Chapter 3: Awakening

The classroom floor was merely ordinary concrete; its quality wasn't great, but it wasn't so bad that you could punch a hole in it with one fist.

Moreover, that sound just now was obviously huge, a bit absurd.

When did Wei Dalei get this much strength?

Chen Mu was also quite shocked; if this guy had always been this strong, he wouldn't have been a match for him before.

"I... I... I didn't mean to, huh, how did this happen...?" Wei Dalei stared at his fist, stammering.

Everyone fell silent; you don't know, ask us?

Chen Mu asked: "Old Wei, how's your hand?"

Wei Dalei shook his head: "Not too painful."

Chen Mu said: "Then try another punch?"

"Okay!" Wei Dalei, who always trusted Chen Mu, said and then threw another punch at the ground, adding a bit more force.

"Boom—"

This time the noise was louder, and the fist imprint deeper.

Everyone was stunned.

"You... you mutated?" Gu Ping asked, heart pounding.

"Bullshit, you're the one who mutated!" Wei Dalei shouted back.

Chen Mu sighed: "Old Wei, you might really have mutated."

Wei Dalei wore a bitter face: "Boss, why are you saying that too?"

Chen Mu smiled: "Becoming Infinite Strength isn't bad, and if I'm not mistaken, maybe we've all mutated."

"What?" everyone exclaimed.

Tang Jing said: "Because of the headache?"

"What do you think?" Chen Mu, who always admired Tang Jing's intelligence, also wanted to hear her judgment.

"My thought is similar to yours. If some unknown force is affecting us, maybe this is compensation for our bodies shrinking?" Tang Jing said.

"Let me try!" another male student exclaimed, then after speaking he imitated Wei Dalei and punched the ground.

"Smack!"

"Ah!"

With a muffled groan, the male student clutched his hand, hopping and wailing.

Tang Jing and Chen Mu exchanged a glance.

Dong Junwei nodded thoughtfully: "It seems everyone's mutation is different."

The male student, tears streaming down his face, said: "You didn't tell us earlier......"

Tang Jing said: "Everyone can check themselves to see if any changes have occurred."

Everyone became interested, each feeling around their own body, and the scene became a bit unrestrained……

Chen Mu calmed down and carefully sensed himself.

But after a long time he still noticed nothing.

"Hey, look, look—did something grow on my head?" someone suddenly shouted.

Everyone's gaze gathered, and they saw a male student actually growing a dark, shiny horn on his head, about a palm's length, swaying with his head like a unicorn.

"Holy shit, a monster! Take this, Old Monkey!"

"Don't hit, I can retract it." Although knowing it was a joke, the male student decisively retracted his horn.

He could even extend and retract it at will.

Everyone was speechless.

Zhao Xiao Yan, feeling a bit embarrassed, said: "I feel my nose is a bit different."

Others hadn't reacted yet, but Wei Dalei sprang up like a spring: "What's wrong? Is your nose uncomfortable?"

Zhao Xiao Yan's attitude toward him had improved considerably; at least she could respond to his concern, saying: "No, it's just that my sense of smell seems sharper. Du Jia Jia, is the cake you brought today apple-flavored?"

Du Jia Jia was a bit surprised: "How do you know?"

Zhao Xiao Yan felt a little embarrassed: "I smelled it......"

Everyone: "......"

Wei Dalei laughed loudly: "This skill is awesome; we'll never worry about finding food again."

Zhao Xiao Yan gave him a white-eye: "I'm not a dog."

Wei Dalei scratched his head and gave a foolish hehe laugh.

"Yah, I can fly, I can fly!" suddenly another voice rang out.

Then another male student, face full of surprise, had his feet slowly leave the ground, his whole body hovering in midair, altitude gradually rising.

Flight!

Humanity's oldest dream.

Everyone stared at him intently, full of envy.

"Luo Hui, great job, see if you can fly up to the table's height and get the cake down." Dong Junwei made a quick decision and shouted at the male student already flying in midair.

"Hahaha, I can fly, so awesome......"

The male student named Luo Hui was obviously still caught up in his delight, unable to pull himself away, flying back and forth in the air, his altitude continually rising, as if he couldn't hear Dong Junwei's shout at all.

Just then, a black shadow that seemed to blot out the sky swooped in, lunging at Luo Hui, who had already flown out the classroom window.

Chen Mu turned pale with fright, urgently shouting: "Luo Hui, come back quickly!"

Luo Hui seemed to sense the danger too, but it was already too late; his flying ability had just awakened and was still unskilled, he flailed his arms and legs in the air, yet could not change his flight direction at all.

That black shadow flashed past, snatched Luo Hui in one bite, and instantly flew away.

"Ah!"

Everybody was stunned.

"What… was that just now?"

Chen Mu said solemnly: "It's a swallow."

"A swallow? How could there be such a huge swallow?!" someone shouted.

In everyone's eyes, that was clearly a fighter jet!

"In the swallow's eyes, a person now and a worm are no different." Tang Jing said.

"Then… did Luo Hui die? Was he eaten by the swallow?" someone asked tremblingly.

The answer was obvious.

Having lived in peaceful times since childhood, with no worries about food or clothing, suddenly having to face this cruel apocalypse, even Chen Mu found it hard to accept at first, let alone these students raised in a greenhouse.

Dong Junwei shouted: "From now on, don't act alone randomly; we are no longer humans at the top of the food chain, and we could become food for something else at any moment."

At a critical moment, someone always needs to step up and lead.

Because of Luo Hui's death, everyone gathered together for a while, afraid to do anything, constantly replaying the horrifying scene in their minds; it took over half an hour before they barely recovered.

Chen Mu suddenly sensed something; as his thought moved, heat seemed to generate in his palm.

He raised his right hand, still holding the staple, and focused his spirit onto his palm.

There seemed to be a faint energy transmitting between his palm and the staple.

Could this be his special ability?

He held his breath and focused, and the staple in his hand actually began to change shape, gradually becoming an iron sphere!

"Holy crap, boss, what ability is this?!" Wei Dalei shouted immediately.

What ability?

Chen Mu himself didn't know either.

Could it be controlling objects?

But after trying several times, he still couldn't truly control the iron sphere.

Chen Mu's ability manifested somewhat strangely, not as simple and straightforward as the others', thus drawing everyone's attention; they gathered in a circle and stared at him.

"Or maybe it's changing the shape of objects?" Tang Jing proposed a new idea.

Chen Mu had a flash of inspiration, imagining a cube in his mind.

Sure enough, the iron sphere slowly turned into a cube.

"It really seems to be like that!" Chen Mu murmured.

He then continuously changed several shapes, and the iron lump in his hand was very obedient.

"Let's try something else." Dong Junwei picked up a stone from the ground and placed it in Chen Mu's hand.

Chen Mu followed the same method, letting the stone change into many shapes according to his thoughts.

"This ability…" nobody knew how to comment; they found it somewhat funny, like a street clown twisting balloons.

Tang Jing then said: "Chen Mu, can you try something more complex?"

"Hmm…"