Evening.

Li Xiye was ravenous, wolfing down her dinner and clearing her plate in a flash.

Her appetite sated, she slumped into her dining chair, sipping from a juice box. She sighed, "I finally get how tough it is to be a working stiff. It's only my first day and I already want to quit. Zhou Chen, working for the Star Association is nothing like I imagined..."

"What did you imagine it would be like?" Zhou Chen asked as he ate his own meal.

"Umm... like a Special Agent for a secret organization. Cool, suave, punishing evil and upholding justice under the cover of darkness. I'd be taking on super-cool, extraordinary missions, saving the World now and then, and doing all sorts of earth-shattering things. Along the way, I'd get to know lots of powerful, important people and have friends everywhere I went. But we'd always have to keep our identities secret."

Li Xiye let her imagination run wild. "So, on the surface, I'm still a high school student who has to go to school, but secretly, I'm the Star Association's ace Operator. Then one day, on a perfectly ordinary afternoon, a group of mysterious men in suits and sunglasses would burst into my classroom. They'd walk straight up to me as my classmates gasp in shock and say, 'Li Xiye, the organization needs you...'"

"Pfft... HAHAHAHAHAHA..."

Zhou Chen was shaking, a grin stretching from ear to ear. He tried to hold back his laughter for a long time, but it finally burst out of him.

"Hey! It's a perfectly normal fantasy, you know!" Li Xiye protested, slapping the table.

"But hearing you say it all so seriously is just so awkward and cringey... HAHAHAHA..."

"Stop laughing!"

"HAHAHAHA..."

"Laugh one more time and I'll kill you! I said stop laughing!!!"

"HAHAHAHAHA..."

Ignoring the girl's flustered and furious expression and the blue arcs of electricity sparking from her hair, Zhou Chen doubled over, laughing for a good while before he finally calmed down.

"...Since you chose not to rely on the Li Family, you should've seen this coming. The Star Association may be the most secure job in the Cosmos, but that doesn't mean the work is easy.

"Of course, rookies like you get all the dirty work. It's tiring, but it's great for gaining experience. Once you're past the rookie phase and become a proper workhorse, you'll just get assigned even more missions. And most importantly, they might talk about weekends and holidays off with a full benefits package, but in reality, the moment an emergency pops up, your leave gets canceled and you get dragged back in for miserable overtime.

—And you know better than I do just how chaotic a place like Hong City is.

"The good news is, that scene you imagined could actually happen. For example, if a Corrupter or some other creature invades, you'll get your chance to jump in and play the hero in front of everyone."

Hearing Zhou Chen's description, Li Xiye's face fell. "That doesn't sound like an Ascender at all. It sounds like a corporate slave."

"Girl, where did you get the delusional idea that Ascenders get to escape being corporate slaves? An Ascender's Physical Strength is leagues beyond a normal person's. An elite corporate slave like that can do the work of several regular ones. So tell me, don't you think they're going to be squeezed for all they're worth?"

"..." Li Xiye looked even more miserable, as if she could already see her future as a workhorse for the company.

"Right, how was the mission?" Zhou Chen asked after finishing off his food in a few quick bites.

"Nothing unusual. I just walked around scanning with the equipment, and then we set up a Purification Matrix that covered the entire residential complex. It completely wore me out," Li Xiye continued. "No anomalies were detected at any of the incident sites. The higher-ups think it might be a small-scale mental pollution event that spread among a few individuals. They're trying to trace the source through the victims now."

"Small-scale mental pollution... Anything else out of the ordinary? Like urban legends, or something like that," Zhou Chen asked.

Li Xiye shook her head. "I'm still a rookie, so I can't access the database files... Anyway, I'm full. I'll leave the pots and pans to you tonight. I'll get them tomorrow." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"That's what you said yesterday," Zhou Chen replied, resigned.

·

「Late at night.」

Exhausted from the day, Li Xiye hugged her covers and quickly drifted off to sleep.

She dreamed she was in class at school. It was a dull, boring afternoon when suddenly, a gunshot rang out from outside. A bullet shattered the window, smacking into the wall with a loud CRACK. Shards of glass and plaster flew through the air as the classroom erupted into a chaos of overlapping screams.

She stood up and looked out the window to see dozens of masked enemies pouring into the school building.

"Everyone get down and stay quiet," Li Xiye said, frowning as she tried to calm her terrified teacher and classmates. Then, gripping a pencil tightly, she rushed out of the classroom.

She moved like an assassin in the shadows, a Berserker from the Viking Age, putting on a masterclass in the aesthetics of violence. After a fierce battle, she took down over a dozen enemies with just that pencil. This was followed by a series of gunfights and brawls worthy of a blockbuster movie, until she had wiped out every last enemy who had invaded the school.

When it was all over, she leaned against a corner wall, panting and covered in filth. Her expression was grim. She coolly brushed back her short hair, her eyes reflecting the flickering flames on the ground. They were as sharp as blades, still filled with a lingering killing intent. The watching crowd stared at her, their expressions a mixture of shock and awe.

Just then, Zhou Chen, dressed in a high school uniform, walked over. He fussed over her, asking about her injuries, his eyes shining with admiration and adoration.

Li Xiye smiled faintly and rose to her feet with his help. The physical contact sent a strange flutter through her, and she subconsciously felt the urge to pin him down beneath her. But just then, her mind jolted. Her fuzzy, dreamlike consciousness snapped into focus, becoming clear and rational. In that instant, she realized she was dreaming.