Second Ability

“I have to start from the beginning.”

She spoke, her voice steadier than during her earlier daze, carrying her usual cold composure, though her words were kept very low.

“Crimson Abyss was very quiet at first. The process of Bloodfall absorbing it was incredibly smooth. After the spatial stagnation of that box was broken, the distortion power of Crimson Abyss followed the rhythm of Bloodfall’s intake with almost no resistance.”

Luo Yang leaned back on the sofa, listening, his elbows resting on his knees.

“I thought this flower was being too well-behaved,” Qiu Shubai’s lips twitched slightly in what seemed like self-mockery. “But halfway through, it woke up.”

“It tried to fight back against me. Of course, Bloodfall wouldn't let go of the food already in its mouth. The two forces began to clash inside my body, but in the end, neither could overcome the other. Instead, they reached a state of coexistence.”

“That urge to drink blood earlier was brought on by Crimson Abyss. I’m not sure if it will happen again, but... I feel much better now.”

“So, Crimson Abyss is still inside your body?”

Qiu Shubai nodded slightly.

She raised both hands. A pale golden light rose from her right palm, and Bloodfall materialized within it, the blade resting diagonally across her palm.

In her left hand, a surge of blood-red energy spread outward from her wrist in all directions. The air above her left hand rippled with distortion ripples, and the spider lily gradually took shape within the agitation.

Blood energy vibrated around it. As the powerful distortion power swept past the stray energy drifting in the air, it rapidly fell into a state of disorder.

Luo Yang instinctively leaned in closer, then quickly pulled back.

He wanted to see exactly what form the flower took, but the closer he got, the more he realized he couldn't see it clearly. The outline of the flower was distinct and visible to the naked eye, yet Luo Yang’s brain struggled to confirm if the flower actually existed.

It was an incredibly bizarre sensation, as if it were painted into the air yet didn't belong to this dimension.

“Don't worry.”

Qiu Shubai’s voice came from behind the flower, carrying a hint of a smile.

“It’s in the same state as Bloodfall now, existing by being tethered to me,” she said. “So, based on its form of existence—”

She paused.

“It can now be considered my second ability.”

Luo Yang’s head buzzed.

A second ability.

Such a concept had never truly appeared since the birth of the first Punisher on this planet; it had only ever existed in the imaginations of a small group of people.

Back when he was in the capital, he had heard rumors of a mad scientist who had created one or two freaks with dual abilities through inhumane means.

But those were just rumors. Even if they were real, they were merely technological creations—essentially a completely different matter from the situation of the girl sitting before him.

“So, how do you use it?” He finally swallowed his shock and asked a question a normal person would ask.

Qiu Shubai tilted her head to look at him, seemingly a bit surprised by how quickly he had recovered.

“Crimson Abyss still has a strong sense of self. I have to use it in a way it approves of. So far, I’ve only figured out two ways to use it.”

As she spoke, she withdrew Bloodfall into her right hand, the pale golden light dissolving into her palm. She focused all her attention on her left hand.

“The first is like this.”

As she spoke, the petals of the flower trembled slightly. A wave of distortion power spilled from the center of the flower, more pronounced than before.

“The blood energy in the surrounding area is being churned up by it.”

A buzzing sound immediately filled Luo Yang’s ears. He softly described what he was feeling.

“Precisely,” Qiu Shubai nodded. “In this state, I can distort the blood energy within half a meter of myself. I suspect this distortion power would be very effective against attacks made of pure energy.”

She reined in the distortion power, and the buzzing subsided.

The little black cat under the coffee table poked its head out again, warily eyeing the flower hovering above Qiu Shubai’s left hand and letting out a faint whimper. It seemed to sense that something was wrong with the air but couldn't quite put its finger on what.

“And there's a second way.”

Qiu Shubai didn't let the cat stay anxious for long. As soon as she finished speaking, she gently lifted her left hand.

The spider lily, which had been in full bloom, burst apart the moment she raised her hand.

Countless petals scattered and flew. There was no shockwave from an explosion, no sound; they simply drifted silently through the living room. Each petal glowed with a deep red light as they slowly descended from the air, like a silent rain of blood.

Luo Yang watched in a daze for a moment; the scene was undeniably beautiful.

In the next second, the petals began to turn into crimson light-streams, each one diving into the palm of Qiu Shubai’s left hand.

The light in her palm grew stronger and stronger. All the crimson light-streams converged above her left hand, gradually taking on a shape.

First came a rough outline, then the grip, the cylinder, the trigger guard, and the barrel.

Every detail slowly materialized from the light. When it finally finished forming, what appeared before Luo Yang was a revolver.

The gun’s body was deep red with a metallic sheen. Intricate and beautiful patterns were etched into the barrel and grip, with crimson blood energy flowing slowly through every line like blood in a vein, forming interconnected energy circuits.

Luo Yang stared at the gun for several seconds.

Over the past two years, he had seen nearly a thousand weapons, and various models were lined up in his mind.

But this gun was different. It defied all the laws of the physical world. It hadn't been manufactured; it had grown out of blood energy and distortion power. Rather than calling it a weapon, Luo Yang was more inclined to view it as an unknown living organism.

Qiu Shubai’s fingers traced the grip, inch by inch.

She suddenly stood up. Her movements were light, but the moment she raised the gun, the air in the living room grew much heavier.

She pointed the barrel at Luo Yang.

Luo Yang’s eyebrows twitched. He had intended to ask, “What are you doing?” but the strangely boastful smile on Qiu Shubai’s face made him swallow his words.

This girl was actually going to use him to test her gun?

She gently hooked her index finger and pulled the trigger.

There was no crisp sound of a hammer falling, nor the muffled boom of gunpowder exploding. What shot out from the barrel wasn't any form of bullet, but a condensed mass of blood energy.

The mass of blood energy flew in a straight line across the distance of less than three meters between them, bursting completely the moment it touched Luo Yang’s chest.

However, it wasn't blocked by Luo Yang; it changed of its own accord.

Or rather, Qiu Shubai guided its change.

Within the fraction of a second that the condensed blood energy touched his clothes, it transformed into dozens of crimson spider lily petals. Each petal was the size of a finger, their edges flickering with the dark patterns unique to the distortion power.

Under Luo Yang’s stunned gaze, the petals drifted down, slowly floating toward the floor. Not a single one actually landed on him.

When the petals were half an inch from the ground, dark red flames spontaneously rose from them. The temperature wasn't harmful; each flicker of flame lasted for less than a second, burning every petal away completely. They left no ash behind, not even a scorch mark.

The living room fell silent again.

This time, the little black cat under the coffee table didn't even dare to poke its head out.

Luo Yang looked down at his chest, then at where the flames had just extinguished, and finally at the revolver in Qiu Shubai’s hand, which was still emitting a very faint trail of red smoke.

“Miss Chief,” he finally spoke, his voice tinged with wry amusement. “Out of everyone you could pick to test your gun, you chose me?”

Qiu Shubai withdrew the gun, and the beautiful revolver dissolved into light as if it had never existed. She glanced at Luo Yang, the boastful glint in her eyes not yet fully faded.

“You were the closest living thing,” she said.

“...So I'm just a target practice dummy?”

“It wasn't going to hurt you. I had it under control.”

Luo Yang stared at her for a while.

The way the blood energy dispersed the moment it touched his clothes was clearly a deliberate design of hers. So, in reality, the “bullets” fired by Crimson Abyss weren't projectiles, but a special energy construct that could be commanded by Qiu Shubai.

In theory, she could make it cause varying degrees of damage, or none at all.

Luo Yang glanced at the wall clock; it was already past twelve-thirty.

“It's getting late. I should head back,” he said, standing up. “Otherwise, my family will start worrying again. As for Si Zhen, we can talk about that later when we have time.”

“Okay.”

When he reached the entryway to change his shoes, Luo Yang suddenly turned back.

“Next time you test your gun, remember to find a different target. My frail body can't take this kind of treatment.”

The corners of Qiu Shubai’s mouth curved slightly. It was faint, but Luo Yang saw it.

“Next time, what's coming at you will be an entire flower.”