Chapter 165: Chapter 163: The Heart That No Longer Beats

"Alright! Your wish will gradually come true!"

"The relic I’m giving you is a heart. If you keep using it, you’ll be able to fulfill your wish. But if you want to use it, you need to drink plenty of hot water every day, understand?"

’A heart?’

’Drink plenty of hot water? What does that mean?’

Old Xu didn’t understand what the Little Elf meant. He only felt an immense discomfort in his chest, but there was no pain—just a profound emptiness.

After a moment of strange rigidity, Old Xu felt for his heart, only to find it was no longer beating.

"What did you do to me?" Old Xu demanded in shock.

"I’m helping you fulfill your wish!" the Little Elf answered cheerfully, raising its hand to command the water, which swirled up and enveloped Old Xu.

The water surged once more, swallowing the Little Elf. A giant hand made of water then carefully delivered Old Xu to the outside.

The fountain continued to pulse up and down. Not a drop of water clung to Old Xu’s body. He stood there in a daze, clutching his chest, unable to process what had happened.

Just then, the Captain happened to pass by and saw him standing there in a stupor.

"Xu Jian Country! What are you spacing out for? Hurry and find us a way out of here!"

"But, Captain, the fountain..." Old Xu started to tell him about the fountain, but the Captain was too anxious and paid him no mind.

With his heart unable to beat, Old Xu felt hollow and deeply uncomfortable. Clutching his chest, he gritted his teeth and dashed off in a random direction.

An instinct was guiding him, constantly telling him—’The exit is this way!’

Old Xu stumbled as he ran, tripping over a jutting rock and tumbling until he hit a wall of shells.

He climbed to his feet, wincing in pain, and noticed something different about the wall here.

’It seems especially thin here.’

Old Xu shone his flashlight around and realized the wall here backed onto the warehouse where they had stored all the fertilizer and pesticides.

’Are the Shell People afraid of this?’

Although this part of the wall was thin, the shells were still spreading. It probably wouldn’t be long before it hardened completely.

Old Xu quickly shouted, "Found it!"

The investigation team members trickled in. The Captain looked at the wall, overjoyed. "Xu Jian Country, you’re really something! And here I was thinking you were slacking off!"

The Captain quickly took out his own relic. After a flash of scorching white light, a hole large enough for a person to pass through appeared before them.

"It really is thin," the Captain said, patting Old Xu’s shoulder excitedly.

So, while some of them helped widen the hole, others notified the rest of the team to evacuate through the opening.

Soon, everyone had passed through the hole into the fertilizer warehouse. From there, they made their way to the power plant and restored the electricity.

With the lights back on, Old Xu seemed to have divine guidance. Relying on pure instinct, he led the team around, locating hidden Shell People as if he were a professional-grade detector.

The Shell People hiding in the darkness were all eliminated. Soon, the investigation team had retaken control of the monitoring station.

By dawn, the monitoring station was littered with the bodies of fallen Shell People and shattered shells.

"Xu Jian Country, how did you do that?" the Captain asked, breathing heavily as he stared at Old Xu in disbelief.

His other teammates were just as shocked. They had eliminated more Shell People in one night than they had in all their previous encounters combined. Old Xu had even found the ones hiding on the roof.

It was as if Old Xu was a human detector.

Old Xu himself was a bit baffled. He had just been leading the group around. Whenever a place felt ’wrong,’ he would take them there, and every single time, there were Shell People hidden in those exact spots.

When hiding, Shell People were like motionless rocks, making no sound and incredibly difficult to detect. Yet Old Xu could pinpoint their locations every time.

As the night wore on, Old Xu grew somewhat accustomed to the sensation of his heart not beating. The discomfort had lessened. Seeing the curious gazes of his companions, he couldn’t hold back any longer. "Captain, I have something to report to you!"

...

After hearing Old Xu’s story, the Captain’s expression grew grim. He demanded, "You made a wish?"

Old Xu nodded, frightened.

"What was the price?" the Captain pressed.

"Drink plenty of hot water," Old Xu said, feeling a little guilty.

"No, I mean the price for using the fountain to make a wish, not the cost of using your ability," the Captain explained.

Old Xu thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out what price he had paid.

"I don’t know."

Hearing Old Xu’s answer, the Captain’s expression grew even more solemn. He was a man of wide experience and immediately began telling Old Xu about the terrible consequences caused by various wish-granting relics.

Listening to the tragic fates of those wish-makers, Old Xu felt that discomfort in his chest again.

"Captain, help me!"

The Captain thought for a moment, then reassured him. "First, go to the hospital, find a room, and isolate yourself. I’ll have someone stand guard. We can discuss your situation after we’ve finished dealing with those shells."

"Okay..."

So Old Xu found a hospital room and waited in a state of extreme anxiety until the Captain, having finished his tasks, finally arrived.

The Captain arrived with a group of doctors, who immediately began to examine Old Xu.

"How do you feel right now?" a doctor asked.

"Hollow. My chest feels tight, like something’s missing. If I don’t focus on it, I’m fine. I can’t feel my heart beating, but the rest of my body feels normal."

"Also, I sometimes get these strange gut feelings, and they always come true. I think it’s the ability the fountain gave me. For example, right now, my intuition is telling me something’s off about that lamp over there."

Old Xu pointed to the lamp on the nightstand as he spoke.

Hearing this, the doctor turned to look where he was pointing, but his knee accidentally bumped the nightstand.

The surface trembled. The lamp wobbled precariously, then spiraled down toward the floor.

Luckily, the Captain had quick reflexes. He shot out a hand and caught the lamp before it hit the ground.

For a moment, the hospital room was dead silent.

The doctor broke the silence. "If you hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have turned around."

"But I just had a feeling something was off with the lamp, and you were the one who asked me what I was feeling," Old Xu explained, sounding innocent.

The doctor ignored him, silently noting down the strange phenomenon.

"You’d best not use this ability carelessly. Even if you feel something is wrong, don’t just blurt it out."

"Why?" Old Xu thought the ability was actually quite useful.

The doctor’s expression was grave. "It’s possible your intuition isn’t actually accurate. Rather, your actions might be what cause these outcomes."

"But I found those Shell People and that weak wall with my intuition, too. My actions couldn’t have caused that, right?" Old Xu asked, confused.

"Who knows?" the Captain retorted from the side.

The doctor nodded in agreement.

Old Xu looked at the two of them staring at him with scrutinizing eyes and suddenly realized he was now considered a prime suspect.

A rift had formed between them, without anyone realizing it.

He sighed helplessly.

"Fine, I won’t say anything else."