Chapter 154: It would be more fitting to evaluate her as an

"But these Awakened were just ordinary people a month or two ago. Why should they be separated from ordinary people just because they've awakened superpowers? Why don't their brave deeds deserve praise?"

"Exactly. If we deliberately drive a wedge between Awakened and ordinary people, how are we any different from those racists in the West? We must be on guard against this idea of splitting Awakened and ordinary people into two races, even two species. After all, every one of us ordinary people could become Awakened in the future!"

"Right. If you suddenly awakened right now, would you want your old friends and family to look at you as a different race? To stop treating you as a person? 【Eye-roll】"

"But that's just how reality is. My neighbor used to seem like a pretty nice guy, but half a month after awakening he started acting all high and mighty. Now he looks at us neighbors with his nose in the air, talks with a real attitude, like he thinks he's some noble being, nothing like us common folk. And he's only C-rank! 【Cold laugh】"

"You can only say that's a problem with his personal character. You can't say the whole Awakened population has a problem…"

"Yeah, I run a little stall near our local Awakened Management Bureau. Most Awakened do have that superior air about them, but some are really easygoing and don't look down on us ordinary people at all."

"Our neighborhood is near a garrison. The Awakened who come from the military have amazing discipline… 【Flowers】"

Seeing the thread veering off-topic, the original poster had to speak up again to steer it back on track.

"We're not talking about the character of some individual Awakened, okay? We're talking about the impact Awakened will have on the future of human society—the impact of superhumans like Yang Yi! Think about it. Just two months ago, if a large-scale disaster struck, what would we do? Even if we lost many of our compatriots, we would still pull together, give every ounce of our strength, and weather the storm together.

"But now? Would you still do that? When disaster strikes again, would we instinctively expect the 'Yang Yis' to show up and save us? Would those ordinary people who'd planned to give their strength start feeling too small and weak, thinking that even if they risked their lives to save others, it wouldn't amount to as much as the 'Yang Yis' could do with a flick of a finger? In that situation, would you still do your best to help others? If you fell into a desperate situation, would you still try to save yourself? Or would you just pin your hopes on the 'Yang Yis'?

"The appearance of the 'Yang Yis' will make ordinary people belittle their own efforts, believing everything is innate, predestined. Ordinary people will only need to wait for their rescue, or hope they suddenly win the lottery and awaken superpowers to solve every difficulty in life.

"The appearance of the 'Yang Yis' will also make ordinary people undervalue the power of the masses, undervalue collective wisdom. You have to remember our nation was built on the foundation of the masses. To abandon that is to throw away the very foundation of our state!

"The 'Yang Yis' will also make ordinary people worship heroes and submit to authority. We've only just shaken off a century of servility, and now it would seep back into our bones. The 'Yang Yis' will turn the struggles and efforts of us ordinary people into a joke.

"The 'Yang Yis' will also rob us of our individual will, make us vassals of superpowered beings. From now on, history will no longer be written by us ordinary people—it'll become the personal biographies of these superhumans, and us ordinary people will only be fit to serve as story background for them! Has anyone thought about this?"

"You're talking as if history was really written by ordinary people before. Go flip through a history book—what page isn't written by heroes? How come it's fine when heroes did it, but suddenly it's not okay just because they're Awakened? And suddenly you feel your own servility? 【Eye-roll】"

"I feel like the poster's bias is showing. Why do you use 'the Yang Yis' to represent the Awakened group, and deliberately set the Awakened apart from ordinary people? I think you've got ulterior motives—you're trying to drive a wedge between Yang Yi and ordinary people! 【Suspicious】"

"I actually think the poster has a point…"

"Are there any Awakened willing to come forward and share their thoughts? What do you all actually think? 【Clap】【Welcome】"

The comments below were a flurry of opinions. Li Li Zihan furrowed his brow; he sensed a hidden danger lurking beneath this debate, which gave him a bad feeling.

"I'm an Awakened myself, just awakened two weeks ago. C-rank Body System. My abilities are superhuman strength and thick skin 【Wry smile】. At first I wasn't used to it—couldn't control the force and kept breaking things. After I got used to it, honestly life isn't that different except for a few conveniences. Like if a parking spot's too narrow I can just muscle the car in. Or before, if I saw a fight I'd only dare watch from the sidelines, but now I dare go break it up. And, uh, my abilities in that area got stronger—my wife is very satisfied… Other than that, no real difference from before. Maybe I'm just too weak. 【Smile】"

"Say 'chicken' without the 'b'—civilize you, me, and him. 【Smile】"

"What do you mean by 'that area'? Can you elaborate? I'm asking in the spirit of scientific inquiry. 【Eating sunflower seeds】"

"Wow, finally an Awakened coming forward to share! Any higher-ranked ones? Like B-rank or A-rank? Come tell us how it feels."

"There are only so many A-ranks in the whole country. They're swamped, where would they find time to shoot the breeze with us? 【Picking nose】 B-rank is something we can hope for, though."

After a while, one comment caught everyone's attention:

"I'm B-rank Fire System. Just got back from being a bodyguard for a top tycoon. Bored out of my mind. Ask me anything, I'll pick which ones to answer."

"Awesome, big shot! What level of tycoon is your employer? Do they respect you B-rank Awakened? How's the pay?"

"On the global rich list. Yes, they respect me. Pay is excellent, better than the Awakened Management Bureau. Next question."

"Big shot, big shot! Do you guys feel there's a barrier between yourselves and ordinary people? Do you look down on ordinary people?"

"When you carry a sharp weapon, you naturally have a bit more confidence than ordinary people. I'm a Magnetic Field System—unlike some Body System Awakened, you can't obviously tell I'm Awakened. We sometimes run into provocation from ordinary people. Some Awakened are pretty arrogant and can't stand any slight. I just can't be bothered. When you possess overwhelming power, provocation from ordinary people is like a kindergartner deliberately provoking an adult—would the adult get angry? They'd just find it funny and amusing."

"Excuse me, how do you Awakened view Yang Yi?"

"That's a hard question to answer. How do we view her? We don't dare view her. Maybe to you ordinary people, we're all Awakened. But we Awakened truly know how vast the gap is between ordinary Awakened and her. 【Wry smile】

"You know what? There's a rumor going around among us Awakened: Yang Yi has no bottleneck. Do you get what that means? Each of us Awakened is ranked. Generally, Magnetic Field System is stronger than Body System, and A > B > C > D. For every Awakened, climbing up a rank almost always requires a life-and-death epiphany. Without luck, effort, and a death-defying spirit to grind through, the odds are you'll be stuck at the rank you awakened at for life.

"And Yang Yi? At first, when she fought sea monsters by the coast, she showed A-rank power. A few days later, in the Fire Demon battle at Jin Shan, she showed S-rank power. Every appearance since has shattered our definition of her. By the time of the Void-Eating Beast crisis, we couldn't even imagine how strong she really was anymore, and we didn't dare evaluate her using Awakened ranks.

"Then there was the other-dimensional rift incident a few days ago. Do you know how I felt? Despair. I knew that no matter what, I couldn't catch up to even one-tenth, one-hundredth of her. An A-rank I know feels exactly the same way.

"I think when you evaluate Awakened, please separate Yang Yi from us Awakened. She's not a genius among Awakened—it's more fitting to evaluate her as an 'anomaly.'

"Sometimes I wonder if she had some kind of extraordinary encounter, because her power level has already stepped beyond the human range…"