Of course, this idea only excited him slightly, but he soon realized that things might not be as simple as he imagined.
Completely replacing soul power with electric current? This possibility is probably not 100% achievable. Even if he proves the idea is feasible after further experimentation, he wouldn't dare to actually do it.
After all, a person's soul is originally composed of a highly concentrated mass of soul power. If he continues to replenish his soul power with electricity, making his soul power increasingly electrified, then... once his soul power is diluted to a certain extent by the electricity, will he still be the same person? Will he still be able to possess complete human emotions and characteristics as he does now? Perhaps he will completely become something like a digital life form. Even if this possibility is not very high, Zhou Ziwei would absolutely not dare to take this risk.
He really didn't dare to turn himself into a cold, strange life form filled with electrical energy. If he really became like that, it would be worse than death for him. Even if he became incredibly powerful, what would be the point?
Upon closer reflection, he realized that he probably couldn't actually absorb electrical energy directly to replenish his soul power. At least initially, when his body was shocked by electricity, he was completely powerless to resist.
It was only later, when the current suddenly flowed out from his chest and returned, that it became energy that his soul power could absorb.
So what changes occur after these currents flow out of the chest, and what factors cause these changes in the current?
Zhou Ziwei subconsciously reached out and touched his chest, then a thought struck him—it was that bullet that had trapped him for three years. It must have been that bullet that had actively absorbed all the electric current raging inside him, and then, after some kind of transformation, spat it out again.
A single bullet wouldn't produce this effect, so could it be... the super-solidified soul trapped inside the bullet? Could it be that the solidified soul isn't just a simple soul energy entity? What kind of thing is it then?
Zhou Ziwei pondered for a moment, but couldn't figure it out, so he gave up on thinking about it. In any case, this change seemed to be very beneficial and helpful to him for the time being. Although he guessed that if he continued to absorb a large amount of electrical energy in the future, it might cause a qualitative change in his soul, as long as he wasn't so greedy and simply wanted to become stronger quickly and absorb electrical energy endlessly, the thing he was worried about wouldn't happen.
Just then, Zhou Ziwei's phone vibrated again. He patted Su Yanxiang's shoulder, signaling her to get up from his embrace, before taking out his phone to check.
He saw an unread text message on his phone, opened it, glanced at it, and then gave a wry smile. After quickly replying to the message, he removed the SIM card that he had only used for a few minutes and gently snapped it off.
It seems that Wu Di's strength is not as great as Zhou Ziwei had imagined. Originally, Zhou Ziwei did not want to reveal his strength in this conflict, lest the Night Elves be frightened and immediately cower.
Therefore, he had previously intended to use Wu Di's influence to temporarily borrow the bodyguards that the entertainment stars brought to Tonghai to deal with Cao Dong, that clown.
He didn't expect to receive a reply to his text message for so long. It wasn't until he had resolved the problem himself that the text message informed him that the Hong Kong entertainment tycoons had not agreed to Wu Di's request.
After all, those entertainment tycoons were just Wu Di's clients. They could give Wu Di face and help him with small favors as long as it didn't affect their interests, but it was hard to say how much face they would give. Obviously, asking them to send out the bodyguards they had assigned to entertainment stars because of a mysterious person whose specific identity was not even clear was already beyond their bottom line.
Wu Di seemed quite alarmed by the outcome, worried that Zhou Ziwei would blame him for his poor performance. So, he had just made contact with another powerful figure in Tonghai through another friend, so that if necessary, Zhou Ziwei could use the official power through that powerful figure.
Zhou Ziwei wasn't angry about this. After all, Wu Di didn't owe him anything. Wu Di had indeed offended him before, but Zhou Ziwei had received a lot of help from Wu Di afterward. Zhou Ziwei believed that Wu Di had done his best in this matter. Those entertainment tycoons didn't know who Zhou Ziwei was, so there was no reason for them to abandon him just for the sake of Wu Di's face.
However, Zhou Ziwei also realized that he could not rely on Wu Di to help him in everything in the future. When necessary, he would have to create his own power.
In modern society, if you want to dominate a region, it's not enough to just have strong military power; you also need connections, financial resources, and material wealth.
No matter how powerful he is personally, he can at most become someone like a king of assassins, but he can never truly become a great hero.
Turning his head to look at Cao Dong and the other two scoundrels who were almost paralyzed with fear, Zhou Ziwei snorted. Originally, he only targeted Cao Dong and didn't want to be too ruthless to the other two henchmen. However, what had just happened had taught him a profound lesson, making him realize that being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to oneself. So, he didn't ask Su Yan for his opinion anymore. He walked over and kicked each of them, completely destroying several nerves in their bodies, rendering them basically unable to take care of themselves in the future. Only then, amidst the three men's wails, did he pull Su Yan up, wave to Yelü Xiaosu who was still in a daze, and then turn and leave.
When Yelü Xiaosu saw Zhou Ziwei waving at him, he was slightly startled and his face immediately showed a complicated expression of embarrassment and fervor. He took big steps and ran quickly to Zhou Ziwei.
Without saying a word, he immediately took out all the money Zhou Ziwei had given him earlier, except for the more than 10,000 yuan he had already spent. He handed it to Zhou Ziwei with an embarrassed smile and said, "Buddy... I can tell you were just making fun of me earlier... These hundred-plus scumbags are nothing but ants in front of you. You could kill them all with just a cough. Why would you need to spend 100,000 yuan to hire me as a bodyguard? Hehe... I'm really sorry, I've already spent some of the money you gave me. I... I'll definitely pay you back in full once I earn the money."
Zhou Ziwei chuckled and said, "Come on! I called you over to give you the remaining 50,000 yuan, but I didn't say I wanted the money back." As he spoke, Zhou Ziwei opened his wallet and took out five stacks of 100-yuan bills.
"No, no, no... I absolutely cannot accept this money!" Yelü Xiaosu said, her face flushed. "I patted my chest and promised to protect you, but... if you hadn't intervened just now, I'm afraid I would have been left to collect your corpse. This whole mess... I have no face to accept your money. If you give it to me now, it would be like you're insulting me."
Seeing that Yelü Xiaosu refused to take any more money from him, Zhou Ziwei didn't insist anymore. However, he also refused to take back the 50,000 yuan he had already given. After all, although Yelü Xiaosu's role wasn't very significant, it was thanks to him that the attention of the more than 100 thugs was initially drawn away. Otherwise, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't have been able to catch Cao Dong and his two companions so easily.
Besides... Yelü Xiaosu had just taken quite a few bricks and blows from those thugs. If it weren't for his terrifyingly strong internal energy, an ordinary person would probably have been smashed into a pulp. He deserves credit for his hard work, even if he didn't achieve anything. Just for the suffering he endured and the way his clothes were all tattered, it's only right that he be given tens of thousands of yuan as a reward.
Yelü Xiaosu was initially embarrassed to accept the money, but since he had already spent a considerable amount of it and would still owe Zhou Ziwei a portion even after paying it back, he reluctantly took the remaining money back.
However, just as Zhou Ziwei thought he had settled things with Su Yan and quickly walked out onto the street, Yelü Xiaosu silently followed closely behind.
Zhou Ziwei glanced back at him, but didn't pay much attention. After all, he had knocked down so many people here at once, it would be strange if the police weren't alerted. As one of the parties involved, Yelü Xiaosu naturally had to run away as soon as possible.
But when Zhou Ziwei led Su Yan out of Sanshui Street and successfully got into a taxi before the police arrived, he found that Yelü Xiaosu had also casually sat in the passenger seat from the other side. Only then did Zhou Ziwei ask in a somewhat exasperated tone, "Hey... why are you still following us... uh... there are plenty of taxis here, you don't have to squeeze into one with us! Where are you going? Maybe we're not even going that way."
Yelü Xiaosu scratched her head somewhat awkwardly and said, "Well... I don't have anywhere else to go for the time being, so... I'll go wherever you go!"
Zhou Ziwei completely broke down...
Because of the official connections Wu Di had made, Zhou Ziwei wasn't afraid of being targeted by the police. Besides, he hadn't actually killed anyone today; he had only crippled a few scumbags, and he did it all without anyone noticing. Even if they were taken in for medical examinations, they would only find out that the three of them had a neurological disorder, and it would be impossible to conclude that they had actually been beaten up. Apart from the person who was punched by Zhou Ziwei first, the others didn't even have any external injuries.
There was no way to pin this strange illness on Zhou Ziwei, so Zhou Ziwei wasn't worried at all. As for his eagerness to leave the scene, it was just because he didn't want the trouble of being invited to a meeting with the police.
So after getting in the car, Zhou Ziwei didn't make the driver go around in circles and went straight back to Su Yan's house.
As for the ladybug, it remained at the underground lover's bar! Keeping a close eye on Miss Zhang, Zhou Ziwei figured that because of what had just happened, the Dark Elf definitely wouldn't easily accept Cao Dong's commission. Even if it did, it would certainly set an outrageously high base price. After all, those two Cao brothers, even if they dug out all their marrow and sold it, they absolutely couldn't raise that much money.
However, Ms. Zhang is only responsible for receiving client requests; matters such as quotations and investigations are not under her jurisdiction. Therefore, if Zhou Ziwei's guess is correct, Ms. Zhang will still submit this request through the normal procedure.
When that time comes, Zhou Ziwei will have the opportunity to further investigate the Night Elves' background.
When the taxi arrived at Su Yan's building, Zhou Ziwei and Su Yan got out of the car, and Yelü Xiaosu shamelessly followed suit.
Zhou Ziwei said, somewhat amused and exasperated, "You're not going to keep following me, are you? I'm only temporarily staying at someone else's house, so I can't help you with food and lodging, so you..."
Yelü Xiaosu chuckled foolishly, scratched his head, and said, "Well... you know, I don't have anything to do for the time being, and I just took 50,000 yuan from you but didn't do a good job, so... well, I'm planning to continue being your bodyguard for a while longer, what do you think? Um... if you can pass on your Lion's Roar Divine Skill to me, then... even if I have to stay by your side as your little brother for another ten years, I'll accept it."
Zhou Ziwei finally understood Yelü Xiaosu's true purpose in following him, but he could only smile bitterly in silence. His roar just now was not some kind of ghostly lion's roar at all, and even if Zhou Ziwei were willing to teach Yelü Xiaosu this skill, Yelü Xiaosu probably wouldn't be able to learn it at all.
It is impossible for a normal person to control the power of the soul, unless Yelü Xiaosu is willing to commit suicide in order to learn this and then become a pure ghost, then there is still some hope.
However, even if Yelü Xiaosu is a martial arts fanatic, she probably wouldn't be this crazy!
So Zhou Ziwei could only shake his head helplessly and say, "This skill of mine is absolutely not to be passed on to outsiders, and there are very strict requirements to learn it. In short... you have no chance of learning it at all, so... you should just leave!"
Yelü Xiaosu seemed to have been prepared for Zhou Ziwei's response, and just said with a smile, "It's okay. If you don't want to take on any apprentices for the time being, I'll be your bodyguard for now. You've seen my abilities. Although they're nothing compared to yours, I'm still pretty good as a human shield, right? Anyway, you've already given me an advance of 50,000 yuan in salary. From now on, I just need to provide food and drink. You... just let me follow you!"
Zhou Ziwei was speechless upon hearing this; this time, he really had been latched onto by him.
Judging from Yelü Xiaosu's stubborn appearance, you can tell that he must be a very stubborn person. Getting him to change his mind and stop bothering you is probably much harder than getting a tiger to eat grass.
Moreover, Zhou Ziwei actually quite admired Yelü Xiaosu. After all, Yelü Xiaosu's personal strength was quite formidable, and his external martial arts skills had astonished Zhou Ziwei. Since Yelü Xiaosu insisted on being his bodyguard for free, Zhou Ziwei was happy to take advantage of the situation. In any case, he had already said that Yelü Xiaosu was not suited to learning the Soul Roaring technique. Even if he stubbornly refused to leave, he was destined not to learn it. Since Yelü Xiaosu remained obstinate, Zhou Ziwei couldn't be blamed. It wasn't exactly deceiving him!
However, Zhou Ziwei's current tasks prevented him from taking Yelü Xiaosu with him. Even though Yelü Xiaosu was no ordinary person and possessed exceptional martial arts skills, she couldn't offer Zhou Ziwei much help when facing the mysterious assassin organization. Therefore, after some thought, Zhou Ziwei made a decision immediately.
"Alright then! If you insist on following me, that's fine, but... judging from your appearance, although you have some decent skills, you probably haven't received any real bodyguard training. So... if you want to follow me, you'll have to undergo a short-term training first... Hmm, I'll give you a phone number later. Go find that person and undergo a month-long training. After the training, if you haven't changed your mind... then that person will tell you where to find me."
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he gave Yelü Xiaosu Wu Di's private number. Among Wu Di's businesses, there was also a company that specialized in training private bodyguards for wealthy people.
To be a qualified bodyguard, you need to be very skilled, but being skilled doesn't necessarily make you a qualified bodyguard. There are many professional aspects involved, and it's not just about being able to fight.
Zhou Ziwei thought that his future Zhou Group really needed a trustworthy person to protect the company's security. Yelü Xiaosu seemed pretty good for now and was definitely worth training.
Yelü Xiaosu didn't object to Zhou Ziwei's request. He was determined to follow Zhou Ziwei anyway, and he believed that Zhou Ziwei wouldn't try to shake him off in this way. So he took the phone number that Zhou Ziwei had copied down for him and disappeared immediately without saying a word...
After seeing Yelü Xiaosu off, Zhou Ziwei finally prepared to speed things up and get rid of the Night Elves, this thorn in his side, as soon as possible.
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 219: Action
Because he needed to keep an eye on the underground lover's bar and constantly monitor the ladybug's movements, Zhou Ziwei didn't go to the celebrity concert with Su Yan and the others that evening.
He also likes the big star Zhou Ziwei. If he had nothing to do, he would definitely try to get closer to his former idols. But now that his personal interests and safety are involved, he naturally has no interest in paying attention to those irrelevant people.
Su's father's stall closes very late every night, so he can't make it back in time. Therefore, Su Yan had to ask Da Niu to push Su Miao to the concert with her.
Otherwise, she alone probably wouldn't be able to protect Su Miao. After all, several top-tier celebrities will be performing at the stadium tonight, and who knows how crazy the concert crowd will be? What if some fans get impulsive and injure Su Miao? Fortunately, Da Niu is tough and resilient. Although he doesn't have the same level of martial arts skills as Yelü Xiaosu, it's still safe for three or five people to get close to him. With him by her side, it's much safer.
In the past, it would have been perfectly natural to ask Da Niu for help with this kind of thing. But now that Zhou Ziwei was around, for some reason, Su Yan was somewhat reluctant to be with Da Niu anymore. She spent almost the entire afternoon trying to persuade Zhou Ziwei to go to the concert with them. However, the surveillance by Xiao Ladybug's side hadn't yielded any results, and Zhou Ziwei didn't want to be distracted at this time, so he had no choice but to harden his heart and refuse the beauty's invitation.
It wasn't until more than half an hour after the concert started, when Zhou Ziwei was sitting in the Su family's living room watching the live broadcast on TV, that the ladybug finally made a move.
Because the distance between them was too great, Zhou Ziwei could not see or hear anything through the ladybug's observation system. However, he could clearly sense that the distance between him and the ladybug was rapidly approaching. Obviously, the ladybug was flying towards him at top speed.
It seems that the ladybug didn't follow Miss Zhang anywhere, but only flew back to report to her because it had news.
Sensing that the ladybug had flown into the neighborhood, Zhou Ziwei quickly stood up and went to open the living room window. Almost instantly, the ladybug flew in like a streak of light in the dark night, and landed steadily on Zhou Ziwei's shoulder with almost no buffering or slowing down.
Subsequently, because the soul connection between Zhou Ziwei and the ladybug had been re-established, Zhou Ziwei instantly began to read some of the main information that the ladybug had seen and heard during this period through the ladybug's soul memories.
A dozen seconds later, Zhou Ziwei was startled. He then quickly ran into the small room, turned on the laptop he had bought from Yongfeng, connected it to the wireless network, and began typing furiously on the keyboard.
As for the ladybug, it spread its wings and flew out of the window when Zhou Ziwei rushed into the small room, disappearing back into the darkness.
As Zhou Ziwei typed on the keyboard, he chuckled to himself. Because he had only been using computers for a short time, his thinking was still stuck in old misconceptions. He was waiting for Ms. Zhang to submit the commission materials provided by Cao Dong to the core department of the Dark Elf so that Little Ladybug could take this opportunity to track down more of the Dark Elf's secret strongholds. However, he almost forgot that we were now in the Internet age. To submit documents, people no longer needed to run errands themselves. Just send an email or have a video call on an instant messaging application, and even the most complex materials could be transferred and handed over in seconds.
Fortunately, the ladybug's intelligence had evolved to a level comparable to that of a normal adult, making it incredibly clever. Although its orders were to constantly monitor and follow Miss Zhang, recording the places she visited and the people she met.
However, when it noticed that Ms. Zhang suddenly sat down in front of the computer and then opened the commission materials that Cao Dong had handed her, the ladybug already guessed what she was going to do. So it immediately noted down the computer's IP address the moment it was turned on, and then flew to Zhou Ziwei as fast as it could to tell him what was going on.
Ladybugs fly extremely fast at high altitudes, so even though they were far apart from Zhou Ziwei, it took them less than three minutes to reach Su Yan's house, which was the limit of what a ladybug could do.
Although three minutes was actually enough for Ms. Zhang to finish transferring the file and then shut down the network again, there was no other way to immediately notify Zhou Ziwei.
After all, no matter how smart it is, it is still an insect that cannot speak. It can dial a number, but it is useless if it cannot speak.
So after receiving the news, the only option was to use the oldest method: fly back directly to inform Zhou Ziwei face-to-face.
Zhou Ziwei was extremely anxious, and his hands moved faster and faster without him realizing it, far exceeding his previous maximum speed of six times. However, in his anxiety, he was completely unaware of this and did not pay attention to the details.
He had to be quick... to hack into the computer Ms. Zhang was using as quickly as possible, so that he could use the signal Ms. Zhang was sending to infiltrate her computer system and find out more information.
If Ms. Zhang has already ended her contact with the other party by this point, it will cause Zhou Ziwei a lot of trouble, as it will be difficult to find the other party's IP address online. However, if Ms. Zhang has not yet deleted the communication records, then he still has some chance.
However, if Ms. Zhang has already disconnected from the internet and logged off, then there is absolutely nothing he can do.
After all, even the most skilled hacker needs a network connection to infiltrate someone else's computer. If the other party isn't connected to the network at all, then no matter how clever your methods are, you'll just be left helpless.
At this moment, Zhou Ziwei was racing against time. In this instant, he unleashed an unprecedented ability. From the moment his laptop was turned on to the moment he successfully cracked the other party's firewall and the anti-hacking software system specially installed on the other party's computer and completed the intrusion, it only took less than a minute.
In reality, as members of an assassin organization, the computers they use naturally have very high network security features. Even if the military hacker killed by Zhou Ziwei were to personally take action, it would be difficult to silently crack the anti-hacking system installed on the computer. After all, it is software specifically designed to prevent hacking intrusions and is updated in real time based on the advanced methods of international hackers. It can be said to be very advanced in the world. The military hacker is not even ranked among the world's top hackers, so it would naturally be very difficult to break through such an advanced anti-hacking system.
However, Zhou Ziwei was different. After inheriting the hacking experience of that military hacker, he added his abnormally fast operating speed. So, the same hacking techniques he used could almost turn the impossible into the possible.
If someone uses a hammer to smash someone else's wall, but can only smash it thirty times a minute, the homeowner might discover the vandalism before all thirty blows are finished, and only a few cracks have appeared in the wall. They'll likely come out and chase the vandal away.
However, if you can smash three hundred times in a minute, then before the homeowner even realizes what's happening, you've already smashed a huge hole in the wall, allowing you to swagger through and wander around the house.
This is the advantage of speed. Although using this analogy to describe the comparison between hackers' methods may not be entirely accurate, the actual effect is similar. After all, even software has a certain time difference in its reaction. Even if this reaction speed is only a fleeting moment for a normal person, Zhou Ziwei's speed is fast enough to seize this fleeting moment and cut it off directly. Therefore, his attack methods naturally become infinitely terrifying.
Almost instantly, as Zhou Ziwei silently breached the other party's computer defenses and entered the computer's application interface, he saw the other party closing the dialog box that had just completed the file transfer, and then preparing to delete all application traces and communication records.
Having already completed the intrusion, Zhou Ziwei was not about to allow the other party to so easily erase everything he was looking for. He quickly typed a few keys and immediately implanted a small Trojan virus into the other party's computer, causing a slight, barely noticeable delay in the manual deletion. Zhou Ziwei then used this slight time difference to successfully read and copy the application traces and communication records.
Almost the instant Zhou Ziwei finished copying, Miss Zhang's computer had already shut down its network connection. This made Zhou Ziwei secretly rejoice; if his reaction had been even a fraction slower, all his efforts would have been in vain.
He no longer needed to pay attention to Ms. Zhang's side. What he needed to do now was to hack into the computer that Ms. Zhang had just contacted. Hopefully, that computer corresponded to the real Night Elf stronghold!
Of course, if his guess is true, then hacking into the other party's computer would be much more difficult than hacking into Ms. Zhang's computer. After all, they are doing shady business. If it were so easy for hackers to break into their computers, what secrets would the Night Elves have left? And if the Night Elves didn't have enough confidence in their network security, they probably wouldn't have chosen to use this method to transmit information.
But no matter how difficult it was, it was the only clue Zhou Ziwei could grasp at the moment, and he had no other choice. He immediately rubbed his hands together to relieve the pain from the impact caused by the excessive increase in hand sensitivity, and then began a new round of frantic cyberattacks...
Half an hour... a full half hour later, Zhou Ziwei finally managed to open a small gap in the opponent's defense system, having exhausted all his efforts. However, Zhou Ziwei had only just entered through this gap and hadn't even had time to read anything when the opponent's intelligent software automatically patched the vulnerability and ejected him.
Zhou Ziwei cursed "pervert!" and slammed his fist on the keyboard. It felt like a lecherous man had finally managed to drug a beautiful woman, dragged her into a hotel, closed the door, put her on the bed, and was just about to undress her a little, revealing a glimpse of her cleavage… when suddenly the woman woke up…
Damn! What a waste of time...