Domination was ordinary, but it was domination.

As Ye Jiang and Ming Xia talked, the other students were drawn away by the upheaval in the square and did not hear them discussing the most basic common knowledge in this world. Ye Jiang stared at Ming Xia and said, "Ming Xia, you've helped me understand myself better."

So she was not just a penniless pauper, but a frail pauper who could barely protect herself in a dangerous world.

Chapter 21: Domination was ordinary, but it was domination.

Ability Control Bureau Headquarters in City M.

The Blood Moon faded from sight after lasting 32 minutes and 13 seconds, much the same as on previous Blood Moon Days. Humanity had waited three years for these thirty-odd minutes.

Data kept pouring in from the various trial grounds.

"Trial Ground 2: 115 participating students, 28 awakened. Of these, 15 were F-rank, 6 E-rank, 4 D-rank, and 3 C-rank. No B-ranks or A-ranks."

"Trial Ground 11: 136 participating students, 39 awakened. Of these, 22 were F-rank, 9 E-rank, 5 D-rank, 2 C-rank

"1 B-rank, and no A-ranks."

"Trial Ground 147: 97 participating students, 21 awakened. Of these, 12 were F-rank, 6 E-rank, 1 D-rank, and 2 C-rank. No B-ranks or A-ranks.

"Trial Ground 2091: 176 participating students, 58 awakened. Of these, 30 were F-rank, 18 E-rank, 6 D-rank, 3 C-rank, and 1 B-rank. No A-ranks."

An hour after the Blood Moon set, over a thousand trial grounds had sent in their data, reporting more than thirty thousand newly awakened ability users. Most were F-rank, scarcely any were above D-rank, and there were only 14 B-ranks. Compared with Blood Moon Day three years ago, these figures were dismal. Although each Blood Moon Day had been worse than the last, no one had expected this year to be so bleak.

Fourteen B-rank ability users meant fourteen potential A-rank ability users. That number looked decent compared with the 87 A-rank ability users currently alive, but evolving from B-rank to A-rank took many years, and the casualty rate was high. Taking that into account, it did not amount to much.

All the leaders of the Ability Control Bureau Headquarters had gathered in the conference hall, waiting a long time just to hear this data report. Results far below expectations left them all steeped in gloom. At the head of the square conference table, an elderly man in a Tang suit held his head slightly lowered. His hair and beard were entirely white, his features gentle, and his eyes held a distinctive compassion.

The elderly man was the highest leader of the Ability Control Bureau. As he listened to the report, his gaze rested on the thoroughly cold tea before him, watching the reflection in it.

"Humanity... will have a hard few years ahead."

The elderly man sighed deeply.

The others around the square table had been listening intently to the report, but the sigh left them restless. A fact they all knew had been spoken aloud. As members of humanity, it was hard not to be moved by the foreseeable hardships ahead.

Humanity had suffered so much.

Sensing the oppressive atmosphere in the conference hall, the reporting officer paused. A trace of uncertainty about the future appeared on his still somewhat youthful face. Where, exactly, did humanity's way forward lie? He could not help wondering.

A piece of data suddenly appeared on the computer screen before him. Another trial ground had sent in its results. Still feeling despondent, the reporting officer glanced at it casually, only to leap to his feet the next second, making the chair behind him scrape shrilly.

All the leaders around the square table looked at him. Under their many gazes, the young reporting officer flushed at his own rashness, but he had no time to apologize. Trembling all over, he spoke. "...Trial Ground 165 has sent in its results."

His voice unsteady, he reported, "Trial Ground 165: 107 participating students, 46 awakened."

Forty-six awakened. That was a very gratifying proportion, quite good indeed.

But... did it warrant this much excitement?

That was what the leaders thought.

The reporting officer continued, "Of these, 20 were F-rank, 6 E-rank, 4 D-rank, and 3 C-rank."

At this point in the report, a faint stir ran through the conference hall. The elderly man at the head of the table raised his head and stared straight at the reporting officer. The reason, of course, was...

Thirteen awakened students had yet to be accounted for!

One leader could not help blurting out, "Thirteen B-rank ability users awakened?!"

The number thirteen electrified everyone present.

Thirteen! That was almost the total number of B-rank ability users from over a thousand trial grounds!

"Good, good!" The leader could not help clapping. "Trial Ground 165 is managed by the City A branch, right? Well done!"

The atmosphere grew lively, sweeping away the earlier dejection and gloom.

However, the reporting officer spoke up. "No."

"Hm?" No?

"Twelve B-ranks." The reporting officer swallowed and continued his duty of reporting. "One A-rank."

Silence.

...What?

The elderly man at the head of the table slowly stood. "A-rank?"

An A-rank had actually awakened on Blood Moon Day?

The reporting officer nodded solemnly.

The elderly man went still. After a long moment, he smiled.

Humanity could keep fighting.

At the City A Branch of the Anomaly Control Bureau, Zhao Yi had taken over a colleague's work to personally send the data received from Trial Ground 165 to headquarters. Even after sending it, he could not recover for a long time. Their Trial Ground 165 had actually produced twelve newly awakened B-ranks and a newly awakened A-rank. Was... was this real?

He remained stunned for a while, still unable to believe it, and sought confirmation from his captain. "Brother Chuan, did Trial Ground 165 really produce twelve newly awakened B-ranks?"

Qin Daichuan said nothing.

Zhao Yi said, "And a newly awakened A-rank?"

Qin Daichuan remained silent. He was considering another piece of news from Trial Ground 165: two students at the trial ground had turned into Polluted.

This was as bizarre as the trial ground producing so many geniuses. Both carried a strange sense of something being out of place.

According to the assistants at Trial Ground 165, with the supervising teacher's approval, the trial ground had used a C-rank Polluted sent over by the Jin Family to test the highly talented batch of students. All the geniuses had come from that batch as well.

The branch had already dispatched people to the trial ground, both to make arrangements for the newly awakened, who would all join the Ability Control Bureau barring any surprises, and to investigate while they were there. Judging by the time, those dispatched should have arrived by now.

Just as Qin Daichuan thought this, his phone rang.

[The newly awakened are in good condition. Supervising teacher Yan Pei has run off with the C-rank Polluted!]

Qin Daichuan: "..."

He frowned and pulled up Yan Pei's file.

Yan Pei: male, age 47, B-rank ability user, stone control. Joined the Ability Control Bureau five years ago. Assigned to Operations Group Two.

"Zhao Yi."

"What?"

"I have a mission for you."

"What mission?"

"Arrest Yan Pei."

Yan Pei was of little consequence, but that Mushroom Man was far too important. If it was connected to the students at the trial ground turning into Polluted, then it was dangerous and had to be brought under control. If it was connected to the extraordinarily high quality of the awakenings at the trial ground, then it mattered even more. To a certain extent, it could be said to influence humanity's position in this war against the Polluted.

They had to, had to find it!

No one knew that Yan Pei had snuck away with the Mushroom Man before the people from the Ability Control Bureau branch arrived. Only after the branch personnel searched everywhere without finding him did they realize he had slipped away, taking the Mushroom Man with him.

The assistants were stunned. They had never imagined a brother from the Ability Control Bureau would betray them. "He must have decided the Mushroom Man could help people awaken and couldn't resist the temptation!"

If the Mushroom Man really had that ability, it truly would be highly sought-after.

"Fuck! I thought he just had a lousy personality. I didn't think he was that kind of person!" Only now did the easygoing D-rank assistants catch on, and once they did, they were dumbfounded. "What do we do now?"

None of this commotion had anything to do with Ye Jiang. She was merely an outsider doing a job for money. Her work had ended the moment the people from the Ability Control Bureau branch arrived. Once she left the trial ground, she could submit her task-completion request on Part-Time Cat. Once approved, her pay would automatically be transferred to her account. The reason she had not submitted it yet was that her ordinary phone had no signal at the trial ground. Only the special phones issued to Ability Control Bureau members had reception.

Her work was already over. The only reason she had not left yet was that she wanted to hitch a ride into the city.

At the moment, she was in her room, waiting for the Ability Control Bureau personnel to call her when they left.

The students who had crowded around her had all returned to their dormitories to await arrangements from the Ability Control Bureau personnel. Alone in the room and utterly bored, Ye Jiang brought up her ability system.

Ability: Sewing Box (can reweave any torn clothing to make it as good as new).

Rank: F.

Ranking: ??

Ye Jiang: "..."

From Ming Xia's veiled hints, even among ability users who awakened F-rank abilities, very few had anything as peculiar as Ye Jiang's, which resembled an everyday life skill. This ability was a little... awkward.

She could not even get into the rankings.

Ye Jiang did not insist on it. Instead, she studied the other features.

Her ability system had three sections: an ability display screen, a discussion area, and a section called "Domination." Ye Jiang did not understand what that was. She tapped it and found an item-storage grid. Only the first slot held anything: a pitch-black, indistinct lump. Looking closely, she realized it was countless dark points of light in varying shades, blended together.

She tapped this "sesame ball." Suddenly, her vision swam, and for an instant, she seemed to be in a mysterious dark space. Countless red points of light revolved around her, some near, some far, some bright, some dim. Yet whichever point it was, she felt as though she could easily grasp it.

Her consciousness wound around one of the brightest points of light. The instant it did, she felt dizzy and nauseous. The next second, she returned to reality.

Meanwhile, far away in the city

inside a small restaurant with hardly any customers, the tall owner sat lazily behind the counter, playing on her phone. It was late at night, but Blood Moon Day only came once every three years. The entire world was awake, and so was the owner.

The owner held her phone, a stretch of her forearm exposed, restrained power beneath wheat-colored skin.

Suddenly, the phone screen swayed before her eyes. Her soul seemed to fall under control, and for an instant, she lost herself.

Just one second later, she returned to normal, unaware of anything unusual about herself a second earlier.

In the assistant's room at the trial ground, Ye Jiang pressed her lips together. It took her quite a while to suppress the surge of discomfort, and she could not muster any fondness for this strange section called "Control."