After getting a basic understanding of what happened after Sequence Awakening, Qin Siyang returned to the thread summarizing the various sequences and abilities.
He needed to find a sequence that could conceal his identity. One his existing abilities could pass for without giving him away.
If he was going to register with the Sequence Ability Management Bureau, he had to find a mask like that.
Originally, Qin Siyang had planned to invent a sequence himself, tailoring everything from its name to its skills to his [God Eater], but after some thought, he abandoned the idea.
First, he wasn't sure whether the Sequence Ability Management Bureau had a way to verify it, or whether his fabricated sequence might contain some flaw.
Second, every Sequence Ability User would be able to see his information. A brand-new sequence would inevitably draw everyone's attention.
With countless people scrutinizing him, he would be bound to slip up.
He might even be unlucky enough for someone to awaken a sequence with the exact same name as the one he had invented. That would expose him immediately.
So choosing from the existing sequences was still the safest option.
Qin Siyang had no particular direction in mind. All he could do was carefully examine each sequence and find the best mask for hiding his identity.
The beginning of the thread described the abilities shared by all Sequence Ability Users.
"After awakening, a Sequence Ability User's strength, agility, and perception will all improve accordingly. Once you have digested five Sequence Potions, your physical attributes will rise to roughly three times their original levels, far beyond those of ordinary people."
Only three times?
Qin Siyang felt that the punch he had used to send that thug flying had packed as much force as a car crashing at full speed. Forget three times his original strength-it had probably increased tenfold.
His eyes lit up. Could my [God Eater] sequence also multiply the growth of my base attributes?
That truly astonished him.
Not only did his awakened sequence have powerful skills, but even its base attribute growth was astonishingly high.
"What kind of day is this? The good news just keeps coming. I can barely keep up."
Qin Siyang smiled and carefully examined the abilities of each sequence.
When he reached the [Scent Seeker] sequence and discovered that its Sequence Level 1 skill, [Scent Seeking], could use smells left at a scene to locate enemies within a certain range, he felt a wave of relief.
So there really are Sequence Ability Users who can track someone by scent! My worries weren't unfounded!
Good thing I found somewhere with a jumble of smells to dispose of the bodies and destroy the evidence. Otherwise, I'd have been in danger.
"[Scent Seeker] skills fail in places with a strong divine presence. Forcing a skill to activate may cause fainting, bleeding from all seven facial orifices, or even brain death."
"Because [Scent Seeker] skills are ineffective against gods, they are among the few Sequence Ability Users who can receive Sequence Potions from the Administration Bureau without going to the battlefield to fight gods. However, to receive Sequence Potions, [Scent Seekers] must join an organization under the United Government, usually assisting the Police Bureau in solving cases."
The words "assisting in solving cases" in particular made Qin Siyang let out a long breath. Needless to say, the trouble he had caused yesterday at Safe Zone Exit No. 89757 would definitely bring in the Police Bureau, probably including [Scent Seeker] Sequence Ability Users.
Having escaped that danger, he felt immensely pleased.
He continued reading, learning a great deal about Sequence Ability Users.
Qin Siyang really wanted to write everything down, because there was no way he could remember the abilities of every Sequence Ability User.
But taking out a pen and paper to record all this would look far too suspicious. He could only try his best to remember some of the more important and common sequences.
Still, he discovered that his memory seemed to have improved after awakening his sequence ability. Although he couldn't remember every sequence ability after reading it just once, he could retain most of them.
He couldn't help marveling inwardly at how wonderful it was to awaken a sequence ability.
Just as he was feeling pleased with himself, he came across another sequence: [Undying].
During his previous visit to [Godslayer Camp], he had happened to glimpse information about an [Undying] skill that could read the memories of the dead. That was why he had smashed all three thugs' skulls.
He had even secretly counted himself lucky. That brief glimpse of information had saved his life too. Fortune really was smiling on him.
Qin Siyang carefully read through the [Undying] sequence's skills.
[Death Edict]: Reads the memories of the deceased from the final period before death. However, the deceased's brain must retain its biological properties; it must not have undergone pathological changes or deterioration, such as burning or acid corrosion. Otherwise, the skill will fail.
Qin Siyang froze when he read this.
Burning the bodies would have prevented [Death Edict] from activating too? Then wasn't smashing their skulls completely unnecessary?
That unnecessary step won't cause any trouble, will it?
The description of the [Undying] sequence appeared very early in the thread. It was probably one of the sequences with many awakened users, or one that had been recorded early on.
In that case, could the abilities of the [Undying] sequence be common knowledge among Sequence Ability Users?
To test his guess, he searched the forum for posts about [Undying] and found nearly a hundred thousand results!
Clearly, [Undying] was an incredibly common sequence.
Knowledge of this sequence could practically be called "common knowledge."
Yet he had known nothing about it before.
Qin Siyang couldn't stop wondering whether someone noticing this flaw would expose his identity.
Taking an unnecessary step when disposing of the bodies meant he didn't understand sequence abilities.
Feeling guilty, he couldn't help examining that possibility closely.
"If someone paid attention, could this give me away?"
Qin Siyang didn't know whether he was overthinking it.
Perhaps anyone who committed a crime became suspicious afterward, reacting to the slightest disturbance.
But deep down, he felt that he might well be on the verge of exposure.
Just then, he heard a clamor of voices outside the internet café.
What's going on?
Amid the commotion, Qin Siyang thought he heard several people arguing.
Then, through the confusion, he faintly caught a voice saying:
"Officer, this is just a small business. I can't afford these inspections!"
Officer?!
Qin Siyang's heart skipped a beat.
It can't be that much of a coincidence, can it? I just thought I might be exposed, and now the Police Bureau is already here?!
How did they move so fast?!
Whether they were here for him or not, he had to respond.
In his panic, Qin Siyang hurriedly deleted his browser history, then found a way to disguise what he had been doing.
The instant he finished, seven or eight officers entered the internet café.
"Everyone, step away from your computers immediately! Hands on your heads and squat to the side! Move!"
Qin Siyang put on a panicked expression and quickly obeyed, squatting with his hands on his head.
"You! What are you doing? Get away from the computer! Hands up!" An officer raised his gun and roared at a scruffy young man in the corner.
The man hurriedly pulled up his pants, mumbling, "Sir, I was... I... I was..."
The officer immediately rushed over to the man who hadn't obeyed.
"Get out of the way!"
"Y-yes, officer." Abandoning his efforts to pull up his pants, the man squatted to the side with his hands on his head.
The officer looked at the contents of his screen, then said in disgust, "Watch less of this stuff. Indulge too much when you're young, and you'll have problems later."
With that, the officer moved on.
The seven or eight officers then checked the browser histories and contents of every computer.
When an officer reached Qin Siyang, he glanced at his face, then at the screen and browser contents. With some sympathy, he patted Qin Siyang's shoulder. "If a girl hasn't said yes, that means no. Don't waste any more time or energy."
Then he went to check the next person's computer.
Qin Siyang gave the officer a grateful smile, but inwardly he thought, That was close.
He had known the officers would check the browser contents, but he had no way to generate a large amount of browsing history in such a short time.
So he had chosen the simplest content to browse-an ebook.
There was a document on the desktop titled "Three Sentences to Make Your Dream Girl Fall for You (Top-Secret Collector's Edition)."
When he opened it, he found that it did indeed teach simps how to devote themselves to their dream girls and win their favor.
So he had dragged the document's progress bar somewhere into the middle, pretending to be reading a downloaded ebook.
After searching for a while, the officers found two young men conducting online Black Market transactions in the internet café and took them away.
But Qin Siyang felt that the officers looked rather grim, suggesting that those two weren't their real targets.
"Sorry for taking up everyone's time. We hope you don't mind. Attendant, please add another hour of internet time for everyone. The Police Bureau will cover it!"
"Yes, of course! Thank you, officer!"
"Thanks, officer!"
"Thank you! Come inspect us again next time, officers!"
Amid the cheerful atmosphere, everyone returned to their computers.
Outside the door, however, Qin Siyang heard the café owner say, "Officer, you've kept springing surprise raids on us these past two days. Every time, you take away a few customers. I can't keep this business running like this!"
"Mr. Wang, we're acting on orders from above. We hope you understand."
"Understand? How am I supposed to understand? Can't you identify the criminals before coming to investigate?"
"The Police Bureau has no authority to check network addresses or browsing histories. We can only investigate on-site. We haven't overstepped our authority by checking your surveillance footage, and we're covering the internet fees too. What other losses have you suffered?"
"You! You're being completely unreasonable!"
What Qin Siyang heard caught his attention.
The Police Bureau has been conducting surprise raids these past two days?
That's exactly when I killed those men!
Could it really be a coincidence?
Still, the officer's claim that they had no authority to check network addresses or browsing histories was good news.
But who knew whether the officer was telling the truth? He still couldn't let his guard down.
Qin Siyang let out a long breath and decided to open [Godslayer Camp] and continue reading.
Just then, a dialog box appeared on his computer screen.
Qin Siyang's eyes widened, and a chill ran down his back.
He immediately looked toward the counter.
The attendant was putting a cigarette between his lips, watching Qin Siyang with a smile.
The dialog box on the screen kept flashing.
[Friendly reminder from the attendant] [You're the one those officers were looking for just now, aren't you?]
Before you continue