot of people!
However, the expected scream never came. The young woman had taken a deep breath and opened her mouth wide the moment she saw Zhou Ziwei, clearly preparing to let out a scream that would shake the heavens and move the earth. But when she saw Zhou Ziwei's face in the dim light of the morning sun shining in from outside the door, the scream was immediately aborted and never came out again.
The young woman's fearful and panicked expression immediately softened, especially her eyes, which became tender and dazed the moment she saw Zhou Ziwei. She murmured, "Atao...Atao, is that you? You really came back to see me..."
The young woman stood up from the toilet, ignoring her panties that had been pulled down to her knees, and stumbled headlong into Zhou Ziwei's arms...
"I thought I was awake... Turns out I've been dreaming all along... But so be it! As long as I can see you... I'd rather live in this dream forever..."
The young woman clung tightly to Zhou Ziwei's waist and back, gently pressing her slightly flushed cheeks against his somewhat thin chest. Her soft belly pressed unabashedly against his slightly restless penis, causing Zhou Ziwei to involuntarily shudder...
"Ah Tao...you've lost weight...you're much thinner than before you died, are there a lot of evil spirits bullying you down there? Hmm...you're still so lecherous...tell me quickly, have you been cheating on me behind my back down there...?"
Zhou Ziwei had been stunned by the young woman's actions, but now he finally understood. It turned out this woman really did consider Zhou Ziwei her lover. However, Zhou Ziwei never imagined... that the lover this young woman had been so obsessed with would actually be a dead man...
But how could this young woman mistake Zhou Ziwei for her deceased lover? Could it be that the amoeba's slight wriggling just now actually transformed Zhou Ziwei's appearance into that of the person in the photo?
Wow... if that's really the case, then we've struck gold!
Upon considering this possibility, Zhou Ziwei immediately turned around and looked at himself in the mirror above the sink... Sure enough, he found that he looked exactly like the person in the photo the young woman had just been holding. This discovery immediately excited Zhou Ziwei.
He had only glanced at the photo casually, thinking that it would be best if the amoeba could transform him into the image in the photo. So... he didn't even actively ask the amoeba for it, and the amoeba effortlessly transformed into that shape as he requested... This... it seems that its shapeshifting ability is truly extraordinary!
"Atao...hold me tight...don't leave me..."
At this moment, the young woman reached out and stroked Zhou Ziwei's cheek again, then closed her eyes and resolutely pressed her alluring red lips deeply onto Zhou Ziwei's face... If she knew that she was kissing just an insect, one wonders what she would think...
He was being held by that sexy, fiery young woman... and Zhou Ziwei was completely naked, while the woman was only wearing a semi-transparent nightgown... and of course... a pair of panties that had fallen to her feet...
In this situation, it's estimated that nine out of ten men would immediately break down and do something desperately. Moreover, at this moment, Zhou Ziwei was, in the young woman's eyes, her deceased lover whom she still deeply loved.
I believe that no matter what Zhou Ziwei wants to do to her, that young woman will absolutely not refuse...
However, faced with the young woman's infatuated gaze, Zhou Ziwei simply couldn't bring himself to do something so beastly.
In the end, Zhou Ziwei could only coax and trick the young woman into the bedroom. He then stole a towel she had used and wrapped it around himself. Taking advantage of a moment when the woman wasn't paying attention... Zhou Ziwei immediately increased the speed of his leg's nerves to four times... and dashed out of the room like a gust of wind...
Back in his room, Zhou Ziwei immediately used his soul connection to send the ladybug that was fluttering in the morning breeze outside the hotel to the young woman's room, so he could observe her reaction through the ladybug's senses.
They found that the young woman wasn't crying or screaming wildly; she was just sitting quietly on the bed, still holding the photograph in her hands, her eyes glazed over, muttering to herself, "So a dream is just a dream..."
Zhou Ziwei sighed, then sent the ladybug back. He felt only sympathy for the woman, but was powerless to help her in any way. If he were to impersonate her deceased lover to comfort her… it would likely only hurt her more. Everyone has their own path to walk. Perhaps she would come to her senses later, or meet another man who would treat her well. Zhou Ziwei wasn't an omnipotent god; all he could do was feel sympathy for the poor woman…
It was already quite bright outside. Zhou Ziwei had been up all night and felt very tired. However, he didn't want to break the habit he had developed over this period of time, so he forced himself to practice Niu-style Tai Chi in his room.
He planned to finish practicing his boxing routine and then go to bed for a nap. He had already agreed with Liu Haiyang that he would go to the hospital tonight to help Liu Xiaofei with her eye treatment, so he had nothing to do all day and could sleep in all day.
Ever since Zhou Ziwei discovered that when Niu-style Tai Chi Chuan is used in conjunction with the permeation of soul power, the power of the fist technique will be multiplied, he has begun to simultaneously input about twice the amount of soul power into his entire body during his daily physical training.
Normally, if the soul power inputted into the body is not forced out, it will simply circulate within the body without being consumed much.
However, Zhou Ziwei suddenly felt that the extra light red soul power he had just channeled to all parts of his body disappeared in no time.
This discovery startled Zhou Ziwei. He had been completely focused on his fist technique and hadn't noticed how the soul power had disappeared. He pondered it for a while but couldn't figure out where the problem lay. If the soul power always disappeared from his body so inexplicably, then no matter how much soul power he absorbed, it wouldn't be enough to justify such a waste!
Therefore, this problem must be figured out. In a panic, Zhou Ziwei immediately stopped practicing his fist techniques, sat down on the ground, and once again let his soul power slowly permeate his entire body. Then he concentrated his mind to feel the soul power distributed throughout his body, wanting to see how this soul power had disappeared.
As a result, Zhou Ziwei sat quietly on the ground for more than half an hour this time, but he did not feel that his soul power had decreased. This made him even more confused.
Could there be a problem with my boxing technique? But I've always practiced like this every day before, so why didn't I notice that boxing would consume my soul power?
Zhou Ziwei frowned and slowly withdrew the soul power scattered throughout his body into his sea of souls. But then he was surprised to find that after just over half an hour, the soul power he had spread throughout his body was still less.
However, this small portion was a very small amount. If it were distributed throughout his body, he wouldn't have felt the loss of this part of his soul power at all. Only after it was all recovered did he realize that the total amount of his soul power had decreased again.
What on earth happened? This is absolutely unbelievable.
Zhou Ziwei muttered to himself as he once again spread his soul power throughout his body, this time increasing the total amount of soul power to three times the usual amount.
This time, Zhou Ziwei still couldn't feel the loss of his soul power. He guessed that the soul power might have been lost because of practicing the boxing. So he jumped up again and started practicing the first form of Niu-style Tai Chi again.
However, when he practiced his boxing this time, he focused most of his attention on the soul power that was scattered throughout his body.
Soon, Zhou Ziwei discovered that whenever he exerted force in his Niu-style Tai Chi, the spiritual power in his body would gradually decrease. He had only performed a little over half of the set of punches when the three times the spiritual power he had just distributed throughout his body was once again completely depleted.
No way! This fist technique consumes soul power?! How come I never noticed before?! Uh... Could it be that this upgrade in soul power has brought side effects, and the upgraded soul power can no longer be used in conjunction with the fist technique?
Although the total amount of soul power consumed in these two instances was not much—after all, the amount of soul power normally present in the human nervous system is negligible—even if Zhou Ziwei increased the amount to two or three times, the total amount was still not much, not even one percent of the energy of a remnant soul.
However, this inexplicable consumption still pained Zhou Ziwei. This was not like consuming soul power to prolong the life of the ladybug and the transformed creature. In comparison, although much more soul power was consumed on the two insects, it was, after all, supporting two lives that Zhou Ziwei had created himself. Zhou Ziwei was willing to use it on them.
If every time I practice Niu-style Tai Chi, I have to constantly consume my soul power, then over time, it will definitely become a headache.
Does this mean that after acquiring Jie Hong's soul power, he will never practice Niu-style Tai Chi again? But if he doesn't practice Niu-style Tai Chi, when will his little chicken-like physique ever become strong?
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei angrily slammed his fist on the floor.
With a loud "thud," Zhou Ziwei's punch landed with exceptional force, causing a sharp pain in his fist and making him hiss involuntarily.
"Huh... why does this punch I just threw seem a little different from before?"
Zhou Ziwei shook his hand, which was sore from the impact, and then suddenly realized that the force of his punch just now seemed to be much greater than before, almost the same as when he was healthy in his previous life.
Moreover, after a night of hard work, he was exhausted and his whole body was terribly tired. The reason he insisted on practicing boxing under such conditions was because he was gritting his teeth and persevering. But now... Zhou Ziwei felt that the fatigue seemed to have faded a lot. He no longer had that feeling of being so tired that he wanted to lie down on the floor and sleep until he died.
When did my buddy become so healthy?
Zhou Ziwei was stunned for a moment, then remembered that he didn't seem to have this feeling of being full of power when he started practicing his boxing earlier. Could it be because of the soul power that was consumed during the boxing practice?
Zhou Ziwei's eyes lit up at this thought...
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 141: Be Kind to Her
To confirm his idea, Zhou Ziwei once again mobilized the pale red soul power in his sea of souls and spread it throughout his body, then continued practicing the Niu-style Tai Chi...
The pale red soul power was still being consumed at varying speeds during the fist technique. However, before this soul power could completely dissipate, Zhou Ziwei replenished the consumed portion once again. After repeating this three times, Zhou Ziwei finally managed to finish the entire set of Niu-style Tai Chi.
This time, the practice session was noticeably different from the past. In the past, after Zhou Ziwei finished practicing the Niu-style Tai Chi from beginning to end, he would always be covered in sweat and so tired that he couldn't even straighten his back.
However, this time, after Zhou Ziwei finished his boxing match, he felt even more energetic, as if he had inexhaustible strength.
It seems that's indeed the case... I never imagined that the evolved and upgraded soul power could be absorbed by the body's cells to strengthen the physique and increase strength. If you simply spread the soul power throughout the body, the body will also slowly absorb this soul power to strengthen itself.
However, this effect is much slower. But when the soul power is distributed throughout the body and combined with the use of Niu-style Tai Chi, the unique intent of Niu-style Tai Chi can accelerate and catalyze this strengthening process.
This delighted Zhou Ziwei. His biggest headache after his rebirth was the incredibly poor constitution of his new body. At first, even walking a few steps would leave him breathless like a consumptive. He even had to force himself to suppress any lustful thoughts that might arise from a beautiful woman… his body simply couldn't withstand the strain… He didn't want to die on a woman's belly just days after his rebirth… Besides… the saying "to die under a peony flower is to be a romantic ghost" is utter nonsense. If a man actually died like that, he'd be scorned so much that even death wouldn't bring him peace!
Now that his soul power can strengthen his body, he has a real chance to get rid of his tuberculosis-prone constitution in a short time. For Zhou Ziwei, this is even more exciting than winning a piece of imperial green jadeite in gambling.
Unexpectedly, the evolution of his soul power would bring him such benefits. Zhou Ziwei originally planned to go to bed for a good night's sleep after practicing the Niu-style Tai Chi once, but now, in his excitement, he was wide awake. In particular, the feeling that his body was rapidly becoming stronger made him unwilling to slack off in the slightest. After finishing the first round of the boxing, he did not rest at all and started practicing from the beginning again, practicing the Niu-style Tai Chi once more.
However, this time the consumption of soul power was significantly reduced. Zhou Ziwei still distributed about three times the usual amount of soul power throughout his body. As a result, after Zhou Ziwei finished his fist technique, only about 70% to 80% of this soul power was absorbed by his body.
Zhou Ziwei also felt that his body strength seemed to have increased a bit, but the degree of increase was obviously much less than the first time.
No way! Could it be that the physical enhancement effect that comes with the evolution of this soul power is only this little bit...?
Zhou Ziwei's joy was short-lived, as he soon became depressed again. After being reborn in this body, he felt its weakness and was just hoping to one day have a healthy body like a normal person, which would be a great blessing.
However, people are always hard to satisfy. When he discovered that the power of his evolved soul could be used to strengthen his body, he even began to fantasize that under such a powerful and rapid strengthening effect, he would soon become an incredibly strongman. However, after two rounds of accelerated strengthening with Niu-style Tai Chi, his current physical condition is probably similar to that of an ordinary adult man. Although he is no longer as sickly as before, he is not much stronger.
This feeling is like having hundreds of millions in bank savings, but when you need the money, you can't find a bank or a place to swipe your card anywhere in the world, which is so frustrating that you want to vomit blood.
Unwilling to give up, Zhou Ziwei roused himself once more, channeling his spiritual power into his entire body, and began practicing another round of Niu-style Tai Chi.
This time, the effect was even more negligible. Zhou Ziwei was covered in sweat and finally finished the entire set of fist techniques, only to find that not even one-tenth of the soul power he had just dispersed into his body had been absorbed.
Zhou Ziwei wiped the sweat from his brow, sat on the floor, frowned and pondered for a moment. He figured that since his soul power had decreased by less than one-tenth when he was practicing his punches, it proved that his body was still absorbing soul power, only at a slower and slower rate.
This means that... the effect of the soul power strengthening the body has not disappeared; it is very likely that some objective reasons have limited the duration of the strengthening effect.
Only then did Zhou Ziwei realize how incredibly hungry he was.
It's unclear whether his hunger stemmed from being out working all night and not eating for a long time, or from the aftereffects of his rapid physical enhancement... Logically, soul power is just a special kind of energy and shouldn't be able to be converted into the calories and nutrients needed by the human body. Therefore, it's reasonable that he needs to eat a lot after his body is enhanced to replenish the various nutrients required for his improved physique.
With that thought in mind, Zhou Ziwei stopped rushing to strengthen his body and instead picked up the phone to have the restaurant downstairs immediately deliver a breakfast that would be enough for five or six people to eat their fill.
After Zhou Ziwei ate two bowls of lean meat porridge, five eggs, and two glasses of milk in one go, he couldn't eat anything else.
The amount of food consumed did seem slightly larger than usual, but not by much, much less than Zhou Ziwei had expected.
He thought he would probably have to eat dozens of steamed buns in one go, like Pigsy from Journey to the West, to replenish the nutrients needed for his body to rapidly strengthen.