Fang Xiaotong's words remained in my mind for several seconds after he revealed the name of his ability. I had expected something powerful after hearing him talk about his superpower the previous night, but I wasn't prepared for what I had just witnessed. His movement had been so fast that I hadn't even been able to follow the moment he disappeared, and even though he was standing calmly in front of me now, the trail of dust stretching across the baseball field was enough evidence that what I had seen wasn't some kind of illusion.
"Sonic Speed..." I muttered, staring at him with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "So that's why you wanted to come all the way out here."
Fang Xiaotong nodded while looking toward the opposite end of the baseball field. "Exactly. I figured that if I showed you inside the school, I might accidentally run into someone or break something. I still don't know how much force I'm generating when I move at full speed, and honestly, I don't think I understand the ability nearly as well as I thought I did."
"You moved so quickly that I couldn't even see you."
"That's the problem," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know how fast I was actually moving either. The System didn't give me a number or anything like that. It just told me that I had Sonic Speed, and after that, I had to figure everything else out myself."
I looked at the long stretch of grass in front of us before turning back toward him. "Then you should probably figure out your limits before the invasion begins. You still have a few hours."
Fang Xiaotong's expression became more serious. "That's what I was thinking. I don't want to spend tomorrow running around randomly and hoping I don't crash into something. If these monsters are actually stronger than normal humans, then speed might be the difference between surviving and getting killed. I need to understand how to use it properly."
I nodded in agreement. "Then let's start with something simple. Don't try to move as fast as you possibly can. See how quickly you can accelerate while still maintaining control."
Fang Xiaotong considered my suggestion before giving me a confident smile. "Alright. I'll try that."
He walked back toward the center of the field and began stretching again, although this time his movements were noticeably more deliberate. He rolled his shoulders, stretched his legs, and took several deep breaths before lowering his body slightly. I could tell that he wasn't joking around anymore.
"Ready?"
"Whenever you are."
Fang Xiaotong leaned forward.
The instant his foot touched the ground, his body shot forward.
This time, however, I was watching carefully.
At first, I could still follow him with my eyes. He accelerated across the baseball field at a speed that already seemed impossible for an ordinary human, but then his movements became faster and faster until he was little more than a blur. The wind pushed against me as he passed, and I had to squint just to keep track of where he was.
He eventually slowed himself down and came to a stop near the opposite side of the field.
"How was that?" he called out.
"Much better. You didn't disappear immediately."
"That's good."
Fang Xiaotong looked down at his feet before slowly walking back toward me. "I think I understand something now. When I move slowly, everything feels normal. But the faster I go, the easier it becomes for me to process everything around me."
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Watch."
He picked up a small baseball from the ground and tossed it into the air.
The ball rose above his head before beginning to fall.
Fang Xiaotong stared at it.
Then, without warning, his hand moved.
He caught the baseball before it had even fallen halfway.
I stared at him.
"Your reaction speed increased too?"
"Apparently."
He tossed the baseball again, this time slightly higher.
As it fell, Fang Xiaotong moved his hand toward it with almost perfect precision. His fingers closed around the ball at exactly the right moment.
"Want to give it another go?" I teased.
"Let's give this another shot," he declared.
Fang Xiaotong accelerated across the field again, but this time he didn't maintain a straight path. He suddenly shifted his direction, moving toward one side of the field before making an abrupt turn and accelerating in another direction. His movements were so precise that there was almost no wasted motion, and despite the incredible speed at which he was traveling, his body remained completely under control. He could stop almost instantly, change directions without losing his balance, and adjust his movements according to everything around him as though his heightened speed had also sharpened every part of his physical awareness.
After several rapid changes in direction, Fang Xiaotong came to a complete stop directly in front of me. There was barely any dust beneath his feet, and he didn't appear the slightest bit unsteady. Instead, he simply stood there with his hands on his hips, looking rather pleased with himself.
"How was that?" he asked.
"You stopped almost instantly," I replied, still somewhat surprised by what I had witnessed. "And those turns were incredibly sharp. I thought you might have trouble controlling yourself at that speed."
Fang Xiaotong shook his head. "Actually, it's the opposite. The faster I move, the more clearly I seem to perceive everything around me. My body reacts almost before I consciously think about what I'm doing. Turning, stopping, accelerating... none of those things feel particularly difficult right now."
"I wish I could be as much of a help as you. I haven't managed to properly control or utilize my luck to help people yet. Though, I hope that I can still protect everyone, even without me being conscious of it."
"You shouldn't worry so much about your luck, brother Yin. I hope that, with your luck, maybe the heavens will send an angel to protect you and your family."
"You're right, Xiaotong. It seems like fate will naturally turn the tide in my favor as long as I'm here with you."
A few moments passed, and we decided to keep trying out the newfound powers that we both possessed. Fang Xiaotong was one thing, while I, on the other hand, had problems testing to see what limits there are to my ability. I wondered if I wanted to get some ice cream; would an ice cream truck drive by us? Impossible as it may sound, I thought I would give it a try anyway.
A few more moments went by. When I almost lost faith that this would work, something inexplicable appeared before me. Sirens suddenly chased this used looking truck, and the man driving the car had a bag over his head to disguise himself. Almost stunned, I looked to where Fang Xiaotong was, and already, alerted by the sudden turn of events he sped up and quickly ran to where I was and grabbed my hand. He then forcefully put me on his back and ran dozens of meters to the outer field of the baseball field.
After ensuring that I was at a safe distance, we both watched the thief in the food truck stop the car and quietly surrender his vehicle and their personal belongings to the police officer. This all happened in about ten seconds and seemed like a fantasy to me. So the first thing I did was... wait. After a dozen more seconds, the police officer arrested the thief and drove away to a different location.
"Xiaotong, would you believe me if this had to do with my luck?"
Fang Xiaotong was completely stunned. "You mean that you wanted a police officer to bring down a criminal?"
I shook my head left to right. "No, nothing like that. I actually wanted to test if I could summon an ice cream truck with my luck as the trigger for this event to happen."
He pondered for a few seconds and realized that my luck had just affected the implausible to the plausible. His face told me that there was almost no way that my luck could've affected the entire world just to bring an ice cream truck to the middle of a baseball field.
We both calmed down and silently walked towards the food truck. Double-checking that there was actually no one left in the truck and around us, we searched the back of the food truck and found something. What we found was priceless. There was actually a bunch of different-colored ice cream, sitting at the back of the food truck.