Chapter 5: Mimicry

At this moment, Li Yelan was unaware that at the same time he signed his name on the document, the girl codenamed "Cheese" had already quietly exited the ward and waved slightly at the quiet corridor.

In the next second, the elite soldiers standing by throughout the corridor retreated silently. Several official psionicists also vanished after a slight wave of their hands.

Following this, Cheese grabbed several fruit candies from her pocket, tossed them into her mouth, and picked up a Bluetooth headset to contact the other end: "I’ve used my ability. He wasn't lying; he did indeed encounter a Skinner by accident. And he accidentally became a psionicist during the fight. But for the sake of discretion, I didn't guide him to reveal more detailed specifics."

"That's enough," a steady voice came from the other end of the headset. "What do you think of him?"

"He’s quite handsome, tall and thin, and looks like a pretty honest guy," Cheese commented.

After a moment of silence, the other end replied: "I’m asking if you feel there’s anything unusual about him. I didn't ask you to go on a blind date."

Cheese ate a few more candies and responded: "This guy is a bit stingy, which has to do with his family situation. That actually lowers his danger rating a bit. There’s nothing unusual for now. But clearly, he’s still hiding something."

As she spoke, she glanced at Li Yelan’s file.

'Li Yelan, twenty-three years old. Citizen of Border City No. 3. Nine years ago, his father left home, and his mother passed away from illness three months later. He has been living with his younger sister, Li Yunyan. Currently an antique shop employee. No criminal record.'

"As of now, he shouldn't be a member of the Ember Church."

"The probability is indeed low, but we still need to be careful."

In the conference room of the Disaster Management Department in Border City No. 3, the high-ranking officials who hung up the communication fell into silence.

The white-haired old man at the head of the table spoke: "This... Li Yelan should be a psionicist of the 'Myriad Forms' path, right? Yet he killed a Skinner—who is also of the Myriad Forms path—in seconds. His background is definitely not simple, and his ability must be extremely special. I wonder if it’s the handiwork of some King of the Forbidden Zone."

"Since we suspect him, why invite him to join the Department?" someone asked. "Are you planning to keep a close eye on him?"

"That is a consideration. However, I don't think someone who says in their last words 'don't scare my sister' could be a monster. Even if he truly possesses some secret, as long as his heart is with humanity, we can accept him."

An elderly woman spoke softly: "Of course, necessary vigilance and testing are unavoidable. Let young Yang Chen keep an eye on him and take advantage of the training period to understand his abilities."

On the other side, Li Yelan, having officially become a reserve disaster handler for Border City No. 3, was led out of the private hospital by Yang Chen and Cheese.

Li Yelan’s previous coma was due to his body’s reaction to the psionic energy during his first awakening.

Since he was fine now, Yang Chen planned to take Li Yelan to the nearest branch of the Management Bureau, where he could familiarize himself with his abilities in the training room and receive corresponding knowledge and skills training.

As of now, Li Yelan did not have the technical level required of a handler, so he was temporarily a reserve handler.

Thus, the three of them sat in a pitch-black off-road vehicle, feeling apprehensive.

Along the way, the three of them had very grave expressions, terrified that Li Yelan’s curse would trigger and wreck the car!

Li Yelan, on the other hand, was afraid that if he really did wreck it, he would be forced to pay for it.

Fortunately, the vehicle had no issues and drove smoothly along the road.

"It seems your curse only lasts for a period after using your ability, not around the clock," Cheese laughed from the back seat. "That’s a good thing; otherwise, if there were a mission later, you’d have to run there yourself."

"How do you guys usually suppress your curses?" Li Yelan, also sitting in the back seat, asked while looking at Cheese beside him.

The girl was young, beautiful, and capable, showing no signs of being cursed. Meanwhile, his own sister, Li Yunyan, couldn't even leave the house; she would show a terrified expression whenever she saw a stranger, or even some small animals.

"Curses vary. My curse is much easier compared to yours," Cheese said, looking at Li Yelan. "Actually, every psionicist’s curse is a secret because it represents a weakness. But I’ll tell you anyway: my curse is a sugar addiction."

"Sugar? Is it the kind of sugar I’m thinking of?" Li Yelan was a bit stunned.

He had heard of alcohol addiction, but never sugar addiction. This curse was quite capricious.

"That’s right. Every time I use my ability, I need to ingest a large amount of sugar. Otherwise, my heart rate will drop." Cheese opened the large pocket of her hoodie, took out a candy, and handed it to Li Yelan: "Here, a special candy. Although eating too much sugar is painful, compared to the curses of other colleagues, mine is a piece of cake."

Li Yelan took the candy, tore off the wrapper, and tossed it into his mouth, feeling an exceptionally sweet and cloying taste bloom on his palate.

Eating too much of this kind of sugar might lead to diabetes or other illnesses. Calling it a "piece of cake" didn't mean his body could handle the dosage.

Seeming to see through Li Yelan’s thoughts, Cheese smiled and replied: "Don't worry about that. A psionicist’s physique is stronger than an ordinary person’s, which can prevent many diseases. Of course, as a psionicist of the 'Babble' path, my physique isn't the strongest, so I still have to be careful."

"Path?" Li Yelan asked in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"You’ll get detailed information later," Yang Chen, who was driving, replied. "Simply put, it’s a classification based on the psionic characteristics of psionicists. Each has different ability tendencies. Currently, there are seven paths known to the authorities, ranked by the ratio of psionic energy and physical enhancement brought by each awakening."

"They are: Zero, Babble, Divine Guard, Myriad Forms, Nether, Spirit Eye, and True Martial. Each awakening of the Zero path brings the most psionic growth, while True Martial provides the most physical enhancement. As for the characteristics of each path, you’ll get the documents in a moment."

Li Yelan silently noted the names of the seven paths and paid attention to "Myriad Forms."

His ability was "Myriad Forms Faceless"—did that mean he was a psionicist of the Myriad Forms path?

"What is an awakening?" Li Yelan continued to ask.

"That’s still a long way off for you. Simply put, an awakening is a promotion ritual where a psionicist further explores their 'Well of Souls' and gets closer to the Void," Cheese took over. "With every awakening, a psionicist strengthens their original ability and gains a new one for that path. But the risk is that it becomes easier to become distorted."

"Remember, no matter what, never attempt an awakening without complete certainty. In the Smelting Giant City, an official psionicist became distorted and lost control during their fifth awakening. They tore the giant city’s high walls to shreds."

Cheese’s words shocked Li Yelan. Tore the high walls to shreds?

The high walls, over fifty meters tall and nearly ten meters thick, cast from reinforced concrete?

What kind of human-shaped walking cannon was that?

Were psionicists after multiple awakenings really this terrifying?

At this moment, the vehicle slowed to a stop.

They had arrived in front of a clothing store on the edge of the old district. The business of this clothing store was very bleak. Not just the clothing store, but the shops on this entire street had no customers.

Yang Chen and Cheese, however, were unfazed. After greeting the store employee, they led Li Yelan straight to the fitting room inside the shop.

"Two men and one woman going into the same fitting room—isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Li Yelan tried to say.

"What? Do you feel like you’re losing out?" Cheese teased, rolling her eyes at Li Yelan.

"That costs extra!" Li Yelan retorted, just as he saw Yang Chen open a second door inside the fitting room.

It was a bright passage, and at the end of the passage stood two steel giants.

They were clad in thick power armor, surging steam venting from behind them, and their three-meter-tall bodies seemed to possess endless power.

Li Yelan stared at the two steel giants, stunned, and whispered: "Border... Iron Guards!"

These elite soldiers wearing thick power armor were the strongest military units in the Border Cities.

Border Iron Guards!

They were existences that the residents of the Border Cities knew of, but almost never saw.

According to the antique shop owner who claimed to be a veteran, in the chaotic era, when Iron Guards appeared on the battlefield, you should kowtow to them if you had the chance.

Because that Iron Guard might just turn the tide of the battle and save your life.

And when you saw a full formation of Border Iron Guards appear, you should find a chance to kowtow to yourself, put your dog tags in your mouth, and not add trouble to the comrades who would be collecting your body. That meant the coming war would be exceptionally cruel.

He didn't expect to see two Iron Guards right here. It seemed... reasonable?

"They are reliable comrades," Yang Chen said, greeting the two Iron Guards as he walked through the passage.

The human-tank-like Iron Guards nodded slightly, their gazes shifting to Li Yelan.

"He’s a newcomer. If nothing goes wrong, he should be on my team," Yang Chen introduced Li Yelan’s identity.

"Understood. Welcome to the East City Branch," one of the Iron Guards said in a metallic voice and opened the thick metal door.

The Eastern Management Bureau branch was hidden underground, and the clothing store was one of its entrances.

The interior space was not small and was fully equipped. Lounge, training room, cafeteria...

Psionicists belonging to the branch would train, configure equipment, or awaken here.

If nothing went wrong, this would be Li Yelan’s future workplace.

But Li Yelan didn't have time to look at the layout of the branch before Yang Chen brought him to a training room.

The training room was about the size of a basketball court. Various cold weapons were placed along the edges. In the center of the room was a huge metal cube, covered in various scratches and cracks.

Clearly, this was a target for official psionicists to practice their abilities.

"They just put a new one in yesterday, how did it get like this?" Yang Chen clicked his tongue at the cube and said to Li Yelan: "You can practice and familiarize yourself with your abilities here. I see you have long arms and a thin waist; you’re suited for learning the blade. Go pick one."

He pointed to the weapon rack on the edge.

Li Yelan scratched his head and asked: "Why use cold weapons? Do we have to use cold weapons against psionicists and sufferers too? The times have changed, sir."

"Because every psionicist is protected by a psionic barrier. Only a very small number of thermal weapons can consume a psionic barrier efficiently." Yang Chen pulled a large-caliber revolver from his coat, swapped out a set of bullets, and fired a shot at his own forehead.

'Bang.'

The sudden act of suicide almost made Li Yelan jump.

But he discovered that the bullet was firmly fixed in mid-air about five centimeters from Yang Chen’s temple. No matter how fast the bullet spun, it couldn't get an inch closer to Yang Chen. Finally, the bullet’s kinetic energy was exhausted, and it fell weakly to the ground.

This reminded Li Yelan of his initial attack on the Skinner, which had also been blocked by a similar barrier.

So, this was a psionic barrier?

"If you undergo specialized training, you can also block some bullets. This is the most basic use of a psionic barrier. Skilled psionicists can even use the barrier to jump in mid-air," Cheese, standing to the side, explained.

A psionicist like him, who had only awakened once, could also block bullets?

Li Yelan’s heart stirred; he couldn't imagine how terrifying a highly awakened psionicist would be.

"And a psionic barrier can be disrupted or neutralized by the barriers of other psionicists."

"Therefore, using a psionicist to counter a psionicist is the optimal solution. Because you need to get close, official psionicists must be proficient in using cold weapons to kill the enemy with one strike while neutralizing their psionic barrier." Li Yelan nodded slightly, indicating he understood.

Afterward, he went to the weapon rack to choose a weapon.

He had no intention of hiding his ability; the authorities would need to design equipment for him based on his ability.

And since he was already prepared to join the official ranks, there was no need to hide his ability.

As for the "Black Shadow," Li Yelan didn't plan to tell the authorities yet. He wasn't sure how the authorities would react to such a bizarre existence.

Soon, Li Yelan followed Yang Chen’s advice and chose a long-handled blade—he wasn't sure if it was a *pudao* or a *zhanmadao*.

Holding it with both hands, it felt heavy and powerful.

If it were the old Li Yelan, he might have struggled to lift it, but after becoming a psionicist, his strength had increased significantly, and he could swing it freely.

On the other side, several more official psionicists had quietly arrived at the training room.

"A handsome young man, is he the one who took down the Skinner?" A sturdy man wearing a black sports vest sat to the side and asked Yang Chen.

Yang Chen nodded slightly: "Shattered him, blade and all, with one axe."

The sturdy man’s expression shifted: "Which path? True Martial?"

"According to the tests, it seems to be Myriad Forms," Yang Chen replied.

"Are you sure?" The sturdy man frowned. "I’m of the Myriad Forms path. My first awakening skill was 'Beast Speech,' and my second was 'Mimicry Blade-Scythe'; only then did I have some combat power. You know that psionicist abilities are random, but most Myriad Forms path awakenings in the early stages are auxiliary abilities. How could he eliminate a Skinner—also of the Myriad Forms path—with one strike? What, is he particularly lucky? Did he draw a god-tier skill?"

In his understanding, the abilities of Myriad Forms could be summarized as driving and mimicking extraordinary creatures. What did this Li Yelan mimic? To be able to defeat an enemy in one move with an axe?

"It will be revealed soon," Yang Chen said in a low voice. His gaze swept across the room, where official psionicists were silently observing.

There was a handsome man wearing a silver cloak with a shield-axe on his back.

There was a black-robed doctor carrying a briefcase and wearing a plague doctor mask.

There was a guy wearing a frog mascot suit and holding an advertising board.

It seemed the headquarters was a bit uneasy about Li Yelan and had called in almost all the captain-level combatants from the branch.

On the other side, Li Yelan carried the large blade to the metal cube.

After taking a deep breath, he recalled the feeling of using his ability earlier.

He reached out his left hand and wiped it across his face, and a black-and-white facial mask instantly appeared.

Those double pupils appeared in the world!

In an instant, the expressions of almost all the psionicists changed.

Because Li Yelan’s aura had undergone a earth-shattering change in an instant, and that domineering, peerless presence bloomed in the room. It seemed as if it wasn't just one person, but an army of thousands that had been through many battles!

Seeing him apply the mask, a vast amount of skilled combat techniques flooded into his mind. Li Yelan held the blade with one hand, parrying and slashing diagonally.

A harsh sound of metal cutting rang through the room. The blade embedded itself into the metal cube like it was cutting tofu, tearing open a huge crack!

"What did he mimic?" Yang Chen asked in a low voice.

Looking at those double pupils, the sturdy man stood up abruptly, his eyes full of disbelief.

"He mimicked the Spirit Eye path!"