Hehe, he believed me! He believed me!

"Name?"

"Jiang... Jiang Mian."

"Gender?"

"...Female."

Base City No. 144, West District Public Security Bureau.

Jiang Mian sat in the interrogation room, her hands tucked awkwardly together as she fidgeted in her seat.

The Security Officer conducting the questioning looked up and studied the girl in front of him.

Her skin was fair and rosy, and her features were delicate, though mostly hidden behind a pair of black-framed glasses.

Behind the lenses, her dewy almond eyes were lowered, making her look quite quiet and demure.

Anyone would have taken her for a well-behaved girl—shy and timid, still shaken by what had happened.

"Do you know why we brought you here?"

The Security Officer wore a stern expression. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the cold edge he'd acquired over years on the job.

"I... I know."

Perhaps from nerves, Jiang Mian's voice trembled. "I... shouldn't have gone somewhere like that..."

Just then, the interrogation-room door opened. A young Security Officer in uniform walked in carrying two cups of water and set them down in front of them.

"Thank you..."

Jiang Mian thanked him softly and picked up the paper cup, but didn't drink.

"Have a seat."

The Security Officer across from Jiang Mian pulled out a chair, making room for him.

"Captain He."

The young Security Officer greeted him, then casually adjusted the position of the recorder.

Once seated, he turned to Jiang Mian and said gently:

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Shen Ming, and this is He Yi."

Shen Ming opened the notebook in his hands and nodded to Jiang Mian.

"Miss Jiang, we're about to question you regarding the illegal purchase of controlled medication. Please answer truthfully."

At that, Jiang Mian's heart stirred, and she quietly raised her guard.

She had been in this world for a month now.

Before that, she had been a he—a good young man named Jiang Ming.

But on his way home, he'd taken a fall. Everything had gone black, and when he woke up, he was in this world—and his manhood was gone.

This place... was something like a parallel world, and Jiang Mian corresponded to another version of himself.

The cities in this world were called Base Cities. Tall walls encircled them to keep out the Mist beyond the city and the dangerous creatures lurking within it.

In this world's society, the existence of Awakened was common knowledge.

The best time to awaken was before the age of eighteen, around the final year of high school. But people had to buy their own Awakening Potion.

Thanks to government subsidies, Awakening Potions were expensive, but still within reach for most people.

So plenty of people chose to take a gamble, and Jiang Mian was no exception.

She had scrimped and saved, scraping together enough to buy an Awakening Potion.

Unfortunately, she had no Sequence Potential at all. She was just an ordinary person.

That was, until he became she.

On the night he crossed over, she seemed to have fused with Jiang Mian's soul and completed her "awakening."

Although her Sequence Ability ranked very highly, she didn't dare tell anyone, because...

She hadn't become an Awakened, admired by all. She had become something everyone avoided at all costs... an Aberrant.

Awakening abilities were divided into the Awakening Sequence and the Calamity Sequence, each with five paths and 360 corresponding Sequence Abilities.

What she had awakened was Calamity Sequence 3, the [Cataclysm] Path: [Doom].

An Aberrant's mind and body gradually mutated over time, drawing closer to the Calamities in the Mist.

Whether they wanted to advance or "replenish their nutrients," they had to devour the cores of Calamities—or even the flesh and blood of Awakened.

They were like mentally ill people among the Awakened: extremely unstable and a serious threat to society.

The authorities wouldn't execute them outright, but they kept them under strict control and established special containment facilities.

But what happened to people after they were taken in was anyone's guess. Every so often, the authorities would release footage of their apparently pleasant recuperation.

The first time Jiang Mian saw it, she felt inexplicably horrified.

So she wouldn't tell anyone about it.

But perhaps because her ability was so violently destructive by nature, its mental corruption came on fast and hard.

A week after awakening, she started seeing little people dancing in front of her eyes. As time went by, incomprehensible whispers even began to reach her ears.

After that, her body began to undergo obvious mutations.

Jiang Mian had no choice but to desperately search for information. That was how she learned of a "Suppressor" that could alleviate the symptoms.

However, it was exorbitantly expensive and could only be obtained through special channels. She had no connections and couldn't afford it anyway.

With no other choice, Jiang Mian settled for seeking out weaker counterfeit drugs on the Black Market. That was how she'd ended up here today.

"Tell us, Jiang. You're a student. What were you doing at a Mobile Black Market?"

He Yi spoke, his voice low and carrying a strange pressure.

"I..."

Jiang Mian lowered her head further, calculating how she could talk her way out of this.

Right now... her best weapon was the innocent appearance she seemed to have.

She tried to think of every sad thing that had happened in either of her lives. Only when her eyes grew misty did she finally look up, as if she'd made up her mind.

It was a little embarrassing, but... a man who could bend and stretch was a man who could survive. She could handle acting pitiful.

Jiang Mian glanced at He Yi, shrinking her neck as if his sternness had frightened her. Then she choked out:

"I... I used an Awakening Potion last month, but it didn't work. I... I couldn't accept it..."

The pen in Shen Ming's hand paused. He looked up at the weeping girl, a flicker of sympathy in his eyes.

In this age of Awakened supremacy, how many people pinned all their hopes for the future on their awakening?

But the odds of awakening successfully were only one in twenty. Every year, plenty of students lost their balance after failing to awaken and took extreme measures.

There were always people who clung to false hope, thinking they'd simply been unlucky.

Since the government subsidy was only available once, they'd take the risk of buying unregulated products, all too willing to let someone cheat them out of their money.

"Officer... I just heard people say that these things on the Black Market could... stimulate your potential. I got carried away..."

Jiang Mian was relieved. Good thing she'd "wasted" a little extra money buying another tube of fake medicine; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to keep her lie straight.

As for the counterfeit "Suppressor"... she'd used it as soon as she'd confirmed it worked.

By now, it should have been almost completely metabolized. She'd also bought it through a Scalper, so there was no way to trace it.

She'd looked into it beforehand. None of the Sequence Abilities included anything as outrageous as time manipulation.

Even if such a thing really existed, how could an expert like that show up in a tiny place like Base City No. 144?

"I'm sorry... I didn't know it was a controlled substance. I really didn't..."

She squeezed her eyes, and tears rolled down at just the right moment.

She looked exactly like an ordinary girl who'd hit rock bottom, full of regret and helplessness.

He Yi fell silent for a moment.

Clearly, Jiang Mian's one-two punch had left even an experienced Security Officer like him at a loss.

Shen Ming beside him was no different. Seeing Jiang Mian like this, he couldn't help saying:

"Captain He, I checked her file. She has a good school record and no prior offenses. She bought an Awakening Potion a month ago, but... failed to awaken."

He glanced at Jiang Mian and hesitated for a moment before continuing his report:

"We also shut down that Black Market den. Judging from the materials and account books we found in the warehouse, they mainly made and sold low-quality auxiliary drugs of all kinds."

He Yi listened to Shen Ming's report, tapping his index finger rhythmically against the table.

Clean record, reasonable motive, and her statement matched the evidence. It seemed to be nothing more than one of the usual scams that happened every year.

His expression softened. After exchanging a glance with Shen Ming, he nodded. The meaning was clear: there wasn't much of a problem.

"Ahem."

He Yi cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the interrogation room.

"Jiang Mian, your actions constitute a violation of the law. But since it's your first offense and the circumstances aren't serious, here's how we'll handle it..."

He believed me! He believed me!

Jiang Mian's heart leaped with joy, but her expression—especially her eyes—didn't change.

After all... if you were going to act, you had to see it through.

"You'll receive a warning and education, and we'll confiscate the prohibited goods you purchased in accordance with the law. You must never do this again. Understood?"

"Understood, understood! Thank you, Officer. I'll never do it again!"

Jiang Mian nodded repeatedly, her voice choked with tears.

Seeing her like this, He Yi unconsciously softened his tone.

"Regulations require us to contact your family so they can pick you up and confirm the result of the matter. What's your family's contact information?"

At the mention of family, Jiang Mian stiffened slightly and murmured:

"I... don't have any family left."