Chapter 85: Farting
The scene was quite awkward, with twelve people gathered around four zongzi, looking at each other up and down.
The expressions on the faces of those four individuals were quite intriguing: embarrassment, fear, awkwardness, pleading, forced composure, and more, all at once.
For a moment, the atmosphere fell silent.
Clearly, both sides were unsure of how to handle the current situation.
After a long while, one of the boys who had previously clashed with Chen Mu put on a sheepish and ingratiating expression and addressed everyone present, "Um... hello, senior brothers and sisters, have you all eaten?"
"Snort..."
With that statement, Du Jiajia burst into laughter. She had always had a low threshold for humor, and even a joke from ten years ago could make her laugh uncontrollably, keeping her amused from lunch to dinner.
Chen Mu felt somewhat helpless, thinking that he might have encountered another guy like Sun Yuan.
He had already noticed that the four individuals came here with the sole purpose of finding supplies and food, but he was unsure if they had planned it in advance or just stumbled upon this place.
The boy who spoke earlier had acted decisively and accurately when they first met, indicating that he had some combat experience, perhaps possessing a unique kind of ability.
Based on He Ying's experience, there weren't many people who discovered their own abilities, let alone those with combat capabilities. In fact, even within the current Mingqi organization, there was only one true combat-capable individual, Wei Dalei, while He Ying herself could only be considered half-capable.
Chen Mu was about to ask about the background of these four people when Zhao Xiaoyan suddenly sniffed and asked, "It smells awful, who farted?"
Chen Mu also recalled the foul smell he had noticed when they started fighting, but by now, some time had passed, and it had already dissipated for the most part, except for Zhao Xiaoyan, who had activated her ability and could still smell it.
One of the four boys raised his hand slowly, with a mixture of embarrassment and unease, and said in a low voice, "It was me."
At that moment, Chen Mu was left dumbfounded.
In fact, only he had truly experienced the peak level of that foul smell. Although it indeed smelled like a fart, Chen Mu absolutely didn't believe that a human's fart could be that bad. He even momentarily thought the other party might have used some kind of biochemical weapon.
But evidently, there was no need for this person to lie.
Moreover, upon recalling it, he had indeed smelled it when capturing that boy.
This made things clear.
It meant that this person's ability was to produce exceptionally stinky farts?
"Is this a superpower?" Zhao Xiaoyan asked with a frown. If that was the case, this ability seemed to conflict with hers.
"Superpower? Oh, yes!"
The boy appeared a bit embarrassed but didn't dare to conceal the truth, so he could only nod in admission.
Indeed, that was the case.
Everyone exchanged looks, evidently stunned by this fact.
The variety of superpowers was truly diverse: there was Zhu Hao with horns growing on his head, Chang Junyan with boils all over his body, and now even farting was considered a superpower.
Chang Junyan's ability seemed pretty good from the current perspective, and although this guy in front of them had a somewhat disgusting ability, it couldn't be said that it was entirely useless.
At least Chen Mu was suffering greatly from it.
If it were someone with a weaker willpower, they might have vomited on the spot.
Because it was ridiculously stinky.
It was like mixing a rotten egg into a week-old feces, then boiling it in a pot and making it ten times smellier!
That nauseating stench could undoubtedly temporarily incapacitate most people. Its potency was probably equivalent to that of a skunk, but definitely more powerful.
"Can you control your ability voluntarily?" Chen Mu was genuinely curious about this.
"Control it? Oh, yes, um, yes."
"So, you can fart whenever you want?"
"Yes, that's right. Do you want me to do it right now?"
"Don't!" Chen Mu interrupted him before he could finish, and he even took two steps back. Perhaps, for the usually brave and decisive him, it was the first time he had retreated without a fight.
The frustrating part was that the other three companions of that guy also instinctively tried to stop him collectively, but they only shouted a single word before silencing themselves. It was evident that they realized they were in a life-threatening situation.
"I won't let you fart, and you absolutely cannot just go ahead and do it." Chen Mu still had lingering fear, so he quickly added a nonsensical command.
"Oh, okay." The boy nodded desperately and then voluntarily explained, "Actually, although I can control my farts, there's a limit to how many times I can do it in a day. Probably around ten at most, and after that, I won't be able to produce any more. I've already let out seven or eight farts today, so my supply is running low."
Everyone was speechless.
For a moment, they didn't know how to respond.
Similar to Tang Jing, Chen Mu also placed great importance on exploring abilities, though their purposes might be slightly different. Tang Jing seemed purely driven by curiosity, while Chen Mu had a desire to understand others.
As Tang Jing had mentioned earlier, although superpowers were mysterious, there seemed to be a set of rigorous rules governing them. However, these rules didn't perfectly align with the existing scientific theories of humans.
Therefore, besides strengthening their own abilities, a deeper understanding of the rules governing superpowers would naturally provide them with better means to deal with other superpower users.
"Are you all in the first or second year of high school?"
The four individuals exchanged glances before the girl among them replied, "We're first-year students."
"In the same class?"
"Yes."
"What about the other students?"
"They either got separated or died."
Chen Mu suddenly stopped asking further questions and instead turned to discuss with Tang Jing and Dong Junwei.
Afterward, they separated the four individuals.
Dong Junwei and Tang Jing respectively questioned the three boys, while Chen Mu continued to deal with the girl.
"What's your name?"
"Lan Shan Shan."
"Alright, Lan Shan Shan, if we had met by chance on the road, perhaps we could have coexisted peacefully, and you might have even become our companion. However, you chose to sneak in secretly and greet us in this manner. Since that's the case, please prepare for the worst."
Chen Mu neither intimidated nor comforted her; he simply spoke in a calm tone, "You should understand why we're questioning each of you separately. We don't want to harm anyone, but sometimes, to survive, we have to do things that go against our hearts. I hope you can understand."
Lan Shan Shan swallowed hard and nodded.
Chen Mu was satisfied with her response and continued, "Alright, let me ask the first question: What are the names of your other three companions?"
"Cao Zishan, Xue Xu, and Lu Liangliang."
"And the one who can... release the odor...?"
"Xue Xu." Lan Shan Shan answered without waiting for Chen Mu to finish the question, being straightforward.
"Is his ability really the same as he described earlier?" Chen Mu inquired further.
"Yes, it's basically the same."
"Basically?"
"Well... sometimes, when he's scared or anxious, he can't help but release the odor. Maybe he feels embarrassed about it, so he didn't mention that earlier."
Clearly, in order to gain Chen Mu's trust, Lan Shan Shan didn't hesitate to reveal her companion's secret.
Thinking back to the earlier situation, it seemed that Xue Xu was forced into such a situation and involuntarily let out a fart. It wasn't intentional targeting him.
Nevertheless, recalling that earth-shattering, tear-inducing fart, Chen Mu found it hard to put into words.
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