Having gained a basic understanding of what followed Sequence awakening, Qin Siyang went back to browsing the post summarizing various Sequences and their abilities. He needed to find a Sequence that could hide his true identity—one that his existing powers could cover without giving him away. If he was going to register at the Sequence Ability Administration, he had to secure such a "mask."
At first, Qin Siyang considered making up a Sequence, tailoring everything from its name to its skills specifically for his God-Eater ability. But he abandoned the idea after careful thought. For one thing, he wasn't sure if the Administration had a way to verify Sequences—there might be flaws in a fabricated one. For another, all Sequence Ability users would have access to his information. A brand-new Sequence would inevitably attract widespread attention and scrutiny. Under countless watchful eyes, he would sooner or later slip up.
Worse still, he might get extremely unlucky: someone could later awaken a Sequence with the exact same name he'd invented, exposing him instantly. Thus, choosing from existing Sequences was by far the safest option.
With no clear direction, Qin Siyang meticulously sifted through each Sequence, searching for the perfect disguise to conceal his identity. The post opened with an explanation of the universal abilities shared by all Sequence Ability users:
"Upon awakening, a Sequence Ability user's strength, agility, and perception will increase correspondingly. After digesting five Sequence Potions, your physical attributes will roughly triple, far exceeding those of ordinary humans."
Only triple? Qin Siyang recalled punching that thug flying—his strength had felt equivalent to the impact of a speeding car. It was definitely more than triple, perhaps even ten times greater. His eyes lit up. Could his God-Eater Sequence amplify his base attributes exponentially?
This took him by surprise. Not only were his skills powerful, but his basic growth rate was also astonishing. "What a day—good news keeps piling up faster than I can handle." Qin Siyang smiled and focused intently on reviewing each Sequence's abilities.
When he came across the Scentsmith Sequence, he felt a wave of relief. The Scentsmith's Level 1 skill, Track Scent, allowed users to locate enemies within a certain range by following residual odors. His earlier worry hadn't been unfounded—there really were Ability users who could track by scent!
Luckily, he'd destroyed the bodies in a place with chaotic scents; otherwise, he would have been in grave danger. The post added: "Scentsmith abilities are ineffective in areas with strong divine auras. Forcing the skill may cause fainting, bleeding from the seven orifices, or even brain death."
"Because Scentsmith powers fail against gods, they are among the few Sequences that can receive Sequence Potions from the Administration without fighting gods on the battlefield. However, to claim the potions, Scentsmiths must join a United Government organization—usually assisting the police in solving cases."
The mention of "assisting in solving cases" made Qin Siyang heave a heavier sigh of relief. Undoubtedly, the trouble he'd caused at Exit 89757 the previous day would have brought the police—and likely Scentsmiths—onto the scene. He felt immense joy at having narrowly escaped detection.
As he read on, he absorbed a wealth of knowledge about Sequence Ability users. He wished he could jot it all down, but his memory couldn't handle retaining every single ability. Worse, taking out paper and a pen would arouse suspicion, so he had to focus on memorizing the most important and common Sequences.
To his surprise, his memory seemed to have improved since awakening his Sequence. He couldn't recall everything perfectly after one read, but he retained roughly seventy to eighty percent. He couldn't help but marvel at the perks of awakening a Sequence.
Just as he felt pleased with himself, he spotted another Sequence: Immortal. It was because he'd accidentally glimpsed that Immortal users could read the memories of the dead during his last visit to Godslayer Camp that he'd crushed the three thugs' skulls. He'd secretly thanked his luck—those fleeting details had saved his life.
Qin Siyang read the Immortal Sequence's skills carefully: [Death Decree]: Can read the final moments of a deceased person's memories. However, the victim's brain must retain its biological integrity—no lesions or deterioration (e.g., from burning, acid corrosion, etc.). Otherwise, the skill fails.
Qin Siyang froze. Burning the bodies would have rendered Death Decree useless anyway? Then crushing their skulls had been unnecessary! Would this redundant act land him in trouble?
The Immortal Sequence was listed near the top of the post, indicating it was either commonly awakened or one of the earliest recorded Sequences. If that was the case, wouldn't its abilities be common knowledge among Ability users?
To verify his guess, he searched the forum for posts about Immortals—there were nearly 100,000 results. It really was an extremely common Sequence, practically common knowledge. Yet he'd known nothing about it before.
Qin Siyang couldn't stop worrying: if someone noticed this oversight, would it expose him? Going out of his way to destroy the skulls suggested he was unfamiliar with Sequence abilities. Guilt gnawed at him as he pondered the possibility.
"Could this be a flaw if someone pays close attention?" Qin Siyang wasn't sure if he was overthinking. Maybe all criminals became paranoid after committing a crime, overreacting to every little thing. But deep down, he felt he was teetering on the edge of exposure.
Just then, he heard noisy commotion outside the café. What's going on? Amidst the chaos, he made out the sound of arguing. Then, a faint voice cut through:
"Officer, this is a small business—I can't handle all these inspections!"
Officer?! Qin Siyang's heart skipped a beat. Could it be such a coincidence? Right after he'd worried about exposure, the police showed up? Were they acting this fast?
Whether they were after him or not, he had to act. In a panic, Qin Siyang quickly deleted his browser history and devised a disguise. The moment he finished, seven or eight police officers burst into the café.
"Everyone, step away from your computers immediately! Hands on your heads, squat in the corner! Now!"
Qin Siyang put on a panicked expression and hurried to squat down with his hands on his head, obeying the officer's order without hesitation.
"You! What are you doing! Step away from the computer now! Put your hands up!" An officer raised his gun and shouted at a scruffy young man in the corner.
The man hastily pulled up his pants, stammering: "S-Sir, I'm just… I… I'm…"
The officer rushed over to the noncompliant man. "Move!"
"Y-Yes, officer." The man squatted down with his hands on his head, forgetting to fix his pants properly.
The officer glanced at his computer screen, then sneered in disgust. "Cut back on this stuff. Indulging too much at a young age will get you into trouble." With that, he walked away.
The officers then checked the browser history and screen content of every computer. When they reached Qin Siyang, the officer glanced at his face, then at the screen and browser, before patting his shoulder sympathetically. "If a girl says no, she means no. Stop wasting your time and energy." He then moved on to the next person.
Qin Siyang smiled gratefully at the officer, but breathed a silent sigh of relief. He'd known the police would check browser content, but there was no time to fabricate an extensive browsing history. So he'd chosen the simplest disguise—reading an e-book.
On the desktop was a file titled "Three Sentences to Make Her Fall for You (Top-Secret Collector's Edition)." Opening it, he found it was filled with advice on how to curry favor with girls and win their affection. He'd dragged the progress bar to the middle and pretended to be reading the downloaded e-book.
After searching for a while, the officers found two young men conducting black market transactions online and arrested them. But Qin Siyang noticed the officers' solemn expressions—these two weren't their real targets.
"Sorry for disturbing your time. We hope you understand. Manager, please add one more hour of internet time for everyone—the police department will cover it!"
"Yes, absolutely! Thank you, officers!"
"Thanks, Officer!"
"Thanks! Come check again anytime, Officer!"
Amidst cheerful chatter, everyone returned to their computers. Outside the door, Qin Siyang heard the café owner complain: "Officer, you've been raiding my place these past two days, taking customers away every time. I can't run this business anymore!"
"Boss Wang, we're just following orders. We hope you understand."
"Understand? How am I supposed to understand? Can't you confirm the suspect first before raiding?"
"The police have no right to access network addresses or browsing records—we can only investigate on-site. We didn't overstep by checking your surveillance, and we're covering the extra internet fees. What other losses have you suffered?"
"You! This is unreasonable!"
Qin Siyang's heart stirred. Raiding these past two days? That coincided perfectly with his murder! Could it really be a coincidence?
But the officer's comment about not having access to network data was good news—though he couldn't be sure if it was true. He dared not let his guard down.
Qin Siyang exhaled and prepared to open Godslayer Camp again. Suddenly, a dialog box popped up on his screen. His eyes widened, and a chill ran down his spine. He immediately glanced toward the counter.
The manager, holding a cigarette in his mouth, was staring at him with a smile. The dialog box on the screen glowed faintly:
[Manager's Friendly Reminder]
[You're the one the officers were looking for, aren't you?]