New and Old

New and Old

It sounded like the Federation already had a mature system in place for dealing with superhumans.

That made sense. Although the black mist had only appeared a little over a month ago, superhumans had existed for more than a year.

Besides, the Federation's emergency response capabilities could not be so poor that they still had no reasonably sound solution after more than a month.

Still, Xu Zhi was quite curious about how the outside world had changed. Following behind the three of them, she asked curiously, "What are you doing? Did you evacuate all the ordinary people here? What happened here? Are you government officials?"

Her questions came one after another, making the "delinquent" driving the car's head ache. The little girl sitting beside Xu Zhi, on the other hand, answered enthusiastically, "How do you not know anything?"

"We can't tell you what we do, but we are indeed an official organization. You just need to know that we're very capable!"

When the little girl said that, the boy driving let out a snort of laughter, but said nothing else.

"The people here were indeed evacuated, but that happened yesterday. A mutant species appeared in this area."

"Huh? Did you just defeat the mutant species?" Xu Zhi looked at her in surprise.

A trace of embarrassment appeared on the little girl's face. "Hehe, not exactly. But it has something to do with that. Anyway, stop asking. You're not involved, so I can't reveal too much to you!"

"Still, if there's nothing wrong with your attribute during registration, someone will probably recruit you. If you want to join an official organization, you can consider us first."

"The work is only a little dangerous, and the benefits are pretty good. It gets busy sometimes, but it's much more comfortable than those more dangerous teams. It's very suitable for newcomers."

As she spoke, the little girl began trying to tempt Xu Zhi. The delinquent driving the car called out her name helplessly, "Orange, she might not want to join. Get to the point."

But before the little girl could speak, Xu Zhi asked first, "What do you mean, nothing wrong with my attribute?"

The little girl looked surprised again upon hearing that, then seemed to recall something and showed a hint of understanding.

"You don't know yet? Superhumans in the past didn't have attributes, but after the black mist appeared, all new superhumans possessed attributes. Attributes are very important."

Xu Zhi asked, "Then how were attributes discovered?"

The little girl blinked. "There are lots of people in the Federation, and lots of superhumans too. Especially now, when huge numbers of superhumans emerge almost every day, each with different abilities. Some people have abilities similar to omniscience, or perhaps precognition. Of course, their abilities aren't that absurd, but they're somewhat related."

"On top of that, the Federation has invested a great deal into researching new supernatural abilities. In short, finding out attributes isn't difficult."

"Superhuman attributes aren't a secret."

How nice, Xu Zhi sighed inwardly. The superhumans in Cloud City would likely have to pay a great price to learn something that people outside could discover so easily.

"What attributes are there?" Xu Zhi asked.

The little girl smiled. "There'll be an informational booklet when we get there. You'll know once you read it. Let me tell you the more important things first."

To them, this was not even something worth specifically mentioning.

"The Federation has yet to create an instrument capable of detecting superhuman attributes. Usually, new superhumans' attributes are determined by superhumans in local departments who possess attribute-detection abilities. Of course, there are also some verification procedures to ensure there are no mistakes. None of them are dangerous, so don't worry."

"Unless you're someone with a certain attribute. When did you awaken your supernatural ability? After awakening, have you felt headaches, restless emotions, an urge to do something without knowing what, or a tendency to get angry easily?"

Listening to that string of descriptions, Xu Zhi already had her answer. She shook her head. "No."

She wanted to see what attribute this Spirit Vessel would be detected as.

People outside seemed wary of [Cup] as well. Had they discovered something too?

The little girl visibly relaxed. "Then there shouldn't be a problem."

"Also, besides official organizations, there are quite a few civilian groups. Generally, as long as they don't cause trouble, the authorities don't really mind such organizations existing, so long as they don't endanger society or turn into cults."

When she said the word "cults," the little girl's tone grew slightly heavier.

Xu Zhi nodded and asked again, "Are the new superhumans powerful? How do they compare with the old ones?"

At that question, a hint of embarrassment appeared on the little girl's face. She glanced at the silent man in his thirties, and only spoke after he nodded.

"If they've only just awakened, they definitely aren't as powerful as the old superhumans."

"After all, old superhumans possessed supernatural abilities they could actively use the moment they awakened. But nearly all new superhumans have no supernatural abilities they can actively use in the early stages of awakening. They also differ very little from ordinary people, except in one subtle respect."

Oh, so everyone was like this.

"So new superhumans are weaker than the old ones?" Xu Zhi deliberately reduced it to a binary.

"Not exactly!" the little girl hurriedly denied. "They're weaker at first, but their growth potential is different. You'll understand later."

She said no more, but Xu Zhi already understood. New superhumans were at a slight disadvantage in the early stages of awakening, but they had tremendous growth potential. The old superhumans, meanwhile, had insufficient upper limits. One day, the later generation would inevitably surpass the old superhumans. If there was any difference between the old superhumans and the current ones—

The greatest difference was: attributes.

And the reason the little girl had looked at the man was likely because he was one of those old superhumans "without growth potential."

Xu Zhi could not help becoming suspicious of the recruitment she had mentioned. If the department they belonged to was truly that good, why would they recruit a superhuman with no growth potential, someone destined to be abandoned by the times?

Moreover, that man's supernatural ability seemed to be a barrier, one that could only stop ordinary people.

So weak.

Was she trying to scam me?

The thought flashed through Xu Zhi's mind.

As the two chatted, the car arrived at its destination.

It was a building Xu Zhi had never seen before, somewhat like a courthouse, though its name was different: the [Special Events Processing Department]. A very straightforward name.

After the guard saw the credentials the delinquent displayed, he let the car enter.

The place looked quite large, and presumably had many departments. Through the building's glass doors, Xu Zhi could see people moving back and forth inside. It seemed very busy.

Xu Zhi got out of the car with the three of them. The little girl told her, "They need to put this thing away first. I'll take you to the registration office."

She pointed at the box that trembled from time to time.

Xu Zhi nodded in understanding. She was already impatient to get that little informational booklet.

As for the attribute test, she was looking forward to it too. Even if they detected a [Cup] attribute, it did not matter.

After all, nearly twenty minutes had already passed. She did not have much longer to stay.