The group slowly walked towards the dome base, and the people around them consciously made way for them, looking at Li Daoyi and his companions with awe.
"Truly the demeanor of a strong person, he remained calm and composed throughout." Old Tang praised, looking out the window.
"So, shall we begin to awaken the children now?" The base leader looked at everyone.
"This is your territory, you call the shots," Chen Xingming said, pursing his lips.
"Ahem... I'll go now." He said, and quickly left the meeting room.
The Awakening Hall is a large space with nearly a hundred specially designed rooms around it. Each room is about a hundred square meters. The doors of the rooms are marked with different serial numbers, and there is a screen above the door showing the scene inside the room.
Tang Ning led the group to the door of Room Number One, which seemed to be the room where Xiao Kui was to awaken her powers. Every child who was to awaken would enter the room and be injected with a gene serum. This serum could stimulate the vitality of cells in the human body, thereby activating the hidden superpowers within the body. The process was extremely painful, and the probability of activating the superpowers was fifty percent.
Soon, the other hundred-plus gates were filled with people. Perhaps out of fear, no other students came to Gate No. 1.
"Rat-a-tat-tat..."
With a sound, purple lights illuminated all the rooms.
"Smack..."
Immediately afterwards, a light shone from the top of the hall, revealing a platform beneath which stood the people who had just been in the conference room.
"Whoosh..."
Everyone present gasped in surprise, as they rarely saw so many high-ranking officials.
The gazes of everyone on the platform inadvertently swept towards Xiao Xiang, the No. 1 Awakening Gate.
Seeing the gazes of the other group, Li Daoyi smiled slightly.
"Welcome everyone to the Awakening Base..."
What followed was a long and rambling speech, which made Li Daoyi roll his eyes.
A full ten minutes later, the base commander finally stopped and announced the start of the awakening.
"I'm sorry," Tang Ning said apologetically. She could naturally sense Li Daoyi's impatient expression.
"It's alright." Li Daoyi shook his head. After all, those speeches were helpful to the children, so he didn't care.
"Click..."
The Awakening Gate slowly opened, revealing a platform inside. On the platform was a machine with two holes. According to the previous presentation, these holes were for people to put their hands in, and then a gene serum would be injected into their arms.
"Xiao Kui." Li Yuan hugged his daughter.
"You can definitely do it."
"Yes," Xiao Kui said firmly.
"Hmm..."
Just then, the little guy in Li Daoyi's arms peeked out with sleepy eyes.
"Eeya?" Mengmeng looked at the unfamiliar surroundings with a hint of surprise.
"What, have you slept enough? Xiao Kui is about to wake up." Li Daoyi patted Mengmeng's back.
"Go, Xiao Kui!" Mengmeng muttered to Xiao Kui, who was not fully awake yet.
"Uh-huh."
"Heave-ho."
"Slurp." The little guy took out a lollipop and licked it.
"Hehe..." Mengmeng instantly perked up.
"Here, Xiao Kui." With that, Mengmeng took out a lollipop and handed it to Xiao Kui.
"Oh, thank you." Xiao Kui quickly took it.
The lollipop was white, with a slight sheen, and emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance. Xiao Kui swallowed hard and was about to put the lollipop in her pocket.
"You'd better keep it in your mouth now; it won't affect your awakening," Li Daoyi said with a smile.
"Is it...is it okay?" Xiao Kui hesitated for a moment and looked at Tang Ning.
"The gene serum targets your body, so eating candy won't have any effect," Tang Ning nodded.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Kui put the lollipop in her mouth and then froze instantly.
Li Daoyi slightly raised his arm, and a force enveloped Xiao Kui and sent her inside. He then stretched out his hands and inserted them directly into the two holes.
"Click." The door closed instantly after Xiao Kui went in.
"You..." Tang Ning had seen Xiao Kui's strange behavior just now and looked at Li Daoyi with some confusion.
However, Li Daoyi did not look at him; his eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him.
"Click, click."
The sound of doors closing echoed as the first batch of trainees entered the Awakening Room.
"Beep, begin injecting gene therapy."
A voice came from behind.
Xiao Kui's body trembled slightly on the screen; the gene serum had already been injected into her body.
"Injection complete."
"Please get off the injection machine and sit cross-legged."
The voice rang out again.
Li Daoyi raised his finger slightly again, and Xiao Kui mechanically pulled out her arms, closed her eyes tightly, and put a lollipop in her mouth, looking very cute.
The platform beneath her feet began to move, eventually reaching the center of the room. Under Li Daoyi's control, Xiao Kui sat down.
Next comes the awakening moment. Under normal circumstances, after the gene serum is injected, the trainee will begin to activate their superpower within five minutes. If activation is successful, the sensors in the room will emit a green light; if it fails, they will emit a red light.
Li Yuan stared nervously at the screen, his hands clenched tightly, praying incessantly.
Time passed quickly, and people around exclaimed in surprise. Green and red lights rose and fell, and some students had already begun to awaken. However, Xiao Kui remained unresponsive, sitting motionless.
Tang Ning couldn't help but frown. She liked Xiao Kui very much, and seeing that she wasn't reacting, she couldn't help but worry.
Li Yuan's face was already covered in sweat. Although he wouldn't be in mortal danger even if he failed to awaken his superpower, all he wanted at that moment was for his daughter to come out safely.
"What's going on? Is that child unable to awaken?" The crowd watching Li Daoyi from the high platform not far away were also somewhat puzzled.
"Let's wait and see. There are exceptions; some people take half an hour to wake up," Old Tang said in a deep voice.
Gradually, the doors to the other rooms opened, and those who had awakened walked out excitedly, while those who had failed were filled with sorrow. But soon, a second group of people poured in.
"Those who have successfully awakened, please assemble in the Level Assessment Hall," the mechanical voice announced again. Those who had successfully awakened needed to demonstrate their abilities in a specially designated room to receive a level assessment.
Half an hour passed, and several groups of students had completed their superpower awakening, but there was still no movement in room number one.
Li Yuan's heart sank to the bottom, and even Tang Ning's eyes were filled with disappointment.
“Sir…” Tang Ning looked at Li Daoyi.
"What's wrong?"
"Xiao Kui has lasted long enough, should we...?"
"Is half an hour a long time?" Li Daoyi glanced at Tang Ning.
"This..." Tang Ning was stunned. The alliance had conducted an experiment a long time ago. The person who took the longest to awaken succeeded within half an hour. No one after that succeeded. Therefore, everyone agreed that half an hour was the limit. If someone did not awaken within half an hour, it meant that they could not awaken.
Looking at Li Daoyi, whose face remained unchanged, Tang Ning sighed inwardly and fell silent.
One hour, two hours passed, and fewer and fewer students remained in the hall. Many people had noticed the situation in Room 1, but no one dared to say anything, their eyes filled with sympathy for Xiao Kui.
"It's been so long, hasn't that person given up yet?" someone on the high platform said.
"As long as he's willing, the child can stay inside for as long as he wants; we shouldn't interfere," Old Tang said.
Five hours have passed.
"I didn't expect you to make such delicious coffee."
Several sofas and a table were already set up at the door of room number one, with plenty of food on the table.
Mengmeng happily ate her snacks, while Saitama lay listlessly on the sofa. Li Daoyi took a sip of the coffee Tang Ning had made and praised it.
"I'm glad you like it, sir," Tang Ning said softly.
Anyone who didn't know better would think they were on vacation. Now, only a few of them remained in the hall. The other students had finished their awakenings and left. The empty hall was incredibly quiet. Tang Lao and the others on the platform had also left long ago, heading to the level assessment area.
Li Yuan sat on the ground, his eyes fixed on the screen. His face was no longer tense as it had been at the beginning, but calm. Because of Li Daoyi, he realized that Li Daoyi had never doubted Xiao Kui from beginning to end. So, as her father, he should trust his daughter even more.
"Buzz..."
The green light suddenly turned on.
"boom..."
The room shook violently, and the screen in front of us went blank instantly.
“Sir.” Li Yuanmeng got up from the ground.
"It's a success." Tang Ning stared incredulously at the green light on the door.
At the same time, the group on the other side of the dome who were checking the awakening data of the students today also received the news immediately.
"What? That child has awakened." The group exchanged bewildered glances, then put down the documents in their hands and rushed out.
"Click..."
Gate Number One was slowly opened, and a large cloud of white mist poured out from inside.
"So he's mastered superpowers already?" Tang Ning murmured.
Generally, after activating a superpower, one must go to the rating office to receive another injection to fully unleash the superpower within the body. Only then can the superpowered individual release their power and obtain basic data about it. In the current situation, only those with innate superpowers can do this, such as Tang Ning.
At this moment, Elder Tang and the others also arrived at the door.
"Grandpa," Tang Ning called out.
The others also looked on incredulously when they saw the mist flowing out.
"call..."
Immediately afterwards, a gust of wind blew out of the room, instantly dispersing the mist, and a figure slowly floated out from inside—yes, floated out; Xiao Kui flew out with her feet off the ground.
"Xiao Kui." Li Yuan was overjoyed and wanted to rush over, but Li Daoyi stopped him.
"boom..."
Just then, Xiao Kui burst into flames, turning into a human torch.
“Mist is water, there’s wind, and now it’s fire—three attributes! This child has three attributes!” Old Tang exclaimed excitedly.
"Sizzle..."
Suddenly, the sound of electricity crackled outside the flames, and rings of purple lightning appeared around the little flame sunflower.
Everyone swallowed hard, speechless. It was lightning-attribute!
Finally, the flames gradually disappeared, the lightning subsided, and Xiao Kui returned to normal, looking at everyone with a bewildered expression.
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