Self-Sufficiency

"Your invitations," Wu Zhenhua announced as he returned from outside, waving several elegant invitation cards.

Qi Yuan, sitting in a chair reading a book, jerked his chin up. "Just toss them on the table with the rest of the pile."

Wu Zhenhua noticed the invitations on the table had nearly formed a small mountain. He placed the new ones next to the pile and picked up a few to flip through, unable to help but sigh.

"Good grief, you'd need a clone of yourself to attend all these gatherings."

Qi Yuan suddenly choked, coughing a few times before grabbing his cup and taking a big gulp of water. He waved his hand dismissively.

"That's why I can't be bothered to attend."

"I don't know what they're playing at. Before, they said all those nice things about how we've come from afar, and it would be poor hospitality to let us leave in a hurry."

Wu Zhenhua, the nominal person in charge this time, was getting a headache. "These past few days, they've been pestering me non-stop about this and that. I can't get a moment's peace. I just want to run away."

With that, he sank into the sofa, rubbing his head in frustration.

Qi Yuan smiled politely without saying anything, allowing Wu Zhenhua to lounge like Ge You. He lowered his head to look at the book in his hands.

He had read this book long ago, but unfortunately, as a clone, he had no human rights, not even to browse on a phone. If he absorbed too much information, when the clone was dispelled, the flood of memories would be uncomfortable for the original. So he could only pass the time by reading books he had already read before.

At this point in time, the original should have found Dr. Marlon, right?

...

"Achoo!" Qi Yuan, standing in front of the mirror, turned off the faucet.

Although there was no evidence, he suspected his clone was thinking about him.

Sensing the energy within his body, Qi Yuan felt he could create some more abilities. Translation, cloning, spatial manipulation, and shape-shifting – what else was commonly used...

Having more abilities than others meant he hadn't put much effort into researching them.

If it weren't for forming an organization, he wouldn't have known when he'd discover this bug.

There was one ability he had never used before – ability theft.

This ability could steal abilities from other people or monsters and transfer them to himself. But Qi Yuan didn't use it for a reason: ability theft took quite some time. If interrupted or if the creature providing the ability died, the theft would fail.

Now things were different.

First, create an ability, then use ability theft to steal it from himself. This way, the created ability would permanently become his own, without needing to repeatedly expend energy to create it.

True self-sufficiency.

When translation became a permanent ability, he could feel it responding as naturally as his own limbs, as if a barrier had been removed.

He looked up at the mirror, checking for any flaws in his appearance.

The image reflected in the mirror was of a Bitfoguo man in his early twenties, with brown hair, a high nose bridge, freckles, and other Caucasian features.

He walked out of the public restroom, and a group of street thugs whistled at him. However, when they saw the look in his eyes, the leader immediately signaled his underlings to stop their provocative behavior, and they shuffled away nervously.

"Brother, what's wrong?" one of them asked the leader.

The leader glanced at Qi Yuan's retreating figure and muttered, "He looked at us without a hint of fear, and he's a new face around here."

"A new face?" someone asked, puzzled. Wasn't it easier to extort money from newcomers? Those who used public restrooms here couldn't be too well-off. Although the restroom wasn't dirty, rich people would rather check into a hotel than squeeze in here with poor folks.

"Fool. He's traveled a long way but has no luggage. Either he's using a spatial ability item for storage, or someone else is carrying his things for him."

The leader snorted, folding his arms and tapping his foot rhythmically on the ground.

Their spot was at the entrance of the small town. He could analyze from the overall dress and behavior of passersby which ones they could target and which ones they couldn't.

After his explanation, the other thugs finally noticed that the man who had left was empty-handed. They pounded the wall in fear as they realized their mistake.

From all indications, he was likely the former type of person.

Those who owned and kept ability items were either from powerful families with strong backing or formidable in their own right.

Even if their numbers were tenfold, they couldn't afford to provoke such a person.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan had arrived at the small town's clinic.

After resigning from the research institute, Marlon had come to this small town to work as a doctor. Although his medical career was short, it was sufficient for the small town.

It was also because of this that he had escaped the crisis in New York City.

The receptionist at the clinic was a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties, dozing off in her seat.

He tapped on the desk. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Dr. Marlon."

The woman was startled awake, patting her chest to calm herself. "You scared me, young man. He's not working today. What kind of medical issue do you have? I can recommend other doctors."

Qi Yuan got straight to the point. "I need to see him for something. Where does he live?"

"That's his personal information. I can't disclose it."

The woman's eyebrows kept twitching as she made meaningful glances towards the outside and behind him.

He immediately understood. It would be a dereliction of duty for the receptionist to tell him directly, but other town residents wouldn't have such restrictions. The town was small enough that anyone could point him in the right direction if he asked around.

For instance, the couple behind him who had been staring at him since overhearing their conversation.

"Adrian, what's wrong?" Caroline asked her boyfriend, noticing his attention was on the front desk. She tugged at his arm and inquired softly.

Seeing Adrian unresponsive, she raised her arm to check her watch. "We need to hurry, or we'll be late. Are you listening to me?"

Her boyfriend had suggested coming to the clinic to pick up something for his father, specifically detouring and spending quite some time. Now that he was spacing out, Caroline felt a bit annoyed.

Adrian saw the brown-haired young man at the front desk looking his way and withdrew his arm from his girlfriend's hold.

"Sorry, give me a moment."

With that, he quickly walked over to the brown-haired youth.

"Excuse me, I'm Adrian Marlon, Dr. Marlon's son. May I ask what business you have with my father?"

"Hello, I'm Brown Oscar. I'd like to consult Dr. Marlon about the experiments at the Avilars Biological Research Institute."

The surname Oscar made him feel a sense of familiarity. When the random name generator had produced this name, Qi Yuan had immediately decided to use it as his alias.

Avilars Biological Research Institute – Adrian was no stranger to the place where his father had worked for most of his life. The familiar term made him lower his guard slightly.

Caroline walked over and put her arm around her boyfriend's waist.

Although she was a bit anxious about being late, she didn't interrupt their conversation.