The skin on the back of Jiang Zhaoye's neck tightened, his heart thumping wildly against his ribs.
He instinctively wanted to brush it off, but the words reached his lips only to be swallowed back down.
There was simply no plausible excuse he could make up for these piercing blue eyes... Ms. Wen was a minor supervisor in her company's procurement department, dealing daily with psionic equipment and people from all walks of life; with an eagle eye that missed nothing, she was not someone who could be fooled.
Jiang Zhaoye was not the most articulate speaker. After racking his brain for a long time and failing to come up with a convincing explanation, he could only put on the innocent, clueless expression of an obedient child. Looking up at his mother, he said, “Mom, I don't know what happened either. The color of my eyes just suddenly changed.”
He deliberately widened his eyes, gazing earnestly into Ms. Wen's eyes in an attempt to display his pure innocence. “I've just been cultivating normally at home these past few days without even stepping outside. I was just practicing, and when I woke up this morning, it was like this. They turned blue, my nearsightedness is gone, my ice attribute jumped overnight from seventeen to twenty-two, and my water attribute went up by three points too.”
Ms. Wen's eyebrow twitched, a flicker of exasperation crossing her eyes. This brat—every time he lied, he stared unblinkingly into people's eyes, fully believing he was putting on a great performance.
Frowning, she turned and walked to the entryway to shut the front door. Crouching beside the shoe cabinet, she opened her suitcase, rummaged out a small medical penlight, and waved her son over.
Jiang Zhaoye obediently came at her beck and call.
Ms. Wen clicked on the penlight, pinching his chin to shine it into his pupils. The light beamed into the depths of those pale ice-blue eyes. She said nothing, shining it first into his left eye and then his right until Jiang Zhaoye's eyes welled with tears, before having him blink repeatedly left and right. Her grave expression made Jiang Zhaoye break out in a cold sweat.
Just as the increasingly anxious teenager was nervously clenching his sweaty palms, his mother suddenly spoke. “Last year, our company sent a Tier 3 ice-attribute consultant for an examination. He had awakened the [Frost Pupil] sequence. Both of his eyes had turned blue as well, and the tips of his hair turned white. Later, our technical department even had to prepare a special pair of psionic contact lenses for him.”
Seeing the faintly anxious, youthful face of her son, Ms. Wen's gaze softened, and she patted his head gently. “Physical mutations aren't uncommon among psionicists. Special attributes, special cultivation techniques, accidentally consuming spiritual materials, or awakening a special physique can all cause similar conditions.” She switched off the penlight, her tone carrying a mild, naturally imposing weight. “Tell me the truth. Aside from your eyes and attributes, did you feel anything else unusual in your body?”
Jiang Zhaoye edited out transmigration, the fortuitous encounter in the ice cave, and the Great Void Ice Soul Cicadas entirely, cautiously picking only what he could share: “While practicing, I suddenly felt like I wasn't afraid of heat or cold anymore, and I only feel comfortable when the bathwater is extra hot. My skin got better, my face got more handsome, and I grew taller.” With every sentence, he sneakily glanced at his mother's expression.
Ms. Wen shot him a glance, not bothering to entertain his nonsense.
He tried to hide everything, yet ended up letting the cat out of the bag anyway—what kind of normal person discovers they aren't afraid of the cold in the middle of summer?
Yet, looking at her son's suddenly refined, handsome face and those tremulous, melancholy, endearingly pretty blue eyes, her heart of steel softened after all. She sighed and consoled him, “Your situation looks like you've awakened spirit eyes, or perhaps some kind of cold-attribute physique is awakening. Your maternal grandfather was a psionic inspector in his youth, so I've seen things like this more than once.”
“Still, to be certain, you'll have to come with me to the hospital tomorrow for a checkup.” Leaning against the dining table, Ms. Wen offered casually, “Don't worry. We're in the era of starry sky pioneering now, and psionicists generally have to go to the battlefield. Everyone has seen all kinds of cultures and races. Having talent only means you'll receive focused nurturing; you won't be hauled off to be sliced up for research.”
“Huh?” Jiang Zhaoye blinked, probing with a refusal. “But our third-year middle school homeroom teacher just sent out a notice today saying the school will conduct a census in two weeks, co-issued by the Municipal Psionic Bureau and the Education Bureau. Is there really a need to make an extra trip to the hospital for an exam...”
Ms. Wen tapped his forehead. “You'd better smarten up and not treat this as purely good news.”
“The census isn't just to select talent; it also screens for potential hazards. Abnormal manifestation, unstable physique, and out-of-control psionic overflow will all be flagged as 'under observation,' which will likely affect your profile. With your eyes like this, an ice attribute of only 22 is far too low. You'll most likely end up in the 'under observation' pool.”
“As your mother, I have to tell you that going to the hospital is so you understand your own condition, while the census is the government sizing you up. They're two completely different things.”
“If you really have awakened spirit eyes, this state is probably only an initial awakening, and your eyes will be extremely fragile. You need to protect them well.” She paused. “The light-gear department at my company has a few defensive bracelets and protective goggles suitable for your stage. I'll find time to get you a set.”
Jiang Zhaoye nodded. “Okay... I'll think about whether to go to the hospital. Let me see how things go in a couple of days.”
Ms. Wen hummed in acknowledgment and said no more. Being a parent who respected her child, she watched her son return to his room before turning around, starving, to heat up dinner.
Jiang Zhaoye shut his bedroom door, turned around, wiped away his sweat, and let out a long breath. Then he headed straight for his desk and turned on his computer, searching for information one topic after another: Huaicheng youth psionic census, recent psionic censuses, psionic census testing items, under-observation criteria, ice-attribute sequence awakening...
Settling his mind, he carefully read through the pages that popped up one by one.
In previous years, Huaicheng's psionic censuses were uniformly conducted in September after the start of term; holding the census before school started seemed to be a first for this year. The tests basically covered the standard three items: base attribute values, spiritual energy circulation stability, and external psionic manifestation.
Jiang Zhaoye also looked up information related to abnormal manifestation on Xuexin.com. It explained very clearly that abnormal manifestation was usually accompanied by a dramatic surge in a single attribute value, and physique awakenings were much the same.
Although his ice attribute of 22 had crossed the awakening line, within the concept of abnormal manifestation, it was far too low. That was because whether it was abnormal manifestation or a physique awakening, the associated single attribute value would invariably be off the charts.
Leaning back against his chair, Jiang Zhaoye tapped the desk melancholically.
His mom was right. If his values remained like this two weeks from now, he would easily be classified as under observation; he simply didn't fall within the standard range.
Twenty was merely the threshold for awakening, the bare minimum standard for awakening psionic energy. With his ice attribute at 22, awakening actually carried quite a high chance of failure.
Generally speaking, the higher the attribute value, the higher the probability of awakening, and the greater the likelihood of awakening a high-power, high-potential natal sequence.
I still have to find a way to keep raising my ice attribute...
Jiang Zhaoye sighed like an old man.
He had no certainty whether he could raise it or by how much, but at the very least, he needed to convert as many points from water to ice as possible before the census, and practice the Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art more while he was at it. If all else failed, he could still disguise it as an incompletely awakened physique.
Jiang Zhaoye closed the web browser and stood up with mixed feelings.
The sky outside the window had turned pitch-black. Huaicheng's late-summer wind slipped in through the crack in the window, carrying the sultry scent of camphor trees. The cicadas outside the window buzzed ceaselessly, yet the two inside his body remained exceptionally quiet, making not a single sound.
Rate on N.U.
