Chapter 11

The room arranged for Chen Nan by the Superpower Institute was right next to Tang Ke's, also located on the third basement floor of Building A.

The two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment looks very spacious, with absolutely no shared area; it's a solid 60+ square meters.

Anyway, that room is more than enough for her to live in by herself.

The little house looked lovely, with a creamy, pastel-colored decor. Chen Nan was even quite pleased with the automatically adjusting lighting.

But for some reason, Chen Nan, who felt no reaction when eating in underground restaurants, training in underground training grounds, or wandering around various underground offices, felt oppressed when she got to this underground room.

This room also has windows, the kind of electronic windows that let you see sunlight, buildings, and even green scenery.

If you don't actually go there and touch it, you'll never discover the fake virtual electronic screens and windows that are made on a wall.

Her room has many green plants, and the lighting is automatically adjusted to resemble natural light from outside, so she must feel very comfortable here.

But for some reason, Chen Nan just felt very uncomfortable.

So after enduring a week in that room, Chen Nan finally tried contacting customer service on the freshman system and submitted a request to change dorm rooms, asking if she could be moved to a room with a window.

After the application was submitted, the customer service on the system did not respond immediately, obviously because others also needed to rest late at night.

Bored, Chen Nan studied the so-called newbie system, fiddling with it back and forth for a while. Then she remembered the dinner she had verbally agreed to with others a few days ago, and sent dinner invitations to Sister Fang, Brother Wei, Sister Yang, and the rest of the server.

When they parted ways that day, Fangjie and the others said that once Chen Nan had settled down, she could contact them through the system and they would be able to reach them immediately.

At the time, Chen Nan had some doubts about what they said, but now, seeing the only departments and contacts lit up on her phone, she realized that here, only the systems of people she knew and could contact were lit up, allowing her to send messages.

Seeing the dozens of people's messages lit up on her phone, Chen Nan smiled and sent them all invitations at the same time. After waiting a few minutes without receiving a reply, Chen Nan didn't wait foolishly any longer. Instead, she quickly went to take a shower while waiting for a response.

For the past two days, she has been practicing shooting with Tang Ke, and in addition to shooting practice, she also has to do strength training.

During long hours of holding a gun and exercising during the day, she only felt tired and uncomfortable; other reactions were not particularly strong.

But now that the hot water is on her body, Chen Nan feels aches all over.

Chen Nan originally only wanted to wash up quickly, but her shoulders and arms were in so much pain. Thinking of the so-called "fighting poison with poison," she filled the small bathtub in the bathroom with hot water and soaked in it for a while.

When she entered and felt both uncomfortable and relaxed all over, Chen Nan seemed to vaguely understand why there was a small bathtub in the bathroom.

After relaxing her body and soaking for half an hour, Chen Nan got out of the bathtub.

While her body and hair were being wrapped up and slowly airing out, Chen Nan picked up her phone, which had been charging outside. She then discovered that it seemed she had been rejected by everyone.

Fang Qinghua: "Sorry, Chen Nan, I've been a bit busy lately. Let's reschedule for another day."

Chen Wei: "Chen Nan, I'm sorry, I've been a little inconvenienced lately."

Yang Li: "Nannan, I'm sorry, I haven't been feeling well lately, and there have been quite a few infected people coming here recently. So let's eat together another time."

I carefully read everyone's replies, and then looked at the almost identical reply times.

After sitting quietly for a moment, Chen Nan replied to each message one by one.

After replying to the three people she had initially agreed to meet, Chen Nan finally thought of Wang Shanshan, whom she had met in person at the Information Technology Department and who she had mentioned having dinner with a couple of days ago.

Immediately, just like before, she texted the other person: "Hi, Shanshan, do you remember our dinner party? Are you free these days? How about we go shopping together and grab a bite to eat?"

Wang Shanshan was the person who sent her encouraging messages for a month during her quarantine. Later, on the day she fully recovered, Wang Shanshan was the one who first told her her name and said she was happy to meet her. Wang Shanshan even said that Wang Shanshan was the first person she had truly encountered who had undergone conversion therapy in her work. When the two finally met in person, Wang Shanshan also expressed great kindness and affection towards her. Therefore, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Wang Shanshan should not reject her.

Chen Nan held her phone, waiting patiently.

After a while, once she received a message from the other party apologizing for being a bit busy lately, Chen Nan let out a long sigh in her large living room of about 20 square meters.

After failing to arrange any meetings, Chen Nan sat on the sofa for a long time before finally opening an external social media app that she hadn't used for several days.

There is no WeChat or Weibo in this world. No matter how much Chen Nan tries to find similarities between the world she came from and this world, they simply don't exist.

Even if familiar social media apps are no longer available, similar apps are still available here.

Chen Nan slowly scrolled through the trending topics on the app and soon saw some negative comments about herself from the public.

Chen Nan also noticed that you can't find her name directly online now. But if you put a space or a comma between her name and her name, you can find her old videos.

"The government really is completely ignoring the demands of ordinary people like us. Now we can't even type Chen Nan's name directly online!"

"Sigh, how about we leave a message on the official website? Let's petition and ask His Excellency the President to take our request seriously?"

"Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? The President is so busy, is it really necessary to involve him in something like this?"

"Yeah, that one is hilarious. A streetwalker, a minor superpowered individual who hasn't even shown any specific abilities, are we going to use her to harass His Majesty the President?"

"That's right, His Excellency the President is busy dealing with foreign affairs and national matters every day. He doesn't have time to deal with these trivial matters."

"But the Superpower Institute is too lenient with its users, to an excessive degree. If Chen* were a normal user, then all the protection the institute provides for her would be normal. But does this low-quality internet celebrity, who just sways in front of the camera, deserve such protection from the state?"

"Hey, can you guys upstairs stop being so sarcastic? Regardless of what they did before, they're a superhuman now. Being a superhuman means their physical and mental abilities are far superior to others. Do you think the country would abandon such a rare talent, one in a thousand or even one in ten thousand, just because of your petty petition?"

"Exactly, don't worry about what they did before. Once their abilities are revealed, they'll be on the streets and at the borders. When infected people appear outside, the government will issue an order to arrest them. If suspected mutants appear outside, you'll make a call, and they'll be the first to rush out to check. If a terrifying cockroach monster appears somewhere, we'll all be responsible for running away immediately, but they'll be unconditionally going against the tide to protect you. Why, when you encounter the cockroach monster, do you not say they're professionals, but just that they have special abilities and are soldiers? Why don't you look down on their profession then?"

"What's gotten into this place? What are you doing, causing all this trouble?!"

"Who's just being unreasonable knows perfectly well, all this constant opposition. Why don't you go outside the city and volunteer for a couple of days? If you could just help those outsiders, I'd respect you as men. But if you can't even step outside the safe zone, yet you're all chattering away online, I'll only despise you keyboard warriors and scum!"

"Alright everyone, stop arguing. Chen*'s matter was handled too cleanly. I got word that she seems to have someone backing her. Let's not talk about her online anymore; it's pointless."

*

The internet is filled with arguments. Some are saying the government shouldn't accept all people with superpowers, while others are talking about organizing a petition on the imperial government's website. Some are discussing calling the whistleblower hotline. Others are hurling insults at keyboard warriors, accusing them of disrespecting people with superpowers, and some are even claiming Chen Nan has powerful connections and that their whistleblower calls are ignored.

Chen Nan scrolled through her phone for a while, and by the end, her head was throbbing with pain.

I don't want to see those inexplicable messages anymore, and I vaguely understand why Sister Fang and the others went back on their word and refused to have dinner with me.

Holding my phone, I leaned back on the sofa and sat there for a very long time.

Finally, Chen Nan got up and obediently went to blow-dry her hair. She waited in the bathroom and carefully dried her hair, then carefully applied some skincare products before quietly going to bed.

"It's okay, Chen Nan. Everything will pass. It's alright."

Covering herself in the blanket, Chen Nan whispered to herself.

Then Chen Nan quietly closed her eyes, just like before. Whether in her past life or this one, she firmly believed that whatever happened, a good night's sleep would make it all go away and she wouldn't feel bad anymore.

So this time, just like countless times before, she forced herself to slowly fall asleep.

Chen Nan felt that she slept very soundly and peacefully that night.

But at 1 a.m., everyone in Building A of the Superpower Institute felt uneasy and shocked.

The buzzing sound of electricity echoed silently throughout the building.

The automatic lighting in everyone's rooms was unusually dim, flickering on and off.

For an ordinary person, they might only think that the voltage in their building, which has been stable for thousands of years, has suddenly become unstable and fluctuated.

Even the faintest electrical hum in the room might be inaudible to most people.

But ironically, this building, especially the lower floors and the basement, is almost entirely inhabited by people with superpowers.

People with superpowers are born with extraordinary senses, allowing them to perceive everything around them more clearly than ordinary people.

So when strange buzzing sounds suddenly appeared in their house, and when the light above their heads flickered on and off abruptly.

Most of the ability users who were not asleep at this time, as well as those who were awakened from their sleep, such as Tang Ke who lived next door to Chen Nan, already knew what their new ability user truly possessed.

"It's actually lightning power!"

Countless superhumans living in Building A displayed expressions of envy, jealousy, and hatred at night.

"It's lightning power!"

Thinking of how his grandfather suddenly unleashed his lightning powers, leading the entire empire to rise from the ashes once more, and how his cousin, now also possessing lightning powers, was recognized by the military and once again placed in the position of head of state, he felt a surge of emotion.

Looking at the flickering lights overhead, Tang Ke, who had just gotten dressed and was about to go to Chen Nan's room, suddenly stopped.