Since accidentally activating the aberrant energy stabilization device in the sewer, Azhai had been feeling that his “pause time for three seconds” superpower had undergone a subtle change.
He could still only pause time for three seconds—the limit seemed unchanged—but strangely, sometimes when he tried to activate his ability, time wouldn’t stop instantly. Instead, there would be a delay of a fraction of a second, as if his superpower was suffering from “network lag.”
At first, Azhai didn’t pay much attention, thinking it was just his own mental fatigue playing tricks on him.
Until one day, while standing in line at a dessert shop to buy the limited-edition pink strawberry sundae, that “delay” unexpectedly gave him a surprise.
The queue had stretched out the door, with only one sundae left. Azhai thought, “Time to use my secret weapon!”
He secretly activated his power but found that time didn’t freeze immediately; instead, it stuttered for a moment. During that fraction-of-a-second delay, a fashionable woman wearing sunglasses, who was just ahead of him in line, snatched the last sundae with quick eyes and faster hands!
When time resumed, Azhai only saw the woman holding the sundae, a victorious smile lighting up her face.
“My sundae!” Azhai cried out in frustration and despair.
“Huh? Why did you suddenly freeze just now? I thought you were letting me have it—thanks!” The stylish woman waved smugly and happily went inside the shop.
Azhai was utterly heartbroken. For the first time, he felt so dejected about his superpower “upgrading.”
“Your superpower… seems a bit different now,” Wang Meili teased with a schadenfreude smile.
“Different? This is a downgrade! My ‘time pause’ has turned into a ‘three-second delay.’ What good is that?” Azhai scratched his head in agony.
Lin Xiaoqiang carefully observed Azhai’s recent use of the power, frowning. “Maybe because you touched the aberrant energy, the frequency of your ability changed, causing this delay.”
To test this new “three-second delay” ability, Azhai started a series of strange experiments:
He tried to use his power to grab the last loaf of bread but failed; the bread was snatched away. He tried to dodge a flying baseball but got hit anyway. He tried to catch a fluttering butterfly but it flew off long before he could react.
Repeated failures left Azhai completely desperate, feeling that his superpower not only didn’t upgrade, but had turned into a useless “negative buff.”
However, just as Azhai was losing hope in his new ability, something unexpected happened.
One day, the trio was walking down the street when suddenly they encountered an emergency traffic accident—a runaway car was rushing toward the sidewalk, about to crash into an old lady pushing a baby stroller.
At the critical moment, Azhai instinctively activated the “three-second delay.” Time flowed like slow motion; the car approached slowly, the old lady’s eyes wide with terror, frozen in place.
Just one second before the car would hit the stroller, time suddenly stopped!
Azhai was stunned to realize this time the time pause lasted a full five seconds—two seconds longer than usual!
Those extra two seconds allowed him to rush forward and push the old lady and stroller away from danger.
Time resumed; the out-of-control car brushed against the stroller’s edge and slammed into the guardrail with a loud crash. The old lady hugged the stroller tightly, thanking him over and over.
Azhai stood there stunned, feeling his heart pounding faster and catching the astonished gazes around him, suddenly realizing:
Maybe his “three-second delay” wasn’t as bad as he thought. Those extra two seconds might be proof his superpower was actually “upgrading,” and behind this “delay” hid untapped potential yet to be discovered.
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