Deviant: No Longer Human

Wang Xiao's expression flickered between amazement and self-amusement. "I messed up," he mumbled, a grin surfacing as he marveled at the unexpected achievement.

He turned to Bing Xueli, only to find her gaping in astonishment.

Bing Xueli, "..."

Her eyes tracked the stone's graceful descent, and she regarded Wang Xiao with a mix of incredulity and fascination. It was as if he had unraveled a secret of the cosmos. "Are you truly from outside?" she questioned, her voice carrying the weight of awe and a hint of disbelief.

Wang Xiao, "??"

"... Did I do something wrong?" He inquired, supressing a laughter.

Bing Xueli shook her head, a subtle tremor betraying her inner disquiet.

Typically, students struggled to lift a stone by a mere centimeter, and it took weeks to reach that modest achievement.

Yet, Wang Xiao had effortlessly surpassed all expectations, leaving her unsettled.

"So, you still wish to remain here and learn, don't you? Otherwise, you won't be able to control your abilities and might meet an untimely end," she inquired, her tone carrying an undercurrent of urgency.

Witnessing his unprecedented talent, she was determined to employ persuasive tactics, even verging on coercion, if he dared to refuse.

Wang Xiao rose alongside her, a resolute gleam in his eyes. "Yes!"

Outside, he had felt feeble, a near-death experience haunting his past.

Now, presented with the prospect of mastering powers beyond imagination, he couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip through his fingers.

Moreover, if Bing Xueli harbored hidden motives, he, too, nursed his own ambitions.

This village held the promise of possibilities, a realm where he could wield authority.

As he envisioned the potential for dominion, a silent determination settled in his gaze — the resolve of a man aiming to ascend as the top of this circus of life!

________

*Crack...*

The hollow piece of a glass bottle shattered once again, fragments cascading in a controlled chaos. Wang Xiao drew a deep breath, his focus unwavering as he manipulated the shards before attempting to piece them back together.

The count had become a blur—a frustrating loop he found himself trapped in. He came here with a purpose—to unravel the mastery of his latent abilities, not to engage in the mundane task of mending broken glass.

In his current sojourn, Wang Xiao had secured a temporary residence with Bing Xueli. She was an elusive presence, often disappearing without a trace. The secrets she held seemed to extend beyond her powers.

She had emphasized the importance of keeping her identity concealed, revealing a penchant for secrecy that intrigued and perplexed Wang Xiao. On this, his ninth day in this peculiar abode, there loomed more than three weeks before he could extricate himself from the confines of this house.

The ticking clock echoed the impatience that brewed within him, a sentiment at odds with the very purpose that brought him here.

Bing Xueli's stipulation demanded Wang Xiao's presence and immersion in the village working style for a full month before he could venture beyond the boundaries of her house, unguarded, all in the guise of a native resident.

Amidst the picturesque facade of the perfect village, Wang Xiao unearthed a sinister reality, a revelation that stained the idyllic scene with shadows.

Those born without the gift of PK were marked for a chilling fate.

Before even stepping foot into the school, they were silently slated for eradication.

Their existence became an ephemeral whisper, swiftly erased from the collective consciousness of the village.

The ticking clock of Wang Xiao's limited time here became a heartbeat, a rhythm resonating with the cruel orchestration of the Ethics Committee.

The window for a child to showcase PK prowess was a chilling countdown.

Failure didn't just mean disappearance; it meant a vanishing act scripted by the hands of the supposedly noble committee.

Every thread of their existence was meticulously unwoven, memories altered as if they were never there.

In this dance of power, the Ethics Committee revealed its true face, a puppet master pulling the strings to ensure the survival of a gene pool adorned with superpowers.

The village, seemingly serene, held within its folds, woven with threads of darkness and manipulation.

The revelations he gathered, coupled with Yin Yue's insights, painted a staggering panorama. Bing Xueli and her compatriots weren't just inhabitants of the village; they were remnants of a bygone era when humanity wielded the world with their psychic powers. As time marched forward, those potent techniques slipped through the fingers of subsequent generations, fading like whispers in the wind.

The dwindling usage of these powers resulted in a shrinking population capable of harnessing PK. Eventually, the once-mighty practitioners became enshrined in myth, their extraordinary abilities relegated to the realms of legend.

Bing Xueli's community stood as a resilient pocket isolated from the eroding sands of time. Their gene pool, a reservoir of evolved brains, preserved the legacy of psychic powers. Meanwhile, the world beyond the enclave saw a stark contrast. Attempts to teach PK to those outside proved futile; their brains, weakened over time, had lost the innate capacity to grasp and wield such abilities.

It was the innate ability of adaptation woven into the fabric of the human body—a tale of evolution, resilience, and the fading echoes of a once-majestic era.

Wang Xiao's contemplation delved into the mysteries of human strength and adaptation. The conventional understanding dictated that a human bone could shatter under the force of a few thousand newtons. However, the centuries had whispered a different narrative – one of continual training pushing the limits far beyond the prescribed boundaries of science.

It begged the question: were these limits merely averages, failing to account for the dynamic growth and adaptation of the human body?

Wang Xiao's mind, a whirlwind of doubt, cast shadows over the fairy tales of yore.

If, in the past, people possessed the strength to break stones with their bare hands, did the rise of machines and the diminishing reliance on physical prowess lead to a weakening of the human form?

The unsettling notion loomed large – a suspicion that perhaps, in the pursuit of technological advancement, humanity had unwittingly set the stage for its own physical regression, an inadvertent journey backward in the tales of evolution.

In the grip of his mounting frustration, Wang Xiao remained oblivious to Bing Xueli's return, engrossed in the seemingly futile task of mending glass bottles.

*Crack...*

The shards shattered once more, echoing his exasperation. Unbeknownst to him, Bing Xueli stood silently behind him, her hand gently settling on his back. Startled, Wang Xiao turned, his eyes narrowing before relaxing. "Why are you scaring me like this?" he questioned, a hint of irritation in his voice.

Bing Xueli, her gaze fixed on the broken glass, posed a thought-provoking query. "Do you know the similarity between this piece of glass and the cells in your body?"

Wang Xiao, caught off guard, responded with a perplexed expression, "??"