Something Warm Went In?!

Jiang Mian lowered her head and buried her face in her knees. Her shoulders trembled now and then as she let out quiet sobs.

The situation was already crystal clear.

In Ye Chenyang's eyes, her disheveled clothes and the faint red marks visible on her skin made her look utterly fragile, as if she would shatter at the slightest touch.

For some reason, an urge to protect her stirred in his heart.

Given what Jiang Mian had been through, perhaps no decent person with any moral backbone could remain unmoved.

Ye Chenyang had spent most of his Previous Life cultivating and fighting, but he had met countless people, including all kinds of villains.

The scene before him was clearly an Elemental Burst brought on by a forced awakening, with the girl driven to the brink by terror and despair.

Natural Awakening... Eye of the Storm...?

The area around them was a complete mess. The marks left by the wind's cutting edges were chaotic and varied in depth, enough to show that the power had been unstable when it erupted.

Jiang Mian had failed to awaken earlier, yet now she had undergone a "Natural Awakening." It wasn't impossible.

Ye Chenyang had seen people awaken naturally after suffering a tremendous shock. Their circumstances had been much like this.

But awakening in this way...

The odds of becoming an Aberrant might rise dramatically. Even if no mutation occurred, she would still suffer immense psychological trauma,

and... her abilities would be extremely unstable at first. Her control would be worse than that of ordinary Awakened, and she could only make up for it through practice.

Li Hao's malice had clearly catalyzed Jiang Mian's awakening.

A spoiled heir, relying on his status as an Awakened and his family's standing to do whatever he pleased, had preyed on a helpless girl...

Ye Chenyang furrowed his brow.

Before he had awakened in his Previous Life, he had also been pushed around by people like that.

So he had always despised men like Li Hao. His current fate was purely his own doing.

However... Jiang Mian always gave him a faint sense of something "off." Along with the stirrings of Eternal Day, it made him recall the details of what had happened earlier, one by one.

In his Previous Life, he had never met Jiang Mian, nor had he seen her name in the official Training Program.

Back then, faced with the threat of the Calamity Sequence, the authorities had tried to funnel resources toward the most promising geniuses and train them together. He had been one of them.

But if Jiang Mian had awakened an impressive Sequence like Eye of the Storm, why hadn't she taken part?

Unfortunately, he had left not long after awakening in his Previous Life, and he hadn't known Jiang Mian either. There was no way for him to find out.

Perhaps after this incident, Jiang Mian had suffered severe psychological trauma, to the point that it affected her ability to use her powers?

Or... had she awakened not Eye of the Storm, but the Calamity Sequence counterpart, Storm?

That couldn't be right, either... If she were an Aberrant, she should have exploded and died after such a violent Elemental Burst.

Ye Chenyang didn't dwell on it for now. There would be plenty of chances to interact with her later.

For now, he needed to calm Jiang Mian down.

If she remained in this state of prolonged eruption, it would surely put a tremendous strain on her.

He took a deep breath. The golden glow around him dimmed a little as he slowed his steps and edged toward the curled-up figure.

"Jiang, you're all right now."

Jiang Mian jerked her head up. Her glasses had fallen off somewhere, revealing most of her face, usually hidden behind them.

Her eyes were brimming with tears. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and tear tracks still streaked her face.

It really is him...

Jiang Mian grumbled inwardly. She had always felt there was something strange about his gaze... She just had no idea what Sequence his ability belonged to.

Could it be some kind of perception ability? If so, that would be trouble...

How should she act to make this convincing?

"Don't come any closer!"

Jiang Mian shrank back as if startled, glaring warily at Ye Chenyang.

At her scream, the wind around them seemed to grow even more frenzied. The already small windless zone suddenly contracted, shrinking even further.

"Stay back! Don't, don't touch me!"

Her voice trembled, her eyes full of panic and fear.

After what just happened, has she become extremely distrustful of any man who comes near her? Or...

Ye Chenyang stopped in his tracks. He saw the golden light reflected in the girl's eyes and wondered if his barrier might be making her uneasy too.

A thought came to him, and he withdrew Flowing Colors, doing his best to avoid causing any further distress.

"Okay. I won't come any closer."

He raised both hands to show he meant no harm.

"Jiang, look carefully. I'm a Security Officer. I'm here to help you. Your teacher is waiting outside."

"You're safe now. No one can hurt you."

After Ye Chenyang dimmed his glow, Jiang Mian seemed to calm down a little.

She huddled in the corner and wiped her tears, but the dust on her hand smeared across her face, leaving her looking wretched and pitiful. Still, she remained on guard.

"Calm down and take a deep breath. Try to feel the wind around you... and let it settle."

Keeping a safe distance, Ye Chenyang tried to soothe her and get her to rein in her ability.

Jiang Mian put on a show of following his advice, focusing on the wind around her as she calculated what to do next.

An Eye of the Storm ability user who had just experienced an "awakening" and triggered an Elemental Storm would probably have reached her limits, both physically and mentally.

And her body was "fragile" to begin with. After burning through so much energy, naturally, she ought to... take a nap.

At the thought, pain appeared on her face. She clutched her chest, her breathing turning ragged.

"I-I can't control them... My head hurts so much... I feel awful..."

The Wind Field around them began to turn unstable, difficult to sustain. It broke apart into scattered wind blades that swept past the nearby shelves, leaving a few shallow scratches.

Clearly, their power had weakened considerably.

Jiang Mian swayed, then fell limply backward.

The turbulent air gradually settled, leaving only dead silence behind.

Ye Chenyang had already stepped forward just before she fainted. He caught her in time, and she felt astonishingly light, as if she had no weight at all.

Only then did he get a clear look at Jiang Mian's face. It was deathly pale, her lips just as bloodless. She looked completely drained.

But... Jiang Mian's brow was still tightly furrowed, as if her mind were still under immense strain.

He reached out toward the side of her neck.

Her pulse was a little slow and very erratic, while the wind's power had been completely spent.

At the same time, Eternal Day seemed to have fallen silent too, as if its warning just now had never happened.

Was her ability the source of the resonance?

Ye Chenyang had already formed a guess. Looking at Jiang Mian's furrowed brow, he instinctively wanted to smooth it out, but then he thought of a better way.

A glimmer of golden light appeared between his fingers. This was the Heart Lamp skill, which he had only learned in the middle of his Previous Life.

Its effect was to stabilize the mind. It was one of the few skills for soothing the mind outside the Soul path.

Ye Chenyang's level was low right now, so he could only use the watered-down version.

However, the moment he pressed that glimmer of golden light against Jiang Mian's brow, she immediately lost her composure.

She felt as if something warm had entered her body, and then...

Jiang Mian let out a piercing shriek.

"What the hell was that?!"