As he browsed the information online, Jiang Yuan kept notes on roughly how many Espers were awakening each day.

As he continued taking notes, Jiang Yuan also noticed a troubling trend. Some people who hadn’t revealed their real identities would announce online that they had an ability, and the comments below would fill with replies from people claiming to have abilities too and asking to meet up and make friends.

It was still impossible to tell whether they were telling the truth.

Were they people with ulterior motives, trying to lure Espers out to meet them?

Or were they people who’d awakened an ability and were truly desperate to find others like them?

As he kept browsing for more information, Jiang Yuan found that many people claiming to have awakened abilities had been doxxed—that is, people had used their online accounts to illegally uncover their real-life identities. Netizens were making a scene, urging others in the same city to go and check on them.

“Yi Nanye, does the Superpower Management Bureau investigate and monitor newly emerged Espers now?”

“It does. But for now, we don’t have enough people, and some are muddying the waters.”

“Putting out fake information?”

“Yeah.”

At that, Yi Nanye watched Jiang Yuan with interest. It was obvious he was planning to do something again and earn himself some credit.

“I see…”

Jiang Yuan nodded.

“Aren’t you going to think of something?”

“What could I do? The Superpower Management Bureau is huge. Surely someone there can find a solution. There’s no point in me worrying about it for nothing.”

Jiang Yuan had only been asking. He hadn’t expected Yi Nanye to assume he had a good idea right away. Apparently, she thought he was a pretty reliable and capable guy.

“There is a way, though it’d be difficult to pull off. The Superpower Management Bureau should be able to find Espers who haven’t yet come to public attention, get them to cooperate voluntarily, and keep the whole thing as secret as possible.”

“Judging by the Zheng Chengjie Incident, I think there’s a mole in the Superpower Management Bureau. Didn’t Captain Wang already chew you out for reacting too slowly?”

Jiang Yuan had pieced together a rough picture from everything he’d learned over the past two days. Yi Nanye thought it over and realized he had a point. Watching him browse the information on the screen without looking away, she couldn’t help admiring his mind.

Jiang Yuan really was pretty smart. When they’d listened in on his conversation with Qin Xin earlier, Qin Xin had said herself that Jiang Yuan had rarely made mistakes since he was a child.

After that, the two of them didn’t talk much. Yi Nanye was part of the Superpower Management Bureau, true, but her role was different. Her job was to keep an eye on Jiang Yuan and follow him twenty-four hours a day. Unless the higher-ups gave her an order, she didn’t need to concern herself with anything else.

The next day.

Jiang Yuan said he wanted to go to school today, mainly to see Qin Xin. He hadn’t gone out at all during the three days of his punishment.

Yi Nanye couldn’t be bothered to object anymore. Most of the people at Jiang Yuan’s school had probably left by now anyway.

Eight in the morning.

The classroom was completely empty. Even Qin Xin hadn’t shown up. Since Jiang Yuan hadn’t come in for the past few days, she’d probably decided there was no point in going through the motions herself.

The other teachers had been glad that Jiang Yuan had finally stopped showing up. They hadn’t expected him to return after just three days. The teachers were both annoyed and left with no choice but to come in and teach as usual, even though Jiang Yuan was now the only student in the classroom.

But the teachers had clearly gotten ahead of themselves.

Halfway through the first class, another student from Class Three, Grade Eleven, hurried in.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

It was Qin Xin. As soon as she heard Jiang Yuan had returned to school, she rushed over too. Jiang Yuan had taken a helicopter to school, so he’d been impossible to miss. There was no way to keep his return quiet, and his fellow students who hated him naturally took to the internet to complain.

Before long, it was lunchtime.

Qin Xin still followed the rules and didn’t go over to talk to Jiang Yuan. She only turned around now and then to smile at him, as if to say that no matter what happened, she’d stay by his side.

What surprised Qin Xin was that the supervisor she disliked, the one beside Jiang Yuan, was unusually well-behaved today and didn’t seem inclined to cause trouble.

But what surprised Qin Xin even more was that a third student appeared in the classroom during lunch.

Li Xiaoyan.

The timid class representative, who had transferred to another school a few days ago, came to the classroom during lunch today. She was even wearing the uniform of her new school.

After entering the classroom, Li Xiaoyan went straight to her seat and packed up some things from her desk. It looked as if she’d simply forgotten something and come back to get it, but Qin Xin, Jiang Yuan, and Yi Nanye all noticed that something was off.

She definitely hadn’t come back just to pick up something she’d left behind.

Because she kept sneaking glances at Jiang Yuan.

The three of them stayed quiet. They didn’t know what Li Xiaoyan was thinking, but they understood they’d find out soon enough.

After packing up her things, Li Xiaoyan hesitated for a moment, then, just as expected, approached Jiang Yuan. As the timid girl walked toward his seat, she glanced at Yi Nanye several times, afraid she might stop her. But Yi Nanye knew better.

She simply pulled out her phone and played with it, pretending she hadn’t noticed.

Seeing this, Qin Xin felt a little unfairly treated. If she went near Jiang Yuan, Yi Nanye would’ve been on her feet, yelling at her ages ago.

“Jiang Yuan… Um, did you read the letter I gave you before I left?”

“Not yet, but I put it away somewhere safe. I’m planning to read it after graduation.”

Jiang Yuan had never imagined he’d get to talk to Li Xiaoyan again—and so soon, too.

“You put it somewhere safe?”

“Mm…”

“Really… Hehe.”

She shyly scratched her cheek with one finger. Jiang Yuan kept a straight face, but it’d be a lie to say he wasn’t happy. Compared with Qin Xin and Yi Nanye, Li Xiaoyan was the one who seemed most normal to him right now.

“Is something up?”

“Yes! Wait a second!”

Li Xiaoyan took a notebook out of her bag and quickly wrote a line in it. Then she tore off the corner with the writing, crumpled it into a little ball, and handed it to Jiang Yuan.

This time, Jiang Yuan didn’t put it aside to read later. He took it and opened it right away, reading the neat handwriting on the note.

【Jiang Yuan, I have an ability now.】

It was a short sentence, just seven characters long, but the information it contained made Jiang Yuan’s eyes widen.

Seeing Jiang Yuan’s ghost-struck expression, Yi Nanye silently asked with her eyes if she could read what was on the note. Jiang Yuan didn’t mind, but he still looked to Li Xiaoyan and silently asked if she was okay with letting someone else see it.

Li Xiaoyan stayed silent for a little while, then finally nodded.

At that, Yi Nanye immediately turned to look at the note. When she saw what it said, she could only think that following Jiang Yuan meant seeing something unbelievable every single day.

She didn’t know Li Xiaoyan well, but she knew she was shy and timid. There was no way she’d blurt out her secret online. In other words…

Right now, the only people who knew she had an ability were Jiang Yuan and Yi Nanye.