Filling it out "truthfully": origin leakage

"Holy shit, that's disgusting..."

Hu Zihao frowned as he listened to Shen Bai's description. Beside him, Shi Yu and Han He also looked disgusted.

Shen Bai, however, thought nothing of it.

"Evil Sins have no ethics or emotions. Everything they do is solely to make themselves stronger. And since the Netherworld doesn't produce Evil Sins on its own, they try all sorts of ways to produce offspring... where do you think that level-three Evil Sin came from?"

Shi Yu's heart began pounding. He desperately tried to suppress it, but he couldn't control his own brain.

The desire to investigate was a human instinct.

The power of Thought stirred in his mind, and a conjecture surfaced.

For some reason, Shi Yu remembered what Shen Bai had said earlier... about Director Yang Desheng's wife.

"Urgh..."

Nausea churned inside him, and Shi Yu couldn't help retching up a pocket of gas from his stomach.

He would have to get used to it eventually.

Shen Bai looked at Shi Yu, sighed softly, and continued.

"In short, when they attempted to advance, you detected the aura of their Molting Ascension. Mr. Huang Qingyang from the dormitory took action alongside you, then we arrived, and the incident ended."

Shen Bai paused briefly and looked at the three of them.

"Your homeroom teacher and your former classmates have all been confirmed dead... the police will coordinate the follow-up... I'm very sorry."

"All of them..."

Hu Zihao's eyes dimmed. He thought of Liu Zunfu and Liu Zhipeng.

Although he had expected it for some time, hearing it confirmed still filled Hu Zihao with grief and guilt he couldn't suppress.

If I hadn't gone to talk to Liu Zhipeng back then... would he still be alive...?

Shen Bai keenly sensed the shift in their emotions. He was about to speak when Liu Yiyi beat him to it.

"Don't overthink it, boys. You've already done well enough. Keeping yourselves alive until the end of a level-three and a level-four Evil Sin's Molting Ascension was already the limit of what you could do, never mind successfully holding out until help arrived. Don't dwell on it."

Liu Yiyi paused, her tone becoming firm.

"Instead of blaming yourselves, hate the Evil Sins. They're the source of everything."

Shen Bai nodded.

"The captain is right. As I just said, this was an extremely unusual Evil Sin, and the same goes for its offspring. Its abilities were exceptionally self-consistent and difficult to counter. If our team hadn't possessed a Staircase specifically suited to countering it, we probably would have suffered losses too.

"In this incident, Mr. Huang Qingyang, your dorm supervisor, was the first to discover the Evil Sin's characteristics, and he called the police to pass on that information. We have the deepest respect for him... as for the police officer, one of you applied power to his consciousness. Your cooperation with that excellent officer made it easier for me to unravel the memories the Evil Sin had altered."

As Shen Bai spoke, he looked at Shi Yu.

"If I'm not mistaken, that was your doing?"

Shi Yu nodded.

There was no point denying it. They already knew Han He was a Hunter, and Hu Zihao had only awakened when help arrived, so it could only have been him.

Shen Bai nodded and straightened up again.

"This is a good time for you to fill out your ability registration forms. If you have any questions, ask as you write."

As he spoke, Shen Bai turned, took several sheets of paper from a document envelope beside him, and handed them to the three of them.

Shi Yu took the form, read what was on it, and began filling it out.

Most of it was routine: height, weight, blood type, birthday, and so on. Except for the final large section.

"Truthfully report your Staircase/inheritance."

Seeing that all three had more or less reached that section, Shen Bai cleared his throat.

"Make sure you report truthfully. Don't write anything you can't do. Write what you can do."

Aha.

Shi Yu understood what Shen Bai meant.

The form probably had some kind of power too. Perhaps it could distinguish truth from lies? Not necessarily. Even if the power on the form was weak, there would probably be some kind of review afterward, so he couldn't lie.

But Shen Bai had been quite clear: "Write what you can do." He hadn't said, "Write down everything you can do."

Shi Yu thought for a moment. Now that the incident was over, there would certainly need to be a record. They already knew his ability could affect other people's consciousness, so he could just write that.

Shi Yu raised his pen and wrote in the section:

"Psychological Suggestion."

Besides, even if the higher-ups had godlike abilities, they couldn't say Shi Yu was lying. In a sense, those words encompassed all of his abilities.

Shi Yu nodded in satisfaction and put down his pen.

Han He beside him soon finished writing too, while Hu Zihao craned his neck over, just as he did when filling out forms at school.

"What'd you write? Let me see."

Shen Bai and Liu Yiyi tacitly ignored Hu Zihao's attempt to copy. One held his glasses and polished them carefully until the lenses gleamed.

The other stood by the door picking at her fingers, removing every last hangnail.

Shi Yu shook his head helplessly and showed Hu Zihao his form, listening to him mutter:

"Why'd you only write that little?"

Looking at Hu Zihao's completely blank form, Shi Yu said:

"Can't you just write that you have some ability to heal yourself?"

Hu Zihao's Staircase probably wasn't as simple as self-healing. The instant Hu Zihao awakened, Shi Yu's Thought had told him that he had awakened a very powerful Staircase.

"Will that work? Didn't he say to report truthfully?"

Hu Zihao's unexpected honesty left Shi Yu speechless.

"So you can't heal yourself?"

"I can."

"Then there you go! Hurry up and write!"

Shi Yu slapped his own form facedown, pushed the guilelessly stupid Hu Zihao aside, and turned to Han He.

"Let me see yours."

Han He said nothing and simply handed his form to Shi Yu.

Liu Yiyi had already started braiding her hair by the door. Shen Bai apparently thought the view outside the window was lovely. Huo Qiuliang sat to one side, bending his fingers.

Shi Yu took Han He's form and saw what he had written in that section.

"Hunter" inheritance.

"Damn, yours is even shorter."

Having followed Shi Yu's advice and written "possesses some ability to heal himself," Hu Zihao leaned his head over and exclaimed.

Shi Yu sighed helplessly, snatched Hu Zihao's form, and raised his hand to signal that they were done. He thought:

I remember Hu Zihao was pretty good at school. How did I never notice what a dope he was? He's nothing like his mom... that domineering CEO face is wasted on him.

Seeing that Shi Yu had finished, Shen Bai had Huo Qiuliang collect all three forms.

At the sight, Liu Yiyi hurriedly rushed over from the doorway and looked through the three forms with Huo Qiuliang and Shen Bai.

After reading the forms, Shen Bai looked deeply gratified. Even his expression seemed to soften a little. He looked up at the three of them and said:

"Good. I'll go submit your forms and contracts now. If there's anything else, talk to Captain Liu Yiyi. I'll be right back."

With that, Shen Bai strode away. Behind him, Liu Yiyi waved.

"Go submit them somewhere farther away, okay? Take a nice long walk."

Shen Bai waved a hand at Liu Yiyi and left the room.

After Shen Bai left, Liu Yiyi turned to the three seated before her.

She was still a little embarrassed. After all, she had asked two orphans in succession to meet their parents. But after a day to let it settle, Liu Yiyi felt she could face them calmly now.

She took a deep breath and confidently raised her head.

Then her face turned bright red, and she couldn't get a word out.

Holy shit, this is awkward.

Shi Yu and Han He sat quietly, while Hu Zihao looked back and forth between the silent people, bewildered.

"Ah... haha, let me introduce everyone first, haha."

In the end, Huo Qiuliang chose to break the silence.

The boy with upturned eyes walked over beside the now-red Liu Yiyi and made a "grand entrance" gesture.

"This is the captain of Snow Cedar: Liu Yiyi. She's from the Northeast, and she's a veteran Heir~ She's the strongest fighter on our team, with the Smelting inheritance."

It was Shi Yu's first time hearing of this inheritance. He spoke slowly.

"Smelting...?"

"Ah... ah! That's right! I have the Smelting inheritance. If you're interested in anything about it, you can ask me, haha..."

Liu Yiyi hurriedly picked up on Shi Yu's words, but she seemed a little too enthusiastic. She looked a bit unreliable.

"Don't be so nervous... Yiyi, what are you doing? That old problem acting up again?"

Huo Qiuliang spoke quietly beside her, but Liu Yiyi showed no nervousness or embarrassment toward him. She slapped him on the head.

"Who are you talking about, you little brat!"

Huo Qiuliang let out an "Ow!" and ran aside, clutching his head.

But that seemed to ease Liu Yiyi's nerves too. She turned back to the three of them.

"Ah, right, you can ask other questions too. Didn't Hu Zihao still have a question earlier?"

Suddenly called on, Hu Zihao froze briefly, but then remembered that he did indeed still have something to ask.

Hu Zihao scratched his head and thought for a moment.

"I want to know what was going on with the people who attacked me. Why did they attack me?"

"Ah, good question. Let's take it one thing at a time."

Hearing Hu Zihao's question, Liu Yiyi lightly struck a fist into her other palm with a crisp smack.

"First, let's explain why you were attacked."

Liu Yiyi looked at Hu Zihao as she spoke.

"First of all, someone discovered that you were a newly awakened Gifted. This brings us to a basic piece of knowledge, so everyone listen."

Shi Yu sat a little straighter to show he was listening. Han He beside him also turned his gaze toward Liu Yiyi.

Seeing that everyone was interested, Liu Yiyi gradually relaxed, and the feeling of a furnace burning inside her began to subside. She exhaled and began:

"Whether we're Gifted or Heirs, we all use our own Origin when we use our abilities. Under normal circumstances, if we consciously control it, the scent of our Origin won't spill out enough for others to notice, even when we're using our powers. This is something all awakened people understand and can put into practice from the moment they awaken. I'm sure you've all felt it."

All three nodded to show they understood.

Liu Yiyi continued:

"There is one exception: immediately after advancing. Whether we've just awakened or advanced to the next stage, there's a period when we can't fully control the dispersal of our Origin. During that time, our Origin spreads uncontrollably. It lasts roughly three hours."

Liu Yiyi's bright eyes swept over the three of them. She spoke slowly.

"We call this phenomenon 'origin leakage.' Hu Zihao, someone sensed you during this process, exposing your identity as a Gifted."

Hu Zihao was a little surprised and nodded instinctively.

Liu Yiyi continued:

"Once I explain the Curtain-Callers, you'll be able to connect the events."

Shi Yu noticed an instinctive flash of disgust in Liu Yiyi's eyes when she said "Curtain-Callers."

It had probably become a habit, one she might not even notice herself. It showed just how hostile Liu Yiyi was toward the Curtain-Callers.

"Put simply, Curtain-Callers are traitors, like the collaborators in The Three-Body Problem. They believe siding with Evil Sins can earn them certain benefits, whether wealth, power, or even lifespan. In short, they work for Evil Sins, spread the Netherworld, infiltrate society, and provide a breeding ground for the Netherworld and Evil Sins. Curtain-Callers also serve another very important purpose, which relates to a characteristic of Evil Sins... Evil Sins below level five can't recognize the vast majority of written information, whether Chinese, English, or other foreign languages, so they need Curtain-Callers to relay it."

Shi Yu wasn't particularly surprised. It only further confirmed what Huang Daye had said: Evil Sins couldn't read. Huo Qiuliang had already told them a little about Curtain-Callers too. But some things surprised him, such as the existence of more intelligent Evil Sins.

After all, judging by the Evil Sin that had occupied Director Yang Desheng, it wasn't especially intelligent, and under its influence, the school administrators had become very unintelligent too.

"Evil Sins can't even read? Can they really be that intelligent?"

Hu Zihao hadn't seen the final letter Huang Daye left behind, nor had he thought as much about it as Shi Yu. When he had a question, he asked it immediately.

Liu Yiyi raised an eyebrow and took two steps toward Hu Zihao.

"A typical beginner's mistake: generalizing from a limited example. Let me reiterate: Evil Sins are emotionless individuals possessing only evil desires, and apart from that, they're completely different from one another. Their diversity far exceeds our imagination. We can only even classify them by whether they're 'corporeal' or 'noncorporeal,' and by their abilities.

"So I wouldn't be surprised even if one of them could solve the Goldbach Conjecture."

Huo Qiuliang quietly interjected from the side.

"The Goldbach Conjecture, huh... Shen Bai mentioned it once, and you still remember it..."

Before Huo Qiuliang could finish, Liu Yiyi shot him a murderous glare. He immediately shut his mouth and shrank behind the curtains.

After giving him a look that said, "I'll deal with you later," Liu Yiyi turned back and continued.

"As I said, Curtain-Callers devote themselves to helping Evil Sins, and that includes... eliminating every Gifted who opposes them. Killing a newly awakened Gifted who's just escaped an Evil Sin is perfectly normal for them."

Shi Yu frowned at that.

"But Yiyi, what if that newly awakened Gifted might join the Curtain-Callers? Do they just kill them without even trying to recruit them?"

Liu Yiyi snapped her fingers.

"A very dark line of thinking. Good. That question used to trouble me too, but through later encounters, we discovered that every Gifted or Heir targeted by Curtain-Callers was a person of excellent character, with zero chance of joining them... perhaps the Curtain-Callers have their own way of telling. Some kind of ability is the only explanation."

Pretty smart...

Shi Yu found it rather remarkable, but when he thought about how he himself could use Telekinesis and change the rules governing how certain events occurred, he accepted it.

Liu Yiyi looked at the three of them, who indicated that they understood, and nodded.

"Any other questions?"

This time, unexpectedly, Han He was the one to ask.

"Captain, I'd like to ask about how Heirs advance."