Time slipped by quietly as Brandon White worked out and bantered with the chat group. It wasn't anything special; he'd always been able to multitask—even back in his previous life, he could half-sleep through class and still follow the lecture.
Maybe it was just an inborn talent.
Evening arrived before he noticed. After dinner, he'd planned to squeeze in another training session. He was also considering whether he should remodel the house a bit, maybe invest in some serious gym equipment.
After all, his physique had evolved so much over the past few days that regular workouts barely even made him break a sweat.
Training that left him completely unfazed was basically pointless now.
If he could, he'd love a gravity chamber straight out of Dragon Ball. Only that would push him to the next level.
Unfortunately, those didn't exist—not in his world, or any other group member's world either.
Roxie Vale's world technically had some wild stuff, but she was just an ordinary person and couldn't exactly shop for sci-fi gear online.
Ding-dong!
Ding-dong!
Ding-dong…
The doorbell rang, and Brandon paused, surprised.
Someone at this hour?
He glanced at the clock—it was already eight in the evening. By all logic, nobody he knew would show up this late.
Still, curiosity won out. He walked over and opened the door.
With his abilities, there really wasn't anyone left on Earth he needed to worry about. If some kind of threat did show up, he'd sense it. The fact he felt so relaxed now meant it couldn't be that bad.
But when he opened the door, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Standing before him was a woman—an absolutely stunning woman.
Her fiery red hair flowed in the breeze, arching eyebrows accentuated lively, captivating eyes, her lips were a bold crimson, her skin almost glowing under the porchlight. She wore a mischievous smile.
By appearance, she looked like she was in her early twenties, but Brandon knew better than to guess a woman's age based on looks—he wasn't that bold.
What really bothered him was: why was she here? And why did she seem… amused?
"Who are you?" he asked, tone neutral, giving nothing away.
"Oh? So you're just going to pretend you don't know me after what you did?" Firewing teased, lips curled into a smirk. She made to step past him into the house, but his arm blocked her path.
"I'm not interested in playing word games," Brandon replied calmly. "If you have nothing important to say, I'll have to ask you to leave."
Firewing looked up, meeting his gaze for several long seconds, then shrugged.
"High schoolers these days are surprisingly mature," she mused.
"Not really. I'm just a little different, that's all."
"Most people with power would be desperate to show off—to play the hero when danger strikes. But you chose to hide in the crowd. You still acted, but you used your powers in such a way that no one could trace it to you."
She paused, a glimmer of admiration in her eyes, then smiled.
"So, can I come in and sit down now?"
Brandon studied her for a moment. Of course he knew what she was hinting at. Without hesitation, he nodded and stepped aside.
"Please, come in."
He didn't know how exactly he'd been exposed, but there was little doubt this woman was some sort of government agent.
Only the authorities could sift through that many students so quickly and pinpoint the real culprit.
He still had no idea how they'd done it.
There'd been no cameras on the field, so they couldn't have caught him on video. He'd listed "metal element manipulation" as his ability—dozens of people had awakened similar powers. There was no reason they should have suspected him specifically.
Firewing sat cross-legged on his living room sofa, smiling at him over her shoulder.
"You know, a smile is a great way to put people at ease. But if you overdo it, you just end up looking like an idiot," Brandon deadpanned.
Bonk!
A comic vein throbbed on Firewing's forehead. Was this guy for real? You look stupid when you smile!
"Normally, this is where you'd ask how I figured out you were the one who took down the Crimson Flamebird at the awakening event," she said, changing the subject.
"Oh, that fiery bird—so that's its official name? It was certainly tough."
"So, the government's given it a designation. There must be more than a few of them, then—maybe a lot."
"I talked to some friends at other schools. They all had the same kind of bird show up, but in their cases, it was shot down by firearms."
"So those birds were official? Brought in to demonstrate government firepower?"
Brandon had already suspected as much. His friends at other schools had mentioned that the "awakening event" included a very similar bird.
The so-called Crimson Flamebird wasn't weak—especially considering it showed up on the very first day of spiritual awakening. Even by awakened standards, it was a "genius monster."
Yet the same species appeared at multiple schools. That meant the birds had to exist in numbers, but he'd never seen one in the wild. That wasn't normal.
The only logical conclusion: they were controlled and released by the government.
Demonstrating gunpower was obvious—just to keep hot-headed students from getting too full of themselves, to avoid social chaos.
But that wasn't the part that really nagged at him.
Meanwhile, Firewing listened to his string of deductions, honestly a bit taken aback.
Had she let something slip? She was sure she'd only mentioned the bird's name.
How could he figure out so much from just a single word? And he was right about everything, too!
Whew.
Well, it wasn't completely crazy—she'd done her research before coming. Brandon's grades were exceptional, he was level-headed beyond his years, and sharp enough to make logical leaps from small clues.
He'd probably guessed most of it already—her slip just confirmed it.
She cleared her throat, ready to say more, but Brandon was already asking his next question:
"The Crimson Flamebird wasn't weak. How did the country breed so many of them?"
"I'm sure the spiritual revival only started on the night of the Seven Stars Alignment. There's no way it began earlier in some hidden way."
"So, how did the country end up with so many powerful Crimson Flamebirds, so quickly?"
"Is it an ability? Something like Beastmaster or Summoner powers?"
(End of Chapter)
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