Human feelings that felt a little unfamiliar

She left it alone and clicked into the discussion section.

[I awakened! I wasn't even in a trial ground, but I awakened, hahaha! I really am the chosen one! The Moon Goddess loves me!]

[Place your bets! Which of the 2,099 trial grounds will produce the most geniuses?]

[Sigh, fewer and fewer ability users are awakening on Blood Moon Day. This year doesn't look promising either, does it? Worried.]

[How many ability users will awaken this year?]

Not long after entering the discussion section, Ye Jiang figured out what sort of place it was. She browsed several posts and learned more about ability users and the corrupted.

She also gained a clearer understanding of just how unremarkable an ability user she was.

Ye Jiang: "..."

Without much appetite for gossip, she grew bored and left the discussion section, put away the system screen, and touched the Blood Moon symbol, using her ability for the first time.

After touching it, her hands remained empty. She had thought something like needles and thread would appear, but there was nothing.

Yet when she tentatively touched the clothes she was wearing, her old clothes became as good as new the next second.

Ye Jiang fell silent.

What a plain, unassuming ability.

It was pretty useful.

Good. She wouldn't have to buy clothes anymore. She just needed to keep refreshing them every day.

It suited a poor person like her very well.

Chapter 22: Human feelings that felt a little unfamiliar.

As Ye Jiang studied her ability, she had no idea that two things happened that night. First, the Ability Control Bureau members who had come to meet them discovered Yan Pei's betrayal and, following orders from above, sent two people off to track him down.

Second, the much-watched supergenius and A-rank awakener Ming Xia, like the other awakeners, agreed to the Ability Control Bureau's recruitment offer and prepared to receive its training and work for it. But she had one small request: before leaving the mountains, she wanted to see the Mushroom Man from Trial Room A one last time. When she learned that Yan Pei had taken the Mushroom Man away, her expression changed slightly on the spot, and she asked to join the pursuit. But the Ability Control Bureau stopped her, considering her too young, newly awakened, and inexperienced.

Ye Jiang knew nothing about either matter. She was merely an outsider who had accepted a task and briefly worked with the Ability Control Bureau, her presence no different from a passerby's. As a peripheral figure who drew no attention, she hitched a ride back to the city with the Ability Control Bureau at daybreak.

Blood Moon Day had just passed, and the whole world was immersed in joy. Citizens rose early and waited at the city entrance for the Ability Control Bureau's returning convoy, just to catch a glimpse of the newly awakened students. Barring any accidents, these students would all become Ability Control Bureau reservists, shouldering the responsibility of fighting for humanity. Whatever their future accomplishments, great or small, they were all little heroes who protected humanity.

The crowd was immensely enthusiastic, cheering fervently.

Inside the vehicles, the newly awakened ability users were stirred, their gazes growing firmer as they heard those cheers.

Ye Jiang wasn't sitting with the students. Hearing the cheers outside, she glanced out the window, her gaze flickering. Her eyes, usually as still as a deep pool, seemed to have had a tiny pebble tossed into them, sending out small ripples.

Ye Jiang was dropped off after they had passed the crowd. The place where they let her out was very quiet, the street deserted. Perhaps because her ears had grown used to all that bustle, she felt a little unaccustomed to it for a moment. It was too quiet, as though something were missing.

She was distracted for a few seconds before a bus carrying students reversed toward her. Its windows suddenly opened, and the students from Trial Room A popped their heads out like bamboo shoots after rain.

"Goodbye, Teacher Turbot!"

"Thank you for looking after us, Teacher!"

"Damn, you're squashing me! Teacher Turbot, look at me, look at me! Listen to me, Teacher-you need some more training in your sense of humor!"

The students waved, every face beaming. Even after the bus drove off, they kept looking back.

Gradually, the bus receded into the distance, and so did their voices. Ye Jiang stood there for quite a while before setting off toward home. She had risen early and missed breakfast, yet now her stomach inexplicably felt full. What a strange sensation.

Ye Jiang opened the door and returned to the apartment. Someone was in the cramped room. Yu Qingyi wore a pair of work coveralls and hadn't cleaned herself up, her whole body filthy. Sitting beside the wooden table, she stared blankly at a bouquet of wilted flowers in the vase on it. The sound of Ye Jiang opening the door startled her. She raised her eyes, saw that it was Ye Jiang, and blinked. The next second, a smile spread across her face.

"You're back?" Yu Qingyi said with a smile, her voice gentle, with a barely noticeable strained note. After she blinked, even that strain disappeared. She stood up. "Have you eaten this early? I made a little food, but not much. I'll go make some more."

With that, she went into the kitchen.

Ye Jiang: "..."

Her friend had left too quickly for her to find time to share the news that she had earned the enormous sum of fifty thousand.

Something felt off in the air. Ye Jiang came to the kitchen doorway. Inside, Yu Qingyi was busy with her head lowered, showing her only her back.

Ye Jiang stared for a while and decided to speak now. "I took a part-time job and earned some money."

The person in the kitchen paused, and a gentle voice rang out. "That's wonderful, Jiangjiang. You're amazing."

She praised Ye Jiang.

But she didn't turn around.

In all the time since Ye Jiang had woken in the hospital, she had never felt that eye contact mattered when talking to someone. But at this moment, she suddenly felt that not being able to see her friend's eyes was a little strange.

Ye Jiang stared at the figure in the kitchen, her brows slowly drawing together.

Yu Qingyi made steamed-bun burgers. She sliced yesterday's leftover steamed buns, dipped them in egg, and fried them. Two slices of tomato, a few leaves of lettuce, some ready-made luncheon meat, and a lazy breakfast was ready. Ye Jiang ate the breakfast her friend had made. The steamed buns were a little hard. She had already noticed that her friend wasn't very good at cooking, and today was even worse. She said nothing, but Yu Qingyi froze, becoming dejected and downcast as she murmured, "I can't do anything right. If it were you, Jiangjiang..."

What would happen if it were her?

As Ye Jiang ate breakfast, she wondered whether she was good at cooking.

Yu Qingyi finished breakfast despondently, tidied up, and said she was going to sleep for a while. She had worked the night shift.

The bedroom door closed, and Ye Jiang could no longer see Yu Qingyi. She stared at the door to her room for a long time before shifting her eyes to the bouquet on the table. Yu Qingyi had bought it for her when she left the hospital. Half a month had passed, and it had withered completely.

Ye Jiang stroked the dried flowers, thought for a moment, and used her ability.

She had only intended to give it a try, but under her touch, the flowers slowly lifted their heads. Their faded colors gradually returned, their shriveled textures grew full, and vitality was returning to the bouquet. In mere moments, the flowers became fresh and dewy.

She stopped, surprise flashing through her eyes. It really worked. An ability meant to mend clothing had restored the vitality the plants had already lost.

She looked at the table beneath the vase, its surface covered in scratches, and used her ability. The dents and uneven spots vanished, leaving the table smooth and gleaming.

She looked at the chair she was sitting on and used her ability to repair it.

She looked at the old refrigerator in the room and repaired it.

She looked at...

She refurbished the entire room.

She came to the balcony, where several of Yu Qingyi's worn-out clothes were still hanging, not yet put away. Ye Jiang's eyes sparkled as she used her ability to restore the clothes to new condition. She had repaired many things in this short time, but repairing these clothes felt different from the rest. It was as though... as though this was the very reason she had awakened the ability [Sewing Box].

She looked up at the clothes overhead and briefly lost herself in thought.

A gaze fell on her. She lowered her head and met Yu Qingyi's eyes. Her friend, who should have been sleeping in her room, had come out again for some reason and was staring at her in a daze.

"Jiangjiang... you awakened an ability?" Yu Qingyi's eyes wavered.

Remembering her unremarkable, unranked F-rank ability, Ye Jiang fell silent for a moment before answering, "...Yes."

Yu Qingyi ran over excitedly, took hold of Ye Jiang, and looked her up and down. Once she finished, a gratified expression appeared on her face. "That's wonderful... wonderful."

Ye Jiang: "..."

It didn't seem particularly wonderful.

She decided to conceal her ability's type and rank.

Ye Jiang found it difficult to say, but in truth, Yu Qingyi had never imagined she would awaken an ability above F-rank.

Her friend was already past the best age for awakening and hadn't had a trial ground's help. Awakening at all was already a joyous event she had never dared imagine!

Her friend had actually awakened an ability...

How wonderful.

This meant her friend would have one more safeguard in this dangerous world, wouldn't she?

Yu Qingyi smiled from the bottom of her heart.

She held Ye Jiang's hand tightly, her excitement still not entirely subsiding.

"Jiangjiang, half a month ago, I said I had something very important to tell you." Yu Qingyi stared at Ye Jiang, her expression solemn. "You've been out for half a month, so you've probably sensed at least some of what I'm going to say. That's right, this world is full of corruption and extremely dangerous."

Yu Qingyi gave Ye Jiang an introduction to this world. Ye Jiang listened quietly, though she had already learned some of it from the student Ming Xia. When Yu Qingyi finished and saw her expression, she chuckled softly and said, "You really did know already, Jiangjiang."

Ye Jiang silently acknowledged it.

Still holding Ye Jiang's hand, Yu Qingyi leaned against the balcony railing, letting the morning sunlight fall on her tired face, and said quietly, "Jiangjiang, I'm sorry."

Ye Jiang: "?"

Why was she apologizing?

"I was being sulky earlier. I'm sorry," Yu Qingyi said.

Ye Jiang: "..."

So her friend had been sulking. No wonder the air had felt a little different from usual.

Yu Qingyi lowered her eyes and said, "Jiangjiang, I'm afraid of losing you."

She said, "I have this feeling that, since you woke up, I can't quite hold on to you anymore."

"You don't know how it felt when I came home from work and couldn't find you anywhere, when all I found in the end was a piece of paper. My calls wouldn't connect, and my messages wouldn't go through. One day, two days, half a month-you don't know how scared I was."