Chapter 27: The System

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

The sky was about to turn completely dark, and the wind howled and whirled overhead.

Amidst the broken walls and ruins, Chen Chong and Qiao Jun sat facing each other. After Chen Chong continued to answer a few more questions, Qiao Jun had fallen into deep thought.

The other eight Scavengers rested scattered in various corners, vaguely forming a pincer-like formation, and glanced at Chen Chong from time to time, seemingly not having completely let go of their wariness toward this suddenly appearing stranger.

Chen Chong didn’t mind it either. In this day and age, if he were in their shoes, he wouldn’t fully trust a stranger either. However, after all, there were no conflicts of interest between them, and from the brief conversation alone, including their leader Qiao Jun, this team of Scavengers wasn’t as vicious and ruthless as he had imagined.

“Kid, you’re really lucky to be alive.”

In the moonlight, a Scavenger with a full beard scrutinized Chen Chong and couldn’t help but speak:

“To have successfully broken out of a hellish place like that, and then trekked dozens of kilometers through the Wilderness alone, all the way here, you must be blessed by fortune itself.”

Chen Chong gave a wry chuckle: “My journey wasn’t that smooth. Several times I almost ended up in the bellies of those beasts. It was pure luck that I managed to make it here in the end. If I had to do it again, the outcome might not be the same.”

And that was indeed the truth. For example, during the previous encounter with the Clawed Alien, if that Ape-like Giant Beast hadn’t suddenly appeared to rescue him, Chen Chong, with his strength completely drained, would have undoubtedly been torn to pieces and stuffed into its stomach. Also, his method of smearing mud all over his body played a big role. Otherwise, the results could have gone either way.

Chen Chong inwardly calculated his plans after arriving at the gathering place. Then, as if recalling something, he looked at Qiao Jun opposite him and broke the silence:

“Captain Qiao, I’m very curious. How did you discover me earlier?”

Chen Chong believed he had hidden himself well and hadn’t left any clues, and he had even tried his utmost to suppress his breathing at the time. He truly couldn’t figure out why Qiao Jun, even with a wall between them, could accurately detect his presence.

Before Qiao Jun could answer, a tall, thin Scavenger not far away laughed heartily upon hearing this:

“Kid, our Captain is a veteran Awakener. His perception and scouting abilities are top-notch. Avoiding danger and seeking fortune is no problem for him. At the Dawn Gathering Place, countless Scavengers want to join the Captain’s team. Old Gao here admires him the most. What’s so strange about him discovering a greenhorn like you?”

“Perception and scouting, huh? It seems Awakeners all have some special abilities, but I don’t seem to have any. Is that because I took the Ultra Divine Water?”

Chen Chong’s mind stirred, and he thought of Katherine’s brain-piercing howl and Johnson’s startling muscle expansion. He pondered secretly.

“My sixth sense is indeed sharper than the average Awakener’s. That’s no secret at the gathering place.”

At this moment, the contemplative Qiao Jun raised his head and looked at Chen Chong:

“The Life Magnetic Field of an Awakener is far stronger than that of an ordinary person. If two Awakeners are too close to each other, they will faintly sense each other. Coupled with my sixth sense being somewhat stronger than the average Awakener’s, pinpointing your position wasn’t too difficult. You are still just an Initial Awakener right now. Once your Life Field continues to improve and you become a true Awakener, you will naturally understand these things.”

Qiao Jun paused, then continued:

“People like us awakened later in life, a bit late, so our achievements are limited. But as long as we fight hard enough, we can still stand on our own and thrive at the gathering place.”

Even among Awakeners, there were different ranks. The most powerful were undoubtedly the first Awakeners after the Great Cataclysm, and the naturally born Awakeners after the Cataclysm. Next, the younger the Awakener, the greater their potential for future growth and possibilities. Qiao Jun was nearing thirty and had only awakened successfully a few years ago by chance.

The other Scavengers, listening to Qiao Jun’s words, cast envious glances at Chen Chong.

Awakeners were undoubtedly the elite among the survivors today. Besides their transcendent status, they possessed all kinds of incredible abilities, and no one didn’t yearn for such power. Earlier, Chen Chong had mentioned his sudden awakening during the experiment. This miracle of changing one’s fate naturally filled these Scavengers’ hearts with envy.

“So that’s how it is.”

Chen Chong then asked calmly, without revealing his thoughts:

“Captain Qiao, you said I am an Initial Awakener. What does that mean? And how do I improve my Life Field? Also, I heard you mention Transcendents earlier, and Gene Locks or something. What’s that all about?”

“You’ve only just awakened, so it’s normal not to know.”

Remembering Chen Chong’s earlier claim about memory loss, Qiao Jun showed no impatience and spoke in a deep voice:

“Concepts like Awakener, Life Field, and Gene Lock have only circulated to us from the outside in the last few years. It is said that after the Great Cataclysm, surviving scientists and human Awakeners, using their own wisdom, deduced and established a complete system from scratch. As the system spread, all Awakeners are now categorized and distinguished according to this system.”

“The Life Field can be seen as the sum of a person’s potential, vitality, and so on. The fundamental reason Awakeners are different is that their Life Field, for unknown reasons, broke through the limits of ordinary people, reaching several times that of a normal person, and it will continue to grow with their own training and the passage of time.”

“If an ordinary person’s Life Field is between 1-2 units, then a newly awakened person’s Life Field exceeds 10 units. And a Life Field several times that of an ordinary person is just the starting point for an Awakener. When an Awakener trains himself to the limit, his Life Field Intensity could reach the limit of 100 units, which is the First Energy Level—an astonishing level dozens of times greater than an ordinary person!”

“But Life Field Intensity alone doesn’t represent an Awakener’s power and destructive force. Only when an Awakener’s Life Field Intensity reaches the First Energy Level, and they unlock the Gene Lock, can they fully master their own power and transform it into true transcendent power. This—this is a Transcendent, standing above Awakeners!”

Chen Chong pressed the question:

“Then how does one unlock the Gene Lock?”

Qiao Jun immediately shook his head and laughed wryly:

“I don’t know! Not only do I not know, I believe there probably aren’t many people here who do! As far as I know, Transcendents are figures at the leader level of the various gathering places, and only they possess the method to unlock the Gene Lock. Just thinking about it, you know how precious such a method is; it would never be allowed to circulate outside. If you want to learn it, you either have to learn the Gene Lock unlocking method from them, or you have to leave this place, cross the vast Wilderness, and search for those large survivor gathering places whose locations are unknown. Only then might it be possible.”