Chapter 4

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Chapter 4: Then It’s Fine

“Everyone is here today, and with this class now full, there shouldn’t be any more transfer students. So, let me go over what I didn’t explain yesterday.”

The homeroom teacher was a tall, thin man who looked to be in his forties or fifties, wearing frameless glasses and an expression devoid of any trace of a smile.

You could tell from his receding hairline that he was a brilliant teacher. His lack of expression, lifeless eyes, and bald head gave him the appearance of the seasoned office workers commonly seen in anime.

His name was Gao Hongsheng, but everyone privately called him Old Gao, or just… Gao.

“Because we’ve had a few transfer students in the past couple of days, I’ll repeat what I’ve said countless times before. Don’t think I’m nagging.”

“I don’t care whether you’re in a relationship or not, but if you can stay inside at night, then stay inside. The security in this city is among the worst in the Federation. People call it ‘Little Rice Flower’. Last year, a lot of crimes were pinned on a primary school student wearing black-framed glasses. Did you see the cameras on the streets? Most of them are broken… Don’t think you’re safe just because you have superpowers. You might just end up worse off because of them…”

A significant portion of ordinary people harbored animosity toward those with superpowers.

A century ago, a group of meteorites from outer space struck this blue planet. At that time, the world’s technology was far too weak to intercept them, causing massive shifts in the world’s tectonic plates and creating a huge workload for the redrawing of the world map.

The remaining human survivors naturally banded together, forming the early Federation. Though internal struggles and conflicts over something as trivial as a loaf of bread’s ownership still persisted, thankfully, the world was never short of excellent leaders, and everything moved in a positive direction.

Until the first mutant appeared.

He was a superpowered individual capable of shooting fire from his palms. At the time, no one knew why this was happening—perhaps it was some sort of divine intervention, an ‘extra perk’ granted to humanity for survival.

He appeared, grew more powerful, became arrogant—and then he exploded.

Literally exploded.

No one knew which part of the Pythagorean Theorem was at play, but when he was threatening the village chief with his fiery abilities to get a new toilet for his family, his body exploded starting from his palms.

Experts later speculated that he had failed to control his powers, which led to his explosion.

The explosion was so powerful that it shattered the wall of the widow Wang’s house next door, exposing her inappropriate relationship with the eunuch Li to the whole village. Despite the efforts of Zhang the mute to use his eloquence to defend them, the sharp eyes of the blind villagers saw right through it.

This was only the beginning.

After that, a series of super powered individuals began to emerge: those who could manipulate time, those who could write telepathically, those who could shoot emeralds… and many more. These abilities were completely beyond scientific explanation.

Naturally, there were others who couldn’t control their powers, and many used their abilities to satisfy personal desires.

Mutants throughout history had already caused tremendous harm, with the most severe incident threatening the very survival of humanity. This event, later called the LV5 Great Destruction, occurred when humanity, though fewer in number than before, was still around.

Even to this day, there are still many individuals with powers who inadvertently cause tragedies. This is unavoidable, during puberty, there’s always that one percent chance of becoming a mutant, just like in some X-Men stories.

Even to this day, there are still many individuals with abilities who unintentionally cause tragedies. This is inevitable, anyone during their adolescence has a one percent chance of becoming a mutant, just like some of the X-Men.

It is like an evolutionary process bestowed upon humans by nature, as their numbers decrease. There is no “antidote” to prevent this evolution from occurring.

Some extinct animals cannot return, but humans, after centuries of rebuilding and battling against mutants, slowly regained their vitality. They rebuilt their resources, population, technology, and homes, which is why we now live in this seemingly peaceful era.

Fanzui City, this is the name of the city.

Because it is located on the edge of the Federation and in a geographically remote area, the security here is unimaginably poor. Recently, a group called Tian Xing Dao has been continuously damaging the city’s surveillance system, increasing the crime rate to the point where others refer to this place as “Rice Flower.”

As for why the security is so bad yet so many students still travel great distances to come here to study, it’s because this high school is one of the few that is specifically open to mutants.

The primary purpose is to help students better control their abilities, with learning being a secondary goal.

“We classify the danger of abilities from high to low into five levels: A, B, C, D, and E. Don’t misunderstand, this level isn’t about how strong your abilities are, but about how likely you are to lose control.” The homeroom teacher adjusted his glasses.

E refers to abilities with no risk of losing control or where any loss of control cannot cause harm to others. D refers to abilities with a risk of losing control that could harm others. C refers to abilities that may lose control and cause widespread harm. B refers to abilities that may cause widespread destructive damage if they lose control. A refers to abilities that could result in a city-destroying strike if they lose control.

“If you want to assign yourself a strength level, it’s from low to high: Lv1 to Lv5. But don’t confuse this strength with that from some scientific anime, and don’t bring in martial arts novels either. It’s just our standard based on assessments, and there’s no such thing as breaking through by training.”

Seeing that the students below didn’t react, Old Gao sadly touched his bald head. “Do young people today not know about the ‘Forbidden Magic’ anymore?”

These levels can correspond to each other. For example, if an LV5 has a risk of losing control, the danger level would definitely be A. Of course, it’s possible to control it well and only have an E-level risk. But LV1 individuals will never have an A-level danger.

As for these classifications, Mi Xiaoliu’s physical exam report was blank because she refused to cooperate.

“If you see a student with a red letter badge pinned to their chest, though it’s harsh to say, I advise you to stay away from them. Only students with a danger level of D (Including D) or higher are required to wear the badge.”

Even if their families repeatedly told them to stay away from those wearing red-lettered badges, most people still felt that such a thing wouldn’t happen near them. After all, mutants make up only a small percentage of the human population, and those with a D-level danger are not necessarily going to scare people off. Those with a C-level are even rarer, and only cities that have established mutant academies will have a chance to see most mutants.

Before becoming mutants, people hardly ever thought to understand what these danger levels really meant.

But now, they are part of the system, and some things that they might have once brushed off must now be taken seriously.

However, now that they were insiders, some things that might have been ignored in the past could no longer be dismissed.

So after Old Gao finished speaking, some new students in the class quietly observed their classmates, trying to find the person wearing a badge. But in the entire class, only Mi Xiaoliu, who had refused to cooperate with the physical exam, wore a “C” badge.

The school implemented a system where students with a danger level of D or higher were placed under centralized management. While this was a very dangerous decision, it helped prevent them from being looked down upon by the rest of the class, which could lead to emotional outbursts.

The main purpose of the Mutant Academy was to help these students remove their badges as soon as possible.

Like most schools, the Mutant Academy did not require students to wear uniforms in order to avoid drawing unwanted attention from others on their way to school.

“I’ll leave it at that for the dangerous levels of abilities. Next… there was a murder case in the Sunshine Community on the south side of our school last week, and the murderer has yet to be caught. Students who live near there should remember to keep their doors and windows locked at night.”

“That’s dangerous,” Mi Xiaoliu frowned slightly.

The road to her school happened to pass by that neighborhood, and it certainly made her feel insecure.

“Master, the murderer of that case is you.”

“Oh.”

“Well, that’s nothing then.”

With that, everything that needed to be said was said, and the rest of the class proceeded as usual.

“What level is my ability?” Mi Xiaoliu asked in her mind.

“Well… your ability has some flaws, and it has never been officially tested.”

“Hmm.”

Hearing the word “test,” Mi Xiaoliu instinctively felt a sense of rejection.

“Old Liu, is there something wrong with your body?” Jim poked Mi Xiaoliu’s arm with his pen.

Mi Xiaoliu turned to look at him without saying a word.

“Since yesterday, two people in our class have been glancing at you from time to time.” He lifted his textbook and, after confirming that the girl wearing sunglasses hadn’t taken them off, he continued, “The one wearing sunglasses is fine. Her ability is mind reading. But the guy in the farthest seat on the right in the front row…”

“Jim, do you think you’re very clever?” Lao Gao, with an expressionless face, adjusted his reflective glasses.

“Sorry!” Jim quickly put down his book.

Such small gestures were incredibly obvious to the teacher, especially in a class with just over fifty students.

After class, before Jim could continue with his previous topic, a boy named Yiwen, a little angel, took the initiative to speak to Mi Xiaoliu: “Classmate, is your ability self-healing?”