When Ren Suo returned to the Lianjiang City National Security Bureau, it was already 7:26 PM.
You Jilong, the Black Body Armor Agent responsible for leading them, announced the dismissal on the spot and told them that they would receive text messages regarding their future positions within one to three business days on their cellphones.
Someone asked if they needed to keep their Cultivator identities a secret, to which You Jilong spread his hands, "It's up to you, but it's generally better not to. The internet surveillance department is still going to clean up online information about Cultivators. Although your records have been encrypted by the National Security, if you intentionally leak your real-life information and attract the persecution of some criminals... don't say I didn't warn you."
While everyone had the youthful urge to show off, they more or less understood that they had stepped into the vortex of a new era. At least on the surface, all the trainees loudly agreed and then went their separate ways home.
Under Xie Qiansi's movement, all members of Team Eight had added each other on WeChat and were pulled into a WeChat group—yes, it was still that "We Are the Future Successors of the Mysterious Country" group. He had met almost all other trainees from Lianjiang City these past few days and everybody was willing to keep a contact method for networking, so the group included all the civil servant Cultivators of Lianjiang City.
When exchanging WeChat info with Qiao Muyi, Ren Suo seriously said, "I actually didn't mean to hit on you."
Qiao Muyi looked at Ren Suo, batting her eyelashes, causing him to swallow hard—damn, this is truly because of the Key's charm—then Li Qingxuan came over, glanced at Ren Suo, and pulled Qiao Muyi away.
Ren Suo felt incredibly frustrated. How could he get Qiao Muyi to willing get into bed in front of him,
and then go to sleep?
After saying goodbye to everyone, Ren Suo took the subway home and stopped by Jian Ji downstairs—when the auntie saw Ren Suo coming to eat noodles at night, she asked in surprise, "Haven't seen you in a few days, did you find another takeout place?"
"Went on a trip," Ren Suo shrugged. "An order of beef brisket with soybean paste lo mein."
"Okay, two orders... one order?"
"Yes, one, here's 18 yuan.
"Young man, eat more," the auntie said earnestly. "Lads, don't diet, you should know that chasing a girlfriend now isn't about the body..."
Ren Suo didn't expect the auntie to be so considerate and responded with a nod, "Yeah, I know."
"It's about the face and the body," the auntie continued. "In your case, even a good body isn't enough."
Ren Suo: "...Can I have my money back, please?"
————
When Ren Suo arrived home and pushed the door open, he found no signs of anything unusual or anyone having entered. He immediately opened the bedroom door and dragged out a large storage box from under the bed.
The box was filled with clothes, which Ren Suo took out only to reveal a Mini-World Game Console that looked like a piece of sci-fi art.
Ren Suo let out a breath of relief. Since the Mini-World Game Console was so mysterious, he naturally had to hide it before leaving. He wasn't worried about any national special departments discovering the Mini-World Game Console and coming to seize it—if it really were discovered, would Ren Suo dare to oppose the authorities? He would obediently hand it over and might even be rewarded with several houses for his contribution.
What he worried about was the possibility of the console being stolen by thieves, which would be a huge loss. If the thief discovered its magical properties and then came after him to silence him, Ren Suo would be in great trouble crying without any pants to dry his tears.
Although the gadget didn't look like it was worth much, it would be troublesome if it fell into the hands of a thief with good taste.
Once assured that everything was fine, Ren Suo felt relieved and returned the game console to the living room. He turned it on using the game controller and the console automatically connected to the TV. After a five-day separation, Ren Suo finally saw the familiar universe sci-fi startup interface again.
The columns still only had "World Store," "What's Best for You Right Now?" and "If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters."
Ren Suo noticed a small, spinning disc icon at the bottom right corner of the "If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters" column, as though it were loading a disc, but Ren Suo hadn't put any game disc in—nor did he know where to put one if he had.
Ren Suo didn't pay much attention and decided to check the "World Store" to see if "this month's free game" had been updated. As for the Treasure Box and Key, now almost certainly his Pocket Item, he was in no hurry to open them.
He bought "If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters" on March 28th, first completed the game on April 1st, and uploaded his rating in the early hours of April 2nd.
"Assassin" was the free game for March, and now it's April; the free games should have been updated by now, right?
Ren Suo only remembered this during intensive training because he had immediately been called in for civil servant training right after he completed that hardcore jumping game and hadn't had a chance to check whether the free game for the month had been updated.
Now it's already April 8th, and the "April Fool's Day discount items!" have disappeared from the store, replaced by the "A punch blasts through life and death, two steps shatter right and wrong" section. However, Ren Suo glanced at it and moved on—these games that cost money were probably out of his league.
Indeed, "This Month's Free Game"—updated!
———
Li Dan pushed open the door of the conference room on the third floor of the Lianjiang City National Security Bureau, saw that everyone had arrived, and yawned as he casually picked a spot to sit down.
He had slept all night yesterday, and although it felt great, waking up brought a subtle sense of tiredness. Li Dan thought it might be an aftereffect of not sleeping for a long time and didn't pay it much attention.
But the fact that this guy named Ren Suo could actually make him fall asleep—that was something. Li Dan had been planning to ask his boss to transfer Ren Suo to their unit, spending all afternoon concocting reasons.
He couldn't exactly say that he wanted Ren Suo for his own sleeping purposes, could he?
After a moment, several more Black Body Armored personnel entered the conference room. Li Dan glanced over and found that all the Cultivators who were part of the Eighteenth Bureau in Lianjiang City were present.
Although the members of the Eighteenth Bureau were Cultivators, not all national Cultivators were under its jurisdiction. Not to mention the Public Security and administrative systems, even other departments within the National Security Bureau hosted a small number of Cultivators, laying the groundwork for a large influx of Cultivator civil servants in the future.
Compared with other functional departments, the distinctive feature of the Eighteenth Bureau was that they were specifically responsible for handling Cultivator affairs. However, this responsibility would soon be dispersed. At least, those petty thieving Cultivators and Awakeners would become the problem of the Public Security system's Cultivators. The Eighteenth Bureau would only need to deal with 'extraordinary Cultivator affairs'.
Li Dan had initially planned to take off his Black Body Armor and go home to rest, but he was halfway home when he was called back.
Had there been a bloodthirsty Awakener on the loose?
Or perhaps an important figure had been killed by an Awakener?
Or was the Pacific Federation preparing to host the world's number one Transcendent Martial Arts tournament?
While Li Dan was pondering, Yu Kuangtu, sitting in the main seat, began speaking as soon as he saw everyone had arrived, "I called you back in a hurry because Red Mansion has just confirmed a piece of news."
Hearing the word "Red Mansion," everyone instinctively sat up straighter. As the earliest Cultivators, nearly all of them had gradually progressed in their cultivation under the guidance of Red Mansion. Even if they had never seen anyone from Red Mansion, they knew the organization's significant role in the Mysterious Country's research into Spiritual Energy.
Yu Kuangtu turned on the projector, and everyone saw a webpage appear on the projection screen.
"GiliGili?" someone recognized at first sight, "The video sharing website?"
"We chose this one because it has the most views on this website," Yu Kuangtu navigated the webpage, opened the video site's leaderboard, and then everyone immediately noticed the top-ranked viral video.
"Ren Naiser released a video? The same Ren Naiser known as the world's most formidable hacker, whom no country can ban, who's rumored to be from Mysterious Country's secret organization Fairy Palace?" a Black Body Armored person said, "I heard this Ren Naiser is also part of the Fairy Palace's hidden organization."
"The name of this video… It looks like a game."
"I think it's a True Human challenge."
Li Dan squinted his eyes, focusing on the number-one spot on the leaderboard, murmuring its title softly.
"If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters…?"