Beginning

Beginning

Hong Mo yawned, tossed aside his fountain pen, and turned to look out the window. It was September, the school term had just begun, and Hong Mo still had not recovered from the tremendous changes of the past year.

Near the end of last January, close to final exams, Hong Mo had been fortunate enough to witness a spectacular meteor shower.

It had been a once-in-a-century sight. In more than ten years of life, he had only ever seen a meteor shower once—and this one had been particularly grand. It was said that the meteor shower could be seen across the globe. A meteor cluster from the Andromeda Galaxy had passed by Earth, and for unknown reasons, a small portion of it had fallen to the planet.

Apparently, the leaders of every nation had broken out in cold sweats at the time. If that meteor belt had struck Earth directly, modern civilization might have been wiped out. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—ordinary people like Hong Mo knew nothing, so they continued living carefree lives.

Though only a tiny portion of the meteors had fallen to Earth, several countries had still suffered devastating damage.

On the day of the meteor shower, Hong Mo had nearly been struck by a meteor himself. After being rejected for the third time while pursuing a girl, he had gone to sleep in a park in despair. A football-sized meteor had happened to land nearby.

He had never seen what other meteors looked like, but the one he found had truly been beautiful. After impact, its grayish-white stone shell had cracked open, revealing the solid core within. A fist-sized meteor, split into two halves, lay quietly amid gray-white debris.

A girl had discovered the meteor at the same time as Hong Mo. The night was hazy, and Hong Mo had not even been able to make out her appearance clearly.

Since they had found it simultaneously, each took one half. Hong Mo received the silvery-white half, which gave off a faint glow. The girl took the crystal-clear half, transparent as crystal.

It was hard to imagine that two halves which had clearly emerged from the same meteor could look so completely different. Perhaps that was why the solid meteor had split apart.

Wanting to cherish it, Hong Mo had made his half into a pendant and worn it around his neck.

He had thought that would be the end of it, but the changes that followed made Hong Mo realize that things had only just begun.

Not long after obtaining the meteor, Hong Mo discovered that his body was gradually changing, beginning with subtle signs. First, his appetite increased. Within a month, he was eating three times as much as before. Along with his appetite came an increase in strength—he became roughly five times stronger than he had been.

Hong Mo told no one about the changes in his body. Honestly, he was terrified of becoming a lab rat. To keep things secret, he moved off campus. Apart from his usual studies, he spent every day testing and recording the changes in his body.

He had initially thought he was special, until one day when he encountered a woman and learned that he was not the only one.

That woman was Mu Siyu, a second-year senior. Don't ask why Hong Mo knew her. She was the gentle campus belle—she was famous. If you didn't know her, could you even call yourself a man?

Though Hong Mo knew of Mu Siyu, he had never interacted with her. But one day, while getting food in the cafeteria, they were about ten meters apart when a sudden tremor rose in Hong Mo's heart, as though something most important to him was nearby. He turned around, and his gaze met Mu Siyu's.

That backward glance was the wait of a thousand years!

What nonsense. Though neither understood why, both Hong Mo and Mu Siyu realized that the other possessed something extremely important to them.

What happened afterward was complicated. Neither wanted to expose themselves, so they investigated each other openly and in secret, schemed and tested each other—more or less. Fortunately, they eventually figured out what they wanted. Mu Siyu turned out to be the girl who had split the meteor with Hong Mo that night.

So it was not a meeting of kindred hearts. When Hong Mo learned the truth, he regretted it for quite some time.

Mu Siyu's body had changed much like Hong Mo's. Her appetite had not increased by much, but she constantly felt thirsty and wanted to drink water. At first, she drank a glass of water every hour. By now, she absorbed three tons of fresh water every day.

That was right—three tons of fresh water a day. And she did not just drink it. As long as Mu Siyu's skin came into contact with water, she could rapidly absorb it. As for where the water went, only heaven knew.

After comparing their respective changes and considering the inexplicable tremor between them, the two guessed where the cause lay.

The meteor. What other explanation could there be? Especially when the two meteor fragments were brought together and emitted a faint glow, further proving it.

For the sake of observation and research, Mu Siyu moved into Hong Mo's small house.

They were living together!

Yes, living together. Several animals in Hong Mo's class had envied him for ages. Unfortunately, they did not know that Mu Siyu lived with him only for other reasons. Even now, Hong Mo had not so much as held her hand.

After the two began living together, they discovered that having the meteor fragments gathered together had an even greater effect on them both. That was why Mu Siyu never moved out.

Half a year later, Mu Siyu sensed a cold energy flowing through her body and awakened the power of ice. Not long afterward, Hong Mo awakened the power of electricity as well.

Even stranger, as their abilities awakened, the two meteor fragments slowly vanished. Whether they had dissipated or merged into their bodies, neither of them could guess.

However, the powers they had gained did not disappear along with the meteors. Instead, they continued to grow stronger.

Even after gaining superpowers, Hong Mo and Mu Siyu did not act rashly. Fear of becoming lab rats was one reason; another was that they did not know the limits of their abilities.

Just think about it. That meteor shower had been so grand, yet he and Mu Siyu had only obtained one insignificant little meteor from it—and had split it between the two of them.

Thinking of this, Hong Mo became incomparably envious of those countries initially believed to be victims, such as Japan, Pararacruz, Iraq, and others. These countries had initially been considered terribly unlucky, since enormous meteors had fallen into the centers of their bustling cities.

A meteor the size of a fist had caused such tremendous changes in him and Mu Siyu. So what changes would occur in those countries where such enormous meteors had fallen?

After thinking of this, Hong Mo kept an eye on developments at all times. Unfortunately, the world did not seem to have changed at all. There were no superheroes, no people from the future, and no aliens. Could such huge meteors really have been nothing more than decorations? Or were the meteor fragments he and Mu Siyu had obtained truly that special?

Japan was the closest country to China, yet over the past year, there had been no reports of superpowered individuals there either. He had only happened to see a video once, featuring a woman cosplaying Mai Shiranui. Not only was she pretty, but she also had a great figure. Most importantly, she could perform Mai Shiranui's moves.

That was right—Mai Shiranui's moves, especially those that controlled flames. This "Mai Shiranui" had become famous online, though nobody knew what kind of prop she had used to gain the ability to manipulate fire.

Yet Hong Mo was more inclined to believe that the woman had awakened the superpower of "fire." Unfortunately, there was no way to prove it. Hong Mo downloaded the video, and sure enough, within a few days, even information about it could no longer be found online. And Hong Mo never heard anything about Ono Xuhuo again.

Oh, Ono Xuhuo was the Japanese girl who had cosplayed Mai Shiranui. Only the clear, familiar video on his computer reminded Hong Mo that this Ono Xuhuo had truly existed—or perhaps, had existed.

How helpless, Hong Mo suddenly thought.

After that incident, though it had not directly affected Hong Mo, he hid himself even more carefully, terrified that one careless slip would get him caught and turned into a lab rat.

A year had passed, and Hong Mo had become utterly sick of this hidden life.

Though he now possessed strength far beyond that of ordinary people, it was still insignificant compared to a nation. Hong Mo did not believe he was special. The government had surely already grasped information on this matter and was merely waiting for "special" people like him to show themselves, so they could capture them one by one.

He was growing more and more restless!

Hong Mo sighed. He was almost at his limit.

I write novels, not scientific papers. I will try my best to write according to general theories, but there will definitely be plenty of unreasonable parts, so please do not take them too seriously. If you insist on treating this as a scientific research paper, there is nothing I can do. If novels are judged by the strict standards of science, I doubt many could withstand scrutiny.

One final friendly reminder: the beginning of this book is not a power fantasy. The protagonist is an ordinary person, not someone reborn into the past or anything like that, and he does not have any cheats. The early parts may be a little frustrating. But after rich experiences, he will grow.