Chapter 53#
Long Time No See#
Xiao Bai clutched his backpack nervously, finding some slight reassurance only when the hard object inside pressed faintly against his palm.
He followed closely behind the guide, occasionally glancing around.
From the moment he stepped through the main gate of the Central Base, he could only gape in awe.
No wonder it was the largest surviving base—after passing the stone tablet at the entrance, it was as if he had suddenly stepped into a brand-new world. At a glance, the lush foliage and orderly surroundings showed no sign of the monster shadow that loomed elsewhere.
For a moment, he thought he had traveled back in time to before the catastrophe.
Just like when he was a child, climbing the slopes of the countryside fields, he could see vast rice paddies in the distance, and farther off, the faint outlines of city skyscrapers.
Xiao Bai wondered if he was seeing things. Noticing his expression, the guide told him that place was where ordinary people lived and could indeed be called a “city.”
Life in the city was not much different from before the catastrophe, except for some changes in perception.
When considering future employment and development, people would prioritize working at the Central Base.
“When you have no tasks, you can consider going there to rest and relax. Official base employees get discounts on purchases in the city. Also, a heads-up: you cannot use your abilities there casually. If caught, you’ll be thrown in jail.”
As the guide spoke, he led Xiao Bai in another direction. “But I think you won’t have much free time in the first month. Just memorizing the main roads at headquarters will be exhausting. When I first arrived, I got lost almost every day, and only recently have I managed to roughly remember my way around.”
He shared a few embarrassing stories from his early days, his easygoing manner helping Xiao Bai relax a little, and gradually they began to talk more.
The guide’s name was Yin Senze, a few years older than Xiao Bai, so Xiao Bai addressed him as Brother Yin.
Yin Senze had come specifically to pick up Xiao Bai and give him a brief introduction to the Central Base.
After passing through the last patch of woods, the cityscape was no longer visible, and another wall and gate appeared before them. Xiao Bai had already lost count of how many entrances and exits this was.
Yin Senze entered the password to open the gate, and suddenly the noise level surged, a wave of voices flooding into his ears.
Xiao Bai instinctively covered his ears but couldn’t block the sound.
Listening more carefully, he realized these seemed to be the inner thoughts of people passing by.
He had gradually learned to control the switch for his ability and quickly shut out the noise.
Yin Senze explained to the guard at the gate that he was bringing Xiao Bai to register for employment.
Since he had a special certification letter signed by Shen Xuanyi, the subsequent procedures were mostly a formality. Xiao Bai quickly received his freshly issued work ID and the key to his dormitory room.
Even after Yin Senze escorted him to the dormitory and helped him unpack, Xiao Bai still hadn’t fully processed what had happened.
The ID card in his hand bore his photo and name, and next to it was the name of his future workplace—S District Special Psychological Counseling Office. In the upper right corner was the Central Base logo.
Only then did Xiao Bai react, somewhat shocked: “Psychological counseling office?”
Yin Senze was sending a message on his communicator, informing his superiors that Xiao Bai had been settled, while explaining: “Yes. The president thinks your ability will be more suitable here. In the coming period, there should be many new ability awakeners, and mental health is an area we need to pay special attention to.”
Xiao Bai: “But I…”
He had never specifically studied psychology, so he hesitated for a moment.
But aside from that, he didn’t know what else he could contribute. The medical staff at the Central Base didn’t seem to be in short supply, at least not to the point where they needed someone like him, who only knew a little basic knowledge, to step in.
He also didn’t want to lose his job as soon as he started.
Yin Senze immediately saw his concern and comforted him: “You just need to share your experience of awakening your ability with them. They’ll also assign you a professional psychologist as a partner. Usually, you’ll mainly assist them. Occasionally, there might be people who are extremely emotional or agitated, and that’s when you’ll need to step in.”
—The latter was the key point.
The number of awakeners had been increasing exponentially. While most people passed through the adaptation period smoothly, there were also those with unstable mental states or those affected by their awakening abilities, leading to emotional outbursts that made even basic communication difficult.
The department responsible for registering new awakeners found this quite troublesome, which led to the idea of a specialized psychological counseling office for ability users.
Now, with a telepath like Xiao Bai, handling these situations would be much easier.
Even if normal communication was temporarily impossible, they could forcibly calm someone down and save on sedatives.
However, since Xiao Bai was new, his superiors kindly gave him two days off to familiarize himself with the environment.
The most important thing was to learn the layout.
Just looking out from his dormitory window, Xiao Bai felt the base was far larger than he had imagined.
The layout was somewhat similar to the Nanzhou Base—half was densely packed buildings, while the other half, adjacent to the mountains and walls, consisted of large training grounds, both indoor and outdoor.
But at first glance, this place seemed even livelier than the Nanzhou Base.
Yin Senze said this area was just one subdivision of a subdivision within the Central Base headquarters—specifically, a recently added special subdivision within the Awakener Division of the Combat Zone.
Since it was newly built, there weren’t that many people, but everyone was extremely enthusiastic about training.
When Xiao Bai arrived, the sky was just barely light, and the training ground was already filled with people.
It was at this moment that Yin Senze told him another “bad news.”
In the future, Xiao Bai would have to train with the group, but he only needed to attend morning exercises three times a week. Apart from that, President Shen and the others would arrange special training sessions, initially estimated to be at least two to three times a week.
Xiao Bai’s neck felt cold at the news, and his face fell.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to train, but imagining himself, a sports slacker, training alongside those powerful “monsters” made him feel like he would be overwhelmed by the crowd just thinking about it.
“Don’t worry, the instructors are very considerate,” Yin Senze said with a chuckle at Xiao Bai’s pitiful expression, then quickly coughed to cover it up. “In this era, even if you can run just a little faster, it increases your chances of survival.”
Xiao Bai nodded. Although it was a cliché, it was true.
After unpacking, Yin Senze glanced at the latest message on his communicator and informed Xiao Bai: “Oh, by the way, that friend of yours also came to the Central Base.”
Xiao Bai was taken aback: “My friend?”
Which friend?
He didn’t immediately react, but Yin Senze assumed he was too happy to speak.
“But if you want to meet him, you’ll have to wait a while. I need to deliver some documents first. You can look around nearby. Go out the main entrance of the dormitory, turn left, and walk to the end—that’s the cafeteria. You can eat there with your work ID.”
Yin Senze gave a brief explanation and hurried off, clearly the documents were urgent.
Xiao Bai stood in a daze for a while, then decided it wasn’t good to just idle around. He made his way downstairs and headed to the cafeteria following Yin Senze’s instructions.
Along the way, many people glanced at the unfamiliar face.
Xiao Bai lowered his head and quickened his pace.
After circling around a couple of times on the small paths, Xiao Bai finally understood why Yin Senze had told him to wait until he came back to find someone—this place was ridiculously convoluted, like a maze.
Standing under the wall, Xiao Bai looked around blankly. In the time it took to turn around, he nearly forgot which direction he had come from.
Fortunately, he could hear faint voices from beyond the wall. After hesitating, he pressed his ear against it and cautiously opened his ability a little, trying to pick up some landmark information.
[Anyway, since no one’s around, testing it a bit shouldn’t matter, right?]
[What the hell is that idiot sneakily trying to do… Damn!]
Two completely different voices. Before Xiao Bai could figure out what they meant, someone shouted from above: “Hey! Watch out!”
Xiao Bai’s first instinct wasn’t to dodge—he didn’t even know where to dodge—so he instinctively looked up toward the source of the voice.
Someone was leaning over the wall, looking as if Xiao Bai were about to be buried alive in a coffin the next second.
Xiao Bai’s internal alarm bells screamed.
The misfortune struck the next moment. He felt the ground tremble beneath him, faint cracks appearing on the wall, accompanied by a dull impact from the other side.
The center of the cracks was aimed directly at Xiao Bai’s head.
Both Xiao Bai and the person on the wall turned pale simultaneously.
“Idiot, stop! There’s someone behind you!”
The person on the wall turned back to shout, while Xiao Bai’s feet seemed nailed to the ground. His face ashen, he couldn’t move, and finally just closed his eyes, waiting for death—
To die on his first day of work. He was just too unlucky.
A sharp gust of wind rushed toward him, and a few gravel stones, like blunt blades, cut harshly across his cheek, burning with pain.
But it was this intense pain that made Xiao Bai realize he was still alive.
He cautiously opened his eyes a slit, and at the same time felt something tighten around his neck. Someone had pulled him back from behind. He stumbled to steady himself and first saw a familiar figure a short distance away, then the large hole broken through the wall.
On the opposite side, the burly man stared dumbfounded at the opening, his jaw hanging open for a long while.
The person behind him reached out and patted Xiao Bai’s cheek, casually resting an elbow on his shoulder, offering insincere comfort: “Feeling any more alive now?”
Xiao Bai covered his face without turning around, stammering to the person in front: “A-Ah Li?”
“Yeah.” Chu Chenli glanced back at him, then lowered his hand.
The rubble and dust seemed to be wrapped in an invisible pocket, slowly descending with the motion of his hand, only to lose their force upon landing, creating a faint crashing sound.
Amidst the scattered noise, Chu Chenli studied Xiao Bai for a moment, then smiled and said, “Long time no see.”