"Heh heh heh..."
Meng Chengfei's voice suddenly turned sinister. His formerly gentle features twisted slightly, and the madness in his eyes made him look like a wild beast ready to devour someone.
He drained the tea in his hand, and the strange demeanor vanished in an instant, as though nothing had happened.
"Sorry, I got a little worked up."
"???"
A flicker of unease crossed Xu Ye's eyes. He had caught every bit of that momentary change, and his scalp prickled. He meekly poured Meng Chengfei another cup of tea.
Meng Chengfei tapped his fingers lightly against the teacup, producing a series of soft clicks. He seemed quite pleased.
"Where was I? Oh, right, the second personality. Contamination starts with the second personality. Mild contamination can still be reversed, but once someone mutates, there's nothing we can do but kill them. Otherwise, as they undergo more and more mutations, sooner or later even conventional firearms won't be able to kill the Aberrant."
"But sources of contamination are too hard to find."
"Most of the time, they're just like normal people, hiding among the crowd, working, going to school, eating, playing games... but the slightest trigger can make them erupt without warning, and by then, things get troublesome."
"There are ways to counter them, right?" Xu Ye recalled the illusion Meng Chengfei had just used on him.
"Find the source of contamination ahead of time and eliminate it before it causes widespread destruction. That often requires an Awakened."
Meng Chengfei continued.
"We look for people with high spiritual sensitivity and have them take a serum produced by experts after deciphering the language of the Heavenly Dao. This serum awakens a sequence talent in them."
"But there's one major complication. At the same time, an Awakened develops a second personality. More precisely, it's the second personality that controls the sequence talent. It whispers in your ear, tempting you, beguiling you, provoking you... fortunately, as long as an Awakened keeps their emotions under control, the second personality won't take over their body."
"Otherwise, an Awakened will mutate too."
Seeing Xu Ye's stunned expression, Meng Chengfei stopped talking and gave him some time to digest it.
Xu Ye felt uneasy.
He remembered that when he first met Meng Chengfei, the man's expression had been icy.
At their second meeting, he had been gentle. That was probably his normal state.
But just now, his voice had been full of menace and hysteria.
All of that was probably a consequence of being an Awakened.
This world was terrifying!
"You're an Awakened?" Xu Ye asked, looking at him.
Meng Chengfei nodded and said frankly, "I am. And I've already undergone my second awakening, gaining two sequence talents and developing two personalities."
"My first personality is a man the same age as me. He's introverted but arrogant, and he speaks coldly. He controls sequence talent 9-100, Demon Eye-the ability I just used on you."
"My second personality is a murderer with violent tendencies. He controls sequence 8-132, Iron Block."
"The more awakenings you undergo, the more sequence talents you gain. But you also split off more personalities, making it easier to lose control..."
Xu Ye fell silent.
Three personalities! This guy was a fucking lunatic!
And a dangerous lunatic with supernatural powers, at that. What if one little slip made him lose control?
You belonged in a psychiatric hospital, damn it.
Xu Ye ranted inwardly, but his expression remained calm.
Besides, how was this method of cultivation any different from slow suicide?
As though he knew what Xu Ye was worried about, Meng Chengfei said confidently, "Relax. I'm perfectly safe, and this tea has a calming effect."
"Of course, Awakened are very difficult for other sources of contamination to infect. But once an Awakened loses control and a secondary personality takes over, they're very, terribly, extremely dangerous."
He used three intensifiers in a row.
"For ordinary people, contamination is like sudden death. It strikes instantly, and there's no treatment. For an Awakened, it's like having a chronic form of cancer. Of course, if you control your emotions well, you might never lose control in your entire life."
"..."
"Then why did you choose to awaken?" Xu Ye asked.
Meng Chengfei paused, then said seriously, "First, normal people with high spiritual sensitivity are incredibly hard to find-about one in ten thousand. And we're worried about meme infection, so we can't make this public and screen people on a large scale."
"Second, this world is falling apart. Nuclear radiation, contamination, distortion, madness... they're constantly eating away at humanity. If nobody is willing to step forward, then in just a few years, all of us will die."
"Everything for humanity, for everything humanity holds dear."
"Everyone in the Dawn Blade, whether they're ordinary people or Awakened, holds to that belief."
"Your spiritual sensitivity is high, and you were dragged into Doctor Chen's laboratory... the fact that you're still alive proves you're exceptional..."
Xu Ye sighed. "So, your advice to me is..."
Meng Chengfei smiled. "Become an Awakened."
"Even though you've shown no signs of mutation or distorted thinking in the face of extreme fear and death, and even though Doctor Chen hadn't yet had time to experiment on you, you've already been dragged into this. Someone wants to kill you. You need some power to protect yourself."
Xu Ye silently gazed at his reflection in the tea.
Countless thoughts ran through his mind.
Judging by the future his heart had simulated earlier, there really were people in Sky City who wanted him dead.
If I wanted to go home, I had to survive first.
"All right." Several minutes later, Xu Ye gave his answer. In truth, he had no choice.
Meng Chengfei smiled in relief, then took a vial of clear serum out of a precision-engineered case.
"Drink this, and you'll become an Awakened."
Xu Ye didn't hesitate. He opened it immediately and swallowed it in one gulp. A second later, he fell into a deep sleep.
Meng Chengfei quietly watched Xu Ye.
His reasoning was coherent, his thoughts normal. He knew how to seek advantages and avoid danger. Judging by his earlier behavior, he could be a little erratic at times, but he had courage and was steady at heart.
He assessed him inwardly.
Hopefully, his second personality wouldn't have overly strong antisocial tendencies.
Just then, an urgent voice came from the small metal earpiece fitted into his left ear.
"Meng Chengfei, this is Sky City's Ten-Person Council."
"Kill Xu Ye immediately. He's extremely dangerous!"
"The earlier interrogation, guidance, and psychological assessment were all wrong. The technical department just repaired a surveillance camera in Doctor Chen's laboratory!"
"The people and test subjects in that laboratory didn't kill themselves like he claimed. That kid killed every last one of them!"
"He killed everyone!"
Before you continue