If Zhang Yanhang’s memory wasn’t playing tricks on him, he remembered that the Awakener from the next class over had a power called "Tongue Twister." For most Awakeners, one could guess the gist of their abilities just from the name of their Superpower, like the group leader’s "Curse Binding Vajra," or this guy’s "Tongue Twister."
By looking at the name of this guy’s ability, you could tell it had something to do with the tongue. Put simply, it’s like a weakened version of a Rubber Fruit Power User, or perhaps a stronger version of a Licker.
This Awakener next door could freely extend and retract his tongue, stretching it out to dozens of meters, and he could compress it like a spring and shoot it out with that force, piercing steel with ease even over distances of dozens of meters. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel{f}ire.net
That’s why Zhang Yanhang said this guy’s ability was like a stronger version of a Licker, or even a super-enhanced Licker, since a Licker’s tongue isn’t nearly that long.
Moreover, Zhang Yanhang had heard that with further enhancement of his abilities, he could now not only extend and retract his tongue but also enlarge or shrink it, and the tongue’s resistance to Blunt Strike damage had greatly increased.
That was the reason Zhang Yanhang thought this ability was like a weakened version of a Rubber Fruit Power User. Luffy’s rubberization affects his entire body, whereas the Awakener from the next class seemed like he had consumed a defective version of the Rubber Fruit, rubberizing only his tongue.
Even though it was just a tongue-specific ability, Zhang Yanhang still felt it was very suitable for combat. As is well known, under consistent pressure, the smaller the area of force application, the greater the pressure intensity.
Therefore, since he could pierce steel with a tongue of normal size, a tongue compressed to the size of a bullet or even a needle point would cause at least several times more damage, if not exponentially more. So, just by shooting his tongue, he could inflict significant damage on his enemies.
By the way, if it were just a regular steel plate and not too thick, Zhang Yanhang could also pierce through steel, but he would use his fingers, since he now possessed almost a ton of Strength in one hand alone. Stabbing through steel plates with his fingers was quite simple for him.
"Why would you come up with such an idea? Why would Li Zerui suddenly come over to hit you for no reason?" Sun Jiaming looked at Zhang Yanhang with a puzzled expression, struggling to understand where exactly Zhang Yanhang’s train of thought was taking him.
"Then why did you suddenly point at him just now?" Even though they were both Awakeners and attended the same school, Zhang Yanhang felt he had absolutely no connection to this ’Li Zerui’ and had never interacted with him. In theory, they shouldn’t have any contact even until graduation day.
"Seeing your reaction, I knew you must have not heard about his situation," Sun Jiaming’s face revealed a strange smile as if eager to share something with Zhang Yanhang, like some juicy gossip.
"What’s happened to him? Did he achieve Divine Skill, or has he had some kind of adventure recently?" Zhang Yanhang felt that news about Awakeners was generally of this sort.
"Neither an adventure nor Divine Skill," Sun Jiaming shook his head, "His girlfriend was taken into custody by the relevant authorities a few days ago, reportedly due to causing serious injury to Li Zerui."
"But isn’t Li Zerui’s girlfriend just a regular cultivator? Why would a department that specifically manages Awakeners take her into custody?" Despite being quite reclusive, Zhang Yanhang still took time to learn about the school’s Awakeners, which is why he knew that Li Zerui’s girlfriend wasn’t an Awakener.
"It is said that on one night during the National Day holiday, Li Zerui took advantage of the night to explore the Dual Cultivation Technique with his girlfriend. As a result, her emotions became too excited, and she awakened a heat absorption superpower on the spot," Sun Jiaming said and couldn’t help but start giggling quietly.
"And then what? Can’t you tell me everything all at once?" Zhang Yanhang hated people who only told half the story.
"Later, because she had just awakened her power and couldn’t control it, coupled with her excited state, she subconsciously activated the heat absorption ability with all her might, and in a few seconds, she depleted all the spiritual energy in her body."
"And then? How did it end up seriously injuring Li Zerui?" Zhang Yanhang felt like he could imagine the scene, but it was a bit cringeworthy, and he didn’t want to actively fill in the blanks.
"And then that was it. She froze on the spot, turning into a big ice lump," Sun Jiaming said with a shiver, perhaps feeling some sort of empathetic connection to the event.
"Ah, that’s just brutal, isn’t it?" Zhang Yanhang thought that a normal person would immediately develop a psychological shadow over getting a girlfriend after hearing this story because there might be a life risk in finding a girlfriend after the Spiritual Qi Recovery, but luckily, he had an energy shield, so he wasn’t too worried about such emergencies happening for the time being.
"Moreover, when they went to the hospital, the doctors said it was irreparable because his girlfriend had also caused localized frostbite and necrosis of his muscles and capillaries. Didn’t you see his trouser leg puffing out? That’s a urinal bag hanging there," Sun Jiaming said and pointed in Li Zerui’s direction again.
"So, why are you telling me this?" Although Zhang Yanhang thought the protagonist of the story was quite pitiful, it really shouldn’t have anything to do with him.
"I just wanted to tell you, even if there’s a life risk in finding a girlfriend after the Spiritual Qi Recovery, great responsibilities are preceded by hardships that challenge the heart, muscles and bones, and hunger the skin. I’m willing to bravely be a pioneer in the Spiritual Qi Recovery Era, actively bearing this unbearable weight of life."
Sun Jiaming’s face showed a righteous and serious expression.
"But I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say?" Now that Zhang Yanhang understood that Li Zerui had no grudges with him and was not connected to him in any way, he only wanted to quickly resume running the Limitless Universe Skill to restore his energy value.
"I saw on TikTok that you hooked up with an upperclassman awakener. Can you introduce me to her roommate?" Sun Jiaming recognized Zhang Yanhang with one glance on TikTok this morning, mainly because he just chatted with Zhang Yanhang yesterday and clearly remembered him in that black uniform.
"Upperclassman? Who? I’m single myself and you want me to introduce you to a girlfriend? Get lost!"
Although Zhang Yanhang suspected Sun Jiaming was probably talking about Zhao Yalan, his relationship with her wasn’t significant—merely an acquaintance spanning three meetings at most, with less than ten sentences exchanged between them, which, rounded up, meant they were still practically strangers.