Chapter Fifteen: The Reason for Awakening

The team leader is an Awakened? And of the artifact class as well?!

Ye Chen’s first reaction was not to marvel at how unique the team leader’s abilities were. Instead, he was secretly delighted that he had finally met someone with whom he could discuss matters concerning Awakened beings.

Little did he know that his own way of awakening was utterly different from others, and that here, with Team Leader Dai, he would ultimately gain no useful answers.

Sensing the collective gaze of those around him, Ye Chen replied, “Actually, I was also attacked last night, on Bar Street!”

“Ah!” The three spoke in unison.

After the initial shock, a brief silence descended upon the room.

“It happened like this...” Ye Chen recounted the entire ordeal in one breath.

When he finished, Team Leader Dai’s expression turned grave. He stared intently at Ye Chen’s face, silent, seemingly trying to discern any falsehood from his micro-expressions.

Chen Bingfeng closed his eyes, reconstructing the scene in his mind.

Xu Fan blinked rapidly where he sat.

“Very good, Ye Chen, the clues you’ve provided are extremely valuable!” At last, it was Team Leader Dai who broke the lengthy silence, raising his cup to his lips and taking several deep gulps.

“You three, adjust your mission. First, go investigate the place where Ye Chen was attacked last night.” Team Leader Dai pushed up his slightly slipping glasses with a finger and suddenly said, “Ye Chen, you’re an Awakened, aren’t you!”

The abrupt question left everyone present stunned once more.

Even Chen Bingfeng, who had been deep in thought with his eyes closed, snapped them open in surprise and looked questioningly at Ye Chen.

Xu Fan, for his part, could scarcely hide his envy.

How did you know? I never mentioned my ability just now!

“I saw the way you struck—how you severed Scar’s wrist!” Before the others could recover from their shock, Team Leader Dai gave his answer.

So it was you sitting in the car last night... Ye Chen connected this with the first words Team Leader Dai had spoken to him then.

He heard Dai continue in a solemn tone, “Xu Fan and Bingfeng are both ordinary people. If you encounter any danger during the investigation, look out for them with your skills.”

With that, Team Leader Dai leaned back in his chair, his manner returning to calm. “Get to work. Bingfeng, remember to take him to collect his equipment first.”

So the team leader wants me to be the main combatant in the squad?

Was this the real reason he put me in a group with Chen Bingfeng and Xu Fan?

What, then, are Bingfeng and Xu Fan each good at?

Ye Chen glanced at his current cultivation progress—38 out of 58—and felt the urgency of time pressing upon him.

He had a premonition: he might encounter that unknown creature even before those in Team One.

Their next encounter would almost certainly decide the outcome.

As the three of them walked out of the office, Team Leader Dai removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Activating his abilities repeatedly had left him feeling weary.

But he was satisfied with his assessment of Ye Chen.

“What an interesting young man. Another Awakened has joined the Prefecture. It’s a pity for him to remain just a wilderness hunter.

“Let’s hope you bring some real change to the Outer City Patrol Bureau.”

Team Leader Dai knew that an Awakened’s abilities were often closely tied to their own habits, personality, daily work, or cherished desires.

That was why, when he saw Ye Chen’s swing that severed Scar’s wrist—despite not appearing to connect—he’d already had his suspicions.

He had once read a report from the Inner City Supernatural Bureau. The key point was: Awakening is a reflection of one’s aspirations and feedback from life’s goals, a chance for the world to grant them.

That’s why those who frequently teeter on the edge of physiological death are more likely to awaken.

Because at the brink of death, the overwhelming desire to survive creates a powerful mental shock—a key that unlocks the shackles of awakening.

Of course, apart from this, deep obsession with certain things could also trigger awakening.

As for another method, Team Leader Dai dismissed it with disdain.

……

Chen Bingfeng took the lead, guiding Ye Chen toward the equipment room.

Xu Fan, trailing behind, pestered non-stop with questions.

“Ye Chen, what did you do before?”

“I was a wilderness hunter.”

“How did you awaken?”

“I almost got swallowed while hunting a sand lizard, and then I just awakened.”

Hearing this, Chen Bingfeng nodded slightly in front, finding it perfectly reasonable.

The conversation shifted, and Ye Chen interjected, “You all know Scar from the Workshop District, right? Do you know how he awakened?”

Xu Fan eagerly answered, “I know him well. That guy controls the Workshop District and is always up to petty theft and highway robbery.

“But once, he reached into the Market District and a rival gang kidnapped him, threatening to ruin his right hand.

“It was at that moment that he awakened. Rumor has it, he crippled a lot of them on the spot.”

What a thoroughly evil hand... Now I finally had the chance to take him down, Ye Chen thought to himself.

He then asked, “So in the Administrative and Residential Districts, does Scar simply not dare to act?”

The grin faded from Xu Fan’s face, and he replied in a low voice, “No one dares to cause trouble in the Administrative District. As for the Residential District, isn’t Zhu Gan the one protecting it?”

“Enough, don’t discuss this here in the Bureau.” Chen Bingfeng, walking ahead, quickly cut him off, his face darkening.

Xu Fan swallowed his words, forcibly holding back what he wanted to say.

Ye Chen’s expression turned thoughtful and grim.

A short while later, in the equipment room, Ye Chen received his uniform, communicator, and standard-issue baton.

Chen Bingfeng explained at his side, “The only weapon we have here at the Outer City Patrol Bureau is the elemental energy pistol, but you need the team leader’s approval to get one.

“On regular patrols, the only weapon we carry is the baton.”

Ye Chen nodded in understanding. He had indeed never seen any patrol officers with guns on the streets.

By contrast, the Defense Bureau soldiers always went out fully armed.

……

By late morning, the doors of Bus 99 opened from within. Zhou Peng, dressed in casual clothes and yawning, rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he stepped out.

Managing nightlife establishments, he was used to sleeping in this late.

He’d only taken a few steps when the noise ahead caught his attention.

A crowd had gathered at the entrance to an alley, with local residents surrounding the scene and patrol officers busy behind the cordon.

Before opening his tavern, Zhou Peng had been a member of the Outer City Patrol Bureau.

As for why he quit, he’d never told anyone.

Seeing the patrol officers treating the scene with such gravity, his expression suddenly shifted. He recalled Ye Chen and Jin Yinghui returning home in the dead of night.

With growing unease, he strode quickly toward the commotion.

…Please, let it not be either of them who’s been hurt!