WMSR – QT Chapter 109

 

WMSR – QT Chapter 109

By

siofra

Chapter 109: The Senior of the Apocalypse

It seemed... that the awakening process for supernatural ability wielders also involved several days of unresponsive high fever.

Bai Yichen immediately retrieved his mental database detailing the physiological markers of ability awakening, and the more he cross-referenced the data, the more he realized that every single symptom exhibited by the slender man currently resting on the bed matched the criteria perfectly.

Could it be that this man is awakening an ability?

A possibility he had never dared entertain suddenly popped into his mind. Bai Yichen stood frozen in sheer astonishment for a prolonged stretch before cautiously executing the most appropriate protocol for an awakening individual: silently retreating from the room.

During the activation phase, awakened ones required zero physical interference; absolute peace and freedom from disturbance remained paramount. Although his suspicion that the man was undergoing a supernatural awakening had rapidly claimed dominance, Bai Yichen still found the reality surreal. Weren't supernatural awakenings statistically most heavily concentrated among physically robust individuals?

A complex web of mixed emotions swirled through Bai Yichen's chest. While jealousy was entirely absent, the sensation remained undeniably intricate—after all, just days prior, he had remained thoroughly confident that he was the prime candidate destined for an awakening.

Though he deduced that the man likely unlocked a supernatural power, Bai Yichen's anxiety lingered, prompting him to leave the bedroom door unlatched so he could slip inside periodically to check on the patient. He harbored a nagging fear that his hypothesis might be incorrect and that the man was instead suffering from an unknown acute pathology. Of course, within this apocalyptic wasteland, if the cause truly proved to be an obscure illness, there was zero medical recourse available regardless.

Another full day elapsed. By the third day of his high fever, the slender man's vital signs remained remarkably stable. Meanwhile, a bizarre environmental anomaly manifested inside the guest room: atmospheric humidity skyrocketed dramatically, causing dense clusters of tiny water droplets to condense quietly across the hardwood flooring and the surfaces of the furniture.

Given the clear weather outside, the exceptional natural lighting of his apartment, and its elevated seventh-floor positioning, moisture issues had never once plagued the residence—let alone a phenomenon where every single surface inside a room spontaneously beaded with moisture. The sole logical explanation for this supernatural distortion was that the slender man lying upon the bed had triggered it.

If Bai Yichen had initially merely suspected an awakening, the appearance of these environmental anomalies confirmed his deductions with absolute certainty.

Once he verified that the man was undergoing an ability awakening and cast aside his worries, Bai Yichen felt entirely at ease. As long as the local environment remained secure, the awakening process itself carried zero inherent lethality. The vast majority of casualties among the first generation of naturally awakened power-wielders in the early apocalypse stemmed from panicked companions abandoning comrades who fell into sudden, unexplained fevers—leaving many to perish silently in isolation, while a fortunate few survived to harbor bitter vengeance against those who forsook them. The faction within post-apocalyptic survivor safe zones that harbored the deepest animosity toward ordinary humans comprised precisely this category of awakened ones.

Assured that the situation warranted no panic, Bai Yichen settled into a routine of patient waiting, amusing himself during lulls by counting the exact duration of the man's unconscious state. As the days ticked by without a sign of waking, Bai Yichen's internal astonishment multiplied exponentially. Power-wielders varied drastically in inherent potency; within the hierarchy of supernatural beings, a prolonged awakening duration directly correlated with the overwhelming magnitude of the future ability. The fact that the slender man had yet to regain consciousness signaled that his power was bound to be extraordinarily formidable. Bai Yichen recalled that the original protagonist gong and shou—the absolute pinnacle of strength within this world's roster of power-wielders—had each required a full nine days to complete their awakenings.

Could it be that he had inadvertently latched onto an elite powerhouse through pure, unintended coincidence? Bai Yichen, who had been mentally preparing for death just days prior, found himself marveling at the twist of fate. Once his amusement settled, a wave of eager curiosity took over: Just how many days would this slender man's awakening ultimately sustain? Thus, he resumed his silent vigil.

Six days, seven days, eight days... As the timeline extended further, Bai Yichen's pulse raced with growing anticipation. Finally, on the ninth day, the slender man—who had remained inert and unresponsive throughout—slowly blinked open his eyes.

Lin Jiawen possessed zero awareness of the events that had transpired, nor did he realize that a full nine days had dissolved into the past. Yet the instant his eyelids parted, he perceived that the entire fabric of reality had undergone a radical shift.

The sensation was profoundly mystical. Within his field of vision, the universe presented an entirely novel sensory layer, and across this newly unveiled perceptive plane, he sensed a supreme capacity to manipulate his surroundings at will.

"You're awake!" Bai Yichen, who had dropped by for a routine check on the patient, gasped in genuine surprise upon discovering the man's eyes open.

Lin Jiawen shifted his gaze toward the sound. Under normal circumstances, this would have constituted an utterly mundane motion; yet the moment Bai Yichen locked eyes with those pitch-black pupils, the blood surging through his entire vascular system erupted into a violent, unprompted boil. This boiling sensation was not a poetic metaphor—his biological fluids were literally heating up, driving his heart into a frantic, erratic rhythm completely outside his conscious control. Overwhelmed by the blinding, agonizing spike of pain, Bai Yichen staggered, clutching his chest as he dropped into a painful crouch.

Realizing the situation, Lin Jiawen—who had been lingering in a haze of post-awakening disorientation—snapped to full alertness. He bounded off the bed in a panic. The instant his panic and cognitive focus locked onto the scene, the esoteric, otherworldly manipulation field instantly dissolved, allowing Bai Yichen's physical torment to vanish just as abruptly as it had materialized.

Lin Jiawen was far from dim-witted. Although he lacked complete comprehension of the mechanics behind the episode, he sensed a direct correlation between the youth's sudden agony and his own newly awakened state. That realization plunged him into an abyss of crushing guilt and remorse. Watching the boy he secretly adored curl up in such distress made his heart ache with a ferocity that made him wish he could suffer the pain in his stead.

It took Bai Yichen a considerable duration to steady his respiration and recover his equilibrium. Yet the terrifying phantom sensation of his heart threatening to detonate lingered within his nerves. Once he regained his footing, he realized he was essentially cocooned inside the slender man's embrace, prompting him to shift slightly in an attempt to pull away.

Noticing the awkward physical boundary, Lin Jiawen realized the impropriety of their posture and scrambled to withdraw his arms in a clumsy flurry, his previously pale cheeks instantly erupting into a brilliant, burning crimson.

Though Lin Jiawen's pulse hammered erratically due to the close proximity, his absolute priority centered entirely upon the youth's physical wellbeing. Only after conducting repeated visual inspections confirming that Bai Yichen suffered no lingering injuries did he let out a massive sigh of relief.

With the initial chaos subsiding, a tidal wave of perplexing questions surged within Lin Jiawen's mind: What on earth had occurred? Why did he feel as though the fundamental rules of the world had rewritten themselves the moment he opened his eyes from a routine slumber?

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