As mid-night approaches, fewer and fewer people walked on the street, most vendors decided to close up shop.
Bai Ming who who finished closing up shop glaced to the side and saw Qin Shaoqing sleeping and couldn't help but sigh.
'If you advertise your stall more, maybe you'll get more customers especially with that face.' Bai Ming admired his sleeping face before pinching his face to wake him up.
"Wake up, its closing time."
"Hmm? ah, right." Still half a sleep moved to pack up.
Bai Ming who already left Qin Shaoqing made the street deserted, and the cold wind made it felt even more lonely.
Suddenly though he felt a chill crept up his spine as if a hand tracing his back.
His drowsy eyes instantly sharpened and quickly looked around.
'was it my imagination?' Trusting his instinct, he didn't let down his guard.
Slowly looking around, he noticed a thick fog has started to roll in, now he truly know something is wrong.
And then by the corner of his eye, he saw a green wisp piercing the fog.
"A heliobus?!" Qin Shaoqing exclaimed, and as he noticed it, it noticed him and before he could react, the heliobus wizz straight into his chest without giving a chance for him to dodge.
"ah fuck." Qin Shaoqing didn't panic, and grabbed one remaining candied fruit stick, before sitting down and enjoyed the night sky for the last time.
He knew there was no way to get the heliobus out of his body, and it being a heliobus, it will shortly suck his life energy with no way to retaliate.
"Well it was a short life, well being sucked to death isn't a bad way to go out, heh." He mused while putting one fruit into his mouth and ate with a satisfying crunch.
"I wonder how Ming will react when she sees a mummified body holding a candied fruits, she'll probably think 'heh, that bastard will probably die like that' not knowing I did indeed die like this." Taking in the night sky for the last time he closed his eyes to await his demise.
[Detecting an unknown presence trying to harm host deploying safety measures!]
Seeing the system's chat, his hope couldn't help but rise.
[Attempting to purge the unknown presence]
[Failed]
'fuck'
[Attempting to purge the unknown presence]
[Failed]
'Guess I'm dying'
[Attempting to assimilate the unknown presence]
[Successfully assimilate the unknown presence into the system]
"Or not." Qin Shaoqing smiled, and let out a sigh of relief.
[New ability: Drain]
[Drain: Steal the yin energy from other living being to nourish yourself and the system, if enough mastery is obtain, the flow can be reversed.]
"Isn't this..." Qin Shaoqing re-read the ability multiple time before sighing.
It is essentially heliobus's ability to steal living energy from other living being made into an ability.
With good enough use, he could use this in battle to weaken his opponents.
but... for a normal citizen like him, its rare to encounter danger enough to utilize this ability. If he didn't become a Cloud knight or a vigilante it's practically rare to see it being of use.
And he's for sure won't assault random people to empower his system, he's a con-man at worst, not a villain looking for revenge. He's just a normal joe with a system.
Shaking his train of thought, it'll be great in self-defense if nothing else,
Wanting to test out the ability, he grabbed an orange from his storage and focused on draining it.
Suddenly a green flame risen from his hand and encased the orange.
Soon, the orange started to wither, leaving only a husk. Qin Shaoqing also felt a bit rejuvenated and a hint taste of citrus lingered in his mouth.
Satisfied with the ability, he began to try packing up again but was suddenly he heard a distant sound of running which is increasingly becoming louder.
Qin Shaoqing now ready for another heliobus made a stance, ready to run away any second.
'Wait, heliobus don't have feet.' A sudden realization hit him, and before he could re-think the figure bust through the fog.
"You, have you seen any heliobus anywhere?" The brown-haired girl asked coldly.
"Umm, are you lost perchance?" Qin Shaoqing feigned ignorance.
"Tsk, no use." As quick as she arrived, she left the scene, looking for the the non-existent heliobus whom he absorbed.
[Congratulation for decieving one of the ten lords! your reward is: Ghost-like movements, confuse your opponents with illusionary figures and misleading sounds!]
Looking at the reward, he felt satisfied once more, though he wished it would grant him more than just visual illusions, a man cannot be too greedy when he is given free stuff.
"Quite a lot of combat oriented stuff, like as if system is prep-" Qin stopped his musing mid way, and as if nothing happened, quickly packed up his stuff.
'Don't jinx it, don't jinx it, don't jinx it.'