Xiao Shan District Patrol Bureau was located on East Gate Street, right near the center of the entire Xiao Shan District and very close to the transportation hub.
Eight o'clock in the morning.
After entering the gate of the Xiao Shan District Patrol Bureau with iris recognition from the access control system, Lin Qing headed straight for the Political Work Department responsible for the assessment of official ranks.
"Full-fledged status?"
Inside the office, a middle-aged man wearing silver-framed glasses sized up Lin Qing standing opposite him, with a somewhat puzzled look in his eyes.
He pushed his glasses up and said, "If I remember correctly, you're Captain Chen's cousin, right? You've only been in the Patrol Team for a few months, lack the required tenure, haven't made any major contributions, and the professional exams haven't even started yet. You want to become a regular officer?"
"Yes," Lin Qing said, "Director Gao, I heard that exceptional talents can be specially recruited and granted full-fledged status, right?"
Normally, temporary Patrol Officers who wanted to become regular officers had to work for five years, perform excellently, have no criminal record, and pass the professional examination held by the Patrol authorities.
The assessment included physical fitness, professional skills, and several written tests, which could be quite troublesome.
Otherwise, one could only rely on earning merits, but that was rare.
However, the least common was the special recruitment of exceptional talents.
"Exceptional talents?"
Director Gao was initially taken aback, then looked at Lin Qing in surprise and couldn't help but ask, "Have you succeeded with the Sunrise Training Method?"
"It's been a while now, I just didn't want to apply for full-fledged status before," Lin Qing nodded his head.
According to the rules, as long as one mastered the 4-6 version of the Sunrise Training Method, one would be considered an 'exceptional talent.'
With the Entropy around, his progress would be rapid in the future, so as long as he pretended to have succeeded a long time ago, any further improvements wouldn't seem too strange.
"Haven't thought about becoming regular before?"
Director Gao was even more surprised and suddenly gave him a look, realizing and saying, "I understand now, you're applying for full-fledged status because of your sister's issue?"
He naturally also knew about the serious injury of Team Captain Chen Yanan.
It was likely that Lin Qing, the cousin of Captain Chen, didn't want to leave anything for people to talk about with the new Deputy Captain arriving soon, so he applied for full-fledged status as soon as Captain Chen had an incident.
"That's part of it," Lin Qing knew the other party misunderstood, but he had no need to deny it.
"It seems you're quite talented."
Director Gao's look at Lin Qing became a bit warmer, and he nodded, "In that case, you can indeed be specially recruited and granted full-fledged status. Once verified, you'll be directly given the rank of a Level 1 Patrol Officer."
"Then I'll have to trouble Director Gao to help me go through the process," Lin Qing said.
"It's no trouble, no trouble at all, just a small matter," Director Gao chuckled and shook his head.
If it were a regular officer becoming full-fledged or one who had earned merits, he wouldn't need to be so cordial, but Lin Qing was being specially recruited as an exceptional talent, which was entirely different.
The former, even if they became regular officers, were generally only awarded the rank of Level 2 Patrol Officer.
But once someone mastered the 4-6 version of the Sunrise Training Method, they would start as a Level 1 Patrol Officer, and their rank could quickly advance to 'Level 3 Patrol Department', with a good chance of becoming a Level 1 Patrol Department Officer upon earning further merits.
This was the potential.
The leaders of the six groups in the Patrol Team, each one of them was an exceptional talent who had mastered the 4-6 version of the Sunrise Training Method. The most difficult requirement for the position of group leader was mastering the 4-6 version of the Practice Method.
And professional exams and the accumulation of tenure? As long as one was willing to put in the effort, they were usually achievable.
In other words, once the Practice Method was mastered, one's future as a group leader was basically predetermined, naturally making a difference.
"All set."
After processing the procedure on his work computer, Director Gao immediately took out a simple blood sampling device from the cabinet next to him and handed it to Lin Qing.
"Just one drop of blood will do, it's only to check if your blood contains the Mysterious Energy activated by the Practice method. I will send it to the testing center soon; the report will be synchronized quickly."
"Okay," Lin Qing took the blood sampling device, clipped it onto his fingertip to draw blood, and casually said, "I thought the bureau would have its own testing device."
Director Gao chuckled awkwardly, "This advanced high-tech device is produced by the Intelligent Star Group, and there are limited quantities worldwide, how could each District Patrol Bureau be equipped with one?"
Lin Qing suddenly understood and said, "I thought our technology had already developed quite a bit."
"If you're only looking at the urban circles, then it is indeed highly developed."
Director Gao shook his head, "But the urban circle is built with the investment of the Extraterrestrial Civilization's Intelligent Star Group, and even temporary residents have to be true social elites. It has nothing to do with most people, haha... Our current standard of living in society probably hasn't changed much since one hundred years ago, just before the apocalypse."
Lin Qing pondered thoughtfully.
He was born at the beginning of the 21st century and had lived through the era before the apocalypse, he was naturally aware of this point.
Excluding the urban circles, compared to before the apocalypse in 2025, there wasn't much advancement by the year 2120.
"By the way, Director Gao."
Lin Qing asked, "As you're in charge of personnel changes in the bureau, do you know who the new incoming Patrol Team Captain is?"
"The one being transferred here is a Deputy Captain from the White Egret District Patrol Bureau, surnamed Xiao."
Patrol Officer Gao said, "After all, our bureau's Patrol Team doesn't have a Deputy Captain, so we can only transfer someone from another district."
Lin Qing couldn't help expressing his confusion, "Why doesn't our bureau have a Deputy Captain?"
"To be promoted to Deputy Captain, one must at least hold the title of 'Level 3 Patrol Officer.'"
Patrol Officer Gao shook his head, "The Deputy Captain is essentially a candidate for Captain. Putting aside the matter of merits and seniority for the moment, the key requirement is strength. You must not only master the 77th edition of the Sunrise Training Method but also reach a certain proficiency in at least two Combat Skills before you qualify to be promoted to Deputy Captain."
Lin Qing suddenly understood.
As far as he knew, in the entire Xiao Shan District Patrol Bureau's Patrol Team, only his cousin met this criterion.
Once one mastered the 77th version of the Practice Method, even without employing Combat Skill, aspects such as speed, power, reaction and other physical abilities would be several times that of a regular person, more terrifying than a soldier king from a hundred years ago.
But with his cousin's strength, how terrifying must the fugitive be to have seriously wounded her?
"The new team captain is even younger than your sister by a year, just 25 years old."
Patrol Officer Gao advised, "He has a promising future, and he might have high ambitions, so you should be careful, especially considering your sister's current situation... you understand."
"Twenty-five?" Lin Qing gently nodded.
To become a captain of a district's Patrol Team at that age was indeed an indication of a bright future.
"Alright, go outside and wait."
Patrol Officer Gao stood up, "I will send someone over now; you don't need to worry, the results from the detection center will come out very soon."
...
After leaving the Political Work Department, Lin Qing checked the time. It was only 8:16 AM, so he decided to go to the library on the second floor to read.
If he wanted to go further in the Patrol system, though martial force was key, there was no escaping various professional exams. Since he had to learn them sooner or later, he needed to make time to read.
Compared to struggling for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, these difficulties were nothing.
Just as he was about to reach the first floor's staircase, he heard footsteps. Several people were coming down from above.
Lin Qing looked up and saw a young man in front wearing a tracksuit, his hands in his pockets, walking at an easy pace with a slight smile on his face.
The few people following him were all dressed in tidy and crisp Patrol uniforms, copying his steps, closely following behind. Compared to the young man, their steps clearly showed a trace of caution and discipline.
For the people walking behind, Lin Qing had a basic impression.
They must be the unit leaders of the Patrol Team.
However, he was just a temporary Patrol Officer doing time in the Patrol Team, not attached to any one group. He was almost like a floater, moving to whichever group needed manpower. Therefore, he had minimal interaction with the unit leaders.
Did this young man have a higher status than the unit leaders?
Could it be… A guess formed in Lin Qing's mind. He wasn't in a hurry to go upstairs and simply stepped aside.
Then, one of the men following the tracksuit-clad young man—a dark-skinned middle-aged man—saw him and immediately spoke, "Lin Qing, how's your sister?"
"Unit Leader Liang."
Lin Qing did not expect that the third unit leader would talk to him, and replied, "My sister is still in the hospital, but she's out of danger now."
The middle-aged man nodded and said nothing more.
The leading young man took an interested look at Lin Qing and, without saying much, continued with the unit leaders toward the meeting room on the first floor.
After a short while, the group passed through the corridor and entered the meeting room.
Once the door was closed, the tracksuit-clad young man looked at Unit Leader Liang with a smile, "Unit Leader Liang, does that young man have something to do with Captain Chen?"
"Yes."
Unit Leader Liang nodded slightly, "That's Captain Chen's cousin, Lin Qing. Due to financial difficulties at home, Captain Chen specially arranged for him to be an external temporary Patrol Officer in the team, just to pass the time."
"A temporary Patrol Officer who requires special attention from Captain Chen?"
The tracksuit-clad young man raised his eyebrows slightly, and then smiled meaningfully, "It seems he doesn't even meet the basic requirements of a Patrol Officer?"
"He's just a high school senior after all." Unit Leader Liang nodded, "It's already good enough that he has attended some training; he doesn't have time to learn so much professional knowledge."
"That's not good."
The tracksuit-clad young man shook his head, "Even if it's a temporary Patrol Officer, that's still part of the Patrol work. We can't ignore the issue just because it's minor. If all temporary Patrol Officers are like this, how are we supposed to carry out our Patrol duties?"
"Captain Xiao is right, it's an oversight on our part," Unit Leader Liang said solemnly.
He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Now that Captain Xiao has mentioned this, should we dismiss these temporary Patrol Officers who don't meet the basic qualifications today?"
"Verify the facts, record it in the archives, we must avoid such mistakes from happening again," the tracksuit-clad young man said seriously.
"Yes," Unit Leader Liang responded.
Everyone could see the substitute team leader's true intentions, but with such an official speech, no one could really object.
Indeed, a new official does like to set fires upon his arrival.