Only after Lucian explained that he wanted to test his own ability did Mari somewhat agree, though she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"So did you want this date because you wanted to test my ability?"
"No way! We already preplanned it, and besides, my awakening is like a bonus. Initially, I planned to confess..."
Lucian coughed and looked around, slightly embarrassed.
If he hadn’t awakened, his original goal had been to gently understand Mari’s feelings and personal situation before responding in turn. But now that he was genuinely powerful, there was no need to shy away from his own feelings.
He was not a dense rock, after all.
Mari too looked slightly embarrassed before she quickly changed the topic.
"So should I use my ability?"
Mari’s power was a rare mental type, and even Lucian knew very little about it.
Mari stood before him and gently placed her hand on his head.
Lucian concentrated completely, quietly observing how mysteriously Mari began drawing some sort of energy directly out of his body.
’Is this a sort of divine ability?’ Lucian thought. The true nature of Earth’s awakenings seemed even more fascinating now that he had learned cultivation.
A whip made of crackling, red-pinkish energy suddenly materialized in her hand. With a quick flick of her wrist, she whipped it beside him.
Swish!
Lucian felt a light mental drain, but it was nearly negligible.
"How do you have such...?"
Mari muttered something under her breath before quickly shaking her head. She looked embarrassed for a moment before her expression turned completely serious.
"Lucian, do you have some sort of mental ability, because I felt great pressure when I used my ability."
"Do that again now," Lucian replied.
Mari placed her hand on his head again. But this time, Lucian actively resisted her, guarding his mind with the Eternal Profound Scripture.
"Eughh?!"
Mari’s face turned bright red as if she were straining with all her might, before her strength gave out and she dropped to her knees on the grass.
"Just what the hell are you?!"
"You should not just drop in the park, people are really looking now, let’s return now."
With that said, Lucian scooped Mari up in an effortless princess carry and began walking toward the bike.
’Right! He doesn’t know my ability!’ Mari realized, burying her flushed face red.
Mari’s ability was Emotion Materialization, a mental-type trait where she could crystallize her own emotions and the emotions of things she touched into tangible energy.
Though both she and her brother had energy-based abilities, her brother had far more flexibility. Because this power caused severe mental drain, Mari only channeled it during real combat.
And emotions had colors.
When she had touched Lucian, she had clearly seen a mix of red and pink, instantly identifying those shades as interest, fascination, respect, and deep love.
What made her even more flustered was that when she drew the energy out of her own hands, it had shone with the exact same color.
’Oh my gosh!’
A young love was quietly budding between them.
***
It was nearly eight in the evening when the two of them arrived back at the Academy gates.
Lucian said goodbye to Mari—not before shamelessly requesting a sweet goodnight kiss—and began walking toward his dorm. Midway through the path, his phone vibrated as an incoming call from Luther appeared on the screen.
He answered it.
– It’s me.
"What’s up?"
– You said you were going on a date with Mari? Did it go well?
"What do you wish for to happen?"
– I wish an asteroid will drop and the world will be destroyed before anything happens between you two.
"You are really a crazy bastard!"
– Anyways, where are you now?
"I just came to the academy."
– Then come immediately to our usual spot, I have something very serious to discuss.
"Okay."
Lucian hung up the phone and changed his destination to their usual spot: the student cafeteria where cheap meals were served.
Stepping inside, he saw Luther seated alone at a corner table and joined him.
"Your expression doesn’t look good," Lucian said. Luther rarely wore a serious look, aside from when he debated cultured things with him.
"Lucian, I think you are misunderstanding your ability."
An unexpected statement came straight from Luther’s mouth, but he was not without evidence.
"Check this."
Luther pushed a thick paper file right in front of Lucian’s face before explaining.
"You know, I was worried that you damaged your head and became delusional when you said that crazy story about the Zombie Apocalypse on Earth," Luther said in a low voice, flipping through the pages before stopping on a specific sheet.
"But somehow, I didn’t think you lied to me, so I did my private investigation."
Luther tapped his finger against the page.
"This really was difficult and cost me a lot, but I think it was worth a shot, because what I found was so fucking crazy that I thought you were using mind control on me."
Luther turned the file around, showing a clear photograph of an ordinary East Asian man in his late twenties standing alongside a group of corporate colleagues.
"Bro, I think the world is doomed."
Because below that man’s face, printed on the file, were five words:
[Wang Trading Company]
[Wang Li]
***
"This is unexpected," Lucian commented, looking down at the open file.
He remembered Wang Li as the middle-aged corporate zombie he had killed after crossing the river. And more importantly, he had only mentioned this encounter in passing to Luther.
Who knew this crazy bastard would literally bring someone’s real information from another country from just a story?
"I am more interested in how you found this information," Lucian commented, but he still viewed the details regarding Wang Li.
"As you said, the novel’s setting was based on 2050, so I requested someone from my side to check for related characters," Luther explained.
"Based on your story, I even gave a rough profile of the characters I felt would be twenty years ago. Though I wasn’t able to find the birdman or the ice zombie—getting information about powerful awakeners from China was harder because most were protected and served the state itself, unlike the US—this Wang Li had an online presence, so it was quite easy to look for him."
Lucian turned a page in the report.
"You even generated a future image of him?"
"Well, AI should be put to good use," Luther replied.
Lucian saw a somewhat similar image to the middle-aged zombie in the report; this was what Wang Li would likely look like when he grew old.
"Bro, you know what, I am really worried about this, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence," Luther said with a grim look.
"Just imagining my kid growing up and unable to enjoy life as the Zombie Apocalypse hit Earth is crazy. I have already started preparing for a nuclear bunker, and don’t worry, I have booked your slot."
Lucian rubbed his temples, staring at him.
"Just what are you doing?"
"This is no joking matter, bro, I believe you are the chosen one," Luther said in a hushed, dead-serious tone.
"If we spread this, people will consider you a fraud, and the day this prophecy comes true, you will be a messiah. At that time, I will be your right-hand man."
"Just let me organize things," Lucian muttered. He was going crazy from this bastard’s endless babbling.
"And remember this, this is the map in the radius of ten kilometers from your initial start point," Luther added, sliding a detailed satellite printout across the table.
After that, Lucian and Luther discussed various strategies on how he could learn more information from that place. If possible, Lucian would do repetitive clearing runs before he gathered the critical information they wanted.
"You both don’t think it’s getting too late?"
The cafeteria staff approached them with a broom, noticing that only the two of them were still present in the quiet hall.
The two apologized quickly before exiting the place into the cool night air.
"How the hell did you get this information?" Lucian asked as they walked down the campus path.
He knew Luther was rich, but not this rich that classified information from a foreign country could appear in a neat file on his table.
"Oh hero! Why focus on small stuff, thou shalt know in due time, till then farewell," Luther replied dramatically before turning toward his dorm.
"I am not falling for his mysterious persona," Lucian mumbled, thinking that maybe his parents were high-ranking diplomats or something.
He didn’t give it much thought, because a deeper question was already consuming his mind: if he changed the past, could the future be changed? Or was it a predetermined future?
’Tsk! The date atmosphere is ruined,’ Lucian clicked his tongue as he arrived at his dorm room.
He too was very curious about what happened to the Earth in the future, and whether his actions could really affect what was to come.
And more importantly, if he had gained cultivation now, why had he done nothing in that future?
Or... did he not even exist in this future?
With such heavy thoughts, Lucian drifted into sleep.
The next moment his eyes opened, he was standing once again in the boundless dark space.
Hovering quietly in the void around him were the physical items he had extracted using his Karma. During his time on Earth, he had realized this space also functioned like an inventory or personal storage, though only items officially claimed through Karma could be kept here.
Stepping forward, Lucian slipped into the plain white Daoist robes given by the Founder. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his ancient sect sword, testing its familiar, balanced weight in his hand.
With his gear ready, he focused his intent on the silver mirror floating before him.
The glass surface rippled like water. A sickly, decayed globe wrapped in two massive, rust-covered iron chains appeared within the reflection.
« Modern World – Earth, Zombie Apocalypse »
Lucian stepped up and pressed his palm firmly against the glass.
It was time to visit this Apocalyptic Earth once again—to uncover the truth behind what destroyed his planet, and this time, to take a little bit of revenge on the monsters that had hunted him down.
Silver light flared with brilliant intensity, swallowing Lucian whole before he vanished from the dark space.