To ensure she was well cared for, an elementary school teacher was chosen from among the survivors, assigned solely to Jiang Chengcheng.
Once inside the main office, Jiang Chengcheng looked completely transformed. Freshly washed and dressed, she finally looked like the little girl she was.
Standing behind her teacher, she peeked out, furtively observing the three people in the room. Besides Han Yuxin and Lin Feng, there was a strange auntie she didn’t recognize.
Han Yuxin said calmly,
"You can go now."
The young teacher nervously glanced at the man standing by the window, then gave a hesitant nod and turned to leave.
Feeling her sense of security vanish, Jiang Chengcheng fiddled with the hem of her dress and spoke in a small voice,
"Hello, Sister Han. Hello, Uncle Lin..."
The corner of Lin Feng’s mouth twitched. ’At twenty-five or twenty-six, I guess it’s about time I get called ’uncle.’ But Han Yuxin is almost thirty, and she gets to be ’sister’?’
"Ahem. Chengcheng, come here. Let me have a closer look."
As Lin Feng spoke, he placed his hand on the little girl’s head. Upon contact, a detailed Identification panel immediately appeared before his eyes:
「Jiang Chengcheng, lv11/10」
「Life Value: 65, Physique: 60, Spirit: 100」
「Superpower Awakening: Danger Prediction」
「Danger Prediction: Can perceive hostility and imminent danger within a fifty-meter radius, both currently and up to five minutes into the future. Cooling: ten minutes. Cost: 10 Spiritual Attribute Value. Cannot be activated if Spiritual Attribute is below 40% of its maximum State.」
「Note: The subject’s Spiritual Attribute has significantly broken its limit, and her weak Physique can barely support it. Excessive consumption of her Spiritual Attribute will cause permanent damage to both her Physique and Spirit.」
「Note: The prediction is based on factors in the current space-time. It is subject to change as the variables and their weights shift.」
Lin Feng’s brow furrowed. ’Looks like Ling Yi was right,’ he thought. ’She’s not a Prophet, just someone who can predict events a short time into the future. And those events aren’t set in stone.’
For instance, the sniper ambush Han Yuxin had mentioned was safely avoided thanks to Jiang Chengcheng’s warning.
Even so, this Superpower was still unbelievably powerful. After all, it could predict the future, even if it was limited to danger...
But in combat, it would be the key to turning the tides and changing one’s fate!
Unfortunately, Jiang Chengcheng was too young to fight or participate in High Tier combat. Otherwise, if an adult had this Superpower, they could quickly become a formidable Awakener.
Compared to its potential and benefits, the cost of overuse seemed almost negligible.
From what Lin Feng understood, scientifically predicting the future required a large-scale quantum computer. It would take a terrifying amount of computing power and a pre-loaded database just to forecast potential future events.
But with limited resources, the most that could be modeled was the development of simple life forms in a contained environment, like bacteria in a petri dish or single-celled organisms.
That was why Jiang Chengcheng’s ability was so incredible to both Lin Feng and Ling Yi.
"Chengcheng, when you use your ability, do you see an actual scene play out, or do you just get an idea of the danger in your mind?"
Lin Feng withdrew his hand and asked.
Jiang Chengcheng frowned, trying to figure out how to describe the strange experience.
"It’s like... like a cartoon being replayed."
"When I close my eyes, everything around me plays in fast-forward inside my head. Then, like a movie, it rewinds back to the beginning. The whole process takes less than five seconds, but the vision in my head can last for several minutes..."
Lin Feng nodded and looked at the woman on the sofa.
Ling Yi shrugged and slowly stood up.
"Sensing danger in the near future is practically an instinct for High Tier beings throughout the Cosmos. It’s similar to how you instinctively sense potential threats when you’re on high alert."
"But her kind of wide-range, long-duration prediction is extremely rare. Among the Zerg Race or other species, you would need a machine the size of a skyscraper. It would consume massive amounts of Energy just to collect all the variables and could only make predictions within a limited scope."
"To be able to predict the future directly, like she can, is a power almost exclusive to Deities."
"It might be related to the structure of the human brain. Humans are born with a hundred billion brain cells, a number that is exceedingly rare among all planetary civilizations across the entire Cosmos."
"But nature strives for balance. As a person grows and time passes, brain cells are continuously lost and cannot regenerate, so the number gradually decreases to the normal level of around ten billion."
"Perhaps the younger a child is when they Awaken, the stronger their emergent Superpower will be..."
"But heavy is the head that wears the crown. Although young children have an enormous number of brain cells, their underdeveloped bodies prevent them from fully developing or utilizing that potential."
"Your name is Jiang Chengcheng, right?"
With that, Ling Yi walked over to the little girl, squatted down to her level, and said sincerely,
"Remember, you have to use this Superpower less from now on. For you, right now, it isn’t a gift. It’s a burden, a weight that will severely hinder your natural development."
Seeing the hesitant looks on the adults’ faces, Jiang Chengcheng gave a nod of tentative understanding.
Lin Feng patted her on the head.
"Go play."
After Jiang Chengcheng left, Lin Feng looked at Han Yuxin.
"From now on, assign more people to protect her."
Han Yuxin swallowed and nodded.
As a non-combatant assigned to logistical support, she had never considered such things. But now, seeing the serious expressions on Lin Feng and the researcher...
Jiang Chengcheng was more important than she had thought.
At this thought, Han Yuxin suddenly remembered something else and quickly said,
"Oh, right... back in the Jin City District, there was someone whose ability seemed a lot like Jiang Chengcheng’s..."
Lin Feng’s eyebrow shot up. He and Ling Yi both fixed their gaze on Han Yuxin.
Han Yuxin slowly flipped through the file in her hands, finding the relevant information on one of the last few pages.
"They were a bizarre Doomsday Cult..."
"They called themselves the Doomsday Cult and prophesied the end of the world..."
"You know how it is. In chaotic times, these kinds of groups always pop up to stir up trouble and deceive the masses."
"But this group was different. The other gangs in Jin City held them in high regard, even though they weren’t particularly strong overall."
"Rumor has it their leadership consisted of a fake monk, a real Daoist, and a blind fortune-teller..."
"One of them could supposedly predict the future and see events before they happened."
"And right before we made our move, they vanished, as if they knew we were coming. They abandoned the followers they had swindled and fled to the North of the River area."
"Since they hadn’t actually done anything wrong, we..."
Lin Feng frowned.
"North of the River... Isn’t Liu Yueqi in a town on the outskirts of that same area?"
Realizing the implication, Han Yuxin’s expression changed.