gray manor

On July 2038, 7, Zhaoxi fidgeted in front of the [Ability Supervision Office] installed at the airport. She was about to board the plane in less than half an hour, and she hadn’t even passed the security check, and she was still waiting in line outside the customs. Supervision procedures.It is conservatively estimated that at the current speed, it may take about ten minutes before it is her turn.

Because she was late and ran wildly at the airport, she saw a lot of people who lost their composure. She didn't like that, so she paid special attention to the time every time she traveled.But today was too unlucky. Two hours after arriving at the airport early, three-quarters of it was evaporated by the heat.She bets that if she continues to wait like this, her flight will definitely move faster than this team.

The fidgeting and waiting made people anxious, Zhao Xi glanced to the left from the corner of her eye, it would be better not to look at it, this look confirmed her idea that she had to do something to change the status quo - the old lady in front of her, The materials waiting for supervision and review in his hand were piled up to the thickness of a vertical one-yuan coin.

God!What year and month will this be tried?The old man stubbornly distrusts technology. She is not happy with the convenient things that can be solved with an ID card full of information, so she stubbornly brings out her annual medical examination reports for review.

Zhaoxi looked away, and sneered mockingly at her bad luck since morning, but there was no extra expression on her face.She recalculated the time, and conservatively estimated that once the old lady went in, she would delay the time for at least 10 to [-] minutes.

And in another half an hour, unless Zhaoxi's plane is delayed in the cloudless weather, she will never catch up with this long-distance flight.

At this moment, how she wished she could have a little bit of that damn luck, or the super power to control time.It's a pity that according to ordinary people Zhaoxi's ordinary life experience in the first 27 years, the goddess of luck always disappears without a trace when she needs her favor the most, and there is no such thing as the metaphysics of luck.As for superpowers, don't even think about it, her annual routine physical examination is very smooth, without any signs of awakening.

Zhaoxi sighed, if she hadn't just stepped into the gate of the terminal building, she would have seen the self-service check-in machine full of people, the inner three floors and the outer three floors were tightly packed, and chaotic heads of people surged around, without a trace. There is order.She also would not choose to queue for manual processing, which only has four or five people.It's just that after making a decision, she didn't expect that the travelers in front of the self-service check-in machine would gradually be exhausted in the order of one per minute, while the queue for manual check-in was difficult to grow.

Metaphysics is always metaphysics, and Zhao Xi is obviously the type of person who lacks a lot of unexpected good luck, and her life direction has always been dedicated to helping her verify this rule.

The self-service check-in counter is still full of people, and the queue of more than [-] meters is still increasing. She has reason to believe that even if she runs there now, she will not be able to catch the plane half an hour later.She gave up the opportunity to test her character value in another place, and while checking the rebooking steps on her mobile phone, she insisted on staying in the manual processing team.

Zhaoxi, a 27-year-old Gemini whose birthday just passed a month ago, is an ordinary teacher at a key university. His job is to teach people in this era when superpowers are common (as long as you are interested, anyone regardless of race) can be learned) world history.

By the way, she is a natural person who has not yet awakened, and she is a member of the most ordinary half of this world where superpowers and non-superpowers are divided into half.In the routine physical examination report just released in June this year, the doctor also told her: Judging from her current physical and psychological state, she will spend the coming year as stable as usual in the coming year.Obviously, Zhao Xi's personality is the same as her physique, it is difficult to change the type of stable attributes.

She doesn't dislike this kind of life, and the tepid ordinary life is not lacking in fun, at least for a person who has never been able to find his dream in life and is so mediocre that he can't be mediocre, this kind of life is already rare A godsend.

She was supposed to spend her long summer vacation peacefully as usual, maybe traveling to a few places of interest, but now it's all...disrupted.

Her best friend suddenly announced the news of her marriage with her, bought her a plane ticket without authorization, and set up this bloody, inexplicable itinerary!Zhao Xi had just finished school and hadn't even had time to rest for a day, so she hurriedly packed her luggage for a wedding in Los Angeles and a two-month vacation.Although Zhaoxi cursed Xin Xi for being unreliable with more than [-] sentences in her heart, she still wanted to go to Los Angeles immediately to see who would marry her best friend.

Zhaoxi, a childhood sweetheart who grew up together, is named Xin Xi and English name is Clara. Because she has a harmless and cute loli face, and her personality is gentle and smart, she was given the nickname by Zhaoxi sugar sugar.This nickname has been called since the day when the two could speak fluently, but people should not be judged by appearances. This girl with almond eyes and round face, who is less than 1.6 meters tall, was once the student with the highest grade point in clinical medicine at the National Medical University.She has never had any hesitation or fear from killing experimental rats to teaching anatomy with human hands. During the clinical practice, she has won unanimous praise from the teachers of various subjects.They believe that Xin Xi is the most suitable surgical seedling to save lives and heal the wounded. She is bold, careful, skillful, neat and straightforward. Most importantly, she is good-looking. Most people see her innocent and kind face, no matter what they have gone through. In the event of an accident, half of the gas can be eliminated.

However, after graduating, she did not choose to stay in the hospital to work in a regular manner, but went to apply to join the United Nations Volunteer Organization called [RainbowLight].Now she wanders all over the world all year round, living a carefree life with no fixed place but a heroic spirit.In fact... she is a strange woman whose appearance does not match her insides.

Zhao Xi and her have grown up in a pair of trousers. They have been neighbors for many years, and they know each other well.However, when Zhaoxi suddenly received an email from this woman who didn't know where she was and how much time difference she had with her, she was really shocked.

A few simple words were written in her email: Dear Zhao Zhao!I bought you a flight ticket to Los Angeles on the morning of July 7, please remember to check it and come to my wedding on time!I know you have already finished the course, please bring enough luggage for two months! PS. I now live in Los Angeles, please congratulate me!

In just a few lines, Zhaoxi was so shocked that she didn't know where to complain.

Not to mention that Xin Xi has been wandering for many years and finally decided to settle down and get married. He has never gotten along with Zhaoxi, just this - "and come to my wedding on time!", such a frivolous tone is enough to make Zhaoxi Give her a good beating.Leaving aside the flash marriage, if she really feels that she has met true love, it doesn't matter if she has nothing to worry about and goes through the emotional process one by one.But for such a big event, she talked about it as casually as if she went to the supermarket to buy an apple that can be found everywhere. How could she really think of herself as a passionate Californian girl?

After reading the email, Zhaoxi was furious, packed her luggage immediately, and prepared to fly to LA to beat her face to face through gritted teeth.Of course, she made up her mind, if the groom is the one that Zhao Xi sees as wrong, she will beat the groom together.She wants Xin Xi to know that food can be eaten indiscriminately, but things that determine whether one's life is happy or not cannot be made casually.

It's a pity that her ideal before going out was very beautiful, but the reality poured her a pot of cold and warm oil that seemed to eliminate the fire, and the three feet of anger was poured with a hydrophobic liquid to support the combustion. She felt that she was about to explode soon, and she almost So a little spark.Last night, Zhao Xi, who had been busy all night and didn't sleep, got up early in the morning and sat in line at the gate of the monitoring room at the airport, not only struggling but also in a dilemma.The horrific efficiency of the airport official work forcefully added new sprouts to her explosive fire, and Zhaoxi cursed Xin Xi, the little bastard, for more than [-] sentences, it was all on her whim that made Zhaoxi wait here It took an hour and a half to complete the formalities.

No matter what the actual logic is, she is now in a fit of anger, and she has to bear the blame for whatever scapegoat she has.It was her fault.

Zhaoxi frowned and looked at his watch more and more frequently, and three and a half minutes later, the buddy in front finally walked out of the damn glass door.Then, the old lady next to her stood up slowly, holding the thick stack of materials and tremblingly walked in at a speed of half a step per second.

Come on, this is really enough to challenge the limit of her patience.The saying that time is money is a joke here, right?

Zhaoxi saw the right moment, and was about to do something that she had been thinking about just now—jumping the queue!She picked up the bag with one hand, and pushed open the glass door for the old lady with the other, and said to the inspector, "Hello, inspector, can you please do it for me first, I don't use paper documents but cards , it will be fine soon."

But she didn't hear back.

The inspector remained motionless in this posture of looking at the door, without even blinking his eyes. Zhaoxi blinked twice quickly, quickly reacting that something was wrong.She looked around, and finally saw where the anomaly was - nearby, she could see the old lady walking unsteadily, keeping half of her foot raised, and looking a little farther away, the self-service coffee machine nozzle The dripping drop of espresso freezes in mid-air and does not fall, everything in the air is stopped at this moment, silence replaces noise, stillness alternates and flows.

Perhaps no one heard any of what she just said, because to be precise, time seemed to be stopped the moment she pushed the door open.

This situation can only be explained by the fact that a certain man is using superpowers.

Since Zhao Xi was not affected at all, she reasonably infers that either her ability has not been quietly awakened, or someone is playing silly pranks on her.

She has always been kind to others, she is more inclined to believe that the possibility of the former is greater than the latter.

Zhaoxi accepted this new setting rationally and quickly. Her original intention was to join the team first, but now she accidentally awakened her ability?As we all know, once the ability is awakened, the ID card created before will be invalidated, and a replacement file needs to be established to handle various new procedures.I also heard that the completion of the replacement file is complicated and lengthy, and it is as time-consuming and labor-intensive as being thrown out in the wild to build a new house without arms or legs.

Thinking of this, Zhaoxi's brain fell silent along with the surrounding environment, and she had a terrible headache.

Glancing at the watch dejectedly, the hands on the delicate mechanical dial are still keeping pace with their duties, and continue to walk. It can be seen that Zhao Xi's own time is still flowing linearly, but she doesn't know how to restore the time that is stagnated by others.This is really a house leak coincident with continuous night rain, she had no choice but to sigh, letting the arteries on both sides of her temple beat faintly, disturbing people's thoughts.

"Come here, I'll help you." A female voice came from the office, apparently from the inspector whose time had been suspended.

Zhaoxi was startled, and looked at her when she heard the reputation. The inspector looked at her with the eyes of an old lady who had never seen her before. The reddish-brown curly hair exuded a charming luster, her skin was white and translucent, and she exuded a powerful aura of self-confidence. .Her visibly experienced appearance and high-spirited demeanor infect the newly awakened who are currently confused.

"It's troublesome." Zhaoxi didn't ask her why she pretended to be motionless just now, and didn't greet her politely, she put down her hand holding the doorknob and walked towards the desk.

Time didn't mean to move forward yet, Zhaoxi kept walking, she walked to the table in two or three steps, took out her ID card from her bag, and went through the formalities for the inspector who had come out of the stagnant time.She still doesn't know her ability level, and the result can only be obtained after a professional test.But the aura emanating from the supervisor in front of her gave her an inexplicable sense of oppression and forward momentum, making her involuntarily want to follow her guidance.

Since the introduction of clear standards for sixth-level abilities, the easiest way to judge is—the abilities of low-level people cannot be used on high-level people.Although Zhaoxi stopped time, it did not have any impact on the inspector. The answer is obvious - this European woman with a cold and serious face and meticulous clothes is an awakened ability user, and her ability level must be higher than hers. superior.

As early as 2020, scientists who studied superpowers issued a statement, saying that they analyzed the big data within 20 years of human awakening and came up with a basic rule: the influence of abilities of awakened people can be graded according to the criteria supported by the data Divided.They tentatively divided it into six grades, decreasing from strong to weak from S grade to E grade. At the same time, according to this judgment standard rule, they also gave the most basic explanation and suggestion for the grade definition: E~D grade ability is not Affects life and is not much different from those who have not awakened. Those with grade C and above are recommended to go to the hospital for regular check-ups and accept a certain degree of supervision and return visits. The higher the grade, the shorter the interval of interviews they recommend, according to the ascending order of grades For one year, half a year, three months and one month.

The introduction of this system has accelerated and improved the classification of the huge data of Homo sapiens society. Judging from the population registration data of people with known awakening abilities, the proportion of awakened people below grade C is 90% or more of all awakened people. There is a saying that the higher the level, the fewer the number of people.Like those high-IQ geniuses that exist in this world, it is impossible for everyone to have rare high-performance.Most people's abilities are below C-level, and will not affect their lives, and their abilities are relatively innocuous, such as... Occasionally sparks or something.

However, thinking back, the current issue of ability level is not within the scope of Zhaoxi's concern.There are only two problems she has to solve now, the renewal of the ID card and how to restore the mess created by this ability.

The red-haired supervisor didn't talk much, she took Zhaoxi's card and put it into the computer to read the information.

"You...going abroad to visit relatives?" The inspector kept typing on the keyboard with both hands and checking her application materials.

From the corner of the eye of the red-haired woman, she occasionally gave Zhao Xi a second or two to sit on the chair. Zhao Xi couldn't help sitting up straight when she looked at her so abruptly.

"Yes. My sister is married."

In fact, Xin Xi is the same age as her, but her birthday is two months younger than hers, but strictly speaking, she is indeed her younger sister, so there is no problem with this.

"...Marriage? Alright. But you just awakened your abilities, we don't recommend long-distance travel." The inspector's voice faltered for a while, and there was still no wave, and it was a business-like tone.

"As you can see, I didn't lose control of the ability that most awakened people experience when they first awaken. I think a flight from start to finish will not pose any threat to me or others. I don't want to and can't Missing this flight, after all, a wedding may only come once in a person's life, which is very important to the bride and me."

Zhaoxi calmly puts forward her own views, or quibbles.She was feeling guilty, afraid that she would be detained at the airport by this supervisor and would not let her leave.After all, newly awakened ability users are considered to be in an extremely unstable state. Even though she doesn't seem to be as flustered as ordinary awakened people, it doesn't mean she is safe.

As soon as Zhaoxi, who was not sure of gaining her trust, explained to herself, the inspector simply snapped off the old white ID card. It was magnified more than ten times.Seeing her sudden movement, Zhaoxi's heart twitched for some reason.

She seemed to have just realized that the awakening of her abilities and this hasty crisp sound represented the end of her ordinary life for the first 27 years.Zhaoxi didn't even react carefully to this matter, and she had already bid farewell to her identity as an unawakened person/natural person, and a turning point of fate took her to drift through life without any pause.

Next, the red-haired Inspector skillfully took out a new pale pink card from the drawer, and inserted it into the black machine with a flashing green light on his right hand.During this period, she was silent and didn't say anything, just tapped the keyboard a few more times on the computer, then took out the card and handed it to Zhaoxi.

Does this count as activating a new card?What about the cumbersome process?

Although Zhaoxi didn't quite understand why the auburn-haired inspector opened a new account for her so readily, but the new card, which represented unimpeded access, was really tempting.She stretched out her hand, waiting for the other person to deliver the second chapter of her life.

"I've done some simple things for you here, and that's enough for now. Ms. Jessie, have a nice trip." The inspector finally showed a little smile to Zhaoxi, and added an explanation: "Since your flight is less than 10 minutes away It’s about to take off. In order not to delay your journey, I will contact you later to register the level of ability attributes. You don’t have to worry. Oh, yes, long-distance flights are easy to get tired. I hope you can rest well. After all, people who have just awakened, Ability is somewhat unstable.”

Zhaoxi is skeptical about her efficient and neat procedures. If she had been so efficient, how could she have been reduced to waiting outside for an hour and a half, so anxious that she even awakened her superpowers?But it doesn't make sense to be serious now, the plane doesn't wait for anyone.She didn't think much about the other suggestive meanings in the inspector's words. After accepting the new pink card, she calmly thanked her, nodded and got up immediately to leave.

When she walked to the door, she realized that the time was still paused, and she glanced at her watch again, just in time to see that the second hand turned counterclockwise ten times and then started to run clockwise again.The glass door that had been stagnant happened to hit her on the back, Zhaoxi raised her head, and the old lady holding a dozen documents walked past her tremblingly, and thanked her for opening the door for her.

After standing still for 10 minutes for Zhaoxi, time finally continued to flow forward, and everything proceeded logically.

At this moment, in her mind, she suddenly recalled the smile that the inspector showed her. It was a profound expression representing secrets. A strange thought burst into Zhaoxi's mind following this moment, but she I didn't have time to catch it.

It's a pity that she didn't have time to think about it, after all, it was important for her to board the plane smoothly.So Zhaoxi could only put all these things behind her for the time being, and trot towards the boarding gate like the wind.