; Ability Awakening, Vector Control

"Ah, bald head!!" Lu Yifang shouted as he sat up abruptly from the bed.

Staring at the familiar objects in the room, it took him a long moment to come to his senses. He glanced at the alarm clock on the table—it was eight in the morning. It seemed that after taking the medicine yesterday, he had slept for an entire day.

He took a deep breath. The tightness in his chest was gone. Though he hadn't checked his temperature, the heat and discomfort had vanished. He felt great now. Clearly, the fever had broken.

Stretching lazily, Lu Yifang wore a look of pure satisfaction. "It feels so good to recover. I'm refreshed and clear-headed, like the whole world is different... Huh? Are my eyes playing tricks on me? It really does seem different."

Lu Yifang's expression turned puzzled. Many things in his field of vision had indeed changed. To put it plainly, the world seemed to have gained an extra layer of white lines with arrows. Some were thick, some thin; some clung to objects, some existed within them; some moved at high speed, others were relatively still.

And most importantly, these white lines with arrows were everywhere!

"What the hell is this?" Lu Yifang rubbed his eyes, only to find that after closing them, the strange phenomenon didn't disappear—it became even clearer.

This wasn't something he saw; it appeared directly in his mind, or rather, an image perceived by senses beyond his sight. A picture formed in Lu Yifang's brain. At first glance, it looked like a pencil sketch of the entire room, but upon closer inspection, it felt slightly off.

And most importantly, this pattern of white lines could expand or contract. It could spread across the whole room or focus on a single point. For example, if he concentrated on one finger, he could see more and finer lines.

Lu Yifang instinctively looked at his hand and pressed his finger against the wooden headboard. The lines emanating from his fingertip immediately split into many small arrowed lines, shooting off in all directions.

Beneath his fingertip, a line as thick as his finger pressed back against it. Its direction was opposite to the force of his pressing finger, and it was precisely this that resisted his push.

Seeing this, Lu Yifang subconsciously wanted to change the direction of the white line. The moment this thought arose, the white line blocking his finger actually shifted under the influence of his will.

The arrow on this white line changed from upward to downward. As the line's movement direction altered, Lu Yifang suddenly felt his finger loosen. The resistance he had felt at his fingertip was completely gone.

Crack!

A crisp sound of wood splitting came. When Lu Yifang opened his eyes, he found his finger had pressed a deep dent into the wooden headboard.

"What's going on?" Lu Yifang felt a bit dazed.

Just as he was about to try again, the door suddenly opened, and an elderly blonde woman walked in.

"Yifang, my poor child, has your fever gone down?" The blonde woman approached Lu Yifang, gently pressing her forehead to his, speaking with concern.

"Ms. Emma, I feel fine now. I've fully recovered," Lu Yifang said with a smile.

No longer sensing any sign of fever on Lu Yifang's forehead, Ms. Emma studied his complexion for a moment before letting out a relieved breath. "Thank God. You're okay—that's wonderful."

"It's mealtime now. Get up and wash up. I think you must be hungry too," Ms. Emma said, patting Lu Yifang.

"I know. Go ahead and handle your work," Lu Yifang nodded. Having slept the entire day yesterday, now that Ms. Emma had reminded him, he felt his stomach churning with hunger.

Ms. Emma nodded. As the director of the orphanage, she was indeed quite busy. But just as she was about to leave the room, she seemed to remember something and turned back with a serious instruction.

"Oh, and remember to eat a balanced diet!"

Seeing Lu Yifang nod, Ms. Emma finally left his room reassured.

Driven by hunger, Lu Yifang quickly got up, washed, and dressed. Though he knew something had changed with his body, he was starving to death right now. He'd deal with that after eating.

Five minutes later, Lu Yifang arrived at the orphanage cafeteria. After getting his food, he walked a few steps and spotted a familiar brown-haired girl among a group of teenagers ranging from a few years old to their teens.

"Hey, can I sit here?" Without waiting for the girl to respond, Lu Yifang had already taken a seat across from her as if they were old friends.

The girl showed no displeasure at the sudden appearance of the young man in front of her, only a hint of surprise on her face. "You're better already?"

The only girl in the orphanage familiar enough with Lu Yifang to be on such terms was Katie.

"Of course. I feel great now—good enough to eat a whole cow," Lu Yifang said with a smile.

Katie ignored his joke and turned her gaze to the television. She wasn't a talkative girl; in fact, she was somewhat withdrawn. If not for her reclusive nature, she wouldn't have stayed in the orphanage until sixteen without anyone willing to adopt her.

Lu Yifang followed her gaze to the TV, where the news was playing.

"This station reports: Recently, America's largest military contractor, Stark Industries' leader Tony Stark, has been selling weapons in the Middle East. Reports indicate the weapons sold include large-scale destructive arms like the Jericho Missile. Some anti-war activists believe selling such weapons is highly immoral and are holding protests in front of the Stark Industries building.

Continuing: Next week, a summit on world finance will be held on Manhattan Island, where world leaders will gather to discuss this year's economic development.

Next report: The famous anti-mutant crusader Senator Kelly is actively lobbying the government to fully implement the Mutant Registration Act. He claims that to protect the freedom and safety of the American people, all mutants must be identified and separated from ordinary humans. Some believe that enforcing the Mutant Registration Act won't solve the problem but will instead intensify the conflict between ordinary people and mutants..."

"Tony Stark, mutants." Lu Yifang was no stranger to these two terms.

Before he entered the orphanage, when his parents in this world were still alive, he had already known that he had transmigrated into the Marvel world, becoming an ordinary New York resident in it.

"I've always thought being a mutant wouldn't be so bad," Katie's voice drew Lu Yifang's attention.

"Mutants are way stronger than ordinary people. Those idiots hate mutants just because they're jealous and afraid of their superpowers. They say mutants usually awaken during adolescence. If I ever awaken one day, I'd be more than happy to," Katie said, chewing on bread, as if speaking to Lu Yifang or just muttering to herself.

"Mutants, superpowers." Lu Yifang chewed on these words, seemingly deep in thought. At the same time, his hand unconsciously pressed against the corner of the table.

The chairs in the cafeteria were all iron, undeniably hard. But when Lu Yifang noticed that the direction of the white line's arrow pressing against his finger had changed, he left a clear fingerprint on the table's edge.

"What's wrong?" Katie looked at Lu Yifang curiously, noticing his expression seemed off.

"I'm fine. Actually, I'm full," Lu Yifang said, forcing a smile, and hurried out of the cafeteria.

His mind was a mess, but he managed to sort out some thoughts. Clearly, he hadn't just recovered from the fever—he had awakened an ability. He had become a mutant.

As for his power, Lu Yifang had some vague guesses but didn't jump to conclusions. He first returned to his room, carefully locked the door, and rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a football from under the bed.

In Lu Yifang's vision, he saw many lines around the football, most with arrows pointing downward. So, he controlled the lines, changing all the downward arrows to upward.

Bang!

The moment his mind moved and successfully altered the arrow directions, the football shot out of his hand, flying straight up and hitting the ceiling.

In Lu Yifang's vision, the modified lines merged and canceled out with others. Most of the arrows around the football quickly reverted to pointing downward.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The football bounced back onto the ground, hopping a few times in front of Lu Yifang.

But Lu Yifang paid it no mind. He seemed to be spacing out, yet inside his heart, a storm was already raging—he had guessed what his ability was.

Memories buried deep in his brain surfaced. It was an anime he had watched before his transmigration; the specific plot was already blurry, but he still remembered the ability of a superpowered character codenamed Accelerator from that show.

Vector Control—the power to manipulate and redirect the direction of any force using his body. And the scene he saw in his mind was actually a real-world representation of energy in motion.

Lu Yifang had become a Mutant, a Mutant with the ability of Vector Control.