It was already 7:26 p.m. when they arrived back at the Lianjiang City Ministry of State Security building.
You Xulong, the black cat of the Ministry of State Security in charge of bringing them back, dismissed everyone once they arrived. He told them that the Ministry would inform them of their job postings in the next one to three working days through text message.
Someone asked if they had to conceal their identity as a Practitioner. You Xulong shrugged and replied, “That is up to you, but I would rather not. Although the Internet Surveillance Department would still be monitoring and blocking any information on the internet related to the Practitioners, if you choose to divulge information about yourself being a Practitioner and get harmed by criminals…don’t blame us for not warning you first.”
As young people, they naturally had the inclination to boast about their newly acquired knowledge, but most of them knew that they had already stepped into the future and had to take precautions. Everyone agreed with You Xulong—at least on the surface—and parted ways to go home.
Under Xie Qiansi’s motivation, all the members of Group 8 had exchanged WeChat details with one another, and all of them were added into a WeChat group. That’s right, it was the group with the name [We, the Future of Xuan Nation]. Over the last five days, Xie Qiansi had taken the opportunity to talk to almost every one of the civil servants from Lianjiang City, and they were likewise willing to exchange contacts for communication. As such, the group now consisted of all the civil servants from Lianjiang City who had become Practitioners.
When Ren Suo exchanged WeChat details with Qiao Muyi, he contemplated carefully and said in a serious tone, “Actually, I am not trying to hit you up.”
Qiao Muyi looked at Ren Suo blink a few times as he swallowed a full mouth of saliva—it was solely because the key was so irresistible—until Li Qingxuan walked over and shot a glance at Ren Suo before pulling Qiao Muyi away.
Ren Suo was so frantic and desperate, yet he could not do anything. How on earth was he going to get Qiao Muyi on a bed, and make her sleep peacefully?
They bid farewell to one another, and Ren Suo took the subway home. Along the way, he stopped by the Jianji stall below his apartment. It was already night time when he arrived at the stall and the lady tending the stall said in a tone of surprise, “Did you find another stall to take away from? I have not seen you for a few days.”
“I went to travel,” Ren Suo said. He shrugged and continued, “Give me a bowl of Yee-fu noodles with beef brisket in fried bean sauce.”
“All right, two bowls…one bowl?” the lady asked.
“Yes please, one bowl will do. Here are 18 dollars,” Ren Suo said.
“Young man, you have to eat more,” the lady coaxed. She said, “You don’t need to slim down, getting a girlfriend is not based on your physique…”
Ren Suo had not expected the lady to be so thoughtful and agreed, “Yes, I know.”
“But it depends on both your looks and your physique,” continued the lady. She said, “In your case…even if you had a good physique, you still won’t make the cut.”
Ren Suo was speechless. He said, “…Can I have my money back?”
The moment Ren Suo pushed open his door and reached home, he looked around and found that everything appeared normal and there were no signs of intrusion when he was away the last five days. He immediately opened his bedroom door and pulled out a large storage box from underneath his bed.
There was a huge pile of clothes inside the box. Ren Suo removed all the clothes to reveal the Mini Worlds Gaming Console, which looked like a technology product from a science fiction movie.
Ren Suo heaved a sigh of relief. There were many hidden secrets within the Mini Worlds Gaming Console, and Ren Suo naturally made sure to keep it well-hidden before he left his house. He was not afraid of special agencies of the Nation finding out about his Mini Worlds Gaming Console and forcing him to hand it over to them—how would he dare to defy the national agencies? He would have no choice but to hand the game console to them, but he thought that it could even be possible that the nation would reward him for his contributions, and he could buy new houses.
What Ren Suo was truly afraid of was the game console being stolen by burglars; he would be at a huge loss if that happened. If the burglar found out about the mysterious powers of the game console, his life could be in danger if the burglar were to send assassins to silence him. If that really happened, he would not even have an opportunity to regret before he was sent to the afterlife.
Although the game console was unlikely to fetch a high price, it would truly pose a danger if a knowledgeable burglar got his hands on it.
Ren Suo could finally feel relieved after ensuring that his Mini Worlds Gaming Console was safe and sound. He placed the game console back in the living room and turned it on using the game controller. The game console connected automatically to his television immediately. After a five-day hiatus, Ren Suo finally saw the familiar dreamy cosmic start screen.
In the selection column, there were still only three options: [World Shop], [What should you do now?], and [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres].
Ren Suo noticed that on the bottom right corner of the row for [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres], there was a tiny, rotating circular disc icon, which seemed like it was reading from a disc. However, Ren Suo had not inserted any disc into the game console. He had no idea where to insert the disc in the first place.
Ren Suo did not bother about the icon and instead opened up the [World Shop] to see if the [Free Game of the Month] had been updated. He was not in a hurry to open the treasure chest since he knew he already retrieved a key and he was almost certain he could open the treasure chest anytime.
On the 28th of March, Ren Suo had bought the game [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres], and on the 1st of April, he completed the game for the first time. In the wee hours of the morning on the 2nd of April, he finally uploaded his score.
On the other hand, [The Hitman] was the free game for March. Ren Suo thought, it was now the month of April, the free game of the month should have been updated, shouldn’t it?
Ren Suo had thought of this when he was in the training camp. He had not had the opportunity to check if the free game of the month had been updated previously, for he had been called for the training camp for public servants the day he had completed the game where the character in the game jumped on wooden planks all the way from zero to 10,000 meters.
The date was now the 8th of April. The [April Fools’ Discounted Items!] column no longer appeared in the shop and was replaced with the option [Smashing the door of life and death, trampling the door of right and wrong]. After a quick glance, Ren Suo ignored the option—it was probably a demanding game he could not afford either.
As expected, the [Free Game of the Month] had been updated!
————
As Li Dan pushed open the door to the meeting room on the third level of the Ministry of State Security building in Lianjiang, he saw that everyone else was already seated. Li Dan took a yawn as he found an available seat and sat down.
Although Li Dan felt refreshed after a good night’s sleep, he still felt a peculiar tiredness. He thought that it could be a side effect of him after not sleeping for a long period of time and did not pay much attention to it.
Instead, he was impressed that the guy called Ren Suo actually had the ability to make him fall asleep. He was already thinking of reasons the entire afternoon to request to his superiors to transfer Ren Suo to his department.
Ultimately, he could not possibly be so honest to tell his superiors that he wanted Ren Suo in his department as he wanted Ren Suo to help him fall asleep…
After a short while, a few more people clad in black vests entered the meeting room. Li Dan took a quick glance and found that all the Practitioners of Branch 18 from Lianjiang City had all been gathered here.
Although all the members of Branch 18 were Practitioners, not all the Practitioners of the Nation belonged to Branch 18. In the other departments within the Ministry of State Security alone, there was a small group of Practitioners who would lay the foundation for the influx of potential civil servant Practitioners in the future.
In comparison with other government domains like the Security Bureau and the Bureau of Administration, the most unique aspect of Branch 18 was their focus on handling matters related to Practitioners. However, this job would soon be handed over to the Security Bureau in the near future, as they would be the ones in charge of dealing with Practitioners and those who had been Awakened who committed crimes. Branch 18 would then merely be handling ‘unusual’ Practitioners.
Li Dan had originally intended to head home to rest and finally be able to remove his black vest, but he was called back while he was still on his journey home.
Had someone been Awakened and was going around killing people unstoppably?
Or had someone of importance been killed by an Awakened person?
Was the Pacific Federation going to organize the world’s first Extraordinaire Martial Arts Meet?
As Li Dan thought about the possible reasons why they had all been called back, Yu Kuangtu, who was sitting on the main seat saw that everyone had arrived, and said, “The reason why all of you had been called back was because the Red Mansion received a confirmed piece of news.”
Upon hearing the word ‘Red Mansion’, everyone straightened their backs instinctively. As the pioneer batch of Practitioners, they all knew that their training was held under the instructions and guidance of the Red Mansion. Even though they had never seen people from the Red Mansion before, they all knew that the Red Mansion held an important place in the core of Xuan Nation’s Reiki research.
Yu Kuangtu turned the projector on, and a website was shown on the projector screen.
“GilliGilli?” Someone recognized the page immediately and said, “The interactive bullet comments website?”
“This website was chosen because the number of views on this website is the most,” Yu Kuangtu said as he navigated through the pages and opened the ranking list on the website. They looked at the most-viewed video at the top of the ranking list.
“Naisser_Ren uploaded another video? The same Naisser_Ren who rose to fame claiming to be the best assassin in the world and who could not be tracked by all the countries?” One of the people in black vests said, “It is said that this Naisser_Ren is someone from the heavenly realms and from the secret organization of Xuan Nation…”
“The title of the video…it seems like it’s from a game.”
“I think it’s a reality challenge.”
Li Dan squinted his small eyes to see the title of the video at the top of the ranking list and muttered, “A Strong Warrior Ascends Ten Thousand Meters…?”
It was already 7:26 p.m. when they arrived back at the Lianjiang City Ministry of State Security building.
You Xulong, the black cat of the Ministry of State Security in charge of bringing them back, dismissed everyone once they arrived. He told them that the Ministry would inform them of their job postings in the next one to three working days through text message.
Someone asked if they had to conceal their identity as a Practitioner. You Xulong shrugged and replied, “That is up to you, but I would rather not. Although the Internet Surveillance Department would still be monitoring and blocking any information on the internet related to the Practitioners, if you choose to divulge information about yourself being a Practitioner and get harmed by criminals…don’t blame us for not warning you first.”
As young people, they naturally had the inclination to boast about their newly acquired knowledge, but most of them knew that they had already stepped into the future and had to take precautions. Everyone agreed with You Xulong—at least on the surface—and parted ways to go home.
Under Xie Qiansi’s motivation, all the members of Group 8 had exchanged WeChat details with one another, and all of them were added into a WeChat group. That’s right, it was the group with the name [We, the Future of Xuan Nation]. Over the last five days, Xie Qiansi had taken the opportunity to talk to almost every one of the civil servants from Lianjiang City, and they were likewise willing to exchange contacts for communication. As such, the group now consisted of all the civil servants from Lianjiang City who had become Practitioners.
When Ren Suo exchanged WeChat details with Qiao Muyi, he contemplated carefully and said in a serious tone, “Actually, I am not trying to hit you up.”
Qiao Muyi looked at Ren Suo blink a few times as he swallowed a full mouth of saliva—it was solely because the key was so irresistible—until Li Qingxuan walked over and shot a glance at Ren Suo before pulling Qiao Muyi away.
Ren Suo was so frantic and desperate, yet he could not do anything. How on earth was he going to get Qiao Muyi on a bed, and make her sleep peacefully?
They bid farewell to one another, and Ren Suo took the subway home. Along the way, he stopped by the Jianji stall below his apartment. It was already night time when he arrived at the stall and the lady tending the stall said in a tone of surprise, “Did you find another stall to take away from? I have not seen you for a few days.”
“I went to travel,” Ren Suo said. He shrugged and continued, “Give me a bowl of Yee-fu noodles with beef brisket in fried bean sauce.”
“All right, two bowls…one bowl?” the lady asked.
“Yes please, one bowl will do. Here are 18 dollars,” Ren Suo said.
“Young man, you have to eat more,” the lady coaxed. She said, “You don’t need to slim down, getting a girlfriend is not based on your physique…”
Ren Suo had not expected the lady to be so thoughtful and agreed, “Yes, I know.”
“But it depends on both your looks and your physique,” continued the lady. She said, “In your case…even if you had a good physique, you still won’t make the cut.”
Ren Suo was speechless. He said, “…Can I have my money back?”
The moment Ren Suo pushed open his door and reached home, he looked around and found that everything appeared normal and there were no signs of intrusion when he was away the last five days. He immediately opened his bedroom door and pulled out a large storage box from underneath his bed.
There was a huge pile of clothes inside the box. Ren Suo removed all the clothes to reveal the Mini Worlds Gaming Console, which looked like a technology product from a science fiction movie.
Ren Suo heaved a sigh of relief. There were many hidden secrets within the Mini Worlds Gaming Console, and Ren Suo naturally made sure to keep it well-hidden before he left his house. He was not afraid of special agencies of the Nation finding out about his Mini Worlds Gaming Console and forcing him to hand it over to them—how would he dare to defy the national agencies? He would have no choice but to hand the game console to them, but he thought that it could even be possible that the nation would reward him for his contributions, and he could buy new houses.
What Ren Suo was truly afraid of was the game console being stolen by burglars; he would be at a huge loss if that happened. If the burglar found out about the mysterious powers of the game console, his life could be in danger if the burglar were to send assassins to silence him. If that really happened, he would not even have an opportunity to regret before he was sent to the afterlife.
Although the game console was unlikely to fetch a high price, it would truly pose a danger if a knowledgeable burglar got his hands on it.
Ren Suo could finally feel relieved after ensuring that his Mini Worlds Gaming Console was safe and sound. He placed the game console back in the living room and turned it on using the game controller. The game console connected automatically to his television immediately. After a five-day hiatus, Ren Suo finally saw the familiar dreamy cosmic start screen.
In the selection column, there were still only three options: [World Shop], [What should you do now?], and [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres].
Ren Suo noticed that on the bottom right corner of the row for [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres], there was a tiny, rotating circular disc icon, which seemed like it was reading from a disc. However, Ren Suo had not inserted any disc into the game console. He had no idea where to insert the disc in the first place.
Ren Suo did not bother about the icon and instead opened up the [World Shop] to see if the [Free Game of the Month] had been updated. He was not in a hurry to open the treasure chest since he knew he already retrieved a key and he was almost certain he could open the treasure chest anytime.
On the 28th of March, Ren Suo had bought the game [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Metres], and on the 1st of April, he completed the game for the first time. In the wee hours of the morning on the 2nd of April, he finally uploaded his score.
On the other hand, [The Hitman] was the free game for March. Ren Suo thought, it was now the month of April, the free game of the month should have been updated, shouldn’t it?
Ren Suo had thought of this when he was in the training camp. He had not had the opportunity to check if the free game of the month had been updated previously, for he had been called for the training camp for public servants the day he had completed the game where the character in the game jumped on wooden planks all the way from zero to 10,000 meters.
The date was now the 8th of April. The [April Fools’ Discounted Items!] column no longer appeared in the shop and was replaced with the option [Smashing the door of life and death, trampling the door of right and wrong]. After a quick glance, Ren Suo ignored the option—it was probably a demanding game he could not afford either.
As expected, the [Free Game of the Month] had been updated!
————
As Li Dan pushed open the door to the meeting room on the third level of the Ministry of State Security building in Lianjiang, he saw that everyone else was already seated. Li Dan took a yawn as he found an available seat and sat down.
Although Li Dan felt refreshed after a good night’s sleep, he still felt a peculiar tiredness. He thought that it could be a side effect of him after not sleeping for a long period of time and did not pay much attention to it.
Instead, he was impressed that the guy called Ren Suo actually had the ability to make him fall asleep. He was already thinking of reasons the entire afternoon to request to his superiors to transfer Ren Suo to his department.
Ultimately, he could not possibly be so honest to tell his superiors that he wanted Ren Suo in his department as he wanted Ren Suo to help him fall asleep…
After a short while, a few more people clad in black vests entered the meeting room. Li Dan took a quick glance and found that all the Practitioners of Branch 18 from Lianjiang City had all been gathered here.
Although all the members of Branch 18 were Practitioners, not all the Practitioners of the Nation belonged to Branch 18. In the other departments within the Ministry of State Security alone, there was a small group of Practitioners who would lay the foundation for the influx of potential civil servant Practitioners in the future.
In comparison with other government domains like the Security Bureau and the Bureau of Administration, the most unique aspect of Branch 18 was their focus on handling matters related to Practitioners. However, this job would soon be handed over to the Security Bureau in the near future, as they would be the ones in charge of dealing with Practitioners and those who had been Awakened who committed crimes. Branch 18 would then merely be handling ‘unusual’ Practitioners.
Li Dan had originally intended to head home to rest and finally be able to remove his black vest, but he was called back while he was still on his journey home.
Had someone been Awakened and was going around killing people unstoppably?
Or had someone of importance been killed by an Awakened person?
Was the Pacific Federation going to organize the world’s first Extraordinaire Martial Arts Meet?
As Li Dan thought about the possible reasons why they had all been called back, Yu Kuangtu, who was sitting on the main seat saw that everyone had arrived, and said, “The reason why all of you had been called back was because the Red Mansion received a confirmed piece of news.”
Upon hearing the word ‘Red Mansion’, everyone straightened their backs instinctively. As the pioneer batch of Practitioners, they all knew that their training was held under the instructions and guidance of the Red Mansion. Even though they had never seen people from the Red Mansion before, they all knew that the Red Mansion held an important place in the core of Xuan Nation’s Reiki research.
Yu Kuangtu turned the projector on, and a website was shown on the projector screen.
“GilliGilli?” Someone recognized the page immediately and said, “The interactive bullet comments website?”
“This website was chosen because the number of views on this website is the most,” Yu Kuangtu said as he navigated through the pages and opened the ranking list on the website. They looked at the most-viewed video at the top of the ranking list.
“Naisser_Ren uploaded another video? The same Naisser_Ren who rose to fame claiming to be the best assassin in the world and who could not be tracked by all the countries?” One of the people in black vests said, “It is said that this Naisser_Ren is someone from the heavenly realms and from the secret organization of Xuan Nation…”
“The title of the video…it seems like it’s from a game.”
“I think it’s a reality challenge.”
Li Dan squinted his small eyes to see the title of the video at the top of the ranking list and muttered, “A Strong Warrior Ascends Ten Thousand Meters…?”
