Chapter 127: Mutation

Amidst the sound of rending fabric, Zhang Can tore Liu Xiaoli’s clothes to shreds. His grip was so forceful that his fingers left trails of red marks across her skin. Liu Xiaoli’s soft moans seemed to be a mix of pain and pleasure, a sound that only further inflamed Zhang Can’s senses. Driven by an uncontrollable frenzy, he lunged forward and pressed his weight heavily against her.

In that fleeting moment, Zhang Can lost all sense of self. His actions were dictated entirely by his body, his mind a complete blank. He tore at his own clothes with equal ferocity, finding them nothing more than an obstruction.

As his hand reached into her undergarments, his grip was so intense that he accidentally crushed the Water-Repelling Bead hidden within her bra. In an instant, a vast, pure surge of energy flooded from his fingertips directly into his body.

Zhang Can let out a sharp cry of agony. He rolled off the bed, crashing onto the floor and writhing in pain; the energy was so overwhelming that his body felt as if it were about to explode.

Startled, Liu Xiaoli rushed to his side. Though her own clothes had been shredded, she ignored her state of undress in her concern, kneeling beside him to ask in a low, trembling voice, "Zhang Can, what... what is wrong with you?"

"I feel so bloated... so bloated... I’m about to burst!"

Zhang Can clutched his head in extreme agony, sweat pouring from his forehead like rain. Terrified, Liu Xiaoli watched helplessly.

Feeling as though his body were being stretched to its limits, Zhang Can felt an urgent, desperate need to submerge himself in cool water. Without a second thought, he scrambled to his feet, grabbed his car keys, and bolted from the room. He sprinted downstairs, jumped into his BMW, and sped toward the outskirts of the city.

Left behind, Liu Xiaoli stood in a daze, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The night’s events had taken a turn so bizarre and unexpected that her mind struggled to process it.

In truth, even if she had gone through with it, Liu Xiaoli knew she would never have sought to destroy the relationship between Zhang Can and her younger sister. She simply felt that Zhang Can was the man she desired, and that being with him was a path she would never regret. Given her own tarnished past, she had never expected a lifelong commitment; she would have been content to remain his secret lover, satisfied just to be by his side.

Yet, at the very moment of fulfillment, such an inexplicable incident had occurred. Earlier that evening, she had heard her sister tiptoeing to Zhang Can’s door. She had watched through a crack in the frame as they headed to the rooftop, feeling a bitter, stinging jealousy. When they returned, she could no longer suppress her impulses and had gone to knock on his door herself.

Everything had gone wrong, and it was all so baffling. Where could Zhang Can have gone?

Hearing movement in the next room, Liu Xiaoli panicked and darted back to her own chamber. Fortunately, she was barefoot, moving across the hallway floor without making a sound. Once inside, she leaned against the door, gasping for breath. Hearing her sister leave her room and head toward Zhang Can’s, she realized her sister would likely come to check on her next. She quickly grabbed a fresh set of lingerie, put it on, scrambled under the covers, and closed her eyes to feign sleep.

Liu Xiaoqin had been startled by Zhang Can’s cry. She came to check on him, only to find his room in a state of chaos, with strips of torn fabric—which looked suspiciously like a woman’s pajamas—littered across the floor. Finding the room empty, she checked the bathroom, but it was also vacant. "Zhang Can, where are you?" she called out.

There was no answer. Her voice woke Zhang Hua, who got up to investigate. Liu Xiaoqin quickly gathered the torn rags and shoved them into a cupboard. When Zhang Hua arrived, she simply told him that Zhang Can was missing and that she didn't know if he had gone out, only that he wasn't in the room.

Zhang Hua rubbed his eyes and said, "He’s a grown man with legs; if he’s not in the room, he must have gone out. We aren't going to find him now."

Liu Xiaoqin nodded. "Fine, go back to sleep. I’m going to check on my sister."

It seemed strange that her sister, Liu Xiaoli, had shown no reaction despite the commotion. Furthermore, the torn fabric looked just like her sister’s pajamas. Could something have happened between them?

Still unwilling to believe such a thing, Liu Xiaoqin walked her sister’s boyfriend back to his room before heading to her sister’s door. She knocked, but receiving no response, she pushed it open. Seeing someone lying in bed, she reached over and turned on the light.

Liu Xiaoli was indeed in bed. The light woke her, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Xiaoqin, it’s the middle of the night. What are you doing?"

Liu Xiaoqin hesitated, then said, "Nothing, sister. I couldn't sleep. Can I sleep with you?"

Growing up, the two sisters had shared a bed until junior high. Hearing this, Liu Xiaoli paused for a moment before nodding and shifting over. "Of course."

Liu Xiaoqin climbed under the covers, but she couldn't sleep. After a while, she turned over. Liu Xiaoli also turned, facing away from her. They both lay there back-to-back, eyes wide open, unable to sleep, yet neither spoke a word.

Meanwhile, Zhang Can had driven straight to the rocky coastline he had visited twice before. There was little traffic at this hour, and he drove with such speed that he arrived in fifteen minutes—a trip that usually took twenty.

Throughout the journey, Zhang Can had been plagued by an unbearable, parching thirst. His skin felt as though it were drying out, ready to flake off in pieces. As soon as the car stopped, he threw open the door and sprinted toward the shore under the moonlight. He was familiar with this place, and though it was jagged with rocks, he felt no fear. In truth, he had no time for fear.

Reaching the edge of the rocks, he tore off his remaining clothes and plunged into the sea.

The moment his body was submerged, it felt as if the entire world had gone silent. Zhang Can felt an endless stream of energy pouring from the ocean into his body, merging with the remnants of the Water-Repelling Bead. The parched, cracked skin was instantly soothed and nourished by the water. He felt an overwhelming sense of relief. His mind went completely blank, devoid of thought, as his body drifted with the currents. Although his eyes were closed, he seemed to sense every jagged rock in the water as if he were equipped with a radar.

The energy surged like the tide. The ocean nourished him like a mother. The energy from the bead within his body, now revitalized by the sea, combined with the spiritual energy in his mind. Before he could even savor the feeling, the energies separated again, dispersing throughout his entire body and embedding themselves into every single cell.

Though they hadn't permanently fused, Zhang Can could feel that the spiritual energy in his mind was far purer and more vast than before, significantly amplified by the bead’s power.

Zhang Can moaned in comfort. Every pore of his skin seemed to be absorbing oxygen molecules from the water, automatically breaking down the H2O to nourish his body.

He felt no pressure at all, and his swimming speed seemed to have increased dramatically. Suddenly, a strange yet familiar image flashed through his mind!

It was an ocean planet, vast and boundless, with no land—only water. The entire world was submerged, teeming with unknown life. He felt as if he had merged with the planet itself, becoming one with the whole.

The sensation vanished in a heartbeat. As he blinked and regained his senses, he realized he was still in the ocean, surrounded by silence and darkness. Under normal circumstances, Zhang Can possessed an inexplicable, deep-seated fear of the ocean. He usually only visited safe, shallow beaches or water parks. Even after his previous visits to these rocks—thanks to the power of the bead—he had still felt a degree of trepidation. Yet tonight, he felt no fear at all.

He let his body float freely. He didn't even open his eyes, relying solely on his mind to sense the surroundings. He felt as if he and the ocean were one—that here, he was the king.

Zhang Can shifted his body, moving through the water with minimal effort at a speed that rivaled the fastest creatures in the sea. He realized he wasn't even pushing himself; if he truly tried, he could go even faster.

He had no idea how long he had been swimming or how far he had traveled. He finally opened his eyes, but everything was pitch black. It was the middle of the night, and in the deep sea, he could see nothing.

He channeled his spiritual energy, activating his "Black and White Eyes" clairvoyance. The world before him instantly became clear. His x-ray vision was unaffected by the lack of light; he could see perfectly regardless of the environment.

He was deep in the ocean now, far from the rocky shore where he had started—so far that he hadn't realized it. The depth here exceeded a thousand meters.

He dove deeper, reaching the seabed without any effort and feeling no pressure at all. As he passed schools of fish and other marine life, they would automatically scatter as if terrified the moment they encountered him.

Zhang Can didn't know why. It made sense for small fish to fear him, but several times, he crossed paths with creatures that usually had no fear of humans—including a tiger shark. Though not large, it was a predator capable of threatening a man, yet even the shark seemed to sense something in Zhang Can and veered away in a panic, swimming off as quickly as it could.

As he wandered across the ocean floor, he finally understood: he no longer feared the sea. The miraculous powers of the Water-Repelling Bead had fully integrated into his being. The dream he had once held had become reality, even if he still didn't fully understand how it had come to pass.

Reflecting on the night’s events and his encounter with Liu Xiaoli, his thoughts finally returned to the present. He felt a sense of absurdity, yet he couldn't grasp how such a situation had spiraled out of control.

Fortunately, the destruction of the bead had purged his body of that overwhelming lust. After absorbing the bead’s energy into the sea, he still didn't fully understand why the energy had separated from his spiritual core and hidden itself throughout his body. Yet, he knew that even when the energy remained dormant, his body and the ocean were inextricably linked.