Song Shi had never considered herself to be a lucky person, so from the beginning, she never held much hope for her own awakening.
However, she never imagined she could be this unlucky. The person before her, who now had nothing but their legs sticking out from the beast's mouth, had awakened before her.
She watched in disbelief as a faint golden light shot out from between the beast's jagged teeth.
The rage in its eyes gradually cleared, and in the end, it actually spit the person it was about to devour back out.
Song Shi: ...
“The second stimulation test for high-probability Contract Awakeners has successfully produced one result. Evaluation: Class A.” The broadcast echoed from within the glass enclosure.
The boy lying on the ground began to laugh.
His legs had been bitten by the beast, and after being spat out, he lay there with his legs twisted at unnatural angles. His white pants were stained red, with blood still spreading around him.
The glass enclosure opened from the outside, and a group of armed individuals entered, carrying a stretcher. The boy was placed on it, screaming the entire time.
The beast he had controlled was also agitated, clawing relentlessly at the ground.
Song Shi stood to the side, gripping her dagger, her eyes fixed on the boy being lifted onto the stretcher, all while remaining on guard against the beast.
As the boy was carried away, he turned his head slightly from the stretcher and glanced at Song Shi.
His pale face twisted into a smile, but the severe pain caused his facial muscles to spasm, making the smile appear distorted.
“I hope you're as lucky in the next round.”
Song Shi pressed her lips together, staying silent.
Those who entered this experiment would either awaken or die.
She hadn’t died, but she hadn’t awakened either, so she had no choice but to continue the experiments with Group Three.
After the boy left, the beast's nose emitted a loud snorting sound. Its pupils repeatedly shifted from vertical slits to needle-like points and back again, as if it were struggling against some internal force.
Song Shi wasn’t familiar with the Contract Awakeners' methods for controlling beasts or how long the control lasted, but she had a vague sense that the beast was about to break free.
Quietly, she began to retreat, putting more distance between herself and the creature.
The glass door opened again. Hearing the sound, Song Shi assumed Group Three was entering, so she didn’t look back and kept her focus on the beast.
However, from behind her came a voice: "A researcher wants to see you."
At that very moment, the beast's eyes suddenly cleared.
Song Shi's heart skipped a beat, and without hesitation, she sprinted towards the glass door.
The armed guard, dressed in black, had been standing by the door. As soon as she crossed through, he shut it behind her just as the beast slammed into the glass with a loud bang.
Now temporarily safe, Song Shi gasped for air and turned to look back. The beast was in a frenzy, furious for having missed her, pounding on the glass door.
Its roaring shook the entire experimental facility.
The other experimenters nearby were drawn to the commotion, turning their heads to watch.
But when they saw the massive, enraged beast, they quietly turned away again.
By comparison, their trials suddenly didn’t seem so unbearable, at least they would leave behind a body.
In stark contrast to their relief, the next group to enter, the Berserker and Contract Awakeners from Group Three, was walking straight into danger.
With the beast in such a furious state, the risk of going in skyrocketed.
Two of them were so nervous that they awakened on the spot before even entering. One awakened as a C-level Berserker, and the other as a C-level Contract Awakened.
Song Shi paid no attention to this. She had already followed the man in black away from the mountain summit and into the descending elevator.
Standing inside, Song Shi caught a glimpse of her reflection on the opposite panel of the elevator.
Her loose, yellowed clothing was stained with blood and an unidentifiable yellow substance, picked up when she had rolled on the ground to avoid the beast.
Her bangs were also filthy, stuck together in clumps with sweat, plastered against her face.
Her face was exactly the same as it had been in the other world, but with subtle differences, she was too thin, her skin dull with signs of malnutrition, making her look utterly exhausted.
Especially her thick bangs, nearly covering her eyes.
This body was her, from another world.
Song Shi clenched her fists, feeling the absolute control she had over this body.
The elevator descended quickly, and Song Shi had already adapted to the feeling of weightlessness.
She focused her mind, pondering why she had been summoned. Why did the researchers want to see her?
Even when the sensation of weight returned, she still hadn’t figured it out.
She lacked sufficient information; She didn’t even know the original owner’s name.
There was little she could deduce, and all she could do was take it step by step.
Ding.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal an endless corridor made of metal.
Song Shi pulled her thoughts together and stepped out first, the armed guard trailing half a step behind her, his gun never leaving her side.
Was she considered a dangerous person? Song Shi couldn’t make sense of it.
As they entered the corridor, they found rooms lining both sides, each connected to the next, with no windows, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.
The sound of their footsteps echoed clearly on the ground.
At the end of the corridor, a door opened, and a person emerged, arms crossed, facing them directly without any other movements.
Song Shi halted her steps and turned to inquire with the armed guard, who nodded slightly, indicating that the researcher was in that room.
She slowly approached, observing the person. The individual had pink hair pulled high into a ponytail, wearing sunglasses that obscured her eyes, and a lollipop sticking out of her mouth, which made her right cheek bulge.
They were getting closer, separated only by two closed doors.
Song Shi felt the other person’s scrutinizing gaze sweep over her from head to toe, radiating an unmistakable hostility.
The other party did not welcome her.
It was clear that the researcher who came for her was not this person.
Song Shi kept moving, bypassing her and heading for the room.
Her hand had already grasped the doorknob when a sudden gust of wind blew past her ear, followed by the overwhelming scent of strawberry candy.
Since sensing the other person’s hostility, Song Shi had maintained her guard, her body tense.
At that moment, when the other party suddenly attacked, Song Shi was quick to react, sidestepping to evade the strike.
The opponent’s claw missed, but she didn’t relent. Instead, her other claw blocked Song Shi’s path.
Song Shi quickly retreated, her back hitting the metallic door, her heels nearly pressed against the door frame.
This gave her a slight distance, but the attacker still pursued relentlessly. As Song Shi slid down to dodge the strike, the opponent seemed to read her movements, reaching down with her other hand.
At this point, she was trapped in a confined space, threatened from above and below, unable to escape. Song Shi could only brace herself to confront the situation.
She chose to grab the descending hand, and as their hands collided, a tingling sensation quickly spread from her wrist up her entire arm, followed by a severe pain in her wrist that gradually radiated to her brain.
Having already been half-squatting, Song Shi collapsed to the ground, her right arm completely immobilized.
However, her opponent didn't let up; A leg was raised to sweep toward her temple.
The fierce wind from the kick sliced across Song Shi's face, and the killer intent of the attacker burst forth without reservation.
Out of the corner of her eye, Song Shi noticed the approaching foot, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
She had initially thought that leaving the glass enclosure meant salvation, but it turned out to be an even greater crisis.
In the face of death, the potential of this body was once again awakened.
Song Shi curled her feet and pushed against the leg supporting her opponent. Despite the slenderness of that leg, it didn't budge under her kick.
The opponent merely thought this was a desperate struggle from Song Shi and curled her lip in disdain.
Yet, taking advantage of that force, Song Shi slid more than a meter on the smooth floor, narrowly avoiding the lethal strike.
That direction was where the armed guard stood. Seizing the moment while the guard was still reacting, Song Shi half-lay down and yanked the gun from the guard's grasp, swiftly redirecting it to aim at the approaching woman.
The woman seemed not to notice the gun pointing at her and stepped forward once again.
A hint of barely perceptible panic flashed in Song Shi's eyes, and her palm holding the gun broke out in cold sweat. Why wasn't she afraid of the gun?!
"Ah Qiao, stop."
The door to the room opened at some point, and a polished shoe stepped onto the doorframe.
The leg rushing toward Song Shi promptly withdrew, standing respectfully and submissively beside the owner of the shoe.
"Miss Song, could you please return the gun to its owner?"
A polite and gentle voice came from above. Song Shi got up from the floor and glanced at the anxious guard waiting for her to return the gun but didn't move.
Instead, she looked toward the source of the voice, who had been silent in the room, allowing her subordinate and the person she had been fighting to engage.
The gender-ambiguous face appeared particularly cold against the backdrop of a black shirt, yet it wore a gentle smile.
Song Shi felt a chill run down her spine.
"Miss Song, please don't be afraid. I have restrained my subordinate and will ensure you come to no harm." The person said with a harmless smile.
Song Shi glanced at the woman beside her, who was sucking on a lollipop and shifting it to the other side of her mouth.
Though her eyes were obscured by sunglasses, the murderous intent she exuded had not diminished one bit.
"Alright." The woman in the black shirt spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness.
"Since you feel safer holding the gun, then by all means, keep it. Now, can we come in and talk?"
Song Shi understood that this was already a concession on their part. Ultimately, whether she could survive depended on their attitude; the gun was of little real use.
She followed them into the room, and the girl with pink hair blocked the unarmed guard from entering, slamming the door shut with a bang.
Standing in the center of the room, Song Shi silently surveyed her surroundings.
One entire wall was covered by a massive electronic screen, displaying the conditions inside the various glass chambers at the mountaintop experimental base.
"My name is Qin Yi. You can call me by my name or Ms. Qin; Here’s my business card." Qin Yi walked around to the back of a chair, pulled a business card from the pocket of her black suit jacket, and handed it to the girl with pink hair.
The latter took it and handed it to Song Shi.
Looking down at the card, Song Shi saw a photo and name, along with the company affiliation, Hunting Group, and the title, Chairman of Hunting Group.
"You must have heard of the Hunting Group, right?" Qin Yi leaned against the table, extending her long legs forward and resting her hands on the table.
Song Shi hadn’t heard of it, but she nodded.
"I saw Miss Song's performance at the experimental base just now." Qin Yi tilted her head, signaling Song Shi to look at the electronic screen on the wall.
"Miss Song performed quite well, and I appreciate it, so I sincerely invite you to work under my group."
On the electronic screen, a pop-up appeared, covering the previous chaotic scene:
[Healing System High Probability Differentiator Ninth Stimulation Experiment, three successful subjects, level assessment: B level, D level, D level.]
Song Shi retracted her gaze. "I’m not an awakener."
"Awakeners are indeed rare. In a group like mine, there are thousands of employees, and awakeners are just a minority."
Upon hearing her words, Song Shi unconsciously glanced at the right leg of the girl with pink hair.
She was wearing shorts, her leg muscles were well-defined but not bulky, and there were two dirty footprints on her knee.
During their brief confrontation, the girl had simultaneously kicked Song Shi's right leg with both legs, using all her strength, sending Song Shi flying a meter away, while the girl’s leg remained rooted to the ground, unmoving.
Before this, Song Shi had only learned some basic self-defense techniques and wasn’t sure if a normal human’s leg strength could achieve that.
Could she also be an awakener in some field?
After a prolonged silence without a response from Song Shi, the smile on Qin Yi's face remained unchanged, but her fingers were rhythmically tapping on the edge of the table.
"Miss Song can think about it more. After all, it’s a matter that determines your fate. If you don’t agree, I’ll have no choice but to send you back to continue the experiments."
Song Shi keenly sensed her impatience. "…I agree."
Although she didn’t understand why a group chairman would lower herself to recruit a non-awakener like her, her life was currently in the other’s hands. She decided to get through this hurdle first.
"Then when Miss Song goes home, you can take this business card to any branch of the Hunting Group to start your job. Ah Qiao, please escort Miss Song out."
The girl called Ah Qiao crunched her candy and walked to the door, kicking it open with a loud bang, showing no intention of escorting her.
Song Shi quickly left while clutching the business card, not really wanting her to accompany her anyway.
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