Sis, I Was Wrong

When Sheng An opened the door, Li Xin felt like he was about to die.

Six whole hours.

No food, no water, no bathroom breaks.

Luckily, he hadn't drunk much, and his entire body had turned to metal. Otherwise, hanging there for six hours would probably have made him wet his pants.

There wasn't a single person in the room, and Sheng An hadn't responded to him the entire time.

Li Xin was losing his mind.

He felt like he was already done for.

When Sheng An came in, Li Xin hung there silently, without the slightest movement.

Like a corpse.

Hao Jingye lowered his voice. "Don't tell me he's dead?"

Sheng An remained expressionless. "Oh. Then drag him out and bury him."

"W-wait..."

Li Xin abruptly raised his head, his eyes wide. "I'm alive! I'm not dead!" Don't bury me.

Sheng An wasn't surprised in the slightest.

After all, this kid was a Superpower Person, and he had a metal-type ability at that. How could he die so easily?

Li Xin gritted his teeth. "You've gone too far! Doesn't the government want to win me over? Why are you treating me like this?!"

He didn't understand.

Sheng An corrected him. "We're bringing you into the fold, not winning you over."

Bringing someone into the fold and winning someone over were two entirely different things.

The National Apparatus wasn't afraid of these so-called Aberrants. Sheng An's goal had always been to bring them under its control, not court their favor.

Li Xin ground his teeth.

Resentment simmered in his eyes.

Sheng An asked, "Don't you want to come down?"

Li Xin said, "..."

As the saying went, a wise man knew when to yield. He opened his mouth. "Sister Sheng, I was wrong."

Hungry and thirsty, he really was about to go crazy.

Sheng An was reasonably satisfied and nodded. "All right. Come down."

Li Xin was stunned. "You're just telling me to come down? You're not giving me a mat?"

If he'd dared to come straight down, he would have done it ages ago!

This wasn't a matter of jumping down. He was suspended horizontally up there. Once he turned human, wouldn't he slam into the floor face-first? How could that end well?

Sheng An said, "I'll catch you."

Li Xin eyed Sheng An's slender arms and legs skeptically.

Sheng An was speechless. "Besides, can't you change your feet back first, then your upper body?"

He was hanging horizontally right now.

But if he changed his feet back to normal, wouldn't they hang below him?

From that height, he could jump down.

Li Xin said, "???"

At that moment, only two words filled his mind-

Holy shit!

Why hadn't he thought of that sooner?!

Right then, Li Xin wanted to smack Sheng An to death-and himself, too.

If he'd thought of this method earlier, why would he have needed to hang there for six hours?

Gritting his teeth, Li Xin made his legs return to normal first. No longer held by the magnetic pull, they naturally dropped, the soles of his feet facing downward.

Then his upper body returned to normal, and he fell.

"Ah-!" Li Xin cried out instinctively.

He'd been suspended for too long. As his body suddenly turned back to flesh and dropped, his limbs went limp, and he nearly slammed into the floor.

Sheng An reached out and caught him before he could hit it hard.

Li Xin's feet landed on the floor. He leaned against Sheng An, breathing rapidly.

At that moment, he suddenly felt that Sheng An was incredibly dependable.

Li Xin was inexplicably moved.

Sheng An remained expressionless. "So, can you stand on your own now?"

Li Xin said, "..."

He obediently stood up straight, feeling embarrassed for once.

Seeing how docile he'd become, Hao Jingye nodded in satisfaction. "Li Xin, can you cooperate with us on some tests now?"

Li Xin hung his head dejectedly and said nothing.

Sheng An glanced at him.

Instantly, he felt as though his whole body hurt. He raised his hands in surrender and obediently said-

"I'll cooperate. I'll cooperate."

Since Jiang Yu's space came from her bracelet, testing it was relatively simple.

Li Xin was different.

They examined him inside and out several times, drew a dozen or so vials of blood, took scans of him in various forms, studied his metal, and more.

The various tests alone would take a day or two.

Often, once a test produced results, those results immediately called for further research.

Of course, this wasn't limited to Li Xin. It also included the water and fire ability users from before.

"What's the situation now?" Sheng An asked.

In the laboratory ahead, Li Xin looked thoroughly impatient as he followed instructions to manipulate metal and form a mechanical arm...

Whenever his patience ran out, he would spot Sheng An's threatening gaze through the glass.

Then Li Xin behaved himself again.

This Female Villain is ruthless. I'd better lie low for now.

Beside them, a mixture of emotions crossed Doctor Yan's eyes before finally resolving into a single statement. "It's very strange."

"How so?" Hao Jingye asked curiously.

Sheng An also looked at Doctor Yan.

Doctor Yan leafed through the thick stack of results in his hands, his expression grave.

"Like those two water and fire ability users, he has an additional, unusual substance in his body, distributed throughout his blood and flesh. The unusual substances in the three of them share some similarities and some differences. They're all unknown substances. With more samples, we might be able to draw more conclusions.

"At present, we still can't determine how they control the elements, but it certainly has something to do with this Special Matter.

"This Special Matter affects their bodies. Li Xin is even more unusual than the other two. They can only control and release water and fire, whereas Li Xin can turn into a Metal Person, fusing metal with his body."

Sheng An and Hao Jingye looked equally grave.

Hao Jingye looked at Sheng An and opened his mouth. "Sister Sheng..."

Sheng An took a deep breath and said calmly, "Go on."

Hearing that, Doctor Yan continued.

"We took various comparative images of Li Xin in his Metal Person and nonmetallic states and found that he seems to use this Special Matter to achieve metallization. Also..."

There were plenty of test results.

But most raised questions, with very few yielding conclusions.

The researchers didn't understand exactly what was happening.

And these were already the very best researchers.

Doctor Yan spoke for a long time. Finally, he pressed his lips together.

"We'll continue our research. Once we have more samples, we may be able to reach clearer conclusions. We'd also like to request that more researchers be transferred here."

Sheng An nodded, approving it immediately. "Of course. Li Xin and the others will cooperate, too."

After finishing, Doctor Yan went back to continue studying Li Xin.

Sheng An and Hao Jingye remained outside.

Only after a long while did Hao Jingye say, "Something seems a little strange."

Watching Li Xin calmly, Sheng An slowly said, "He's only just awakened his ability, but he's very unusual."

Judging from the test results, Li Xin already possessed an unimaginable degree of control over metal.

That really was very strange.

Hao Jingye scratched his head. "Everything about him suggests he's only just acquired his ability. Doctor Yan's test results confirm that. There's no more of that unusual substance in his body than in the water and fire Superpower People."

"But his control over metal is stronger." Sheng An stressed each word. "As though he's already a very powerful Superpower Person."

Their current research suggested that Superpower People would eventually gain control over the elements associated with their abilities.

Li Xin already possessed that later-stage capability.

Right now, he was still "uneducated." Once he fully understood metallic elements and their composition, his value would be beyond imagination.

This wasn't Iron Man. This was metal in a thousand ever-changing forms.

Hao Jingye sucked in a sharp breath. His doubts and confusion ultimately condensed into a single question-

"Could he really be the chosen one?"

Sheng An said nothing.

The chosen one?

Jiang Yu, Li Wanyun, and now Li Xin. Whether or not they were reborn, they all had something unusual about them.

Li Wanyun's enormous space, Li Xin's extraordinary control over metal...

They really did need more samples.

Sheng An narrowed her eyes and sank into thought.

Countdown to the apocalypse: 17 days.

Inside the interrogation room, Li Xin didn't dare turn into a Metal Person. He could only tuck his hands into his sleeves and squat pitifully in a corner, looking as aggrieved as anyone possibly could.

Sheng An stood in front of him, expressionless and unmoved.

Song Linwei had been called over just after waking up and looked a little bewildered. "What's wrong? What happened?"