Chapter 696: It Seems Like Superpowers
“I… I…”
I hesitated.
The adults I’ve met are always like this—moody and unpredictable.
“Tell me, and Uncle won’t hit you,” he said.
Hearing that, I became even more scared. Every time an adult starts a conversation with that line, I get hit for sure.
For example, my mom would say, “Tell me what score you got, I promise I won’t hit you.”
When I said I got over seventy, not only would she hit me, but she’d also sob and say, “Why is my fate so bitter? Even giving birth to a boy, he’s still no dragon.”
For example, my dad would say, “Tell me who broke this, I won’t hit you.”
When I said I did it by accident, he’d give me a harsh beating.
I suddenly thought of Washington.
There was a textbook story—Washington cut down the cherry tree in the yard, and after he confessed to his father, his father didn’t blame him.
I really envied Washington.
So when Uncle Wan said he wanted to form everyone into a big “family,” I really wanted to cry. Why did it have to be a “family” of all things…?
“Brother Wan.” Sister finally stepped in front of me. “You’re in no state to talk to Hero properly. This child’s upbringing was rough—he has very little sense of security. Doing this will only make it worse. How about calming down first?”
“Sense of security…?” Uncle Wan grew angrier. “I’ve already seen so many people gutted in front of me… and you’re telling me this kid has no ‘sense of security’? Should I be worrying about his ‘sense of security’ now? Who the hell gives me a ‘sense of security’?!”
“Let me do it!” Sister blocked Uncle Wan as he stepped forward. “Brother Wan, let me talk to him!”
Uncle Wan sighed and turned his head away.
Seeing that she had soothed him, Sister pulled me aside. The scent on her was still so pleasant.
“Little Hero, what’s really going on?” she asked gently. “Why did you say that Uncle Wan has the scent of ‘Amplify Voice’?”
I kept my head down, not knowing how to say it. Every time I told the truth in the past, I got scolded.
So I was terrified of adults asking me questions. Whenever they did, it meant I had to find a way to lie and make them happy.
“You’re safe right now,” Sister said. “Little Hero, this conversation is between equals. I just have some questions, and you happen to know the answers. You can choose to speak or not speak—either way, I respect your decision. So there’s no need to be nervous. Also, you need to know that no matter what happened, it’s not your fault.”
This was the first time I’d ever heard that kind of talk, and I felt that Sister’s scent was even nicer than before.
Actually, I don’t trust adults. But I really trust Sister.
I hesitated for a moment, then told her about being able to smell strange scents. Uncle Wan, listening nearby, widened his eyes.
I said that a strange fragrance suddenly appeared on Uncle Wan. At the same time I smelled it, the words “Amplify Voice” popped into my head, and I just read them out loud.
I also told them that I had that kind of fragrance too, except mine wasn’t called “Amplify Voice”—it was called “Spirit Scent.” After hearing that, Sister and Uncle Wan both fell silent. I didn’t know what they were thinking.
“Spirit Scent…?” Sister frowned, pondering something. Then she picked up a twig and wrote two characters on the ground. “Hero, is it these characters ‘灵嗅’?”
I looked at the two characters on the ground, then shook my head. “Sister, I don’t know those characters. In my head, it’s just a ‘concept’—the actual characters didn’t appear.”
Sister narrowed her eyes and nodded, as if trying to understand what I meant.
Uncle Wan stared at the characters on the ground for a long time, then pointed at the more complex one. “This ‘嗅’ just means ‘to smell,’ right? Little Li, are you saying…”
“I’m not sure…” Sister’s expression grew serious, and a scent of doubt came off her. “But this kind of thing… is just too… metaphysical…”
“It’s not just ‘metaphysical’—it’s hard to understand… I have superpowers…” Uncle Wan blinked. “My superpower is called ‘Amplify Voice’…?”
“Hero…” Sister turned to look at me. “Do I have the scent of superpowers?”
“I don’t know what ‘superpowers’ are—it’s a ‘pure fragrance,’” I said. “But Sister, you don’t have that ‘pure fragrance.’ You still smell nice, though.”
Uncle Wan suddenly felt something was off. “Kid, you knew I had superpowers this whole time, and you’re only telling me now?!”
“Huh?” I was startled. I didn’t like being wrongly accused. “No, Uncle Wan. You didn’t have that fragrance before—it just started coming out a moment ago.”
“Just now…?”
Uncle Wan’s expression turned grim, as if he was thinking about something.
After a short while, he pulled Sister aside. They said a lot of things I couldn’t understand.
They talked about “god-making,” “superpowers,” “fragrance,” and such. The more I listened, the more confused I got. I only knew that in the end, they decided to find other people for me to smell.
That was when I finally realized that only I could smell those strange scents.
The next day, Uncle Wan actually brought an uncle from outside. Without a word, they made me smell him. But that guy had nothing on him except “doubt.”
Uncle Wan still thought I was lying. He held a lot of resentment toward me.
But Sister didn’t give up on me. She calmed Uncle Wan and took me out to the streets, telling me to smell the scents of passersby.
This was the first time I had left the house in many days, but the place looked exactly the same as when I first came.
Sister told me that the people here were divided into two kinds: one called “Wanderers,” the other called “Participants.” My main job was to sniff the scents of the “Participants.”
I saw some masked people standing sparsely on the streets. Sister said that behind those masked people were dangerous games, and I must never go in.
But we walked for almost a whole day without smelling that pure fragrance on anyone. I only smelled “heartbreak” and “despair.”
This place was really strange—everyone’s scent reeked of despair. I even started to think I had imagined it. Maybe I really had smelled wrong?
Just as we were about to give up at dusk, I finally smelled that scent again.