Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking on the door interrupted Song Shi’s thoughts. She quickly stuffed the book back into the wardrobe and went to open the door.
It was her younger sister, Liu Chichi.
On the first page of the Human Differentiation Guide, her delicate handwriting was visible, indicating that this book was likely lent to the previous owner by her.
"Sis, it's time to eat." Her smile was perfect.
"Hmm." Song Shi walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
At the dining table, she sat on the same side as Liu Chichi, while across from them sat Liu Chichi’s father.
Song Shi had already figured out the structure of this four-person household. She and Liu Chichi shared the same mother but had different fathers.
Liu Chichi’s father was the man across from her, while Song Shi had no idea who her own father was.
Based on the attitude of her biological mother toward her, it seemed likely that her father wasn’t a good person, at least, that was how her mother viewed it.
Song Shi quietly sipped her soup.
The dysfunctional family dynamics didn’t bother her. It saved her the trouble of trying to maintain relationships.
She had more important things to focus on.
"Sis, the Ability Management Bureau still hasn’t registered your awakening status. Shouldn’t you follow up on it?" Liu Chichi asked, turning her head toward Song Shi once they were seated.
Song Shi, without any change in expression, reached for a vegetable dish nearby.
"I didn’t awaken."
The two people across from her froze in mid-action.
"Sis, stop joking. The stimulus experiment is so rigorous. It’s impossible to survive without awakening, especially since you’re a high-probability candidate for violent-type differentiation."
"My entire group died, but I didn’t awaken. The researchers concluded that I’m unlikely to ever awaken. Pushing me further won’t change anything, so they sent me back." Song Shi casually explained, giving a random excuse.
She didn’t bother paying attention to their expressions and continued putting food into her bowl, eating seriously.
She was hungry and just wanted to eat.
The woman sitting diagonally from her had no patience for the pretense.
She set down her chopsticks.
"Since you have no hope of awakening, you should move out as soon as possible."
Song Shi’s chopsticks paused mid-motion.
"Why?"
The original body was still a minor.
"No one wants a potential violent criminal living nearby."
Violent criminal?
Song Shi took a couple of seconds to associate the term with herself.
Just because she carried genes for the violent-type differentiation, she was labeled a violent criminal without having done anything.
And now she was expected to be driven out.
The tension at the table made the man sitting across from her uncomfortable.
He tried to explain, "The neighbors have been complaining for a while. Before, they kept quiet because you still had a chance to awaken, but now that they know you’ve failed, they’ll likely band together and demand action."
Liu Chichi chimed in at the right moment, filling in the gaps her father had left:
"Sis, don’t blame Mom. She’s helpless. If she were still a healer, no one would dare act like this, but now... her mental strength is damaged, and her ability is practically gone. Dad’s ability is useless, I haven’t awakened yet, and you failed to awaken. Our whole family..."
She started speaking, but soon covered her mouth and began sobbing.
Song Shi glanced at her sideways. A single tear slid down Liu Chichi’s pale cheek, making her look all the more pitiful.
Her father and mother immediately wore expressions of concern.
Song Shi: ... She felt out of place just sitting there.
"I’ll leave." She said.
The tension at the table instantly eased.
"But I’ll need money for rent and living expenses."
Her mother was almost too eager to lower her head and make some adjustments on her wrist device.
After about ten seconds, she looked up, "The money has been transferred to your account. You’ll be an adult in three months, and the amount includes rent and living costs for those three months."
Song Shi glanced at the bracelet on the woman’s wrist and noticed that both Liu Chichi and her father were also wearing one.
She guessed that it must be some kind of communication device in this world.
She remembered there was one on her desk as well. She had thought it was just a watch and hadn’t paid much attention to it earlier.
Now that she had gotten what she wanted, Song Shi silently picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.
This might be her last free meal, so she needed to savor it.
The other three people at the table were clearly surprised by how calm she was. They exchanged glances before turning their attention back to her.
The so-called mother was eager to sever their last remaining tie.
"According to federal law, in three months, I will no longer be obligated to support you. Until then, I hope you don’t come looking for me."
"Mm." Song Shi mumbled through a mouthful of food, agreeing without hesitation.
The woman was momentarily stunned but continued, "After you become an adult, we’ll have no relationship. You won’t need to take care of me in my old age, and it’s best if we don’t see each other again."
Song Shi, in the middle of sipping her soup, nodded.
"No problem."
The woman opened her mouth, a sense of relief creeping into her voice.
"Then from today onward, we are no longer connected."
Song Shi put down her empty bowl, stood up, and corrected her, "Starting tomorrow. I need to stay one more night to pack my things. You don’t mind, do you?"
Her gaze swept across the three of them. Liu Chichi’s face showed shock, her father looked concerned, though Song Shi couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not, and the third face was utterly expressionless, cold to the core.
Song Shi nodded to herself.
"No response means you agree. See you tomorrow."
With that, she stood up and returned to her room.
After closing the door, Song Shi leaned against it and placed her palm over her heart.
Her heartbeat was steady.
It seemed the original body wasn’t feeling sad either.
The sooner she got rid of a family that didn’t love her, the sooner she could start a new life.
Song Shi strapped the watch like bracelet on her wrist.
After fiddling with it for a while to figure out its functions, she opened her account to check the balance.
Hmm… 34,030.
Since she wasn’t familiar with this world, she had no idea about the cost of living and couldn’t gauge the value of that amount.
Setting it aside for now, she reached up to the top of the wardrobe and pulled down a few pieces of scattered clothing.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to a black and white school uniform.
Could the original body still be in school?!
Song Shi grabbed the uniform and inspected it. Pinned to the right side of the chest was an ID card that read, "Renxi High School, Senior Year (Class 2), Song Shi."
Song Shi: ... The original body really was still in school.
She had been so focused on the matter of abilities that she had completely forgotten that at this age, the most important thing was studying.
Tossing the uniform into her suitcase, Song Shi sat on the edge of the bed, irritated, and ruffled her hair.
In the end, she found a contact labeled Teacher Chen in the bracelet’s contact list.
Seeing that this was the only teacher in the list, and noticing that the last call between the original body and Teacher Chen was a week ago, Song Shi pressed the call button.
"Song Shi? What’s up?"
The phone was quickly answered by a middle-aged man, whose voice matched his profile picture.
"I need to take a day off tomorrow."
As someone who had always respected teachers from elementary through university, Song Shi felt it was immoral to skip class without permission, so she called to request leave.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
"...Approved." Then the call was disconnected.
Though it was only two simple words, Song Shi inexplicably sensed a hint of awkwardness.
Not thinking too much about it, she closed the interface and continued packing her clothes.
There weren’t many clothes belonging to the original owner, so Song Shi finished packing quickly.
She also grabbed some daily essentials and turned to the bookshelf. There weren’t many books on it either, and most of them were literary works, which she decided not to take.
She sat down and resumed reading the Guide to Human Differentiation.
This time, she read it thoroughly, page by page, committing every type of power to memory. She noted the characteristics, drawbacks, and notable figures for each ability.
When she finished the entire book, Song Shi leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath.
Liu Chichi had briefly mentioned that her mother was an awakened healer.
The book described healers as fragile and unable to protect themselves.
Healers were crucial to humans and highly valued by the Federation.
One of their abilities was healing, not only of physical ailments but also of mental suffering, akin to being both a magical clinical doctor and a psychologist.
Every healer could reach this level.
But this was not why healers were so highly regarded. After all, regular doctors could also treat illnesses.
It was their second ability that truly mattered: They could purify the black aura pollution from mutant beasts and assist other awakened beings in killing them.
Only B-level or higher healers could do this.
Song Shi searched for more information through the bracelet: Black aura was a form of psychic pollution emitted by mutant beasts.
While it had no effect on ordinary people, it was highly aggressive toward those with psychic abilities, also known as the awakened.
In mild cases, it could significantly reduce or temporarily disable an awakened person's powers.
In severe cases, it could cause irreversible brain damage, leading to a permanent loss of abilities, leaving the person mentally incapacitated, or even endangering their life.
Different levels of mutant beasts had different ranges of black aura attacks. Aside from the Contract type, which could control the emission of black aura, only healers could purify it.
Thus, even though healers had little combat power, they were indispensable on the battlefield when it came to slaying mutant beasts.
Healers weren’t particularly rare in the Federation, one reason being that the healing gene was more easily inherited.
Many healer families existed within the Federation, and they often married only other healers to ensure a high probability of producing healer offspring.
The purer the gene, the higher the level of awakening, and the larger the area of black aura they could purify.
What level would her mother be? Song Shi wondered.
She couldn’t get an answer just yet. She didn’t even know her mother’s name.
She set the thought aside for now.
Liu Chichi had said that her father had a useless ability.
There were very few abilities that could be described this way.
Since it was called an ability, it was something beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Even if it wasn’t very useful in battle, it could still provide some convenience in daily life.
Song Shi flipped through the entire book and, considering Liu Chichi’s father’s traits, deduced that his mutation likely fell under the enhancement category, related to the Berserker type.
However, while the Berserker type enhanced physical attributes, Liu Chichi’s father belonged to the Peacock type, which enhanced appearance.
People born with the Peacock gene already had looks far superior to the average person.
As they aged, their appearance would gradually approach their own imagined ideal of perfection.
High-level Peacock-type awakeners could even alter their appearance to stay current with modern trends.
This was just a theory Song Shi leaned toward, but she didn’t care to investigate further.
Glancing at the time, it was already 1 a.m. Remembering that she needed to find a place to rent and move tomorrow, Song Shi stood up, stretched lazily, and climbed into bed to sleep.
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