Dude, something's really wrong with your abilities.

Chapter 92 Energy Overload

After finalizing the time for the follow-up on-site testing with Zhuang Wen, Chen Shi and Sun Tiemei turned around and headed back to the fifth group's office.

At this moment, in the fifth group's office, Fatty, Su Xiaohe, and Chang Biao were huddled together, quietly discussing countermeasures.

Chang Biao held Wang Jianlou in his arms, his face full of heartache. The dog had just been hit on the paw by a stool, but fortunately the bone wasn't broken, just some redness and swelling in the area. He had already sprayed some anti-swelling medicine, and it would fully recover after a few days of rest.

Sun Tiemei brought Chen Shi back through the door and explained the situation directly, repeatedly reminding everyone to keep their distance from Chen Shi recently and not to speak to him if possible.

To be on the safe side, the team made a temporary arrangement, moving Chen Shi to a vacant archive room to work alone, in order to minimize the possibility of any unforeseen events.

The fat man looked at Chen Shi, trying hard to hide the schadenfreude on his face: "Ha... Xiao Shi, it's not that I'm not loyal to you, it's just that your abilities are really terrifying right now, we really can't keep up."

"Teacher Chen is also a victim." Su Xiaohe's face was full of sympathy; she felt very sorry for her.

The fat man immediately smoothed things over: "Of course I know! There's nothing we can do for now. Once Xiaoshi can fully control his abilities, I'll personally cook for him. That's the highest level of hospitality in my family."

Chen Shi was both amused and exasperated. He waved his hand and said, "Brother Pang, don't say any more. I understand the reasoning. I have indeed caused everyone trouble these past few days."

"What did you say? Speak louder! I can't hear you if you're too far away!" The fat man subconsciously took two more steps back, being extremely cautious.

The whole day passed just like that. After get off work, Chen Shi didn't dare to hitch a ride with Sun Tiemei and walked back to his apartment alone.

When he got home, he ordered takeout and specifically asked the delivery guy to leave the food at the door and not to knock.

He's now really afraid to interact with people casually, lest a single careless word he utters bring trouble upon strangers.

After dinner, I took a hot shower. The frustration I had accumulated during the day vanished the moment I stepped into the apartment, and a strange sense of relaxation enveloped my entire body. All my irritability slowly dissipated.

Chen Shi lay down on the bed, put on his headphones to listen to crosstalk, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

The familiar dream returned. It was still a vast, white void, with only a bed in the very center, and he was lying peacefully on it.

The moment I opened my eyes, the white-bearded old man strolled over again.

The old man's face today lacked the kindness of last time; his eyes held a hint of amusement that was neither a smile nor a frown.

"Grandpa, what brings you here again?" Chen Shi's attitude was even more impatient this time. During the day, he dared not speak or approach people. But now that he was in his dream, he completely let go.

His tone was full of vengefulness, as he planned to vent all the frustration he had accumulated during the day.

What do you mean by jinxing others? In my dreams, I don't care what you say.

But then he thought that one shouldn't be too bad, so he toned down his hostility and gave a warning in advance: "Let me make this clear, I'm incredibly strong right now. Let me put it this way, if our chat hurts you, don't blame me later."

The old man maintained his enigmatic, half-smiling expression: "Are you trying to refer to your ability to jinx things?"

Chen Shi's pupils dilated, and he suddenly sat up in bed, grabbing the old man's white beard.

"So you were the one who orchestrated this? At your age, do you have to be so shameless!"

"Let go! Let go! It hurts!" The old man grimaced as he was being pulled.

"I won't let go until you resolve this matter for me!" Chen Shi resorted to shamelessness, holding on tightly and refusing to let go.

"You're still throwing a tantrum at me." Helplessly, the old man raised his hand and waved it. A gentle yet extremely strong force instantly came over and firmly pressed Chen Shi back onto the bed.

Chen Shi knew in his heart that he would definitely not be able to beat this old man in a real fight, so he could only switch to a strategy of talking.

The old man saw right through his little scheme: "Don't bother, your ability to jinx me is completely useless."

A wise man knows when to yield; Chen Shi changed his attitude very quickly: "So what exactly are you after, old man?" In an instant, "you" became "you" (a respectful term for someone who is virtuous and shrewd).

It would have been better if he hadn't brought it up, because the old man immediately flew into a rage: "What did I gain? I was just trying to explain things to you properly last night! It was you who kept spouting nonsense and didn't give me a chance to speak at all!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi quickly got up, ran to the old man, and respectfully reached out to help him to sit down on the edge of the bed.

He obediently squatted on the ground, looking up at the old man, his posture so humble that even Wang Jianlou was impressed by his submissiveness.

"Grandpa, I was wrong. I was young and ignorant and offended you, a great man. Please forgive me, I am a child."

Seeing his cowardly appearance, the old man's anger subsided considerably: "This house is indeed mine."

"People outside say this is a haunted house, and that living there will bring bad luck, but that's all one-sided. This house is essentially a luck filter; you can think of it as a super-sized luck purifier."

"Ordinary people or those with ordinary abilities who come in will be overwhelmed by the accumulated bad luck and misfortune. But you're different. Your constitution is naturally special; you're an exceptional vessel, one in a million." The old man pointed at Chen Shi and continued, "Others who move in are crushed by bad luck. You, on the other hand, are simply enjoying all the energy of the house for free."

"The negative luck that had accumulated in the house for decades was automatically digested by your constitution."

Chen Shi was stunned and quickly asked, "Then what about my jinxed prediction and the upgrade of my superpower?"

"It's a very simple principle," the old man chuckled. "The accumulated bad luck energy over the decades is terrifyingly vast, like a flood overflowing a pool. Before, it would flood one person at a time, but now that you've become an invincible dam, the flood can't budge you at all."

"Water will eventually flow if blocked for too long, and energy will eventually leak out if held back for too long. Since it can't hurt you, it can only overflow in another way."

"That's why you have such a bad mouth. It's not that you're sharp-tongued, it's that you have an excess of bad luck energy inside you."

Chen Shi was starting to understand.

"As for your power upgrade, that's even easier to understand," the old man continued. "Others cultivate by slowly accumulating energy, like saving money drop by drop, a steady stream. You directly swallowed the savings of this house accumulated over decades, which is equivalent to others slowly saving money while you directly picked up a huge gold mine on the spot."

"To put it bluntly, your jinx is a minor side effect of your explosive power increase."

Chen Shi was both surprised and delighted after hearing this.

After all that fuss, the unlucky mouth I'd been complaining about all day was actually proof that I'd become stronger.

He quickly pressed his advantage, respectfully asking, "Sir, can these side effects be eliminated? You can't keep trying to scam people, can you?"

The old man rolled his eyes at him: "What's the rush? The energy has just been absorbed and hasn't stabilized yet; it's currently in a chaotic overflow phase. Once you can fully control your abilities, these minor side effects will naturally disappear."

"But old man, it's just an ordinary house, why would it have this kind of energy that can't be detected by any instruments? And why are you here?"

The old man replied irresponsibly, "How would I know?"