HTI: Chapter 127

After Xie Yang released the suppression on his ability core, he soon developed symptoms of a high fever. On the way to the hospital, Qiu Xing held Xie Yang and repeatedly touched his forehead. He was angry and anxious. “When did you start to feel uncomfortable? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Xie Yang obediently leaned on Qiu Xing and pacified him. “I started to feel uncomfortable when I got up in the morning. Don’t worry, it is just a fever. Don’t you know? I might look serious when I am sick but I actually get better quickly. I just need sleep.”

How could Qiu Xing not feel worried? Not only was he anxious, he also blamed himself. From waking up in the morning to now, he had been working with Xie Yang one-on-one in the office. He was so close but he didn’t realize Xie Yang was actually uncomfortable.

He held Xie Yang’s hand and urged Zhou Miao to drive a bit faster.

Xie Yang was already a bit confused when he arrived at the hospital. Due to the previous suppression, the upgrade process of the ability was a bit fiercer than normal once the suppression was released.

Xie Yang tried his best to stay awake and answered a few of the doctor’s questions. He told the doctor that he would sleep when he had a fever. He was very calm throughout the entire process. In contrast, Qiu Xing to the side was more like a patient. He couldn’t conceal his restlessness at all.

After lying down on the hospital bed and having an IV attached, Xie Yang couldn’t hold on anymore. His mind gradually became blurred as he grabbed Qiu Xing’s hand and smiled at this person. “I will sleep for a while. Will you accompany me?”

Qiu Xing held Xie Yang’s hand as well. He suppressed his anxiety and touched Xie Yang’s hot forehead, coaxing him. “Go to sleep. I’ll be with you.”

“Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried. Go to sleep.”

Xie Yang closed his eyes and his consciousness was quickly drawn into the vortex of his ability upgrade.

***

It was unknown how long he was in chaos but Xie Yang was suddenly awakened by a strange sound that pierced his spirit.

[Alarm… alarm… the host is extremely weak and the system is automatically turned on.]

[Detecting love value… detecting love value…]

[Energy is sufficient. The system will automatically upgrade the program.]

Upgrade?! Xie Yang suddenly woke up and called out in his mind: [Shut down the system.]

[Please confirm if you want to turn off the system?]

[Yes.]

[System is being shut down… shutdown failed. System upgrade is in progress. Please wait patiently for the completion of the system upgrade.]

Rogue software!

Xie Yang wanted to open his eyes but his body was still powerless. He couldn’t let the system upgrade. This thing with an unknown origin, he absolutely couldn’t let it strengthen itself.

His ability core was undergoing the final fusion before the upgrade. Xie Yang endured the discomfort and actively accelerated the speed of his ability core fusion. At the same time, he started flooding his ability toward his brain.

He did it as a final resort but he didn’t expect this trick to really be useful. The piercing sound in his brain suddenly became louder like the signal was unstable.

[Alarm! Alarm! Perceived an abnormal energy interference. The fit between the system and the host is decreasing… 90% fit… 80% fit… alert! Host, please stabilize yourself as soon as possible.]

How could he let it be stabilized?! Xie Yang gritted his teeth and increased the intensity of his ability.

[70% fit… Please stabilize your situation as soon as possible! 50% fit… the compatibility is too low. The upgrade is interrupted… the upgrade has failed.]

Xie Yang relaxed suddenly.

[The host’s body has a rejection response to the system. The rejection is being tested…. the rejection is 50%. The rejection is increasing. Detecting the host’s recent system usage… no usage record.]

The ability core’s fusion started coming to an end and Xie Yang’s mind became confused again.

[The system utilization rate is lower than the average and it is judged to be useless binding. Starting the unbinding… checking the status of the previous host. The love value is higher than the average and the rebinding profit is being calculated…]

Previous host? Rebinding? Xie Yang forced himself to stay awake, enduring the explosive heat from his brain as he listened to the system.

[The profit on rebinding is too low. Cancel the rebinding. Starting the new host capture program… captured a suitable host…]

Suitable host? Who was it? How did the system capture a more suitable host? Was it based on distance? If so, wasn’t it possible that Qiu Xing might be caught by the system? It couldn’t be Qiu Xing!

[Caught a more suitable binding candidate…. unbinding starting… unbinding…]

So fast?

His ability core’s fusion was a complete success and the heat and pain in his brain disappeared instantly. Xie Yang opened his eyes and found Qiu Xing lying on the bed next to him. The energy in his ability core that was quickly filled up by the upgrade exploded toward his brain, fiercely and densely scouring his brain. At the same time, it released a layer of supernatural ability as it densely wrapped around the brain, forming an absolutely closed energy circle.

Anything that wanted to be transferred needed a suitable medium. If he completely isolated it from the outside world, would the system be able to run away? In short, this unstable factor absolutely couldn’t be let go. He didn’t want to passively have his memory erased after the system was unbound.

[Alarm! The unbinding is disturbed.]

[Detecting abnormal energy fluctuations… energy detected… does not belong to the energy of this world. The energy intensity exceeds the standard of this world.]

[Alarm! Alarm! Perceived a threat and forcibly starting the unbinding.]

[Forced unbinding failed. Requesting help from the main system.]

[Signal transmission has failed due to interference from unknown forces… opened forced transfer.]

The ability rushing through his brain caught a trace of abnormal fluctuations. Xie Yang’s hand pressed tightly against his forehead as the ability in his brain surged toward the fluctuation.

[…Zizi… forced transfer failed… under attack… calling the main system… Nascent World Energy Harvesting System 1314 calling the main system… requesting support, requesting support…]

In the place surrounded by his ability, a lump of dark energy suddenly appeared and then disappeared. At the same time, the ability Xie Yang placed around his body caught a strange energy that was colliding with his ability barrier.

He didn’t hesitate to eat that trace of energy. Then he used his ability to block the dark energy cluster and scanned his brain.

Unfortunately, he could no longer sense the existence of the dark energy group. However, the scanning obviously had an effect on the hidden energy. As he searched, the sound of the system gradually weakened.

[…Zizi… disconnected from the main system… disconnect from the nascent world… lack of energy, damage to operating procedures… repairing… lack of energy, unable to repair… going to sleep.]

His brain fell completely quiet. Xie Yang waited for a while before relaxing the hand on his forehead and tentatively retracting the ability. Nothing happened. It seemed that the system really had gone to sleep.

Still, Xie Yang didn’t relax his vigilance. He kept using his ability to seal off the area where the dark energy had once appeared. He was pretty sure that judging from the system’s shameless behaviour of turning on and trying to upgrade while he was weak, that the system would definitely turn on again the next time he weakened.

However, vigilance was vigilance. He actually wasn’t so worried anymore. The series of prompts from the system had given too much information. He felt that he should’ve caught on to the real body of the system, no, the group of energy.

He put down his hand and sensed that his ability core had become fuller after eating some of the dark energy. He looked at the space in his brain that was blocked by his ability and laughed silently. Since it was energy that could be absorbed, there was nothing to be afraid of. He could just eat it slowly.

He thought there was something mysterious about the system. It turned out to be an unknown energy group. In addition, this energy group wasn’t bound to the soul. It was just hidden.

Cunning thing. What ‘Love Value Exchange System’? It was obviously a tool to help this main system harvest energy. In addition, what nascent world? Did it mean this world?

There was too much messy information and Xie Yang’s mind became blurred when he thought about it again.

His ability had just been upgraded and he had eaten some strange power that needed to be digested slowly. His eyelids lowered uncontrollably but he was still awake. He glanced sideways at Qiu Xing in the next bed and whispered, “Ah Xing.”

The figure on the bed moved and then sat up. The desk lamp turned on and drove away the darkness in the room. Xie Yang saw Qiu Xing rushing to him and reached out to him.

Qiu Xing hurriedly held Xie Yang’s hand while touching his forehead with the other hand. Then Qiu Xing pressed the call bell on the bedside table as he bent over and quickly asked, “How do you feel? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Do you want to drink water?”

Xie Yang shook his head and replied in a contented manner. “I just had a nightmare. I will go back to sleep… Ah Xing, I will cure you.”

“What silly thing  are you saying?” Qiu Xing frowned and softly touched Xie Yang’s face. “You really don’t want anything?”

‘No, you are enough. What nascent world, what main system, what sub system? These things aren’t important. As long as you are alive, as long as you…’

Xie Yang grasped Qiu Xing’s hand and fell into a deep sleep.

***

It was the afternoon of the next day when Xie Yang woke up again. The high fever had completely disappeared and his entire body was full of energy, leaving no trace of illness.

Qiu Xing checked him up and down several times before finally rubbing his head in a gentle manner. “How can you be sick like this?”

Xie Yang smiled and changed the subject. “I’m hungry.”

Qiu Xing pinched the corner of Xie Yang’s mouth, settled him back down on the bed and left the ward. Xie Yang watched Qiu Xing leave and the smile on his face disappeared. He felt his ability core again thoughtfully. The first time he woke up, he found that something was strange with his ability core. He had actually risen two levels in one go this time.

This was too abnormal. When he was awakened by the system in the middle, his ability core had obviously only upgraded by one level. Was it because of the energy absorbed from the system? After he went to sleep yesterday, his ability core relied on this energy to get another level up?

However, Qiu Xing clearly said that he didn’t have a fever again last night and he didn’t sleep too long.

Was it the benefit of eating the system’s energy? If this was the case… Xie Yang raised an eyebrow and felt the area that was blocked by his ability. Then the corners of his mouth slowly rose in a smile.

So he had locked up a large energy bank and had an ability upgrade accelerator in his head?

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Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten