The silence that followed the beast's fall was heavier than the chaos that had preceded it. It was a silence filled with the weight of a hundred pairs of eyes. The people of Wuzhen stared, not at the monstrous, steaming corpse of the Iron-Steel Boar, but at Lin Feng.
He saw it in their faces. The initial wave of gratitude was already receding, replaced by something else. Awe, yes, but an awe tainted with a deep, primal fear. He had saved them, but in doing so, he had revealed himself to be something other, something incomprehensible. He was no longer just the quiet martial arts teacher. He was a man who could kill monsters with lightning. In that moment, he felt more alone than he had ever felt in the solitary years since leaving the army.
From the back of the stunned crowd, two figures emerged. They moved with a calm purpose that was jarringly out of place amidst the fear and confusion. One was an older man in a simple but impeccably tailored grey tunic, his face a mask of calm authority, his eyes holding a penetrating intelligence. The other was a young woman with short, practical hair, her gaze sharp and analytical, her posture betraying a discipline that reminded Lin Feng of his own military training. They were not locals. They were not panicked. They were observers.
They walked directly to Lin Feng, their shoes making quiet, measured steps on the blood-spattered flagstones. They paid the massive corpse of the boar a cursory, professional glance before their attention settled fully on him.
"Lin Feng," the older man said. It was not a question. His voice was calm, steady, and carried an undeniable weight. "An impressive display of combat pragmatism. The use of a conductive metal to channel your energy was... inspired."
Lin Feng's hand instinctively went to the copper pipe still clutched in his fist. He shifted into a defensive stance, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten. "Who are you?"
"My name is Chen," the man said, offering a slight, respectful bow. "This is my associate, Mei-Ling. We represent the East Asian Community's Special Directorate for Anomalous Affairs. And we have been watching you for some time."
He gestured to a sleek, black datapad that Mei-Ling was holding. She tapped the screen, and it came to life, not with text, but with a satellite image of the town, a single, red dot marking Lin Feng's position.
"The power you hold," Chen continued, his gaze intense, "you are not the only one. We call you 'the Awakened.' All across the globe, individuals like you are emerging in response to the crisis."
Mei-Ling swiped the screen. It showed a rapid-fire montage of classified images: a blurry photo of a massive serpent in a rain-soaked jungle; thermal footage of a man-shaped figure radiating absolute cold in a blizzard; a satellite image of a golden beam of light shooting from an Egyptian pyramid.
The world, which for Lin Feng had shrunk to the size of this small town, suddenly expanded to a terrifying, global scale. This was not a local problem. This was not just a mutated boar. This was an invasion.
"This boar is a D-Class threat," Chen said, his voice grim. "A minor symptom of a global pandemic. But C-Class and B-Class threats are already appearing. We lack the conventional firepower to fight them effectively. What we lack... is you. People like you."
He looked Lin Feng directly in the eye, his expression shifting from that of an observer to a recruiter. "We have established a facility in Shanghai. A base. A place where the Awakened can train, understand their abilities, and be equipped to fight back. I am not here to ask you to be a lab rat, Lin Feng. I am here to invite you to be a soldier again."
A soldier again. The words struck a deep, resonant chord within him. He looked from the datapad's images of global chaos to the frightened faces of the townspeople, who were now backing away from him as if he were the monster. He looked down at the dead boar, a creature his old life could never have prepared him for.
He understood. The quiet life he had tried to build for himself was over. The peace he had sought was an illusion. There was a new war, and whether he wanted