A Bucket of Instant Noodles' Fate

"What a cold, dense fog."

Inside the Ability Institute, there was no rain, only a dense fog with visibility less than ten meters. The temperature in September was surprisingly less than 20℃. Fortunately, Yu Jing was fully covered in a hooded sweatshirt, his hands stuffed into his pockets to ward off the chill.

"What was that?"

As Yu Jing advanced along the road to his right, guided by the signs, he felt as if countless eyes were watching him from within the thick white mist surrounding his body, making him deeply uneasy.

The longer he walked, the more pronounced this feeling became.

"From the moment you stepped into this Ability Institute, death has been lurking around you. Don't pay attention to your surroundings; just keep walking towards your destination."

Just then, a voice came from beside Yu Jing. Yu Xiaoxiao, who was half a head shorter than him, passed by. She offered a brief reminder, much like she had warned Yu Jing not to choose that Shattered Mirror during the test, and then walked ahead alone.

"Thank you."

Yu Xiaoxiao was perhaps the only person Yu Jing knew in this Ability Institute besides Special Commissioner Liang. However, since she didn't want to interact with him, Yu Jing wouldn't force it, even though Special Commissioner Liang had mentioned it beforehand.

No longer bothered by the 'observers' in the surrounding mist, Yu Jing walked straight towards the new student registration area.

Before long, a medium-sized abandoned building, covering about two thousand square meters, appeared before him. As Yu Jing pushed open the somewhat dilapidated main doors with both hands, the scene inside finally began to resemble the start of a school year.

As Yu Jing's gaze swept across the area, he saw that approximately 300 people were gathered in the current abandoned and dilapidated building. However, he didn't see any registration points set up by the various departments. Instead, a cylindrical metal instrument stood in the center of the building.

Most of the new students here were leaning against the walls or finding any empty spot to rest. These resting disciples were likely preparing in advance for the physical training that was scheduled to begin early that morning. Some others were wandering around, trying to talk to other newcomers, seemingly to form teams or for some other purpose.

Furthermore, among the new students present, not all of them were nineteen-year-old graduates from the Advanced Potential Institute like Yu Jing. The general age range was between fifteen and thirty years old, with a small number being over thirty.

"Excuse me, where is the new student registration?"

When Yu Jing asked a burly young man in his twenties, who was walking towards him, about the registration point, the newcomer sized up Yu Jing, who was a little over 1.7 meters tall and quite thin. However, upon seeing the Research Institute ID card hanging around Yu Jing's neck, he immediately asked with some interest:

"You're a staff member at the Research Institute, so you should have some enhanced abilities, right? Are you interested in joining my team during the physical training? That way, our chances of survival will be a little higher. My name is Jiang Pengyu, a newcomer from the Physical Training Academy."

Yu Jing currently had no intention of forming an alliance with anyone. After all, there were still ten hours left. He planned to consider forming a team with others only after he had a clear understanding of the current situation. Moreover, observing the man's facial expressions, Yu Jing suspected he had ulterior motives.

"Sorry, I don't intend to team up right now."

"No problem, you can contact me anytime before midnight. As for the new student registration you mentioned, you just need to insert your point card into the central instrument to activate it. Feel free to ask me if you have any other questions."

This newcomer from the Physical Training Academy, named Jiang Pengyu, was quite smooth in his dealings and was doing Yu Jing a favor.

"Thank you."

Yu Jing pulled down his hood to make himself inconspicuous and walked towards the center. As Jiang Pengyu had said, he inserted his credit card into the slot at the top of the instrument. In just one second, the card was ejected from the inside.

However, as Yu Jing took back his card, a piece of information was transmitted into his brain through the card.

"Gene Academy Phase One Disciple, Level 2139 - Yu Jing, registration successful. Welcome to Dihua Ability Institute. Your point card's internal storage space is now activated, capable of holding three cubic meters of items. You can upgrade the storage capacity by using points in the future. There are currently 532 people who have not yet registered. The system will shut down completely by 23:00."

As the system voice ended, Yu Jing also noticed a student ID number, a string of numerical codes, had appeared on the back of his point card: 2139-3220-0213.

"Storage space?"

Yu Jing didn't quite understand what it meant or how to operate it, so he temporarily put aside this feature of the point card.

"It seems that detailed information about the physical training will be provided after 23:00 today or after all new students have successfully registered. During this time, I'll try to gather some intelligence. If I don't get any news, I'll rest for a while and prepare for the physical training that Special Commissioner Liang emphasized so seriously."

After putting away his academic card, Yu Jing scanned his surroundings. His gaze quickly fell upon Yu Xiaoxiao, who was leaning motionlessly against a corner, alone. What was unusual was that no disciples were approaching within a five-meter radius of Yu Xiaoxiao's corner.

"Yu Xiaoxiao's background seems to make others fearful. Should I try to contact her? If the physical training takes place at night, the plant within my arm cannot perform photosynthesis, and that would be the most dangerous time."

—During the physical training, try to stay with the little girl from the Yu family. That way, your chances of survival will be much higher—

Special Commissioner Liang's reminder echoed in Yu Jing's mind. After some thought, he finally moved towards Yu Xiaoxiao's location. However, during this process, Yu Jing's peripheral vision caught many people casting unusual glances his way.

Yu Xiaoxiao, who had been resting with her eyes closed against the corner, slid a sharp blade from her fingertips behind her back as someone approached.

However, upon opening her eyes and seeing Yu Jing, she immediately retracted the blade clamped between her fingers into her sleeve and muttered softly, "Still can't judge accurately by scent..."

"Can I stay here?"

Yu Jing was not good at conversation to begin with, and he felt a little shy in front of the delicate and cute Yu Xiaoxiao.

Yu Xiaoxiao simply nodded slightly. Yu Jing immediately placed his suitcase to the side, maintaining a distance of about thirty centimeters between them.

"My mother doesn't allow me to interact with you much, but you're different from others. You're a good person," Yu Xiaoxiao suddenly said softly beside him, audible only to Yu Jing.

"It's okay, hehe."

Yu Jing didn't know how to respond to Yu Xiaoxiao's statement and was inexplicably given a "good person" card.

"...Um, did you bring anything to eat? Mom doesn't allow me to eat, but I'm really hungry," Yu Xiaoxiao asked somewhat shyly in a low voice.

"Uh..." Yu Jing was stunned for a moment and noticed something. Both of their previous interactions seemed to be related to food. "I have some instant noodles with me. Do you want some?"

Just in case, Yu Jing had brought a few buckets of instant noodles in his suitcase.

"Instant noodles? What are those?" Yu Xiaoxiao seemed to hear the word for the first time, her curious expression quite endearing.