Chapter 10: Don’t Tell Me You’re a Genius?
“Once you become an ability user, you’ll naturally have money. How is that swindling you?” the little girl said, unconvinced.
Jiang Ning coughed lightly. “Actually, I am an ability user.”
“You?” The little girl’s gaze swept up and down Jiang Ning, clearly showing her disbelief.
Jiang Ning: “It’s true.”
“You don’t even look 12 years old. How could you be an ability user? Don’t tell me you’re a genius?” the little girl said.
Jiang Ning: “?”
What kind of rule is this? Does awakening an ability depend on age?
She remembered the original owner’s age was eleven and a half. That didn’t count as twelve.
The little girl saw Jiang Ning’s ignorance and explained to her, “Twelve to eighteen is the prime age for awakening. In this age group, a person’s brain development is complete and can handle the development of psychic energy. The testing limit set by the detection centers is also twelve years old and above.”
“There are some who awaken before twelve, but that’s definitely not you. They are usually the children of those large families on the major planets. They have special internal testing methods that can detect it before the age of twelve.”
Jiang Ning had originally planned to go to a detection center to test her awakening rank. After hearing the little girl’s explanation, she thought she could just head straight back home.
“I’m going to get tested in another half a year,” the little girl said with emotion. “I wonder what rank of ability I’ll awaken.”
Jiang Ning glanced at the little girl. Her family owned a spirit tool shop; even if the rank of her awakened ability wasn’t high, it could be enhanced later on.
By comparison, Jiang Ning was now a little curious about the rank of her own ability.
She had heard that the higher the rank, the more psychic energy one had, and the more fluently one could use their ability.
But given her psychic energy, which couldn’t even summon a sunflower after half a day, she estimated it was D-rank at best.
The little girl’s eyes darted around. “So? Want to buy a spirit tool to take back with you?”
“My name is Ke Lai. We can be friends. I’ll give you a 9.8 discount.”
Jiang Ning had been planning to buy a spirit tool anyway, so after thinking for a moment, she asked, “What’s the price of your cheapest spirit tool here?”
Confirming that she had the desire to buy, Ke Lai led her to a display rack on the left side of the entrance, pointed to an inconspicuous stone in the far corner and said, “8999 star coins, honest price for young and old.”
8999, even with a 9.8 discount, would still require at least 8820 star coins.
Jiang Ning secretly made up her mind, setting a new goal for herself in her heart: 8820.
“This is already a great deal. Just think, if—” Ke Lai energetically pitched, mimicking her father’s sales style.
Before she could finish her sentence, Jiang Ning stepped forward and grabbed her hand.
“Wait for me.”
After saying this, she walked right out the door.
Ke Lai: “???”
One second she said she was going to buy, how did she disappear the next?
She had never encountered a situation like this before and stood there stunned for a moment, at a loss.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ning, who had already left the spirit tool shop: Taking out a loan is impossible. Besides, she’s not in a hurry right now. She’ll come back when she’s saved up enough money.
By the time Jiang Ning finished her wandering and took a maglev bus back to the slums, it was already five in the afternoon.
There seemed to be an unusual number of people in the slums today. They had work badges hanging around their necks and cameras on their shoulders, all heading in the same direction.
Some of them were even holding a banner. Jiang Ning could only vaguely make out something about an “A-rank ability user” written on it.
After realizing they were all going to interview Yan Zhou, Jiang Ning lost interest in heading that way.
She was too small and thin; it would be easy for a stampede to happen in the crowd, so she took another route home.
The house was just as she had left it. Although it was dirt-poor, its saving grace was that it was clean.
The light inside the house was dim, and the space was very compact.
A spot two steps from the entrance had a loft built over it; the little girl’s parents used to sleep there.
Under the loft was another bed, which was where she slept.
The ceiling in the house wasn’t high, and with the two levels built in, the space felt even more oppressive.
Jiang Ning moved the bed, preparing to dismantle the loft to expand the space a bit.
By the time she finished all this, it was already midnight.
Jiang Ning lay back on the bed, just about to check on the seedling in her mind.
She saw that it was withered and listless.
This is bad!
Jiang Ning quickly got up, went out the door, and headed towards Yan Zhou’s house.
When she had passed out, her backpack had been left in Yan Zhengxiang’s truck. Later, when they went to the hospital, Auntie Li hadn’t brought it down for her.
By now, the crowd that had been surrounding Yan Zhengxiang’s house had all returned to the city. The area outside the slum house was quiet again.
Jiang Ning peeked through the window and saw the lights were still on inside, so she knocked on the Yan family’s door.
Yan Zhou had just finished a shower, a bath towel casually secured around his waist. He walked to the door and pulled it open.
Jiang Ning came face to face with a shirtless Yan Zhou.
Yan Zhou: “It’s so late. Is something the matter?”
Yan Zhou’s skin was fair, the type that looked slim with clothes on but muscular without.
Jiang Ning, with the soul of a normal adult, felt a little shy. She averted her eyes and said, “My backpack was left in Uncle Yan’s truck. I wanted to come and get it.”
The sunflower seedling in her mind was tied to the one in her backpack. Right now, the sunflower in her mind had already lost a leaf. She had tried every method but couldn’t touch it, so her only option was to come and find a solution with the one in her backpack.
“Wait a moment.” Yan Zhou turned and walked back into the house.
Jiang Ning obediently waited at the door for a while. When she saw Yan Zhou again, he had already changed his clothes and came out with a set of keys.
The two of them, holding a light, walked to the warehouse at the entrance of the North District. Yan Zhou opened the truck door, and Jiang Ning immediately spotted a black backpack in the back seat. She took it down.
“It’s a good thing you came early. My dad and I are leaving for Planet Kai Pu first thing tomorrow morning. We’ve already sold the truck to someone from the West District. We’ll hand it over tomorrow morning and then leave,” Yan Zhou said.
“So soon?” Jiang Ning glanced over in surprise.
“Yes, Saiya Ben Academy starts next week. We’re going over early to get familiar with the environment on Planet Kai Pu,” Yan Zhou said.
The government subsidy had just come through today. Paired with the money their family had saved up before, it was just enough for them to move to Planet Kai Pu.
After bidding farewell to Yan Zhou, Jiang Ning returned to her own home.
She hurriedly opened her backpack and saw that the sunflower, which she had wrapped in a plastic bag, was indeed withered and listless. Its leaves were somewhat dry, looking like it was on the verge of death.
Jiang Ning quickly removed the plastic bag wrapped around it, found an empty pot, and carefully placed the sunflower seedling inside. Then, she watered the seedling a little.
Sunflowers are heat-loving plants; the higher the temperature, the faster they grow.
Jiang Ning moved it to the windowsill.
Only after dismantling the loft did Jiang Ning discover that there was originally a skylight on the roof, but it had been sealed shut. After she finally managed to fix it, she realized that her house didn’t have bad lighting; it was just that all the places where light could shine in had been blocked.
After the skylight was opened, the room was bright even at night.
Jiang Ning climbed onto the table and quietly watched the sunflower seedling on the windowsill.
She thought to herself that she would have to make another trip to the city tomorrow to buy some fertilizer and such.
The soil quality on Planet M412 was not good. If the sunflower seedling couldn’t absorb nutrients for a long time, it would be difficult to guarantee its survival rate and seed quality.
However, this plant was a bit different from the sunflowers in her world. Not only was its growth period much shorter than the sunflowers in her world, but even the way it sprouted was so peculiar.
She had a faint premonition that when this sunflower seedling blossomed and bore fruit, she would gain a new understanding of her ability.
Jiang Ning turned over and looked at the little girl’s resident identification information. There were still 151 days until her 12th birthday.
Five months’ time.
According to a normal flowering period, the sunflower should also be blooming and bearing fruit by then.
Before she could officially test her ability, she had to study it properly first.
**
The next morning, Jiang Ning got up at just after five, tidied herself up, and went out, heading towards the bus stop.
She didn’t go to the fertilizer market but to the fruit and vegetable market. Sunflowers in the bud stage mainly required phosphate fertilizer. Not only was the phosphate fertilizer on the market expensive, but its quality was also not very good.
Jiang Ning took a different approach and decided to get some rotten fruits and leaves to serve as its fertilizer.
The price of fresh food was more expensive than nutrient solutions. Poor wretches who chose to drink nutrient solutions would generally not go to the fresh food market to buy fresh food, especially early in the morning. So, there weren’t many people here, and the shop owners were still busy at their respective stalls.
Jiang Ning dragged a large bag and rummaged through the trash cans in front of various shops. Generally speaking, in the morning, vendors would throw the severely rotten produce into the trash cans to make the fruits and vegetables in their shops look better.
However, most smart trash cans had an internal disposal function, so there was very little for Jiang Ning to scavenge.
Her eyes were constantly watching her surroundings. The moment she spotted a shop owner about to dispose of rotten leaves, she would immediately run over.
The shop owners usually saw that she was a child and only wanted some of the rotten melons and leaves they were going to throw away, so they would give them to her.
Jiang Ning scavenged from just after seven in the morning until around eleven in the morning. Just as she was about to go back, she happened to run into an acquaintance.
Ke Lai saw Jiang Ning in the crowd, carrying a large bag and reeking of a foul smell. She left her parents and ran towards her.
“Are you scavenging trash? You’re that poor?” Ke Lai’s pupils constricted, clearly very surprised.
Yesterday, although she had seen that Jiang Ning’s clothes were tattered, her speech, logic, and mental state were not like those of a scavenger. She had even been able to come to her family’s shop to look at spirit tools, so Ke Lai hadn’t thought in that direction.
She had actually tried to swindle a scavenger?
Although she hadn’t actually succeeded, she was still damned.
Spirit tools were certainly useful, but one or two pieces had a negligible effect on enhancing psychic energy.
Especially for someone like Jiang Ning, whose psychic energy had never been nurtured, even spending hundreds of thousands might not result in any improvement.
“Yes.” Jiang Ning wanted to explain, but in fact, she was indeed scavenging trash, and she was indeed very poor.
Ke Lai felt even more guilty. “Um, about the cheapest spirit tool I mentioned yesterday…”
Jiang Ning thought the other party was still trying to persuade her to buy it on loan and made an excuse, “I’m not planning to buy a spirit tool for the time being. I have something else to do, so I’ll be going now.”
Jiang Ning walked away quickly. She had collected enough things. After taking them home and processing them, they could be used as fertilizer for the sunflower.
Ke Lai silently watched her retreating back.
It wasn’t until her parents walked over. “Xiao Lai, who were you talking to just now?”
“A friend.”
Ke Lai thought that she must have left because she was embarrassed about being caught scavenging trash.
The one thing people in business couldn’t do was point out others’ sore spots.
She must apologize properly the next time they met.
Jiang Ning, who was already on the maglev bus home, had no idea what Ke Lai was thinking. Her only thought was to get home quickly.