bookbashuk Chapter 4 Something's Wrong with This World
Chapter 4 Something's Wrong with This World
Ding~ Ding~ Ding~
The church bells rang eight times.
On the street, upon hearing the bells ring, some passersby began to bow their heads in prayer. Cars remained silent, and even some workers rushing to work sighed and subconsciously slowed their pace.
Outside the hotel, Luo Qiu, who had just stepped out, also stopped, head down.
He didn't have any special reverence for the figure enshrined in the church.
I kept my head down because my feelings were complicated.
An hour ago, Luo Qiu woke up from his deep sleep and, unsurprisingly, found that he had successfully awakened.
Becoming an extraordinary being and embarking on an extraordinary path is certainly something to be happy about.
But then he discovered that the user guide on the "phone" had stopped working. It no longer guided him, but instead became like a function manual, meant only for him to explore on his own.
The reason for this was that its awakened talent was not in its data reserves, so it could not provide meditation tutorials and rune practice that matched the talent.
In short, he needs to research the next steps of his spiritual practice on his own.
In addition, his talent also brought him both joy and sorrow.
Through the awakening ceremony, he learned that his talent was called Absorption, which allowed him to absorb the extraordinary power contained in things and transform it into his own spiritual power.
This sounds like a great talent. But there's a problem:
This talent trait wastes extraordinary items; where would he find so many extraordinary items to squander?
However, at the moment, Luo Qiu didn't have time to reflect deeply on his talent.
In the distance, the pointed spire of the church had already captured his full attention.
St. Helir Cathedral is the largest and oldest church in the city, with a history dating back five hundred years. Over these five hundred years, the church has undergone several renovations, the most recent of which saw the spire fitted with a gilded bronze sphere half a meter in diameter.
Originally, this bronze sphere was used to display the sanctity of the church. Every time the sun rises, the beams of light shine on the sphere, and after being reflected by the sphere, people from all directions see a golden glow.
Luo Qiu heard that the church even hired someone to polish the bronze ball every day for a monthly salary of six thousand kronor.
But now, as soon as Luo Qiu stepped out of the hotel, his gaze accidentally met that of the bronze ball, and what entered his pupils was a bright red color.
This is his talent coming into play.
Any target that can be captured within sight is marked with red light.
The redder the red light, the higher the concentration of extraordinary power contained in the item.
Just like the "cell phone" he received, which appeared light red in his eyes, the bronze ball was a deep, almost purplish-red.
Upon glancing at it, Luo Qiu had an idea.
If only I could get my hands on that bronze ball...
Unfortunately, he suppressed the thought as soon as it crossed his mind.
Anyone with a brain knows that a church with such a treasure wouldn't be without superhumans. And since it's a church, the superhumans inside must be of a very high level.
For someone like him who has just entered the realm of the extraordinary, this kind of place should be one that he shouldn't even approach.
The "cell phone" claims to prevent the user from being detected by superhumans below Sequence Three, but if he were to recklessly approach the church now, a powerful figure would likely appear within ten seconds and instantly refine him.
So, after standing still for a few seconds at the hotel entrance, Luo Qiu turned around and walked to the other side.
Having just become a superhuman, I haven't figured out what to do next, so I need to keep my agent job.
But after what happened at the church, Luo Qiu didn't just keep his head down and keep walking; he started to observe his surroundings from time to time.
……
Ten minutes later, Luo Qiu began to cross a bustling street.
This area is surrounded by shopping malls, with little traffic in the middle, making it a street primarily for pedestrian shopping.
To my recollection, zero special cases have been handled here in the past ten years.
Therefore, Luo Qiu believed that going this way wouldn't be surprising. Superhumans probably wouldn't like to be exposed in crowded places either.
But Luo Qiu was wrong.
Upon turning onto this main street, he immediately noticed at least a dozen places marked in red.
The two women in business attire closest to him were marked in light red.
One of them was carrying a stack of documents, and the other was carrying a briefcase. They walked in a hurry, and to anyone who looked at them, they were ordinary employees who were dedicated to their work.
Luo Qiu couldn't see anything unusual about the other party before, but due to their talents, both of them had a faint red color on their bodies, which clearly indicated that they were carrying extraordinary items.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, these two should be superhumans.
This situation startled Luo Qiu.
After realizing what was happening, he quickly looked at the other red lights.
On the left, a man and a woman, both superhumans, are dressed in light red. On the right, four superhumans, also dressed in light red, are getting out of a car…
Fortunately, the colors of these red markers are very light, so they shouldn't be items that high-sequence superhumans should be equipped with.
In addition, Luo Qiu also noticed that all these people who came here walked straight toward a building.
The building's exterior was clean, with no conspicuous signs. But Luo Qiu remembered that the upper floors were the property of a private club; entry required a custom-made card, and it was supposedly a space for business people to network…
So, this is where those extraordinary individuals exchange information and resources?
……
At 8:30, Luo Qiu finally arrived at the Investigation Bureau headquarters with the help of the bus.
I managed to make it to work at the last minute.
However, Luo Qiu wasn't relieved to have kept her salary today. As she walked towards her workstation, she was lost in thought and didn't even greet her familiar colleagues.
The situation in the foggy city was unexpectedly complicated. After walking through three streets, he saw no less than a hundred red lights.
In addition, these red lights are mostly in twos and threes, and even if there are any alone, they are usually active around certain special buildings.
This means that these extraordinary individuals are organized.
It was completely different from the extraordinary individuals he had imagined who lived secretly on their own and traded on the black market in secrecy.
This also dashed his hopes of using his talents in the black market.
He originally thought that with this talent, he could quickly accumulate strength and then leave the Foggy City...
Now, he had to start considering continuing his previous lifestyle.
"Luo Qiu, I was just looking for you."
At his workstation, as Luo Qiu was still analyzing the current situation, a voice interrupted him.
Looking up, he saw his colleague Winters, a fat agent who had been with the Bureau of Investigation for eight years but had never fired a shot.
At that moment, he was holding up a cardboard box and gesturing towards Luo Qiu.
"These pieces of evidence have exceeded their sealing period and now need to be destroyed. How about you come with me?"
In the Bureau of Investigation's procedures, at least two people must be present for any work involving a case, and the same applies to the destruction of evidence.
But the evidence room is at least two corridors away from the office area, so the fat man's special visit to him clearly had another meaning.
Luo Qiu roughly knew why the fat man had come to see him, but he was clearly not in the mood for it right now. He shook his head, preparing to refuse.
"Winters, I have some things to attend to right now. You need to find... wait, are these pieces of evidence important?"
"Yes, it's very 'important'."
"Then I'll go with you."
What made Luo Qiu change his mind was that he happened to glimpse a faint red color on the evidence box.
……