Chapter 82: I Like a Certain Flower

Chapter Eighty-Two: I Like a Certain Flower

That night, Yunyang made a decision. He would upgrade his genetic engine. After all, he had acquired a fate point—it was just that he hadn’t thought to use it yet. Liang Bing’s mention of the third generation reminded him, and with nothing to lose, Yunyang decided to spend the point.

The moment he did, his body transformed into a form composed of blue light particles, semi-transparent and intangible. He couldn’t touch anything, and nothing could touch him either. Yunyang was stunned—could upgrading have ruined him? He hastily entered the shadow plane, ignoring the genetic engine’s greeting and asked anxiously,

“Tell me about my current physical state. What’s going on?”

You are in the process of solidifying your body’s observational state. Once solidification is complete, your body’s energy consumption will provide form, and energy will be prioritized to resist damage.

After the genetic engine explained, Yunyang pondered a moment and said,

“So as long as I have energy, I won’t get hurt, right?”

Correct...

“How long do I have to stay like this?”

With current computational power, 188 days...

Yunyang was speechless.

“Is there any way to speed this up?” he asked, unwilling to accept it.

He really didn’t want to remain in this state, unable to hold anything, meaning he couldn’t do anything at all.

Increase computational power...

The genetic engine’s solution was concise, but Yunyang found it problematic, as he had no idea how to do that.

Currently, all Yunyang’s abilities relied on the genetic engine’s own calculations; he simply stored data and used it as needed. Now, asking him to increase computational power was, in his mind, asking him to compute by himself, and he had no experience with that.

After some internal struggle, Yunyang decided he’d just wait out the next 180 days. After all, Rose would be gone tomorrow, and if he couldn’t hold things, it was all the same.

After exiting the shadow plane, Yunyang discovered that his inability to touch things had taught him a passive skill: the ability to walk through walls.

He found that although he could pass through objects, the lowest point was always where his feet first touched the ground—he wouldn’t fall downward. Yet, he could pass through anything above that point without the slightest problem.

If he wanted to sit in a chair, he had to maintain a stance similar to a horse stance, consciously holding himself at the right height; otherwise, he’d sink through or miss the chair entirely.

Because his body had no weight, Yunyang didn’t feel tired holding the stance—in fact, it felt kind of fun.

He walked to a wall, stretched out his hand, and found he could stick it straight through, just like with the table, without any resistance. A mischievous smile curled his lips.

Now that he could walk through walls, he decided to scare Rose. Without hesitation, Yunyang took a step forward, passing through the brick wall of the courtyard and into the room.

Inside, Rose was sitting at the head of the bed in her pajamas, her back to Yunyang, lost in thought.

Yunyang tiptoed behind her, not making a sound due to his current state.

He saw a book in Rose’s hands—probably about spacetime theory. Yunyang glanced at a few passages, but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

He gave up reading and instead reached his hand under Rose’s arm, mimicking the action of turning a page.

Rose, engrossed in her book, didn’t react at first. She unconsciously followed the movement of the big blue hand and turned a page.

But then she looked closer—what was that? A hand glowing with blue light? Her face went pale, and a thought flashed through her mind: could this be a ghost’s hand?

With that, Rose’s skin prickled all over, and she instantly opened a micro-wormhole, darting through to the courtyard.

She wanted to find Yunyang, remembering that he was there, but to her surprise, the yard was empty, and a cool breeze swept through.

Yet in this situation, Rose felt no coolness, only a chilling sense rising from her heart. Cold sweat instantly broke out on her forehead.

Meanwhile, Yunyang in the room was bewildered. Rose had vanished in a flash—shouldn’t she have screamed or turned around? What was going on?

Then he heard a sound of someone landing in the courtyard and realized Rose had transported herself outside.

Helpless, he turned and walked through the wall.

Rose, outside, stared intently at the room, wanting to see if that thing would come out—maybe it was just her imagination.

But then a terrifying sight appeared: a blue-glowing foot stepped out of the wall, followed by a hand, and finally a blue figure made of light passed through, standing before her.

That alone wasn’t too strange, but the figure looked exactly like Yunyang. Could something have eaten him?

Worried about Yunyang’s safety, Rose took a defensive stance, swallowed, and asked,

“You... what are you? Where’s Yunyang? What did you do to him?”

Yunyang, seeing Rose ready to defend herself and sweating profusely, felt a pang of guilt—he’d gone too far. He stepped forward to explain.

But before he could speak, Rose asked her questions, moving him deeply. He took a few steps forward and began,

“I am—”

But before he finished, Rose opened another micro-wormhole, transporting herself to the rooftop, not allowing Yunyang to get any closer.

“I really am Yunyang! This is a side effect of activating my engine permissions.”

“Really?” Rose asked skeptically.

“Of course it’s true.” Yunyang raised his hand in assurance.

“Don’t move. Let me observe you carefully.”

Rose jumped down from the rooftop, keeping her distance, and cautiously examined him.

Because Yunyang didn’t move, Rose was able to study him closely. Aside from turning blue and glowing faintly, he seemed just like Yunyang.

“Tell me where we met.” Though she already believed him seventy or eighty percent, Rose wanted final confirmation and asked something only the two of them would know.

“Tianhe City, abandoned gas station. You saved me, remember?” Yunyang replied honestly.

Hearing Yunyang’s answer, Rose relaxed a bit, came closer, and poked him with her finger.

She found she could poke right through—no resistance at all. Then she pushed her entire forearm through, out the other side of Yunyang’s back.

Seeing Rose so amused, Yunyang’s own playful spirit rose. He grabbed her arm and pretended to be mortally wounded, slowly collapsing to the ground.

Rose, who had been enjoying herself, suddenly panicked—was Yunyang really so fragile in this state? Had she hurt him?

Flustered, she didn’t dare touch Yunyang, almost on the verge of tears, as there was no way to call out to him; she’d already tried and found she couldn’t touch him.

Yunyang decided he’d teased enough, stood up slowly, and said,

“Just kidding, ha ha, look at that little face of yours.”

But instead of laughter, tears spilled from Rose’s eyes, leaving Yunyang dumbfounded.

“Wuu wuu~ do you know how~ worried I was about you? And you~ wuu wuu~ scared me~ wuu wuu~”

Rose cried as she spoke, then turned and walked back into the room without looking back.

Now Yunyang knew he really had gone too far. He stood outside Rose’s room for a long inner struggle, eventually mustering the courage to step to the door.

Inside, Rose looked furious, muttering, “Why hasn’t he come to apologize yet? Should I forgive him?”

Yunyang stood for two minutes, didn’t bother knocking since he couldn’t, and charged straight into the room.

In Rose’s surprised gaze, he came before her and struck a pose—head on the floor, arms raised past his hips—declaring loudly,

“I was wrong! I apologize! I won’t do it again!”

Rose finally responded, glancing at Yunyang with a cool look, then turned her back to him, giving a light “hmph.”

Yunyang held his pose for half a minute, then looked at Rose, seeing she’d turned away.

He thought a moment, walked up to her, and put on a serious expression.

“I was wrong, but if you don’t forgive me, then that’s your fault.”

Rose couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Yunyang’s serious face and silly words.

Yunyang saw Rose’s eyes were red and felt a stab of pain in his heart. He wanted to wipe the tears from her eyes, but an awkward scene unfolded—his hand passed straight through, unable to touch her.

Rose noticed this too, and her light laughter grew louder, making Yunyang even more embarrassed.

He pointed at the tissues nearby.

“Your husband can’t wipe your tears this time. You’ll have to do it yourself.”

“Hmph, I don’t want to.” Rose glanced at the tissues and pouted.

Yunyang’s face grew more bitter. He sat down on the floor.

“Tomorrow you’ll become a little flower cat.”

“Hmph!”

“No one will like you if you become a little flower cat,” Yunyang whispered.

“Hmph!”

“My temper is getting short.” Each louder “hmph” pushed Yunyang to the edge. He stood up again.

“I don’t need anyone else to like me,” Rose said quietly as Yunyang stood.

Alright, Yunyang admitted he was charmed. He moved to Rose’s side, gently touched her head—even though he felt nothing—and said,

“I prefer clean little cats.”

Hearing this, Rose picked up a tissue and wiped her tears.

“You shouldn’t like little cats.”

“Right, I don’t like little cats. I like a certain flower,” Yunyang said seriously.

Rose was caught off guard by his words and asked, “What flower?”

“Silly girl.”