Enveloped in flames, a figure in black hurled through the fire in a curled-up posture, then snapped straight, holding a basketball-sized black package.
Pulled by gravity, the figure began to plunge, accelerating by the second.
The camera zoomed in. When the person in black was less than six or seven meters from the ground, an angry roar—its gender impossible to tell—echoed through the air: "Open the door!"
Open the door? Open what door?
Fang Qingze was still baffled when, the next second, just as the figure was about to hit the ground, dust and fallen leaves were whipped up by a sudden gust, instantly forming a black vortex about a meter in diameter.
The figure plummeted right into the vortex and vanished. The black vortex stopped spinning as quickly as it had formed and disappeared.
The leaves and dust drifted down, settling in a one-meter circle as if to prove the vortex had ever existed.
The video ended and automatically looped back to the beginning.
The bullet comments and comment section exploded instantly.
"Are you kidding me?! What is that? A portal or a Anywhere Door?"
"Where's the person? What happened to my huge black-clad person?"
"What on earth is this, are they filming a movie?"
"Has to be. When would something like this ever happen in real life?"
"What if it's real? The world might actually have Abilities or Transcendents. Weren't there lots of similar reports before?"
Fang Qingze tapped open the comment section and found a top-rated comment that actually screenshotted the previous line and mercilessly roasted it:
"Must be people in the bullet comments who read too much anime and web novels? Superpowers and Abilities are just things made up by shut-in authors (laugh-crying). If Transcendents and Abilities were real, would Desolate Beasts be running so rampant? Would humanity be cowering inside these high-walled cities? (picking nose) Rather than daydreaming about all this nonsense, you'd better work hard and earn money just to stay alive. (despising)"
It had over two hundred replies, some agreeing, some arguing back.
"Totally agree with the OP. Where are there any Transcendents in this world? If there were, why don't they go clean up the Desolate Beasts outside the city and expand humanity's living space?"
"Exactly. I call special effects. Weren't all the previous ones proven fake? Some people in the bullet comments can't even afford to eat or keep warm in real life, yet they're fantasizing about superpowers all day? Hilarious. (laugh-crying)"
"Even if someone did awaken an Ability, they'd probably get hauled away for dissection. The Federal Government's 'Task Force' is no joke."
The dissenters fought back fiercely:
"Then how do you explain the video? Shengxian Pavilion explodes, a mysterious person jumps into a black vortex and vanishes. This isn't the only angle on the platform, you can find other angles with a simple search."
"Seriously, you couldn't fake this with a video or a movie. A friend of mine was right there, Shengxian Pavilion had a giant hole blown right through it! What director has enough pull to get Shengxian Pavilion to play along like that?"
"Lol, the 'I was at the scene' squad is back! Everyone group photo (laugh-crying)"
"Classic, it's your friend again. Do your friends span the entire Federation or what?"
Someone siding with the OP started joking around: "I can prove superpowers are real! And I firmly believe someone can vanish into thin air! They can even take things with them! This exact thing happened to me!
Let me tell you, my family lives in Jiashi Apartments, which is a long way from my school. Since I didn't want to take the bus or subway, my parents bought me an electric scooter. Guess what? On the very first night, my scooter vanished into thin air! Checked the security cameras and nothing came up!
Now looking at it, thieves don't have that kind of skill, and the security at Jiashi Apartments is top-notch! It definitely had to be an invisible Transcendent who stole the battery right off my ride! (angry)"
"I'm dying, a Transcendent stealing an electric scooter... hahaha. But bro's family is loaded, actually living in a luxury neighborhood like Jiashi."
"Nah nah, you're joking, bro. My parents are the capable ones, I'm just a little bro whose scooter battery got stolen by a Transcendent."
"Hahaha..." The bullet comments were filled with cheerful amusement.
"What the heck, can the normies just die already?"
"Tauren, a monster from *Conquest*. Years of cultivation have made it shed its beastly form and turn demonic, its demon-controlled body glowing with a strange light, its berserk offensive style further enhanced."
"What kind of Tauren explanation is that? (laugh-crying)"
With various people chiming in, this thread quickly derailed...
...
Transcendents, huh? Fang Qingze exited the comment section, opened the trending searches list, watched the other angles of the hotel explosion, and slowly fell into deep thought.
He didn't think this was done with special effects because Abilities were very much real.
On the morning after his fifteenth birthday—early in the morning on October 27th of last year—a mysterious ball of flame and a black saber had appeared inside his body.
That must be what they called an "Ability."
The day before, October 26th at 11:00 PM, after finishing reviewing all his homework for the next day, Fang Qingze washed up and got ready to take a call before going to sleep.
Today was his birthday, but it was no different from any ordinary day.
Ever since his mother passed away, Fang Qingze had been sent to the orphanage. Back at the orphanage, Uncle Liu, Auntie Wang, and the little friends would always celebrate his birthday with him on this day every year.
Ever since he moved out of the orphanage, however, he hadn't celebrated his birthday. In truth, birthdays held no special meaning for him.
Being born into this world wasn't really something that needed celebrating.
Nobody in class had even said "Happy Birthday!" to him today. Fang Qingze only had superficial acquaintances among his classmates, and no one knew when his birthday was. If Auntie Wang hadn't called, even he would have forgotten.
"I know, Auntie Wang. I bought a cake myself, I'm going to eat it in a moment," Fang Qingze replied with a smile to the person on the phone.
"It's your birthday today, you need to be happy. I'm going to send you a red envelope later so you can buy some good food tomorrow." The voice on the phone belonged to a middle-aged woman, very gentle.
"There's no need, Auntie Wang. I have my own money and I can earn my own way, you don't need to give me anything." Fang Qingze quickly declined.
"Hey~ You usually don't accept, and Auntie Wang lets it slide, but today is your birthday, you have to accept! No refusing!" The tone on the phone turned very firm.
Fang Qingze had wanted to refuse again, but then he thought of the dozen or so red envelopes in his chat window that had been automatically refunded or timed out. If he didn't accept today, Auntie Wang would definitely be very sad, right?
"Alright, Auntie Wang, but you can't give me too much, or I really won't accept it. The little brothers and sisters need extra nutrition too."
Sighing softly, he finally compromised.
"That's more like it~" Auntie Wang beamed instantly, her tone relaxing significantly: "You don't need to worry about how much it is, and you don't need to worry about the little ones either. The Federal Government allocated funds this year, the orphanage isn't short on money right now."
"Funds?" Fang Qingze paused. Sunshine Orphanage hadn't received government funding in years.
Their food and clothing over the past few years had relied entirely on Uncle Liu's remaining savings, Auntie Wang's pension, and donations from charitable members of society just to scrape by.
When Fang Qingze moved out of the orphanage on his own, that had been part of the reason.
"Yeah, just last month. I hadn't told you yet, so you don't need to worry about us.
Oh right, Mihua misses you so much, she pesters me every day asking when you'll come back to see her."
"Mihua, huh?" Fang Qingze's eyes softened. "Is Mihua asleep?"
"Not yet, she's right next to me refusing to sleep, making a fuss about wanting to talk to you. You know how it is, out of everyone at the orphanage, she's closest to you." Auntie Wang laughed helplessly.
"This girl," Fang Qingze chuckled, thought about it, and said, "I miss Mihua a lot too. How about this, Auntie Wang, put Mihua on the phone and I'll chat with her, otherwise she's definitely going to stay up making a fuss and disturb everyone else."
"Alright, but don't talk too long, you have class tomorrow."
Fang Qingze agreed with a smile.