Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Ninth-Rank Warrior

The doubts in his heart were finally resolved.

Ever since he had seen Liu Ping, who had awakened psychic abilities in Qingtong Town yesterday, Gu Sha had begun to suspect that the official explanation of ability awakening in his previous life might not have been entirely truthful.

Now, at last, he understood.

Listening to Han Ze, Gu Sha found the reasoning convincing. For ordinary people, the arrival of the apocalypse was unbearably harsh.

Take himself as an example—in the first few years after the apocalypse, if he had known that the Scarlet Infection could grant someone a chance to become an ability-user, he would certainly have taken the risk.

There were countless people like him in his previous life, many suffering even more; the status of an ability-user was akin to a carp leaping over the dragon gate. Obtaining an alien bone was exceedingly difficult, so if the authorities had revealed that awakening abilities through Scarlet Infection was possible, many would have dared to try.

Naturally, the authorities would not wish to see such chaos, so it was only reasonable that they concealed this awakening method.

Yet, having confirmed this, Gu Sha felt even heavier at heart.

It only reinforced the possibility that perhaps there had never been a rebirth at all, merely that his abilities, upon awakening, had exploded and deduced twenty years into the future.

"Is it rebirth, or foresight?" Gu Sha frowned slightly.

However, he did not dwell on it for long. After all, digging deeper served little purpose.

"By the way," Gu Sha asked, "President Han, do you have any ability-users in your Transcendent Association?"

"We do, but their numbers are few—only five or six. They're all out on missions right now; otherwise, we wouldn't be in such a predicament today," Han Ze replied.

Gu Sha pondered and asked, "Is there someone named Meng Qingping, a time-type ability-user?"

"Meng Qingping?" Han Ze shook his head. "No, never heard of her. We don't have any time-type ability-users. Is she a friend of yours?"

Gu Sha was stunned.

Meng Qingping was, in later years, one of the ten Great War Emperors of C City Fortress. According to the original timeline, she had appeared in C City Fortress in the second year after the apocalypse, one of the rare war-king level experts at the time. Later, in a great battle, she reversed time over several kilometers, saving the fortress.

She was a legendary figure in C City Fortress. Though she was only a War Emperor in later years, she was on par with the fortress’s greatest expert—a legend who broke through to the Domain Lord realm, the highest level of genetic development. Her mastery of time abilities was uncanny.

Since awakening his own time abilities, Gu Sha had always wanted to meet this fellow time-type ability-user. He remembered Meng Qingping well, having participated in a battle she led in his past life and had researched her background.

She came from the top Meng family in the southwest, always stayed in C City Fortress, and broke through to war-king status in the second year after the apocalypse, holding an important post.

According to that information,

Meng Qingping should be in C City now.

"President Han, the Meng Qingping I mentioned should be from the Meng family in Yun City, southwest. Are you sure you haven’t heard of her?" Gu Sha asked.

"Is there such a person in the Meng family?" Han Ze shook his head. "We have plenty of high-ranking members from the Meng family here, and many of their transcendent members, but none have become ability-users. I'm sure I’m not mistaken—there are only a handful of ability-users."

Gu Sha looked deeply at Han Ze, uncertain whether Han Ze genuinely did not know her or was unwilling to reveal the truth.

But judging by Han Ze’s demeanor, he did not seem to be lying.

Of course, if Han Ze truly wanted to lie, with his composure, it would be hard to tell.

Gu Sha asked again, "Do you know someone named Gu Xiao?"

Gu Xiao was, in later years, the foremost expert of C City Fortress—a Domain Lord-level figure surpassing the War Emperor rank, representing the highest level of genetic development. This person was publicly known in later records, from the top Gu family in the southwest.

He had been invited to C City Fortress in the fifth year after the apocalypse as a War Emperor, and the inviter was none other than the first president of the Transcendent Association, Han Ze. The event had caused quite a stir.

During interviews,

Han Ze and Gu Xiao both claimed to have been friends since childhood—hence Gu Xiao’s acceptance of Han Ze’s invitation.

However, to Gu Sha’s surprise, Han Ze again shook his head. "Never heard of him. Is he from the Gu family?"

Gu Sha nodded thoughtfully. "Before the apocalypse, I once received his kindness. If I have a chance, I’d like to see him again."

"Alright," Han Ze said. "I'll help you look. If I find anything, I'll let you know."

"Good. His name is Gu Xiao—‘Xiao’ as in ‘hero’—should be around forty years old now. Thank you, President Han. I’ll take my leave."

After their farewells, Gu Sha carried a box of corpse cores onto his car and soon departed.

Watching Gu Sha leave, Han Ze returned to the Transcendent Association and found Director Chen, instructing him, "Go to the Gu family and see if there’s someone named Gu Xiao, about forty years old. Also check if the Meng family has a Meng Qingping."

Director Chen asked in confusion, "President, do you need something from these two?"

Han Ze shook his head. "Gu Sha is looking for them."

…

Soon,

Gu Sha drove back to his residence, entered his room without eating.

He now had some doubts.

If Han Ze was not lying, where did his memories of those two come from? Why would later authorities falsify information?

If Han Ze was lying, could these two already have some special status, requiring them to be hidden and cultivated by the authorities? That didn't seem likely, since the authorities hadn’t even developed the Breath Drawing Technique yet, nor figured out how to use corpse cores or alien bones. What could they possibly be cultivating in secret?

Gu Sha pondered for a while, but did not dwell on it. Instead, he began refining the corpse cores.

He was very satisfied with this harvest. Having undergone the baptism of over ten source pearls, his talent was strong, and his use of source energy was nearly flawless.

He had already unlocked most of his ninth gene lock, and this batch of corpse cores would be more than enough for him to break through to ninth-grade warrior.

He channeled the power of blood and energy with the Breath Drawing Technique, quickly enveloping the corpse cores and absorbing them at a rapid pace.

Dense corpse cores flew out of the box, circling around Gu Sha, shining brilliantly like stars orbiting a moon.

The corpse cores, once drained of source energy, turned to powder and vanished.

Time slowly passed.

He did not know how long it had been, when Gu Sha suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of light gleaming within.

He was now a ninth-grade warrior!

Gu Sha circulated his energy, observing the gene locks internally—all fully unlocked, like nine golden bolts of lightning flashing in the void.

Above each golden lightning bolt appeared several ancient rune symbols.

Gu Sha knew,

Those symbols, defined as inscriptions in later years, were unique to the war-king realm—a realm where one truly began to transcend the ordinary.

(End of this chapter)