Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 496 – Another Zhou Ming?

The wind and snow howled over the scorched earth of the Altai Mountains.

Lu Yuan leaned against a rock, gasping for breath.

He looked at Zhu Yan in his arms—her complexion rosy, her breathing steadily strengthening—then raised his head to look at Lin Fan, who stood barefoot in the air, clad in white.

He wisely shut his mouth and swallowed the excess shock back down.

The boss lady’s methods had long since surpassed the bounds of human understanding.

Ripples spread through the air.

A portal of deep blue spatial light unfolded out of nowhere.

Zhou Ming stepped through, his face pale.

“Lily, all five thousand survivors have been delivered to the Western Sichuan base. The portal has been closed.” Zhou Ming lowered his head to report, as was his habit.

He looked up, and his gaze caught the figure ahead.

His voice caught in his throat.

Lin Fan hovered in midair. Her white ancient-style robe billowed in the wind and snow, sleeves snapping in the air. A white jade hairpin held back her flowing, luminous hair. Her skin gleamed with a translucent, jade-like luster. Her features were so exquisitely refined that they surpassed the limits of human aesthetics, carrying an ethereal aura utterly divorced from the mortal world.

Zhou Ming stood frozen. He had seen Lin Fan in many forms before.

Her spirited bearing back at Fragrant Hills International, the gentle grace of her white hair after defeating the Zombie Queen, and later her alluring, enchanting charm.

But this form before him now made even his breathing stop.

“Stunned speechless?” Lin Fan descended from the air. Her bare feet landed on the gravel. No dust could cling to her soles.

Zhou Ming snapped back to reality, a suspicious flush creeping up to the roots of his ears. He quickly averted his gaze, not daring to look again into those eyes that swirled with nebulae.

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“Lily, you’ve grown stronger again.” Zhou Ming’s voice was a little dry.

“Just leveled up on a whim.” Lin Fan’s tone was casual. She walked over to Zhu Yan and nudged Lu Yuan’s calf with her foot. “Pick her up. We’re pulling out.”

Zhou Ming didn’t move. He took a deep breath, his expression turning extremely solemn.

He strode quickly to Lin Fan’s side and lowered his voice.

“Lily, there’s something I’ve never been able to figure out. Now that I’ve reached level seven, this feeling is too strong—I have to tell you.”

Lin Fan raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

“I often sense residual spatial fluctuations around you.” Zhou Ming’s brow furrowed deeply. “This fluctuation is of the same origin as my Spatial Ability. Extremely familiar.”

Lu Yuan cut in from the side: “Old Zhou, are you sure you haven’t just overused your spatial ability lately and started hallucinating from exhaustion?”

“Get lost.” Zhou Ming shot Lu Yuan a glance, then turned back to Lin Fan. “It’s definitely not a hallucination. Ever since Fragrant Hills International, when I first awakened my ability, I had a vague sense of it. At the time, I just assumed it was residual energy left behind by my own ability use.”

A flicker of something unusual passed through Lin Fan’s eyes.

Fragrant Hills International. That was not long after the post-apocalypse had begun.

“And then?” Lin Fan asked.

“Then the feeling came and went. Until this breakthrough to level seven, when my perception of spatial rules underwent a qualitative change.” Zhou Ming clenched his fists. “I’m certain of it—there’s another person who has been using the exact same Spatial Ability as mine, watching you from the shadows.”

The wind and snow around them froze at that moment.

Lu Yuan fell silent.

He struggled to sit up straight, his face turning pale.

A powerhouse even more terrifying than a level-seven spatial user had been shadowing the boss lady since the early days of the apocalypse?

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Lin Fan narrowed her eyes. Her Omniscient Domain covered ten kilometers in every direction. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Another spatial user. Of the same origin as Zhou Ming.

Images flashed through Lin Fan’s mind—Dragon Emperor Hall, Long Hao, the Formation Eye of Hangzhou.

The clues were too numerous, tangled together in a dense web.

No leads whatsoever.

Lin Fan gave up on reasoning. She reached up and pulled open the collar of her white robe, her pale fingers delving into the deep cleavage beneath.

Zhou Ming’s gaze involuntarily followed her hand. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, then quickly turned his head away, staring at the gravel on the ground.

Lin Fan retrieved a specially-made black communicator from her chest.

It carried her body heat and a strange, cold fragrance.

She pressed the connect button.

“Chu Chen.” Lin Fan’s voice was languid.

“The energy reaction in the Altai Mountains has subsided. How’s the situation on your end?” Chu Chen’s calm voice came through the speaker. The sound of keyboard clacking could be heard in the background.

“All killed. Lu Yuan and Zhu Yan didn’t die.” Lin Fan was concise.

“As expected. With the energy fluctuation you displayed, it was enough to crush them.” Chu Chen spoke rapidly. “But the Dragon Clan’s follow-up forces will definitely change their strategy. You didn’t contact me just to report your safety, did you?”

“Zhou Ming found something. I can’t be bothered to think it through—you analyze it.” Lin Fan tossed the communicator to Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming fumbled to catch it. He steadied himself and recounted the suspicious spatial fluctuation in full detail.

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Utter silence fell on the other end of the communicator.

A full minute passed.

“Zhou Ming, are you certain that fluctuation has existed since the Fragrant Hills International period?” Chu Chen’s voice carried a bone-chilling calm.

“I’m certain.” Zhou Ming was resolute.

“And you’re certain that spatial energy is completely identical in origin to your Special Ability?”

“It should be—it’s as if I myself had been there not long ago.”

The static stopped.

On the other end, Chu Chen bit down on a hard candy.

A crisp crack sounded, unusually clear in the deathly silent snowfield.

The sound of wind and snow amplified around them.

“Intelligence is severely insufficient.” Chu Chen’s voice returned to absolute calm, but his speaking speed was twice as fast as usual. “Based on the existing gene bank and Special Ability awakening probability models, the probability of possessing a completely identical spatial ability is zero. Unless two scenarios apply.”

“Go on.”

“First, the other world possesses a talent capable of perfectly replicating another person’s Special Ability. Second—and this is the worst possibility.”

Chu Chen paused, crunching the last bits of candy.

“Someone hasn’t just stolen Zhou Ming’s ability—they’ve also been watching you all along.”

“Countermeasures?” Lin Fan asked.

“There are none.” Chu Chen answered bluntly. “The enemy is hidden while we’re exposed, and they possess Spatial Ability. Until they actively reveal themselves, we cannot mount any effective defense. I suggest you maintain the status quo and not alert them.”

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“Understood.”

Lin Fan cut off the communication directly.

A hint of mockery curled at the corner of Lin Fan’s lips.

She casually tossed the communicator into her spatial storage, then reached out and pulled out a menthol cigarette.

“Tsss—”

The sound of flame igniting on her fingertip rang out amidst the wind and snow.

Lin Fan lowered her head and lit the slender menthol cigarette.

She wore an immaculate white robe, barefoot, radiating the sacred radiance unique to a ninth-level mid-stage Lifeform.

Yet, like a street thug, she took a deep drag of the cigarette, then tilted her head back and blew a wisp of grey-white smoke toward the gloomy sky.

The ultimate in divinity and the ultimate in worldliness merged perfectly within her at that moment, forming a strange and lethal allure.

Zhou Ming turned his head, watching the scene unfold, his heart racing.

Lin Fan held a cigarette between his fingers, his gaze piercing through the wind and snow, locked intently on the empty space ahead.

Whoever was hiding in the shadows, whatever their purpose—

Since they dared to treat her as prey for observation, they’d better be prepared to be bitten back.

“Interesting.”

Lin Fan suddenly smiled.