Regarding the matter of awakening lightning abilities after transformation

Gu Cheng blushed slightly upon hearing this and remained silent for a long time. It wasn't until the other party initiated a video call that she subconsciously glanced at her outfit and chose to accept.

The screen spun around, revealing slender, fair legs and flowing, ink-black hair. Su Wanxi was only wearing a thin nightgown, and a quick glance revealed her exquisite figure. When the swaying stopped, a fluffy ragdoll cat appeared first, its pale white paw gently rubbing her head.

"Orange, why are you ignoring me?"

"..."

"How do I reply to that..." Gu Cheng muttered to herself, pursing her lips.

......

After hanging up the phone, it was almost dusk outside the window. Gu Cheng felt that Su Wanxi was unusually clingy today. They usually talked on the phone for a long time, but this was the first time they had talked from morning to night.

"Stay with me a little longer..." Su Wanxi's tone was so charming that Gu Cheng's heart almost melted, and she couldn't find any excuse to refuse.

Besides, she didn't want to refuse in the first place.

“Su Wanxi wants to make it up to you… probably…” Gu Chengyan casually guessed, which was the most reasonable explanation in her eyes. The girl shook her head, turned around and pressed the switch on the induction cooker.

“Wanwan has her own difficulties... I understand.” Being alone in an empty room is not pleasant, but this bittersweet feeling is still within his tolerance. Gu Cheng has been a man for over twenty years, and he wouldn't be so dramatic as to throw a tantrum at the other person.

"If you can't see each other, just watch the Spring Festival Gala, it's the same thing." She watched it in Lanjiang, and Su Wanxi watched it in Beidu, so it's practically like they celebrated the New Year together.

"You're quite optimistic..." Gu Cheng said in a low voice.

"If you say that again, I'm not cooking. I'm on a diet tonight."

The world suddenly fell silent. Gu Cheng twitched her lips a few times and poured the prepared vegetables into the pot.

......

At 11:02 p.m., the moon was hazy, the clouds hung low, and the streets were quiet and secluded. An occasional gust of cold wind stirred the lamplight, adding a few bright spots to the deep darkness.

"Are you sure you want to take action today?" At a secluded corner, a blonde girl with blue eyes turned her head and looked at the black-haired woman next to her. Jiang Xuewei was wearing an opaque black trench coat, paired with dark stockings and rubber-strap military boots, with a blued dagger hidden at her waist.

“This is the best opportunity…” she explained softly, while pinching An Zhishui’s right cheek.

"Their vigilance has plummeted to rock bottom, and a few Awakened Ones alone cannot stop me..." With the addition of a soft material layer, the soles of the boots made no sound when they touched the ground.

"Be careful, I'll wait for you at the agreed place." An Zhishui knew that there was no point in saying more, so she took out a small black object from her pocket and handed it to the other person.

"Come back soon. The mission can fail, but you absolutely cannot stay there!"

Jiang Xuewei smiled slightly, her hand resting on her waist as she checked her equipment: "Hmm, maybe I can make it in time for the New Year's countdown..."

She had brought a communicator, a pistol, a dagger... She glanced back at An Zhishui, who was wearing a thick fur coat, with only her head showing, like an Arctic squirrel preparing for winter.

Finally, after ruffling her blonde hair, Jiang Xuewei turned and walked into the darkness, gradually disappearing into the shadows.

......

Lanjiang City, Dongcheng District, 10 meters underground.

"It's about time to change shifts..." The young man in the blue work uniform took a sip of coffee, slowly lowered his legs that were propped up on the table, and placed a monitor on his right side, with monitoring information scrolling back and forth on the screen. Near his chest was a new-style mobile phone, which was playing the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala.

"Why are there so few skits this year? It's all song and dance..." The man scratched his head, exited the interface, and casually lit a cigarette, puffing out smoke.

About ten minutes later, a staff member wearing the same uniform pushed the door open and entered.

“Having to work during the Chinese New Year is even more outrageous than the 996 work schedule…” The man glanced at the other person with a gloating look, then got up, picked up his coat and data card, and left the room.

The person changing shifts twitched their facial muscles a few times, then put on a brave face and placed the late-night snack on the table.

No one would want to come at a time like this, but they gave so much. Muttering to himself, he opened the plastic bag, which contained chilled soup dumplings.

Just as the man broke off his chopsticks to eat, a figure quietly slipped out from behind him.

With a heavy chop, a muffled thud echoed in the cramped space. Jiang Xuewei turned her head to look at the monitor.

On the screen, the room where she was located was empty.

"Wait a moment, I'm trying to mute the alarm."

Chapter 183, Section 187: A False Alarm

After knocking out the guard, Jiang Xuewei placed the small black object in the ring in a corner. The "mimicry ghost" had limitations, and An Zhishui couldn't just connect to a closed local area network. She needed someone to be in charge of the interface.

The signal booster started working, and within seconds, the woman in the surveillance footage completely disappeared.

"How is it?" Jiang Xuewei asked, her black military boots landing on the back of the desk, ready to use her abilities to retreat at any moment.

"Immediately, three, two, one... The alarms in the rooms on the left and right sides have been blocked, but the intrusion into the corridor is still ongoing..." A clear female voice came through the earpiece. Jiang Xuewei weighed the dagger in her hand a few times, pressed her whole body against the wall, took out her phone, and the screen was neatly divided into several small pieces, each displaying the same image as the one shown in the monitoring room.

"Approximately where is the target location?"

"Wait... I can't see her right now..." In An Zhishui's vision, the entire underground research institute was transformed into a three-dimensional model, and she was carefully filtering through the surveillance footage.

“There are no cameras that captured her, and it would take a lot of time to search through the historical records one by one. I’ll try to start with the documents.” The Hermit Bureau didn’t have much time left for them. According to the intelligence they had gathered earlier, the room would be inspected every 45 minutes.

"Okay." Jiang Xuewei agreed softly, while taking the ID card out of the man's pocket. Fortunately, the underground research institute in Lanjiang was built relatively early, and the identity check was just a primitive method of fingerprinting and card swiping.

She could also slip into the shadows and move through the cracks in the door, but that would temporarily cut off her contact with An Zhishui, which would be tantamount to shutting herself off.

Upon opening the door, Jiang Xuewei found herself in a narrow corridor with walls painted a chilling, stark white. The doors were spaced about two to three meters apart, and through the narrow passage, she could vaguely hear the rustling of writing and the shattering of glass.

She slowed her pace, her breathing became barely audible, and the woman held her earphones with one hand, her eyes calmly fixed on her phone screen.

There was no shadow nearby to hide in.

“Found it, sixth basement level... Go down the elevator shaft, the third room from the left at the end of the corridor…” An Zhishui was usually lazy, but she was extremely efficient when it came to matters of life and death.

"Also, Xiao Jiang...we might be in trouble..."

Jiang Xuewei bent down, her brows furrowing slightly in response to An Zhishui's tone.

"What do you mean?"

"I found access information for Cheng Hao and another B-level Awakened in my recent identity records."

Upon hearing Cheng Hao's name, Jiang Xuewei knew that he was An Zhishui's colleague in the past and was also an A-level Awakener.

"It should be enough time to retreat now. I'm looking for the safest escape route..."

“I didn’t infiltrate without leaving a trace,” Jiang Xuewei shook her head, interrupting the other party’s suggestion.

Give me another thirty minutes.

......

The elevator descended vertically, and the woman stared blankly at the buttons.

“I retrieved their ability information from the Hermit Bureau’s database…” An Zhishui’s tone was quite resentful, seemingly very dissatisfied with Jiang Xuewei’s decision.

"Don't look at your phone, I'll read it to you."

"B-level Awakened individuals can control airflow by summoning wind. The known attack methods are cutting with wind pressure or creating a suffocating vacuum field by dispersing air."

She sounds formidable... Jiang Xuewei is also a B-level Awakened, but her abilities are better suited for infiltration than direct confrontation.

"The information about Director Cheng is somewhat vague, probably because it has been edited out. I only know the names of his abilities."

"The crack is being repaired, with a specific strength of A-... Oh no, Jiang Jiang, someone's coming!"

Just then, the elevator dinged, and Jiang Xuewei's pupils dilated instantly.

The door slowly opened, and a refined-looking man in a suit stepped into the elevator. He pressed the elevator button and gently rubbed his nose with his fingertip.

After adjusting his glasses, Cheng Hao suddenly caught a faint fragrance. He turned around and looked around, but found nothing except for the trash can in the corner.

Was it an illusion, or...? My gaze returned to the button list, and only he had pressed the first button; all the other buttons were off.

Once the elevator returned to silence, Jiang Xuewei emerged from the shadows with a trash can on her head, slowly smoothing her long hair with her hands. Fortunately, An Zhishui was quick-witted and canceled the elevator command the moment she activated her ability.

The headset went dead for a second, and I didn't hear the other person speak again until half a minute later.

"The man is Cheng Hao. If he leaves..."

“Our chance has come,” Jiang Xuewei chimed in tacitly.

......

"We've arrived. Before going in, review the evacuation route." An Zhishui repeated patiently. Jiang Xuewei nodded and then took out a small stack of white papers from her inner pocket.

She propped the paper against the crack in the door, creating a shadow about the size of a fist, and silently blended into it.

The bright and deep black, the still and flowing shadows, are like walking in a mirror world. Everything in front of you collapses and is reassembled, and reality is like an overturned oil painting.

As soon as Jiang Xuewei deactivated her ability, a dazzling light pierced her eyes. She was slightly stunned, but quickly regained her footing.

The space here is very small, no more than thirty square meters. An old incandescent light bulb hangs high, illuminating the bare walls all around. It looks more like a warehouse than a bedroom.

Jiang Xuewei subconsciously touched her eyelashes, only to realize that she had specifically worn contact lenses for infiltration when her fingers touched nothing. Continuing to probe forward, about two or three body lengths away, she saw a single bed against the corner of the wall.

Chapter 184, Section 188: Her retreat was always possible.

By the light, Jiang Xuewei saw a black-haired girl lying on the bed, about eleven or twelve years old, with fair cheeks like mutton fat and delicate eyelashes covering her eyes. She was probably asleep, her legs curled up under the covers, her pink lips slightly pursed, and her arms wrapped around a plush brown bear doll.

In the cramped space, the petite and delicate porcelain doll-like girl, Jiang Xuewei, released the switchblade, her tense spirit quietly relaxing.

"Found the target, matches the photo." The black-haired loli, someone had specifically emphasized.

An Zhishui: "Try to wake her up... or just take her away."

"Shadow Travel" can affect others, but in return, the user of the ability must bear a significant loss of mental energy.

"Hmm." Jiang Xuewei patted the girl's shoulder, her hand resting on the edge of the bed, ready to mute the noise at any moment.

"Click." Just as the other person opened their eyes, a crisp sound of a gun being cocked came from beside her ear. Jiang Xuewei felt a cold metal object gently pressing against the back of her head.

"Moving by shadow...an ability not recorded by the Hermit Bureau..." The man spoke calmly, his arm gripping the woman's neck as firmly as steel, as if victory was assured.

"What's going on? Can you hear me?" An Zhishui's voice gradually became indistinct. Jiang Xuewei bit her lower lip and slammed her elbow into her right rear. Almost at the same second, the other person's knee pushed forward, forcing her to kneel on the mattress.

"Don't move if you don't want to die." The man brandished the gun, his tone carrying a clear warning.

“You are also an Awakened One…” Up until now, there were only two breaths in the room, and Jiang Xuewei quickly determined the man’s identity.

"You guessed right." The latter nodded with a smile.

“I admire your courage to venture so far alone. As a reward, you can choose a method of confession.” The man casually pulled out a syringe; a colorless liquid shimmered slightly in the transparent syringe.