Chapter 18
Through years of investigation, the Research Institute had discovered that Forbidden Zones were entities that were simultaneously stable and unstable.
They were considered stable because once formed, as long as the surrounding evolutionary energy was periodically dispersed to prevent ordinary people from wandering in, their impact on the surrounding area was not particularly high. They almost never took the initiative to expand and swallow ordinary people, making their stability even better than some high-risk industrial facilities like chemical plants.
The reason they were considered unstable, however, was that a Forbidden Zone would only react to high-level Evolvers.
The formation of a Forbidden Zone depended entirely on evolutionary energy. Free-floating evolutionary energy in the air was scarce, after all; the only true repositories of powerful evolutionary energy were the Evolvers themselves.
An Evolver’s grade was comprehensively assessed based on their ability’s inclination, the concentration of evolutionary particles in their body, and their character and mindset.
Evolvers with a low concentration of evolutionary particles would likely need to appear by the thousands before a Forbidden Zone would stir to suck them in and harvest their energy.
But for those with a high concentration of evolutionary particles, perhaps a few dozen, or even just a handful of individuals appearing near a Forbidden Zone together would trigger a capture.
Consequently, those top-tier Evolvers usually resided in specialized rooms far from human habitation and away from any Forbidden Zones.
Those rooms constantly absorbed their evolutionary energy, and specialized teams were dispatched to monitor them around the clock.
It wasn’t that various nations didn’t trust them, but rather that this was the only way to earn the public’s trust and prevent conflicts from escalating.
In this era, peace and order were inherently precarious things.
Ordinary people always harbored a subconscious fear toward Evolvers who possessed powers far beyond normal humans. A top-tier Evolver was no different from a walking nuclear warhead to an ordinary citizen; who could possibly rest easy?
How to manage the relationship between Evolvers and ordinary people was the true test of a nation’s governance.
A pinnacle Evolver like Bai Hewei should, under the guise of “protection,” be confined to the most luxurious apartment, monitored wherever he went, and allowed to see his friends and family only through scheduled appointments. He should be segregated from the masses, living in a “world” custom-built for him by the state, only permitted to appear before the public when a catastrophic crisis needed handling.
The fact that he could currently move about outside as freely as a normal person was an extremely rare anomaly worldwide.
The Forbidden Zone near the vocational school town was completely different from the previous artificial one.
Probing the situation inside required far more advanced instruments. Even though the Special Operations Department had already rushed to the provincial Research Institute to borrow the equipment and fast-track the procedures, waiting for the devices to take effect would still take time.
And no one knew what would happen inside during that window of time.
“Director Huo, all eight field squads are on standby; they can go into the Forbidden Zone to help.” The person beside him was getting restless. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already received word of ‘Gentleman’s’ reckless intrusion into our territory. They will officially condemn America at tonight’s diplomatic press conference and attach a demand for compensation. Additionally, the central government intends to specially recruit Bai Hewei immediately and have his family relocated to the capital. His family will enjoy the highest military-tier benefits, while Bai Hewei will likely have to live in a dedicated apartment. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will specially construct a residential community for him, fully equipped with everything he could need.”
From the moment Bai Hewei was discovered until now, Huo Ling and Wen Zhiyi had been pushing back against the pressure, refusing to hand him over. Director Yuan Heqing of the Special Operations Department intended to formally meet with Bai Hewei before deciding on his long-term placement. Because of this, the matter regarding Bai Hewei had dragged on until now. But now, foreign entities were no longer playing petty games; they had deployed an S-Class Evolver despite the diplomatic pressure. They had completely dropped the act—they either wanted to utterly destroy Bai Hewei or take him away.
Under these circumstances, the attitude of the higher-ups naturally shifted.
“The field squads don’t need to go in. Bai Hewei can handle it, you have to trust him,” Wen Zhiyi interjected immediately before Huo Ling could speak. “Bai Hewei and Gentleman are already present inside that Forbidden Zone together. If we throw several of our A-Class squad captains in there as well, the Forbidden Zone will expand instantly. What will happen to all the residents near the vocational school town then? Don’t listen to a single word of the nonsense spouted by those guys who never stand on the front lines.”
“As for Bai Hewei, if anyone in the central government wants to imprison him under the guise of protection, let them take it up with Director Yuan. Before Director Yuan formally meets with Bai Hewei, no one’s word means jack,” Wen Zhiyi said coldly. “Reply exactly like that. If anything goes wrong, I’ll take the blame.”
Whether it was Huo Ling or anyone else familiar with Wen Zhiyi, they were all stunned by his sheer stubbornness.
“If… if that’s how it is, I’ll share the blame with you,” Huo Ling sighed deeply. “Bai Hewei is also a citizen of our country, and he has always been law-abiding. Just because he is stronger than others, why should he be shackled? Restrictions should only apply to those whose mindsets are unstable, who get intoxicated by power, and who think having power grants them special privileges. I don’t believe Bai Hewei needs any of that.”
“From his awakening until now, Bai Hewei has already survived several waves of attacks from foreign Evolvers.” Wen Zhiyi looked at Huo Ling, his tone softening for once. “He has worked within the system for so long, graduated from a proper university, and is a young man of normal intelligence. Do you really think he doesn’t know his true ability grade?”
Huo Ling froze for a moment. He truly seemed to have overlooked this point.
Judging by Bai Hewei’s behavior, it really didn’t look like he knew his own strength.
But could he genuinely be oblivious?
The string of successive attacks, the various honey traps, and even the fact that people from the Special Operations Department treated him with absolute deference and replied to his WeChat messages instantly.
As long as someone possessed normal intelligence, they would realize that something was profoundly abnormal, wouldn’t they?
For a moment, Huo Ling actually began to understand the perspective of certain people in the central government.
Because even someone like Huo Ling, under Wen Zhiyi’s questioning, couldn’t help but wonder if they really ought to use some justification to take Bai Hewei away.
Since ancient times, the truly powerful were always misfits.
And in an information-driven society like this, that kind of anxiety was amplified even further.
“He cares about his current life far more than we imagine,” Wen Zhiyi said formally, crossing his arms. “Aside from his Evolver stipend, he has never taken anything. The biggest advantage he has ever taken is using his unit’s printer to print his exam tickets and study materials, and taking a few gel pens—nothing more. He has never once used his identity as an Evolver to apply for any privileges. He hasn’t even told his subdistrict colleagues or his parents about his situation. Even if he just lived by the standards of a B-Class Evolver we gave him, he could completely escape his current life of earning less than four thousand yuan a month.”
Bai Hewei had close friends, but even to his closest buddies, he hadn’t dropped a single hint.
Even after Wen Zhiyi added Bai Hewei’s private WeChat, Bai Hewei hadn’t even altered his WeChat status profile.
He abided by this country’s order and regulations more strictly than anyone else, even though those orders and regulations weren’t entirely fair to someone of his stature.
“You always assume I am intentionally blocking his permanent placement because I don’t want to specially recruit him,” Wen Zhiyi chuckled softly. “Perhaps, this life is exactly what he wants. Huo Ling, with great power comes great responsibility, but there are many people in this world who actually don’t want to shoulder that much weight.”
People always craved excitement and a extraordinary life.
But once they actually started living that kind of life, it wouldn’t take long before they immediately began to miss the peaceful days of the past.
On this point, Bai Hewei saw things far more clearly than most.
“Don’t worry, Gentleman is no match for Bai Hewei.” Wen Zhiyi’s final words gave the Special Operations personnel absolute confidence. “He is indeed the strongest Evolver in this world, no matter the metric.”
Inside the Forbidden Zone.
There were only two exams in total, and you chose to kidnap me right after I finished one?
If you were going to kidnap me, you might as well have done it before the test started and just forced me to miss the whole thing!
Bai Hewei was shaking with rage.
He genuinely couldn’t comprehend how a person could be malicious to this extent.
For the first time in his life, Bai Hewei—a man who considered himself a prime candidate for the National Outstanding Youth Award—felt a genuine urge to kill someone.
The atmosphere inside the Forbidden Zone seemed to turn heavy in an instant.
Because the Forbidden Zone had forcibly dragged two pinnacle Evolvers inside, the energy within the space began to skyrocket drastically.
Instantly, the interior of the zone became even more treacherous and volatile.
There shouldn’t have been any sunlight reaching the area where Bai Hewei and the other man stood, yet above the Forbidden Zone, lightning randomly flashed for some reason, forcefully illuminating the entire sector.
Rumble—
Every now and then, sparks and bolts of lightning arced downward, striking toward Bai Hewei and Gentleman.
Gentleman could rely on his spatial shifting ability to precisely evade every single attack. However, he noticed that Bai Hewei didn’t even make an attempt to dodge. Yet, the moment those sparks and lightning bolts were about to strike his body, it was as if they were blocked by something invisible, unable to touch even the hem of his clothes.
The chaotic energies inside a Forbidden Zone would randomly form various supernatural attacks to strike every living thing within boundaries.
At the same time, any food or water would rapidly spoil. If one couldn’t escape in a timely manner, even the most formidable Evolver wouldn’t be able to sustain the constant drainage here.
Yet, Bai Hewei stood within the Forbidden Zone as if there were absolutely no difference from standing outside.
No wonder so many of the people dispatched before had returned in utter defeat. Encountering an opponent like this was indeed a misfortune for any Evolver.
“I don’t think I’ve ever offended you, so why are you trying to screw me over like this?” Bai Hewei said, doing his best to suppress his fury as he glared at the guy before him, who looked like a total freak fresh out of a cosplay convention.
The reason Bai Hewei hadn’t immediately thrown hands was, on one hand, because the guy before him looked bizarre and he was worried about getting scammed if he beat him up. If this freak with a weird outfit turned out to be a certified mental patient, it would be a massive headache—if Bai beat him up, Bai would have to take legal responsibility, but if the freak beat Bai up, the freak wouldn’t face any consequences. On the other hand, it was because Bai could “see” the various dark clouds swirling all over the man’s body.
Back then, Phone Bro had mentioned that these “dark clouds” were actually the manifestation of evolutionary energy.
Bai Hewei had encountered quite a few Evolvers lately, but this was the first time he had seen someone with this much energy.
He might be a big boss.
Before gauging the enemy’s exact situation, Bai Hewei could only suppress the burning rage in his heart, putting on a cold, indifferent expression to see who would crack first.
Hmph, I’ll stare you down!
Bai Hewei widened his eyes, glaring death at the freak before him.
Looking at the expressionless young man in front of him, Gentleman felt a bizarre sensation well up in his chest.
He cast a quick glance downward, only to notice that his right hand, which was gripping his cane, was trembling uncontrollably.
I’m… I’m afraid?
No, that’s wrong.
It’s the evolutionary particles inside my body reacting.
Gentleman’s eyes widened more and more, and the lower half of his face, which was shrouded in dark mist, became somewhat indistinct.
“Excellent, excellent, hahaha!” Gentleman raised his cane, pointing it at Bai Hewei. “Now you’re showing some spirit. When I first saw you just now, I could hardly believe that someone like you could actually be the world’s strongest Evolver!”
“Bai Hewei, your country has deceived you. The Special Operations Department is merely using you. You are by no means a mere B-Class Evolver. From the very day of your awakening, you have stood at the pinnacle of all Evolvers in this world. You could enjoy everything this world has to offer. What do you want? Villas? Luxury cars? Beautiful women? If you want a palace, a small-to-medium-sized country, or if you want to be a king, you can have it all!” Gentleman threw his arms wide, spinning on the spot, his voice growing increasingly passionate.
“If you join our organization, as long as you slaughter everyone who refuses to listen to you, you can become the boss of this entire syndicate! Heck, if you’re strong enough, you can march right into the White House and become the President if you want! That nation worships the strong; they will believe in a superhero.”
At this point, Gentleman’s voice brimmed with temptation. “You will be that superhero. They will worship you like a god. To use a phrase from your country, you will leave your name in the annals of history. You can change this entire world with your strength alone!”
What a magnificent prospect.
Who could possibly refuse such a beautiful life? The entire world lay within arm’s reach!
Bai Hewei merely looked at him coldly, completely devoid of the reaction one ought to have upon learning the truth.
Instead, there was only the pure irritation of being inconvenienced.
“You knew?” Seeing that Bai Hewei had no reaction whatsoever to his words, Gentleman blanked for a moment before bursting into even louder laughter.
“Hahaha! So you knew all along, and you were just pretending to be oblivious!” Gentleman practically doubled over with laughter. “All the intel we gathered suggested your country was suppressing all information regarding you. Whether it was the media or the local government, they remained completely tight-lipped about your affairs. Heck, I even heard they gave you absolutely nothing, and you remained completely ignorant of your true grade, which is why you never demanded anything.”
Yet, he actually knew?
Gentleman found it hilarious, but not entirely surprising.
“Are you finished talking? If you’re done, let me tell you something.” The guy in front of Bai Hewei was likely insane. “I’m in a massive hurry. I have another exam to sit for this afternoon. My parents bought my favorite pork intestines and beef tripe last night. Those two dishes are incredibly tedious to clean, so my family rarely makes them. If I do well on the exam, it’ll be a celebration; if I do poorly, it’ll be their way of comforting me.”
“So, let’s wrap this up quickly. Don’t delay my exam.” Bai Hewei cracked his neck slightly. “As for what you just said, I didn’t hear a thing. I am merely a tiny B-Class Evolver who collects a monthly stipend of 800 yuan. I like my current life very much. As a grassroots worker, I prefer stability and order. Any sudden incidents or emergencies are my absolute most hated things—I hate them even more than working overtime!”
Once those words entered the picture, it meant he would have to start working endless overtime again, worry that his parents and grandmother might be affected, and spend a massive amount of time just to get his life back on track.
He didn’t like it.
The smile on Gentleman’s face froze.
The way he looked at Bai Hewei completely changed.
“Very well.” Gentleman struck the ground heavily with his cane. “If before, I merely wanted to recruit you, then now, I must use every possible means to kill you.”
Possessing the strongest power in the world, yet remaining entirely unswayed by it.
A person like this was truly terrifying.
A nuclear weapon capable of destroying the world should not possess such an independent and complete sense of self.
“Yammering on so much, I see you just want to waste my time so I can’t take my exam,” Bai Hewei spat. He charged straight ahead. “I loathe people like you who disrupt others the most!”
At the exact same time, it was currently nighttime in another country.
But within the underground research facility, including the organization’s high-ranking executives, not a single person was asleep.
No matter what they had originally been doing, they were all currently seated together.
As one of the world’s top-tier Evolvers, Gentleman was currently facing off against the recently awakened Bai Hewei. No one could say for certain who would emerge victorious from this clash.
The interior of the Forbidden Zone couldn’t be monitored either; they could only deduce his current state through certain items Gentleman had left behind.
“The values on the detector embedded within Gentleman’s body are spiking rapidly. Is he starting to get serious?”
The screen was filled with Gentleman’s various biometric readouts.
The research personnel couldn’t actually conduct experiments on an S-Class Evolver like Gentleman, but after discussing it with him, they had still embedded a micro-detector inside his body to monitor his physical condition at any given moment. Of course, this type of detector was very simple to implant; if he wanted to remove it, he could just walk into any hospital for a quick surgery. Otherwise, Gentleman would never have agreed to it.
Now, this micro-detector was proving its worth.
The data wouldn’t lie.
“Within a short period, the evolutionary particles inside Gentleman’s body have surged several times, proving he has already begun deploying his spatial ability,” an elderly researcher noted. “According to past records, due to the unique nature of his ability, he can usually complete a mission within five minutes. However, twenty minutes have already passed.”
According to their original plan, the other Evolvers dispatched were merely sacrificial pawns, meant to ensure Gentleman could arrive near the Forbidden Zone with his strength entirely intact.
Next, he just needed to pull Bai Hewei into the Forbidden Zone, reveal the “truth” to him, promise him massive benefits, and use his spatial ability to bring Bai Hewei back to the underground research facility.
They had already prepared the surrogate who would bear the spatial cost for Gentleman.
If Bai Hewei rejected their recruitment, Gentleman only needed to test his waters briefly. They didn’t actually expect Gentleman to be able to kill Bai Hewei; the people over in China couldn’t possibly sit idly by. Furthermore, they had to consider international diplomatic issues.
Gentleman was merely supposed to take a stroll, meet Bai Hewei, and exchange greetings as fellow top-tier Evolvers—everything could be chalked up as a personal whim.
But if he genuinely engaged in combat, unless there was absolute certainty of killing Bai Hewei, they couldn’t easily provoke that eastern dragon.
Of course, if Gentleman genuinely managed to abduct Bai Hewei to their side, then they would see just how powerful Bai Hewei truly was, and whether he was worth the massive price they would have to pay for it.
“Is this Bai Hewei an idiot? On one side is China, which gives him absolutely nothing, and on the other side is us, offering him everything. Even a three-year-old child would know which one to choose.”
…
Wen Zhiyi, Huo Ling, and the others arrived near the vocational school town at the exact same time. Those field squad captains had all been ordered to stay at least 1,000 meters away from the Forbidden Zone.
The personnel Wen Zhiyi and Huo Ling brought along were nearly all low-grade Evolvers with specialized utilities, specifically to avoid affecting the stability of the Forbidden Zone.
The surrounding candidates, meanwhile, were barred from approaching.
Huo Ling had originally intended to halt this exam session and simply reorganize it for a later date, letting the candidates head home first.
But Wen Zhiyi insisted that Bai Hewei would return before the afternoon exam session, so there was no need to stop it.
Since Huo Ling had already boarded Wen Zhiyi’s ship, he could only endure it now.
“What if Bai Hewei doesn’t come out? I’ve staked my entire career to stand with you on this,” Huo Ling said under his breath. “If I get dismissed, remember to pull me out and send me to a department where I can earn merits. At worst, I’ll just start over from scratch.”
“He won’t fail to return.” Wen Zhiyi checked his watch. “There’s still an hour left before the afternoon session begins. He will definitely return. Additionally, the five hundred thousand yuan bonus applied for earlier has already hit the subdistrict’s financial office. Currently, their subdistrict’s standing committee leadership is holding a meeting, preparing to host a commendation ceremony to personally deliver the bonus into Bai Hewei’s hands. With this sum of money, his life will be a bit more comfortable.”
“Isn’t there also some national-level Outstanding Citizen Award?” Huo Ling recalled what An Tingyu had asked him previously.
“It’s the Outstanding Youth Award, meant to commend his performance inside the Forbidden Zone and the reward for helping capture illegal Evolvers,” Wen Zhiyi replied, casting a glance at Huo Ling. “This award will require him to travel to the capital to attend the official ceremony and receive his prize. Along the way, Director Yuan can also meet with him in the capital. Once he secures this award, whether he sits for the civil service exam or applies for excellence evaluations, he will possess an absolute advantage.”
“Impressive,” Huo Ling couldn’t help but applaud. “No wonder you can still thrive despite having such an atrocious personality. When it comes to understanding human nature and worldly wisdom, you really don’t hold back at all.”
With this sequence of plays, no matter what that Gentleman said, Bai Hewei’s heart would definitely lean toward them.
Because the reward received for becoming an Evolver versus the reward earned through one’s own hard work and merits carried two completely different connotations to a person.
As a human living in this world, wasn’t it all for fame and fortune?
But fame and fortune could be proper or improper, legal and compliant versus illicit. Bai Hewei had family and friends; he would naturally prefer to receive a legitimate reward that carried zero side effects.
“He’s coming out,” Wen Zhiyi raised his head, pointing toward a specific spot in the Forbidden Zone.
Bai Hewei was holding a severed arm in his left hand and a snapped cane in his right, stealthily attempting to slip out from the side gate of the Forbidden Zone.
Caught completely off guard, he saw a group of people clad in Special Operations Department uniforms staring at him from a short distance away, led by a man in a white lab coat.
Hiss, that guy in the white coat is actually an equal match for my looks!
Author’s Note:
In fact, judging by the deferential treatment the Special Operations Department gave Bai Hewei early on, along with the various attacks and honey traps, Bai Hewei actually knew exactly what his strength level was, but he pretended to be oblivious. As a grassroots worker, what Bai Hewei hated most was unexpected emergencies; what he preferred was order and stability. He wished for world peace more than anyone else, purely so he wouldn’t have to work overtime (laughs).
PS: Today officially counts as Bai Hewei and Wen Zhiyi’s first formal meeting!
