Chapter 58
“Captain Yun, here’s the information you wanted.” A scruffy, bearded man pushed open the office door and placed a stack of printed documents on the desk.
“Good. Leave it there.” Yun Xueshan nodded, not opening it immediately. “How was it? Did you read through the files?”
In the corner of his computer screen, a small window displayed a livestream. If one looked closely, one would see it was the recently exploded third season of What Kind of Person Are You.
Yun Xueshan was Madam Yun’s elder brother, currently working in a certain confidential department.
Yesterday, when Madam Yun came to him to report the matter, asking him to investigate and protect Shen Jinfeng, he had actually been somewhat surprised, though he had not shown it.
Because this was not the first time he had heard the name.
Nor was it the only time he had heard it yesterday.
A few days ago, someone from the military had sent word, asking him to look into the past experiences of this young man named Shen Jinfeng. They wanted to use a special channel to bring in talent.
The reason was: excellent skills.
However, the military had originally planned to send someone to find him, only to discover that Shen Jinfeng’s résumé did not seem to match his skills.
Investigating people was not their specialty, so they tossed the task to him.
At the time, Yun Xueshan had been puzzled. What did “excellent skills” mean?
Wasn’t the military the last place to lack people with excellent skills?
However, he had not taken it to heart. He had handed the task to his subordinates and paid it no further attention.
Who would have thought that his younger sister, who had not contacted him in months, would call him?
Because of the nature of his work, if his family had something to say, they would usually leave a message on his private phone, not call his work line.
His special line was encrypted through layer after layer, but if the organization needed it, it was completely transparent.
He had thought some urgent major event had happened at home. Unexpectedly, she had come to recommend a talent to him and asked him to help investigate a person’s information.
Yun Xueshan asked curiously, “Who is this kid?”
Madam Yun answered, “My son-in-law.”
?
Madam Yun said, “You heard correctly. He’s Qin Ye’s partner.”
Yun Xueshan suddenly ate a big melon. His nephew was gay? And had gotten himself a partner without a sound?
And this partner was so impressive that his sister thought he was a special talent?
Moreover, he was the same person the military had asked him to investigate a few days earlier.
He hung up calmly on the surface, then turned around and urged his previous subordinate to speed things up.
After hearing that Shen Jinfeng was participating in a livestream variety show, he first searched the whole internet for recent clips of Shen Jinfeng in the livestream during his spare time and browsed through most of them.
Oh, last night, the military contact who had come to him before had also asked him about the progress again.
After Yun Xueshan finished watching the cut compilation, he roughly understood why the military had noticed this person.
Nothing else. The skills Shen Jinfeng displayed on the show were too dazzling.
Although he had used a leaf rope as cover, don’t say that was not qinggong. It clearly was.
Ordinary people might not know, but could he not have come into contact with living people who knew qinggong?
Some ancient martial families still existed in the flower-growing country, including Daoist sects, Wudang, Shaolin, and other places. They all knew martial arts, including qinggong.
It was just not as divine as what was shown in TV dramas.
Their level was probably equivalent to anywhere between one-tenth and one-fifth of what was shown in film and television.
But it was said that there were even more powerful ones. They were just old hermit experts, and others did not even know whether they were still alive. He had never seen them.
Shen Jinfeng’s qinggong was already the most impressive he had ever seen. If it could be taught broadly, even when they carried out certain secret missions, it would be of great use.
Aside from qinggong, there was also that astonishing accuracy.
At first, Shen Jinfeng had speared fish through shifting water currents, struck coconuts and pigeons with pebbles. If that accuracy were applied to a gun, it was simply unimaginable how shocking it would be.
Don’t say pebbles and guns were different. Experts watched the method.
Even if this kind of person had never touched a gun before, he would absolutely be a once-in-ten-thousand natural talent.
That talent would not be limited to sniping during missions. In combat against enemies or sneak attacks, he would also be extremely useful.
Not to mention Shen Jinfeng’s combat ability itself was outstanding.
Mm, because Qin Ye had actually fought Shen Jinfeng in the show.
Qin Ye’s skills had been personally trained by him. Even in the military, they counted as first-rate.
Because he had once wanted his nephew to do the same kind of special work as him or enter the army, he had even thrown Qin Ye into a special forces unit to train for a while.
Qin Ye had performed quite well then. When he was leaving, the officers inside had even tried to keep him.
But clearly, he and Shen Jinfeng were not on the same level at all.
Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary viewers who did not understand, the two seemed to fight back and forth evenly. But their skills, habits, and states during combat were completely different.
A practitioner like him could judge through tiny details.
Of course, the most stunning part was the segment where Shen Jinfeng subdued the wolf pack.
Did beast language truly exist?
Set that aside for now.
But the final part, where Shen Jinfeng threw the wolves—
Calm, effortless, throwing wolves no differently from throwing pebbles.
Born with divine strength?
Where would such a person fit if not the military?
Adding to that Shen Jinfeng’s rich wilderness survival knowledge displayed in the show, and now, the fact that he had faintly begun to notice something wrong with his surroundings—this kind of keen observation ability—
He almost would not require much training at all.
Perhaps in the military’s eyes, such a person was born to be a general.
But in his eyes, such a talent was also naturally suited to doing their confidential work.
Moreover, Shen Jinfeng seemed to have more than a shallow understanding of massage and Chinese herbs, and even knew a thing or two about tomb raiding.
If it was not previous experience, then it meant he possessed jaw-dropping learning ability.
How was he not suitable for coming here to handle certain special missions?
The corner of Yun Xueshan’s lips curved slightly.
Sorry, but he wanted this person first.
As long as there were no political issues, there would be no problem.
And now, the information was ready.
He took a cigarette from the drawer and handed it to the scruffy man standing before the desk. “Want one?”
“Sit and talk.”
The bearded man took the cigarette and casually moved a chair over to sit.
“Same old problem. Experience and skills don’t match.” He pointed at the documents on the table and noticed the small window on Yun Xueshan’s computer desktop. “There. You’ve watched the livestream too, so you should know how impressive this young man is.”
Yun Xueshan nodded.
Hearing someone else praise Shen Jinfeng, he actually felt a little honored.
The bearded man rarely praised anyone.
The last time he had felt this way was when his nephew Qin Ye became famous in his circle.
After all, Shen Jinfeng could now be counted as family too.
The bearded man looked suspiciously at his expression. “Why do you look like you’re in a good mood?”
“Cough, cough. Nothing. Keep going.”
So the bearded man simplified the documents on the desk and verbally summarized Shen Jinfeng’s life experience.
Finally, he concluded.
“In short, based on his past life experiences, the people familiar with him at every stage of his life—including the orphanage director, staff, and other children from the orphanage, including his middle school classmates and teachers, including the family members he came into contact with after returning to the country as an adult—their understanding and evaluation of him are very ordinary. Motivated, kind, somewhat timid in character, a little talented in studying, but just an unremarkable small-town exam machine.”
An extremely ordinary student growth trajectory.
Even calling him a small-town exam machine was not placing him among the top tier.
“The only somewhat strange thing is that Shen Jinfeng’s social circle is relatively narrow. Since returning to the country, he has yet to have a close friend he keeps in regular contact with. He is used to coming and going alone. His family says this is because he is withdrawn.”
Yun Xueshan tapped his fingers on the desk, thoughtful. “What is your judgment?”
The bearded man spread his hands and shrugged. “Maybe geniuses love hiding their abilities, and only after his memories were erased did he reveal his true self.”
“Maybe he had some unusual encounter before? Maybe he suddenly gained enlightenment? You know, such cases are rare, but they do exist.”
“Mm, maybe he awakened some memories from a previous life?” he joked.
A few years ago, their department had brought in a talent.
The person said he had dreamed that he knew programming and was a programming expert.
When he woke up, the knowledge in his mind had not disappeared.
His hands were always itchy, and he wanted to touch a computer.
The problem was, his family did not have a computer at all.
So he walked into an internet café and booked a private room.
Why did he book a private room? Oh, simply because he felt that coming to try things out because he had learned “knowledge” in a dream seemed ridiculous.
He was afraid that if a passing classmate saw him going to an internet café and not playing games, he would be mocked.
Yes, this talent was still a middle school student.
Among boys and girls who went to internet cafés, even gaming had its own chain of contempt.
Then, inside the private room of the internet café, the moment he saw the computer, it felt as if he had seen his own child.
With a slight trick and a shallow test of skill, he accidentally slipped into the Lighthouse Nation’s Capitol building.
The moment he succeeded, he felt as if he was dreaming.
He tried again and slipped into the core system of a famous domestic internet company.
This talent was very impressive. A young boy with a big dream.
He possessed the noble sentiment of serving the country.
After some time, he verified his own ability.
Then he took the initiative to slip into the heavily encrypted national security system and left behind his name, address, and contact information.
He left a message:
[I want to join you and serve the country!]
He walked right into the net.
Such a chuunibyou boy, such an absurd experience.
They investigated him thoroughly from top to bottom and finally determined that this young boy had really just slept once and awakened as a peerless hacker.
Everyone was baffled, and eventually they could only conclude that perhaps this was a skill he had possessed in a past life, or perhaps it had been transmitted to him remotely, and now he was displaying his abilities.
Among the people their department had seen, this young boy could only be considered a slightly distinctive example. Not that surprising.
For example, there were also people carrying great fortune.
Their team had a mascot who had originally been noticed only because every lottery ticket she bought won a prize.
Don’t disbelieve it. People in their department were this strange. They wanted a hand in every strange matter.
The key was that it had to be strange enough.
Then, after an investigation, they discovered that this girl’s luck was so good it was outrageous, so good it defied the heavens, so good it exploded.
Leaving aside this girl’s past life experiences, just speaking of after she joined the team—
How absurd was it?
As long as this girl was present, even though she clearly knew nothing, as long as she was there, not a single mission went poorly.
As long as she was there, whatever weather she wanted would appear. If she wanted money, gold would appear on the ground.
If she casually bought a stock, it would hit the daily limit. If she drew a circle and cursed someone, it would succeed.
There was even one enemy who had raised a knife just two centimeters behind her back, only to suddenly be struck dead by lightning…
In corners ordinary people did not know, every day and every moment in the world, strange and bizarre things were happening.
Therefore, Shen Jinfeng’s experiences not matching the skills he displayed in the livestream did not count as anything rare in their eyes.
Moreover, no surveillance cameras had been installed around him when he was a child. His time abroad for university was also a blank period.
Once the show ended, they could continue investigating and ask him.
Perhaps they could ask out some strange answer, or perhaps they would ask nothing at all.
They were used to it.
They could only attribute it to nature’s “uncanny craftsmanship.”
Some matters only required a results-oriented approach. There was no need to dig to the root.
After the bearded man calmly finished summarizing, he suddenly thought of something.
“Oh, right. During my investigation, I found that the reason Shen Jinfeng entered the entertainment industry was actually that his so-called current family coaxed him, saying that he knew nothing and would not be able to help even if he entered the company, so he might as well enter the entertainment industry and become a big star.”
“While making money for himself, he could endorse the family. If the public liked him, they would also support the company behind him. It would be an alternative contribution.”
Yun Xueshan raised his brows and reached for the documents on the desk, accurately finding several pages and reading them.
“So, only recently did the public learn about the company behind him. He really did contribute to the Shen family?”
Having just listened to Shen Jinfeng’s experiences, he naturally knew what kind of people Shen Jinfeng’s current family were.
The bearded man curled his lips nastily, his eyes full of interest. “When I was investigating Shen Jinfeng, I also casually checked the Shen family company and his family members. I actually discovered that Shen Jinfeng did not have a single share under his name, and the bank transactions under his card were pitifully small. For the past two years, they were all work income.”
“So I conveniently did a good deed and greeted the relevant colleagues. I reported the Shen family.”
Yun Xueshan raised his brows in slight surprise. “On what grounds?”
“Illegal occupation of inheritance.”
“Logically, Shen Jinfeng’s parents’ siblings count as second-order heirs. According to inheritance law, as long as a first-order heir is still alive, second-order heirs have no qualification to inherit.”
“In the past, Shen Jinfeng had been missing outside, and whether he was alive or dead was unknown. Forget it then. But now that he has returned, of course they should return all the inheritance to him and compensate for the losses.”
Yun Xueshan nodded in agreement. “A pity. I know lawyers who are very good at this kind of lawsuit. But the Shen family has declined greatly over the years. Even if these people return all their assets to Shen Jinfeng, Shen Jinfeng still lost out.”
The bearded man sighed. “Isn’t that the truth?”
“But a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. I glanced at the total value of the wealth under those people’s names. Tsk, tsk. Enough to support me for eight hundred or a thousand lifetimes.”
Yun Xueshan: “…”
Uh, on this topic, he and his “poor” subordinate had no common ground.
Fortunately, the bearded man had long recognized the unevenness of the world and had no dissatisfaction with his own life.
Serving the country and serving the people were the source of his happiness.
“I estimate that by the time Shen Jinfeng comes out, the court and tax bureau people should have finished handling things. The young comrade will come out and become a billionaire.”
“When he comes out and discovers, eh, we know how to get things done so well, won’t his favorability toward us go up swish, swish, swish? When the time comes for Captain Yun to recruit him, won’t that be as easy as flipping your hand?”
Yun Xueshan stopped him. “We are helping a brother unit with an investigation.”
The bearded man snorted disdainfully. “Stop acting, brother. How many years has it been? Would I not know you? If you meet someone you like, it would be strange if you didn’t rush in first to grab them.”
The girl he had used as an example earlier, the one with luck so explosively good she was practically a living koi, had been recruited by Yun Xueshan.
Now, she had become his wife.
So scheming it was unbearable.
If he had not taken a fancy to Shen Jinfeng, handing the person over for investigation would be that and nothing more. He absolutely would not have taken the initiative to come and urge progress.
Yun Xueshan smiled gently, neither admitting nor denying it.
“I have something else to tell you. Once you hear it, you won’t be able to stay calm.”
He pointed at the small screen on the computer desktop. “You’re watching the part where Shen Jinfeng controlled the wolves? Let me tell you, it’s almost certain he knows beast language.”
The bearded man flicked a USB drive out of his pocket, plugged it into the computer, and opened a video.
On the screen, three wolves suddenly appeared.
“I found wolves from several zoos and ran experiments.”
On the internet, countless netizens were guessing and arguing over whether the segment where Shen Jinfeng controlled the wolves was because he could communicate with wolves or because the production team had intervened.
Clever people, such as him, had long since conducted practical research.
In the video—
The three wolves were originally all vigorous and fierce, watching the front like tigers eyeing prey, clearly somewhat hostile toward the camera.
Until the sound of their “kind” rang out.
“Ge—wu—ou—ge—ou—ge—wu!”
“Wu—ge—ou——!”
The three wolves’ expressions clearly froze for a moment. They looked at one another in confusion and scanned the room.
It could be seen that their aggression suddenly weakened.
It was very magical. One could actually clearly see the emotional changes in the wolves.
Although it was a very simple experiment, it was obvious that the wolves were affected by those sounds.
And the sound clip had been taken precisely from the audio of Shen Jinfeng “imitating wolf howls” in the livestream.
The video went dark, and then a new group of wolves appeared.
This time, there were two.
However, there was a slight change. The wolves were surrounded by high fences, and the bearded man himself stood opposite them.
It could be seen that the two wolves looked at the bearded man exactly like they were looking at prey. Their gazes were secretly cold, assessing, and inorganic.
Then the “wolf howl” sounded again.
After hearing the “kind’s” roar, the two wolves also froze clearly.
Then they looked suspiciously at the only two-legged beast standing in front of them.
One of the wolves howled several times at the bearded man, then looked around.
The other wolf’s mood was also clearly stirred, but it stared fixedly at the bearded man, its whole body showing no aggression at all.
The two wolves actually seemed to show strange yet excited emotions, as if they were somewhat grateful?
After this experiment, there were several more groups.
In total, the video lasted less than ten minutes.
“I contacted several zoos with wolves to do experiments, and personally ran to several of them. The effect was obvious, and the result was very interesting, wasn’t it?”
The bearded man clicked on the livestream interface on Yun Xueshan’s computer and looked at Shen Jinfeng on the screen, his eyes full of interest and desire.
That kind of intense gaze, if one did not know that he only desired talent, would practically make people misunderstand that he was looking at a lover.
“But I’ve already informed all the zoos with wolves in various places. The news won’t spread.”
Yun Xueshan fell into silence, and a trace of shock flashed deep in his eyes.
It was very obvious.
This group, whether alone or in a pack, whether in a zoo or in the wild—
All of them reacted to that segment of Shen Jinfeng’s “wolf howl.”
It was only that the intensity of their emotions differed.
But without question, their attitudes all improved somewhat.
This could also explain why Shen Jinfeng had been able to stop the wolf pack from a distance in the show.
So, in this world, beast language truly existed?
The bearded man waited several minutes for him to digest it, then opened the previous folder again.
“There’s one more video. It wasn’t shown in the livestream. When I went to find the production team today, the director gave me the clip.”
Yun Xueshan propped up his chin, his curiosity completely hooked.
“What superpower did Shen Jinfeng display this time?”
The video opened.
It was Shen Jinfeng alone at night, leaning against a peach tree, holding a leaf and playing a tune.
He played for nearly five minutes.
Yun Xueshan listened expressionlessly. To be honest, it was painfully unpleasant.
But he quickly reacted. “It has something to do with the wolves?”
The bearded man snapped his fingers in praise. “Bingo!”
“When I got the video, I happened to be at a zoo, so on a sudden whim, I tested it too. Guess what happened?”
Yun Xueshan took out a cigarette and lit one for himself too.
“Speak.”
A trace of lingering fear flashed in the bearded man’s eyes as he recalled it.
“This tune was like some divine summoning song.”
“I had my phone on me and played the tune out loud. As I walked along, every animal that heard it went mad and rushed toward me, wanting to get close to me.”
“And the way those animals looked at me…”
He considered his words. Even now, recalling that scene still made his scalp numb.
“Their gazes were different from ordinary aggression. They were filled with a strange kind of heat.”
He did not know how to describe that feeling.
But without question, it was heat.
“Later, I found a spacious room and tested it again.”
“There was me in the room, along with all kinds of animals.”
“As soon as that tune sounded, the animals immediately changed. It was like humans taking drugs. They collectively reacted by beating at their cages and pounding at the room, just wanting to come to my side.”
“After discovering they could not get out, they became very obedient, very obediently sitting in place and looking at me.”
“As if… waiting for my orders.”
The bearded man himself found it unbelievable after saying it.
“It sounds like I was dreaming, doesn’t it?”
He laughed self-deprecatingly, but even now, thinking of that experience still made his scalp tingle.
“I almost thought I was some king of all beasts.”
The more Yun Xueshan listened, the brighter his eyes became.
His sister truly deserved to be his biological sister. She really had provided him with a good talent.
“So, Shen Jinfeng wanted to play such a tune in the forest to summon the wolf pack, even all the beasts, but the production team overreached and ended up making him notice something wrong?”
He had heard of the variety show What Kind of Person Are You before.
To be able to break through one’s mental inertia under the premise of implanted memories and personas—
To discover flaws through small clues and careful analysis, and notice something wrong with one’s environment—
This was no different from making a person who had lived on Earth since birth suspect that everything around them was false.
To suspect everything around them, even their own existence.
Without question, Shen Jinfeng was the first.
The bearded man nodded in amazement. “Every generation produces talents. This young man’s comprehensive quality is terrifyingly high.”
“Oh, right. That director also wanted to find some psychologist and musician to analyze Big Boss Shen’s actions. After I finished the experiment this afternoon, I told him not to look anymore.”
Yun Xueshan was silent for two seconds, then suddenly laughed.
“Did that director get scared to death by you?”
The bearded man shook his head. “I didn’t scare him.”
“I only told him to be ready at any time for the show to ‘go bankrupt,’ and to notify me first when it ‘goes bankrupt.’”
He raised his head. “Captain Yun, when this show ‘goes bankrupt,’ that will be the time for us to go snatch the talent.”
As far as he knew, quite a few people had already noticed Shen Jinfeng.
Yun Xueshan nodded reservedly.
Suddenly, he received a phone call.
“Hello?”
“Mm, yes, that’s fine. Investigate whom?”
“Shen Jinfeng?”
“No need. I know him.”
With a complicated expression, Yun Xueshan hung up the phone. After recovering for two seconds, he shook his phone toward the bearded man and smiled bitterly. “Another one came to snatch him.”
The bearded man clicked his tongue. “Who?”
Someone who could find Yun Xueshan directly without going through procedures was no ordinary person.
Yun Xueshan said, “The Academy of Sciences.”
But he did not understand.
“How did Shen Jinfeng get connected to the Academy of Sciences?”
