"Oh? Holding knives and looking like you're about to eat someone… so you're the ones chasing him?"The young woman calmly finished analyzing the situation.
As she spoke, the three fierce-looking men had already rushed over. Two of them wore mocking grins.
Classic thugs.
The girl remained very calm. Extremely calm.So calm that she looked as if she'd been frightened stiff, frozen in place.
The three men assumed she was too scared to move, so they didn't attack immediately. Instead, they spread out and surrounded her, cutting off any escape.
"Hey, little beauty," the man in the middle said with a lewd grin, "hand that thing over. Do that and we might… have some fun with you. Hahaha~"
He clearly thought the key was already theirs and had begun thinking about other things.
"N-no… don't come closer… you're all bad people…"The girl hugged herself, looking pitiful and terrified.
"Haha, boss, we hit the jackpot today!"One of the underlings laughed."First we run into someone with a crystal key, and now this gorgeous girl just walks right into us. What luck!"
"Not bad," another said. "After this, let's go eat hot pot—"
"What hot pot? It's scorching today!"The leader smacked him on the head.
"Right, right, no hot pot. Barbecue and beer," the underling quickly corrected.
"Fine. You two watch the intersection. I'll go first."The leader walked toward the girl, grinning obscenely.From his tone, it was obvious this wasn't his first time doing something like this.
"Yes, boss."
Just as the two lackeys turned to keep watch, the terrified girl suddenly moved.
A moment later—
Their boss dropped to his knees.
"B-boss…? Y-you…?"
They were a bit farther away, so they saw everything clearly.
Right as their leader reached out toward the girl, she suddenly stepped forward.Her right index finger shot out and tapped his chest.
He didn't even react at first.He only felt a slight pain. When he touched his chest, his hand came away wet.
Blood.
By the time he realized it, his legs had already given out.He collapsed to his knees.
He died with an expression of utter disbelief.
A ridiculous way to die.Killed by a seemingly harmless girl without even seeing how she moved.
"You two should die as well," the girl said coldly."Trying to touch me… how brave."
She moved.
The two remaining men panicked. One raised his knife and slashed—
Too slow.
A hole appeared in his chest.
He dropped to his knees with a dull thud.
The last man lunged forward in desperation.The blade came down—
—and stopped.
The girl caught it with her bare hand.
The henchman froze.
He watched, horrified, as the blade bent in her delicate fingers like soft metal.
"Pfft."
A sharp pain struck his chest.
He understood immediately.
He was dead.
What a frustrating way to die.At the hands of a girl who looked completely harmless.
From start to finish, less than two minutes had passed.
The girl's name was Su Mengmeng.She really was as cute as her name suggested.
But appearances were deceiving.
Before the Awakening Era began, she had already been a karate black belt.
After Mo Chen triggered the Awakening Era, she became one of the first twelve unexpected awakeners in the country.
When Mo Chen first posted the dark-energy refinement method online, she began practicing immediately.
In some ways, she was now one of the strongest people in China—second only to Mo Chen.
A true expert.
And she hadn't refined dark energy recklessly.She followed a careful, scientific plan.
First: the area around her heart.Then: forehead, temples, back of the head, and neck—vital points.Finally: her hands.
That way, she balanced offense and defense.Even if caught off guard, she wouldn't be helpless.
At 9 p.m. tonight, she had finally completed the full refinement of her hands.
Having finished this phase, she decided to go out for a walk.After staying indoors for days, the lively girl couldn't sit still any longer.
She hadn't expected that the moment she stepped outside, she'd run into the kind of situation usually reserved for novel protagonists.
Su Mengmeng crouched down, wiped her fingers on the thugs' clothes, and quickly left with the crystal key.
Although she showed no mercy while fighting, she still felt slightly uneasy afterward.After all… it was her first time killing.
"I hope the Superpower Management Bureau doesn't come after me…"she muttered.
Across the country, similar incidents were happening.All because of the crystal keys.
When Mo Chen had "scattered" them earlier, he'd even added flashy light effects.It was impossible not to notice.
And with the nationwide text message, even idiots could guess what those streaks of light were.
Mo Chen had anticipated this, of course.But it was inevitable.
This was how these stories always went.
That night, Mo Chen didn't return to his apartment.It was too far from school, and he was worried about oversleeping.
He went back to the dorm instead.
He also felt it might be worth setting up a spatial node inside the school later, just to avoid commuting.
"Guys, come look at this."Back in the dorm, Mo Chen took out three crystal keys.
"WHAT?!"His roommates' eyes nearly popped out.
"Mo Chen, are you heaven's chosen son or something? Three keys?!" Xiao Ming shouted.
"Holy crap, they're real?"Fatty Sun grabbed one and examined it from every angle.
"Let me see too."Even the usually shy Zheng Wenjun shamelessly reached over.
Mo Chen laughed."Relax. These are for you."
"There are Awakening Stones in that secret realm. They guarantee a 100% awakening rate."
His three roommates had been trying for three days without success.
Whether they were unlucky or just missed the tiny success window, none had awakened yet.
There were ten Awakening Stones in that realm.Whether they could secure one… would depend on them.