Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Tasteless Burden

Zhou Yi was stunned.

It seemed that absorbing the energy value still required him to be lying down. Without a word, he walked to the space capsule, stepped inside, crossed his arms over his chest, and let his legs hang naturally.

“All right, I’m ready!”

Watching Zhou Yi’s nervous face, Sophia averted her eyes slightly, afraid she’d burst out laughing in the next second—speaking as though it were all so easy, yet wearing the most timid expression.

Sophia said no more. She tapped on the control panel at her wrist, and the entire room seemed to be enveloped inside a glass dome.

The surface of the dome shimmered, like a sphere of water, sending out rippling waves layer by layer.

With a flick of Sophia’s wrist, the dome turned opaque and white. Zhou Yi paused, his eyes darting around until they settled on Sophia.

“Stop looking,” she said. “This energy shield isolates everything. Even if the Lord of Time City stood outside, he wouldn’t hear a thing. Don’t worry, just listen to me now.

“Valdene’s return this time hasn’t gone smoothly in Time City. His element is metal, but he even refused the spirit stones offered to him. I think something about his recent upgrade is very wrong.

“I don’t know if something went wrong with his body after the upgrade, or if he encountered other problems. As for the residual energy in your body, I believe it came from you breaking the energy shell—don’t worry, he won’t suspect you for this.

“Now, I’m transferring thirty percent of this mission’s energy value to you. Don’t resist—just relax, try to sense what element you’re most attuned to, and then we’ll make a decision.”

Zhou Yi nodded.

Sophia spoke quickly, her hands moving skillfully over the controls as she spoke.

As she operated the panel, wisps of light began to drift from the white dome toward Zhou Yi, floating like jellyfish tentacles.

Zhou Yi squinted slightly, doing his best to relax his body. The threads of light seemed warm, spreading a comfortable heat throughout him.

But the temperature kept rising.

Those delicate strands of light grew more concentrated.

In the end, they surged toward him like ribbons, wrapping Zhou Yi completely and turning him into a glowing cocoon, much like a silkworm, his head and feet no longer visible.

Sophia stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yi. This was only thirty percent of the energy—how...

How did it become like this?

She tapped furiously at the control panel, but nothing seemed to respond. The light had grown dazzling; Sophia had to shield her eyes with her hand.

She wanted to reach out and touch Zhou Yi, but the moment her hand approached, she instantly recoiled from the burning heat—her fingertips blanched where they’d made contact.

Seeing Zhou Yi remain motionless, showing no sign of pain, her worry lessened somewhat.

Unable to intervene, there was nothing for her to do but wait. Sophia curled up against the edge of the energy shield.

Inside the cocoon of light, Zhou Yi’s discomfort was growing. The gentle warmth became a sweat on his brow, and then the rising heat made him want to open his eyes, to call out to Sophia—but he couldn’t move at all.

He felt as if his entire body were being pricked by red-hot needles, the heat rising gradually, like a frog in boiling water—impossible to resist.

At this moment, Zhou Yi realized that struggling was pointless. All he could do was relax as much as possible.

With that thought, he released his clenched fists and let go of his held breath.

Then, something miraculous happened—suddenly, it didn’t feel so hot anymore. The burning streams of heat began to flow into him, seeping through his skin and into every part of his body.

Zhou Yi couldn’t see it, but the six-pointed star mark on his chest seemed to come alive. All the incoming light rushed into it, circulating faster and faster along each line until the mark blazed gold.

At each of the six points of the star, a small circle appeared. The first circle contained a single character, while the others remained dark.

Between the star’s points, a web of lines divided the figure into twelve triangles, and a large halo surrounded the six new circles.

When the mark was fully lit, the threads of light began to fade.

Sophia finally breathed a sigh of relief. If this had continued much longer, it wouldn’t just be Zhou Yi—she herself would’ve been burned by the energy storm.

Yet her eyes never left the mark on Zhou Yi’s chest. The radiance and the intricate changes filled her with excitement; she bit her lip in anticipation.

In that moment, she wanted to throw herself before him, to declare her loyalty, to kneel at his feet.

But she didn’t dare disturb him.

Given Zhou Yi’s current state, he’d definitely level up. To think that a single official mission could bring about an upgrade—such power was extraordinary, bound to attract envy.

Clearly, this mark would need to be further concealed; otherwise, it would be too dangerous. And she still didn’t know what element he possessed.

Gradually, the light dissipated. Zhou Yi slowly opened his eyes to see the white energy shield still in place, and sat up at once.

Sophia hurried over, her tone full of concern.

“How do you feel?”

Zhou Yi blinked. How did he feel?

Did he dare say it was just warm and comfortable?

“Nothing special.”

A mirror was brought before him, and Zhou Yi stared at the mark in surprise. How had it changed?

Had it faded?

“I’ll conceal the changes to your mark in a moment. It’ll look just as before, so don’t worry.”

“Wait, what’s going on? Why has it changed? And why are there still five empty circles? Is this some kind of fill-in-the-blank test?”

Sophia shook her head.

“It’s hard to explain in a few words. But every time you level up, the mark changes, growing more complex. I’ll give you a detailed analysis later—we’re short on time right now.”

Zhou Yi was still at a loss. Since he couldn’t control the thing, he’d just have to accept it for now.

“So what element do I have?”

Sophia paused, then with a flick of her wrist, a luminous disc inlaid with seven stones appeared in her palm. She handed it to Zhou Yi.

“Place your right hand on it. Focus and sense.”

“All right!”

Zhou Yi stood and put his right hand on the disc.

The stones around the edge of the disc lit up like colored lights, but in the end, the black and white stones shone brightest.

The other five—orange, green, cyan, blue, and purple—were dimmer.

Now it was Sophia’s turn to be stunned. Her fingers trembled as she hastily reset the disc, but the result was the same.

She drew in a sharp breath, at a loss for words.

Hearing the commotion, Zhou Yi opened his eyes and looked at her in confusion.

“What’s wrong? Did my upgrade fail?”

Sophia shook her head, gathering her composure before explaining:

“This is the element testing disc. Normally, it lights up in one of seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, cyan, or purple—each representing an element: wind, fire, earth, wood, metal, water, and lightning. Usually, a Chosen One has only a single element.”

Zhou Yi blinked. He vaguely remembered Sophia mentioning it before, but she’d never explained in detail, and he hadn’t paid it much mind.

He glanced at the disc, unsure how reliable it was.

Back in the world of Mission 2000, he’d noticed an increase in strength and a heightened perception of the environment. But what did this disc mean?

Besides black and white, the other stones weren’t completely unlit—just dimmer by comparison.

There were only seven stones here. If there were more, would they all light up?

“What do black and white represent?”

Sophia drew a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm before she replied:

“I knew you were special, but not to this degree. Black represents the mental element. As your powers grow, you’ll be able to sense others’ thoughts—and perhaps wield even greater abilities.

“White stands for the spatial element. You’ve heard of ‘drawing a circle to create a prison’? It lets you define a space, restrict entry and exit, or search within it.”

Zhou Yi’s face showed a hint of disdain, and he frowned.

“Aren’t both of those rather useless? They sound impressive, but what practical use do they have?”