"Xiao Lin..."
This name did not elicit any reaction from the five-man squad, only confusion.
"Um... should I have heard of you?" The captain countered cautiously.
"Actually, I'm quite famous. I'm that..." Xiao Lin felt somewhat awkward.
The girl named Lin Niannian suddenly raised her hand high and said:
"I remember! You're the lead singer of that disaster metal band, right? I especially like your song 'Everyone F***ing Die'."
"No..."
"Then you must be the bun shop lady I passed on Chunxing Road ten years ago! I loved your buns! Never thought I'd meet you here! But you've lost so much weight, and your breasts are gone too."
Xiao Lin: "..."
"Niannian, let's just... let Mr. Xiao Lin tell us himself, isn't that more convenient?" The captain interrupted Lin Niannian's nonsense.
He turned to Xiao Lin again: "Sorry, Mr. Xiao. This girl has a bit of a mental illness. Aphantasia of common sense."
"Aphantasia of common sense? What does that mean?"
The captain shrugged and explained: "A very rare backlash syndrome of supernatural powers, mostly seen in mental-type espers."
"The patient cannot accumulate common sense in their brain. Even to distinguish between a person and a tree, they have to judge by shape, color, height, and whether it sheds leaves."
Xiao Lin keenly caught a word from his explanation: "She is an esper?"
"Actually, we all are." The captain glanced at the shotgun. "So your weapon isn't really effective. Can we have a good talk?"
Xiao Lin hesitated for a while but still didn't lower the gun: "Sorry, I can't fully trust you yet, but I am willing to communicate."
The captain didn't get angry, instead showing understanding: "Fair enough. Building trust this quickly is indeed not easy. Then let's start with self-introductions."
He tugged at his collar and formally introduced himself: "Satellite Town, Enforcement Team Captain Yan Jie. Male, 32 years old this year. Extroverted personality, strong work capability!"
"A bit too formal," Xiao Lin thought.
"I have three questions to ask," Yan Jie said seriously. "First, why has this building resurrected? Second, why are you here? Third, who are you?"
Xiao Lin was momentarily stunned: "Building resurrected? What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Yan Jie also looked bewildered.
The two stared at each other for a moment, and then Xiao Lin realized: "You mean... this place should be a ruin?"
"Not should be, but has always been. It only suddenly resurrected today. So... you resurrected along with the building, right?"
"Wait, I feel like there's an asymmetry of information between us." Xiao Lin hurriedly asked, "How long has this laboratory been destroyed?"
"Over two hundred years," Yan Jie replied.
Xiao Lin fell silent.
"Captain, my judgment is correct. He really isn't human," Lin Niannian suddenly murmured. "Although he's very similar, he isn't. He is a... a creature I can't describe at all, he..."
The atmosphere suddenly turned grim and dangerous.
An enforcement team member quickly raised his hand, a bizarre blue light igniting in his pupils. The air between them solidified; Xiao Lin could even see the boundary of the solidification with his naked eye.
Immediately after, someone quickly drew a pistol and aimed it at Xiao Lin.
At that moment, Xiao Lin nearly pulled the trigger, but in the preceding instant, Yan Jie raised his hand and shouted: "Everyone stay calm! Put your weapons down!!"
Xiao Lin didn't lower his weapon, nor did they, but both sides restrained themselves, and the situation did not worsen.
Yan Jie wiped his forehead and said: "Looks like the first two questions are answered. On to the third. Mr. Xiao Lin, who exactly are you?"
"You really don't know me?"
"No."
"Tianyan Research Institute, core member of the Mysterious Journey Project, First Generation Transcendent, Xiao Lin."
As soon as the words fell, the five people opposite suddenly displayed expressions of utter shock, as if they had heard some earth-shattering secret.
Xiao Lin thought perhaps they had heard of the Tianyan Research Institute or the Mysterious Journey Project.
After all, the former was a world-renowned top-tier institute, and the latter was a project with extremely high discussion volume in the circle.
But Lin Niannian suddenly said: "Impossible. Among the seven First Generation Transcendents, none retained a human form. They were existences closest to gods!"
The standoff ended.
In the institute's water bar, the five sat outside t
he counter, while Xiao Lin was inside, making coffee and recounting his experiences. But he only told a part; some key cores that needed confidentiality were omitted, such as the existence of the Stone Gate.
"So, after you participated in the Mysterious Journey, you traveled here?" Yan Jie rested his elbows on the counter, lost in thought.
He asked Lin Niannian, "Niannian, do you have any impression of the city of Yanzhou?"
Lin Niannian rested her chin on her hand, thought for a moment, and shook her head: "There is nothing in the data I remember. It might have been destroyed or vanished."
"How is this possible? Two hundred years is absolutely not enough time to create a historical fault line. Besides, this place is the former Yanzhou," Xiao Lin said.
"If you think that, you are wrong." Yan Jie looked at the cup in his hand. "History no longer exists."
"No longer exists? What do you mean?" Xiao Lin was baffled.
Yan Jie replied: "Literal meaning. The world is becoming stranger and stranger. We don't know how big it is, what shape it is, or what the starry sky above our heads is."
"History has also been distorted. Some abnormal things are forcibly intervening in our past. We don't know what is real and what is fake. In two hundred years, this world has become..."
"A black, lumpy mess."
Regarding Yan Jie's statement, Xiao Lin, as a time traveler, had no personal experience and found it hard to understand. He could only switch to another topic.
"By the way, are you all Transcendents?" he asked.
Yan Jie shook his head: "We are Espers."
"Aren't Espers Transcendents?"
"The two are completely different concepts. Esper refers to people who obtain supernatural powers through different paths; it's a rather general term."
"What about Transcendents?"
"They are natural powerhouses, existences that possess divinity themselves. They are existences that Espers cannot compare to at all."
Inexplicably, Xiao Lin thought of Yang Qi: "Then do you know Yang Qi?"
Yan Jie suddenly paused: "You are from two hundred years ago? But you know Yang Qi? How do you know?"
"He was my university classmate, a very good friend," Xiao Lin answered truthfully.
The expression on Yan Jie's face suddenly became very strange. He froze for a moment before answering Xiao Lin's question: "Yang Qi, Second Generation Transcendent, Mayor of Justice City, an existence akin to a demigod. Half a year ago, he single-handedly destroyed a large city of five hundred thousand people."
Xiao Lin was dazed, feeling an unprecedented sense of alienation. Even Yan Jie's voice seemed to become distant.
A few days ago, Yang Qi had sent him a message, saying he got into a conflict while working part-time in the cafeteria and had his wages docked, feeling very aggrieved. When Xiao Lin departed, Yang Qi had even said that when he returned, he would treat him to roast whole lamb.
Now, merely a few hours later, the time of a meal or a lunch break.
His former best friend had killed his most trusted teacher and become a terrifying deity that people spoke of with terror.
The world rumbled on, crushing everything familiar to him, leaving behind a pile of strange powder.
"So, do you still insist you are a First Generation Transcendent?" Yan Jie's voice pulled him back to reality.
"There's no insisting or not. I am one. Not just First Generation, but the very first person," Xiao Lin calmly poured him some more coffee.
"Then... I would like to introduce you to someone. The Mayor of our Satellite Town."
"Is he a Transcendent?"
"Not exactly. He is also an Esper, but he is very strong. His power comes from a true Transcendent. He is that Transcendent's agent."