Chapter Nineteen: Zhang Wu, the Money-Making Machine

The two firefighters swiftly carried away the charred corpse, with Kuroba following alongside. At this moment, his thoughts were in turmoil.

Uncle Liu hadn’t been in the house earlier—how did he suddenly appear in the bathroom?

An ability user!

Yes, that ability user not only started the fire but also transferred Uncle Liu elsewhere. Uncle Liu must have been held somewhere, but he had always thought Uncle Liu was burned to death in the bathroom.

He had overlooked the existence of that ability user. Since that person could control blankets and other flammable objects to ignite the house, it stood to reason he could also move Uncle Liu wherever he wished.

Kuroba made his way to the first floor, noticing that all the appliances were now gone.

In this timeline, Kuroba had thrown away the roast goose and was crying bitterly outside. Fan Xiangdong and another firefighter were dragging his massive body, both of their faces pale from the strain. Clearly, Kuroba’s weight was too much for them, and he looked terribly feeble and foolish, limp as if he had no bones.

Kuroba couldn’t bear to look at himself at that moment—it was just too humiliating.

“Reporting to the captain: the fire is completely under control. The time is 12:20,” a young firefighter said after handing Uncle Liu’s remains to the medical staff, beginning to brief Fan Xiangdong on the situation inside.

“Copy that,” Fan Xiangdong replied.

The fire had started at ten—so it had lasted two hours and twenty minutes?

“Was it that long? I didn’t feel like so much time had passed,” Kuroba wondered.

Boom...

An entire house fell from the sky, and Kuroba saw himself being teleported away at the very last second.

[Energy depleted. Rewind complete.]

Now, Kuroba stood atop the rubble of Uncle Liu’s house. The previous scenes had vanished entirely.

The final scene had occurred when he returned late last night, just as the system warned him of danger. Then everything had unfolded.

That person had meant to silence him.

He had thought the culprit had only used his power to steal appliances, never imagining murder was the true intent.

But who was the original target? Uncle Liu, or himself?

Kuroba fell into deep thought.

“Hey, fatty, it’s dangerous up there. Get down,” a woman’s voice called from behind.

Startled, Kuroba turned and saw a man and woman standing there.

“Kurokai?” the man said, looking at Kuroba in disbelief.

At first, Kuroba thought they were acquaintances of this body’s previous owner, but on closer inspection, he realized they were Zhang Wu and Chen Yang, his teammates.

This was interesting—these two were investigating Uncle Liu’s case?

“What are you doing here?”

Don’t tell me you just happened to pass by, Kuroba thought to himself.

“We just happened to pass by…” Chen Yang replied smoothly.

Liar!

Kuroba jumped down from the rubble.

Chen Yang’s eyes remained fixed on Kuroba. How could someone so heavy move so lightly?

Of course, she didn’t know that after absorbing a strand of fortune from Yi Ren’s tree-planting, Kuroba’s agility was now completely out of sync with his size. Earlier, he could even leap easily from the first to the second floor—though only under the system’s control, as Kuroba himself would never dare attempt such stunts.

Zhang Wu crouched down and touched a five-meter-long beam. Kuroba saw a faint blue glow flicker across it. In the next moment, Zhang Wu pinched the beam between his thumb and forefinger and lifted it as if it were a foam prop—light as a feather.

Kuroba was stunned again. He’d thought Zhang Wu could only make things heavier, but now it seemed he could also make them lighter.

That was truly terrifying.

If he ever needed to carry heavy weapons on a mission, could he just hoist a tank up a mountain with his bare hands? If he worked at a construction site, he’d be worth ten laborers. Some couriers refused to carry appliances up buildings without elevators, often demanding extra money and pleading. But with this power? Unimaginable!

Not only was this ability a formidable weapon, but it would also make earning money far too easy.

Liar!

Kuroba could no longer look at Zhang Wu the same way. Compared to this, what use was his own ability? Aside from boosting his physical stats from Yi Ren, all he’d received from others were a jumble of memories.

Still, Liu Dali’s memories might be quite lucrative.

Wait—couldn’t he just have the system copy Zhang Wu’s ability?

“Can I copy other ability users’ powers?” Kuroba asked in his mind.

[Yes. Use the ‘Thousand Mile Transposition’ technique to seize them.]

“As long as I can, I’m satisfied.” Kuroba had no complaints. Even if his skill left the target’s eyes spinning and sent them into a stupor, everyone at the precinct already knew about it.

Besides, he wasn’t really Kurokai. If he stole their abilities, he could just abandon the Kurokai identity. No big deal.

Kuroba grinned for a while.

Suddenly, he received a grievance value of +666 from Chen Yang…

Kuroba froze. She’d sent him grievance points again, and not just twenty, but 666.

Fantastic! He’d thought it was broken and he could only get twenty at a time.

Kuroba’s smile grew even wider.

“What’s so funny?” Chen Yang’s gaze never left him. She’d noticed every subtle change in his expression.

This fatty… something’s seriously wrong with him!

Was he some kind of pervert?

At the same time, Kuroba was struck by a similar thought.

Could Chen Yang be a pervert? Did she have some strange obsession with chubby people?

Tsk tsk, she looked so delicate and refined—who would have guessed?

Thinking back to when Chen Yang had dragged him into the alley, Kuroba now saw it in a new light. Was she trying to threaten him for some unspeakable purpose?

Liar!

Kuroba shook his head as he pondered. Women—indeed, the more beautiful they are, the more dangerous! With such juicy prey right in front of her, how could she resist?

So scary!

Kuroba massaged his chest nervously as he thought.

“Pervert,” Chen Yang grumbled to herself.

And another grievance value of +666 from Chen Yang…

If she couldn’t have him, she’d resent him all the more?

Indeed, love and hate are two sides of the same coin—there’s wisdom in the words of the ancients.

Kuroba gave a wry smile.

Zhang Wu paid them no mind, fully focused on the beam. “There’s some energy residue in these bricks. We’ll need forensics to run tests.” As he spoke, he snapped off a finger-sized chunk of brick and put it into an evidence bag.

Kuroba’s expression suddenly grew serious.

Zhang Wu and Chen Yang were clearly investigating Uncle Liu’s case—which was a good thing, since Kuroba was now certain that whoever killed Uncle Liu was also an ability user.

If ability users like Zhang Wu were involved in the investigation, that was the best possible outcome.

Having experienced the rewind, Kuroba was no longer so naively confident. He was in the open, while his enemy lurked in the shadows. He was no match for that person.

That person had probably planned to silence him last night.

Dropping an entire house on someone—that was ruthless.

Luckily, he had the system to protect him.

Was this trouble brought on by Uncle Liu?

Most likely not. Uncle Liu was well-liked; the neighbors all said he was a good man.

If not Uncle Liu, then it must be Kuroba himself.

But who could it be? The people he interacted with were only those he met doing odd jobs, and he’d always played the fool during those gigs—no one should have been driven to murder.

He simply couldn’t figure it out.