Chapter 16: Elf
Chapter 16: Elf
“What is going on?”
Lan Mu examined himself and was immediately shocked.
He had transformed again, and it was not into the White-maned Lion.
His body became light and agile. This feeling of being as light as a swallow was somewhat similar to the White-maned Lion, but not entirely the same; at the very least, his strength was far inferior.
Furthermore, there was a special energy inside his body, but this energy seemed suppressed by the surrounding environment.
He rushed into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His face was still his own, but his skin was delicate and soft, seemingly flawless. His eyes were a pale green, his ears were pointed and upright, covered with a translucent fuzz.
His figure had also become slender, especially his legs, which were thin and long.
His appearance leaned towards the feminine, so refined it seemed almost artificial, as if his face had been photoshopped.
However, overall, one could still tell it was Lan Mu. This time, he had transformed into a humanoid non-human race, so his appearance still followed his own looks.
The biggest change was his flowing, long black hair, dark, shiny, straight, and smooth, hanging down his back.
Lan Mu touched his chest and body, heaving a sigh of relief. He was still a man.
No wonder he was startled; this looked too much like a gender-flipped version of Lan Mu.
“Oh my…” Lan Mu sat on the bed; he needed to calm down.
Without a doubt, the transformation ability was not as simple as he thought. The White-maned Lion was just the first; now he had changed into something resembling the Elves from novels.
“Turn back into a human! Change back!”
Lan Mu thought to himself, but his appearance did not change in the slightest. He nodded; sure enough, it was as he had guessed.
“Every forced transformation lasts at least seven days. Like with the White-maned Lion, if I’m not mistaken, after seven days, I will be able to freely switch forms between Elf and human again.”
“As for whether my ability to transform into the White-maned Lion will still exist after seven days, or be overwritten, I can only wait and find out then.”
Based on the information he had, Lan Mu summarized his ability.
Primarily, it was the ability to transform into supernatural creatures. After transforming, he inherited the creature’s innate talents, but apart from that, he did not gain any corresponding knowledge.
The first transformation lasted forcibly for seven days. After seven days, he could switch to and from human form at will. During the transformation process, perhaps because the white ball energy cleansed his body, any illnesses or injuries in human form would be healed and repaired.
From the end of the White-maned Lion transformation to now transforming into an Elf, about seven days had passed in between. Could it be that a forced transformation occurs every seven days?
“No, the White-maned Lion’s forced transformation ended around five or six in the afternoon, but this transformation into an Elf happened at three in the morning. By any calculation, it wasn’t exactly seven days. The interval between transformations can only be determined when the next new transformation target appears.”
Lan Mu looked at his long-haired reflection in the mirror. He had full potential to be an exceptional cross-dresser, which made him want to cry but no tears came.
“Of all times to transform, why now? Whatever, at least no one saw me. But can I really not go out for seven days? What if Cheng Ming and the others look for me?”
Looking at his appearance, Lan Mu felt troubled. This was the annoying part of this ability. Transforming was one thing, but having to force it for seven days was just frustrating.
After some thought, he found a pair of scissors, planning to first cut off his flowing, long, straight black hair.
But as soon as his hand touched the long hair, feeling its smoothness, his heart trembled. He suddenly threw the scissors aside; he couldn’t bring himself to do it!
“Damn damn damn! Seriously? It’s just cutting hair! Is this body really that against it?”
“I refuse to believe it! Last time I endured six days of hunger; I can handle this too!”
With determination, Lan Mu made a snip sound and cut off his long, straight black hair.
The moment the scissors snipped, he felt tears streaming down his face, as if he had lost something very important.
“Wah… Damn it, crying over a haircut, I’m really speechless.”
He slowly calmed himself down and continued cutting his hair in front of the mirror. Although the cut was messy, he managed to turn it into short hair. Even so, the hair was still about twenty centimeters long. He couldn’t bring himself to cut it any shorter.
If he really cut it into a manly buzz cut, he might cry himself unconscious in the bathroom.
But he also felt relieved. Although his body instinctively resisted cutting his hair, instincts were just instincts. Once the conscious mind was determined, they could still be suppressed.
One of the biggest differences between intelligent life and ordinary animals is the suppression of nature. Since ancient times, humans have set various rules and boundaries to constrain themselves.
Whether it was rituals and music, benevolence and righteousness, morality, or laws, they were all created by humans to constrain themselves.
It’s hard to say whether suppressing instincts is better or releasing one’s nature is better. But if he wanted to leave this room, he had to suppress the nature of this Elf body properly!
However, he soon contradicted himself.
Because he simply couldn’t stand how dirty the place he lived in was!
“Oh my, how did I manage to sleep in such an environment?”
First, he collected the hair he had cut off, neatly packed it into a box.
Then he put on rubber gloves and began a major clean-up in the middle of the night…
Not long after the clean-up started, the noise clearly disturbed Su Yue. Her ears were extremely sharp; even in her sleep, she was startled awake.
But now Lan Mu’s five senses were also incredibly sharp. Hearing Su Yue in the bedroom putting on clothes and getting out of bed, he immediately spoke.
“Su Yue, I’m tidying up. Sorry for disturbing you. I’ll be quieter. Go back to sleep; no need to come out.” Lan Mu’s voice was still his own, just slightly softer, sounding a bit neutral, but that was fine. He just needed to speak with a slightly lower voice.
Su Yue had originally intended to come out. She recognized that Lan Mu was cleaning, and although she didn’t know why he was doing it in the middle of the night, she immediately wanted to help.
But she was very obedient. Since Lan Mu told her not to come out, she didn’t feel right going against it.
“Understood, Brother Mu. But you should rest soon! I’ll take care of these things.”
What she thought to herself was: Brother Mu is doing a major clean-up in the middle of the night while I’m asleep. Is he deliberately avoiding me, wanting to clean the house so that I have less to do?
Lan Mu had no idea what Su Yue was thinking. He was cleaning purely because of his obsessive-compulsive disorder and need for cleanliness.
This ridiculous situation had already disturbed Su Yue’s rest, and he felt very guilty about it, so he absolutely could not let Su Yue come out to help.
“It’s not about you, Su Yue. Go rest quickly! I have my own reasons…”
Su Yue spoke to Lan Mu through the door: “Brother Mu, thank you for helping me so much. But these are my responsibilities. You’ve already helped me a lot by taking me in. If Brother Mu does my work while I’m sleeping, I would look down on myself.”
Lan Mu was taken aback. He stopped what he was doing, thought for a moment, and realized he had hurt Su Yue’s pride.
Although this young girl was gentle and weak, she had a stubborn personality. He had explicitly hired her to clean and cook; that was her job. If he, as the employer, did her work for her, while it might help her in a sense, excessive help could also be seen as looking down on her.
These tasks were small; she had done them for many years at her aunt’s house. Su Yue was very familiar with them and wouldn’t find them particularly inconvenient just because she was blind.
If she wasn’t even allowed to do these small things, she would feel looked down upon and useless.
Thinking this, Lan Mu smiled, took off his gloves, and said, “I’m sorry; I didn’t consider things thoroughly.”
“I’m going to sleep now; you should rest soon too. Tomorrow I need to go out. Make sure to clean the house properly.”
Su Yue happily laughed from inside the bedroom, “Thank you, Brother Mu.”
“Don’t keep saying thank you; it’s too formal. Go to sleep quickly!” Lan Mu spoke almost in a commanding tone.
Su Yue bowed to him through the door, then got into bed to rest.
Lan Mu listened for a while, confirming she was asleep, then looked at the half-cleaned living room. He really couldn’t bring himself to sleep.
He quietly picked up some household trash, tied the black plastic bag tightly, and his gaze locked onto a trash can outside the window, across the street.
The trash can was about sixty meters away. The trash bag was full and heavy, weighing about forty pounds.
On a whim, he casually threw it. The trash bag instantly flew out, forming a beautiful parabola.
However, as soon as he threw it, he knew his strength wasn’t enough.
The trash bag nearly lost momentum at around fifty meters, looking like it would land on the road.
Lan Mu focused his mind, and a gentle breeze-like energy connected with the trash bag, forcefully making it float another ten meters or so, accurately landing in the trash can.
“This energy feels a bit like wind, but also different.”
Lan Mu was itching with curiosity. Plus, he couldn’t sleep in this room anyway, so he simply leaped, his body landing lightly on the windowsill.
He lived on the third floor; a height of over ten meters was nothing to him.
He jumped directly out of the building! His body landed softly on the ground. The special energy casually circulated inside him once, without any consumption, allowing him to land safely from a height.
A roadside tree beside him swayed without wind, as if waving to him.
Although there were no words, Lan Mu could feel the tree’s salute to him.
He reached out and touched the big tree, immediately sensing its age, health condition, and so on. A natural force was also drawn out.
Absorbing this natural energy, he felt refreshed, but the big tree became listless, its branches drooping. However, it showed no resentment at all.
“Don’t worry! I’ll give it back to you!”
Lan Mu focused his mind and fed that natural force back. The energy flowed through the tree, and instantly, the big tree looked brand new, even sprouting many new branches. Some parts of the trunk that had grown crooked miraculously adjusted themselves.
It seemed the big tree had become more vibrant, but Lan Mu had merely returned the energy he had absorbed.
“Could it be that during this exchange, the energy underwent some kind of transformation? Becoming easier to absorb? Or perhaps some qualitative change occurred?”
Lan Mu only had instinctive control over this behavior, without matching knowledge, so he couldn’t verify these questions.
“I remember there’s a park nearby with a small forest.”
“The air quality by the roadside is still too poor. If it weren’t for the energy purifying the air around my body, I’d probably choke to death.”
It was past three in the morning. There were no pedestrians on the roadside; except under the streetlights, everywhere was dark.
Lan Mu’s pale green eyes shimmered with light, his gaze piercing through the darkness. His light and agile figure moved through the city.
He was very fast, covering a kilometer in just over a minute. By that calculation, his speed had surpassed human limits.
Lan Mu lightly leaped, lifting his body, and landed gracefully on a tree branch in the park.
His body was covered with an invisible energy, allowing him to stand on the branch like a bird.
The thin branch bore his weight, and he could easily leap between trees. This ability was even more impressive than the White-maned Lion’s.
Because the White-maned Lion couldn’t stand on a tree trunk defying gravity like he could now!
Yes, standing on the tree trunk! His body parallel to the ground, merely by the contact of his feet, he seemed glued to the tree.
The wonderful uses of the energy inside him were far more than just this.