Can only help you to this extent

Adrian wrapped one arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, smiling as he explained to Qi Yuan, "I see. Unfortunately, my father isn't home right now. He's out attending a gathering with his friends."

"May I ask when he'll be home?"

"If you don't mind, would you like to join us for the witch's gathering this afternoon? After it ends, I'm planning to invite some friends over to my place for a barbecue. He'll be home by then."

If I mind, does that mean your father won't be home in the evening either?

He grumbled internally.

Something that could be resolved with a simple "He'll be home tonight" - Adrian had to take such a roundabout approach. Qi Yuan could tell the other hadn't completely let his guard down.

So he agreed, "I'd be honored."

As they walked, the young couple attracted quite a few teasing remarks from older men and women on the street, who also took the opportunity to greet him as well.

"It's different here compared to New York City. Everyone's very friendly," Adrian said as he held his girlfriend's hand while walking. "I heard there was an incident in New York City. How are things there now?"

"The monsters have been cleared out. Can't say it's good, but can't say it's bad either."

Qi Yuan glanced around, noticing there weren't many young people in the small town, and gave an ambiguous answer.

But his response seemed to appeal to Adrian, who gave a knowing look: "For those in power, New York City not falling completely is considered 'not bad,' but for ordinary people, it's already quite terrible. Did I understand your meaning correctly?"

His eyes lit up with keen interest. "My father told me that as time passes, the monsters will grow stronger, while humans have to gamble. I agree with his view. Unfortunately, the leadership of Bitford Country is hopelessly stupid. If I were them, I'd contact countries around the world to jointly eradicate the monsters."

Looks like another "politician."

For people like Adrian, discussing world trends and analyzing underlying causes and future developments gives them an almost addictive thrill.

Qi Yuan nodded, casually agreeing, "More or less."

"I knew it."

Feeling validated in his interpretation, Adrian grew even more excited.

"You're at it again," Caroline rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, swinging his hand as she said to Qi Yuan, "He's always like this. Don't mind him."

Her interruption snapped Adrian out of his grandiose state. He shrugged helplessly.

"But I'm just an ordinary person, so... as ordinary people, we need to choose a place with decent defenses but not so many people that it attracts high-level monsters."

"Caroline and I are both ordinary. Are you an ability user?"

Qi Yuan had been listening attentively the whole way. Hearing this, he calmly replied, "I'm looking forward to gaining a new ability."

He didn't answer directly, giving a response that could easily be misunderstood.

Joking aside, if he weren't an ability user, they'd just be having a barbecue. If he were one, was he planning to invite the whole town to watch?

Adrian and Caroline had clearly fallen into his verbal trap.

As everyone knows, each person can only awaken one ability. Looking forward to gaining a new ability implies not having one yet, thus being able to gain a new one.

Caroline relaxed visibly. She took the initiative to bring up a new topic, "Then you've come to the right place. The witches at the gathering will select people who are likely to awaken abilities."

This piqued Qi Yuan's interest. He listened quietly as Caroline explained.

"Initially, Ms. Martha did it to help people in town. Her ability is spiritual sight - she can see things others can't. If someone had a high probability of awakening, she would approach them directly to tell them. Later, as more people came to her and she got older, it changed to an annual witch's gathering."

"Every year on Ms. Martha's birthday, they hold the witch's gathering. Ability users from town and those she's helped in the past who have time will come back to attend. At the same time, wealthy people from nearby areas bring their children. You know, they're desperate to produce ability users to protect their wealth."

"But if someone's married or over 25, even if they have a chance to awaken, Ms. Martha won't say anything. I don't know the reason for that."

"I know about that," Adrian said, earning a skeptical look from Caroline. She was the native small-town resident, while her boyfriend had only moved there a few years ago.

"My mother is close with Ms. Martha," he first cleared up his girlfriend's doubts, then continued on the previous topic: "There was a newly married couple before. Because Ms. Martha pointed out that the husband might awaken an ability, he left home and hasn't returned since. So, Ms. Martha believes that once you reach a certain age, you should take on family responsibilities."

Caroline commented, "It's not her fault."

"But it's not a happy thing when tragedy occurs because of you. Just like how she holds the gathering in the afternoon for everyone's safety."

"If you had the hope of awakening an ability, would you abandon your family?" Caroline seemed to dwell on this, clearly unsettled by Adrian's grand talk.

"Why would awakening an ability mean abandoning family? It's not a matter of having to choose," Adrian didn't realize this was a loaded question. With his way of thinking, he quickly spotted the flaw in the question. "I could come back regularly, and there's video calling."

Not making a choice is equivalent to not choosing, which is ineffective in front of an insecure Caroline. In her logic chain, not choosing her equals that if forced to choose between two options, she would be abandoned.

Her face darkened, and she said through gritted teeth, "Mr. Oscar, what do you think?"

Qi Yuan, who had been keeping a low profile to allow the young couple their intimacy, felt his eyelid twitch.

What could he, a single man, think about this?

He could only maintain his composure and give a vague answer, "I don't know. I don't have a girlfriend."

Adrian, that's all the help I can offer you.

With Qi Yuan's even worse response as a foil, Caroline's gaze towards her boyfriend became less angry. She took Adrian's hand again.

Adrian looked bewildered, belatedly realizing his girlfriend's anger. He shot Qi Yuan a grateful look.

The three finally arrived at the town square.

The couple had quite a few acquaintances who came over to greet them, and Qi Yuan was no longer the brightest third wheel.

No wonder they hadn't seen many young people on the way - they had all come here.

If he hadn't known the purpose of the gathering beforehand, he would have thought this was a large-scale matchmaking event. The men and women in the square were dressed up, with many approaching targets they fancied.

Adrian chatted briefly with the man at the entrance, took the corsages, and handed them to his girlfriend and Qi Yuan, gesturing for them to pin them on their chests.

Qi Yuan accepted and pinned it on, following them into the venue.

The outer ring of the venue had various stalls selling drinks, food, and other items. He looked around, noticing tables arranged in the inner circle with desserts and fruits placed on them.