Regarding the matter of awakening lightning abilities after transformation

"Mint Julep again?" Zhou Li greeted him with a smile after turning off his phone. Qi Bei stared at him for a moment, recognizing him as a regular customer of the shop.

"Okay, with ice."

"Please wait a moment."

After explaining the requirements, Qi Bei said nothing, only silently gazing at the dance floor.

It really was him... Zhou Li chatted with Qin Kexin while glancing at Qi Bei out of the corner of his eye.

As Zhan Taiyi had predicted, Song Shiyan did indeed capture a lot of information using Liu Yu's dream, including images of their faces. Currently, the only certainty is that Zhan Taiyi is an Awakened One, while the identities of Qi Bei and the remaining three are still pending.

"Is it always this lively here?"

Zhou Li shook the wine cup in his hand and asked Qi Bei curiously.

"..." The latter took it as him talking to himself and had no intention of answering.

"You come here for drinks often? You could try the Manhattan."

Qi Bei responded this time, but only with a simple "oh".

It seemed he couldn't get anything out of him... Zhou Li smiled and switched his phone to a private page.

"Enjoy your MintJulep."

Taking the glass, Qi Bei first sipped it, then downed it in one gulp. Seeing his target about to leave, Zhou Li gestured to the surrounding area, and plainclothes police officers hiding nearby immediately followed.

Someone was following him... As soon as Qi Bei stepped out of the bar, he became alert and noticed someone behind him.

"Jazz bar, I'm being watched." Sending his location along with the message, Qi Bei didn't pause for a moment.

Zhou Li, who followed closely behind, opened his spiritual vision. His eyes were filled with a golden veil, and there was no obvious color difference between the location where Qi Bei was and the surrounding area.

Not an Awakened One? No, maybe they just haven't activated their abilities yet.

Following him into the parking lot, Qi Bei got directly into a black van.

"Target, get in the car, follow immediately." Zhou Li drove his SUV, following the van less than 30 meters away.

Qi Bei glanced at the rearview mirror and instantly increased the car's speed.

Just around the next corner, two black cars were blocking the middle of the road side by side.

Zhou Li had no choice but to slow down, but fortunately, police from another street had already followed the signal flare.

"You can't escape now." I didn't want to alert them, but since I've been discovered, I have no choice but to strike first.

Plainclothes police officers quickly surrounded the van, and more than a dozen handguns were simultaneously aimed at the driver.

Wait... it's not the same person as before!

Qi Bei was sitting in the black sedan that had just blocked the road. He calmly looked at the vans that were now surrounded behind him, a faint smile on his lips.

P.S. This chapter is killing me; the more I write, the more wrong it feels.

Chapter 48: Know When to Stop

"Thank you for your patronage, and welcome to visit again~" Gu Cheng leaned forward slightly, a sweet smile on her face. The customer nodded and tucked the beautifully wrapped bouquet under her arm.

Purple tulips... Add a line at the bottom of the bill with a pen, followed by the detailed price and sales time.

After finishing her notes, she waited for a long time without any new customers. She closed the thick black book, rested her cheek on her hand, and counted the tiny spots of light falling on the table.

To ensure the quality of her work, Gu Cheng got up very early today. Because the clothes she bought before were too unisex, they looked out of place on her current figure. She changed into several outfits in front of the mirror before finally settling on a work attire.

She wore a knitted sweater with a light yellow jacket, the round neckline of which was quite wide, revealing a small patch of fair skin. Her lower body was covered by relatively loose denim pants, and she even opted to forgo her usual baseball cap.

As for short skirts and stockings... Gu Cheng is not considering them for the time being.

"Well done." At the top of the stairs, Su Wanxi brought over two cans of coffee and handed one to her.

"Thank you." I took the coffee; it was cold to the touch, so it must have been in the refrigerator.

Although the flower shop had air conditioning on, Gu Cheng had been working since morning and was inevitably drenched in sweat.

She carefully pulled the tab and brought the can opening to her lips.

With a refreshing coolness and a hint of sweetness, the drink Su Wanxi bought was more like sweet milk than coffee, and Gu Cheng couldn't help but drink a few more sips.

"Is it good?"

"Mmm." Hearing that the other person approved of this taste, Su Wanxi's eyes lit up and a smile appeared on her lips.

"There's some in the refrigerator upstairs. You can get it anytime if you want some."

"Okay." The Starry Sky is divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. They were on the first level, which was mainly responsible for selling flowers. There was also a small warehouse at the back, which was usually used to store miscellaneous items.

The layout of the middle floor is somewhat similar to the apartment Gu Cheng is currently renting, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom at the far end. Su Wanxi doesn't live here, but sometimes she takes a nap there when she's tired from work.

At the very top was a sunroom, which Gu Cheng had never visited, only glancing at it briefly from the outside.

Lush ivy sprouts from the gaps in the granite railings, climbing the walls like a waterfall, exuding vitality.

A fair and delicate hand appeared before me, with smooth and delicate skin and neatly trimmed nails, except for a little bit of the little finger.

"Distracted?" Before she knew it, Su Wanxi had sat down very close to her. She leaned against the table and waved her hand gently.

"Huh?!" Gu Cheng stared blankly at Su Wanxi, her thoughts returning to reality.

"Are you tired...? Do you want to go upstairs and rest for a while?" she asked with concern.

"No need, no need, I'm not tired yet." This workload is far less than before. After all, Gu Cheng used to be a god who could work more than 22 hours a day. Now that she has become an Awakened One, her physical functions are far superior to before. She even feels that she can go two days and one night without closing her eyes.

Thinking about it this way, Awakened Ones are truly born to work overtime.

"What are you thinking about?"

"...Just thinking about it casually, it seems like we Awakened Ones are quite suited to working overtime." Gu Cheng didn't realize that her current wording was exactly the same as that of some ugly capitalists.

"Pfft." Su Wanxi suddenly laughed, her beautiful eyes filled with light.

"Miss Gu Cheng, are you implying that I exploit labor?" She extended her slender white finger and tapped Gu Cheng's forehead.

Miss Gu Cheng, what kind of weird title is that...?

"Of course not, I just happened to think of it."

"Want a raise? I'll give you commission!"

"No." As she spoke, Gu Cheng laughed, feeling just like a wealthy businessman who had no interest in money.

"Is business always this good here?" Gu Cheng opened the thick book she used for bookkeeping, and had filled several pages with entries in just one morning.

“Yes, land prices are high in the city center, but there’s a lot of foot traffic and business is good,” Su Wanxi explained.

"However, business is indeed better today than before."

"Because it's Valentine's Day next month?" Gu Cheng asked Su Wanxi curiously.

As a country with a rich history and culture, China has its own unique traditional calendar. It is now the end of July, and Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

“Who would buy flowers half a month in advance?” Su Wanxi put her finger to her lips and waved it, denying Gu Cheng’s idea.

"Of course, it's because the store has a new, pretty cashier."

"Where?" Su Wanxi's meaning was not hard to understand, and Gu Cheng subconsciously asked, but her cheeks turned red after a moment.

Seeing that her teasing had succeeded, Su Wanxi knew when to stop and changed the subject to avoid Gu Cheng getting angry because she was too shy.

"By the way, can I ask you a few questions about degenerate organisms?" After chatting for a while, Gu Cheng rubbed her hair, letting it naturally cover her earlobes.

"Go ahead and ask, there aren't many customers around anyway." Su Wanxi kept Director Song's instructions in mind, and she sat up straight and waited quietly.

"Could living beings possess intelligence?" None of the anonymous materials explicitly addressed this point, so Gu Cheng could only rely on snippets of information in the posts to make her own judgment.

"..." Su Wanxi frowned slightly. Logically speaking, Gu Cheng did not have the right to access this part of the intelligence.

"Wisdom? What do you mean?" she asked Gu Cheng, hoping to glean some insight from his answer.

"For example, it can talk, and then it can do things more purposefully..." Gu Cheng didn't know how to describe it, she just explained it based on her feelings.

"Do they have the ability to learn?" The message she had seen that night flashed through her mind, and Gu Cheng finally found a relatively appropriate wording.

"...Yes." After pondering for a long time, Su Wanxi gave an affirmative answer.

"The Hermit Bureau conducted a related experiment; they captured a living subterranean creature in reality, whose corresponding rift level was extremely weak..."

"To ensure the experiment could proceed smoothly, some heinous criminals made considerable sacrifices." Su Wanxi did not specify the cost of these sacrifices, but Gu Cheng understood.

"The experiment lasted for almost three years, and almost all the internal staff were replaced."

"The final results showed that the creature possessed the intellectual level of a two- or three-year-old human infant, and more importantly, it did indeed have the ability to learn."

Su Wanxi's tone was neither sad nor happy; she was simply stating an objective fact.

"Then... is it possible for a descendant to approach the mental level of a normal person within six months?" Gu Cheng deliberately prolonged the time, curiously waiting for what would follow.

"Impossible," Su Wanxi replied decisively.

If what Gu Cheng said were true, the world would have been in chaos long ago.

Section 49 Chapter Forty-Nine: Midday Break

"Is anyone here?" Just then, a man in a suit walked into the flower shop, forcing Gu Cheng and Su Wanxi to interrupt their conversation.

"Hello, what would you like to buy?" Gu Cheng put down her pen, stood up, and came to the customer.

"Which flower is more suitable to give to a loved one?" Looking around at the sea of ​​flowers, he was overwhelmed by the variety and couldn't make up his mind.

"For my lover..." Gu Cheng murmured to herself. Since it was her first day at work, she could only remember the names of various flowers and knew very little about the meanings behind them.

"May I ask, on what occasion do you intend to present the flowers?" Knowing the situation, Su Wanxi gracefully stepped forward.

"At home, or maybe a nearby park." After a brief chat, Su Wanxi roughly understood the personality preferences of the person she was giving the gift to. She turned around and took a purple iris from the flower stand.

"Thank you for your patronage, and welcome to visit again." It was already noon when the customer left, and there were only a few minutes left before their agreed-upon closing time. The two did not continue their previous conversation.

"What are your thoughts on your new job?" Su Wanxi asked her.