Revealing His Identity, Everyone Changed Instantly

The people on the platform gradually dispersed, deliberately or otherwise putting distance between themselves and Gan Ming.

They said nothing, but their expressions spoke louder than words.

An elderly man with glasses even covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, frowning as he turned his head away.

Gan Ming knew perfectly well that what everyone hated was the Lower District stench clinging to him.

The air in that place was foul to begin with.

Garbage, sewage, moldy walls, sweat, and unwashed clothes—

All those smells mixed together had long since seeped into his skin and hair.

Go a day without bathing, and the stench could knock someone dead.

And his last bath had been four days ago.

Gan Ming conscientiously walked to the corner of the platform and stood against a pillar.

The electronic sign showed that the next bus heading toward the Awakened Association would arrive in three minutes.

Three minutes was not long, but the atmosphere on the platform was even more oppressive than in the Awakening Chamber.

The elderly man with glasses had already left the platform. He would rather wait by the curb than share the same shelter as Gan Ming.

Three minutes later.

The bus came into view from the street corner.

After it came to a stop.

Whoosh!

The doors opened.

Gan Ming was the first to board.

There were not many people on the bus, only a dozen or so passengers scattered throughout the seats.

The driver was a fat man in his fifties.

Just as Gan Ming stepped onto the last stair, the driver's nose visibly twitched.

Then his fat face instantly turned ugly.

He turned his head and sized Gan Ming up from head to toe.

Tattered clothes, patched trousers, and the smell of the Lower District all over him.

But just as he was about to tell Gan Ming to get off—

Gan Ming raised his right hand.

The gray-bronze ring on his middle finger flashed.

The next moment, a card appeared between his fingers.

The surface of the card faintly gleamed silver, and the anti-counterfeit markings at the bottom rippled.

Awakened Identity Card.

Name, ID number, rank.

Everything was printed clearly.

The moment he saw the words "Awakened," the driver froze.

All the words that had yet to leave his mouth were swallowed back down.

Then, in less than two seconds—

The driver's furrowed brow instantly relaxed.

"Y-You, hello!"

The driver lifted half his body from his seat and bent forward slightly.

"Welcome aboard, Awakened Mr. Gan!"

He pointed toward the rear of the bus.

"That row is reserved for Awakened. Please, sit wherever you like!"

Gan Ming put away his identity card without replying and walked straight to the reserved seating area by the window near the front of the bus.

There were only four seats in the reserved section, separated from the ordinary seats by a yellow line.

The seats were covered in leather, far better than the hard plastic shells in the back.

He chose a window seat and sat down.

Only after confirming through the rearview mirror that Gan Ming was seated securely did the driver turn back and wave at the passengers still waiting on the platform.

"Get on, everyone. Come on, get on."

The people on the platform boarded one after another.

Then one interesting scene after another unfolded.

Those who had pinched their noses and avoided him on the platform all changed their expressions as they passed Gan Ming's seat.

The first was the middle-aged man carrying a briefcase.

As he passed Gan Ming, he forced a smile onto his face and lowered his head slightly.

He did not even dare pinch his nose, deliberately breathing more softly for fear that Gan Ming would notice.

The young woman behind him was even more exaggerated.

As she passed by, she not only nodded, but softly said, "Hello," in a voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz.

The last to board was the elderly man with glasses.

The very same man who had covered his mouth with a handkerchief and would rather stand by the curb than share the platform with Gan Ming.

Now, he had put away his handkerchief.

As he passed Gan Ming, he nodded repeatedly, then hurried to the rear half of the bus and found a seat as far from Gan Ming as possible.

Not a single person showed the slightest trace of disgust the entire time.

The smell was still the same smell, and the person was still the same person.

Only one card had changed things.

He turned his head and looked out the window.

The bus slowly started moving, and the streetscape began to slide backward.

Twenty minutes later.

The announcement sounded. "Approaching Awakened Association Station. Passengers getting off, please prepare."

Gan Ming stood and walked toward the rear door.

As he passed down the aisle, the passengers seated on both sides unconsciously shrank inward, making an excessively wide path for him.

The moment Gan Ming got off and the doors closed—

A collective exhale, long suppressed, came from inside the bus.

At least three people let out a long breath at the same time.

The bus slowly drove away from the platform.

Ordinary people feared Awakened.

Because Awakened not only possessed strength beyond that of ordinary people, but also special privileges granted by law.

They were also a group of ruthless people who were not even afraid of death!

Especially people dressed in "strange outfits" like this, who clearly had clawed their way up from the bottom—those were even less to be provoked.

If an Awakened wanted to make trouble for an ordinary person, that person had no room to resist at all.

So even if you reeked to high heaven—

As long as you were an Awakened, no one dared show you attitude to your face.

Gan Ming turned to look across from the platform.

A twelve-story building stood at the end of the street, with a massive sign hanging on its exterior wall.

City 61 · Awakened Association.

The main entrance of the Awakened Association was far wider than Gan Ming had expected.

Two automatic glass doors stood between stone pillars, one on each side, each carved with the emblem of the Awakened Association.

To the left of the entrance was a security booth, where a uniformed man in his thirties sat.

A black terminal sat in front of him.

Gan Ming walked up to the booth.

"Identity card." The man did not even raise his head.

Gan Ming took out his temporary Awakened Identity Card and tapped it against the terminal's sensor area.

Beep!

The terminal screen lit up, displaying a line of information and the two-inch photo taken when he registered.

Only then did the man look up. His gaze lingered on Gan Ming's face for a second before returning to the screen, and he finished verifying the information.

During that interval, Gan Ming also glanced into the booth.

A translucent panel silently appeared beside the man.

[Soul Seizing Target: Awakened]

[Rank: First Rank]

[Level: ??]

[Innate Talent (1): Vigilance]

[Specialized Skills (2): Intimidation, Suppression]

[Skills: Basic Combat · Defensive Stance · Sentry · Observation · Physical Enhancement · ... (11 total)]

First Rank, and his level was displayed as two question marks, meaning he was at least fifty levels higher than Gan Ming.

His innate talent was "Vigilance," with two specialized skills and eleven ordinary skills, all standard security-related abilities.

On the battlefield, he would probably be nothing more than a fairly average veteran, but he was more than adequate for security work.

"Go on in," the man said.

Gan Ming put away his card, stepped over the threshold, and entered the Awakened Association.