Thank you to chamana_digital for the ko-fi~
Like them, this is only because of the overuse of extraordinary powers leading to a coma, considered the mildest within the awakening of the extraordinary.
Some, upon awakening, find themselves engulfed in flames, unable to even wear clothes, burning every bit of hair off their bodies, resembling a peeled marinated egg. Others, originally unremarkable, suddenly sprout a tail behind their buttocks after awakening, making climbing trees as easy as a cat…
Compared to these individuals, Zhao Xiaokui, who only lost some memories during the extraordinary awakening process, can hardly be considered extraordinary.
The night watcher in charge of monitoring is just an ordinary person with little knowledge of extraordinary powers. He couldn’t help but ask, “But can a newly awakened extraordinary individual deal with vampires?”
Currently, internationally, there is almost a common understanding within the entire system of extraordinaries. Despite the adaptability and variability of humans, surpassing that of other races, in the early stages of awakening, humans are far inferior to the newborns of those other races.
“Extraordinaries are not as simple as you perceive,” Zhang Hongyi said, “Not every extraordinary individual is willing to be recruited by the country and work for the authorities. The truly powerful extraordinaries are mostly lone wolves or form their own groups. Their relationship with the authorities is just cooperation. Whether the Night Walkers can suppress these extraordinary or not is uncertain without the logistical support of the research and development machinery and a substantial reserve of resources.”
Zhang Hongyi is very self-aware and well-informed about the current situation in Huaxia and the world.
Not everyone trusts the authorities, and although the Night Walkers absorb many extraordinary powers, the quality is not high. Most are just ordinary people who awakened extraordinary abilities but are not powerful enough. Those who were already formidable before awakening and became even more powerful afterward preferred to work independently rather than be controlled by the government.
The general belief is that the human extraordinary is weaker than other races, mainly because the authorities’ low-end extraordinary forces are not impressive enough. But in reality, there is still a small percentage of lucky ones with an inherently higher starting point that is incomparable.
Squatting at the door, having finished eating and returned, Gou Rixin sighed softly, “Can one awaken and kill a vampire in one go? Isn’t this person an A-level extraordinary?”
Zhang Hongyi solemnly said, “It’s not impossible.”
Gou Rixin genuinely felt a sourness in his heart.
Speaking of it, he is also a proud awakened individual, but what is his awakened ability?
A dog’s nose!
It can’t be used for fighting, and it can’t be used to show off. Does he have to say something like this when flirting with girls: “Watch me perform a little dog searching for things?”
Just kill him.
Just thinking about that scene makes his eyes sore.
Zhao Xiaokui, a delicate and gentle girl, what’s the use of awakening such a violent ability?
This high-attack ability should be given to someone like him, a big-muscle guy!
Damn, fate really throws abilities blindly with its eyes closed.
At this moment, the delicate Zhao Xiaokui is helping Shen Zhifei clean up the mess she made in the kitchen.
She plucked a leaf from the wall, facing Shen Zhifei, with a pleasing smile.
Although she wanted to make Lin Bai and others aware of her awakening through an inadvertent display of extraordinary powers, the kitchen incident was truly unexpected.
How could she be so unhappy with her lunch?
Originally, there was nothing wrong with her method of washing vegetables. She controlled a rotating water ball in the air, washing vegetables like a drum washing machine. She could, of course, directly use the flow of water to remove the dirt from the leaves, but wouldn’t that ruin the show-off effect? So, she casually played with her water ball, even coming up with a way to make money. However, she forgot that her spiritual power was still wandering in S City. This resilient spiritual power had survived for several days and finally got carried away when passing by a normal residential building.
Manipulating the water ball and controlling its rotation was not difficult for Zhao Xiaokui, but this high-precision manipulation required a high demand for her spiritual power. The moment her externalized spiritual power disappeared, Zhao Xiaokui paused, and the water ball in her hand lost control, perfectly illustrating what is called a celestial scatter of vegetables.
Seeing the girl’s pleasing expression, Shen Zhifei couldn’t bring herself to be angry with her.
In the end, she could only wear a black face and directly kick the girl out.
“You go sit on the sofa and behave. Eat whatever you want. Don’t come back in, or your lunch today will be instant noodles!”
Zhao Xiaokui smiled apologetically to the chef, “I was wrong, I’ll be good…”
Shen Zhifei remained unmoved, so she had to leave the kitchen, sitting on the sofa in the living room, behaving like an obedient elementary school student.
Shen Zhifei turned her head, pressed the swollen temple, and continued cooking.
After a while of turning around, Zhao Xiaokui lay down like a salted fish on the sofa, eyes fixed on the TV’s silly variety show, while her thoughts drifted away.
She was certain that there were no traces of extraordinary power fluctuations where her spiritual power disappeared. So, who could directly erase her spiritual power without anyone seeing it?
A more powerful extraordinary individual than her? No, Zhao Xiaokui didn’t think so.
She considered the situation from another perspective. If she discovered spiritual power peeping beyond her residence, what would she do?
Erasing it was a must, but at the same time, even if she didn’t give a warning, she would investigate the source along the path of this spiritual power.
She possessed the innate talent of the mermaid clan, and if someone traced back, she wouldn’t be oblivious.
Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that the other party was even more indifferent than Zhao Xiaokui.
After all, it’s a peaceful world now, where killing is illegal. It’s not the world she once lived in, where might makes right, and having a strong fist is the law.
Perhaps everyone prefers peace, accustomed to taking care of their affairs and turning a blind eye to others’ troubles.
As long as it doesn’t affect oneself, everyone would definitely refrain from taking action.
Another possibility is that there is something in that place, something capable of erasing her spiritual power.
Zhao Xiaokui is more inclined to this possibility.
As to what exactly is wiping away her spiritual power, Zhao Xiaokui is extremely curious. Sitting on the sofa, hugging a cushion, she contemplated for a while. Finally, during the commercial break in the variety show, she decided to release another strand of spiritual power to investigate. After all, it’s just a strand of spiritual power, and she is still under the watchful eyes of the authorities. Even if she somehow provokes someone, she can still use the authority’s backing.
Her spiritual power quickly drifted back to the place it disappeared before—the vicinity of an old residential area.
Even in a developed city like S City, there are still many old-fashioned residential buildings standing like toothpick holders. The residents have been living in these buildings since the last century. The narrow passages between the buildings can barely accommodate a car. Looking up, under the cramped sky, various colorful clothes are hanging on anti-theft windows, and quite a few undergarments.
Zhao Xiaokui focused all her attention on this strand of spiritual power. Outwardly, it seemed like she was lying on the sofa, closing her eyes out of boredom during the commercial break.
No extraordinaries.
She waited for a few minutes, and unlike the last time, she wasn’t attacked right away.
She, like an invisible ghost, moved through the old, antique-like residential buildings, like a gust of wind through hallways, inspecting the anomalies around.
Fortunately, it was noon, and under the broad daylight, the residents of S City still had some decency and were relatively reserved. However, even with that, she encountered a few scenes not suitable for children, involving both men and women. It made her sigh. Young people nowadays are indeed quite passionate.
The most daring one was playing a father-daughter game.
Wait—
Zhao Xiaokui, who had already flown into the air, retreated to the house where the father-daughter game was being played earlier.
On the shoe cabinet at the entrance of this house, there was a small beige bag with a buckle adorned with a gem that shone brightly even in the dim light. At a glance, it made people feel that it was quite valuable.
Zhao Xiaokui had seen this bag in Shen Zhifei’s fashion magazine; it was from a luxury brand’s recently released teenage series for this quarter. One bag was worth six figures, almost equivalent to the down payment for a house.
After circling the small bag, she was certain that this was the bag she recognized.
Would someone who could buy a bag with a down payment for a house live in such a place?
Zhao Xiaokui didn’t believe it.
Although she missed her home in the Qingmu community, could she be unaware of the drawbacks of living in this type of clustered residential building?
Disciplining a child on the first floor, and everyone on the sixth floor could hear it. If a woman wears slightly nicer clothes, there will be gossip when she goes out. Imagine carrying a bag worth six figures.
Dear Lord, do you want to be treated like a national treasure giant panda?
A seemingly concerned but jealous tone could sour you to death.
She returned to the house and noticed that the girl playing the daughter, although looking vacant, seemed like a foolish girl. Her skin was fair, her hair smooth, and her fingers long and delicate – clearly a girl pampered and well-nurtured. The other man in the room, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a scruffy beard, as thin as a stick, had triangular eyes, lewd and sinister, the epitome of a life loser.
Would a girl who could afford a bag worth hundreds of thousands be interested in such a man?
Zhao Xiaokui didn’t buy into his act.
Shen Zhifei came out of the kitchen holding the last dish and found the person who used to eagerly wait for meals, surprisingly still lying on the sofa sleeping today.
She found it a bit strange, walked over, and woke the person up, “It’s time to eat. If you want to sleep, go to bed later.”
With a gentle push, Zhao Xiaokui opened her eyes.
However, there was no sign of sleepiness in those amber-colored eyes, only confusion.
She made a hushing gesture, indicating they could talk later, and then followed Shen Zhifei to have lunch.
Mealtime was still Zhao Xiaokui’s rainbow-like compliments session, and soon, Zhang Hongyi and the others learned from her praises how delicious Shen Zhifei’s cooking was.
Shen Zhifei, accustomed to this routine, remained poker-faced. The compliments entered her left ear and exited the right, only making a mental note when Zhao Xiaokui particularly praised a certain dish.
Despite being not yet thirty, she already felt a faint sense of weariness from raising a daughter.
However, watching Zhao Xiaokui, cheeks bulging, eating like a little squirrel, she felt an extraordinary sense of accomplishment.
In Shen Zhifei’s first twenty-something years of life, she had always followed the rules, like a robot with a predetermined program.
She did what adults thought she should do, whether it was ranking first in exams or studying abroad, without much consideration for her own preferences; most of it was arranged by her parents.
Yet, under these arrangements, she tried to do her best.
Even though everyone considered her as someone else’s child, she rarely felt the joy she was experiencing now, just by watching Zhao Xiaokui eat heartily.
She thought it wasn’t the awakening of her virtuous wife and mother attributes that brought her happiness from giving, but rather because every compliment from Zhao Xiaokui, seeming exaggerated but genuinely heartfelt, was more joyful than the polite and hypocritical praises from others.
Shen Zhifei had something to attend to in the afternoon, and she wouldn’t have come back for lunch originally. Therefore, after finishing the meal, she was preparing to leave.
As she was about to leave, she suddenly said, “How about coming to the company with me? Staying at home all day is not good, even if you might not be used to it. But you should get out more.”
Zhao Xiaokui hugged the doorframe, resting her legs on it. “But I’m just a poor and helpless salted fish. Why force a salted fish like me to go out?!”
Shen Zhifei looked at her silently.
Zhao Xiaokui suddenly realized that her tendency to stay at home might be one of the reasons Shen Zhifei wanted to take her out. However, more importantly, it was probably because of the extraordinary individuals they encountered that morning.
She wanted to say that she wasn’t afraid of them, a group of weaklings couldn’t harm her. However, looking at Shen Zhifei’s determined gaze, a realization suddenly emerged in her heart—
She is protecting me.
She, in the guise of an ordinary person, was attempting to protect her when facing a supernatural force.
Zhao Xiaokui felt an indescribable emotion. Since her grandmother passed away when she was sixteen, it had been a long time since someone had done something like Shen Zhifei did.
Turning away, avoiding Shen Zhifei’s gaze, she awkwardly said, “Fine, fine… I’ll go, but you have to wait for me to change clothes. By the way, can I go to your study and take a book to read at the company?”
Shen Zhifei thought she had finally developed an interest in studying and asked, “What do you want to read? I’ll get it for you.”
Zhao Xiaokui whispered, “…The Count of Monte Cristo.”
She didn’t have that book. She wasn’t interested in classics, and she had read stories like “The Count of Monte Cristo” in the library during her study abroad. She wouldn’t intentionally buy and stock such books in her study.
She suddenly realized that Zhao Xiaokui just wanted an excuse to go to the study.
“I don’t remember where I put that book. Come with me and check it upstairs,” Shen Zhifei smoothly responded.
As soon as they entered the study, Zhao Xiaokui asked, “Do you remember the image those supernatural beings showed you when they came to see you?”
“Wait a moment.”
Without further inquiry, Shen Zhifei pulled out a piece of paper from the printer and quickly sketched the outline of the memory eraser that Zhang Hongyi showed her.
With just a few strokes, she drew an instrument resembling a pipette but with a more delicate and elegant design.
Shen Zhifei even replicated the raised identification number on top.
“Wow, you’re really good at drawing,” Zhao Xiaokui was initially diverted by the drawing, “Did you study art? It looks professional.”
“Professional? Have you seen this thing before?”
Zhao Xiaokui didn’t notice Shen Zhifei’s evasion. In fact, her entire focus was on the drawing that Shen Zhifei had just made.
“It indeed looks a lot like it,” Zhao Xiaokui said, “I think I’ve seen the thing they are looking for.”
With that, she explained to Shen Zhifei about the strange couple she discovered during her spiritual exploration of S City.
“What do you think that thing is for?”
Zhao Xiaokui had a premonition that the abnormal behavior of that woman and the disappearance of her spiritual power was likely related to the device the authorities were seeking.
“Do you think this is the bag you saw?”
After hearing Zhao Xiaokui’s description, Shen Zhifei quickly pulled out a magazine from the cabinet and found the bag she described.
Translator’s corner:
Some terms that might be changing from time to time:
Superhuman and Extraordinary
Huaxia and Hua Country
Please bear with me T^T I am working on my inconsistency but my brain just really automatically skips some terms that’s why some terms are changing every chapter T~T
