Regarding the matter of awakening lightning abilities after transformation

An electric current was gathering, and a blue light flickered on the metal surface. Gu Cheng gritted her teeth and fired the stun gun into the giant snake's mouth.

The attack hit, but the result was negligible. The dark giant snake, which controlled life and death, only trembled slightly before continuing to writhe and bite at Gu Cheng.

"Sister Xuewei?"

When she reached for nothing again, Gu Cheng subconsciously glanced back and saw a wrinkled neck and an apologetic face.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xuewei was completely enveloped in shadow. Taking advantage of the girl's dazed state, the giant snake swiftly opened its jaws and swallowed her whole.

......

Gu Cheng couldn't remember how many times she had experienced this terrible feeling, with her bones creaking and cracking from being squeezed by her muscles, and the smell in her nose like a rotten tomato that had been sitting in a market sewer for over ten days.

She was still alive, but in very poor condition. She had lost her gun and couldn't find the metal rod. She could only use her fingers to slowly pry open her esophagus, or perhaps she wasn't even prying open her esophagus.

She was only so-so at high school biology, and had never been swallowed whole by a snake before. Gu Cheng judged from the sticky sensation on her skin that she had not yet completely slid into the stomach.

"Gu Chengyan, can't you dissolve it?"

The girl's body flashed with bursts of white light, and the violent current that entered the snake's body was like a mud ox entering the sea, making no sound at all.

"You think I haven't tried?"

By the light of the electric flash, Gu Cheng saw a gap the size of a basketball appear in the food wall before her. Before the bright red blood could even spurt out, layers of fleshy buds wrapped around and repaired the hole, as if nothing had ever happened.

"I always thought snake blood was blue."

"You still have time to think about this? Jiang Xuewei abandoned you and ran away on her own." Gu Chengyan chuckled sinisterly, his tone full of dissatisfaction with the woman.

Gu Cheng didn't respond, but continued trying to find the metal rod.

"If we don't come up with a solution soon, we might really be digested by it." Gu Chengyan said as she expended her mental energy again. The giant snake, which was nearly a hundred meters long, seemed to be playing a tug-of-war with her, and every time a hole appeared, it would be repaired immediately.

Finally, in the hot and humid cavity, Gu Cheng touched a cool metal rod, which, after being electrified and magnetized, was molded into a long sword with a sharp blade.

"That's the solution."

The moment the blade unfolded, a huge gash was cut into the snake's body. Gu Cheng tried to grip the hilt but found her hands weak and powerless, each finger feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Was her bone broken? Only then did Gu Cheng belatedly feel the pain, her heart gradually racing, and she strained her calves to try and open them up.

"Ugh... um..." No, she couldn't muster any strength at all. It felt like she was stuffed into a ventilation duct. Gu Cheng bit her lower lip, and a faint taste of blood lingered in her mouth.

The stun gun failed to work, and the giant snake's body was too narrow to unleash the most destructive plasma bomb. Gu Cheng was only a lightning-type awakener, not a user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, so her body couldn't withstand the explosion either.

"Gu Chengyan, how precise is your control over your superpowers?"

"Have you thought of a new idea?"

"Say it."

"If it's something you're familiar with, I can guarantee accuracy down to the atom."

Gu Cheng calmed down and said firmly, "I remember you said that the bullet that hit my eye socket had its mass and energy eliminated, which means that you can also eliminate the electric current I created."

"The question now is, are you familiar with them?"

Gu Chengyan paused, seemingly considering the feasibility, and after a moment she gave her reply: "If you are determined to fight to the death, I will do my best to eliminate the explosion and electric current that may affect myself."

"Injuries are inevitable; the rest depends on our teamwork."

"It's better than waiting to die." Gu Cheng silently counted to three in his mind, and an electric current dozens of times more violent than before gathered at the tip of the blade.

"Let's begin."

In an instant, Gu Cheng's light brown pupils turned bright blue from the electric light, and she felt as if she had been hit on the back of the head with a heavy hammer, her ears ringing.

A tremendous roar echoed through the ruins, and the damp, cold air filled her nostrils. Gu Cheng knew she had succeeded. Immediately afterward, a tearing pain shot through her lower body. One of her legs had been blown apart, leaving it covered in blood, with bare white bone still attached to flesh.

"At the last second, its muscles adhered to its left leg and arm."

Looking at the torn fabric on her thighs, and with sweat dripping down her chest like raindrops, Gu Cheng endured the pain and crawled forward, supporting herself on her arms.

"If I lose consciousness, remember the flashlight that was buried at the exit, and sweep it upwards seven times every thirty minutes."

That was the distress signal she and Jiang Xuewei had agreed upon.

Due to excessive blood loss, Gu Cheng's consciousness began to blur. She felt her eyelids drooping and her body felt incredibly heavy. In her hazy state, she saw a woman walking towards her barefoot, her fair calves as smooth as jade.

"Why suffer physical pain if you give up sooner?"

Ying Qiuhuai lifted the girl up by the waist, slowly walked to the corpse, and placed her into the snake's belly. The feathered serpent healed at an extremely fast speed, coiled up, and joined its head and tail together.

Chapter 257, Section 262: Let her rest for a while.

The induction cooker wouldn't start, and the water was cold, so Jiang Xuewei picked up the thermos and sipped it slowly, feeling a chill as it entered her stomach.

Forty-eight hours had passed since she left the ruins. Under the firelight, the woman's body gradually recovered; the spiderweb-like wrinkles disappeared, and her skin regained its luster.

With food supplies running low, Jiang Xuewei opened another plastic bag. The hard, compressed biscuits tasted like cardboard. If Gu Cheng didn't contact her by 6 a.m. tomorrow, she would pack up and return to the ground.

The information revealed by Ying Qiuhuai coincided with that of the Cold Crow Cult, so the actual situation was probably very close to the truth. She had to tell An Zhishui about it as soon as possible.

As for Gu Cheng, Jiang Xuewei did not think there was anything wrong with her actions. At that time, the battle situation was urgent, and forcibly staying might have been life-threatening. If she died, the former would also have difficulty escaping the ruins.

Jiang Xuewei sat down on the rock, her face flushed, her bright black eyes calm and still. She soaked a towel in cold water and vigorously wiped her cheeks.

After an unknown amount of time, the woman heard the sound of bats flapping their wings in the distance. She got up and walked toward the source of the sound, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint light flickering at the bottom of the abyss.

Jiang Xuewei immediately took out a grappling hook from the shadows and fired it. About three or four minutes later, a petite woman climbed up the cliff along the rope.

Before Jiang Xuewei could speak, Gu Cheng rushed forward and slammed his elbow into the woman's lower abdomen.

"It feels good to be a deserter?" The newcomer's lips were tightly pressed together, and his usually warm brown eyes were unusually cold.

Jiang Xuewei staggered back a few steps, and the thermos cup that had fallen to the ground rolled to the side.

"You are not Gu Cheng."

"You got it right." The girl curled her lips, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably. Only then did Jiang Xuewei notice that the girl's shirt was torn and one of her trouser legs was missing, revealing her long, slender legs that looked like white jade.

"I'm sorry," Jiang Xuewei apologized softly, offering no explanation for what had happened earlier.

Gu Chengyan looked down at her a few times, his brows furrowed, and his damp hair clung to his cheek.

"Miss Jiang is really interesting, she's quick to apologize and quick to run away." Her nonchalant attitude, clearly indicating she'd do it again, only made Gu Chengyan more annoyed.

Ignoring the mockery in the other person's words, Jiang Xuewei coughed and turned to hand her a small sky-blue rubber band.

Gu Chengyan reached out and took it, his fingertips suddenly moving upwards to pinch the smooth, slender swan neck. His grip gradually tightened, but Jiang Xuewei did not struggle, her tone remaining calm.

"You have spare clothes in your shadow."

Gu Chengyan looked down at the hem of the boot, and it took him a long time before he let go of her hand.

"Get the clothes out...we should leave."

......

Wearing a sweatshirt and black sneakers, Gu Chengyan tied her long hair into a neat ponytail. Jiang Xuewei didn't ask her what had happened deep in the ruins, and Gu Chengyan was unwilling to speak. The two walked into the path of light one after the other.

For some inexplicable reason, Jiang Xuewei felt that the other person's skin seemed more delicate than before, and her cheeks were glowing with a fluorescent white light. She had become more beautiful, and even her back view was pleasing to the eye.

When will Gu Cheng return?

"Let her get some rest for a while."

Gu Chengyan touched his weapon belt, but his familiar revolver was nowhere to be found. Instead, a Colt M1911 was hanging on his waist.

Fortunately, the metal rod wasn't lost. Losing her old buddy was bad enough; if the weapon Su Wanxi gave her had also been lost, Gu Cheng would have been in a terrible state when she woke up.

According to the original plan, they needed to find a new hiding place every time they crossed a shadowy area. Because they left the ruins ahead of time, An Zhishui could not be contacted for a while, so they could only take it one step at a time.

Jiang Xuewei stopped controlling her abilities. Her vision was dark and she could hear faint voices talking nearby, no more than ten meters away.

“There are awakened ones.”

The defense forces responsible for controlling the tunnel exit were already quite strong, and with the strange noises coming from deep within the ruins two days ago, the military has significantly increased the number of personnel they have deployed.

Gu Chengyan held his breath and crouched down against the wall.

"If you go through, you'll be discovered."

"So what if they've been discovered? As long as you can guarantee a safe retreat." Their objective has been achieved, and Ying Qiuhuai already knows they've been here. Being discovered by the guards now is no big deal.

Jiang Xuewei shook her head and said, "No, the lighting is too diffused, and I don't want the other person to notice."

Gu Chengyan spat lightly upon hearing this, and peered over the wall. He could see four men and two women in his field of vision.

Qin Kexin was standing guard, feeling utterly bored. The signal in the underground tunnel was so bad that she had to pre-download some soap operas to pass the time, and she was almost falling asleep while watching them.

Because of work requirements, she kept her mental communication open at all times, and a frequency very similar to Gu Cheng's suddenly appeared in her mind.

"This feeling is... like an orange?"

Upon connecting to the frequency, Qin Kexin heard a familiar voice.

"Qin Kexin?"

"Sister Cheng, why didn't you use the previous communication signal?" Logically speaking, the old communication channel should also work, but Qin Kexin couldn't connect no matter what she tried.

Gu Chengyan did not explain, but simply asked her if she could help him escape.

Qin Kexin looked around. Her colleagues were all busy with their own things and no one was paying attention to her. The girl hesitated and pouted slightly.

Thinking that some people were still at large, Qin Kexin's eyes gradually hardened, and she asked softly, "What should I do?"

"How many ability users do you have there?"

"There is only one besides me."

"Send him away, then head towards eleven o'clock. We need to enter your shadow."

Qin Kexin was an Awakened One, so it was reasonable that her shadow had some golden light. The girl left the guard room under the pretext of going to the toilet, her steps neither hurried nor slow.

Soon, she saw Gu Cheng and another young woman hiding behind the wall, both of them covered in weapons and equipment.

Gu Cheng gently raised her index finger to her lips, tilted her head to signal Jiang Xuewei to go inside, and the next second they disappeared without a trace.

Surprisingly, even when she entered the shadows, Qin Kexin and Gu Cheng's mental communication remained unbroken, allowing the latter to more easily direct her where to go.

"There are no sentry posts ahead, so it's inconvenient for me to go too far." Qin Kexin touched the knitting hands around her neck, her voice barely audible.

Gu Chengyan said that was enough, and she and Jiang Xuewei quickly moved to another shadow and continued to move forward.