Their class soon reached the entrance. For some reason, today's awakening ceremony was a much bigger affair than usual. Many Special Affairs Bureau personnel stood ready at the entrance, holding a number of modified guns.
Those guns had been made to deal with Sequence Users. They were immensely powerful; a single shot could even destroy a building.
Li Chen studied the Special Affairs Bureau personnel and noticed a wisp of hazy black aura floating above each of their heads. Every one of them was a Sequence User.
Li Chen frowned and murmured, "This is strange. It was never this elaborate in previous years. Is a cult attacking today, or are they protecting something?"
Su Zhe tugged his arm and whispered, "Teacher Yu is about to speak. Listen up, or you'll be completely lost when we go in."
Li Chen nodded slightly and looked over.
Teacher Yu, dressed in a suit, looked at them with a serious expression. His tone was calm. "Once the class that went in before you comes out, you'll enter one at a time."
"Once you're inside, someone will take you to the place where you'll awaken. Of course, don't wander off or let your curiosity get the better of you, or the opportunity you've spent more than ten years working and waiting for will be gone for good."
"Also, all students who have already awakened, step forward and go to the back entrance to register and wait. I won't be going in with the rest of you, but I'll wait with them at the back entrance for you to come out."
"May you all awaken successfully!!"
After he finished speaking, the back entrance opened, and a large group of students walked out. Some were excited, some were sad, and some were even smiling through tears.
Li Chen glanced at them, then silently walked into the newly opened black entrance. Blackness filled most of his view, and everything inside was cut off from sight. He could only follow the line in, with the green and red lights on the security gates flashing.
A person in a white mask stood beside each security gate, holding a black device and checking whether anyone was bringing in weapons.
Beep~ beep~ beep~
The sounds of security checks rang out one after another, and a deep voice sounded beside Li Chen's ear.
"Go in. Good luck."
"Keep walking straight ahead. Don't stop."
Each person was separated from the others after entering. In the pitch-black passage, Li Chen followed the man's instructions. Unable to see the path in the dark, he could only keep moving by feel, so he closed his eyes and walked straight ahead.
Before long, he felt a faint aura of pressure, much like the pressure he had felt in that dream, though not as intense.
Suddenly, Li Chen opened his eyes and looked ahead, because his hand had touched something hard.
It was a massive, pitch-black stone, standing upright in the darkness. If Li Chen hadn't touched it, he would almost have run straight into it.
The massive stone was probably what had been giving off the aura of pressure just now.
Li Chen could sense that the pressure felt very familiar. Still, according to what Teacher Yu had explained in class, all he had to do was press his hand against the stone.
He gently pressed his hand against the stone. A faint light began to emanate from it, but quickly faded again. Li Chen didn't let go.
He could no longer hear any sounds from the outside world, and his consciousness had sunk into darkness.
A vague, insubstantial feeling.
Li Chen opened his eyes. Sure enough, he had returned to the place from his dream yesterday.
The seven stairways were still floating there, but things were very different now. Their closed doors were shaking, especially a blood-red one, which trembled violently, as though something wanted to emerge.
Suddenly, a white aura spread out from the door that was already open, calming the shaking doors.
Specks of light shone on the white door in the darkness. Then, at the end stretching into the darkness, an incomparably brilliant light suddenly erupted, illuminating the entire path.
Li Chen was astonished and deeply shaken. It was all too incredible. But he also wondered whether everyone had to come here to become a Sequence User.
He looked at the light flickering deep in the darkness. This time, he could see it clearly: it was a broken throne floating in the void, as if giving off the last of its light.
The aura emanating from the white door seemed to be calling him.
Li Chen lifted his foot and hesitated for a few seconds before stepping onto the snow-white stairway. At that moment, his consciousness was perfectly clear, and he could even feel the pressure on the steps bearing down on his shoulders, trying to crush him completely.
But he understood that if he wanted to become a Sequence User, he might have to walk this path.
As he thought it over, he even guessed that perhaps the farther he walked, the better the ability he would awaken.
And so, in the silence, crisp footsteps rang out, one after another.
Li Chen had to use all his strength to take each step forward.
An unknown amount of time passed...
Large drops of sweat ran down Li Chen's forehead. How many steps had he taken? Perhaps ten, perhaps a hundred.
He had no idea. His legs had long since lost their strength. If not for the faint white aura entering his body and providing him with wisps of strength, he would have fallen already.
But he refused to fall, because he understood that only by awakening a powerful ability would he at least no longer have to sleep in a house where the power went out every day.
Li Chen wanted to drop to one knee on the steps, but a force wouldn't allow him to kneel. He could only strain to keep himself from falling, his eyes full of unwillingness as he gazed up at the broken throne, so distant and yet so close.
He could do no more.
"Is this as far as I can go?" Li Chen struggled to look back at the steps he had climbed, his expression exceedingly complicated.
Even he couldn't understand how he had made it this far, from two steps yesterday to who knew how many now.
Perhaps this was as far as he could go.
His strength had long been exhausted, and the pressure bearing down on his shoulders grew heavier and heavier.
It was as if his surroundings sensed Li Chen's emotions.
Suddenly, an illusory door appeared before him and opened. A milky-white sphere shot through the door and into his body in an instant, and the door immediately closed.
"What is this?"
Li Chen's eyes widened as he felt the power that had appeared in his body. It seemed he had awakened just like that, but what ability had he awakened?
He was a little bewildered.
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness swept through his head. His consciousness began to blur, and everything faded away.
Until, with a bang,
he crashed into the black stone from before. The stone now looked as though it had been washed white, shining with a dazzling white light. A large S was inscribed on it.
But it didn't show what ability he had awakened, and he could no longer hold on. Waves of exhaustion swept through his body.
Even as he fell, Li Chen was still wondering why everyone else was full of energy after awakening, while he felt as though he had been in a fight, with no strength left in his body.
He slowly closed his eyes, knowing there was no danger in passing out here. After all, plenty of Special Affairs Bureau personnel were monitoring the place today.
There were definitely plenty of surveillance devices inside to watch the students and ensure their safety, as well as to guard against dangerous individuals.
After he fell, the stone's light began to fade, and everything seemed to return to the way it had been.
A figure flashed through the darkness and instantly carried Li Chen away from where he lay on the ground.