Chapter 9Â
Qin Yinian didn’t get the chance to educate Luo Shizhen on the hidden content of the news, as Chen He’an had already been reminded and began his explanation.
There was indeed hidden information in the news.
For instance, the first wave of Anomalies had descended suddenly across the globe thirty years ago. On that day, massive, bloody incidents occurred worldwide. At the time, some people thought it was a biological weapon, leading to diplomatic negotiations and various investigations between nations.
Simultaneously, Qi appeared in the air, along with the first batch of Awakeners.
Some once believed this was a mass evolution of humanity; others believed the world was ending; still others thought these Anomalies were invaders and that peace would be restored once they were driven out.
But regardless of the theory, one thing was certain: the Anomalies needed to be eliminated.
Humans had attempted to use thermal weapons, but most Anomalies were immune to them. Only cold weapons and Awakeners could deal with them.
Thirty years had passed, and the number of Anomalies grew daily, yet humanityâs only method of countering them was to fill the breach with the lives of Awakeners.
Over these thirty years, countless Awakeners had died in battles against the Bizarre. Some weaker nations quietly vanished from the world stage, leaving only the major powers struggling to maintain a facade of peace.
Xia Country was one of the nations maintaining this peace. But after thirty years, with Anomalies appearing more and more frequently everywhere, Xia Country could no longer keep it under wraps.
The disclosure now was partly because it could no longer be hidden, and partly in the hope that the public would gain some understanding and vigilance regarding the Bizarre.
Luo Shizhen was still a bit dazed after watching the news until the phone in his pocket began to buzz and vibrate.
Messages were flooding the Class 3 group chat.
High schools typically confiscated phones, and Luo Shizhen had only gotten his back from Ms. Gao after asking for leave. His phone wasn’t confiscated because she feared he would play with it during class.
Luo Shizhen was very obedient; he never did anything else during class except listen attentivelyâeven if listening was as effective as not listening.
The main reason was that he was too honest and easy to trick. Initially, Gao Xi didn’t take Luo Shizhen’s phone, but when other students in Class 3 found out, those full of mischievous ideas, like Zhang Chuan, started tricking Luo Shizhen into lending them his phone to play games.
Luo Shizhen fell for it every time, even believing lies like “Ms. Gao told me to come collect your phone.”
Eventually, Gao Xi simply confiscated his phone for real, returning it only during holidays.
Today was a holiday, and the students had likely seen the news. The class group, named [Old Gao Flies Happily, Class 3 Follows Eternally], was refreshing with messages at high speed.
Student 1: [Awakener, Awakener, let me become an Awakener!!!]
Student 2: [I’ve had this video saved for over half a year. Every time I posted it, I got banned. I couldn’t even send it to friends. They blocked everything. Now I can finally send it.]
Student 3: [The Pen Spirit incident at X High School… I heard they summoned a Pen Spirit and brought out a senior who had hanged herself at the school. All the people who played the game hanged themselves. The school was still stubborn before, claiming they committed group suicide due to study pressure.]
Student 4: [For real? Holy crap! Am I dreaming?!]
Student 5: [Help! I just saw a zombie video saying people who are buried in the ground easily mutate into zombies. I just went back to my village for a funeral today, and the person hasn’t been buried yet. Should I tell my parents to drive back overnight? Urgent, urgent, urgent!]
Student 6: [Didn’t Zhang Cai get attacked by a zombie? I heard an ambulance took her away that night. @Zhang Cai, are you okay? Was it really a zombie?]
Zhang Cai: [Still alive. It was a zombie. Luckily Luo Shizhen saved me. That thing took a bite right out of my neck, missing a huge chunk of meat. The doctor said I had a massive hemorrhage and almost died. I only woke up around noon today. My mom took these photos. [Image] [Image]]
Student 6: […Sister! I kneel to you, sister! That’s so bloody! You really don’t treat us as outsiders!]
Student 7: [Holy crap! It was really a zombie? I thought people were joking. You’re actually alive. @Zhang Cai [Like] [Like] [Like]]
Student 7: [Stone is amazing! He can even fight zombies! You’re actually alive too. @Luo Shizhen [Like] [Like] [Like]]
Zhang Cai: [Of course, these are my medals of honor. Bitten like this and still aliveâwhich of you could do that?]
Zhang Cai: [@Luo Shizhen, thank you, Luo Shizhen. If not for you, my little life would really be over. My mom wanted to come over and thank you, but we found out you took leave. Are you okay? Did you get bitten while fighting the zombie?]
Zhang Chuan: [@Luo Shizhen, ??? How did I not know about this? Are you okay? If you’re okay, make a squeak.]
Luo Shizhen: [Squeak.]
Luo Shizhen: [@Zhang Cai, no need to thank me. Any classmate who saw that would have helped. [Blush] [Blush] [Blush]]
Behind him, Chu Xiao suddenly spoke up: “Why did you send blushing emojis to Zhang Cai?”
Luo Shizhen lowered his head shyly. “Zhang Cai said thank you to me. I’m just expressing friendliness.”
After answering, he continued looking at the group chat. Qin Yinian, however, asked:
“Chu Xiao, if I’m not mistaken, that’s the Class 3 group chat. You’re in Class 1; why are you in the Class 3 chat group?”
Luo Shizhen paused, realizing it too.
“That’s right, Chu Xiao. How can you see our Class 3 chat logs?”
Chu Xiao’s tone was flat. “I tutored Wang Yang from your class. To thank me, he lent me his alt account to use.”
Luo Shizhen let out an “Oh.” “So that’s how it is.”
Then he lowered his head and continued reading the chat.
Qin Yinian was astonished. Even though he had already discovered that Luo Shizhen was a miraculous person, he was still astonished.
Luo Shizhen just let it go that easily? He wasn’t going to ask why Chu Xiao wanted to spy on the Class 3 group?
Did he not realize this matter was directly related to him?
He sends a blushing emoji to a classmate, and Chu Xiao has to question it. Did he not feel that having such a controlling friend was too perverted, too unbearable?!
Luo Shizhen felt nothing. He didn’t realize Chu Xiao was reading the Class 3 group because of him. He was currently immersed in the friendly atmosphere of the class.
Because he had bravely saved Zhang Cai, Luo Shizhen, who had always been obscure in the class, instantly became the hero of Class 3.
Everyone was @-ing him, praising his awesomeness, commending his loyalty, asking if he had trained in martial arts or had any tricks, and asking what the zombie looked likeâdid it really hop like on TV?
Luo Shizhen happily answered every classmate’s question. He had never received so much attention and recognition.
Many female classmates also sent him “Like” stickers, thanking him for saving Zhang Cai. He felt like he was floating on air.
Moreover, Zhang Cai privately messaged him, asking what he took leave for, and saying that once she was discharged, she would definitely come to thank him in person.
[If you hadn’t appeared in time, I really would have died. After the news came out today, a lot of information that was banned online before has spread. I heard people bitten by zombies basically all died or turned into zombies too. I must be fine because I was saved in time. My mom and dad are so grateful to you; honestly, they wish they could kneel to you.]
[You’re not in the city? Then can you tell me when you get back? Once I recover, I must treat you to a meal!]
Luo Shizhen felt almost overwhelmingly flattered. Zhang Cai had always been the center of attention in Class 3âgood grades, good personality, and very pretty.
The old Luo Shizhen rarely had a chance to speak to her. It wasn’t that Zhang Cai ignored him, but their seats were too far apart.
Zhang Cai sat in the front row; Luo Shizhen sat in the back. Zhang Cai was a day student; Luo Shizhen was a boarder. It was like they were separated by the Milky Way.
But now! Zhang Cai! Added him as a friend! PM’d him! Thanked him! And wanted to treat him to dinner!
Luo Shizhen was so excited he didn’t know what to say.
He wanted to say something nice but really didn’t know what, so he could only clumsily type that there was no need to thank him, no need to spend money, it was nothing, and any classmate would have helped.
Although the world was changing fastâwith zombies, ghosts, and red/blue toilet paperâLuo Shizhen was receiving treatment he had never had before.
Praised by classmates, treated to dinner by Zhang Cai, received a salary of twenty thousand, and transferred to a new school.
It felt like everything was developing in a wonderful direction.
Luo Shizhen was filled with even more anticipation for his school life.
The car stoppedâ
They had arrived at the Luoxia City Awakener School.
Chen He’an led Luo Shizhen out of the car, introducing the place as they went.
“Awakener schools usually take in students in batches to facilitate training. This campus only has twenty-seven students. The small number makes it easier to cultivate feelings between one another.”
“Here, familiarize yourself with your classmates’ names and faces first.”
He swiped the tablet, revealing the student list to Luo Shizhen.
Luo Shizhen browsed with shining eyes. Hearing that the number of people was small, he was initially puzzled, but upon hearing it was to facilitate cultivating feelings, that doubt turned into understanding.
With fewer people, it was indeed easier to hang out together.
Weren’t he and Chu Xiao just like that? Because they were the only two kids in town without parents, they played together.
In Class 3, however, he preferred playing with girls. Girls were gentler, easier to talk to, and never laughed at him for being slow or stupid.
Luo Shizhen flipped a page, then another, and another.
His expression gradually turned confused, and he looked at Chen He’an blankly.
“Teacher, why are they all boys?”
Some classes might have very few girls, but out of twenty-seven people, surely it couldn’t be that there wasn’t a single girl?!
Chen He’an then remembered he had forgotten to tell Luo Shizhen about the gender issue among Awakeners.
“That was my oversight. I forgot to tell you: among Awakeners, opposite sexes repel each other.”
Luo Shizhen’s gaze was dull. “Opposite sexes repel?”
He had only learned that like charges repel.
“Yes, repel. If Awakeners reproduce together, the Qi of both parents transfers to the child. The parents become ordinary humans and rapidly die from pollution. Therefore, when opposite-sex Awakeners meet, a killing intent instinctively arises for self-preservation.”
simply put: kill the other person so you don’t have to have a baby.
Although it sounded ridiculous, the Awakener instinct was indeed like this.
Among the first batch of Awakeners, there were seven Awakener couples who were already pregnant. The results were tragic. One moment the parents were full of love for the unborn child, and the next, they uncontrollably wanted to kill it.
Love and hostility appeared togetherâa rare occurrence.
The Awakener Center had just been established then and didn’t understand why these couples felt hostility toward their children. It wasn’t until four of the children were bornâdraining all Qi from their parents, causing the parents to die rapidly from pollutionâthat everyone understood the reason.
The love was for their child.
The hostility was the instinct for self-preservation.
Of the six couples, only the two who chose abortion survived.
And the five children born didn’t fare much better. Young children couldn’t withstand high concentrations of Qi. Of the five children (one pair was twins), only one ultimately survived.
The remaining four were highly polluted at birth and rapidly transformed into Anomalies.
The surviving infant was said to have been polluted at birth as well. Perhaps his twin brother helped disperse some of the Qi inherited from their parents, allowing him to barely survive.
But since infancy, he had endured mental collapse caused by high pollution levels. As for what happened later, Chen He’an hadn’t heard.
In short, Xia Country learned its lesson from that point on. Awakeners began to be divided by gender. Whether studying or going on missions, everything was done separately. No one got close to anyone of the opposite sex.
Chen He’an told this story to Luo Shizhen and sighed.
“Those six couples just happened to be pregnant when they awakened. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have conceived. When opposite-sex Awakeners meet, a fight is inevitable, even if they were lovers before.”
Luo Shizhen: “…”
“Some high-level Awakeners can control this instinct, but they still can’t tolerate long-term contact. So whether it’s schools or Awakener Centers, everything is separated by gender.”
Luo Shizhen finally recalledâit seemed true. Everyone he met at the Awakener Headquarters was male.
Not! A! Single! Girl!
Chen He’an continued his science lesson. “There are also two Awakener Headquarters. The two leaders are one man and one woman, each responsible for 330 cities. The female Awakener Headquarters is in Shuangyashan, and the male Awakener Headquarters is in Kashgar.”
Luo Shizhen’s gaze went blank. He had studied geography; he knew these two cities were at opposite ends of Xia Country.
It proved just how much Awakeners repelled the opposite sex. The straight-line distance between headquarters was…
He couldn’t remember the exact number, so he instinctively looked at Chu Xiao.
“Chu Xiao, what’s the straight-line distance between Shuangyashan and Kashgar?”
Chu Xiao, worthy of being a top student, answered quickly, his tone sounding more pleased than usual: “4,458.78 kilometers.”
Luo Shizhen: “…”
Chen He’an comforted him thoughtfully. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to worry about running into female Awakeners. All your travel routes will avoid the routes of female Awakeners. Even if a female Awakener needs to come to a city managed by males for business, we will be notified in advance to clear the area, so it’s very safe.”
Luo Shizhen: “…”
He looked up dazedly at the school sign.
At this moment, Luo Shizhen finally realized that the world had truly undergone a massive change.
So, not only did he have to attend an all-boys school, but when he started working (as a Guardian) later, all his colleagues would be male too??
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I read enough to know there’s no way LS isn`t that surviving baby! No wonder he`s so special, no wonder he`s how he is.