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The living room fell into a dead silence.

The stout aunt's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg, the thin aunt's sunflower seeds dropped to the floor without her even noticing, and the girl in the corner who had been glued to her phone looked up, her eyes wide as saucers.

"H-how much?" The stout aunt's voice cracked.

Song Chen repeated, "2.2. I just broke through a few days ago."

The thin aunt muttered, "2.2... Isn't that... almost enough for the cutoff of a key university?"

Li Hao suddenly spoke up, his voice tinged with awe, "The requirement for key universities is 1.5. He's already surpassed it. With this score, Cousin is a lock for a key university."

Song Chen continued, "That's not all. I've also awakened an ability."

Another dead silence, followed by an explosion of noise.

"An ability!"

"What kind of ability?"

"Good heavens, Xiuying, your son awakened an ability?!"

Li Xiuying's eyes crinkled into slits as she smiled, though she said, "Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all. Just good luck, he awakened a Lightning Ability..."

The stout aunt nearly jumped up. "Lightning Ability? That's the strongest among offensive abilities! Xiuying, your family's ancestral graves must be smoking with good fortune."

"Little Chen, hurry, let your aunt see. What does the lightning look like?"

Song Chen raised his hand and focused his mind.

"Zzzzt..."

A bolt of electricity as thick as a thumb darted from his fingertips, exploding into a tiny spark in the air with a crackling sound.

The stout aunt recoiled in fright, then immediately leaned back in, her eyes gleaming.

"It really is lightning! I saw the Lightning Ability with my own eyes!"

The thin aunt grabbed Li Xiuying's hand, incoherent with excitement. "Xiuying, you're going to live a life of luxury from now on! Your son is a lock for a key university and he's awakened an ability. He'll be at least a Tier 2 martial artist in the future, maybe even a retainer at the Garrison Command."

Li Xiuying couldn't stop grinning, though she remained humble. "Oh, not at all, just good luck..."

Song Chen withdrew his hand and glanced at his mother calmly. Despite her words about luck, her face clearly read, "My son is the best in the world."

He suddenly felt like laughing. For eighteen years, he had never seen his mother this happy.

The stout aunt suddenly lowered her voice and leaned in mysteriously. "Little Chen, you're eighteen this year, right? Do you have a partner?"

Song Chen was stunned.

"N-no..."

The stout aunt slapped her thigh. "Perfect! Let me tell you, my niece is seventeen this year, and she's such a bright, lovely girl. Her blood-qi value is 0.9. She's a grade below you and also studies at the Third High. Shall I arrange for you two to meet?"

The thin aunt leaned in as well. "That's right, my niece is also great. Eighteen, pretty, and gentle. Her blood-qi is a bit low, 0.5, so she might be a bit of a mismatch for Little Chen..."

The stout aunt immediately retorted, "Your niece won't do. 0.5 with a 2.2? The gap is too big!"

"What's wrong with 0.5? My niece is pretty."

"Can beauty put food on the table? Strength is the only thing that matters."

The two aunts went back and forth, looking like they were about to start a fight.

Song Chen felt a headache coming on. He stood up. "Um... I'm heading out for a bit."

Li Xiuying was startled. "Where to?"

Song Chen made up a random excuse. "My teacher messaged me. I need to go see him."

He recited the reason he had prepared long ago.

"Oh, you child, you just got back and you're leaving again..."

"Go on, go on. Don't keep your teacher waiting."

Although Li Xiuying didn't like her son leaving for so long, she didn't press the matter once she heard it was for his teacher.

In her heart, this non-existent teacher was her son's great benefactor, and a benefactor to their whole family as well.

Song Chen fled the house, the stout aunt's voice trailing behind him: "That boy is truly promising..."

Followed by Li Xiuying's triumphant laughter: "Of course, he's my son..."

Song Chen stood in the stairwell and took a deep breath. He could still hear his mother boasting. Since she enjoyed it, let her boast. After eighteen years, it was time for her to be happy for once.

As for the matchmaking... and the risk of being exposed... he would deal with that later. He couldn't worry about it now.

Song Chen walked out of the building and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to head toward the city wall, his peripheral vision caught a figure.

The man was standing at the entrance of the alley across from the building, wearing a dusty jacket with his hat pulled low. He was peeking toward Song Chen's building, holding a phone as if he were filming something.

Song Chen's gaze swept over, and the man happened to turn his head, locking eyes with him. In an instant, the man's expression changed—like a mouse seeing a cat. He jerked his head back and turned to run.

Song Chen paused. He had seen the face clearly; it looked familiar. It was one of Zhao Wei's lackeys. What was his name again... Liu San?

No, was it Liu Si? Regardless, he was one of the thugs Zhao Wei kept around, often loitering at the school gate to run errands and deliver messages for him.

Song Chen's expression darkened. Zhao Wei's lackey, skulking around his apartment building? What was he filming? Who was he tailing?

A chill rose from the bottom of his heart. He thought of his parents at home; they had just taken the blood-qi potion and their bodies hadn't fully recovered yet. If that bastard Zhao Wei wanted revenge...

"Stop right there!"

Song Chen took off in pursuit.

The man ran incredibly fast, clearly familiar with the terrain in this area. He slipped into the alleyway like a loach, twisting and turning, and vanished into the complex network of lanes in the blink of an eye.

But Song Chen was faster. A blood-qi value of 2.2 meant he no longer had to rely solely on technique to compensate for a lack of strength; he truly possessed the speed of a martial artist.

He charged into the alley and swept his gaze around. To the left was a dead end, to the right led to the vegetable market, and straight ahead was a straight alley where he could see the man's back flashing by.

Song Chen gave chase, the distance between them shrinking rapidly.

The man glanced back, his face turning deathly pale, and he ran even faster. He shoved aside a trash can blocking his path, knocked over a stack of cardboard boxes by the roadside, and sprinted forward frantically.

Song Chen pursued relentlessly, but he didn't rush to catch up.

During the Level 1 alert period, there were many soldiers patrolling the streets and surveillance cameras everywhere. He couldn't make a move on the main street, or he would certainly be arrested.

He needed a place with no one around—a place without surveillance and without witnesses.

The man ahead clearly didn't realize this. He kept choosing small paths and ducking into remote areas, trying to shake Song Chen off, unaware that this was exactly what Song Chen wanted.

The two of them, one chasing and one fleeing, wove through the alleys of the slums.

Five minutes later, the man charged into a dead-end alley. By the time he realized there was a wall in front of him, it was already too late.

He slammed on the brakes, turned around, pressed his back against the wall, and gasped for air.

"Don't... don't come any closer..."

Song Chen walked slowly into the alley. It was very narrow, flanked by the walls of dilapidated buildings with no windows. Overhead, a mess of tangled wires blocked out most of the sunlight, and the ground was piled with trash that emitted a foul stench.

No surveillance, no passersby—the perfect place.

Song Chen stopped and looked at the man before him. Up close, he recognized him. It was indeed one of Zhao Wei's men, a guy named Liu Si, in his early twenties, a small-time thug who hung around the entrance of Third Martial Arts High School all day, running errands, buying cigarettes, and fetching water for Zhao Wei.