Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The headquarters’ staff dormitories were like luxury hotel suites, complete with room service.

The menu offered not only standard international cuisine but also the option to order pollutants for consumption—the latter requiring contribution points and priced significantly higher. A note accompanied this option: Produced through years of research by the Seventh Research Institute. Exceptionally flavorful, rich in juices. Negligible pollution levels. Moderately effective in raising spiritual power thresholds.

This kind of meat is in high demand out there. A favorite among the wealthy and powerful these days. They have no idea that eating too much of it makes them more likely to become pollutants themselves.

The system’s tone held its usual undercurrent of scorn.

Where there was demand, there was trade. Abroad, along the edges of many low-level pollution zones, ordinary people had taken up arms, hunting low-level pollutants. They called themselves "Calamity Hunters."

Lu Yan already consumed enough pollutants in his regular diet. He had no interest in these overpriced offerings.

He ordered a few dishes he liked. Half an hour later, a cart delivered his meal.

The food was surprisingly good, reaching at least eighty percent of the standard of his own cooking.

By the time he finished dinner, it was already seven in the evening.

Training started tomorrow. Lu Yan planned to take a bath, read for a while in bed, then sleep.

Ever since merging with Wang Yu, he’d developed a particular fondness for bathing. He could soak for two hours.

When he finally emerged from the tub, a steaming glass of sleep-aid milk awaited him.

Lu Yan stood before the bookshelf, considering his reading options, when the dormitory doorbell chimed.

He glanced at the time instinctively—nine p.m.

A voice came from outside. "Hello! I’m also a new trainee for this session. My name is Chen Anzhi, a combat-class Awakener, codename ‘Undercurrent.’ I’m right across the hall. Would you like to be friends?"

Through the door’s peephole monitor, Lu Yan saw Chen Anzhi’s face. He wore a friendly, disarming smile that inspired an almost automatic sense of trust.

Hmm. Chen Anzhi. Spiritual power threshold: 1600. A mental-type Awakener within the combat class. Quite capable among this batch of new hires. Lesion rate: 37.

Talents: 99 Dreamwalking, 197 Hypnosis, 378 Affinity.

Lesion direction: Psychosis, Schizophrenia.

The Research Institute had long debated whether mental-type Awakeners belonged in the combat or special-class divisions. But ever since the A-Class mental-type Awakener, The Magician, caused a B-Class pollutant to die under mental control, no one dared argue they didn’t belong in combat anymore.

Lu Yan didn’t open the door immediately. "His lesion rate seems abnormally high," he murmured.

Lin Sinan’s spiritual power threshold and lesion rate were similar to Chen Anzhi’s. But Lin Sinan had worked for over twenty years.

Chen Anzhi was a new employee, having joined less than a year ago.

He was originally an overseas Chinese. The island nation he lived in became the forbidden zone ‘Divine Kingdom’ due to an S-Class pollutant. Chen Anzhi was one of the survivors, rescued and raised in China. He awakened just last year.

I don’t recommend contact. Evidence shows people from ‘Divine Kingdom’ tend to have… issues.

Even without the system’s advice, Lu Yan had no intention of stepping out.

In general, Lu Yan disliked socializing.

He preferred reading, studying, or working over whiling away time with others.

But since childhood, his striking looks had always drawn people to him. It once made him consider plastic surgery.

He answered through the door. "Sorry, I’m too tired today. Maybe another time."

The smile on Chen Anzhi’s face didn’t waver. "Of course. See you tomorrow."

Chen Anzhi moved past Lu Yan’s door and knocked on the next one.

He was well aware of the corridor surveillance. With everyone who opened their door, he only chatted briefly on the threshold.

He had a reputation as a social butterfly back at his local Prevention Center, so this behavior wasn’t out of character.

There were 62 Awakeners in this new employee training session—a number significantly higher than previous years, almost triple. This year alone, six individuals had spiritual power thresholds exceeding one thousand. Headquarters jokingly called it a "bumper crop."

Chen Anzhi visited twenty people that night.

Six of them opened their doors to him.

At 11 p.m., he ended his social rounds. Casually, he plucked a single rose from the fresh-cut flower arrangements lining the hallway—placed there by headquarters to combat monotony and boost Awakener morale.

Half an hour later, a staff member delivered the aromatherapy diffuser he’d requested.

His file noted that Chen Anzhi couldn’t sleep without his diffuser.

He returned to his room, lit the rose-scented diffuser, and fell asleep clutching the rose, a smile still on his lips.

Midnight.

Beneath his closed eyelids, Chen Anzhi’s eyes darted and rolled rapidly. The smile on his face widened, curving into something unnerving and grotesque.

He did not wake.

In his mind’s eye, a chaotic darkness swirled, then a single candle flame ignited. He lifted this wisp of light and placed it upon a round table materializing before him.

Six translucent, blue-tinged soul forms, drawn by the light, eventually took seats around the table.

These were the six Awakeners who had opened their doors to him today.

Their spiritual power thresholds weren’t high. They hadn’t even realized they’d been hypnotized.

Talent 99 — Dreamwalking

"Welcome to the world of dreams," Chen Anzhi whispered. "Today, I will introduce you to a slumbering deity from a distant land."

"It is the Creator, lost in eternal sleep. Our universe is merely its dream."

"It cannot be seen. It is a formless chaos, existing before heaven and earth. None know its name. We must not disturb its slumber, lest we invite calamity."

"Now, it has descended from the void. It resides in what was once my homeland. Now, I call it… ‘Paradise.’"

"You are fortunate. The great Holy One is gathering its first disciples. Our souls may journey safely to that land devoid of suffering."

Chen Anzhi spread his arms. The candle flame before him split into six, floating to hover before each of the others. The faint yellow halos enveloped the soul forms, which gradually took on the same hue.

A fanatical, pious fervor burned in Chen Anzhi’s eyes. "Praise the Holy One. Paradise and eternal life."

The six bewildered souls echoed, their voices a dull chorus. "Praise the Holy One. Paradise and eternal life."

*

7 a.m. Lu Yan woke precisely on time.

The training center wasn’t far from the dormitories, about a ten-minute walk.

He changed into the standard training uniform, planning to grab breakfast at the second-floor cafeteria before heading to the center.

Training ran from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.—a full day of theory in the morning and practical sessions in the afternoon, with a one-hour break in between.

Lin Sinan, a training veteran, had given Lu Yan some insider info. The difficulty of the training largely depended on the head instructor for that year. A ruthless instructor meant misery for the trainees. A lenient one offered slight relief.

And every year had its quota for fatalities.

As Lu Yan pushed his door open, Chen Anzhi emerged from the room opposite.

The smile on his face was identical to yesterday’s, the curve seemingly unchanged. Only his eyes were different—calm and detached, creating a dissonant, unsettling effect.

"Hello," Chen Anzhi said with a smile. "I never got your name?"

His eyes were unusually deep, like a starry sky.

Almost against his will, Lu Yan replied. "Lu Yan."

The instant the name left his lips, he couldn’t help but frown slightly. Compared to an ordinary person, he had broken free remarkably fast.

Chen Anzhi seemed to notice. He lowered his head, speaking softly. "My apologies. I forgot my glasses."

"My talent abilities are sometimes hard to control…" Chen Anzhi’s expression turned somewhat forlorn. "It wasn’t intentional. I hope you won’t hold it against me."

His demeanor was pitiable, easily swaying those with weaker resolve.

Ugh, I really can’t stand mental-type talents, the system sighed. Don’t look at his eyes. I’ll keep watch too.

Affinity paired with Hypnosis… that combination is one of the top-tier setups for a mental-type Awakener. Also, avoid being in confined spaces with him. And definitely don’t sleep in his presence.

The system’s tone turned wry. By the way, have you ever played ‘Werewolf’? It seems we have some traitors in our midst.