...
"Little Zhou, thank you so much. I'm stuck in the hospital with this injury, and his mom has to work. This little brat has become Lawless and Heavenless, and he's driving me crazy. His teacher even called yesterday saying he got into a fight at school and still hasn't finished his homework..."
In the hospital room, a man with casts on both legs and his left arm looked at Zhou Chen gratefully. He then turned to an eight-or-nine-year-old boy and said:
"Chenchen, hurry and thank your big brother."
The little boy looked extremely reluctant. After holding it in for a long time, he finally mumbled, "Thank you, big brother."
Zhou Chen waved his hand and gave a friendly smile. "It's just tutoring, no big deal. Brother Liu, Chenchen is actually a smart and clever kid. He's just a bit playful and doesn't like to study. If he fixes his attitude and takes his studies seriously, he might even have a shot at Jinzhu University one day."
Children are their parents' pride and joy; what parent doesn't like to hear their child praised? A delighted look immediately appeared on Brother Liu's face. "Really?"
"Of course. A child's education needs to start young, and so does their attitude toward learning. I think it's best to enroll Chenchen in a tutoring class first, then limit his screen time so he doesn't lose his ambition to games. Then you should buy him workbooks like *One Lesson, One Practice* and *Complete Textbook Solutions* and make him do them to build a good habit of solving problems."
Hearing Zhou Chen's words, the little boy's face immediately darkened. But intimidated by his loving father's authority, he didn't dare act out and could only stand to the side with a long face.
A few minutes later, Zhou Chen said goodbye to Brother Liu and the dejected little boy and walked back toward his own hospital room.
For the past few hours, he had transformed into a melodrama warrior. Using the excuse that he was about to die, he asked the other patients about the meaning of life and the wishes they each wanted to fulfill.
When people heard he didn't have long to live, they were naturally more willing to chat. He would use the opportunity to help them fulfill some wishes that were within his power, accumulating wish points in the process.
Take Brother Liu, for example. He was injured on a field mission, and his wife was too busy with work to look after their child. As a result, their little terror started running wild—not doing his homework and even fighting with classmates at school, making Brother Liu's blood pressure soar.
So, Zhou Chen helped tutor the little terror with his homework and offered some parenting advice, fulfilling Brother Liu's wish to discipline his child and successfully earning some wish points.
This one went relatively smoothly. Some other patients had wishes that were too outrageous to fulfill, but that didn't matter. He just treated it as a chat, so there was no loss.
Back on his hospital bed, Zhou Chen rubbed the bridge of his nose and couldn't help but yawn. The damage to his Soul was causing his mental state to decline daily, making him feel tired and drowsy with ease.
He closed his eyes, and his consciousness turned toward the Wish Bottle in his mind.
After a full day, he had accumulated a total of twenty-three grains of Star Dust.
'That should be enough.'
With only a few hours left until the experiment, Zhou Chen decided to use the time to rest and recuperate, adjusting his mental state.
Commonly known as—sleep!
...
...
「The next day.」
The awakening experiment arrived as scheduled.
After memorizing numerous experimental procedures and taking the prescribed medication, Zhou Chen was blindfolded and led by staff to the secret location for the awakening experiment.
When the blindfold was removed, a silvery-white, high-tech laboratory came into view.
Zhou Chen looked around and found himself in an isolation room. Two technicians in heavy hazmat suits were making preparations. Not far away stood an oil painting with an extreme visual impact.
A chaotic tangle of lines and color blocks intertwined into an intricate web. All the conventional elements of a painting—form, structure, color, and so on—had been boiled down into a chaotic stew by its deranged creator, resembling a thick soup from Hell.
The oil painting itself had no discernible structure, no theme, no hierarchy, no focal point. It was boundless, chaotic and disorderly, twisted and insane.
It was like... a mentally ill painter, eating hot pot and singing a song, was suddenly struck by a whim to create something wild. So he first danced a short piece from Swan Lake, then switched to a tap dance, before finally picking up a paintbrush and flinging paint at the canvas amidst his spontaneous dance, indulging in a full-blown manic episode...
"This is a bit too abstract," Zhou Chen muttered. 'I guess I just can't appreciate this kind of art.'
At that moment, the female technician in the heavy protective suit beside him finished her preparations and explained, "Before you is Forbidden Object D-737—the Chaotic Oil Painting. It is the final work of a famous Artist from thirty years ago. He was also a Tier Two Ascender.
"The Artist breathed his last in the studio of his private villa right after completing this painting. After he died, the Extraordinary Essence in his body overflowed, causing the painting to be affected and turn into a Forbidden Object."
"D-737, the Chaotic Oil Painting, can influence a person's emotions. If you gaze at it for more than a minute, one of your emotions will be randomly amplified. You can determine which emotion it is by the dominant color you see in the painting. For example, pink is love, black is Fear, blue is melancholy, red is Anger..."
The female technician briefly described the Forbidden Object, then entered a password to open a metal box held by another technician. From it, she took out a brilliant Crystal necklace.
"This is Forbidden Object D-394—the Concentration Necklace. It can protect your mind to a certain extent and put you in a state of extreme focus. The side effect is that for thirty days after you take it off, you will not feel any emotions like affection, love, or lust toward anyone, regardless of gender."
'Huh...' Zhou Chen scratched his head. 'A whole month of Sage Mode?'
'It doesn't seem like it'll affect me much anyway. It's not like I have a girlfriend.'
"Are you ready?" the female technician asked as she moved to put the Concentration Necklace on him.
"Wait... we're starting now?" Zhou Chen flinched back slightly. Even though he knew the Wish Bottle guaranteed his safety, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. 'This is way too fast! Aren't they going to give me any time to prepare mentally?'
"Of course. The faster, the better. Otherwise, you'll get nervous, and the more nervous you get, the more scared you become. Many previous test subjects got so nervous they threw up. If you feel like vomiting, don't do it on the floor. There's a trash can over there," the female technician said, pointing.
Zhou Chen asked tentatively, "So... the previous people... did they succeed?"
"In order not to affect your mental state, I refuse to disclose that information."
"...That statement itself is already affecting my mental state. Couldn't you have just lied and said they succeeded?"
"Fine. They all awakened successfully and reached the pinnacle of their lives," the female technician said comfortingly as she fastened the Concentration Necklace around his neck.
Zhou Chen's mouth twitched. He immediately felt his mind become clear and his focus sharpen to an unprecedented degree. He closed his eyes, silently adjusted his mindset, and recalled the experimental procedures.
First, he needed to wear the Concentration Necklace and enter a state of focus to stare directly at the Chaotic Oil Painting. This would allow the painting to amplify one of his emotions and stimulate his mind. Then, amidst the intense emotional turbulence, he had to break through his spiritual shackles and open the cage that imprisoned his Soul.
It sounded simple, but the risks involved were unimaginably great.
Brain damage, dementia, a vegetative state, death, mental abnormality, psychological collapse, Soul collapse, or a mental breakdown leading to a loss of control and corruption... All sorts of experimental results proved that the awakening experiment was no different from dancing on a knife's edge or bungee jumping off a cliff.
But without such life-or-death risks, how could one gain the Extraordinary Abilities to surpass ordinary people and even rise above the mortal world?
To awaken, the most common method is to undergo intense mental stimulation.
Joy, happiness, bliss, sorrow, Fear, Anger, hatred, sympathy, enmity, pain, and even mind-clouding lust...
Under the stimulation of extreme emotions, amidst an ineffable, indescribable, and inexpressible shock and resonance of the Soul, one's own nature undergoes an ascension, stepping into the first stage of a Transcendent—the Stars.
After successfully awakening, every Transcendent will open their own Spiritual World. Just as the name of the first Transcendent stage implies, bright stars will appear within this Spiritual World, each representing the essence of their Soul.
Of course, there was another, more extreme possibility.
If one failed to maintain their sanity during the intense mental stimulation, failed to hold on to that precious sliver of clarity, and allowed their mind to be controlled by desire, they would degenerate into a vile, twisted, insane, and cruel aberration—a Corrupter.
Zhou Chen took a deep breath. Under the effect of the Concentration Necklace, he cast aside all distracting thoughts. He slowly opened his eyes and fixed his gaze upon the insane, twisted Chaotic Oil Painting before him—and made a wish in his heart.