Chapter 57: The Perplexing Healing Ability

“What kind of ability is it?”

“This… do you know about healing abilities?”

“What? Healing!!!”

Duan Yulan had already suspected that Qiao Xia’s ability was different from his previous life. However, upon hearing him mention a healing ability, she couldn’t help but be greatly astonished, having never imagined that Qiao Xia could awaken a rare attribute ability.

In the apocalypse, abilities were categorized into three main types.

There were common attribute abilities, mutated attribute abilities, and rare attribute abilities. Beyond these, a highly mysterious unique attribute ability was rumored to exist, though Duan Yulan had never encountered it herself.

Whether it was a true existence or a mere legend remained to be proven.

However, the healing ability Qiao Xia had just mentioned was undeniably a type of rare attribute ability.

Such ability users were highly sought after in any base across the apocalypse.

‘To think that he drew a rare attribute on his very first awakening. Could it be because she had altered the course of events beforehand?’

“Yes, it must be a healing ability. The images in my mind show me healing injured people.”

Compared to Duan Yulan’s astonishment, Qiao Xia still wore a bitter expression, finding nothing particularly good about this ability.

If it were a normal healing ability, Qiao Xia wouldn’t be so exasperated.

‘Damn it, who needs to kiss a wound to use their ability???’

Indeed, Qiao Xia’s healing ability required him to kiss the wound directly!

While encountering a beautiful woman and kissing their wound for treatment was勉强 (barely) acceptable, what if he encountered a rough, bearded man, standing at 1.9 meters tall?

Or if the injury was in a particularly sensitive area!

Leaving aside other considerations, just thinking about Li Lin Guan, Qiao Xia felt he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.

This useless ability was better off not existing at all!

“Unlike common and mutated attribute abilities, which have no usage restrictions, healing is a rare attribute ability. Its activation conditions vary depending on the individual. What are your conditions for using your healing ability?”

As Duan Yulan recovered from her surprise, she saw the look of utter despair on Qiao Xia’s face. She immediately recalled that rare attribute abilities came with usage restrictions, unlike other abilities that could be activated directly.

Therefore, seeing Qiao Xia’s expression, his ability’s conditions must be quite stringent.

This made Duan Yulan even more curious. What kind of conditions could they be?

The rare attribute abilities she knew already had very demanding conditions. Surely, Qiao Xia’s healing ability wouldn’t be even more resource-intensive than hers!

Upon hearing Duan Yulan’s question, Qiao Xia sighed helplessly. He then looked at a scratch on the back of his hand, which had already stopped bleeding, and immediately leaned in to give it a ‘mwah’.

In the next second, the wound quickly scabbed over and peeled off. In just the blink of an eye, it was completely healed, as if he had never been injured.

Well, aside from the bizarre activation condition, the healing ability’s effect was quite excellent and potent.

But why did it have such a condition?

When others awakened their abilities, they gained immense power or instantly transformed into great mages, sweeping away enemies with a single spell. Why, when it came to him, was it a healing ability with such a perverse activation condition?

For the current chaotic situation, it was utterly useless!

He still had to rely on himself.

As Qiao Xia looked at the back of his hand, on the verge of tears, Duan Yulan’s eyes began to sparkle. She instantly understood the activation condition for Qiao Xia’s healing ability.

It was kissing!

At this moment, Duan Yulan suddenly felt a pang of regret, thinking that the recent battle had been too swift.

‘If only I had been injured…’

Thinking this, Duan Yulan felt she could play the damsel in distress later to experience Qiao Xia’s healing touch.

“Those activation conditions aren’t too bad; some people’s rare attribute conditions are even stranger. If you want a rare attribute ability to be used without restrictions, just like other attribute abilities, you can raise its level. Once it reaches Level 10, you can ignore the usage conditions.”

“Ah, abilities can be leveled up?”

Although Duan Yulan was ecstatic internally, seeing Qiao Xia’s gloomy expression made her think. She decided she could give Qiao Xia some hope to strive for.

Even though raising an ability to Level 10 was far from easy.

Especially for rare attribute abilities, the difficulty increased a hundredfold compared to other attributes.

Nevertheless, it was still a thought.

A goal to work towards.

“Yes, they can be upgraded, but not yet. You’ll need to wait for mutated animals and insects… In short, the possibility of improving your ability now is not high; it requires a period of transition. During this time, you can focus on enhancing your physical attributes. This will allow you to perform better in combat and significantly increase your safety.”

Upon hearing Duan Yulan’s words, Qiao Xia was no longer as dejected as before, even though he couldn’t immediately upgrade his ability.

As long as there was hope!

He would just have to work harder. As long as he could continue living, he would eventually be able to raise his ability to Level 10 and escape this perverse activation condition!

As for the strange things Duan Yulan mentioned, Qiao Xia had already learned to automatically filter them out.

Even knowing wouldn’t help; he might as well deal with it when the time came.

After all, things were dangerous enough now; adding more dangers wouldn’t change much.

Compared to these inexplicable dangers, Qiao Xia was more interested in Duan Yulan’s mention of increasing physical attributes. He wondered if awakening his ability could make him faster, stronger, and more powerful!

If it could, even if this healing ability was merely passable, Qiao Xia felt he could accept it!

“After awakening my ability, has my body changed? I feel like I’m full of strength now, the kind that could punch a cow to death.”

“That’s an illusion.”

Unfortunately, Duan Yulan’s subsequent words successfully shattered Qiao Xia’s fantasy.

Perhaps Qiao Xia’s momentary look of disappointment amused Duan Yulan, so she didn’t continue to dampen his spirits. Instead, she shared some uplifting news.

“Although it can’t strengthen your body, after awakening an ability, if you’re bitten by a zombie, it’s merely an injury; you won’t turn into a zombie.”

“Huh? So, if an ordinary person without an ability is bitten by a zombie, they’ll definitely turn into one?”

At this point, Qiao Xia and Duan Yulan had already tacitly agreed to refer to the red-eyed patients as zombies. Hearing that a zombie bite would lead to transformation made Qiao Xia frown. If this were true, he thought, it wouldn’t just be U City in an emergency state; the entire Blue Star wouldn’t escape.

His healing ability merely treated wounds and didn’t have overly powerful effects. Perhaps other changes would occur after his ability leveled up, but for now, it could only heal injuries.

“A 98% chance.”

Duan Yulan understood Qiao Xia’s concern, but at that moment, she merely shook her head, relaying the grim truth.

Moreover, zombies, these low-level monsters, were not the most dangerous creatures. The threats yet to come were far more menacing.