Little Clark’s unwavering dedication to food—being happy as long as there’s something to eat—made William Clark feel that Little Clark was no ordinary little girl.

Suddenly, someone in the class group said, “Did you guys hear about that fire at Xindu Mall?”

“Yeah, I heard. What about it?”

“That fire was really terrifying, burned down the whole mall. But luckily, I heard only four people died—three security guards who didn’t make it out at night, and a warehouse manager.”

“Hold on, hold on.” The boy who first brought it up said, “I’m not talking about the fire itself!”

“Weren’t you the one who mentioned the fire…?”

“Do you know how the fire started?” the boy said mysteriously.

“Didn’t they say there were flammable and explosive materials in the warehouse that weren’t properly watched?” someone asked curiously. “Isn’t that it?”

“Of course not. My dad was there this morning. He said he saw a video in someone’s hand, filmed super clearly. It showed a person who seemed to have superpowers, releasing huge flames with just a wave of the hand. It wasn’t any kind of special effects show—just bare hands producing fire!” the boy finally shared what he’d heard.

“For real?” Everyone watching the group was shocked. “Couldn’t it be a fake video? Video forgery is really advanced these days.”

“No way. The fire started last night, and the video was out by this morning. Who could make a video like that so fast? I don’t think even the world’s top special effects teams could pull that off.”

“True… the timing’s too tight, and there’s no reason to do it either.”

“Are superpowers real?”

After this question, everyone fell silent for a moment.

Who hasn’t had a few innocent dreams as a kid? If superpowers really exist, then all those recent online discussions about superpowers, and those videos that got deleted but people still remember, aren’t just baseless rumors.

Some classmates had seen the video, and the most memorable line someone mentioned was: In the future, maybe many people will awaken their abilities in all kinds of situations—maybe from extreme joy, maybe from intense anger or sadness, or maybe by finding a way to cultivate. Anything is possible.

“Haha, do you guys think someone in our class will awaken superpowers?”

“No one can say for sure. If anyone does, let me know in advance so I can stick close to you…”

“Seriously, I have a feeling someone in our class will awaken superpowers!”

“Who do you think it’ll be?”

“Myself, of course, hahaha!”

“Yeah right. I think it’s more reliable to go visit famous mountains and look for a master to learn from. Didn’t someone say they saw a Taoist on a mountaintop breathing in clouds and exhaling mist? That sounds more believable to me!”

William Clark looked at the chat log without saying a word, as if he were an outsider. This group had never thought about including him, and he’d never thought about fitting in.

They were like familiar strangers.

Superpowers might still seem distant to these classmates, but for William Clark himself, they were already within reach.

That was a much broader world, as if with one step, he could travel a hundred thousand miles straight to the heavens.

Chapter 13: Class Group

Suddenly, someone in the class group said, “School starts on the eighth day of the lunar new year. I thought we’d get to wait until the Lantern Festival.”

“Stop dreaming, we’re in our second year of high school. Rocky is waiting to whip us into shape.” Someone joked. Rocky was their homeroom teacher, real name George Stone, a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses, neither ugly nor handsome.

“School’s about to start, and it’ll be back to doing practice papers every day. When will it ever end!”

“Yeah, my brother says college is awesome. You don’t even have to go to class, and homework is nothing!”

“My dad said if I get into a second-tier university, he’ll reward me with twenty thousand yuan!”

“Damn, big spender! Study hard, and we’ll all follow you to eat and drink well in the future!”

“Haha, let’s hope these exhausting days end soon!”

William Clark glanced at the group chat and suddenly sent a message: “Actually, dogs aren’t as tired as you guys…”

The group had been super lively—everyone had nothing to do during the Spring Festival evenings, just chatting and playing games.

At this time, relatives were visiting, the adults were drinking and eating, and the kids didn’t have much to do.

At this age, second-year high schoolers didn’t really like going out to set off fireworks anymore.

But the moment William Clark sent that message, the group fell silent for a moment…

Everyone felt a bit awkward. Damn, he just had to say the harsh truth.

We keep saying we’re as tired as dogs, but honestly, even dogs aren’t as tired as us!

“Negative emotion points from Robert Brooks, +51…”

“Negative emotion points from Charles Reed, +82…”

“From…”

There were over sixty people in the class group, and in that instant, William Clark actually collected over 1,900 negative emotion points from more than thirty people!