Epoch of Twilight

Wang Shishi rose higher and higher, finally stopping after she was 5 – 6 meters away from the sea.

Harsh winds blew around her as the surface of the sea tremored intensely, scaring the mutated creatures away.

Everyone looked on in shock, even Luo Yuan had momentarily forgotten to keep swimming.

Even though Luo Yuan had long predicted that one could hover about in the air when the telekinesis was strong enough to sustain one’s body weight, he was still astonished and envious when he saw it happening right before his very own eyes.

What surprised him even more was the speed of her improvement. Wang Shishi was about an average weight of 40 – 45 kilograms. A few months ago, she could still barely move a 10 kilogram object but she could now hold her own body up.

The speed of improvement of his ability was even faster than his own.

Of course, this strength was unleashed under desperation, but with practice, she could achieve this again easily, in the future.

At that moment, Wang Shishi trembled midair, losing traction of her telekinesis, and began to fall.

Her eyes were shut tight, face pasty white, already unconscious.

Luo Yuan had been noticing her condition so before she could fall into the water, he was already charging towards her like a bolting arrow, to her rescue.

He dared not stay long in the water, and swam towards the lizard immediately after getting Wang Shishi.

Huang Jiahui had long been waiting anxiously, quickly pulling Luo Yuan up when he got close.

“How is she?” Luo Yuan placed Wang Shishi down gently and asked about the now-unconscious Cao Ling.

Cao Ling laid motionless on the lizard’s back, everyone discreetly maintaining an odd distance with her, as if holding back from something.

“She opened her eyes once and said that her stomach hurts.” Huang Jiahui said worriedly, “... and fainted again after a while.”

“Move over, let me take a look.” He quickly moved closer to her.

His face was grim; already conjuring bad premonitions. There were no more clean water sources ever since the apocalypse. Even crystal clear spring water would have countless of microscopic worms or parasite eggs. Drinking them directly was no better than committing suicide.

He quickly pulled up Cao Ling’s shirt, as something seemed to be wriggling under her soft skin.

Luo Yuan tried sensing the situation in her body but it was as if some mysterious force was repelling his senses.

Cao Ling’s face became paler as her body went into spasm. He dared not hesitate, pressing on her stomach in efforts to expel water, but the worst was yet to come.

Just as he exerted some force, her body curled up in pain, throwing up blood as her face flushed.

Countless of small wiry worms were wriggling in that pool of blood she threw up, bring a bout of disgust to everyone.

Luo Yuan looked at the crimson pool and knew that she was not going to make it.

He gripped his machete but slowly loosened his grasp. If he had dissected her stomach, she would probably perish faster in her current condition.

Beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.

“How can we remedy this?” Huang Jiahui asked anxiously, “Or use your machete to absorb life –”

Luo Yuan shook his head grimly, “This might allow her to stay alive longer but the ending is still the same, it will only prolong her suffering. Let me think, you take a look at Wang Shishi to see if she drank any water.”

Huang Jiahui nodded and turned to check on Wang Shishi, suppressing her sadness.

Wang Xiaguang was already taking care of Wang Shishi and she forced a smile, “I’ve checked once. Luckily she’s alright, her lips are not wet from the seawater. She may have fainted, but but not from this.”

Huang Jiahui was a little more relieved when she saw that Chen Xianfeng was alright too, at least two of them were fine.

Luo Yuan looked at Cao Ling who was going through periodic spasms, slapping the lizard’s back in frustration.

The giant lizard roared feeling wronged, its body trembled once.

As he raised his hand, he suddenly had an epiphany.

Will.

If there were to be something that had the power to kill the parasites in one’s body, yet not cause harm to a person, it could only be Will. The magical thing about Will was that it triggers according to one’s intention. When attacking an enemy, Will will increase the fatality of the attack, but when under attack, Will will increase one’s defense.

It could be light and it could also be heat. Will could exist in any form – this was mankind’s most magical energy.

He did not know if it would be effective, but there was only one way to find out.

Closing and opening his eyes, a faint glow visible even in broad daylight appeared in his hands. They pressed down on Cao Ling’s stomach slowly.

Just as the contact was made, an invisible wave went through her body as it froze, as they watched her frowns softening.

Luo Yuan came out of using Will and touched her stomach. It was quiet without the earlier wriggling, as the parasites in the latest blood she puked were all dead now.

He checked her body again; her heartbeats were irregular, breathing haphazardly as blood kept gushing out from her mouth. There must have been severe internal bleeding.

She was in a critical state, as the parasites must have pierced her organs.

Huo Dong shook his head passively. While he did not know what the glow in Luo Yuan’s hands were, he understood that her injury was fatal, even if it were to be pre-apocalypse.

“Luo Yuan...” Huang Jiahui could not help but beckoned him.

Luo Yuan seemed to not have heard her, as his hands glowed again when he raised them. The glow this time was a little different; it was dense like clouds and morphing into different shapes in his palms.

He then pressed his glowing hands on her stomach again.

Luo Yuan realized that the feeling was completely different compared to the previous one. It had been to attack and destruct earlier, so he did not feel the existence of life, but this time, he felt the resistance.

The human body’s defense was like a balloon. It would be effortless to burst it with a poke of a needle poke but difficult for water to even seep through it.

However, Luo Yuan’s Will was far stronger than Cao Ling’s, so her body could not put up a fight but the depletion of will was shockingly fast; its effect slow, on the contrary.

A quarter of his Will was consumed within just a second, when he could usually last 7 – 8 seconds with the same amount of Will in battles. Of course, the amount of time was calculated by adding both attacks and defense using Will. If he had only needed to maintain his Will’s concentration, he could easily last more than an hour.

In fact, as long as he did not use it, the depletion of Will was extremely little, almost to none.

Two seconds later, Luo Yuan stopped. It was not a safe time to deplete all his Will yet, in case of unexpected battles.

He looked at Cao Ling, her internal bleeding stopped, but only temporarily. She would still be in critical danger if she did not get help soon.

Luo Yuan stood up, dusting his hands. The giant lizard had already crossed the middle of the ocean-like river, with the water becoming shallower, as the bank was nearer than ever.

They would arrive in another ten minutes, and only then, would he think of another solution.

Everyone witnessed Cao Ling’s recovery. Other than Huang Jiahui who had seen Luo Yuan using his Will, everyone else was swept by a mix of shock, confusion, and respect towards how he healed her.

“Boss, was that an internal force just now?” Huo Dong thought about it for a long time before asking. He could not hold it in any longer as he had been meaning to ask this for a long time now.

Of course, apart from asking, he was hopeful too.

It would be the legendary internal force. If it could be passed around, he too, could protect himself well in this era of apocalypse.

Luo Yuan looked at everyone’s eager gaze. Other than Huang Jiahui who was hiding her smile, even Zhao Yali came closer – the temptation of internal force.

He chuckled, shaked his head and explained, “It’s not some internal force, at least not by what I’ve seen. Nothing too magical. It’s just the effects of Will. You will all understand when you’re able to focus all your Will on something too.”

Luo Yuan stopped explaining, seeing as nobody believed him. It was hard to explain anyway. People who had seen that glow from his Will would assume it was an internal force.

Luo Yuan sometimes suspected that internal force was actually just another name for the moment when people focused their Will hard, after repeated self-meditation.

He checked on Wang Shishi again, and found out that she had only fainted from over-exertion of telekinesis, so he did not wake her up.

Luo Yuan then kept an eye on the surroundings along the way. Finally, the giant lizard safely crossed the river without running into any other dangers.

They could finally relax; frowns turning into smiles as they were now less than 6 kilometers away from passing the sea bridge.

Adhering to Luo Yuan’s urge, the lizard picked up its pace and successfully arrived the fortification on the other side before nightfall.