The staff dormitory at headquarters closely resembled a luxury hotel suite, and one could even choose to have meals delivered directly to the room.

On the menu, in addition to standard dishes from eight different global cuisines, there was surprisingly an option to consume Pollutants. However, the latter required contribution points to exchange, and the price was rather steep.

There was also a line of notes at the bottom: Produced after years of research by the Seventh Research Institute. It is delicious and incredibly juicy. The contamination level is negligible, and it has a certain effect on raising one’s spiritual energy threshold.

[This kind of meat is in short supply in the outside world; it’s currently the absolute favorite of dignitaries and nobles. They have absolutely no idea that eating too much of it makes it easy for them to turn into Pollutants themselves.]

The System’s tone instinctively carried a hint of mockery.

Where there is demand, there is trade. Abroad, along the fringes of many low-level contamination zones, many ordinary people had already armed themselves to hunt down low-level Pollutants, calling themselves “Calamity Hunters.”

Lu Yan usually consumed enough Pollutants as it was. Consequently, he had absolutely no interest in these exorbitantly priced items.

He ordered a few of his favorite dishes. Half an hour later, the meal was delivered on a cart.

The taste was unexpectedly good, reaching at least eighty percent of the standard of a meal cooked by Lu Yan himself.

By the time he finished dinner, it was already seven in the evening.

Tomorrow would be the first day of training, so Lu Yan planned to take a bath, lie in bed to read a book for a bit, and then go to sleep.

Ever since he achieved symbiosis with the King Fish, Lu Yan particularly enjoyed bathing. A single soak could easily take him two hours.

When he emerged from the bathtub, there was a steaming mug of sleep-inducing milk waiting for him.

Lu Yan stood in front of the bookshelf, contemplating what book to read in a moment, when the dormitory doorbell rang.

He subconsciously glanced at the time—nine o’clock in the evening.

From outside the door came a voice: “Hello. I’m also a newcomer participating in this training session! My name is Chen Anzhi. I’m a combat-type Awakened, code name ‘Undercurrent.’ I live just across from you. Can we be friends?”

Through the surveillance peephole on the door, Lu Yan saw Chen Anzhi’s appearance. He had a smile on his face and possessed a great deal of approachability, making people instinctively place trust in him.

[Hmm, Chen Anzhi. Spiritual energy threshold: 1,600. A mental-type Awakened within the combat category. Among this batch of newly recruited employees, his ability is considered quite decent. Mutation degree: 37.]

[Talents: 99 Dream Entry, 197 Hypnosis, 378 Affinity.]

[Mutation Direction: Mental derangement, schizophrenia.]

The Research Institute had always had debates regarding mental-type Awakened, unsure whether to classify them under the combat category or the special category.

But ever since Magician, an A-grade mental-type Awakened, forced a B-grade Pollutant to die under mind control, no one clamored anymore about how the mental type couldn’t be classified as a combat type.

Instead of opening the door immediately, Lu Yan said, “His mutation degree seems a bit excessively high.”

Lin Sinan’s spiritual energy threshold and mutation degree were roughly the same as Chen Anzhi’s, but Lin Sinan had already been working for over twenty years.

As a new employee, Chen Anzhi had been with the organization for less than a year.

[He was originally an overseas Chinese. But because of an S-grade Pollutant, the island nation where he resided became the restricted zone known as the ‘Kingdom of God.’ Chen Anzhi was one of the survivors back then, rescued and brought up in China, and he just awakened last year.]

[I don’t recommend you interact with him. Facts have proven that anyone who comes out of the ‘Kingdom of God’ has something slightly wrong with their brain.]

Even without the System’s recommendation, Lu Yan had no intention of going out.

Generally speaking, Lu Yan did not enjoy socializing.

Compared to whiling away time with others, he was much more enthusiastic about reading, learning, or working.

Yet from childhood to adulthood, because of his overly striking looks, people always gravitated toward his side.

This had once given Lu Yan the idea of getting plastic surgery.

He replied through the door, “Sorry, I’m too tired today. Definitely next time.”

The smile on Chen Anzhi’s face didn’t alter in the slightest: “Alright. See you tomorrow.”

Chen Anzhi bypassed Lu Yan and knocked on the next door.

He was well aware that there was surveillance in the hallway. Therefore, with everyone who opened the door, he merely stood at the entrance and chatted briefly for a few moments.

Chen Anzhi was a well-known social butterfly in his local prevention and control department, so doing this didn’t break his character concept at all.

There were 62 Awakened participating in this new employee training session. This number was much higher than in previous years—nearly triple, in fact. Moreover, just counting those with a spiritual energy threshold exceeding one thousand, there were 6 people this year. The headquarters jokingly referred to this as a “bumper harvest year.”

Chen Anzhi visited 20 people in a single evening.

Among them, 6 opened their doors for him.

At 23:00, he stopped this social behavior. He casually plucked a rose from the flower arrangements lining the hallway.

To prevent the hallways from looking too monotonous and to keep the Awakened in a good mood, the headquarters placed fresh cut flowers in every corridor.

Half an hour later, a staff member delivered the aromatherapy lamp he had requested.

Chen Anzhi couldn’t fall asleep at night without lighting aromatherapy, a detail that was well-documented in his files.

He returned to his room, lit the rose-scented aromatherapy lamp, and fell asleep with a smile while holding a single rose.

Midnight, 12:00 AM.

The eyeballs beneath Chen Anzhi’s eyelids rolled rapidly, struggling. The curvature of the smile on his face gradually widened, even taking on a slightly eerie and terrifying quality.

Yet he did not wake up.

A chaotic darkness appeared before Chen Anzhi’s eyes, followed by the lighting of a single candlewick. He lifted this sliver of candlelight and placed it on the round table in front of him.

Six translucent blue souls were drawn by this light, ultimately taking their seats around the round table.

These six individuals were the very Awakened who had opened their doors for him today.

Their spiritual energy thresholds weren’t particularly high, and they hadn’t even realized they had been hypnotized.

“[Talent 99 – Dream Entry]“

Chen Anzhi said softly, “Welcome to the world of dreams. Today, what I want to introduce to everyone is the slumbering deity in a distant realm.”

“It is the Creator fallen into an eternal slumber, and the universe we reside in is merely its dreamscape.”

“It cannot be seen; it is a mass of nihilistic chaos, existing prior to heaven and earth. No one knows its name, and we must not disturb its long sleep, lest it bring about calamity.”

“Now, it has already descended from the void. The place where it resides used to be my hometown, but now, I prefer to call it the ‘Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.'”

“You are very fortunate. The great Sacred God is currently gathering its first batch of believers. Our souls can peacefully depart for that realm devoid of suffering.”

Chen Anzhi extended both arms, and the candlelight in front of him split into six, floating before the others. These pale yellow halos enveloped the souls, causing them to gradually turn into the exact same color.

The depths of Chen Anzhi’s eyes held a pious fanaticism: “Praise the Sacred God, ultimate bliss and eternal life.”

Those six muddled souls followed suit and spoke: “Praise the Sacred God, ultimate bliss and eternal life.”

At 7:00 AM, Lu Yan woke up right on time.

The training center wasn’t far from the dormitory, roughly a ten-minute walk.

He changed into the uniform training attire, intending to head to the second-floor cafeteria for some breakfast before making his way to the training center.

The training hours were from eight in the morning until seven in the evening—a full day. Theory in the morning, practical application in the afternoon, with a one-hour break in between.

Lin Sinan had participated in the training before and had revealed some inside information to Lu Yan. He said the difficulty of the training mainly depended on that year’s Chief Instructor.

If the Chief Instructor had a dark heart, the trainees would have a miserable time. If the Chief Instructor was soft-hearted, things would be slightly better.

Furthermore, there was a death quota every year.

When he pushed open the door to head out, Chen Anzhi across the hall happened to come out of his room as well.

The smile on his face was identical to yesterday’s, with virtually no change even in its curvature. Only his eyes were exceptionally calm and indifferent, which inevitably felt somewhat discordant.

“Hello,” Chen Anzhi smiled. “I don’t know your name yet?”

He possessed an exceptionally deep pair of eyes, brilliant like a starry sky.

Lu Yan subconsciously replied, “Lu Yan.”

Almost the instant he finished speaking, he couldn’t help but knit his brows slightly.

Compared to ordinary people, he had already broken free incredibly fast.

As if sensing something, Chen Anzhi lowered his head and said softly, “My apologies. I forgot to wear my glasses.”

“Because my talent ability always slips out of control…” Chen Anzhi’s expression held a trace of dejection. “I didn’t mean to. I hope you won’t alienate me because of this.”

He spoke in a pitiful, delicate manner that easily softened the hearts of those with less steadfast wills.

[Sigh, I really detest mental-type talent users,] the System sighed. [Don’t look into his eyes. I’ll help you keep watch as well.]

[Affinity paired with Hypnosis—these two talents combined are truly one of the top configurations for a mental-type Awakened. Also, try your best to avoid staying in a confined space with him, and absolutely do not sleep in front of him.]

The System’s voice turned rather playful:

[By the way, have you ever played Werewolf? Some traitors have blended in among us.]