April 8th.
9:30 in the morning.
After grooming and changing clothes, Chen Lusi went out, ready to catch a ride to Peng City.
The Jiangchang City where he was located was not far from that top-tier city.
In a sense, it could even be considered adjacent.
It was at most a two-hour drive.
This is why he didn't choose to depart yesterday.
The journey was uneventful.
Past eleven o'clock.
Chen Lusi arrived in Peng City and caught a taxi to the building Xia Panqiu mentioned before noon.
It was a relatively famous office building nearby.
However, today was a workday, and noon was precisely when most companies were on lunch break.
So people were coming and going, and the elevators in the building were almost all running at full capacity.
Chen Lusi waited downstairs for a long time, slightly late, and when he reached the top floor.
It was already 12:04.
There was only one company on the top floor, with a nameplate reading 'Celestial Strategy Trading'.
Chen Lusi approached the front desk.
There stood a young woman who glanced at Chen Lusi and listlessly asked, "May I ask who you are..."
Chen Lusi thought for a moment and replied, "...Chen Lusi, Miss Xia Panqiu asked me to come."
"Oh—I see, please go inside, just go straight to the end and turn left, and you'll find the conference room." The woman elongated her words, revealing a look of sudden realization, then directed Chen Lusi.
Chen Lusi thanked her, turned, and entered the interior of the company.
But calling it a company.
There was no one inside.
A trading company so empty, even during a lunch break, was extremely abnormal.
Observing the surroundings while walking forward, Chen Lusi quickly found the conference room the receptionist mentioned.
He gently knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Chen Lusi pushed the door open and went in, recognizing Xia Panqiu at first glance.
Standing at the front of the conference table, compared to the casualness of their first meeting, this time she looked much more formal.
This formality was mainly reflected in her attire.
She was wearing office wear.
However, in Chen Lusi's eyes, it did not suit her very well.
With her petite stature, wearing office attire even gave the impression she was deliberately trying to look mature.
Apart from the familiar Xia Panqiu, there were a dozen or so people in the office whom Chen Lusi did not recognize.
Some were old, some young.
There were young people around his age, and there were older men with receding hairlines.
Their attire, attitude, and expressions varied.
But at this moment, they all looked at Chen Lusi.
"Sorry for being late."
Scanning the conference room, Chen Lusi apologized.
With an unreadable expression, Xia Panqiu simply nodded, "Please sit down."
Chen Lusi scanned the conference room once more, then found a chair at the end of the conference table and sat down.
He seemed to be the only one who was late.
Just as he sat down.
Xia Panqiu, at the head of the table, clapped her hands. After she caught everyone's attention, she cleared her throat and said, "Well, now that everyone's here, let's begin."
"However, there's a premise that I need to say to you first, which is—
You are human. Although you are a bit special, you are still human.
You are not chosen ones, not freaks, you are just a bit unlucky, ordinary people.
In simple terms, you are victims.
Please remember this statement. Except for a few joining the Celestial Strategy Mansion and Kunlun, everyone else should continue living as normal people.
Put away your bold ideas.
We have a comprehensive investigative process designed for you.
This is the premise of everything.
The reason you are here, and I am explaining this to you, is not to have you cultivate to become superhumans or pursue some power.
It's merely to inform you of what you have encountered, what has happened in the world, so you have a base in your heart rather than overthinking and going mad.
After all, whether it's superpowers or emotions, explaining things clearly is better than letting people guess wildly; communication is the most primitive and straightforward process between people."
Proficiently, Xia Panqiu delivered her opening remarks.
Most of those present showed varied expressions.
Xia Panqiu took in everyone's expressions and quickly reevaluated each person's level of threat.
Though the process sounded lengthy.
In reality, only a few seconds had passed.
Pausing for a moment, Xia Panqiu quickly continued, "Then, let's start."
"I know you have encountered some strange things, so first, let me define all your strange abilities—"
"We call them 'Authority', originating from various legends."
"As for which legends... I can tell you very directly, I do not know."
"Because there are too many."
"Besides the mythical stories familiar to us, I believe everyone more or less heard some strange folk tales growing up."
"And that is the source of your abilities."
"Spiritual power resurgence, mysterious resurgence... in short, it is such a concept, a certain energy has 'activated' the fictional creatures pointed to by these folk tales, they have become a kind of anomaly, attached to you, and you have become the awakened ones, gaining a portion of their abilities, this is what I just referred to as 'Authority'."
At this point, Xia Panqiu did not continue to observe others' reactions but took a sip of water and continued,
"I'll give an example, the most common gratitude tales in various regions... these stories follow the same pattern, in short, someone saved a creature that was anyway not human, and then that creature turned into a human to repay the kindness."
"Most often, they turn into young women... you should all have heard of these stories, right?"
"This is also a situation we frequently encounter, the activation of such tales causes little commotion, and the Authority they grant generally consists of non-threatening 'transformations.'
Of course, this is under normal circumstances; actually, during the grant of Authority, there is a probability of 'misalignment,' which is what is termed 'Authority misalignment.'
In simple terms, it means the host harbors a strong desire for a certain targeted ability, and the 'activated' tale happens to include relevant descriptions, for example, in folk tales about repaying kindness, apart from transformations, there are also descriptions of being immensely powerful.
Then a misalignment of Authority might occur... this is also why I can't pinpoint the source of your Authority, because it's too complex."
"This situation is not uncommon."
"Do you know what the most frequently encountered 'Authority' I have faced so far is?"
"... Invisibility and immense strength."
"Among you, there is someone whose Authority is invisibility."
"I have no idea what you're thinking..."
"However, this kind of Authority misalignment is not a magic wishing machine, after all, the scale of dissemination of the tales is there, and compatibility is there, under normal circumstances.
Even if the host harbors extremely strong emotions and ends up receiving the desired Authority unknowingly, its power isn't that great.
For instance, invisibility mostly lasts just seven or eight seconds... immense strength might only be slightly stronger than an ordinary person.
The limit for the third type of contact, those granted Authority abilities in most areas, is only C-rank."
With that said.
After a brief pause, Xia Panqiu hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Speaking of contact, I might as well mention, we have categorized all the virtual creatures pointed to by legends into three levels of activation—
First-level contact refers to orthodox deities traceable with the Source Canon. There is dedicated research on this aspect, just in case, but basically, no one takes it too seriously because having been inherited for so long, with multiple ethnic groups merging multiple times, through countless renditions by official and folk figures across several dynasties, the deities' jurisdictions and authorities are extremely chaotic.
No one can guarantee their jurisdictions and authorities before truly coming into contact with such deities, nor can anyone know what they are facing.
The earliest Authority misalignment was actually referred to their Authority misalignment."
"Second-level contact refers to creations based on the aforementioned, which differ from orthodox creations not belonging to the first type. Alternatively, they are related to certain well-known figures, widely disseminated tales, etc."
"Third-level contact refers to folk tales circulated within a narrow scope."
"The vast majority of people I can come into contact with are of the third type."
"I've only encountered the second type once."
"As for the first type, I've never encountered them; even the Celestial Strategy Mansion, established for so many years, has hardly encountered any."
"Therefore, Kunlun has concluded that compared to folk tales, the first and second type of tales require more time and more difficulty to 'activate.'
Looking at the people below, who were deep in thought.
Suddenly, Xia Panqiu changed her tone: "Alright, don't bother thinking about it, the reason I'm saying these things is not to have you remember them."
"But to let you know that your abilities are actually quite useless... Especially here in the south, without even touching the edge of the Central Plains."
"So don't think of yourselves as different, whether it is invisibility or immense strength, when it really comes down to it, it's nothing more than a matter of a bullet."
"Every one of you here is a victim of third-level contact, no matter what abilities you have gained, in the face of modern weapons, they are barely worth considering."
"I hope everyone has this self-awareness."