He opened his mouth wide, but aside from the heavy, winded breathing that sounded like a broken bellows being pulled, he couldn't make any other sound.

Fortunately, this sensation came quickly and left just as fast. In just a few breaths, it had already vanished without a trace.

Ethan Cooper looked at John Harris with lingering fear, his gaze as if he were staring at a demon.

"I've already marked you. If you can't deliver the item safely to Xiao Putuo within a month, then... you'll live in the agony you just experienced forever."

Ethan Cooper shuddered violently. That heart-wrenching, soul-searing pain was already too much even once; to live in such torment forever would truly be a cruel punishment, worse than death.

John Harris stood up, gazing intently at Ethan Cooper's terror-stricken face. Suddenly, a hint of an almost enchanting smile appeared on his face. "Don't be surprised, it's just a little trick. Want to learn it?"

Instinctively, Ethan Cooper nodded.

John Harris's voice softened, carrying a seductive power: "If you can deliver the item, I can teach you. Within ten years, I guarantee you'll be able to master it as well. Remember, one month. I'll... be waiting for you."

Ethan Cooper's vision blurred, and John Harris simply vanished into thin air, disappearing from his sight.

A chill ran from the soles of Ethan Cooper's feet straight up to the crown of his head. His gaze hesitantly swept around the private room, finally settling on the safe and that mysterious yellowish paper.

If these two items weren't sitting right in front of him, he would have really thought he'd just had a nightmare.

Chapter Two: The Miraculous Superpower

Carrying the safe, Ethan Cooper asked a waiter for a large packing bag, put it inside, and then, under the waiter's surprised gaze, paid the bill and left.

He didn't go to the Haoyunlai Express Company again, but went straight home.

In the city, he owned two apartments. One was public, registered with the company—a second-hand place, one bedroom and one living room, just over fifty square meters.

The other was a duplex apartment with a whopping 260 square meters.

The value of this apartment alone was equivalent to a lifetime's income for an average white-collar worker.

Ethan Cooper was an orphan, and his education wasn't high. After nine years of compulsory schooling, he ended up on the streets. It was only after much effort that he landed a position at the express company and finally had a legitimate income.

In his heart, he actually valued this job quite a bit. It wasn't because of the meager salary, but because having a proper job and living a nine-to-five life gave him a sense of being an ordinary person.

Yes, he was not an ordinary person.

An ordinary person, even after working his position for two lifetimes, could never afford that apartment.

He was a superhuman.

His special ability was to create something out of nothing, able to conjure up anything he could imagine out of thin air.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to have seen the real thing and scanned it with his power, committing it to memory.

If you gave him a picture of a Desert Eagle and asked him to make one, even if you killed him, at most he could only produce a paper gun.

Moreover, his power wasn't that strong. If he tried to create something too complex or too large or heavy, it would almost certainly fail.

However, since fate had given him this miraculous ability, making a few jewels was still within his reach.

Snakes have their paths, rats have their holes. Among his friends, there were a few reliable contacts.

To buy these two apartments, Ethan Cooper had specially visited several jewelry stores in other provinces.

After returning, he sold the jewels he created at thirty percent of the market price.

He didn't sell much; aside from buying these two properties, he had less than eighty thousand left in the bank.

Because he knew that if he sold too often, the chances of trouble would multiply. Of course he liked money, but money that was too hot to handle wasn't worth the risk.

Knowing when to stop—this was a lesson he had learned deeply as a child, when the older kids at the orphanage snatched away the candy he was showing off.

Before he had enough power to protect himself, he couldn't go too far in anything.

But today, he was angry. John Harris—he had firmly remembered this name.

After suffering so much at his hands, he would never forget this person. That excruciating pain was enough to etch him into his memory forever.

If people don't mess with me, I won't mess with them. But if they do, I'll pay them back tenfold.

Of course, he wouldn't foolishly seek humiliation. Going to find John Harris now would be suicide. Since John Harris possessed such mysterious abilities and spoke with such murderous intent, he probably wouldn't care about his little life at all.

So, since he was powerless for now, he could only wait. As long as an opportunity arose, he would never let it slip by.