Of course... this doesn't rule out the possibility that Chen Linlin has the ability to see ghosts by nature. However, if Chen Linlin really does have the ability to see ghosts, then she should be able to see not only this small soul bead, but also ghosts.
When Zhou Ziwei was refining the assassin's soul, it was pitch black all around. Even if Chen Linlin truly had the ability to see ghosts, she probably couldn't see the soul, which seemed like a faint shadow. But now the garage is brightly lit by the headlights of this Bentley. So if another soul appears later, we'll know whether Chen Linlin truly possesses the ability to see ghosts.
"Nonsense... I'm not blind, how could I not see what you're holding?" Chen Linlin rolled her eyes at Zhou Ziwei again, then asked with a face full of curiosity, "Where did you get this? Did you steal it from some female celebrity just now? Hehe... Don't be angry, I was just joking. But... this bead is really pretty, can you give it to me?"
As a once-popular female celebrity, Chen Linlin had countless wealthy businessmen who wanted to give her jewelry. However, Chen Linlin knew that those tycoons had ulterior motives towards her, and since her family was not short of money, she naturally would not accept things from others casually.
It's unheard of for someone to ask a man for something like this before. If any other man heard this, he would be grinning from ear to ear, and he would eagerly offer even the most precious jewelry to Chen Linlin.
But to her surprise, Zhou Ziwei didn't give her any face at all. Without even considering it, he immediately and without hesitation refused, saying, "No."
"Uh... if it's not okay, it's not okay. What's with the fuss?" Chen Linlin had asked a man for something for the first time, but was rejected. Her face immediately turned ugly. However, this was only because she was too proud to ask for it. She didn't really want Zhou Ziwei's bead.
In fact, Zhou Ziwei wasn't really reluctant to part with this one Soul Bead. Now that he knew how to refine Soul Beads, he would have plenty of opportunities to refine countless Soul Beads in the future, so he naturally wouldn't care about this one.
However, he still knew nothing about the function of this Soul Bead, not even whether it would harm ordinary people, so how could he dare to give it away casually? But he couldn't explain this to Chen Linlin. Even though he saw that Chen Linlin looked unhappy, he had no intention of compromising. He immediately stuffed the Soul Bead into his pocket, carefully zipped it up tightly, and then jumped out of the car and walked over to another assassin who was lying in the corner, fast asleep with an automatic rifle in his hand.
It was only when Zhou Ziwei walked into that corner that Chen Linlin noticed that there was actually another person hiding there. Moreover, that person seemed to be sleeping soundly, just like the masked man next to Xiao Yushen. She couldn't help but feel very surprised, wondering why these guys who didn't look like good people would be sleeping here.
What was Zhou Ziwei going to do next? Was he going to wake him up? Or was he going to tie him up and hand him over to the police while he was asleep?
As Chen Linlin was lost in thought, she saw Zhou Ziwei walk up to the man, squat down, and deftly pull out a dagger with a black leather sheath from the man's waist. He then drew the dagger and stabbed it into the masked man's neck.
"Ah—" Upon seeing this, Chen Linlin couldn't help but cover her mouth and let out a soft gasp. Although Chen Linlin knew that the masked man was probably not a good person, or even one of the assassins who came to kill her, she never expected that Zhou Ziwei would be so ruthless, killing someone who had no ability to resist without even blinking an eye.
The thought that she had been with this terrifying murderer for so long, and that he had hugged, kissed, and touched her... sent chills down Chen Linlin's spine.
But then she saw Zhou Ziwei stand motionless in front of the corpse after killing it. After a long time, he suddenly reached out and grabbed something in the air, then turned around and looked at her with a strange smile on his face.
"Ah..." Seeing Zhou Ziwei's strange smile, Chen Linlin felt a shiver run through her body again, her heart filled with fear, wondering what this murderous maniac was laughing about.
While refining the soul of the second assassin, Zhou Ziwei kept a close eye on Chen Linlin behind him with his soul power. Seeing that although Chen Linlin looked terrified, she never glanced at the ghost floating in front of him, which was being slowly compressed and refined by the large hand he had created with his soul power, he finally confirmed that Chen Linlin did not have the legendary Yin-Yang eyes. That meant that... these souls could indeed be transformed into extremely strange physical matter under the compression of his mutated soul power. Although this physical matter had no weight at all, it was still a physical thing.
Since this thing can materialize, does that mean... it will also have some effect on ordinary people? In fact, if this thing can be directly absorbed by ordinary people, it will instantly increase their soul power. If this is true, then it is quite peculiar. Its effect will definitely not be as simple as just providing Zhou Ziwei with mobile soul power.
Zhou Ziwei still harbors resentment towards Liu Xiaofei for the damage to her soul caused by him, but he has no way to deal with it. His soul power can heal ordinary physical injuries, but he is completely helpless when it comes to other people's soul problems.
If he were to probe his soul power into someone else's soul, it would absolutely cause an ordinary person's soul to collapse instantly, leaving not even a ghost behind after death.
Zhou Ziwei had also considered letting Liu Xiaofei absorb some soul power, so that the injury to her soul could be healed immediately. However, soul power is not something that just anyone can absorb. Zhou Ziwei also believed that even if he taught Liu Xiaofei the Six-Syllable Mantra, she would not be able to have the same ability as him.
In fact, Zhou Ziwei bought that strange jade pendant from the old lama in Tibet and learned to recite the six-syllable mantra in that special tone from the old lama. He tried to recite it more than once when he was occasionally upset, but nothing unusual ever happened. Only at the moment he was shot did the six-syllable mantra suddenly show a strange effect, and it has lasted until now.
This means that... if an ordinary person recites the Six-Syllable Mantra in his way, they certainly won't be able to absorb all the souls and spirits around them like he does.
It's not like Zhou Ziwei is the only one in the world who can recite the Six-Syllable Mantra. If that were the case, the world would probably be in chaos long ago.
However, now that he has this Soul Bead, perhaps he will have the opportunity to help Liu Xiaofei heal her soul wounds.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't dare to use this method on Liu Xiaofei without experimental verification. If it didn't cure Liu Xiaofei and instead killed or made her stupid, Zhou Ziwei would feel guilty for the rest of his life.
Although Chen Linlin seemed quite interested in the Soul Bead, Zhou Ziwei didn't intend to experiment on her. After all, he still had some goodwill towards Chen Linlin, and besides... he had just taken advantage of her quite a bit, so it would be too unethical to use her as a test subject now.
Anyway, there are still two assassins in front of us, we can just grab one and experiment on it.
Having made up his mind, Zhou Ziwei immediately sped up, taking down another assassin and refining his soul into a soul bead. He also removed the poisoned dagger from the assassin's body, along with the tiny mosquitoes attached to it that were constantly feeding on the venom. Only then did he pick up the last assassin—the one who had taken Xiao Yushen hostage—and take away his dagger and pistol before stuffing him into the trunk of the Bentley.
Although he planned to use this person for experiments, he needed to focus on more important matters. He needed to kill at least a dozen more Night Elf assassins before he could truly damage the Night Elves' foundation. Now... he seemed to be getting closer to that goal.
When Zhou Ziwei opened the car door and got in, Chen Linlin, who was already trembling with fear from his murderous aura, gasped again and instinctively shrank back, her eyes filled with terror.
Seeing how terrified Chen Linlin was of him, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile... He was trying to save her, but in her mind, she probably already saw him as a murderous monster!
Fortunately, although Zhou Ziwei was somewhat sexually interested in Chen Linlin, he didn't really want to have any interaction with her. This time, he was mainly trying to deal with the Dark Elves, which is why he was protecting her so diligently. After this incident, the two would be separated, so what did it matter what impression Chen Linlin had of him?
Zhou Ziwei started the car, turned it around to face the garage door leading to the stadium, then jumped out again. He told Chen Linlin to stay in the car, and then slowly walked to the door, unlocked it, but just as he was about to push the door open, a feeling of unease welled up inside him…
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 231: Pearls Falling from the Sky
Zhou Ziwei felt a chill run down his spine and immediately shuddered. Instead of pushing the garage door open right away, he first projected his soul power and scanned the area around the garage. However, apart from a dozen or so students not far from the garage door, he saw nothing else.
The students looked very young, only about sixteen or seventeen years old. Zhou Ziwei didn't believe that there would be any Night Elf assassins mixed in with them.
It's important to understand that being an assassin is no easy job. Too young people are prone to being impetuous and impulsive, while being an assassin requires being discreet and cautious. Therefore, even if someone is very capable, it is difficult for someone who is too young to be competent in this line of work.
Although he didn't find anything suspicious, the chill in his heart made Zhou Ziwei dare not be careless in the slightest. After a slight hesitation, Zhou Ziwei let the ladybug slip out through the crack in the door first.
After all, his soul power could only radiate within a 20-meter radius around him. If an assassin was lying in ambush beyond 20 meters, he would be powerless. The ladybug, on the other hand, was more agile. As long as it was within 200 meters of Zhou Ziwei, he could see everything around him through the ladybug's senses.
After the ladybug flew away, Zhou Ziwei immediately used the ladybug's eyes to carefully search around, but the area outside was very open, and there was almost no one worth noticing.
Zhou Ziwei quickly focused his attention on a tall building with more than ten floors across the street.
Sniper!
This was the only source of crisis Zhou Ziwei could think of, and it seemed quite likely. Since the Night Elf knew Chen Linlin's route so well, they naturally wouldn't let go of such an ideal sniping spot. When the car just drove out of the garage, its speed couldn't be too fast, and none of the cars had bulletproof glass. So, if a sniper was positioned on the opposite building, they could easily shoot a bullet into the car the moment it drove out, hitting the target.
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei immediately sent the ladybug flying directly towards the building.
Although the building is more than ten stories high, with hundreds of windows facing the parking garage alone, it would be quite difficult to search for a suspicious person who might be a sniper in such a large area, but this is all Zhou Ziwei can do for now.
If Zhou Ziwei hadn't been with Chen Linlin, things would have been easier. After all, with his senses and sensitivity more than tripling, bullets fired from that distance would have virtually no chance of hitting him. But the problem was that he also had to protect Chen Linlin, and he also had to drive. If he recklessly drove off like that, even if he could dodge the sniper's attack, he would hardly have the strength to protect Chen Linlin.
Trying to dodge bullets by controlling a car is utter nonsense. Zhou Ziwei can use his superpowers to enhance his various abilities, but he can't simultaneously improve the car's performance. No matter how fast his reactions are, he can't expect the car under his control to react at such an astonishing speed.
Fortunately, the ladybug flew fast enough that it reached the building across the street in the blink of an eye, and then began a thorough search, checking each window one by one.
This process cannot be rushed; if there is any oversight, it's like playing with your life.
"Hey... what's wrong? Aren't we leaving yet?"
Chen Linlin waited in the car for a while, but saw Zhou Ziwei lying motionless by the door, seemingly up to no good. A sense of unease crept into her heart, but remembering the terrifying way Zhou Ziwei had killed someone so easily, she didn't dare ask. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed, and seeing that Zhou Ziwei was still standing there motionless, that she finally couldn't help but whisper a question.
"Don't make a sound... There might be snipers outside. If we go out now, we'll be easy prey!" Zhou Ziwei was focused on searching the building across the street using the ladybug. He responded to Chen Linlin's question with a curt tone and then ignored her.
"Ah... a sniper!" Upon hearing this, Chen Linlin shrank back in fright, her eyes filled with terror, and she dared not ask any more questions.
Just two years ago, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a Hong Kong shipping company, she witnessed a business tycoon being shot in the head by a bullet that seemed to come from nowhere. The bloody scene is still fresh in her memory, which is why she reacted so strongly when Zhou Ziwei mentioned snipers.
However, she was still a little puzzled. If there really were snipers outside, it seemed that Zhou Ziwei had no other way to deal with it except to call the police... What was the point of him standing there motionless like that? Was he trying to outlast those snipers in terms of patience? She had heard that some snipers would wait for days and nights in one spot to wait for their target to appear. Wasn't it absurd to try to outlast a sniper in terms of patience?
After waiting for nearly ten more minutes, Chen Linlin finally mustered up her courage and said to Zhou Ziwei, "Um... we can't keep waiting like this... I... we should call the police quickly, okay?"
Zhou Ziwei turned around and curled his lip in disdain, saying, "Haven't you seen the movies your Hong Kong movies make? In which one doesn't the police only show up after everything is resolved? Heh... I think this time will be no exception. Would the police not send people to maintain order at such an important concert? And after the concert, the stadium suddenly lost power. Would the police be completely unaware of such a major event? But so much time has passed, have you heard a single police siren? If I'm not mistaken, the person who wanted to assassinate you must be someone with connections and influence. They must have already made arrangements with the police here before carrying out this assassination plan, or perhaps they simply used some other method to divert the police's attention... There's no way you can wait for the police to come and rescue you."
Even if you wanted to call the police… I doubt it would be useful. Since they've trapped us in this stadium, they'll naturally expect someone to call the police. So… if we first use special equipment to completely block all cell phone signals here, and then cut off wired communication facilities, then none of us here will be able to contact the outside world for a short period of time.”
"No...it's impossible...I'll try..." Because Zhou Ziwei had previously disagreed with letting Chen Linlin call the police, Chen Linlin hadn't dared to make her own decision. Now, hearing Zhou Ziwei's words, she felt even more terrified and couldn't care less about anything else. She immediately took off a delicate women's cell phone hanging on her wrist, turned it on, and saw...sure enough, there was no signal at all. Only then did she completely believe Zhou Ziwei's words. It seemed that the person who wanted to assassinate her was indeed extraordinary, having completely blocked the cell phone signal in the entire stadium. You know, she was using a satellite phone, which could receive signals even in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, but here...there wasn't even the slightest signal. How could it be that it had been completely blocked?
Chen Linlin was completely stunned. She was blocked, surrounded... There were snipers outside, and there might be countless assassins inside the stadium, and all of this was aimed at her alone.
What should she do? She can't call the police, and she can't ask her family for help, so... what other options does she have?
In the end, Chen Linlin's helpless gaze could only be fixed on Zhou Ziwei, who stood silently and motionless in front of the garage door...
Perhaps... only he could save me! But... why? Why would he save me? He didn't seem moved at all when he saw the super-popular, hailed as the most beautiful and sexiest Chinese female star of this century. So, he probably didn't save me for my looks or body. But... was he really just a fan of mine, and that's why he risked his life to protect me?
While Chen Linlin was still lost in thought, Zhou Ziwei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The ladybug lived up to expectations and completely eliminated all threats from the building across the street.
The Night Elf really went all out with four snipers... Luckily, I didn't rush out, or I would have been in real trouble.
Zhou Ziwei secretly rejoiced. Those were four snipers... Four experienced snipers working together to block a small garage door could really be done almost flawlessly.
Even if Zhou Ziwei reacts quickly, the cramped space inside the car will restrict his movements. Even if he can see the bullets flying from the opposite direction, it will be difficult for him to dodge them if several snipers fire at the same time. At that time, even protecting himself will become a problem, let alone how to protect Chen Linlin.
However, the crisis has now been temporarily averted, and the four snipers who were lying in ambush in different positions were all focused on the garage above, so they wouldn't notice the little ladybug flying towards them.
Therefore, the ladybug hardly exerted any effort to kill the four snipers one by one after pinpointing their locations.
It's a pity about these four newborn souls. If I had time to refine them one by one, I would have four more soul beads in my possession.
Although it is not yet clear whether the Soul Bead can work on ordinary people, Zhou Ziwei is still full of anticipation. Now, facing these inhuman killers, he can directly refine their souls into Soul Beads without any psychological burden, completely erasing their consciousness while preserving their soul power.
But when facing ordinary souls in the future, Zhou Ziwei might not be able to bring himself to be so ruthless.
Even though he felt a little regretful, Zhou Ziwei wasn't crazy enough to go up to the building across the street and collect and refine the souls of those people one by one.
After all, the threat of the night elves still exists, and so far he has only killed a dozen or so assassins, which is still a bit short of his minimum target.
The assassination attempt against Chen Linlin is not yet over, so he naturally wouldn't risk losing more than he gained for a few soul beads.
However, although Zhou Ziwei intended to let those souls go, he did not expect that when he opened the garage door and drove Chen Linlin out, he would unexpectedly find four faint phantoms rushing from the air, baring their fangs and claws, and grabbing at Chen Linlin sitting in the car.
Seriously?! They just delivered themselves to my doorstep!
Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed and immediately released an extremely large ball of soul power, which transformed into a giant hand that directly grasped all four fragile soul entities in his palm.
A faint wisp of lightning flickered in mid-air, but the lightning was so subtle that even Chen Linlin, who was right next to it, could not see it at all.
But when four perfectly round, jet-black, rice-grain-sized beads slowly fell from mid-air and were caught by Zhou Ziwei through the car window, Chen Linlin was completely dumbfounded.
Chen Linlin could tell that these beads were exactly the same as the one Zhou Ziwei had been holding earlier. However, Chen Linlin had previously wondered if Zhou Ziwei had swiped it from some female celebrity at the stadium, but now she was watching four beads fall from the sky... She had only ever heard of pies falling from the sky, but never pearls. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Chen Linlin would never have believed that such a strange thing could really happen, but now she couldn't help but believe it.
"Oh my god... how did these pearls fall from the sky? You... you're not doing magic, are you?!" Chen Linlin finally couldn't help but exclaim after seeing Zhou Ziwei carefully put the soul pearls into his jacket pocket.
"Hehe...someone gave it to me."
Zhou Ziwei glanced at Chen Linlin and started spouting nonsense in a pretentious manner.
"Someone sent it... Could there be someone in the sky?" Chen Linlin was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously leaned out of the car window to look at the sky, but she didn't see a single bird. Only then did she realize that she had been tricked. She angrily shrank back and glared at Zhou Ziwei, but she couldn't suppress her curiosity. Just as she was about to continue to pester him with questions, she heard a loud shout outside.
"Ah...it's Chen Linlin...it really is her!"
"Chen Linlin, I love you..."
The students who had received inside information and had been waiting there for several hours recognized Chen Linlin when she peeked out. A commotion broke out, and they rushed over like mad bulls, surrounding the Bentley tightly.
With Zhou Ziwei's driving skills, he could have easily shaken off these crazy fans as soon as he left the garage by accelerating. However, seeing four souls rushing towards him, even if he didn't covet those soul beads, he couldn't ignore them. Once he was delayed, it was too late to run away.
If those surrounding the car were vicious killers, Zhou Ziwei could easily accelerate to the limit without batting an eye and smash them into a pile of minced meat.
The problem is that the people surrounding the car are innocent students, and no matter how cold-hearted Zhou Ziwei is, he can't bring himself to do it.
Left with no other choice, Zhou Ziwei had to stop the car, close all the windows tightly, and then jump out. He shouted to the twenty-odd enthusiastic students in front of him, "Ms. Chen has some very important business to attend to and doesn't have time to take photos with everyone now. If you want autographs, please bring your notebooks immediately. We can only stay here for a maximum of three minutes. Please cooperate."
Zhou Ziwei didn't want to stay here for even a second longer. Although the snipers on the opposite building had all been eliminated, the Night Elves certainly wouldn't give up. So, they could face another Night Elves attack at any moment. Staying with a group of ordinary students at this time was obviously unwise. Who knew if those assassins would disregard everything to complete their mission? If the Night Elves' assassins suddenly appeared while they were surrounded by these students, Zhou Ziwei would definitely become hesitant, while the assassins wouldn't have any scruples. In that case, the situation would be very unfavorable for Zhou Ziwei.
However, Zhou Ziwei also knew that these fans had finally caught a big star, and they would not give up unless they received some kind of consolation. That's why Zhou Ziwei stepped forward to have Chen Linlin sign a few autographs for them to get rid of them and escape.
When the students saw that all the car windows were closed and Chen Linlin refused to get out of the car, they all seemed very disappointed. However, when they heard that there were autographs to be had, they stopped making a fuss. Besides, Chen Linlin probably wouldn't be able to sign many names in just three minutes, and if they were slow, they would be at a disadvantage. So, they changed their target and rushed to Zhou Ziwei, handing over their pre-prepared diaries. Those who didn't have any notebooks simply handed over any hats, gloves, or other items they could take off. One female student, having nothing else to take, frantically tore off her bra and stuffed it into Zhou Ziwei's arms.
Just as Zhou Ziwei was feeling both amused and exasperated, another wave of heart palpitations arose, and Zhou Ziwei's heart skipped a beat.