Originally, Jiang Mian's abnormal traits weren't very obvious. As long as she took care to conceal them, she was no different from an ordinary person.
But now...
If someone like Wang Chen awakened an ability that specifically enhanced the five senses, they could easily discover that she was different from ordinary people.
Was she going to have to come up with a heart condition, too?
At school, the school doctor and Teacher Lin had already jumped to the conclusion that there was something wrong with her heart. She'd have to maintain that facade.
After all, the pain had been far too intense just now. She definitely couldn't get away with claiming it was palpitations caused by "not getting enough rest."
"Let's leave it at that for now... At least that's what the homeroom teacher believes, and I don't have to go to school, either."
Jiang Mian sighed and lay down.
Once you told one lie, you had to tell more to cover it up. Right now, she just hoped she'd graduate soon and, while she was at it, move somewhere else to live...
At least she had time now to get familiar with the city and prepare for "hunting." At the same time, she'd have to find a way to earn money to support herself...
There ought to be some weak Calamities hiding in the city. After all, Mist was everywhere, and there were bound to be gaps in the city wall's defenses.
Come to think of it, there was a job that seemed like a pretty good fit?
The next day.
"Hello? Food delivery!"
In a High-end Residential Area in South City, Jiang Mian straightened her mask and knocked on the door of an apartment on the fifteenth floor.
During the month since she'd arrived in this world, she'd already done this job on and off while getting a feel for West City.
Now she was just returning to her old line of work in a different place.
Calamities craved the flesh and blood of Awakened, but they wouldn't turn down ordinary people, either. Maybe to them, it was like a little appetizer before the main course?
Factories were everywhere in West City. Although the population was dense, it was also a mixed bag.
Ordinary people, thugs, Awakened... You could find all kinds there. The Awakened in the gangs were the main problem; even the Security Officers didn't want to provoke them lightly.
For certain Low Sequence Calamities, the place was both difficult to hunt in and difficult to hide in—not an ideal place to make a lair.
Every time Jiang Mian went out, she could feel plenty of unfriendly eyes on her.
Although her physical abilities were leagues beyond what they'd been before, if she ran into a low-tier Awakened—or a van full of thugs—she'd definitely have to use [Ignite] to get away.
That would increase the risk of exposing herself.
So she'd chosen the relatively wealthy area of South City. Maybe there'd be more opportunities here?
"Tsk."
Jiang Mian suppressed her irritation. The frequency really was higher here than in West City.
She'd already made a little pocket money, and even managed to treat herself to an extra meal,
but she still hadn't seen a single Calamity, and the burden on her core was growing heavier by the day.
Should she consider looking in another direction?
She'd heard from some fellow delivery riders that the city's "Special Materials Processing Bureau" seemed to be hiring.
At first, lots of people had wanted to give it a try. After all, it was supposedly the easiest place to get a formal position, and the pay was good. You just had to be brave.
Then a lot of people found out only after applying that the jobs were outsourced, and temporary, too.
Not only was their take-home pay slashed, they didn't get any of the benefits they were supposed to, and they had more work than the regular employees. They were basically going there to be beasts of burden.
But Jiang Mian didn't mind. After all... the "special materials" they handled were corpses.
Simply put, this "Special Affairs Bureau" served a function similar to that of the crematorium in her Previous Life. Its main duty was to cremate all kinds of corpses in one place:
including city residents, those killed in battle outside the city, and all the Mist Creatures and Calamity remains that had been slain.
She just didn't know if her current circumstances would allow her to get in. What if they saw what she looked like and rejected her on the spot?
As she pondered the matter, the sound of a door clicking open drew her attention back.
The door opened a crack, and a woman in a bathrobe with slightly disheveled hair peered out.
Her cheeks were still flushed. Apparently annoyed at being disturbed, she asked impatiently:
"What do you want?"
Jiang Mian lifted the bag in her hand and held it out.
"Your delivery. Your milk tea."
The woman glanced at the bag and the note on the order, and her brows immediately furrowed.
"Milk tea? I didn't order any! You've got the wrong place!"
Before she could finish, she pulled her head back and started to close the door.
"Who is it?"
Jiang Mian heard a deep male voice from inside.
"The delivery. They brought it to the wrong place."
It was the woman's voice. She sounded a little nervous.
"Oh~"
Jiang Mian got it in a flash. So Fei Yangyang had ordered it. Looked like she'd get an extra meal after all. Milk tea was pretty expensive in this world—a rare treat.
But the moment the door opened, she seemed to have caught a whiff of something unusual, something like... stinky tofu?
The corner of her mouth lifted as wisps of invisible, scorching power seeped through the crack in the door and flowed into the room.
"Heh heh, finally... found you..."
Inside the room.
The man impatiently pulled the woman into his arms.
He glanced toward the door. An unusually sweet scent seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
One of my kind...
He'd deal with what this sweet little fellow wanted later.
He really wanted to eat her, but the "skin" he was wearing was already at the end of its lifespan. He'd better change into a new one first and, while he was at it... have a little taste.
"Oh, you're so impatient~"
The woman tapped his chest and undid a button at her neckline.
The man's breathing suddenly grew ragged. His hands grew a little rougher, drawing a strange sound from the woman as her gaze grew hazier.
She didn't notice the nearly imperceptible gleam in the man's eyes. It wasn't lust, but... hunger.
Just as the two grew more intimate and were about to take things further, the man suddenly grunted. He let go of the woman and began clawing uncontrollably at the skin on his chest.
"A Wei? What's wrong?! Fire... you're on fire?!"
The woman looked confused at first, but when Orange-golden flame suddenly burst from the man's chest, she was scared out of her wits.
In a panic, she tried to find something to beat it out with, only to discover that the strange flames couldn't be extinguished.
It took no more than ten seconds for the man to go from a whole person to nothing but a charred black human skin.
Only then did the woman react. Trembling, she picked up the phone in her hand.
"Hello... Public Security Bureau?"
Outside the door, the dark gold in Jiang Mian's eyes gradually faded. As she felt the feedback her skill gave her,
she sipped her milk tea while waiting for the elevator and judged:
"Three-tenths full."
Her [Ignite] could affect any target within ten meters.
Calamities normally stayed hidden from one another, making it impossible to sense each other's presence.
But as soon as she used her ability, she could tell whether someone was a Calamity, so she could sense them with ease.
At First Order, most Awakened still had the reach of a stubby little arm. Her range was already considered very large, and since her ability activated instantly, she was practically invincible among those of the same order.
It really was pretty good, wasn't it?
She took back her earlier assessment. Her ability to absorb power from a distance was just like gaining experience points in a game: she got a reward as soon as she made a kill. It couldn't be more convenient.
The thing in the room was probably Skin Painter, Calamity Sequence 97.
They weren't good at direct combat, but their abilities were extremely uncanny.
Through intimate contact, they could read and copy their target's memories, then eventually replace them, slipping into the victim's "skin."
When she first saw the woman, Jiang Mian had already suspected as much.
Only when the Calamity started using its ability had she confirmed it and activated [Ignite].
With a ding, the elevator arrived on the first floor.
She'd finally made a kill. Jiang Mian's mood had clearly improved, and she stepped out of the elevator with a spring in her step.
The woman inside had probably already called the police. Jiang Mian wasn't worried about coming under suspicion, because...
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