"Of course you may."
Qin Bai made an inviting gesture: "Please proceed."
Su Zhan nodded and looked at Wang Mingyuan.
Following behind his teacher was both proper etiquette and protocol.
"Alright, that's enough for today."
Wang Mingyuan looked at Qin Bai: "We'll meet again when opportunity arises."
"Very well."
Qin Bai said with a smile: "I hope one day you can guide this student of yours to achieve the same accomplishments you had in your early days."
"You're mistaken there."
After exchanging pleasantries, the two left the Jiang City Aberrant Purge Division.
Wang Mingyuan stopped at the steps, his gaze becoming much gentler.
"Don't take it too much to heart."
Wang Mingyuan patted Su Zhan's shoulder: "That's just Qin Bai's temperament - suspicious and distrustful of everyone."
Su Zhan nodded silently.
He felt somewhat surprised - did Wang Mingyuan trust him this much?
He wasn't asking about the suspicious points from earlier, nor was he demanding an explanation.
"Remember, the innocent need not fear investigation."
Wang Mingyuan said seriously: "You're an SSS-grade Life Soul Awakener who can withstand scrutiny, not someone who can be easily smeared by random accusations."
He pointed at the school emblem on Su Zhan's tactical uniform: "Behind this badge stands the entire Vermilion Bird Academy backing you."
Su Zhan touched the emblem on his chest: "But Commander Qin seems... somewhat unhinged."
"Even if he's unhinged, he still judges people carefully."
Wang Mingyuan said confidently: "Moving against someone from Vermilion Bird Academy without solid evidence? Not to mention he himself is from Vermilion Bird Academy - what benefit would he gain from such a thing?"
Hearing this, Su Zhan's eyes lit up as sudden understanding dawned on him.
Right! What benefit would Qin Bai actually gain from this?
If an aberration appeared among their own academy's students, it would become the biggest joke imaginable.
The entire Vermilion Bird Academy would be shamed because of it.
But...
If his identity as an aberration were truly exposed, then people like Qin Bai would definitely dispose of him secretly.
After all, the impact would be too disastrous.
Previously, Doberman had used online public opinion attacks against him, claiming he was a suspected aberration. That made everyone suspicious of him, drew official attention, made people fear him. At that time, even if he wasn't an aberration, his life would have been worse than if he actually were one.
Now, Qin Bai couldn't use that method at this time.
After all, Vermilion Bird Academy cared about its reputation.
Following this line of thinking...
All awakeners across Daxia wouldn't want him to be an aberration!
As Su Zhan thought this, he felt like he had entered a whole new world.
The identities of awakener and aberration couldn't exist in the same person.
This was an axiom of this world!
In this world, people underwent awakening tests starting at age 18.
Those who awakened Life Souls - even with the most useless abilities, even if your Life Soul ability was just being able to pee further - were considered superior to ordinary people in this world, faced far fewer difficulties finding jobs.
Why?
Because of this world's axiom: the identities of awakener and aberration cannot exist in the same person.
Therefore, when you became an awakener, you were essentially holding a revealed "good person card" in Werewolf.
Whereas ordinary people could potentially be aberrations, posing latent threats.
This latent threat couldn't be eliminated because aberrations could emerge at any time. Even if you weren't one yesterday, you could become an aberration today.
By holding the "good person card," you were free from these latent threats. People would trust you, companies would have more confidence in you.
Previously, Doberman had used online public opinion attacks against him, claiming he was a suspected aberration. That made everyone suspicious of him, drew official attention, and made people fear him. At that time, even if he wasn't an aberration, his life would have been worse than if he actually were one.
What did all this have to do with him?
It had everything to do with him, and the implications were enormous.
If Su Zhan's identity as an aberration were discovered, and everyone across Daxia learned about it, what impact would it have on Daxia?
Some might say: losing one SSS-grade Life Soul Awakener.
Heh... while technically true, this wouldn't significantly impact Daxia since Daxia produced nearly 10 SSS-grade Life Souls every year. How many had accumulated over all these years?
The real impact would be the massive blow to the "good person card" status of awakeners!
People would use Su Zhan as an example and start distrusting awakeners just like they distrusted ordinary people.
If even an SSS-grade awakener could be an aberration...
Could those A-grade and B-grade awakeners still be trusted?
Would those awakener officers in the military also come under suspicion?
What about those important figures, their identities...
And it wasn't just civilians who would doubt - awakeners themselves would start doubting other awakeners.
Throughout human society, it was awakeners who defended against the mist.
If even awakeners couldn't trust their own people, if they couldn't even achieve unity, would such a force still have combat effectiveness?
Maybe Su Zhan was just an isolated case.
But it would still make some people doubt awakeners.
And that "some people" would be enough to make all of Daxia stumble.
In summary.
No human would want him to be an aberration.
Even if he really was one, he would have to be secretly executed without any information leaking.
And...
Su Zhan smiled almost involuntarily.
He now had a trump card to play.
Since all of Daxia couldn't afford his aberration identity being exposed, he could completely use this as leverage to protect his own life.
For example, recording the process of himself becoming an aberration... though definitely not with a phone since that could be hacked.
He'd need a camera, preferably one that couldn't connect to the internet.
That would eliminate concerns about someone hacking into his phone data.
After recording, directly copy it to a USB drive.
Then find someone trustworthy - if he died, they would make this matter public...
But did he really have anyone he could trust?
Su Zhan looked at Wang Mingyuan.
This teacher treated him well, but that was useless.
After all, Wang Mingyuan would absolutely never do something that would cause such impact to Daxia.
Who else was there besides him?
He hadn't found his own kind yet.
Here, "kind" referred to people like him - those who possessed both aberration and awakener identities.
"What are you thinking about."
Wang Mingyuan spoke up: "During this recent period, you'd better not act alone. If you need to go on missions, you must report to me first, understood?"
Su Zhan's thoughts scattered as he immediately realized he had been spacing out for too long.
He nodded: "Thank you, teacher."
"What's there to thank me for."
Wang Mingyuan waved his hand: "Return to the hotel and rest. Organize your itinerary from these past three months, the more detailed the better. This will help you prove yourself."
"Alright."
Su Zhan nodded.
Earlier, Qin Bai said he would investigate him.
What methods would he use? But these didn't seem important to him anymore.
What he was thinking about now was the trump card that could save his life if his aberration identity were exposed!
Trust? Who could be trusted?
He ran through all the names in his mind.
Yet he still couldn't find a single person he could trust.
Later, Su Zhan came to understand one thing.
He, possessing both awakener and aberration identities, had no kindred in this world.
Those not of our kind must have different hearts!
Therefore, he had no one he could trust.
Moreover, any human with a sound mind would never make such evidence public.
And if they weren't mentally sound, how could they complete these operations anyway?