Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 52 - 51: Citywide Gossip Day

Honglian grabbed her phone, glanced at it, and shouted "Oh no!" before sprinting towards the window.

Wang Baihu saw her phone was also seemingly playing the same content.

No way!

He was shocked, quickly joining her by the window. The office building was right next to the main road in the city center, and through the glass, one could see the most bustling commercial plaza in Jiang City. The giant electronic billboards around the plaza had all turned into a live broadcast of the mask-wearing person’s stream.

"I apologize for the abrupt disturbance, but I had no other choice. I am an Ability User, but also a victim who has been repeatedly persecuted, forced to speak out for myself."

The voice sounded like a woman but was likely altered for modulation.

"Yes, superpowers do exist in this world, and everyone could potentially become part of it. Why haven’t you noticed? Because a vast interest group is covering the truth. They put their interests above all else, striving to control everyone who gains abilities. If you refuse, then you face secret capture, imprisonment, and even execution."

"She’s talking nonsense!" Wang Baihu said angrily.

"Everyone probably knew about the seemingly unbelievable event that happened at the Sha River yesterday, and from my experience, it’s all true. The organization will undoubtedly try to calm things down, perhaps by fabricating a movie shoot or a stunt promotion, but that’s not my main point. The attention on this matter has given me the courage to reveal their existence here."

"I want you to understand, you don’t need to have great wealth, nor do you need to wait for a mutation. Whether you get the ability isn’t determined by your will or background. Therefore, the ability doesn’t discriminate against anyone... In essence, having an ability is a basic human right, and it shouldn’t be monopolized by any organization!"

"For ten years, I’ve been hiding, unwilling to bow to the organization’s pressure. But today I’m not going to stay silent anymore, I will fight them to the end! Listen carefully, this organization is called the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, sounds pleasant, but it doesn’t change their monopolistic tyranny."

"The day after tomorrow at two in the afternoon, I will appear in front of the Panda Pavilion in Jiang City’s Zoo, to prove the existence of abilities to every questioning person. I know the mechanism will try to stop me, even silence me, but I must do this—it’s not just for myself, but for you, and for everyone who may gain abilities but can’t enjoy them, I will fight to the end!"

The image disappeared, and the electronic screens, phones, and computers returned to their normal displays.

Wang Baihu laughed in anger, "Jiang City? Isn’t that within our jurisdiction? When did we ever persecute such a person... Being able to hack into several public networks at once, hiding is no big deal. Twisting the facts to bite us back, what is this if not deliberate provocation!?"

"But this person seems to know quite a bit about the mechanism..." Little Pigeon said timidly, "Could it be someone from another district provoked them and came here to challenge the mechanism?"

"It’s more than challenging the mechanism... She’s practically trying to overturn the table, letting the hard-maintained situation fall apart completely!"

Bam!

The supervisor’s office door was kicked open, and the usually elegant and poised team leader, Wan Chongshan, had veins bulging in anger. "Did you all see it just now?"

All the team members stood up in unison, "Yes!" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Damn it, we hadn’t even caught her yet, and she has the nerve to come to us?" He uncharacteristically swore, "This has gone too far! All of you, meet me in the conference room. We accept this declaration of war!"

"Sigh... looks like we’re working overtime again today," Wang Baihu sighed as he walked a few steps but found Honglian still standing by the window.

"We’re having a meeting, what are you still looking at?"

Honglian seemed to snap back to reality, hesitantly saying, "It’s nothing, let’s go."

...

...

The Masked Woman’s declaration added fuel to the already heated topic of Ability Users.

All Chen Xuan had to do was turn on the TV, and no matter which channel he switched to, the news was almost entirely reporting on this matter.

"...Welcome to Jiang City TV’s live tracking program. Our reporter is currently at the entrance of the city zoo, let’s connect with her for an onsite interview."

"Hello viewers, I’m reporter Qiao Xi, as you can see, even though tomorrow is the day of the ability revelation, a significant number of people have already gathered at the entrance of the zoo. Judging by the scene, it seems like they intend to camp out in the pedestrian square at the front gate tonight, so they can enter the park at the first opportunity tomorrow."

With the reporter’s gesture, the camera focused on the open space behind her—showing a crowd of tens of thousands, many visitors had already set up tents. Zooming out further, various camping tents nearly covered half of the square.

The Jiang City zoo, botanical garden, cultural pavilion, and martyrs’ park were all built together. In order to enhance the area’s tourism value, the government built a pedestrian plaza in the middle of the four parks. It’s where all the festival activities are usually held, and camping is allowed. However, this kind of large-scale spontaneous camping is a first.

"Now, I’ll interview some of these visitors to see what they think about the events that will unfold tomorrow."

"Is it interesting?" A voice suddenly interjected.

"Huh?" Chen Xuan turned his head, only to find the old man who frequently visited standing there, smiling widely at him.

The man pointed to the TV on the wall, "My daughter."

"Uh... So that’s your daughter? She’s a TV reporter?" Chen Xuan was surprised, thinking before that the man’s daughter was probably not doing well. He didn’t expect her to be quite attractive, looking nothing like her father. People like her shouldn’t have trouble finding a partner anyway.

"How else would she always have a camera with her?"

"Not bad... I mean, that’s a pretty good job."

"Of course, she’s a great person too; she’s very popular at the station." The old man placed some items on the counter, "Ring it up for me."

It was a few boxes of self-heating meals and two folding chairs.

Chen Xuan frowned, "Are you planning to accompany her tomorrow?"

"Our whole family will be there." The old man said enthusiastically, "It’s her first time being assigned such a high-profile task by the station. I must go and cheer her on!"

"There will be a lot of people at the scene. Aren’t you worried about getting caught in the crowd with your health?"

"Hey, I’m not going to squeeze to the front. Just being in the park counts as supporting her."

Chen Xuan thought for a moment, then said another word of caution, "If there’s any commotion, don’t go towards the chaos. A large crowd could cause a stampede, you can’t afford getting bumped around. It’s 65 yuan in total, thank you for your patronage."

"Oh, young man, you’re quite concerned about me."

"Of course, you’re a regular customer here. I hope to sell more stuff to you in the future." Chen Xuan smiled, repeating his advice, "Remember, don’t cause a commotion."

"Alright, I got it." The old man paid, happily leaving the shop.

In the evening, Lin Qing returned to the store as well. She could now walk without much trouble, with her prosthetics recovering about 60% functionality—not much use in combat, but at least she wasn’t a burden.

"How are things at the zoo?" Chen Xuan handed her a cup of coffee.

"As expected, the people from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism have it surrounded on all sides." Lin Qing smirked, "I don’t know these people personally, but I know they’re all sent by the mechanism. There are janitors, security guards, and tourists pretending to be Ability Users. The same frequency waves are like symphonies; unfortunately, the enhanced security measures prevent me from intercepting signals. Being able to penetrate to this extent in just a day, the mechanism is quite capable."

Chen Xuan nodded, "If the Masked Woman really shows up at the Panda Pavilion, do you think they can defuse the crisis in front of so many onlookers?"

"If they couldn’t, how could they have stayed submerged for so long? I never doubt the wonders of abilities, nor do I doubt that they have reserves of talent in this area," Lin Qing answered assuredly. "With the commotion reaching this level, I’m sure more than just the Dimensional Limit Mechanism of this district will deal with us. If the pressure is intense enough, I wouldn’t even be surprised if they made the entire zoo disappear like magic... right in front of everyone."