Chapter 37
When Bai Hewei registered for the exam, he had been brimming with absolute confidence, solving the practice questions as if assisted by a deity.
But when he woke up and saw the news on the exam portal stating that the server had crashed due to the staggering number of applicants, the smile froze completely on his face.
Wait a minute. For a remote place like this, didn’t they promise that absolutely no one would apply?
Bai Hewei quickly checked the status of the specific post he had registered for.
For an examination of this scale, the total number of registered applicants for each slot was usually published on the second day, allowing candidates to freely pivot between different positions.
Bai Hewei swiftly located his registered post, and his eyes practically glazed over.
The position he had selected wasn’t one of those unrestricted, entry-level slots; conversely, his post carried strict requirements, limiting applicants to those with a bachelor’s degree or above, party membership, specific majors, and it even restricted applicants to Evolvers.
Anyone who frequently took public exams knew that the more numerous the restrictions, the smaller the applicant pool.
Furthermore, most Evolvers were entirely unwilling to take up permanent residence out at the border.
Everyone knew that the border was a unique region with a high volume of foreign rogue Evolvers, making it highly volatile. Meanwhile, the vast majority of domestic Evolvers preferred above all to quietly live an ordinary life in safety, which explained why the cutoff scores for Evolver posts at the border had historically been rock-bottom. Word was, during the previous year’s cycle, several positions hadn’t received a single applicant.
Yet when it was Bai Hewei’s turn to register, he discovered that the total number of applicants had already hit thirty. And this was merely the first day.
The most terrifying part was the entry-level track requiring only an associate degree with zero restrictions. On day one, a staggering two thousand people had already registered, putting the post in a league of its own.
Bai Hewei scrolled further through the forums, which had completely devolved into a massive wall of complaints.
“Didn’t they promise that the number of applicants would be tiny? Staring at the data sheet, my mind is completely numb. You call this a tiny applicant pool?”
“I am an Evolver and I am fully willing to head to the border to make a contribution to the nation! I’m begging you, give me an opportunity to sacrifice myself for the state; I will absolutely hold the people in my heart.”
“An associate degree post with zero restrictions is a bit excessive; this is a textbook ten-thousand-person death match.”
“A mountain of people probably just registered for this post to treat it as a practice run, right?”
“Hilarious. The border Bureau of Culture and Tourism released over a dozen short videos on a loop, telling the vast crowd of candidates to come look at the scenery.”
“This exam actually carries zero registration fees? Tsk tsk, what a shame.”
…
Over at the border Special Operations branch, the personnel were completely dumbfounded as well.
“How… How many people? A staggering fifty thousand registered on the very first day?” Guan Yan was shocked. “Where on earth am I supposed to secure that many examination rooms for you guys?”
“To make matters worse, the Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security and the Organization Department have completely gone crazy with work overload. Their principal leaders took the initiative to pack quilts and toothpaste to sleep inside their units; things are bound to be grueling for them moving forward.”
“What happened? This defies all logic. Wasn’t that specific post custom-targeted right into Bai Hewei’s phone feed?”
“It was similarly custom-targeted to a mountain of other candidates who, just like Bai Hewei, are grinding for public exams.”
“Sigh, Captain, you have no idea. Lately, fiscal budgets across many regions have been suffering, and certain impoverished districts can barely afford to distribute salaries. But our branch is completely different; our financial reserves are abundant, and our benefits are spectacular. Previously, everyone harbored a trace of hesitation, but with this massive push across all social media platforms this time, who wouldn’t scramble to come over?”
The border region managed an immense volume of international trade. With a vast territory and a sparse population, their fiscal reserves and local economy were naturally exceptionally comfortable, allowing them to provide top-tier benefits to personnel within the official establishment.
Even if it required relocating far from their hometowns, securing an exceptional salary along with robust home leave made the tradeoff fully worth it. Given how developed modern transportation was, returning home was an effortless task anyway, so candidates from every corner of the country had naturally flocked here.
“Then… Then what about the specific position Bai Hewei registered for?” Guan Yan had never custom-tailored a “carrot post” for anyone before. Encountering a massive hurdle like this on his very first attempt left him thoroughly helpless.
“…Although the statistical tally this morning indicated thirty-some individuals, in reality, it’s already approaching a full hundred,” a team member sighed. “Perhaps we should have restricted the position to higher-tier Evolver grades; the timeline was too compressed previously for us to consider that variable.”
Guan Yan was completely left without a option.
Staring at the number of registered applicants for his post, Bai Hewei knew that this exam cycle was highly probable to be a brutal struggle once again.
But whatever. He wasn’t entirely dead-set on securing a placement out at the border anyway; if he passed, he would go, and if he failed, it wouldn’t matter.
After all, he still had a full one million yuan resting securely in his hands.
Following a full day of quiet rest at home, Bai Hewei returned to his unit to work his regular shift.
The timing of his return wasn’t particularly fortunate. The summer months consistently stood as the peak period for high-intensity campaigns to build a civilized and hygienic city.
These campaigns could be categorized as an inescapable destiny for every single grassroots worker.
If their luck was spectacular, the inspection teams would descend during the autumn or winter months, making the deployment significantly more tolerable under pleasant weather conditions. But if they descended during the peak of summer, regardless of how much resentment Bai Hewei and his colleagues harbored, they still had to brave the blistering forty-degree heat to pick up litter, act as volunteers, and blare announcements through mega-horns.
Naturally, Bai Hewei was reassigned to his familiar community sector, executing tasks alongside the local community workers.
“Xiao Bai, didn’t you just fracture your leg? A broken bone takes a full hundred days to mend. Even if your recovery has progressed reasonably well, you still shouldn’t sustain long periods of walking. Take breaks whenever you need to, and don’t force yourself,” the supervisor in charge, Zhang Peng, instructed with absolute care. “The weather is blistering hot; remember to wear your neck fans so you don’t suffer heatstroke. I ordered some coffee for everyone; grab it to drink along the way.”
“Thank you, Director Zhang.”
The community personnel and Bai Hewei all deeply respected Zhang Peng as a supervisor. A young leader carried this exact advantage—he didn’t push responsibilities away when issues surfaced, and he genuinely cared for his subordinates. Although coffee and milk tea didn’t cost a fortune, it still manifested a leader’s sincere consideration.
Xiao Yi, who had accompanied Bai Hewei during his previous home visit to an Evolver, had been assigned to a different tactical group for this shift, leaving Bai Hewei to execute tasks alongside another community worker, Xiao Wang.
“Actually, this civilized city campaign is reasonably tolerable this time. The Municipal Bureau of Urban Management dispatched several formidable Evolvers who command unique capabilities, allowing them to levitate litter on the street out of thin air to consolidate it into a single repository. In the past, they refrained from deploying these Evolvers primarily to safeguard employment opportunities for sanitation workers, ensuring those elderly, low-income demographics commanded a baseline livelihood. But since this is a critical inspection window, they had to enlist these Evolvers to step out,” Xiao Wang noted. As a local whose entire family was rooted within the system, his channels were naturally exceptionally well-informed.
Sanitation roles carried meager salaries and grueling physical demands; only those whose financial conditions were genuinely broken and who couldn’t secure employment due to advanced age would take these jobs, making the arrangement a sincere act of state benevolence.
If the compensation package were elevated significantly, these elderly individuals would never stand a chance of securing the positions.
In the past, whenever a civilized city campaign commenced, these sanitation workers had to labor day and night without a break. Although they usually received a trace of hazard pay, and additional funds were occasionally expended to recruit volunteers to assist, an immense volume of litter still remained remarkably difficult to clear completely.
But things were infinitely easier now with Evolvers on the job.
Bai Hewei nodded in agreement. “This setup is excellent; it saves us a mountain of chores. The abilities of these Evolvers are infinitely more time-efficient than those garbage trucks. In the past, those trucks charged a fee for every single haul, yet those residents still intentionally piled their massive litter out in the open, which was genuinely infuriating!”
Every time a civilized city campaign rolled around, a few eccentric residents would take the opportunity to stir up trouble.
Things like construction debris, discarded old sofas, and broken furniture—they would wait until the cover of night to dump everything onto the streets.
If they hired independent haulers to clear these items, it would require a substantial fee out of their own pockets. But during a civilized city campaign, all this litter would be cleared and hauled away by the community subdistrict and urban management departments for free.
Even though it was infuriating, it was completely impossible to drag every single offender out of their homes to hold them accountable, so they could only haul the litter away first before addressing anything else.
“Sigh, speak of the devil. Look over there—isn’t that the Evolver I just mentioned?” Xiao Wang pointed straight ahead.
Bai Hewei turned his gaze toward the coordinate Xiao Wang indicated, discovering an Evolver channelling his ability to manipulate a massive mass of trash to fly through the air. The bulk of it actually blocked out the blistering sunlight, casting a wide shadow across the pavement.
Before long, this Evolver paced over toward their position.
Since both Bai Hewei and Xiao Wang were clad in the neon-orange vests typical of community volunteers, the Evolver approached them and offered a polite inquiry. “Hey there, fellas. Is there any accumulated litter in your sector that requires clearing? I can haul it away along with this batch. The Heping District falls under my designated jurisdiction, and I’m currently on patrol.”
“Yes, absolutely! Behind the back gate of that alleyway over there, someone dumped a massive pile of broken bricks,” Xiao Wang quickly unlocked his phone, displaying a photograph he had snapped to the Evolver. “And right here, there’s a heap of kitchen waste that has already gone completely sour; a whole swarm of flies is buzzing around it…”
The Evolver added Xiao Wang on WeChat to collect the photos, then headed off to execute the cleanup.
Bai Hewei caught sight of the Evolver Badge pinned to the man’s collar, realizing he was an operative of B-Class or above.
This is spectacular. An ability like this is genuinely a perfect match for the Bureau of Urban Management!
Bai Hewei’s longing gaze was completely impossible to reel back.
“Evolvers are indeed fiercely coveted. Stop staring,” Xiao Wang sighed. “I desperately wanted to awaken as an Evolver myself in the past, but after undergoing diagnostic testing once, I discovered I simply lacked that biological destiny.”
“Securing an Evolver status or not doesn’t really matter, but positions within the municipal organs are infinitely more relaxed, and their functional duties are clearly delineated. Unlike us, we spend the day picking up litter here, and when night falls, we still have to head to the basketball arena to serve as spectators and fill empty seats,” Bai Hewei sighed. That foreigner named Pullman had personally presented him with tickets, yet on his very first day back at the unit, the leaders had custom-delivered another set of tickets to his desk anyway.
During these blistering summer days, local residents had zero desire to head to an arena to watch a basketball game. The venue lacked air conditioning, and bringing external bottled water inside was strictly barred, leaving the spectator count remarkably sparse.
From the municipal level down to the grassroots units, every single organ had to assign a specified quota of personnel to attend simply to fill empty seats.
And since Bai Hewei was a bachelor who didn’t have a wife or children waiting for him at home, this chore naturally landed squarely onto his shoulders.
“Haha, you should go check it out. I heard this basketball tournament features several foreign ringers—handsome international students, and there are even influencers going over to live-stream the match,” Xiao Wang chuckled.
“Sigh, I originally intended to head back to drill a set of practice questions tonight. Forget it, I probably won’t pass that exam anyway.” Seeing the massive surge of registered applicants for his post, Bai Hewei had completely lost his drive.
Once his shift at the community sector concluded, Bai Hewei headed over to a popular food street near a local university to enjoy a bowl of pork intestine noodles, even adding a braised egg, before purchasing a cup of iced lemon tea to stroll unhurriedly toward the sports arena.
Traffic police were already stationed around the perimeter of the arena to direct transit and prevent chaotic parking.
Bai Hewei noticed that the massive electronic display screen outside the arena was completely dominated by photographs of Pullman, and a small crowd of young men and women had gathered beneath the screen to snap check-in photos.
“This Westerner is remarkably popular.”
“He’s incredibly handsome, after all. Because he’s playing in this match, the spectator count has spiked significantly compared to previous games.”
“His mechanical basketball skills are exceptional as well.”
Hearing the chatter of the nearby residents, Bai Hewei finally processed that this foreigner was genuinely a local celebrity.
Bai Hewei fished out his tickets and stepped inside the arena.
The tickets Pullman had presented him occupied the absolute premier vantage points for watching the match, whereas the tickets issued by his unit were located in a remote, dusty corner. Which seat Bai Hewei would choose to occupy required zero explanation.
Prior to the match, a cheerleading squad from a nearby university delivered an opening performance. Bai Hewei cast a single glance at the display, found it uninteresting, and resumed scrolling through his phone.
Only when the competing teams began filing into the court did Bai Hewei steal another glance, and a trace of anomaly caught his attention.
If memory served correctly, supernatural abilities were strictly barred from these standard athletic competitions.
An Evolver and an ordinary citizen could never be placed onto the same competitive stage for comparison.
Yet right now, how on earth had an Evolver managed to blend into the ranks?
Bai Hewei leveled his gaze at the court; the individual was a seemingly unremarkable point guard playing within a certain corporate team.
Forget it, I shouldn’t stick my nose into business that doesn’t concern me.
For a tournament of this scale, the referees and the organizing committee routinely deployed handheld detectors to scan the participating athletes for evolutionary particles. Provided a scan cleared successfully, that individual was barred from entering the match.
Yet right now, this Evolver had blended into the lineup in a completely flagrant manner, making it plainly obvious which specific link in the administrative chain had broken down.
An athletic match like this, to put it pleasantly, was a collaborative engagement between various municipal units and local corporations; to put it bluntly, it was pure self-amusement. Securing a victory yielded zero actual bounty, and losing carried zero disgrace, so legitimate units rarely treated a tournament of this track with extreme seriousness.
Who would go through the elaborate trouble of deploying an actual Evolver just to rig a match like this?
But since it had been done, there was bound to be an underlying logic.
Bai Hewei scrolled through his phone while watching the match. Aside from the interior of the arena being stiflingly hot, everything else was reasonably tolerable.
Looking at Pullman, as an external ringer, he magnificently displayed his physical dominance. Shortly after stepping onto the court, he executed a flawless shot to sink a basket, racking up several points as his teammates cheered for him on a loop.
But as the first half drew toward its conclusion, Pullman’s team began to trigger frequent, bizarre mechanical errors.
One player was dribbling the ball perfectly, only to completely lose his grip on empty air; another player executed a pass, yet the sheer force behind it sent the ball flying straight into an opponent’s hands; worse yet, a shot bounced along the rim of the basket repeatedly, refusing to sink inside, before ultimately rolling right back out.
Conversely, the opposing team seized these exact openings, closing the score gap in a single breath.
By the time the first half concluded, the match stood at a dead stalemate.
“Exercise extreme caution. Don’t make the manipulation too blatant; this match is being recorded for replays.”
“Relax, Coach. My ability is completely hidden.”
Right as they were whispering among themselves, they watched that immensely popular player named Pullman suddenly turn his head to lock his gaze squarely onto their position.
The Evolver playing point guard, Liu Ming, felt a sudden, freezing shiver rack his spine for some unexplainable reason.
During the second half of the match, Pullman’s offensive drives grew increasingly ferocious. However, under the absolute manipulation of the opponent’s supernatural ability, his team still dropped the game by a narrow two-point margin.
“Don’t worry about it. A loss is just a loss; we still have the wildcard redemption brackets. Today’s match primarily suffered from a few minor strings of bad luck,” the coach offered a trace of consolation, completely unbothered by the defeat. He reasoned that their performance today had mostly suffered from a lack of luck during critical moments.
If those few shots hadn’t bounced along the rim, they would have secured a sweeping victory long ago.
Pullman remained silent, his countenance serene, leaving it impossible to discern his thoughts.
Once the arena emptied out after the match, Pullman didn’t rush home. Instead, he changed into regular clothes and began wandering the streets outside.
Meanwhile, the players from the victorious corporate team rushed over to a highly rated local barbecue joint, ordering a massive spread of skewers and beer to launch a grand celebration.
“We completely owe this to Brother Liu.”
“Hahaha, Brother Liu’s manipulation thresholds were executed with absolute precision.”
“Those guys had no idea how they even lost, haha!”
…
The group exchanged toasts, looking thoroughly triumphant and brimming with pure joy.
The Evolver, Liu Ming, had initially harbored a trace of guilt, but once the inputs were executed, he grew accustomed to it. Besides, he hadn’t taken the initiative to seek out the corporation; this enterprise desperately wanted to secure first place but lacked elite players, which was why they had tracked him down. Weren’t those other municipal units and corporations similarly recruiting a mountain of Westerners or professional athletes to act as external ringers?
“I’m heading out to find a restroom nearby,” Liu Ming stated, intending to use a public restroom to relieve himself. The barbecue joint was currently at peak capacity, and several people were already queued up outside the diner’s restroom, meaning he wouldn’t be able to secure a slot anytime soon.
“Go ahead, go ahead.”
Liu Ming’s luck was decent; barely a few hundred meters away, he located a public sanitation facility. But right as he stepped past the threshold, he discovered a shadow stalking his position from behind.
“Who’s there?”
Liu Ming turned his head, but his vision went completely black instantaneously, and he collapsed flat onto the floor.
A hand came down to rest securely against Liu Ming’s forehead.
Supernatural ability: Purge.
“That’s enough. You’ve completely dispersed the evolutionary particles inside his body. Given his energy thresholds, he won’t be able to channel his ability for at least half a year. He was merely bought out by a corporation, and the tournament organizers chose to turn a blind eye anyway; there’s no need to execute a fatal strike against him.” Out of nowhere, Bai Hewei’s figure materialized inside the restroom.
Pullman turned his head, locking his gaze onto Bai Hewei. After a brief moment of hesitation, he asked, “You deliberately staked out this sector to intercept me? Just for his sake?”
“You can’t take a literal human life over a minor athletic tournament like this, can you?” Bai Hewei shrugged. “This ability of yours is genuinely fascinating. When I first encountered you, I couldn’t perceive a single shred of evolutionary energy inside your frame, yet your presence still gave me a remarkably strange sensation. I hadn’t anticipated that you could actually disperse another person’s supernatural power; truly remarkable.”
In reality, Bai Hewei hadn’t been entirely certain whether Pullman was an actual Evolver initially.
However, when Liu Ming deployed his ability to cheat on the court, Pullman had looked intensely furious. For a split second, Bai Hewei had caught a transient flash of evolutionary particles emitting from Pullman’s body.
Consequently, once the match wrapped up, Bai Hewei didn’t rush home; instead, he stayed behind, intending to observe exactly how Pullman would act.
And sure enough, he had caught Pullman on the verge of launching a strike against Liu Ming, forcing him to step out and issue a verbal warning.
“You can perceive the evolutionary particles inside our bodies?” Pullman caught onto the vital detail.
“Pretty much, but I don’t usually go out of my way to scan people,” Bai Hewei nodded. “It’s getting late; how about I treat you to a drink?”
Under normal circumstances, Bai Hewei would never meddle in Pullman’s affairs. But presently, the man stood as a rare and unique classification of Evolver, and he had repeatedly initiated contact with him without harboring malicious intent, so Bai Hewei wasn’t about to rashly throw hands.
Pullman retracted his hand from Liu Ming’s forehead. “He merely won’t be able to deploy his ability for a year; I did not inflict permanent trauma on his body.”
“The world’s strongest Evolver is extending an invitation to treat me to a drink—naturally, I won’t refuse!”
Naturally, Bai Hewei wasn’t about to genuinely treat him to high-end vintage liquor. He merely led Pullman to a local roadside food stall, ordering a pitcher of draft beer, which was fully sufficient.
“Where exactly do you come from?” Bai Hewei cut straight to the chase. “You deliberately initiated contact with me previously, yet refrained from launching an assault, choosing instead to camouflage yourself as an ordinary citizen. Let me lay down a hard line first: if you turn out to be a foreign agent or spy, I’ll go turn you in to the National Security Bureau immediately.”
“Gentleman clashed against you previously and had his arm severed. He sought me out to treat his injuries. I felt your ability parameters looked exceptionally fascinating, so I traveled over,” Pullman replied without a trace of concealment. “I leveraged an international student cover; the lifestyle in this region is spectacular, and I like this place quite a bit. Along the way, I joined the basketball league and drew close to your coordinates.”
“You’re a healing-type Evolver?” Bai Hewei shot him a deeply suspicious glance. “You don’t look like one.”
“My sister is the actual healing-type. You left a trace of your own evolutionary energy on Gentleman’s stump, rendering his physical trauma completely incapable of knitting together, and standard regeneration capabilities were nullified against the wound, which was why he sought me out to execute a purge,” Pullman shared casually. “Otherwise, Gentleman would have likely succumbed to a fatal, continuous hemorrhage. Since I disrupted your operational outcome, it is entirely natural for me to travel over to observe the source.”
“Injustice!” Bai Hewei was shocked. “When did I ever attempt to kill him? He was clearly the one out to assassinate me!”
Pullman stared at Bai Hewei for a long moment, before letting out a soft laugh. “If an individual’s internal evolutionary energy is too overwhelming, any opponent clashing against them will inevitably have their physical frame tainted by that dominant energy. Take me, for example—the energy I left inside Liu Ming’s body can continuously suppress his evolutionary particles for a full year, reducing him to an ordinary citizen. If I had been a bit more malicious, I could have violently disrupted his internal organs, causing him to perish entirely undetected.”
“Did you honestly not intend to torture Gentleman to death, which was why you left a block of your evolutionary energy inside his wound?”
Bai Hewei was tasting the exact flavor of a midsummer snowstorm right now.
“I am an absolute law-abiding citizen!” Bai Hewei barked furiously. “Gentleman launched an unprovoked assault against my person! I was entirely worried that my counter-strikes might be too heavy, and if the court ruled it as excessive self-defense, it would blemish my file and affect my public exams. Why on earth would I do something like that?”
“Then it was entirely an unconscious deployment on your part, but the residual energy on his wound is an absolute reality,” Pullman smiled. “In that case, perhaps you should coordinate with the Research Institute to attempt to learn how to properly rein in your power. Otherwise, you will unconsciously terminate any Evolver who stands as your adversary—and I surmise you probably wouldn’t enjoy having that kind of reality manifest.”
Help, this is somehow my fault now?
Counting from my initial awakening until today, I’ve barely possessed this ability for a single month, okay?!
Bai Hewei wanted to weep in silence.
However, he could still take Pullman’s advice to heart. If he had remained entirely ignorant of this mechanic, it would be one thing; but now that he knew, Bai Hewei felt that the next moment, a squad of police officers would completely surround his position, claiming he was a prime suspect in a homicide case.
He definitely had to go study how to control his energy.
“What about you then?” Bai Hewei executed a stiff pivot to shift the subject. “A dignified top-tier Evolver camouflaging himself as an ordinary citizen just to play basketball here?”
“I am conducting a field appraisal of your country’s socio-political landscape,” Pullman answered righteously. “My sister and I are not short on cash; we merely desire to locate a secure region to anchor our home. I am currently researching China’s immigration frameworks, weighing whether to go through the path of investment migration or the special talent recruitment track for Evolvers.”
China’s permanent residency requirements were notoriously strict. Following extensive research, Pullman discovered that going through the Evolver talent recruitment initiative was significantly more accessible. Furthermore, his sister and he actually held dual citizenships and harbored zero actual loyalty toward their home nation or any rogue syndicates.
Consequently, selecting a secure, stable lifestyle environment was paramount for them.
Pullman had even checked the local orphanages and charitable institutions in remote sectors. He expected these operations to be executed flawlessly inside major metropolises, but for remote regions to manage them to a reasonably decent standard was exceptionally rare.
He had primarily worried whether local forces would covet his sister’s top-tier healing capabilities.
Yet instead of a malicious environment, he discovered that Evolver clinics and specialized hospitals were flourishing everywhere.
Pullman felt the atmosphere here was spectacular, easily allowing a person to completely unwind.
“I intend to purchase a villa near your residence to house my sister,” Pullman stated bluntly. “That way, I won’t have to worry about her personal safety ever again.”
Author’s Note:
Pullman: I never anticipated that playing a minor athletic match would expose me to underhanded cheating by a low-level Evolver.
