One day later at Valletta, Malta.

“I’m already at Valletta, wait for my instructions.” On a street, an Asian man made a call and only muttered one sentence into the phone.

Next to the Asian man was a blonde woman browsing the stalls on the street.

“Mister Ma Lei, is this pretty?” The blonde held the underwear up, gesturing for the Asian man to check it out.

The man was Xia Lei, the woman was the Italian archaeologist, Linda. They had both secretly arrived in Malta from Sicily.

“Not bad.”

“Then Mister Ma Lei, could you help me pay first?” Linda looked timid. When she escaped, she only had her nightgown on her back. She didn’t even have underwear, let alone money.

“Of course.” Xia Lei asked the seller for the price and paid.

They both stayed at a hotel that Xia Lei booked.

At the front desk of the hotel, she hadn’t spoken up till they entered the room. “Mister Ma Lei, you’ve saved my life twice. I must repay you but I’m not that kind of woman. Why did you only book one room?”

Why didn’t she say so earlier?

Xia Lei smiled. “Don’t misunderstand me. I definitely have no intentions for that. I just don't want a repeat of last night. With you by my side, I can protect you. That is all.”

She froze and looked disappointed. “I didn’t mean that I mean…”

Xia Lei cut her off. “Miss Linda, let me tell you the truth. I’m not interested in women, I’m interested in men. Understand?”

“Huh?” Linda looked sceptical. She didn’t believe him.

“Alright, you go take a shower and I’ll also wash up. We rest here for a night, then we’ll discuss what to do next.”

Linda sighed. “Alright, I’ll go take a shower first. Since you’re gay, you won’t mind if I change here, right?”

Xia Lei was speechless.

She proceeded to strip off her clothing.

Xia Lei was a straight man. He was definitely going to have a response to this. He was starting to get anxious. How he was going to perpetuate this lie? He must solve this problem.

He looked down to use his special vision on his nether regions, something he hadn’t done before.

He could now see the skin, muscles, nerves and blood flow in ‘that’ place. In his mind, he had all the information he needed to create a 3D image of it.

The image he had in his mind was not a still image either. It was an animated, 3D image of blood flowing, signals travelling through nerves. Not one detail was spared.

This was the first time he looked at it so thoroughly. It was fascinating to know how it worked.

“How can I calm it down?” He thought hard.

The brain he used to build the Sweeper and Thunder Dragon intelligent lathe was now used to study his penis. This was nothing.

The sound of flowing water came from the bathroom but his focus was not affected. He closed his eyes, keeping only the 3D image in his mind. He let it run on its own, like putting a machine on autopilot.

His brain analysed the image and data. He came up with a bunch of solutions and started to filter them one by one.

All success stories were built on failure.

His brain was a delicate autonomous machine or a code-breaker that could decode an enigma.

After some time, something triggered and then a secret ability he had surfaced. The mysterious energy flowed into his blood, into his nerves and every cell. Suddenly, all his urges disappeared.

His eyes sprung open and looked down to see what he had done. His penis was back to its original state.

The problem was solved.

He was oddly surprised because this mysterious energy in his brain used to only awaken when his life was in danger. This time, it had appeared even though he wasn’t in any extreme condition.

“What’s going on? Does it activate in situations like this? His brain started to mull over new questions.

He closed his eyes and let his brain run. It released the mysterious energy once again. He slowed down the process, then slowed it down even more. One second, one-tenth of a second, one-hundredth of a second.

A few minutes later, he laughed hysterically. “Hahaha! Hahaha! So that’s how it works!”

That mysterious energy was stored in his brain and made changes while it controlled his body. This body has been evolving silently and so has the energy. Although this was a gradual growth, after some time, there were significant changes. This time, it was much more powerful than it used to be.

His brain could be compared to a battery. It might be a simple metaphor but the solution was also very simple and direct. Basically, he just needed a wire to access the electricity in the battery!

He always had this wire within him, he just never realised it was there. This was just his willpower. When his willpower was strong enough to trigger the core region of his brain, the energy would be awakened and he’d access all of it!

Using this energy was also a type of training. The more he trained, the stronger he’d become! This meant that using the energy would not drain it but benefit him instead!

“I can’t believe I’ve missed so many opportunities to train…” When he found the answer, Xia Lei was emotional but also slightly frustrated at himself. He could have been more powerful but he just never trained.

At this moment, Linda stepped out of the bathroom. “I’m done. It’s your turn to shower.”

Xia Lei entered the bathroom.

“Wait,” Linda stopped him. “Didn’t you say you were gay? Then we are the equivalent of sisters. You can change in front of me. The bathroom’s wet. It’ll ruin your clothes”

“Alright.” He smiled and stripped.

Linda’s jaw dropped.

Xia Lei walked into the bathroom.

Now that he could control his mysterious power, he could control his own urges. Even if Linda teased him or touched him, he would be able to control himself!

When Xia Lei disappeared behind the bathroom door, Linda snapped back to reality. “Is he really gay?”

That night, Linda and Xia Lei slept on different beds. They chatted but it was mostly on the metal book and Malta.

As they went to sleep, Xia Lei grinned mischievously. “I think my women at home would praise me for my intellect.”

If Linda could hear him, she might’ve kicked his face.