Chapter 36
Before Bai Hewei could head back up, he saw Guan Yan and the others coming straight down.
“What happened? Did Batu not make it through resuscitation?” Bai Hewei asked. “He was perfectly fine just a moment ago. What kind of illness does he have?”
Guan Yan shot Bai Hewei a highly complex look, but only replied, “I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t take good care of his health in the past.”
“So there’s still no way to find out anything about my ability?” Bai Hewei frowned. He had traveled all the way out here and even faked an injury, only for Batu to suddenly have a medical emergency. Who could he even reason with?
He couldn’t even go looking for trouble with Batu now. Judging by how the man had been foaming at the mouth just a moment ago, it wasn’t even certain whether Batu would survive.
Guan Yan fell silent for a short while, his gaze shifting back to the robot on Bai Hewei’s shoulder before he answered, “Actually, you could always try the Central Research Institute. The top talents of the country are gathered there, and they have the best equipment in the entire world. If you go there for a full-body examination, you might be able to figure something out.”
In his mind, Wen Zhiyi decided that the next time Guan Yan submitted a thesis for grading, he would review it with extra meticulous care.
“Well, we’ll see,” Bai Hewei didn’t reject the idea outright this time; instead, he seemed to be giving it serious consideration.
There was no helping it, since Batu had turned out like this.
“Let’s go. We can just make it in time for the cafeteria’s late-night snacks,” Guan Yan urged. If they stayed here any longer, Batu really might pass away.
Whether Batu lived or died wasn’t the main concern, but he absolutely couldn’t die while they were still present on the premises.
“Alright,” Bai Hewei nodded.
Wang Ren let out a couple of soft clicks of his tongue. Seeing his sister’s eyes still glued to Bai Hewei, he was thoroughly startled and quickly nudged her to look away, lest she become the next Batu.
That night, after finishing his late-night snack, Bai Hewei went out for a walk to digest his food, while Guan Yan went to report the situation to the leadership committee.
After all, everyone was deeply concerned about the nature of Bai Hewei’s ability.
However, once Guan Yan finished his briefing, the leaders fell dead silent as well.
“Batu is truly that useless?” one leader couldn’t help but inquire. “Isn’t he supposed to be a top-tier global sensory-type Evolver? How is he such trash?”
The leaders were beginning to suspect whether this Batu had also been entirely overhyped.
After all, they had previously investigated quite a few Evolvers who claimed to “possess the power to destroy the world,” only to discover upon verification that it was basically just minor nations blowing their own trumpets to gain a sense of presence.
“Batu should be the real deal, and he even injected the third-generation Evolver Potion, which enhanced his ability,” Guan Yan said helplessly. “It is precisely because he is a top-tier sensory Evolver that his reaction to Bai Hewei was this extreme.”
It would have been better if Batu had been a bit of a fraud; at least he wouldn’t have devolved into this state.
“Look on the bright side. If we can’t figure it out, those foreign organizations stand even less of a chance.”
“We still need to report this faithfully to the central headquarters. Guan Yan, show us the reporting materials once you’ve finished drafting them, and send them out after we finalize the text.”
“It’s going to be a late night for you. Hand it to me before work tomorrow morning. Any objections?”
Of course there are objections! I want to sleep! Guan Yan roared furiously in his mind.
“No objections, Director,” Guan Yan relented anyway.
There was no helping it; he genuinely desired a promotion.
The next day, Bai Hewei slept until dawn.
He had added Wang Ren on WeChat. Upon waking up, he saw a message from Wang Ren saying that their task was finished, so they had caught an early flight back to the central headquarters. He added that if Bai Hewei ever visited the capital, he had to let him know in advance so he could treat him to a magnificent meal, and so forth.
Bai Hewei tossed his phone aside and began washing up.
Since Wang Ren and his sister had already headed back, it seemed his own departure date wasn’t far off either.
Sure enough, right after Bai Hewei finished his breakfast, he saw Guan Yan dragging his feet toward him.
“Hey, are you alright?” Seeing the heavy dark circles under Guan Yan’s eyes, Bai Hewei couldn’t help but ask out of concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. The text is finalized, no more revisions needed,” Guan Yan answered entirely beside the point. He quickly snapped out of it and offered a wry smile. “I spent the entire night revising the materials. I’m going back to catch some shut-eye in a bit. By the way, Comrade Xiao Bai, your mission here is officially completed. You can head back now. Our branch has already forwarded a commendation letter to your local Special Operations Department.”
Bai Hewei had already surmised that his deployment was drawing to a close, but actually hearing the good news from Guan Yan’s mouth still made him hop on the spot.
“Really? That’s wonderful!” Bai Hewei rubbed his hands with absolute excitement. “Am I still taking the same helicopter back?”
“Yes,” Guan Yan nodded.
“Since my mission wrapped up so quickly, can I take a slightly slower route on my way back?” Bai Hewei inquired suggestively.
Guan Yan paused for a fraction of a second, then smiled. “Sure. It’s not like we have to reimburse travel expenses anyway, so the timeline doesn’t need to align perfectly. Just be mindful—spend a maximum of one or two days playing around outside. Otherwise, Huo Ling will probably start spamming your phone with calls and losing sleep over it.”
Huo Ling and An Tingyu had arrived in a hurry and departed just as quickly; it was impossible for them to remain here over an extended period, so they had already headed back early.
However, the update confirming the conclusion of Bai Hewei’s mission couldn’t possibly be kept a secret. If Bai Hewei delayed his return for too long, Huo Ling would absolutely march right back over, terrified that his precious peach would be plucked by someone else.
“Got it, got it. I’ll definitely manage the time well,” Bai Hewei understood the boundaries perfectly.
He had already promised his parents and grandmother that he would use his annual leave to escort them to the capital, and he still had to meet with Director Yuan, which meant he wouldn’t be able to just play around completely unhindered then.
Now that the mission had concluded early, the higher-ups couldn’t officially grant him a holiday, but he could certainly grant himself one!
Delaying for a day or two when there were no other operational tasks wouldn’t disrupt anything.
Under normal circumstances, Guan Yan might have pondered whether to assign someone to shadow and protect Bai Hewei. But after spending these past few days around him, Guan Yan decided against finding an operative to act as dead weight for Bai Hewei.
With a caliber of strength like Bai Hewei’s, no matter how many rogue Evolvers showed up, they would merely be walking delivery items.
The world’s strongest truly carried zero padding.
“Number One, please map out the nearby tourist attractions and a transit route for me,” Bai Hewei addressed the robot on his shoulder as he sat inside the helicopter. “Since I’ve traveled all this way, I can’t just leave immediately. I have to enjoy myself for at least two days.”
“Commencing vacation route plotting for you.”
The voice emerging from the robot was not a human voice, but an automated synthesized one.
Sigh, what exactly is Number One busy with?
At the Central Research Institute.
Wen Zhiyi was currently fully occupied with running diagnostics on Cecilia, testing his various biometric data streams.
Initially, Cecilia had been intensely resistant, entirely unwilling to cooperate with the Research Institute, his entire countenance practically reading as a giant wall of caution.
Plain to see, through Cecilia’s eyes, not a single person inside a research facility like this was decent.
Wen Zhiyi wasn’t about to indulge him, directly locking Cecilia down with various structural suppressors, rendering him completely incapable of channelling his supernatural ability.
“You malicious researchers, don’t even dream of dissecting me!” Cecilia screamed. His body felt profoundly heavy, and the evolutionary particles inside his frame felt as though they had slipped into a deep comatose sleep, completely beyond his ability to mobilize.
As a side note, the Research Institute had pinned a real-time translator onto Cecilia’s garment; otherwise, communication would have been genuinely difficult.
“First of all, no one is going to dissect you. But if you desperately desire to be sliced open, I don’t mind fulfilling your wish,” Wen Zhiyi cast a cold, indifferent glance toward Cecilia. “Secondly, you are merely our defeated adversary; a loser carries zero leverage to throw a tantrum.”
“I didn’t lose!” Cecilia snapped furiously. “I merely let my guard down.”
“You can’t even break free from these suppressors,” Wen Zhiyi sneered, locking his gaze on the restraints. “Bai Hewei was wearing a suppressor throughout your entire match as well. From the absolute second you locked horns with him, the suppressor on his person was never once removed!”
That Evolver pendant had remained securely around Bai Hewei’s neck the entire time.
Cecilia froze completely on the spot.
“Take him to run the tests. If he refuses to cooperate, play mathematics tutorials on a loop inside his quarters,” Wen Zhiyi frowned. “To secure the clearest parameters regarding a supernatural ability, running diagnostics is only one part; it heavily requires the Evolver himself to coordinate and perform self-analysis. But for Cecilia’s profile, we must prioritize basic literacy training first to ensure he commands fundamental academic knowledge.”
The ability diagnostics engineered by their Research Institute were not one hundred percent absolute; conversely, the individual who comprehended a supernatural ability best was almost always the Evolver themselves.
Therefore, combining mechanical diagnostics with the active coordination of the Evolver was the absolute premier path to mapping out an ability.
“Understood, Chief,” the researchers had long since grown accustomed to this operational rhythm.
Besides, facing a rare specimen like a Rule-Based Evolver, they would happily sleep inside the laboratory every night just to thoroughly dissect his profile.
“Chief, Director Yuan is on the line.”
“Got it, I’ll head over right now,” Wen Zhiyi nodded, quickly stepping away from his current task to let his assistant continue monitoring the logs.
Wen Zhiyi returned to his private office. Director Yuan Heqing was already observing him from across the screen with a gentle smile.
“It’s currently the midday break, Zhiyi; there’s no need to be this formal,” Yuan Heqing’s tone sounded remarkably relaxed. “I’ve already reviewed the report from the border branch. It perfectly aligns with your prior speculation. Presently, quite a few old stubs within the central government are stamping their feet in pure frustration, yet they remain entirely powerless.”
Surrounding the intelligence parameters of Bai Hewei’s ability, various factions within the central government had split into several distinct tracks, each individual holding their own deep-seated political stance.
But once the final conclusion materialized, aside from elevating Bai Hewei’s classification profile to an absolute maximum and tightening his security clearance parameters to the absolute limit, they discovered they were completely stripped of alternatives.
“Every single baseline attribute of Bai Hewei stands squarely at the absolute peak of evolution, completely beyond the tracking capabilities of modern technology. As for sensory-type Evolvers, precisely because they perceive reality too clearly, a catastrophic collapse triggers immediately,” Wen Zhiyi answered accordingly. “You’ve observed Bai Hewei’s profile yourself, Director. Even though the border branch stopped at nothing to poach him, he merely experienced a brief flash of temptation. He carries deep-seated worries regarding the legitimacy of entering the official establishment via a backdoor, primarily because he terrifies that if he loses his supernatural ability one day, he will instantly lose all his value.”
Supernatural abilities were not an innate human trait; they had triggered via a sudden, massive wave of awakening five years ago, and everyone remained entirely in the dark regarding the absolute source of evolution.
And Bai Hewei’s experience was even more anomalous—he had merely taken a regular nap, waking up to find himself as the so-called strongest in the world.
Consequently, Bai Hewei’s mindset lacked the unbridled arrogance typical of young powerhouses; instead, it was completely packed with underlying anxiety.
Presently, I am harvesting an immense mountain of things that don’t truly belong to me due to this ability. If this power vanishes into thin air one day, will I still be capable of holding onto these assets?
It was easy to shift from frugality to luxury, but infinitely harder to revert from luxury to frugality.
Bai Hewei didn’t believe that if he occupied a high ranking position, he would remain completely unswayed from his original intentions, so he preferred to rely strictly on his own hard work from the very start.
Having spent these past few days interacting with him, Wen Zhiyi had long since deciphered Bai Hewei’s inner anxieties and thought patterns.
Truth be told, Bai Hewei’s perspective was exceptionally pragmatic and down-to-earth.
It was just that linking the words “down-to-earth” with the title of “the world’s strongest Evolver” felt incredibly incongruous.
“Bai Hewei is an excellent comrade,” Yuan Heqing nodded. “Once he arrives in the capital, I’ll sit down and have a proper conversation with him. But that is official business; there’s no need to rush it excessively.”
Wen Zhiyi remained silent.
Outside of official business, he genuinely had no idea how to engage in casual pleasantries.
“Once you wrap up your current task, remember to head home for dinner,” Yuan Heqing said gently. “The Research Institute won’t abruptly stop spinning if it goes a single day without you. Every now and then, you need to allow yourself to unwind. The landscape is no longer as chaotic as it was five years ago; those Evolvers are remarkably well-behaved now and don’t go around triggering incidents.”
Five years ago, Wen Zhiyi had been running around frantically like a firefighter trying to extinguish blazes everywhere.
Many Evolvers commanded bizarre capabilities, requiring the Research Institute to continuously engineer corresponding counter-tactics and tactical guidance on the fly. Wen Zhiyi had worked day and night to analyze different Evolver profiles, feeding data back to the local Special Operations branches. The absolute second an error triggered, emergency rectifications had to be mapped out immediately. It was entirely a young man’s game; a single slip-up could easily end in sudden death due to pure exhaustion. During the absolute peak periods, Wen Zhiyi and his fellow researchers routinely injected themselves with nutritional serums just to bypass meal times.
“I’ll find time to head back,” Wen Zhiyi looked into Yuan Heqing’s affectionate eyes, unable to bring himself to voice a refusal.
“Excellent. I’ll have the staff prepare some of your favorite dishes,” Yuan Heqing smiled. “Get some rest early; don’t drive yourself too hard.”
The call disconnected. Wen Zhiyi stepped out of his office, catching the sound of Cecilia howling like a banshee as the staff drew his blood and ran tests. Letting out a soft sigh, he returned to his work.
Cecilia had been captured, and Batu had devolved into a simpleton.
Following their frantic escape, Gentleman and his cohorts had kept a close eye on the updates.
But when the concrete intelligence materialized, they still couldn’t help but feel a wave of lingering dread.
“Cecilia stands as a Rule-Based Evolver. He commanded a literal army of heroes inside his game matrix—even I felt a trace of terror looking at his setup—yet he actually lost just like that?” Field couldn’t help but question. “Exactly what kind of underhanded methods did Bai Hewei’s team deploy?”
“Cecilia took pride in the fact that he had never lost a single video game match; he was far too arrogant, so triggering an oversight is perfectly normal,” Laurent added from the side. “Defeating him inside a game matrix is by no means mathematically impossible, provided someone maps out a solid plan in advance. China possesses a vast talent pool; neutralizing someone like Cecilia isn’t particularly difficult for them. Besides, he belongs to the ASEAN faction anyway and isn’t one of our core Evolvers, so his capture is not our problem to worry about.”
The forces backing these individuals were inherently complex and fragmented, so they were completely devoid of one mind. Consequently, even though Cecilia had been captured, they would absolutely never deploy to rescue him.
Conversely, Batu suddenly dissolving into a simpleton was an update that thoroughly piqued their curiosity, leaving them wanting to dig deeper.
“Batu stands as a top-tier sensory Evolver. For him to suddenly turn into a simpleton, I lean toward the theory that the Special Operations Department executed an operation precisely to suppress Bai Hewei’s ability data!” Field’s eyes gleamed. “In other words, provided we find a way to cure Batu, we can extract every shred of Bai Hewei’s details from his mouth.”
“He has already turned into a literal simpleton; can he genuinely be cured?” Laurent rolled her eyes. “Even if there exists a mechanism to cure him, wouldn’t it be infinitely safer to just terminate him directly?”
“The intelligence regarding Bai Hewei is bound to be anchored within the central Special Operations Department. We can simply have our deep-cover agents and spies launch a thorough search,” Gentleman added evenly. “This is no longer our problem to worry about; those politicians will naturally exert their own efforts.”
“By the way, I haven’t seen Pullman lately. Several Evolvers went looking for him to purge their abilities but couldn’t find him anywhere. Gentleman, do you know where he went?”
“I have no idea,” Gentleman replied impassively. “I merely engaged in an equitable transaction with him; he would never disclose his travel plans to me.”
Bai Hewei enjoyed himself thoroughly outside for two days before finally taking the helicopter back.
His primary operational protocol was sleeping until he woke up naturally, heading out to sample highly rated local diners, and catching the scenery.
Compared to regular backpackers who had to drive themselves to see magnificent views, Bai Hewei’s vacation was infinitely more luxurious.
He commanded a helicopter, heh.
Scenic vistas that required a full two-hour drive to reach took a mere half hour via the aircraft.
The scenery at the border was truly spectacular.
Bai Hewei’s phone was completely packed with landscape photos.
Only when An Tingyu couldn’t hold back any longer and placed a call to inquire about his coordinates did Bai Hewei reluctantly head back.
Correction—head back to the hospital.
He was currently still in an “injured” state, after all.
The helicopter landed directly within the Special Operations compound.
Bai Hewei felt an immense wave of reluctance; he had never encountered a transit vehicle more sleek or time-efficient than this helicopter.
Who knew when he would manage to own one himself?
Adhering strictly to the principle of setting up a flawless facade, Bai Hewei collected his official discharge certificate and hospital invoice before limping out of the clinic doors.
One had to execute a performance thoroughly, after all.
The absolute second he stepped out of the hospital entrance, a voice echoed.
“Hey there!” A young Westerner with blonde hair and blue eyes caught sight of Bai Hewei, marching over with absolute elation. Beside him stood a friend wrapped in a heavy plaster cast.
Staring at this foreign youth, Bai Hewei found him a bit familiar.
“Thanks for giving me directions last time! I successfully registered for the state-owned enterprise’s basketball team and can participate in the matches now. These are tickets to our upcoming game; you absolutely must come watch,” the foreign youth stated with radiant enthusiasm.
Oh, he remembered now—there had been an incident like that.
Pullman fished a small booklet of tickets from his bag, handing two over to Bai Hewei. “You can bring a friend along to watch too.”
With that, Pullman turned back around, supporting his friend as they headed inside for a follow-up consultation.
Bai Hewei offered a polite thank-you, pocketing the tickets.
In reality, their subdistrict office distributed these exact items as well.
To serve as spectators and fill empty seats, after all.
Bai Hewei posted a status update on his Moments, attaching a photo of his hospital discharge certificate.
Within a short window, his phone buzzed with continuous calls from various colleagues, and a massive stack of comments piled up beneath the post.
Bai Hewei replied to each one individually, stating that after resting for another day or two, he would return to work to achieve collective progress alongside everyone, and so forth.
Before long, even the subdistrict secretary placed a call to express his concern.
If this had happened in the past, Bai Hewei would have been gripped by a trace of awe and trepidation. But things were different now; having smiled and chatted alongside a massive leader like the director of the border branch, his heart felt considerably more grounded.
No, I absolutely cannot allow myself to become arrogant.
Bai Hewei checked his ego instantly, deeply sensing that after becoming an Evolver, the volume of temptation one faced skyrocketed drastically. A single oversight could easily lead to an ideological slide, which was unacceptable.
Therefore, Bai Hewei resolved to head back and drill a set of practice questions, purely to correct his flawed thinking.
If he sustained a slacker mentality over a long period, how was he ever going to score high on the Essay?
The moment he arrived home, Bai Hewei received an exam link forwarded by Guan Yan: [Border Emergency Talent Public Institution Examination].
They were recruiting a whopping four to five hundred personnel! Furthermore, it carried zero registration fees, required only an associate degree as the baseline credential, carved out zero restrictions for recent graduates, and provided robust talent subsidies along with a dedicated talent studio apartment upon a successful placement!
This treatment was spectacular.
Bai Hewei searched online for a bit, discovering that algorithms had already detected his browsing logs, and various platforms were frantically pushing content related to the registration parameters and rank benefits to his feed.
Among them, a viral post on Xiaohongshu featured an operative from the border Special Operations branch sharing a first-hand review—complete with food photos, a pixelated pre-tax income screenshot from the Individual Income Tax app, magnificent landscape shots, and so forth.
The post had already cleared one hundred thousand views, with over a thousand comments beneath it, every single person thoroughly shocked by the compensation package and the scenery.
Such a beautiful region, such exceptional benefits—even if it was a bit remote, the salary was high, the perks were great, and the exam cutoff threshold was remarkably low; a score of 120 was enough to get in.
What more could anyone possibly ask for?
Bai Hewei’s heart felt a powerful surge of temptation, and he nimbly clicked through to complete the registration.
“He did it, he did it! Bai Hewei’s registration information just cleared!”
“Captain, this algorithmic programming approach is genuinely effective! Our post was custom-targeted right into Bai Hewei’s phone feed.”
“Fantastic! Finally, no more overtime!”
Guan Yan’s team members desperately wanted to purchase a commemorative banner for themselves. It hadn’t been easy; to ensure Bai Hewei completed the registration, they had forcefully learned how to navigate these social media platforms, master algorithms, and optimize precision delivery.
“…Wasn’t that basically accomplished with an AI assisting your operations?” Guan Yan felt somewhat at a loss for words. “But whatever, getting Bai Hewei to register stands as the very first step of our victory. By the way, did you write in the clause regarding the ten-year service requirement?”
“We hid it discreetly at the very bottom of the form.”
“Excellent.”
They had truly expended an immense amount of thought just to poach Bai Hewei. Although Bai Hewei had promised them smoothly on-site that he would register, who could guarantee his mindset wouldn’t alter once he returned home?
Huo Ling and his team understood those exact playbooks as well.
Since Bai Hewei desired to enter the establishment via legitimate procedures, they provided a legitimate procedure custom-tailored to his profile—this layout carried zero flaws, right?
“An asset as absolute as Bai Hewei should be shining brightly within our branch, after all.”
…
“Director Huo, Bai Hewei seems to have genuinely completed the registration,” An Tingyu’s expression turned grim. “They are genuinely poaching our wall. They even set up a ten-year service requirement, making it plainly obvious they have no intention of returning our prize.”
This was far too excessive! The strongest Evolver in the world, whom they had worked tirelessly to discover—on what grounds should they hand him over to someone else?
“I knew it,” Huo Ling gnashed his teeth. “Heh, their exam thresholds are low, right? Their perks are great, right? Then let’s give them a helping hand. I’ll personally transfer funds out of my own pocket to purchase an immense block of promotional traffic for them, making their magnificent benefits and low exam scores famous across the entire country!”
Trying to scoop food out of my bowl? Pfft. I absolutely refuse to be defeated this easily.
That night, virtually every single person grinding for the civil service and public institution exams across the country received a platform push notification detailing the border emergency talent exam. The corresponding perks, benefits, and low cutoff thresholds were laid out across a crystal-clear spreadsheet, fully visible at a single glance.
The next morning, when Guan Yan and his team arrived at work, they received a heavy piece of news.
The registration server had completely crashed due to the sudden, catastrophic influx of applicants.
Author’s Note:
Huo Ling: Pfft, everyone wants to compete against me for my prize!
