Chapter 40 - Affinity? Points?

Bai Li stood still by the window for a brief moment, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the edge of the curtain as she looked outside. Even though she had prepared herself mentally for this day again and again, the moment it truly arrived still carried a strange unreal feeling that no amount of prior knowledge could completely erase. Down below, the scene unfolding in the apartment complex was already beginning to lose its normal shape. What had been an ordinary afternoon only moments ago was now breaking apart in front of her eyes in the most abrupt way possible. A man near the pathway suddenly threw himself at another person with such violent force that both fell hard to the ground. A woman nearby screamed and stumbled backward, dropping the grocery bag in her hand, oranges rolling across the pavement while another figure, one that had clearly begun moving in a way no normal person should, rushed toward the sound.