Awakening (1): An unprecedented awakening...

Before she could finish, she caught sight of Mushroom Man's blank face out of the corner of her eye.

Ming Xia: "..."

It took her several seconds to realize she was not seeing things. The Polluted who should have been in the trial room really was in the assistant teacher's room.

The teacher had brought the Polluted out?

Again?

Ming Xia was stunned, her unfinished words stuck in her throat.

Faced with her student's astonishment, Ye Jiang... calmly took a sip of water.

She looked at the student before her, uninterested in the Jin Hong the girl had mentioned, and equally uninterested in her concerns about safety. What interested her was-

"Ming Xia, did you roll around on the ground?"

"..."

"Don't do that. It's dirty."

Ming Xia: "..."

The look in the assistant teacher's eyes seemed to suggest she thought Ming Xia had a childlike hobby. The corner of Ming Xia's eye twitched. To keep the teacher from worrying about her, she ultimately kept her ordeal to herself and accepted this untrue hobby that damaged her image.

She tried hard to ignore the Polluted in the room and returned to the subject. "Teacher, something might have happened at the trial grounds. There's an unknown danger lurking here."

"Oh," Ye Jiang said.

Ming Xia choked. Wasn't that reaction a little too subdued?

But on second thought, the assistant teacher before her was an ability user who had torn apart a B-rank Bone Joint Flower with her bare hands. Perhaps this was the confidence of a truly powerful ability user?

Ming Xia's feelings were complicated. "Whatever the case, please be careful, Teacher."

Ye Jiang nodded.

Ming Xia did not know what else to say. She had never been good with words.

Like the students in Trial Room A, she really liked this assistant teacher. That was why, after being attacked, she had come straight here to warn her without a second thought.

Having conveyed the warning that the trial grounds were dangerous, Ming Xia had nothing else to say. Her mind wandered briefly as she wondered whether to tell the teacher leading them. No, there was no need. Yan Pei surely already knew. The commotion last night was probably connected to this. Perhaps Assistant Teacher Turbot had known all along, too. Ming Xia glanced at the assistant teacher before her and gained a new understanding of her composure. The assistant teachers already knew about the danger, so that was why Teacher Turbot had barely reacted.

So that was it.

Ye Jiang: "?"

Since the teachers already knew and had made no other arrangements, they must have things under control. Ming Xia relaxed.

After another glance at Mushroom Man in the room, Ming Xia said goodbye to the assistant teacher and left.

Ming Xia turned toward the student dormitories. After walking some distance, she stopped. A rustling came from behind her, a sound all too familiar. She heard it every time she and her classmates entered the trial room.

It was the sound of Mushroom Man's hyphae moving.

Ming Xia turned around. Sure enough, several strands of hyphae had followed her the whole way. When she stopped, they stopped a few steps away.

Looking at the hyphae on the ground, Ming Xia asked, "Do you need something?"

She froze after asking.

She must have lost her mind. She was actually talking to a Polluted.

It had to be because Teacher Turbot's attitude toward the Polluted was too ambiguous, as though they were ordinary people one could interact with normally. She frequently let a Polluted stay in her room. This strange behavior had influenced Ming Xia, making her strange as well, actually holding a conversation with a Polluted.

Why was she being so strange?

Ming Xia shook her head and stepped forward to leave.

Just then, the hyphae

suddenly sprang toward her. Startled, Ming Xia moved to dodge, but the hyphae merely settled gently on her head, plucked a dead leaf from it, and tidied her hair.

Once finished, the hyphae withdrew and slowly slithered away.

Ming Xia's eyes widened, a trace of disbelief showing in them.

In her memories, whenever she went out, her older sister, with whom she had depended on each other for survival, would tidy her hair and clothes like this.

Her sister had gone missing in an A-rank Polluted incident half a month ago. Usually, in such circumstances, missing meant dead, with no remains left.

This Polluted...

Ming Xia's heart jolted, and she instinctively followed the hyphae for a few steps. She had felt something strange the very first time she saw this Polluted, which was why she kept staring at her. Could she be...

Ming Xia parted her lips, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest.

Was this the Polluted's corruption effect?

Ming Xia wanted to act like an outstanding, rational potential ability user, but she could not stop herself from wavering.

"...Sis."

She murmured softly.

Chapter 18: Awakening (1): An unprecedented awakening...

During the final three days at the trial grounds, Ming Xia spent even longer staring at Mushroom Man. She watched her, trying to find traces of her gentle, uncontentious sister in a Polluted. After every trial, she invariably found an excuse to visit their assistant teacher, and every time she went, she invariably saw Mushroom Man. It turned out Teacher Turbot brought Mushroom Man back to her room every day.

Ming Xia witnessed how Mushroom Man and Teacher Turbot got along and was utterly astonished. She had never known the Polluted could coexist peacefully with humans. It was far too bizarre. Even the mildest F-rank Polluted used in the trials only refrained from harming people because humans forcibly confined them to the trial rooms.

The Polluted were transformed from brain-dead humans. From a human perspective, they were already dead. Revived as the Polluted, they were no longer humanity's own kind. It had always been kill or be killed. Just how had Teacher Turbot gotten on the same wavelength as Mushroom Man? How had she done it?

Ming Xia was full of questions. She could not figure Teacher Turbot out. Her strength was unknown, her personality unclear. She was far too mysterious.

On the last day of the trials, after the final trial ended, the other students were all excited about that night's Blood Moon, but Ming Xia stared at Mushroom Man in the cage, unable to bring herself to leave. After this meeting, she would probably never have another chance to see Mushroom Man. Yan Pei would return this Polluted to the Jin Family, cage and all. Even if she visited Teacher Turbot, she would no longer be able to see Mushroom Man.

Irritation, urgency, anxiety. Was this Polluted her sister? Was she not? Even now, Ming Xia could not be certain. And what could she do even if she was? So many questions filled her, weighing on her until she felt nauseous. She was merely a fifteen-year-old student with no power or influence and a little potential. So many things were beyond her. She had no control over her own circumstances.

Her stomach felt heavy. Looking at Mushroom Man in the cage, her lips moved, letting out a barely audible "Sis." Mushroom Man suddenly stirred and moved a little closer.

Ming Xia grew excited. Was that a response?!

She instinctively took two steps forward, but immediately realized it was merely an uncomfortable spasm that had made Mushroom Man accidentally bump into the cage. That was all. The next second, she bumped into another side.

-During the half month of trials, Mushroom Man would sometimes suddenly ram into the cage, her body curling into all kinds of twisted postures. This had been happening more frequently lately.

She seemed to be suffering.

Were her injuries very serious?

Ming Xia licked her lips, wanting to say something to Mushroom Man, but her classmates, wild with joy over successfully completing the trials, dragged her out of the trial room.

"Ming Xia, what are you looking at? Teacher Yan's calling us to assemble. Time to go!"

Until her very last step out of the trial room, Ming Xia never took her eyes off Mushroom Man.

The students had all left. Only Ye Jiang remained in the empty trial room. She walked up to Mushroom Man's cage and stopped before her. Mushroom Man slowly raised her head, turning her featureless face toward her.

Ye Jiang took out two bowls of Go stones.

"Let's play another game."

She said.

Mushroom Man did not move. After a long while, she extended some hyphae and drew a board in the dirt. She had played so many games with the human that something once unfamiliar had become exceptionally familiar.

She finished setting up the board and curled her hyphae around one of the bowls, taking it away.

This time, she played black.

This was the largest game they had ever played. The board covered the entire trial room.

The human and the Polluted placed their stones rapidly, so fast their movements left afterimages.

When the game ended, Ye Jiang did not announce who had won or lost, just as she did not say goodbye.

Tomorrow, her time as an assistant teacher would end. Afterward, she would probably have no further contact with these students, including this special student who was often locked in a cage.

Ye Jiang left the trial room.

Countdown to Blood Moon rise: 01:01.

The trial grounds plaza.

Seventy-six students gathered in the plaza. After half a month of trials, they had finally made it here. Now, there was one hour until the miracle descended.

The students rubbed their hands nervously, anxious yet excited.

"I never thought I'd actually make it to the end. Will I awaken? What ability will I awaken? Ah, probably only F-rank. That's fine. As long as I awaken, that's enough. I'm not greedy."

"I want to awaken a fire ability. High attack power, so I can join the operations team and go on missions with Captain Qin instead of working in logistics."

"Aaah! I want to awaken so badly! I want an ability so badly! Blood Moon above, please grant your devoted believer an ability!"

The students discussed it eagerly. Up front, Yan Pei sat on a chair an assistant had helped bring over, quietly watching the little brats below. For once, he did not demand order and discipline. His eyelids drooped listlessly, concealing the disdain in his eyes.

Awaken abilities?

These students thought completing the trials meant they could awaken abilities?

Too naive. At least half the people here would fail to awaken, and of those who did, half would have trash abilities with extremely low potential and no hope of advancing. Outstanding abilities would emerge in only a tiny handful of people!

With half an hour remaining, the atmosphere grew even more anxious. The sky had gone completely dark. Only a few scattered lights were on in the trial grounds plaza, joining the moonlight in dimly illuminating the students.

The students' conversations grew quieter, and they glanced up at the sky from time to time.

With ten minutes remaining, all conversation stopped. Every student had their head raised. The trial grounds were so quiet that only the chirping of insects remained.