-Sheng as in a flourishing age, An as in a nation at peace and its people safe.
Jiang Yu and Li Xin were both stunned, unable to recover for a long moment.
So that was what Sheng An meant.
"Come on, time for you two to go to class," Sheng An said mercilessly.
"Aaagh!" They snapped out of it and wailed in unison.
Jiang Yu even clutched her head, howling, "Sheng An, my head hurts! Qiu Yu's ability just now..."
Sheng An didn't look back. "Do you think I believe you? Get your asses to class."
With that, she beckoned. "Hao Jingye, Song Linwei, come on. Let's keep screening for Aberrants."
Li Xin and Jiang Yu: "..."
Oh, and here they'd thought she really didn't care how powerful Group A was.
Turns out she was quietly working at it.
Hao Jingye and Song Linwei followed Sheng An out. Li Xin and Jiang Yu stayed seated, refusing to leave, exactly like little children about to be sent off to school.
Every moment they could stall was another moment gained.
Li Xin's face twisted. "This life is awful! It's even worse than before I awakened my ability!"
Jiang Yu gave him a dead-eyed look. "Ugh, at least you're still in high school. You don't have to adjust. I already graduated, and now I've been thrown right back into college entrance exam prep overnight... What even is this?"
Li Xin gritted his teeth. "If this couldn't make me stronger, there's no way I'd live like this."
Jiang Yu nodded in wholehearted agreement. "I'm almost at my limit..."
"This is miserable."
"Seriously miserable."
Not far away, someone called out-
"Jiang Yu, what are you doing? Hurry up and come practice Cultivation Training!"
"Li Xin, skipping class again? Want a beating? Get to class!"
The chosen girl and the chosen boy exchanged a look, then made the same sound:
"Ugh."
This life really was unbearable.
Sheng An spent the entire afternoon screening information with Hao Jingye and Song Linwei.
Song Linwei stared at the screen, a little distracted.
Sheng An poured him a glass of water and handed it over, raising an eyebrow. "What are you thinking about?"
Song Linwei came back to his senses and sighed deeply. "The Apocalypse. When I think about how the world will change in just sixteen days, I have mixed feelings."
Mixed feelings hardly covered it. There was apprehension and unease, too.
Even a faint sense of terror.
The destruction of the world, a global crisis-just saying those words was frightening.
Sheng An understood. She patted his shoulder in silent comfort.
Song Linwei suddenly asked, "Team Leader Sheng, with the Apocalypse coming, is there anything you want to do before that day?"
People used to joke about what they would do today if the world ended tomorrow. But when that day really approached, they realized-
In the face of life and death, many things simply didn't matter.
Sheng An had already returned to her seat.
At his question, she answered without looking up. "Gather the Aberrants as quickly as possible and make a smooth transition into the post-apocalyptic world."
Song Linwei said, "But the Apocalypse isn't just the meteorite disaster. There'll be one catastrophe after another afterward. Even if we get through those, there are still the Otherkind, who could mutate at any moment..."
Disasters could be dealt with.
But what about the Otherkind?
Sheng An stopped and turned to look at him, her gaze calm and steady. "Do everything we can."
Song Linwei looked a little dazed.
A moment later, understanding dawned, and he murmured, "Right. Do everything we can, then leave the rest to fate."
They could only do what was within their power and leave the rest to heaven.
Sheng An said, "No. Just do everything we can. We don't leave anything to fate."
She smiled faintly. "If the Apocalypse comes and heaven wants us dead, does that mean we have to die?"
Her tone was perfectly calm, yet carried an inexplicable, defiant arrogance.
Song Linwei froze, staring blankly at her.
At that moment, he seemed to understand Sheng An a little better-
She served the country, doing good for the nation and its people.
But she wasn't a "righteous good person" in the traditional sense.
Rebellion ran through everything she did. Beneath that calm, languid exterior lay a streak of madness.
She was actually very well suited to the post-apocalyptic world.
"So, have you finished your work?" Sheng An smiled faintly at him. "Song Daiyu."
Song Linwei: "..."
He rubbed his nose. "Right. I'll get back to it."
-With work still unfinished, who had time to wallow in melancholy?!
Beside them, Hao Jingye hadn't spoken the entire time. He looked thoughtful.
Sheng An noticed and stood to walk over. "What did you find?"
Hao Jingye said, "I'm screening police reports. This one's from neighboring Stone City. It's a little strange. I don't know if it involves an Aberrant. It was submitted in a yellow folder."
The folders came in several colors. Red meant a case required attention, while yellow meant it was routine.
These were cases the people below couldn't make sense of and had passed up just in case.
"What happened?" Song Linwei looked over as well.
Hao Jingye said, "A police station in Stone City received a report. The person reporting it was being all mysterious, saying something major had happened and he needed to see someone in charge. He refused to say what it was, only that he had evidence and would only talk once he saw someone in charge."
Song Linwei frowned.
It sounded peculiar at first, but since he'd started screening information, Song Linwei had learned just how many similar reports came in every day. Ordinary citizens wanting to see someone in charge wasn't unusual.
"What's special about this one?" he asked in confusion.
Sheng An, however, had already turned the computer toward herself and begun studying it.
Hao Jingye shook his head. "Nothing particularly special, but I think... he looks a little happy?"
Song Linwei was bewildered.
Someone acting nervous, insisting he needed to see someone in charge about something major, yet also... happy?
What kind of reaction was that?
Sheng An opened the attached video and watched it twice.
It showed a tall, thin young man who, according to his introduction, was a college student.
As for why he'd contacted the police, he only kept insisting that he needed to see someone in charge. The officer grew impatient, but although the young man looked anxious, he still said nothing.
Sheng An remained silent and watched it a third time.
Then she clicked the mouse and paused the video.
Sheng An smiled. "Contact him and arrange a meeting for tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll have a new teammate reporting for duty."
Hao Jingye and Song Linwei both widened their eyes.
Hao Jingye asked in confusion, "Is something going on with him? Is he an Aberrant?!"
That would explain why he was happy.
Realization dawned on Song Linwei.
But Sheng An shook her head. "No, he isn't an Aberrant. If he were, he wouldn't have gone to the police, much less insisted on seeing someone in charge before speaking."
Both men were immediately puzzled.
"If he isn't an Aberrant, then he discovered one?" Song Linwei asked.
Neither doubted Sheng An's judgment. They were simply confused.
Sheng An nodded and instructed, "Get in touch."
Hao Jingye immediately sent a notice to the relevant police station.
Song Linwei asked curiously, "Team Leader Sheng, how exactly did you figure it out?"
Sheng An pointed at the image on the screen.
The young man on the screen was clutching his phone tightly. She enlarged his face.
"Is there something strange about it?" Song Linwei couldn't see it.
Sheng An chuckled and tapped the face on the screen, her fingertip knocking against it.
"Apprehension, tension, anxiety-you can see all those emotions in the video. Hao Jingye said he looked a little happy, but clearly it's more than that. This is-excitement."
Huh?!
Song Linwei froze.
"He discovered an Aberrant, so he's tense, apprehensive, and anxious. But discovering an Aberrant also made him excited. He can't wait to get involved. That's why he insists on seeing someone in charge. The people lower down can only report it; they don't have the authority." Sheng An's eyes gleamed with interest.
Song Linwei was utterly lost. "I can understand him being nervous and scared, but excited? Eager to get involved?"
He couldn't follow the logic.
Who could discover an Aberrant and still get excited?
Wouldn't everyone be scared?
"No, there's no fear." Sheng An wore a faint, knowing smile. "I think you've underestimated our college students. When they discover an Aberrant, not only are they unafraid, they're positively thrilled."
Song Linwei: "???"
Hao Jingye: "..."
First there was a delusional would-be world savior, and now there was a college student "going off the rails."
The Apocalypse hadn't even arrived, yet everyone's mental state already seemed a little-concerning.
Before you continue