Chapter 76: Misery Loves Company

Zhuge Ming had no idea what Lin Xiao was thinking; he had already been waiting outside for some time. He had witnessed Lin Xiao's performance at the shooting range earlier, and could only describe it as astonishing. Lin Xiao's terrifying learning ability had truly shocked him. Now, he was eager to find out whether Lin Xiao possessed equally remarkable talent in other areas.

"Brother Zhuge, looks like I'm going to be learning from you next."

"That's right. Say, Xiao Lin, we’re all ready to pass our skills on to you. Couldn’t you just call us ‘master’ for once?"

Lin Xiao gave him a deadpan look. "I refuse. Don’t even think about making me address you as my elder. Besides, not everyone here is teaching me something. For example, I call Brother Murong ‘brother’, but if I call you ‘master’, does that make any sense?"

Zhuge Ming scratched his head—he had to admit, the logic was sound.

"Fine, have it your way. I don't care much about such formalities anyway. Enough of that, time is short. Let’s hurry and get started."

The place where Zhuge Ming would instruct Lin Xiao wasn’t far, so Lin Xiao followed him without protest. Soon, they arrived.

"What I want to teach you is disguise. How much you can learn depends on your own ability. Let me think about where to begin."

While Zhuge Ming was still pondering, Lin Xiao raised his hand.

"If you have something to say, just speak up. No need to stand on ceremony."

"Brother, before we start, could you give me a demonstration, so I can get a feel for it?"

Zhuge Ming slapped his thigh in realization.

"Right! I should show you what the Prince of a Thousand Faces can do!"

Lin Xiao watched expectantly, assuming Zhuge Ming would pull out some makeup tools. But what happened next completely exceeded his expectations.

In the blink of an eye, Zhuge Ming before him transformed into an entirely different person.

Lin Xiao had been watching him closely, yet hadn't caught how Zhuge Ming managed it. The Zhuge Ming who’d been nearly six feet tall suddenly shrank to a little over five feet, and his face became that of a middle-aged man.

"Incredible! Brother, how did you do that? I thought you’d use makeup to disguise yourself!"

As Lin Xiao spoke, Zhuge Ming reverted to his original form.

"Makeup? That’s one method, but it’s the most basic. What I’ll teach you goes far beyond that. You’ll be able to alter your physique, your voice, even your gender and scent."

Lin Xiao’s eyes widened. "You can even change your gender? That’s wild!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter! I meant I can disguise myself as a woman, not actually change gender!"

Lin Xiao nodded in understanding; that was impressive enough.

"Alright, enough talk. Now that you’ve seen what I can do, do you want to learn?"

Lin Xiao nodded so vigorously his head nearly bobbed off. This was way too cool!

"Since you’re so eager, I’ll begin in earnest. You saw how I changed my physique just now—that’s because, through practice, I can control my bones, muscles, even fat. Let me teach you how to train for this..."

Zhuge Ming then explained the methods for altering one’s physique. When he finished, he looked at Lin Xiao.

"Did you understand?"

"Yes."

"Then give it a try."

Lin Xiao didn’t hesitate and began practicing as instructed. Zhuge Ming wore a confident smile, fully expecting to see Lin Xiao flounder.

Though he had explained the techniques, it would take years of practice to master them. Whether one succeeded also depended on innate talent; most people could study for a lifetime and never achieve it.

He had been looking forward to seeing Lin Xiao make a fool of himself. But when Lin Xiao’s height shrank from six feet to under five in a matter of moments, Zhuge Ming fell silent.

"How did you do that?"

"Uh, I just followed your steps—did this, then that, and it worked!"

Zhuge Ming felt like a fool.

Refusing to give up, he taught Lin Xiao a few more disguise techniques. Lin Xiao picked them up instantly.

In the end, Zhuge Ming was left feeling completely defeated. What kind of freak was this? Why was his learning ability so monstrous?

Only when their time was up did Zhuge Ming let Lin Xiao go. He suddenly realized there wasn’t much more he could teach this kid. At most, two more lessons and Lin Xiao would surpass him. What was the world coming to?

As Lin Xiao left Zhuge Ming, he found someone else waiting for him at the door. They really weren’t giving him a moment’s rest!

Information about the newcomer surfaced in Lin Xiao’s mind: Chen Yan, an eighth-level S-class ice ability user, the country’s top locksmith.

Lin Xiao simply couldn’t understand why so many of the elderly here at the retirement home pursued such unconventional paths instead of focusing on developing their powers. But he liked it!

Chen Yan’s lesson once again shattered Lin Xiao’s expectations. He had thought learning to pick locks would involve nothing more than mastering a few basic techniques. But when he saw the bank-grade security doors and safes, he realized things weren’t so simple.

In this world, security doors and safes weren’t like those in his previous life—they could withstand attacks from ability users.

Lin Xiao’s astounding aptitude emerged once more. In just an hour, he had mastered nearly all the standard lockpicking methods.

Chen Yan, too, was left feeling defeated. What sort of monster was this? It had taken her years to reach the level Lin Xiao attained in an hour!

After Chen Yan came Han Hao, who would teach Lin Xiao the arts of gambling and sleight of hand.

Han Hao had already heard from the others about Lin Xiao’s formidable learning ability, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Some skills couldn’t be acquired through learning alone; he was confident his craft would take Lin Xiao a long time to master.

Yet once he began teaching, Han Hao too was left crestfallen. At first, his speed was enough to leave Lin Xiao struggling—even when Lin Xiao used his powers, he could barely keep up. But after Han Hao explained the techniques, Lin Xiao quickly grasped what to do.

Though there was still a gap in strength between them, Lin Xiao had already absorbed the key skills.

When Han Hao’s lesson ended, it was lunchtime. As Lin Xiao went to eat, he noticed the elderly residents of the retirement home were watching him with even more eager gazes.

The five who had taught him that morning were now seated together. They had all been utterly defeated by Lin Xiao’s terrifying learning ability, though it also filled them with hope for the future. But the fact that he had mastered in mere hours what had taken them years was simply too much to bear!

Lin Xiao still had more lessons that afternoon, and the elders had already decided to go watch.

Not out of any particular reason—they just wanted to see if the others would end up as disheartened as they were.

After all, misery loves company!