Chapter 5: Testing Abilities!
Of course, Qi Jun reined in his inflated ego after a brief moment of self-admiration.
Qi Jun knew that if this incident weren't handled properly, intelligence organizations, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Hydra would quickly trace back to him as the source.
In this world, with no records of his existence, he would certainly become a prime target for major intelligence and underground organizations in a deadly way!
However, Qi Jun wasn't panicked.
With the Mutated Stone in hand, what situation couldn't he handle?
Qi Jun declared that if he had enough energy, even if it was half of all life erased by Thanos, he could bring it all back!
...
"Damn!"
"Why is there only 2.5 energy?"
"Is this Mutated Stone skimming off the top?"
As Qi Jun calmed his mind, he noticed that the energy storage area specially developed by the [Mutated Stone] showed only a measly 2.5 energy units.
Of course, the non-sentient Mutated Stone naturally did not respond to Qi Jun's complaints.
Besides its powerful capabilities, the Variant Reality Stone is more like a technological creation with a set program.
"You've got to be kidding!"
"You sucked up all the electricity from the entire street, and you only gave me 2.5 energy units?"
"Considering the fifty-fifty split, are you saying that the electricity supply for an entire neighborhood is only worth five energy units?"
"An entire neighborhood's electricity!"
"Even if it was just for a minute, that's easily over ten thousand kilowatts!"
"In dollars, that's nearly ten thousand dollars!"
"So, one energy unit is worth two thousand dollars?"
He looked over the seven hundred and forty dollars he had left after paying for the room.
At that moment, Qi Jun felt truly poor!
Originally, Qi Jun thought about absorbing a few hundred thousand, or even millions of energy units, then using the [Mutated Stone] to materialize a spaceship and head to the abandoned planet Morag to retrieve the undiscovered Power Stone. With infinite energy, wouldn't he be able to do whatever he wanted?
Qi Jun had no intention of messing with the [Tesseract], at least not for now!
Aside from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strong defenses (for the current Qi Jun), at this time, at least two big shots, the Ancient One and Odin, were keeping an eye on the [Tesseract], and Qi Jun wasn't looking to court death.
A few hundred thousand energy units should be enough to materialize a spaceship.
But, having absorbed the entire neighborhood's electricity, he had just five energy units.
Does that mean that, to materialize a spaceship, he would need to drain the electricity of the entire United States or planet?
This is unbelievable!
...
However, Qi Jun soon regained his good mood.
He realized that although the Mutated Stone's energy absorption was pitiful and the conversion rate was low, this did not mean that the Mutated Stone's energy was useless.
Or rather, to the Mutated Stone, electrical energy is a very low-grade energy! It is extremely basic energy! It has a very low conversion rate!
If Qi Jun hadn't actively absorbed it, the Variant
Stone probably wouldn't even bother with it.
Qi Jun found that he used only a tiny bit of energy to restore any damage from his earlier attempt to absorb electrical energy.
That's the beauty of Reality Stone; you don't have to do anything yourself; you can just imagine it. As long as you have enough energy to pay, all actions can be done without moving a finger, making it an essential item for any lazy person at home or traveling!
Using just 0.5 units of energy, Qi Jun restored everything to its original state, except for the transformer that exploded and was still ablaze. The sockets and wiring nearly melted due to Qi Jun's rapid electricity absorption were also restored.
If the motel owner were to check the electricity meter, he would find that the wildly spinning meter had returned to the state it was in one second before Qi Jun began absorbing electricity.
In other words, apart from the still-burning transformer, all traces of this incident had vanished as if by magic. Even the electric company's consumption records had been retroactively altered!
Qi Jun also tried using the Mutated Stone to erase all surveillance and human memories.
However, the feedback from the Mutated Stone showed that while surveillance could be easily altered, human memories required a much larger amount of energy.
Unlike inanimate objects like surveillance and wiring, altering humans requires significantly more energy.
The memories of an entire neighborhood couldn't be changed with just two units of energy.
But because Qi Jun wanted to alter human memories, the Mutated Stone shared another thrilling piece of information with him!
This is because it contains much higher-grade life energy than electrical energy.
The body of an ordinary human who had died less than an hour ago could be recycled and was worth one energy unit! After one hour, the life energy would dissipate rapidly and lose its value.
A living, ordinary human was also recyclable and worth five energy units! The additional four units came from the higher-grade soul energy unique to living beings!
Shocked, Qi Jun could only take deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart.
Meanwhile, Qi Jun, breathing heavily, suddenly had numerous bold ideas!
But!
In the next second, Qi Jun shook his head fiercely.
He expelled these unharmonious thoughts from his mind!
As a youth raised under the red flag, how could he entertain such perverted thoughts?
Let us revisit the essence of a harmonious society: Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, and Friendliness!
Read it again: Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, Friendliness!
As a modern youth, he should still adhere to such harmony even if he had traveled through time!
...
However, based on the information from the Mutated Stone, Qi Jun knew his next steps.
He looked towards the northeast direction of Chinatown.
Qi Jun seemed to see through the towering buildings to that infamous place—Hell's Kitchen!