Chapter 8: Text Message

The next day, there was still a meeting, but the location had changed to a heavily guarded hotel.

Yang Yi had stayed up late reading novels yesterday; today, when her phone alarm rang twice, she silenced it, comforting herself that she would get up after just ten more minutes of sleep. Half an hour later, when Feng Liancheng came to call her for breakfast, she suddenly realized she had overslept again.

She finished washing up in five minutes, yawned, and followed Feng Liancheng to the buffet to have breakfast, then went to the top floor of the hotel to continue the meeting that hadn't finished yesterday.

The meeting venue had been set up overnight. The awakened ones and the alien invasion event announced yesterday had sparked huge controversy worldwide; compared to that, the bombing of the United Nations headquarters building paled in significance. There were even more reporters today.

As soon as Yang Yi stepped out of the elevator, a wall of flashlights blinded her, startling her.

At today's meeting, Yang Yi did not secretly read novels to pass the time. Although there had been much attention yesterday morning, other awakened ones had helped share the burden, but after yesterday's massive explosion, she was now virtually a global celebrity. Countless eyes in the meeting hall were silently watching her, so she had to put on an appearance of seriously attending the meeting.

The meeting announced the alien classification standards, which were similar to those for awakened ones, also divided into D, C, B, A, and S, with SS and SSS above S, but no corresponding creatures had been discovered yet.

Both are D-rank, but D-rank aliens clearly possess strength far exceeding that of D-rank awakened ones. This takes into account that most discovered aliens have extremely low intelligence, with some even acting solely on biological instincts. This, in turn, gives humanity significant room for planning. After all, no matter how formidable a species is, if it has not developed intelligence, it can only be locked up in a zoo like lions and tigers for people to admire.

Currently, humanity does not consider the alien invasion to be the end of the world. For instance, that S-rank giant crab in the sea, although it caused the loss of several warships for Xia Country and Arc Country, was due to humanity's excessive arrogance, even attempting to capture it alive for research. If the intention had been to kill it from the start, a single hydrogen bomb or nuclear bomb could have easily solved the problem.

Humanity is very confident in its own technology.

Visible dangers are not true dangers; instead, the harm and potential impact caused by aliens like the "Smiling Mushroom" are far greater than those of giant beasts.

Bizarre, unknown, terrifying, even unable to find the source of danger for a time, not knowing the mechanism of occurrence, unable to obtain a solution, only watching people die inexplicably—this is the most terrifying.

Even in some regions, bizarre events similar to "seeing ghosts" occurred, causing great panic locally, and these remain unsolved cases to this day. However, such bizarre events are relatively rare.

Currently, the issue of greatest international concern is what impact awakened ones will have on society and how society should treat these new humans who are both the same as and different from themselves. Especially after Wei De broadcasted human experimentation targeting awakened ones yesterday, the chasm between the two has grown even wider.

Not all countries are like Xia Country, which had secretly established an Awakened One Administration Bureau long ago and issued the "Awakened One Management Regulations." Many small countries did not even know about awakened ones and the alien invasion, previously treating them as folk tales and murder cases.

And what about certain great powers? Domestic racial issues were already severe; ordinary people were further divided into different groups based on race, skin color, gender, faith, culture, and appearance, let alone awakened ones. Just like the "mutants" in their country's famous comics, when awakened ones first appeared, they did not receive fair treatment.

The laboratory footage broadcast by Wei De Davis was mostly the work of certain corporations behind the scenes in that great power, or one could boldly speculate that it was certain corporations secretly funded by the government.

Therefore, it can be said that the United Nations building explosion was entirely indirectly caused by a certain great power. Due to that great power's dominant position in the world, although many national dignitaries objected, the matter was ultimately dropped.

Yang Yi honestly attended the meeting all morning, without secretly reading novels, playing mini-games, or browsing social networks. Although she often drifted off, she was very satisfied with her performance this morning.

As noon approached, her stomach, clamoring with hunger, made her repeatedly light up her phone screen to check the time, complaining about why the meeting hadn't ended yet.

Suddenly, a strange text message appeared on her phone screen. Yang Yi's brow furrowed slightly, and her lips unconsciously pressed together tightly.

"Little Yi, I am your eldest uncle. We saw you on the evening news yesterday. Now the whole family is happy for you; our family finally has a big shot! Just now, the town mayor came to our house, very kind, saying the city wants to give us an award or something, and also said the mayor will come to our house this afternoon, and the provincial TV station is coming to interview us! After you finish the meeting in Arc Country, hurry home. Your grandfather and grandmother keep talking about you. Your aunt, your cousin Tanggetang, and our whole family miss you very much."

Yang Yi's gaze swept over words like "our family," "come back," and "grandfather and grandmother," finally resting on "miss you." The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, like a faint sneer, or perhaps just a tight pressing of the lips.

She leaned back in her chair, her gaze vacant, focusing and then scattering on some point ahead, her expression cold.

Not far away sat the Arc Country delegation. Sensing a faint gaze, Daniel Davis couldn't help but look back, just meeting Yang Yi's expressionless face.

Helen Baker, sitting nearby, noticed this scene, suddenly smiled, and whispered in Daniel Davis's ear, "Be careful, they might already be targeting you!"

Daniel Davis, tickled by the air she exhaled, pulled away, "It doesn't matter. Just the chance to test an A-rank's skills."

"Oh~ A man who only knows how to fight is so unromantic. Perhaps she isn't thinking about how to deal with you, but is actually interested in you? After all—" Helen Baker cast a seductive glance, "you are quite charming in the eyes of women..."

"You are overthinking it." Daniel Davis replied coldly.

Helen Baker laughed and retreated to her seat, casting a meaningful glance back at Yang Yi.

Yang Yi's eyes were vacant, completely unaware of the little incident caused by her unintentional lapse.

After staring blankly for a while, she took out her phone and deleted the text message without hesitation, then casually tossed it onto the table.

Feng Liancheng had been watching her since she started reading the text message. When she deleted it, he asked as if by chance, "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"

"Nothing." Yang Yi said lightly.

Seeing she didn't want to say more, Feng Liancheng tactfully changed the subject. "The meeting ends tomorrow. Do you have any plans afterwards? If not, we'll book flights for tomorrow afternoon."

"No."

She had originally wanted to go to Times Square before leaving to watch Chris filming, hoping to bump into her male idol, but she suddenly lost interest, like a person who was starving and ready to feast suddenly seeing a pile of dung, instantly losing the desire to eat.

"Alright then, we'll go back tomorrow afternoon." Feng Liancheng smiled. "The first thing after returning is to conduct your rank assessment. I hope it won't be too shocking at that time..."

Hearing this, Yang Yi frowned tightly and let out a long sigh.

The sunlight and cloud shadows outside the window shifted. She gazed into the distance for a long time, her eyes dim, as if feeling her life could never return to what it was before.