Chapter 4: Doubt

When Yang Yi returned to the United Nations General Assembly hall, countless gazes lingered on her; various black, brown, blue, and green eyes swept over her figure with peripheral glances, side glances, and direct stares, gathering human emotions of vigilance, doubt, contemplation, surprise, and confusion.

In that instant, she felt she hadn't just taken a break to chase a celebrity, but had committed a crime, and a heinous one at that.

Crouching low as she passed through rows of seats, she arrived at the Xia Nation camp.

"Yang Yi, why are you so late? Didn't you say on WeChat you'd be back soon?" Feng Liancheng checked his watch, his tone filled with astonishment and admiration: "You're nearly two hours late! Not bad, you dare be late for a UN meeting just to chase a celebrity!"

Chen Chen Yushu glanced at her coldly and disdainfully. He was a Metal Field Awakener, and his personality was as cold and hard as metal.

"Ah, don't mention it!" Yang Yi sat back in her seat, sighed with relief, and noticing Director Zhou looking over, immediately raised her voice to explain: "On my way back, I ran into a group of people having a shootout on the road; the police blocked the entire street. Good heavens! It was just like an Arka Nation blockbuster, even helicopters were deployed."

"You didn't get involved... ahem, are you okay?" Feng Liancheng's words took a sudden turn.

"I'm fine. The taxi was stuck on the road; I originally thought about flying over, but then I thought, this is their territory, so it's better to keep a low profile. I waited and waited, and ended up being late."

"Right, keep a low profile! The UN hasn't made this public yet; causing trouble with your flight wouldn't be good." Feng Liancheng glanced at Director Zhou and whispered to Yang Yi: "Next time you want to go somewhere, our bureau has drivers and official vehicles."

Thinking of the absurd situation of chasing a celebrity in an official bureau vehicle at public expense, Yang Yi coughed unnaturally and changed the subject: "Why are they still looking at me? It's really... making me feel uncomfortable all over..."

"There's no help for it; once the video of you fighting the sea monster was broadcast by the UN, this was bound to happen eventually. The bureau didn't even want to bring you here; they were trying to hide you, but since you're already exposed, you might as well come and lend some support!"

Acting as if their relationship was very close, Feng Liancheng bumped her shoulder and said half-mockingly: "Did you see your idol? Did you get an autograph?"

"Ahem, I just took a look from far away..."

Feng Liancheng rolled his eyes speechlessly, looking at her with a hint of frustration, as if a piece of iron wouldn't become steel. Then he changed the subject again: "Hey, everyone says you're the most powerful Awakener in the world; what do you think about that?"

Feeling slightly uncomfortable due to his familiarity, Yang Yi shrank back into her seat: "I think this conclusion is premature; Awakeners and Alien Invasions haven't been made public yet, so there might be even more powerful Awakeners hidden among the crowd. Until yesterday, I thought many Awakeners could do what I did..."

Powerful, yet not powerful enough to destroy all threats; this is not a blessing, but a sorrow.

Feng Liancheng seemed to understand her feelings. "Don't worry; you are now an official civil servant of the Xia Nation Awakener Administration. As long as you don't break the law, there won't be any problems." After speaking, he patted her shoulder comfortingly.

Yang Yi was not used to others being so close; she could only smile and said nothing in response.

On the podium, the UN resolution was being announced: the establishment of the International Awakener Alliance, with subordinate departments for Strategic Analysis, Research and Development, Logistics Support, and Mobile Operations, composed of elite Awakeners dispatched by various nations, to be uniformly deployed by the United Nations. Its aim is to unite the Awakener forces of all nations to jointly combat Alien Invasions.

The UN speculates that one or several interdimensional portals may have already connected with Earth; otherwise, the appearance of Alien Creatures on Earth could not be explained—those creatures were simply not born of the Earth's environment.

According to information from the "International Institute for Dark Matter and Astronomy," the concentration of a certain type of dark matter on Earth has surged sharply over the past three years; perhaps this is the cause of some people's awakening, and also the reason for the appearance of Alien Creatures on Earth.

Yang Yi understood now why the UN had accepted the existence of Awakeners so quickly—if Awakeners were awakened by dark matter stimulation, then everyone was a potential Awakener, such as every person present.

Otherwise, following Arka Nation's previous behavior, mere skin color could cause various racial problems domestically; let alone superpowers, wouldn't they have to argue for years over Awakeners as a minority group?!

The UN also promulgated standards for Awakener ability categories and levels, divided into two major categories: Body System and Field System, and further classified into five levels: D, C, B, A, and S, corresponding respectively to the scope and magnitude of an individual's abilities.

Looking at the documents, Yang Yi turned her head to ask Feng Liancheng: "What standard is this level classification based on? I find it a bit hard to understand."

Feng Liancheng smiled meaningfully: "To avoid causing public opinion impact, the documents here don't explain it so clearly; we have more detailed information at our place, and I'll send you a copy later."

"As for the level classification standard—it is based on the scope of impact one can cause—of course, I can be more explicit: it is classified by hazard level."

"Level D represents safety, referring to those who have awakened abilities that do not pose a large-scale threat to society, such as my own telescopic vision, or someone who has awakened fire control but can only emit flames the size of a torch, and so on;"

"Level C represents a low hazard level; once a loss of control occurs, it is relatively easy to resolve, such as a fire ability user who can create an explosion but can be dealt with by ordinary firearms;"

"Level B indicates danger, requiring a certain cost to resolve, such as a fire ability user who can create explosions equivalent to the power of a grenade, with a quantity of ten or more, a range of over ten meters, capable of causing certain social impact;"

"Level A indicates extreme danger, requiring a great cost to resolve, such as a fire ability user who can create an explosion with the power of one ton of TNT;"

"Level S represents extremely dangerous; resolving it requires a detailed and meticulous plan, otherwise it will cause extremely serious consequences. For example, if it can cause harm equivalent to that giant crab jointly annihilated by the Hua and Arka nations, it would be classified as Level S. That giant crab was rated as Level S in the Alien Creature hazard classification. If it also possessed a certain degree of intelligence, its level would be higher, such as Level SS."

"Of course, this level rating is not unchangeable; an Awakener's own intelligence, psychological quality, experience, etc., will create significant variables. A Level D Awakener with high psychological quality, high intelligence, and rich experience poses a higher hazard level than a Level B Awakener who only knows how to charge forward."

"Moreover, Awakeners are not fixed at this level forever; current research has found that an Awakener's abilities can gradually improve through use, and even advance in leaps and bounds, directly progressing to the next level."

Yang Yi frowned: "Hazard level? Have Awakeners now been removed from the human register and treated the same as Alien Creatures?"

"Don't be so sensitive! There must be a standard for ability classification; Alien Creatures and Awakeners appeared almost simultaneously, so this classification makes ability levels more intuitive and clear. I was classified as the useless Level D and didn't say anything!" Feng Liancheng said with a grin.

"What is my level?" Yang Yi asked.

"Level A."

"They really think highly of me," Yang Yi said self-mockingly. "What about him?" Yang Yi jerked her chin toward Chen Chen Yushu.

Chen Chen Yushu's attitude was cold: "Metal Field System, Level B."

While they whispered on this side, the podium had already begun announcing the list of the first batch of personnel dispatched by various nations to the International Awakener Alliance; they were basically from several major powers, after all, some smaller nations had not yet reacted.

"Arka Nation, Level B Field System Electro-control Daniel Davis, Level B Field System Temperature-control Helen Baker, Level C Body System Metalization John Smith..."

"Ross Nation, Level B Field System Gravity Andrei Ivanov, Vasily Yukin, Level C Field System Fire-control..."

"India Nation, Level B Field System Earth-control Hamid Ansari, Level C Body System Sandification Hal Korana..."

"Britain..."

"France..."

"Canada..."

"Australia..."

Yang Yi noticed that almost every country dispatched one or two Level B Awakeners. If Awakeners who had not yet joined the official ranks were included, the number might be even higher.

Yang Yi's strength displayed yesterday far exceeded Level B; the UN Awakener Conference was convened very urgently, and she had no time to undergo more precise testing, so it was only today that she learned she had been classified as Level A.

Perhaps other nations also had Level A Awakeners, but they had not dispatched them, keeping them for their own use. The reason she was dispatched here was likely because she was already exposed, so they might as well send her to the UN to lend some support. Yang Yi thought this.

"Xia Nation, Level A Field System Telekinesis Awakener Yang Yi, Level B Field System Metal Awakener Chen Chen Yushu..."

Whether to create a small climax or to single out her unique Level A status, the podium placed Xia Nation last, and shouted "Level A" particularly loudly.

The entire hall turned its gaze toward her; a silence fell, followed by low murmurs, and a buzzing sound filled the assembly hall.

A voice carrying a curry scent rose up: "I believe the abilities shown in the video are exaggerated! Videos on the internet are likely processed—Xia Nation's digital animation technology is very advanced..."

"Their country has always liked to create typical examples and set up models; perhaps this Awakener is just a puppet they put forward!"

"Even if she truly possesses the power shown in the video, she shouldn't be rated as Level A; a Level B Water-control Awakener could do the same; I think the UN has overestimated her..."

"Did the UN really conduct a test on her? Or does the country just report a level and that's the level she gets?"

"..."

The assembly hall was filled with discussion, and all gazes were focused on Yang Yi.