"Boss, that... the ability..."
The moment they returned to the living room, Zhao Kun could barely contain himself.
"We'll try tonight. I'm not sure it'll work either." Yang Bin rubbed his chin, thinking.
"Mm-hmm!" Zhao Kun nodded eagerly.
Honestly, he loved Wang Ruikai's ability. It was devastatingly powerful.
Full-body Metallization in the later stages would make someone an unstoppable killing machine.
If Wang Ruikai had reached that point before fighting Zhong Yuansen, the outcome would've been completely reversed.
Midnight.
The Nine Stars of the Big Dipper reappeared.
Yang Bin and the others didn't head to the Rooftop to stargaze. Instead, they went to the backyard.
Wang Ruikai was curled up in the dog cage, looking thoroughly pathetic.
This pampered young master-born with a silver spoon, peaked at birth-never imagined he'd end up like this.
Hearing footsteps, Wang Ruikai lifted his head and looked at Yang Bin's group.
"You locked me up instead of killing me. You're still afraid of the Wang family."
"Since that's the case, just name your conditions. No need to drag this out. Someone from the Wang family will be here tomorrow morning, and then you won't escape even with wings."
"Heh. You're awfully confident."
"Too bad you guessed wrong. We kept you alive because we need you for an experiment."
"Ah Sen, bring him out."
"Got it."
Zhong Yuansen opened the iron cage and hauled out Wang Ruikai, who still hadn't figured out what was happening.
"Kill him."
"!!!"
"You can't kill me! I'm the Wang family's eldest young master! Kill me and you're dead-all of you!" Wang Ruikai screamed.
It didn't matter how loud he screamed. Zhao Kun moved instantly, one swing of his club caving in the man's skull.
Wang Ruikai's voice cut off mid-word. His body crumpled to the ground.
Yang Bin activated his True Vision Eye and locked his gaze onto Wang Ruikai's corpse.
Moments later, a tiny white mote of light drifted up from above Wang Ruikai's head, shooting toward the sky.
Yang Bin reached out to grab it. His hand passed straight through.
"Figured as much." He kept his eyes fixed on the mote, then reached out with his will-seizing it, pulling it back.
It drifted toward him obediently.
"It works." A spark of excitement lit his eyes.
The others stared at him blankly, no idea what he was doing.
But nobody moved. Nobody dared risk disrupting whatever this was.
"Zhao Kun, lie down."
"Oh-okay."
Zero hesitation. Zhao Kun dropped flat on his back.
Yang Bin guided the mote of light, easing it toward the center of Zhao Kun's brow.
The mote touched skin-and sank in, vanishing completely.
It didn't re-emerge. Yang Bin exhaled.
In the Void Space, he'd seen countless motes like this, each one representing a different ability.
At the time, he'd wondered: does every ability become a mote of light?
Which led to the next question: when an ability user dies, does their ability also become a mote?
And if so-could that mote be implanted into someone else?
He never expected it to actually work.
"Boss, is... is it done?" Zhao Kun looked up at him, tense.
"Yeah. Focus your mind. Imagine your arm turning to metal."
"Okay."
Zhao Kun stood and concentrated.
His right arm rippled-then transformed into a gleaming black metal limb.
"It's... it's real?!" Zhao Kun's eyes went wide, his whole body trembling with excitement.
God knew how badly he'd wanted an ability.
When the boss said they'd try, he hadn't dared hope. The whole concept was too absurd.
And yet here he was, flexing metal fingers.
"Brother Bin, you absolute legend!"
"Boss is a goddamn genius!"
The praise came from every direction.
This time it wasn't ass-kissing. It was genuine awe.
Something they'd dismissed as pure fantasy-the boss just made it happen.
What else could you even say?
From their perspective, he'd waved his hands around for a minute, and suddenly Zhao Kun had Wang Ruikai's ability.
A straight-up miracle.
"Boss... I..." Zhao Kun looked at Yang Bin, words failing him.
"Save it. We're a squad. You getting stronger means we all get stronger." Yang Bin clapped him on the shoulder.
"Right!" Zhao Kun nodded hard.
"Boss... so what about us..." Old Hei and Skinny Monkey materialized at his side, eyes shining with naked hope.
"Since this method works, Star Fall Squad is going full ability-user roster. Obviously." Yang Bin grinned.
"Yes!!!" The two of them practically launched off the ground.
"But-don't advance to Yaoguang Realm before you get your abilities. My guess is that reaching Yaoguang Realm might block the transfer. And even if it still works, your ability would end up one order lower, since Yaoguang Realm gives abilities a chance to evolve."
"Boss, no problem at all. As long as we get abilities, we can wait on advancing." Both of them waved it off-Yaoguang Realm was still a long way out anyway.
"Good. Let's head up to the Rooftop. Stars won't watch themselves."
"Let's go!"
The successful experiment left everyone buzzing. Zhao Kun most of all-he finally had an ability, and a devastatingly powerful one at that.
No more envying others. That feeling was indescribable.
They spent the rest of the night on the Rooftop under the stars. Everyone made progress, but the biggest winner was Little Orange, who broke through to Tier 5.
The entire squad was now Tier 5 across the board.
Just as everyone prepared to head home and sleep, Yang Bin noticed something in the yard below-among the group of Tier-4 Zombies, one had evolved into a Tier-5 Zombie.
"Good things really do come in bunches. That cage is solid. Taking it."
He grinned, blinked down to the yard, kicked through the courtyard wall with one foot, hoisted the iron cage onto his shoulder, and strolled toward home.
"......"
Everyone watched in silence.
Brother Bin was getting more bandit-like by the day.
"Don't forget to strip that villa clean. Every last supply."
His voice drifted back to them.
"Confirmed. Straight-up bandit."
Yang Bin set the iron cage down in his own yard. He came back here partly out of habit, partly because the other place was carpeted in corpses and he couldn't be bothered cleaning up.
But he knew they wouldn't be staying much longer.
Wang Ruikai was dead. The Wang family would be livid. Retaliation was coming, and soon.
Worse, the Wangs would almost certainly feed their location to the authorities. Then the military would come knocking too.
Killing Wang Ruikai was poking a hornet's nest.
But Yang Bin killed him anyway.
It was the apocalypse. No room for half-measures.
He wasn't arrogant enough to think himself invincible-but he sure as hell wasn't scared of them either. Worst case, they relocated. In a world overrun with zombies, what could anyone really do to them?