08: The Torrent of the Era

On the main street, more than sixty percent of the shops had already closed their doors. Qin Xiaofan wanted to find a service center to top up his phone credit, but there wasn’t a single one open; he couldn’t even connect to any Wi-Fi. It was as if fate itself wanted to help him break his internet addiction once and for all.

As he passed a plaza, Qin Xiaofan witnessed something extraordinary.

A middle-aged man suddenly transformed into a literal plant-man.

Vines sprouted densely from his body, twisting like countless tentacles, and his flesh gradually turned into thick, sturdy branches.

The scene terrified the bystanders. The plant-man, bewildered and at a loss, reached out to his wife and daughter, but the woman, her face contorted in terror, grabbed her child and ran, shrieking, “Ah! Monster! Stay away!”

Her words seemed to trigger something in the plant-man. His figure shot up, growing like a tree gone mad.

“So I’m not losing my mind after all…” Qin Xiaofan frowned, the last sliver of hope for normalcy vanishing from his heart.

Some onlookers pulled out their phones and began recording the scene. It was just as the saying went: don’t panic when something happens, record a video and share it on your social feed first.

But their explosive footage would never see the light of day.

As soon as the surveillance cameras picked up the scene, the network signal in the area was instantly cut off.

A dull hum filled the air. Qin Xiaofan looked up to see a helicopter descending. Fully armed soldiers rappelled down from it, wielding specialized weapons. They fired, and several syringes embedded themselves into the plant-man.

Within moments, the plant-man collapsed, his body slowly returning to normal.

Qin Xiaofan had sharp hearing. Before the helicopter took off with the man, he overheard someone inside speaking on the phone: “There were quite a few witnesses this time. We must strictly restrict information dissemination…”

Clearly, this was not the first occurrence.

Many people in the plaza were still reeling from shock. By then, the network signal had returned, and their posts were successfully uploaded to their social feeds—only to be visible to themselves, impossible to alter, and swiftly deleted.

Meanwhile, Qin Xiaofan dusted himself off as if nothing had happened and continued his search for a service center.

A new era was beginning!

His role was simply to bear quiet witness.

Soon after, Qin Xiaofan found a service center next to a gold shop. After paying his bill, he finally gained access to the internet.

His first action was to search for news about people with supernatural abilities, but he found nothing—not even when using homophones or related keywords.

He turned to a niche forum instead.

After scrolling for a while, he finally found a thread with relevant information.

The thread was titled:

“Oh my god! Woke up this morning to find grass growing on my body…”

1st reply: “+3 experience.”
2nd reply: “I don’t believe a word of it.jpg”
3rd reply: “Grass is nothing. I’m afraid to even say it, but today an eye grew in the palm of my hand!”
4th reply: “Why not just say something else grew on your head?”
5th reply: “Damn, are you spying on me at home?”
6th reply: “What the hell?”
7th reply: “Silly netizens never disappoint, +3.”

Qin Xiaofan could barely stifle his laughter. However you looked at it, this was just a bunch of trolls spamming nonsense.

But as he scrolled, the thread was suddenly 404’d—gone in an instant, taking the entire forum down with it.

At that moment, a push notification from a social media account popped up with a bombshell headline:

“Shocking! Real-life Magneto born! So powerful it’s suffocating!”

Qin Xiaofan clicked immediately, but he was still a step too late—the content was already 404’d, and the account had been deleted.

He pocketed his phone, falling deep into thought.

It was obvious the authorities were moving quickly. They seemed to think that people awakening supernatural abilities were isolated incidents, that the situation could be controlled.

But...

Qin Xiaofan smiled faintly. Did they really think they could hold back the tide of a new era so easily?

As he left the service center, a loud crash erupted from the neighboring gold shop.

A burly, bearded man kicked the glass door to pieces and swaggered out, duffel bag in hand. His body was smeared with blood.

Clearly, this was another with special abilities; those explosive muscles didn’t look remotely normal.

Qin Xiaofan frowned, not wishing to get involved.

The system’s mission was to witness the dawn of this new age. As a witness, interfering might count as breaking the rules.

He didn’t want trouble, but trouble found him.

“What are you staring at?” the bearded man barked.

That was all the reason he needed to pick a fight.

Qin Xiaofan couldn’t help laughing. This brute had just robbed a gold shop and wasn’t even fleeing—still posturing as if he were invincible just because he had powers?

No need to humor him.

Though Qin Xiaofan hadn’t awakened any abilities yet, his body had been transformed by the energy coursing through him. His physical strength now far surpassed that of someone who had only just awakened.

With a single kick, he sent the bearded man crashing into the cement wall.

Without so much as a backward glance, Qin Xiaofan patted himself off and slipped away under the stunned gazes of the crowd.

In the distance, someone observed Qin Xiaofan’s retreating figure, lifted a walkie-talkie, and reported: “We’ve spotted a new superhuman, very powerful.”

A voice replied, “Observe with caution. Reinforcements are on the way.”

…

As Qin Xiaofan strolled down the roadside, an urgent sense of danger washed over him.

He turned, just in time to see a military jeep speeding toward him. With a screech of brakes, it came to a halt right in front of him.

The doors flew open and three fully armed soldiers leapt out.

Qin Xiaofan frowned. He didn’t need to guess; they clearly thought he was one of the powered individuals.

Weapons at the ready, the soldiers prepared to fire. Qin Xiaofan quickly crouched down and raised his hands high. “Wait! I’m willing to cooperate!”

The soldiers hesitated, surprised by this reaction.

A man in a suit, seated in the vehicle, nodded. Soon, Qin Xiaofan was ushered into the car and they set off.

He noticed the gold shop robber was already in the back, but not enjoying the same treatment—his hands and feet were shackled with special chains, his body riddled with needle marks, and he was unconscious.

Qin Xiaofan grinned and asked, “You’re not planning to use me for human experiments, are you?”

The soldiers gave no response, but the man in the suit turned and said, “It seems you know quite a lot. But don’t worry, our country puts people first. We’ll observe you for a while, and if everything’s fine, you’ll just sign a non-disclosure agreement and be free to go.”

Qin Xiaofan replied, “Do you really think you can contain what’s happening?”

The man in the suit was silent for a moment before responding, “We’re just following orders.”

His tone betrayed little optimism.

Qin Xiaofan smiled and said nothing more.

Even if, by some miracle, this country could keep things under wraps—what about the rest of the world?

After all, this upheaval was global…

It all came down to one truth—

The tide of a new age cannot be stopped!

The vehicle stopped inside a large military base.

Before long, Qin Xiaofan was escorted onto a helicopter.

As the chopper soared into the sky, Qin Xiaofan gazed down at the deep blue sea, pondering their destination.

Suddenly, with a violent jolt, the helicopter shook as if something massive had struck it. Alarms blared from the cockpit.

Moments later, the aircraft lost all control.

Trailing smoke and spinning wildly, the helicopter plummeted toward the ocean.

In the instant before the crash, Qin Xiaofan glimpsed a black, colossal creature soaring in the azure sky above, beating its enormous wings and breathing fire.

It had once been an ordinary eagle.

Now, it had become the true overlord of the skies.