Mo Chen had no classes in the afternoon, so he didn't plan to go back to school. Instead, he sat on his bed and began to build his space. This is the first step in "space mounting," at a speed of one cubic meter per hour. He sat there for 18 hours straight, until 7 a.m. the next day, when he finally couldn't take it anymore. His legs were so numb he couldn't feel them anymore, and he was about to burst to urinate, so he had to give up. 18 cubic meters is more than enough; how big are people?
After completing the construction of the space, Mo Chen then attached the space to himself. He could clearly sense the space inside the bedroom. He walked into the living room, and in a flash, he was back in the bedroom. Silently, he felt nothing except for witnessing the scene change instantly. This method can be used as storage space and also as an escape route to avoid being tracked, which is quite good.
At 8 a.m., Mo Chen returned to his dormitory, packed his things, and went to class. At 11:30 a.m., he quietly slipped out of the school alone through a section of the wall on the east side of the school, transforming into a shower of petals. His destination was the city square in Long City, where the crowds were at their peak at noon, making it convenient for him to perform. Of course, he had to put on a disguise before the performance, and he didn't plan to show his true face yet. The reason is simply that Mo Chen is a cautious person, or as the current popular term would be "cautious yet brave."
Wearing a black hoodie bought from a street stall, with the hood pulled up over his head and a mask on, Mo Chen appeared in the city center square. In early September, the weather was still very hot, but the square was still packed with people. He didn't know what these people were wandering around for.
Mo Chen stopped, cleared his throat, and shouted loudly, "Everyone, the era of awakening has arrived. This is our extraordinary era."
Before the bewildered people around him could react, he had already transformed into thousands of white flowers that danced in the wind.
Wow, what beautiful flowers!
"Big sister, that's not the point, okay? The point is that these flower petals are all made from a person, okay?"
Am I seeing things?
"Wow! That magic trick is amazing!"
"Mommy, look! So many flower petals!"
"..."
Mo Chen felt a little embarrassed; everyone was treating him like a magician. Helpless, he transformed back into human form and said to the crowd, "Everyone, what I just performed was not magic, but superpowers, superpowers that only awakened beings possess."
"Brother, even though you're pretty good at magic, I'm not stupid." Why don't you just say you know magic?
"Dude, show us another magic trick, show us something amazing. I've never seen such incredible magic before."
"Young man, if you describe magic as superpowers, it changes its nature, and you become a fraud."
"Big brother, can you do other magic tricks?"
Mo Chen: "..."
When did you guys become so shrewd? You see people on TV pretending to be magicians, and you get fooled by all sorts of charlatans every day. Now that real "magical arts" are right in front of you, you actually think they're just magic. Oh my God! This is totally different from the script I imagined!
Mo Chen glanced around and saw that more and more people were gathering, and some had already started filming with their phones. He couldn't care less about that now and gritted his teeth to continue writing his script.
He then transformed into thousands of flower petals, fluttering and dancing, forming large characters 10 meters in the air: "Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, and Friendliness."
These 24 words of truth shone brightly in the sunlight, and accompanied by the fragrance of flowers, they reached everyone present.
"Is this still magic? This is more like special effects!"
"What holiday is it today? Why is there a performance?"
"Have holographic projections become this amazing now?"
"It's so beautiful. I've never seen such a beautiful sea of flowers in my life."
"If domestic films had such amazing special effects, that would be enough."
"Great job, everyone give us a round of applause..."
"Clap clap clap~~~."
The crowd cheered at the magnificent scene, treating the exaggerated spectacle as a performance. Mo Chen watched this scene from the sky, utterly speechless. You guys have really big hearts! Don't you have any idea what level of modern technology is at? You're so close to me, don't you have any suspicions at all? What else could he do? He could only wait.
About two minutes later, the person Mo Chen was really waiting for arrived.
"Make way, make way, stop crowding here, everyone disperse."
Three people squeezed through the crowd, all wearing black T-shirts, two men and one woman; the one speaking was the middle-aged man in the middle.
"Hey, why are you pushing and shoving? Are you crazy?"
"You think you can just break it up like that? Do you own this square?"
"That's right, that's right..."
"You stepped on my foot, you have to pay me back..."
The middle-aged man ignored the crowd and took out a walkie-talkie, saying, "Disperse all the people in the square and close the square."
Mo Chen heard a simple "yes" from the other end of the walkie-talkie, and then there was no further response. It seemed these three were government officials. They were a bit slow!
Soon, the entire square became agitated, with police and plainclothes officers everywhere dispersing the crowd, and dozens of sightseeing vehicles carrying people with mobility issues out of the square. Five minutes later, the entire square was deserted, with only the outermost perimeter cordon barely visible. I have to say, the efficiency is quite high.
"You should come down, sir. Although these 24 words of truth are quite beautiful, I'm not in the mood to appreciate them right now," the middle-aged man said.
The 24-character mantra disappeared, and countless petals gathered toward the ground, coalescing into ink dust before the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man knew that Mo Chen was trying to hide his identity when he saw that Mo Chen was wearing a hooded mask. However, he could still tell that the person in the hood was a young man, probably around 20 years old, and possibly a college student. This was a judgment he made in an instant.
"How should I address you?" the middle-aged man asked politely, preparing to shake hands with him.
"No need for a handshake, could you please tell me which department you're from?" Mo Chen said, his hands in his pockets, trying to keep his voice down.
"Oh, we are the China Special Affairs Response Team, under the Ministry of National Security. My name is Zhang Hongguo, and I'm in charge," the middle-aged man said excitedly. "Excuse me... have you also awakened?"
At this moment, the middle-aged man and the two young men beside him all had excitement written on their faces. Since confirming that awakening is real, they had met seven awakened individuals and had never seen them perform any superpowers. The only one, Li Bo, even destroyed his arm because of his superpowers. Seeing a place that could turn into a sea of flowers today, how could they not be excited?