Superhumans of the Dome City

Chapter 1510: Chapter 2: A Changing World (Part 2)

(Pinned) [Zero Island’s Strongest Noble Family]

[Shiyu Spirit Temple] has logged into the group chat [Zero Island’s Strongest Noble Family]

[Sister Ling’s Glove]: Yay, Spirit Temple Sister~

[Shiyu Spirit Temple]: Good afternoon.

[01]: Spirit Temple, you’re off work? How’s the workload?

[Shiyu Spirit Temple]: I’m on a break.

Lately, the work is so-so, mainly divining where the malice outbreaks occur.

[9 Assistant Ling Jiu 9]: Ugh, collective malice outbreaks...

Honestly can’t stand it, really. After the big battle, dragons went on a rampage everywhere. The Eternal King is dead, yet the lingering effects are everywhere. Receiving requests to handle madmen every week now—I just want to slay them all.

[Zhong Yi]: Sister Ling Jiu seems to be under a lot of stress.

I remember you’re currently assisting Ranger Vitt, is the workload really that tough?

[9 Assistant Ling Jiu 9]: The workload is one thing...

The pressure from my personal life is even greater...

Our ranger went out for half a year to play with his fiancée and came back looking all innocent, what am I supposed to say? I just want to chop him up.

[Shiyu Spirit Temple]: ......?

[01]: Spirit Temple, don’t try to understand; it’s better for the brain.

[Sister Ling’s Glove]: Screw him! Slip him something! Add an extra ingredient to his drink and dinner! Then put on the killer outfit and have a showdown at night!

[9 Assistant Ling Jiu 9]: 17, shut up.

——[Sister Ling’s Glove] was muted by [01] for 5 minutes——

[Three-blade Style]: 17 got killed, how cruel!

[9 Assistant Ling Jiu 9]: Ahh, let’s change the topic, it’s so annoying.

Big brother, is your new Impermanence Skill complete?

[01]: Progress is so-so.

It’s a remodeling of the Calamity Phase, this time planning to make it into a guardian and counter "Fate Scale".

[Lead Army of Super-Era Black Metal]: (Voice) The swaying scales♪ The unpredictable fate♪

Whose heart will the leaning side belong to♪

[01]: The mechanics of the Curse Scale are still too aggressive, so I adjusted the direction before remodeling.

The scale will maintain a "balance" state most of the time, during which it provides a protective effect and luck boost to specific targets, proportional to how much I value them.

[Zhong Yi]: When Sister Kardesia was the test subject, there appeared an invincible barrier.

A rain of gold coins followed.

[Shiyu Spirit Temple]: As expected of Brother Lianyi, I say.

This time, it’s actually a rare positive ability!

[Lead Army of Super-Era Black Metal]: Boringly ordinary, blending into the crowd~

[01]: When others harbor "malice" or intend "harm" against the scale’s protected target, the Fate Scale will tilt.

The scale measures the amount of malice, harm, attack, and other "unfortunate" factors, and returns them in the form of curses.

[Zhong Yi]: The calculation formula is too complex to mention, but generally speaking.

The multiplier is about 1000 times.

[Three-blade Style]: ...Hey, this is a bit...

[Zhong Yi]: In other words, the moment malice arises, the enemy will inflict 1000 times the mental damage upon themselves.

And the moment they take action, they’ll find themselves in indescribable misery.

[Lead Army of Super-Era Black Metal] logged out of [Zero Island’s Strongest Noble Family]

[Sister Ling’s Glove]: Fifth brother got scared, hahahahaha so lame!

[Illusion Moon Venerate]: Isn’t that great? This is the style of our Shiyu clan.

[Sister Ling’s Glove]: Sister Ling! Lady sister! 17 misses you!

[Sister Ling’s Glove]: Spend some time with 17 too! Why wasn’t 17 brought along during the last beach trip? 17 promises not to do anything weird, so please take 17 along next time to the water!

——[Sister Ling’s Glove] was muted for one hour——

——[Sister Ling’s Glove]’s ID changed to [Shiyu Shiqi]——

[Illusion Moon Venerate]: (Laughs)

[01]: (Laughs)

[Zhong Yi]: Then, let me tell a joke to lighten the mood.

·

"Damn it! Why can having admin privileges in a chatroom let you do whatever you want? Shiqi wants to be a chatroom administrator too!"

Shiyu Shiqi fiercely tossed her phone; the unknown-material sofa easily bounced the smartphone up, letting it trace a beautiful arc in the air. Milais quickly caught the phone, preventing the girl from smashing equipment again and causing a big ruckus. He glanced at the female classmate jumping in place and quietly said, "If you think about it carefully, you’ll realize you said something quite embarrassing..."

Shiyu Shiqi crossed her arms angrily: "To make sarcastic comments at a time like this is exactly why you’re not popular with girls!"

"I’m only in middle school second grade this year. I’m far from being called a man, let alone a young man..."

Shiyu Shiqi started pounding his back with her fists, while Milais lay lifelessly on the desk. The sky outside the window was a deep, clear blue; a few biochemically modified pigeons carrying tourists flew by, scattering white feathers over the campus.

"What a nice day," Milais said lazily, "Let’s have a picnic at noon."

"Shiqi doesn’t want to eat sandwiches."

"Then fish and chips."

"Is junk food the only thing in you kingdom people’s brains?" Little Shiqi rolled her eyes dramatically, "Instead of daydreaming on the desk, you should hurry up to grab a spot!"

"Doesn’t matter, there are plenty of open spaces in the city now."

Milais packed his schoolbag, put on a baseball cap, and walked out of the campus with his female classmate. The streets of the capital of Cangdu were unusually bright and spacious. Even the most crowded central area no longer had the hustle and bustle of previous crowds, often just a few young people walking towards the station with large suitcases.

"It feels a bit lonely," he heard Shiqi say quietly.

After the battle of King Pingdeng ended, the Skylight Disaster, which had impacted the world for a decade, finally concluded. No longer needed was any fear of Dragon Species threats, and the containment policy for superpower users was revoked by the officials immediately. However, due to concerns about the destructive power of superpower users, some with higher combat capabilities still had to live under official monitoring for a while. Meanwhile, most of the citizens of Cangdu — those who could bend spoons, change balls, or make small ice cubes — were allowed to live freely.

Understandably, the newly freed kids chose to leave the city right away. Cangdu bore too many of their memories, but no matter how good the prison environment, it wasn’t home. More than 60% of the citizens left Cangdu within these three months; people like Milais and Shiyu Shiqi who stayed were few among the few.

"On the flip side, isn’t there still 40% of the old citizens staying behind?" Milais shrugged, "If you think of Cangdu becoming what it should be... it might seem a little lighter."

They walked into the campus of Central United University nearby and spread out a picnic cloth under a big banyan tree. Shiyu Shiqi ordered a pizza delivery on her phone. The middle school students sat in the shade, silently bathing in the breeze of spring.

"Hey." Shiyu Shiqi gazed at the distant teaching buildings, "Didn’t you stay in the kingdom for two months before? Why did you come back?"

"Me?"

"In the kingdom, you can see your parents; it’s much more pleasant than studying abroad."

Milais rubbed his fingers, creating a thin stream of electric light between them.

"After I went back, I discussed it for a long time with my family. My mom hopes I can stay in the kingdom permanently, but my dad suggests I return to Cangdu." Milais said, "This is the world’s number one academy city after all! It has the world’s most advanced technology and best educational environment. Our country’s finest universities can’t even compare to a random one in Cangdu in the field of research. I think in the coming years, the importance of Cangdu will gradually stand out, and then the school admission quota will become a treasure everyone fights over to get. Grasping the current study abroad opportunity is being responsible to myself."

Little Shiqi looked at him in shock, and Milais chuckled awkwardly, "What’s the matter?"

"That’s not something a middle school student would say! You’re actually thinking seriously about the future!"

"Don’t tell me you stayed here without thinking about anything."

"How could I, I thought about it seriously." Little Shiqi proudly crossed her arms, "If I stay in Cangdu, I can see Sister every day!"

"That’s so mature, I have to bow down to you."

Milais bantered with his classmate while leaning against the trunk of the old banyan tree. The city was no longer dangerous, home could be returned to at any time, and there was a week before school started, a leisurely time hard to find in life. The gentle spring breeze tickled his nose, and chatting with the girl beside made his mouth dry, yet the weather was too comfortable, making him lazy to fetch the water bottle from his backpack, just wanting to spend the time idly.

Milais thought this might be the fundamental reason he chose to return to the city, unrelated to the future or prospects, but because he’s unlikely to find this feeling elsewhere. Not unlikely, definitely. Elsewhere doesn’t have the readily available pizza delivery, doesn’t have the bizarre biochemical products, doesn’t have those quirky yet interesting classmates, nor does it have that girl who argues with you every day. If all these familiar things leave him, then how could life be talked about?

"—Milais!"

"Oh!... Ah!"

Milais suddenly raised his head, bumping into Shiyu Shiqi’s forehead. The two little guys held their heads, letting out low cries. Shiyu Shiqi gritted her teeth in anger: "Big idiot! Fool! Helpless!"

"Ah, it hurts, it hurts... what happened? Has the pizza arrived?"

"Milais, wake up, we’ve already eaten the pizza~"

Milais shook his head, finding a group of upperclassmen surrounding the picnic cloth, each with malicious expressions, eyeing the freshly delivered pizza with their metal skulls and brightly colored mohawks.

Milais quickly waved: "Hello, seniors! Is there something you need?"

"Hehe, we just can’t stand youngsters enjoying such good times, we need to ruin your date!" The metal-skulled senior laughed evilly, tossing Milais a notebook, "Here, your school’s list of new students entering next week. The newcomers’ orientation is up to you, okay?"

"Me guiding the freshmen?" Milais pointed at himself, "But I’m clearly a new—"

Halfway through, he realized that he was no longer considered new. Remaining here still meant he probably counted as an "old face" in the city. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, stuffing the notebook into his backpack and smiling at the seniors: "No problem!"

"Woo~~ a reliable junior~~"

"What a trustworthy third-year student, I’m gonna be his big fan~~"

"Whoa, promised work and you’re getting all sarcastic again!"

"He’s getting mad, he’s getting mad! Brothers, don’t stop, intensify it! Oh no, Little Shiqi kicked me, we can’t stay here, brothers, let’s run!"

A group of Mutual Assistance Association seniors laughed mischievously and ran away, taking two slices of pizza with their abilities along the way. For a moment, Milais thought staying behind might have been a mistake. He waved away stray thoughts from his mind and began pondering the orientation session a week later.

"What should I discuss for the orientation..."

Discuss the three major organizations? The president? Dust Explosion? Or the heroes of the skies? Maybe better start with warnings inside the city? Or talk about the Impermanence Skill and the Heavenly Return Skill?

Milais felt troubled for a moment as Shiqi knocked on his head.

"Orientation should start with the most important part!" Shiyu Shiqi asserted dominantly, "You should talk about the primary survival guide for Cangdu!"

"Then..."

The two young ones exchanged a glance, already having an idea. Milais snapped his fingers, and together with his female classmate, they said:

"When encountering a babbling gray-haired glasses guy, please remember to stay polite!"