I am Z.

  More than four years have passed since I awakened my ability. Now, looking back, I reassess my current level.

  To evaluate oneself properly, the criteria must be clear. The term “superpower” covers an incredibly broad range. If someone’s ability is “mind reading,” it wouldn’t make sense to judge their strength by how durable a material they can destroy. But my ability excels at destruction and combat, so for me, the most fitting benchmark is: how powerful an opponent can I realistically stand against?

  Suppose—an army from the cold-weapon era, fully armed and rigorously trained, appears before me, determined to fight to the death. Whether it numbers a hundred thousand or a million, in the end, I would be the only one left standing. Even if the armies of the entire world were gathered together, I can’t imagine any scenario in which I lose. That’s simply the nature of my power: straightforward physical attacks can never harm me.

  What about a modern army relying on firearms? I still don’t believe I would lose. Bullets, shells, missiles, chemical weapons, biological agents—none of them work on me. Even a nuclear bomb couldn’t kill me.

  That said, I’ve never actually been hit by a nuke, so there’s some lack of confidence in that claim. Maybe, as certain sci-fi stories suggest, the human soul is electromagnetic in nature, and a nuclear explosion could disrupt that field and destroy the soul along with it.

  Besides, never underestimate the ingenuity of scientists. In monster movies, there are occasional scenes where an apparently invincible ultimate lifeform is ultimately defeated because humans discover its critical weakness. Sometimes I can’t help but put myself in the monster’s shoes and think: if I ever become convinced my ability makes me invincible, I might suffer a humiliating defeat in some completely unforeseen way.

  As for facing other espers, that’s much harder to judge. As I’ve said before, the variety of abilities is simply too vast. If an enemy can attack my soul directly, how exactly would I defend against that?

  I’m not some battle-crazed maniac obsessed with fighting. But in any “adventure that transcends reality,” conflict with others—even with others of my own kind—is something that must be anticipated in advance. Plenty of fantasy stories feature exactly that kind of scenario.

  I imagine that if there really were an esper specialized in mind reading who regularly peeked into my thoughts, they might wonder: why does this person keep bringing up “fantasy stories”?

  Or rather: what exactly do I mean by “an adventure that transcends reality”?

  I often draw a clear line in my mind between “pursuing the supernatural” and “pursuing an adventure that transcends reality.” The reason is simple: in my view, transcending reality doesn’t necessarily require anything supernatural.

  Everyone’s reality is different. Thousands of years ago, ancient people would have considered modern airplanes utterly unreal. Someone completely ignorant of science might find quantum phenomena surreal. People living in peaceful countries might see the chaos of war-torn regions as belonging to a different reality altogether. For me, an adventure that transcends reality is one that goes beyond my own experience and daily life—something unpredictable, something unbelievable.

  That’s why, not long ago, when Alice collapsed in front of me covered in blood and clutching a real gun—even though she hadn’t yet shown any supernatural signs—I couldn’t resist bringing her home.

  Yes—an adventure that transcends reality doesn’t have to exist only in fantasy stories. It exists in the real world too. War photographers risking their lives for footage in conflict zones, explorers threading through mountains and jungles, mercenaries living day-to-day with death as a constant companion, even criminals who destabilize society… Even without superpowers or anomalous entities, the real world is full of people living utterly absurd adventures.

  There are legends being born generation after generation even on the battlefields of politics and business. Just because my own reality feels monotonous doesn’t mean everyone else’s is.

  I actually figured this out when I was fourteen. Yet…

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  I had a dream.

  It was a dream I had shortly before awakening my ability. Among all the dreams I’ve ever had in my life, this one wasn’t particularly special. I found myself standing in a long corridor. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all dull gray concrete.

  It looked like the hallway of an abandoned building—no light bulbs, no illumination—yet, like a character in a horror game, I could inexplicably see everything immediately around me. Only the nearby area; anything farther was swallowed by pitch-black darkness, like the mouth of an abyss.

  A faint premonition rose in my heart. I began walking forward. Before long, I found an iron door on the side of the corridor. I opened it. Inside was an empty room. In the center stood a simple wooden table and chair. The chair faced the door—and someone was sitting in it.

  Perhaps because it was a dream, I can’t describe the person’s exact appearance or clothing. I only knew it was a man. The moment I saw him, the premonition grew stronger. This strange being could grant my wish.

  “Do you want power?”

  The strange being asked me.

  “Power?”

  I echoed.

  “Yes. Power.”

  “The power you’ve always dreamed of. The power of fantasy. The power that matches the adventure that transcends reality in your heart.”

  The strange being tempted me like a devil.

  I wish I could say I firmly rejected him. Because by then I had already seen clearly: the adventure that transcends reality doesn’t need to be sought in dreams.

  The real world has its own wonders. All I needed to do was abandon fantasy, face reality, and strive to reach those places.

  But back then… I clearly wasn’t strong enough yet.

  More than four years later, I had the same dream again. I returned to that dark, dilapidated corridor.

  I recognized it immediately as a dream I had once had. I remembered every detail of my previous conversation with the strange being with perfect clarity. This time, there was no mysterious premonition guiding me. Relying purely on memory, I walked down the corridor, quickly found the same iron door, and opened it.

  Inside the room were the same lonely wooden table and chair from before. But the strange being was gone.

  I stepped inside, closed the iron door behind me, sat down at the table, and idly looked around.

  A short while later, footsteps approached from outside—slowly growing closer.

  Someone opened the door and walked in.

  It was a boy of about fourteen. He had a face both familiar and alien to me. His eyes were wary, his posture tense, radiating an aura that pushed others away.

  He was me. Another me. The me who hadn’t yet grown up.

  His gaze locked onto me, silently urging me to state my name.

  I didn’t introduce myself. Instead, I recalled the conversation I’d once had with the strange being and threw the same question at him.

  “Do you want power?”

  “Power?” he asked back.

  “Yes… power,” I said, deliberately using a seductive tone. “The power you’ve always dreamed of. The power of fantasy. The power that matches the adventure that transcends reality in your heart…”

  He fell silent, seemingly caught in an inner struggle.

  I said nothing more. I waited quietly, hoping he would give a different answer this time.

  But this time, I didn’t get his answer.

  For some unknown reason, grayish fog began to rise inside the sealed room.

  The fog thickened rapidly until it was impossible to see anything. I could no longer make out the familiar-yet-strange boy, or even my own body.

  My vision gradually faded into darkness amid layers upon layers of mist.

  Until I opened my eyes and awoke from the dream.

  —

  It has been one day since the true fallen demon hunter—Agent Kong—died.

  Toward the end of the fight with Agent Kong, for some reason he suddenly broke down and roared something like “Impossible, I refuse to accept this!” But since he had finally used an unexpectedly creative move, I got a bit carried away and countered with a fairly powerful technique of my own.

  Calling it a “technique” is generous—I don’t really have any refined way of using my power. I simply gathered a massive amount of flame and blasted it forward. The result was that I accidentally split the unfinished building in half. The shockwave even shattered windows in nearby structures.

  Such a huge commotion naturally drew Zhu Shi, who had still been dealing with the situation on the fifteenth floor from a distance.

  I had no choice but to inform her of Agent Kong’s death and gather up most of the fragmented remains scattered by the explosion. Fortunately, traces of my flame’s residual heat still clung to them, making it easier to collect. Actually, I don’t think my attack was what caused his body to disintegrate like that. I had deliberately held back. Who could have predicted that after being sent flying, he would self-destruct in midair? The whole thing was baffling from start to finish.

  The self-destruction was bad enough, but his remains reverted to fully human form afterward. It almost looked like I had lost control and murdered an innocent Agent Kong. At first, I had no idea how to explain it to Zhu Shi, so I just told her the truth.

  Fortunately, she didn’t suspect me. She carefully examined the fragments of his body with that same focused gaze she’d had when she once determined that my ability didn’t come from any demonic or monstrous lineage. After a long while, she seemed to reach a conclusion and acknowledged that Agent Kong had indeed been the fallen demon hunter. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

  But when it came to the other parts of what I told her, she reacted with visible shock that was hard to digest.

  “So you’re saying… you personally split this building in two. You can also turn your entire body into flame, and even losing your head doesn’t affect you. Even when Agent Kong ambushed you from behind, you were completely unharmed…”

  “That’s correct,” I nodded. “So now… can I join Luoshan?”