Chapter 2
When Bai Hewei woke up in the morning, he noticed that something was slightly off with his life.
First, while rinsing his mouth, he gave the faucet a gentle twist, and it completely exploded. Then, when he went to wash his face, the entire sink basin collapsed.
Misfortunes never come singly. This old apartment’s fixtures were really past their prime.
Left with no choice, Bai Hewei had his family go out for a walk while he called a repair service to come over.
After waiting for about half an hour, there was a knock at the door.
That was pretty fast.
Bai Hewei opened the door and saw several burly men carrying backpacks standing outside in a neat row. A few of them even looked like foreigners. Instantly, he felt a sharp pain in his wallet.
Wait, since when did a simple repair require so many master technicians? They even brought in foreign blue-collar workers?
“It’s just a broken faucet and a collapsed sink. Do we really need this many people?” Bai Hewei questioned immediately.
Instead of answering, the burly men at the door sized Bai Hewei up with deep suspicion, looking as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Is it him?”
“That’s right. He only awakened last night, and that power is completely unrestricted.”
“Move fast. The Special Operations Department is being held up by our people, we only have half an hour.”
“It’s definitely him. We must secure him at all costs.”
The burly men muttered among themselves for a moment. One of the Evolvers among them possessed the ability to manipulate telepathic thoughts, making their communication and discussion incredibly discreet.
Bai Hewei, however, couldn’t help but frown.
These burly men were talking so loudly right in front of his face. What did they mean by “holding up the Special Operations Department”?
Bai Hewei’s alarm bells rang instantly. Could this be a group of scammers showing up at his door? Swindlers these days were getting incredibly brazen.
He silently opened the National Anti-Fraud App on his phone to gain the upper hand.
“Mr. Bai, is it? We’re here to negotiate a deal with you,” the leader of the burly men said, his face breaking into a smile as he looked at Bai Hewei. “Won’t you invite us in to sit down?”
“No need, we can talk right here at the door.” These people were absolutely not repair technicians. He’d be insane to let strangers into his house.
“Mr. Bai, you wouldn’t want the fact that you’re an Evolver to become public knowledge, would you?” The smile on the leader’s face faded slightly. “If we really have to get our hands dirty and accidentally injure the other residents, it won’t be a good thing for you.”
Did this scammer really think he was some kind of Evolver?
Even though he knew finding a job was tough these days, Evolvers shouldn’t have fallen on such hard times to resort to this, right?
While Bai Hewei hesitated, the men promptly pushed their way inside, heading straight for the sofa.
“What exactly do you want? I’m not buying anything, I’m not investing, my ID card and bank cards don’t have any overseas records, and I’m not involved in any legal disputes,” Bai Hewei rattled off in one breath. “No cybersex scams, no brushing scams. Is there anything else you want to say?”
“Mr. Bai, we came here with a friendly attitude,” the leader said, cutting straight to the chase as he introduced himself. “My name is Wei Bo, and I am from the world’s largest Evolver organization, the [Divine Staff]. The men behind me are all our executives. As a side note, I am a multi-nationally certified Rank A Evolver, and those behind me are all Rank B Evolvers. Dealing with a newly awakened Evolver like you won’t be difficult at all. Of course, we aren’t here to cause trouble. On the contrary, we are extending the most sincere invitation to you, Mr. Bai, to join the [Divine Staff] and become one of our outstanding executives.”
Anyone who spent enough time online would know about the [Divine Staff].
Unlike their own country, which gathered Evolvers to establish the Special Operations Department, many overseas Evolvers had spontaneously formed the [Divine Staff] to protect their own interests. It was currently the largest supernatural organization in the world. On the surface, it appeared to be a loose alliance of independent Evolvers, but in reality, many Evolver bloggers had analyzed that the organization was backed by multiple nations and monopoly conglomerates. It was a mixed bag of good and bad, and it frequently served as the perfect scapegoat for various Evolver terrorist activities.
And, of course, it was also the most popular cover story used by telecom fraud groups nowadays.
Just half a year ago, when Bai Hewei was conducting door-to-door community visits, he heard about a young guy in his jurisdiction who idolized Evolvers. The kid had been swindled out of a whopping seven to eight hundred thousand yuan by a fake [Divine Staff] organization that promised to help him acquire evolutionary factors and awaken. The kid had wept a river of tears.
Could this group of people be targeting the marriage fund his parents and grandmother had saved up for him?
Bai Hewei had already quietly opened the National Anti-Fraud Center app and was recording the audio. He could practically picture himself standing before the entire district as a model anti-fraud figurehead, delivering a speech on how he thwarted the scam.
Although reporting telecom scammers didn’t pay as much as reporting illegal Evolvers, it still came with a ten-thousand-yuan reward. That was four months of his salary, and bonuses like this were tax-free.
“Heh, what can you offer me?” Bai Hewei didn’t rush to deny anything. Instead, he continued to bait them for information. “Since you’ve shown up out of nowhere, you should at least show some sincerity.”
“Easy enough.” Wei Bo had done his homework. He immediately gestured for his men to open their backpacks.
They had done a brief background check on this Bai Hewei. His family background was ordinary, and his job was mediocre. Newly awakened individuals were the easiest to handle because they had no idea what they were truly worth.
Wei Bo’s subordinates unzipped all the backpacks they had brought.
One person’s backpack was filled with gold bars, another’s was packed with British pounds, euros, and US dollars, while a third person’s backpack contained various luxury car keys, property deeds, and title certificates.
The sight almost blinded Bai Hewei.
Sometimes, you really couldn’t blame ordinary residents for falling into these traps. If someone’s willpower wasn’t rock-solid, they would genuinely fall for it.
“If you have the need, our organization also has plenty of beauties. What skin color, age, or gender do you prefer? We can arrange it all.” Wei Bo interlaced his fingers, his face the picture of absolute certainty. “If you join our organization, you’ll start as a first-tier executive. A house like yours—you could buy two of them with just one day’s salary.”
Bai Hewei resolved to be nicer to the scammed residents in his community in the future. Sometimes it wasn’t that they were gullible; it was just that the scammers’ methods were a brutal test of human nature.
Look at that. How incredibly thorough their ‘sincerity’ was.
“How about it? As long as you agree, all of this is yours,” Wei Bo continued to smile.
Meanwhile, at a distance in the command office of the Special Operations Department.
“The [Divine Staff] organization is using this kind of stuff to test our executives?” a young man muttered angrily in a low voice. “If you’ve got the guts, bring that temptation to me!”
The person next to him laughed and scolded, “Do you think those conglomerates are philanthropists? Whatever they give you, they intend to take back a hundred or a thousand times over. Once he steps out of the country, do you think he’d still be able to keep any of these things? However, this guy has the ultimate safety awareness. He already called the police long ago.”
“Why is the field team still taking their sweet time?” another person complained. “They’ve already clashed several rounds over there.”
Those foreign organizations had seriously underestimated them.
Yesterday, the very instant Bai Hewei awakened, they had set up a surveillance perimeter around the area. This morning, before Bai Hewei even woke up, they had disguised themselves as gas inspectors to install surveillance equipment inside his home. They currently had total control over the situation.
For one thing, they wanted to see what kind of trump cards the [Divine Staff] organization brought along. For another, they wanted to gauge the character of this newly awakened, strongest-in-the-world individual by letting the pioneers of the [Divine Staff] test the waters first.
However, it seemed Bai Hewei completely viewed the people from the [Divine Staff] as a bunch of scammers.
It looked like their sub-district’s anti-fraud awareness campaigns had been highly effective.
They could definitely add some bonus points to their year-end performance evaluation.
The crowd in the command office continued to observe.
“You should save all of that to tell the police.” Bai Hewei waved his phone. He couldn’t keep talking to these scammers, fearing his resolve might actually waver.
His written exam results weren’t out yet. It wouldn’t be good if this ended up affecting his chances of entering the civil service.
Seeing this, Wei Bo’s expression instantly changed.
He shot a look at Bai Hewei and immediately waved his hand, signaling his men to take action.
Since the carrot didn’t work, they would use the stick. Time was of the essence, and they had to snatch the man away before the Special Operations Department arrived. Their squad might look unexceptional, but in reality, they had a complete lineup: spiritual, elemental, specialized, defensive, and offensive Evolvers.
The other burly men nodded slightly and launched an attack on Bai Hewei without a second thought.
The first to strike was naturally the spiritual-type Evolver. His eyes turned slightly red as he stared intently at Bai Hewei, attempting to obliterate his consciousness directly.
Bai Hewei felt a sudden buzzing in his head. Must be a bout of low blood sugar, he thought. He gave his head a firm shake, and instantly felt much better.
In the next moment, the Evolver who had launched the spiritual attack suddenly collapsed to the floor, coughing up two mouthfuls of blood.
He stared at Bai Hewei in sheer terror, as if looking at a monster he couldn’t comprehend at all.
He had clearly infiltrated the man’s mind just now, but Bai Hewei’s mental strength was like an impenetrable Great Wall of steel. Attempting to destroy a steel fortress with bare hands was nothing short of a pipe dream.
How could anyone be so absurdly overpowered?
“Holy crap, you came to my house just to fake an injury and extort me?” Bai Hewei was profoundly shocked. He felt incredibly relieved that he had called the police early on, otherwise, how could he ever explain this?
“I’m… I’m warning you, I have surveillance cameras in my house. Don’t even think about pinning this on me!” Bai Hewei barked loudly.
The other two burly men gritted their teeth and lunged forward from his left and right, attempting to grab Bai Hewei by the shoulders.
Bai Hewei instinctively pushed back.
One of the burly men flew backward over a dozen meters as if struck by a massive force, completely smashing through the apartment door.
…Talk about dedication to the craft, brother.
Bai Hewei was rooted to the spot in utter shock, staring down at his hands in disbelief.
I didn’t even use any force. How did you fly out like that?
With skills like that, why didn’t they go make money acting on a movie set instead of coming to his place to run a scam? Had the film and television industry fallen on such hard times these days?
Before Bai Hewei could even mourn the loss of his front door, countless ice icicles materialized in dense clusters behind his back. It was Wei Bo, who had been keeping a low profile all along; the previous attacks were merely feints.
Since this world’s strongest Evolver was already this difficult to deal with right after awakening, if he couldn’t be recruited into their organization and couldn’t be allowed to bolster the Special Operations Department’s strength, they would just kill him. Once he was dead, it would be as if nothing had ever happened.
“Has the field team still not arrived? They’re about to use a lethal move!” a person in the command room roared in anger. “Regardless of whether Bai Hewei is the world’s strongest Evolver or not, he is first and foremost a citizen of our country! Are we just going to watch him die?”
“Don’t get worked up, they can’t beat Bai Hewei,” the person next to him consoled. “Even though he just awakened, his various attributes are already ridiculously high. Besides, the field department personnel have already arrived; they’re watching from right next door.”
“Die!” Wei Bo growled in a low voice.
The dense cluster of icicles shot toward Bai Hewei all at once.
Swish swish swish—
Bai Hewei merely felt a slight itch on his back and rotated his shoulders a fraction.
Instantly, the icicles that had already closed in on Bai Hewei reversed their direction completely. Under Wei Bo’s incredulous gaze, they turned around and impaled his own body instead.
“Pfft.”
Even though Wei Bo withdrew his supernatural ability at the first opportunity, he was still severely wounded and collapsed to the floor, unable to get up.
Meanwhile, the movements of the other two Evolvers seemed absurdly slow to Bai Hewei.
With a gentle swipe of his hand, the two burly men began rolling around on the floor, seemingly enduring some form of immense agony.
In a matter of just one or two minutes, these men were either sprawled on the floor, spitting blood, or wailing in pain inside his apartment.
Bai Hewei was completely dumbfounded.
No, seriously, did you guys come here just to frame me for assault?
The people in the command center watched as Bai Hewei defeated the elite members of the [Divine Staff] to this extent with what looked like almost “unconscious” movements. Their expressions turned rather peculiar.
They wanted to laugh, yet they also felt a bit depressed.
“…Comparing yourself to others will truly drive you mad. I work myself to the bone on missions and even go to the Research Institute for evolutionary guidance, yet I’m only rated as a Rank A right now. Strictly speaking, I’d be a fifty-fifty match against Wei Bo at best. And this guy just awakened and already thrashed Wei Bo like a helpless toddler.” An Evolver ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep, heavy sigh. “Fortunately, I joined the system early on. Otherwise, now that the Special Operations Department has a powerhouse like Bai Hewei, they probably wouldn’t even look at me.”
“Brother Qi, I realized that a long time ago. Once there are too many Evolvers, they won’t be worth as much anymore. It’s better to live a stable life. We wouldn’t adapt well to that dog-eat-dog Evolver world abroad.”
“That was terrifying. Thank goodness an Evolver like him was discovered on our side. If we had to face a freak like that in the future, I absolutely wouldn’t go out unless they paid me a fortune in overtime.”
“You’re overthinking it. If we actually run into someone of this caliber, it won’t even be our turn to go out.”
“Alright, alright, call the field team and have them prepare to recruit Bai Hewei.”
“Coordinate with the local police station first. Their cruiser has arrived.”
…
Just as Bai Hewei was at his wit’s end, the sound of a police siren wailed in the distance.
Hearing the sound and knowing it was the police he had called, Bai Hewei was so moved his eyes welled up with tears.
“Who called the police?”
One tall and one short neighborhood cop entered the apartment. Upon seeing the scene before them, they almost thought they had walked into a gang war. For a moment, visions of a Second-Class Merit medal danced before their eyes.
“It was me, officers! I’m the one who called the police.” Seeing them, Bai Hewei felt as if he were looking at his own flesh and blood.
The two neighborhood cops froze for a second when they saw it was Bai Hewei.
“Little Bai?”
Their Second-Class Merit vanished into thin air.
They recognized the person who called the police. Whether it was flood prevention, fire safety, handling public petitions, or campaigns for civil and hygienic city creation, they all worked together within the same jurisdiction. They knew each other well.
“What’s going on with these people? Why are there even foreigners?” The shorter cop realized the gravity of the situation.
“If… if I said they came to my house just to fake an injury and extort me, would you believe me?” Bai Hewei was caught between tears and laughter. He was an outstanding citizen! He genuinely had no idea what was wrong with these people!
Author’s Note:
Bai Hewei: Scammers these days are really going all out with their investments.
The Divine Staff Organization: …We really aren’t scammers.
Special Operations Department: Exactly, they’re scammers.
