The Chosen

"Brother, brother! Are those Ability Users the superpowered people from anime?!"

The little girl was only four, but she could already understand some of the news. Standing at the entrance of a roadside ice cream shop, she watched the giant mall screen in the distance, which had once been used to advertise movies, now continuously broadcasting a special announcement from the East Xia authorities.

The young man in a white striped shirt raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he carefully read the notice on the screen.

East Xia issued a notice to all Ability Users. In order to maintain social order and stability and protect the safety of all citizens, East Xia would implement a relatively strict management system for Ability Users. Those with high-risk abilities were requested to voluntarily report their personal information within seven working days…

Several special department phone numbers were listed below.

The announcement played on repeat, giving off an exceptionally serious impression.

Outside the mall, where many middle-aged women usually danced in the plaza, the atmosphere was far less relaxed than usual.

A gust of wind blew over, making the young man’s shirt flap loudly. This place was not far from the coast, and the sea breeze was fierce.

The feeling that a storm was coming made the young man frown.

He had been born with relatively sharp senses. At this moment, he could clearly feel as though a massive tide was sweeping across the entire world.

Unlike those online who were endlessly curious about Ability Users and even fantasized about becoming one themselves, Li Dongjin preferred a peaceful everyday life.

He wanted to study normally, work normally and earn money, then find an ordinary wife and live out an unremarkable, peaceful life.

That was his ideal.

"You have great talent."

A voice rang out. Li Dongjin froze and turned around, only to see a woman with long golden hair standing beside him.

She wore a white T-shirt. Her figure was voluptuous, and her skin was utterly flawless.

An Ability User!

Li Dongjin immediately came to that realization. He had no means of identifying Ability Users and had never encountered one at close range before, yet with just one glance, he could clearly sense that she carried an utterly different "scent" from ordinary humans.

The woman raised her right hand. Li Dongjin immediately crouched low, his entire body tensing. He reached for his younger sister, but grabbed nothing.

His heart sank. When he turned back, he found that the little sister who had just been tugging on his shirt hem had vanished.

Not only that, the shop was empty too. When he turned around again, the mall and its surroundings were completely deserted. It was as though only he and the blonde woman remained in this world.

"What did you do?!"

Li Dongjin was nervous, but not so panicked that he lost his reason.

The blonde woman exposed the back of her right hand, revealing an intricate pattern shimmering with silvery-white light. Countless symbols seemed to link and entwine within it, moving constantly while somehow maintaining a balance.

Li Dongjin seemed to be drawn to the pattern at once, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on those symbols.

The woman’s lips curved upward.

"As expected, you are one of The Chosen, Li Dongjin. Are you interested in becoming an~ Ability User?"

When she said "Ability User," she paused slightly, as though those had not been the words she originally intended to say. Li Dongjin realized that, even in this bizarre state, he remained remarkably calm. His analytical abilities were even sharper than usual.

As he stared at the pattern, something in his heart seemed to begin stirring as well.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a long while, then took two steps back.

"No. I don’t want to become an Ability User."

The smile on the woman’s lips slowly faded, and her right hand gradually lowered.

She could tell that once this young man named Li Dongjin had made up his mind, he did not regret it in the slightest.

"Heh, so that is your decision. I hope you won’t regret it when disaster comes in the future."

As her voice fell, the stifling hot air and surrounding noise instantly returned, rushing into his ears.

"Brother!"

The little girl clutched the hem of his shirt tightly. Her faint brows seemed ready to stand on end as she held an ice cream in her hand, while the shop owner behind her looked at him helplessly.

Li Dongjin immediately paid, then picked up his sister with an apologetic smile. He looked around, but it was as though that woman had never appeared at all.

Ms. Li Qingzi, the new chairwoman of the March Group, announced that Paradise City for Ability Users had completed its reconstruction. All Ability Users were welcome to visit, and any Ability User entering Paradise would receive the protection of His Excellency Mercenary Tao.

Li Dongjin heard a new advertisement. He raised his head and saw a strikingly cold and beautiful woman on the giant screen. She was Korean. The footage showed a press conference, with subtitles below.

After the bizarre incident just now, Li Dongjin no longer wanted anything to do with such matters. Carrying his sister, he headed back, but the little girl was extremely curious, constantly pointing at the screen and asking questions.

"Brother, who is Mercenary Tao?"

"Brother, is that Paradise an amusement park…?"

The huge Ferris wheel in front of the mall turned slowly. A glamorous woman stood atop it, her face continuously changing before finally settling into that of a gaunt old man.

He watched impassively as Li Dongjin carried his sister into the crowded throng. Just as fate had decreed, he had given up that glorious, dazzling path and chosen to embrace the ordinary…

"Tsk. Finding a suitable candidate really isn’t easy. No wonder that Aizen fellow chose to create one himself…"

Looking at the Paradise City being promoted on the giant screen, he knew that Mercenary Tao had truly grown into a force to be reckoned with.

Together with that woman from the West District, she was most likely Cao Qi’s chosen person.

He had fallen far behind.

The old man rubbed the card in his hand, its face impossible to make out. Countless streams of information seemed to flow through his eyes.

Soon, he locked onto a new target, and his figure slowly vanished.

Within Myanmar, outside the ruins of the former Paradise, a three-meter-tall gray-black earthen wall blocked everyone’s view, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

Lin Qinfu paced outside the wall. The terrifying commotion from several days ago had frightened him out of his wits, and he was glad that Boss Bai had driven their group away beforehand.

Watching a perfectly fine city turn into utter ruins in less than half a day had filled him with an indescribable sense of absurdity and terror.

By now, he was completely certain that Boss Bai was one of the legendary Ability Users. The reason the March Group’s eldest daughter had taken a liking to him was because she wanted to enter the Ability User business.

Through the internet, he had also noticed the March Group’s major moves, and felt as though he finally understood all the events that had happened before.

But Lin Qinfu still could not understand it. Paradise had been destroyed, so why had Boss Bai enclosed the ruins?

More importantly, who had built this wall?

Paradise might not have been large, but it still covered nearly 1,500 square kilometers. Completely sealing it off with a three-meter-tall wall was no small undertaking.

Yet this wall had appeared out of nowhere…

Rumble!

Rumble!

Tremendous sounds continuously echoed from within the wall. Lin Qinfu was intensely curious, but he did not dare climb up to look.

He had even ordered the militia they had absorbed to stand guard with guns everywhere. Anyone who dared climb the wall would be shot dead without exception.

The ground shook continuously. Then someone suddenly cried out.

Lin Qinfu turned around and saw that the people he had brought were all staring over the wall, their faces filled with terror. Their mouths opened and closed, but not a single word came out.

He turned back as well. The next moment, Lin Qinfu was equally horrified.

An incomparably enormous tower was rising from somewhere far inside the enclosure.

Since they could see it from here, it had likely already risen more than ten meters, yet it continued climbing higher.

Like a gigantic vine from legend, it kept growing—thirty meters, fifty meters, one hundred meters…

The massive tower seemed to be made entirely of cold, hard black rock. It was not particularly refined, yet it radiated a chilling and terrifying aura.

The colossal commotion lasted for half a day. By the end, Lin Qinfu had become numb. He now fully understood how that high wall had been erected.

It had probably been "raised" from thin air, just like that tower and the other buildings!

So that is what Ability Users are…

Lin Qinfu felt as though his entire worldview had been torn apart. This was completely different from the scattered demonstrations he had seen online before. This power, which surpassed modern technology, filled him with unease.

It also left him with a powerful sense of loss.

With Ability Users like this around, people like them probably had no use to Boss Bai anymore…

Bang!

The high wall shook violently, then collapsed outright. Under the setting sun, the long-haired Bai Cangshu stood beside the fallen outer wall. Seeing the gathered "former subordinates" waiting there, he spread his arms and smiled.

"Welcome to my… Paradise!"

Behind him, a brand-new city had already appeared. With the Black Tower at its center, various districts spread out in every direction.