Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 40 - 39: All on My Own Ability

Chen Xuan never thought that there would be a day when he would rescue someone in space.

He had no astronaut equipment on him, relying purely on his skills. If any spacecraft or astronaut witnessed this scene now, their jaw would certainly drop. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He imagined taking a deep breath, calming the somewhat tense mood from earlier. There was still enough time, but the direction in which the two were thrown out was not aligned. The longer it dragged on, the more the distance between them would increase.

First, he had to get closer to the girl.

That naturally depended on the Thousand Thoughts Sword.

Chen Xuan summoned a Qi Sword behind him, grabbed it as it swept past him!

His figure suddenly jerked, stopping the trend of flying backward.

Just as he expected, the Qi Sword could not only appear where he could see, but it could also be used as an anchor! When the sword handle became solid from virtual, it provided him with a point of leverage to change his own trajectory.

Chen Xuan simply estimated the direction of the other party, then pushed forcefully with both hands—the Qi Sword remained "pinned" in place, while he flew towards the estimated direction due to the reaction force.

After half a minute of chasing, Chen Xuan found this way inefficient, so he placed a Qi Sword directly behind the girl, colliding its handle with her.

This action was evidently effective; she not only stopped rolling, but her drifting speed also slowed significantly.

Thus, with one pursuit and one block, the distance between the two gradually closed until they were completely leaning against each other.

Chen Xuan grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side.

But the girl showed no reaction.

Seeing her pale face and the blood frothing at her mouth, Chen Xuan knew things were bad—this guest could withstand a direct hit from a 30mm Gatling gun with her flesh, clearly not an ordinary person, but she obviously couldn’t resist the space environment and was now clearly disoriented.

Chen Xuan placed his hand on her ear, then bit his hand and shouted loudly, "Pull yourself together; I’m here to rescue you!"

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum but can be transmitted through mechanical vibrations, roughly resembling the sound of a drum being struck underwater as it reaches her ear membrane.

She weakly opened her eyes, looked at Chen Xuan, then slowly shook her head, seemingly completely lost the will to live in her gaze.

"When you were in Hall N43 before, you must have hoped someone would lend you a hand, right? I’m the hope you prayed for!" Chen Xuan had no time for metaphysics now and shouted concisely, "Since you’re already desperate, why not try what I say? Anyway, the result can’t get much worse!"

She stared blankly at Chen Xuan, her lips moving slightly.

Chen Xuan couldn’t discern the other party’s intentions, and he took a gamble, "I’ll take it as you agreed!"

Then he took out the scanning gun with one hand, pressed the button towards the girl, and then dragged the Eight Trigrams Palm from the inventory onto her.

The other party still showed no response.

But in the next second, three items suddenly appeared in the trading window.

「Mental Fortification」LV5.

—You build high walls for the mind, firmly believing you are still normal, but who knows? Wanting power is the price you must pay.

「Covenant Birth」LV1.

—"Born, growing up and dying with a mission, the trajectory of a lifetime is like an irrevocable arrow.

「Free Will」LV1.

—"The extent of life’s understanding of the universe’s mysteries; the broader the cognition, the freer the will. Caution, forbidden knowledge needs careful contact, as it may cause unpredictable destruction."

The three abilities were all purple-level.

Chen Xuan let out a slight exclamation; it was the first time he saw a same-named but different-grade ability. Compared to his Level 2 White Ability, this Level 1 Purple Ability was much more dazzling.

When he was configuring abilities for the villagers of Hot Pepper Village, he discovered that a same-named ability can only be handled once, which means entering and exiting once, and then even if others have the same ability, it can’t be collected back into inventory. This prevents him from repeatedly trading an ability to rake in sales points from the store. Now seeing a same-named purple ability placed in the trading frame, it answered one of his questions—level and grade are probably two unrelated criteria.

Most people wouldn’t use three purple abilities to exchange for a white ability.

Even if they were contacting such trades for the first time, it’d be easy to judge the inequivalence between them.

The content form seen by buyers and sellers may vary, but its essence is basically the same.

She put up so many at once; either she has lost judgment or she’s letting Chen Xuan manipulate things, driven by a frustrated mindset.

Instead, Chen Xuan had to carefully deliberate which ability to select so as not to impact her too much. After hesitating for two seconds, he chose "Covenant Birth" and pressed the confirm button.

Then he used the Store Manager Recall without hesitation!

In the blink of an eye, he returned from space to the dilapidated store.

The ability trade itself was not the key, the key was making the girl a real guest! In this way, he could use the Guest Summon once more to "invite" her into the store!

The store’s condition wasn’t good either; it was rolling along with N43, with floating product remnants everywhere. Half the hall had collided with those broken circular frames, and the entire dome was collapsed, ready to break apart at any moment.

Fortunately, despite the setup inside the store being riddled with holes from the Gatling gun, the main door was still intact.

Chen Xuan exerted all his might to pull down the rolling shutter door.

The moment the color steel plate clicked locked, he quickly sent an invitation to the new guest.

Suddenly, vibrations ceased, items that were floating fell, and Chen Xuan heard a heavy thump. Looking back, the girl indeed appeared in the center of the store, albeit in a sprawled position.

After a moment of quiet waiting, confirming there was no abnormality, he walked slowly to the window, cautiously glanced outside.

The silver hall was like a bubble illusion, now disappeared without a trace, replaced by old residential buildings and narrow alleyways.

At this point, Chen Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"This damned store is going to get me killed one day."

Last time, it transported him to Joan’s retreat midway; this time it took him onto the falling Space City. Who knows where it would appear next? The key is the store isn’t an invincible domain, and if the door gets destroyed, wouldn’t he be stranded?

Yet, despite the complaints, he was reluctant to give up the manager position to go back to work.

Moreover, the journey was indeed stimulating.

Until now, the excessive secretion of adrenaline and dopamine left his head slightly dizzy.

Returning to the girl’s side, she seemed to have passed out, lying motionless with only subtle chest fluctuations.

The most visible wound on her was the gunshot in the belly, where the entire skin was blackened and curled up, looking quite frightening. Knowing that this wound was made by a 30mm caliber weapon makes it even scarier.

Although Chen Xuan knew little about medicine, he understood that gunshot wounds are external injuries, and consuming a Blood Orange would certainly help.

After forcibly prying her mouth open and feeding her the Pill, he suddenly felt her look eerily familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

He thought about it and removed the girl’s hood.

The hood was attached to a bodysuit; previously, he felt it was quite tight-fitting, displaying her curves in full detail. Now it seemed like an inner lining. The hood should pair with a helmet, and the bodysuit could easily fit into a spacesuit.

The interfaces with connectors on the outfit proved it was obviously not as simple as it looked.

When the hood was taken off, a head of dazzling long hair cascaded down.

The term "dazzling" is not exaggerated, as her hair displayed shifts between pink, light purple and deep blue under the light, resembling a holographic color wrap. Yet the color appeared very natural, completely unlike the stiff, dull appearance of dyed hair, making every strand feel silky smooth.

Chen Xuan adjusted her damp bangs into place, revealing her face.

Like her hair, her face was adorned with a noticeably exaggerated makeup; the rose-red eye shadow almost entirely encircled her eyes, eyelashes long as if planted. Her lips were small, with a lipstick featuring strong metallic textures. In theory, such heavy makeup would easily smudge during intense combat, but she managed to keep its original appearance, thanks to futuristic cosmetic products.

Chen Xuan also noticed several data interfaces below her ears, and a nearby indicator light flashing from deep yellow to green. This might indicate her condition has improved, at least posing no immediate life threat.

Why such a person would be sent into space, what kind of plea drove her to the Ability Store, would likely remain a mystery until she awakens.