I, the World’s Strongest, Have Failed the Civil Service Exam Thirty-Nine Times – CH53

Chapter 53

Perhaps because Bai Hewei had been moving in directions where evolutionary energy was less dense, the Forbidden Zone lifeforms he encountered subsequently grew gradually scarcer.

Mister Number One was no longer as excited as before, and he didn’t sound nearly as energetic when speaking to him.

There was no daytime or nighttime inside the Forbidden Zone, but Bai Hewei remembered it was already afternoon when they entered, and he had been walking for so long. Upon hearing Mister Number One say it was already 9:00 PM outside, Bai Hewei absolutely refused to take another step.

Standard clock-out time was 6:00 PM, yet he had traveled all the way until 9:00 PM; no wonder he felt both exhausted and starving.

Bai Hewei checked his backpack, pulled out a small bottle of water and a bar of survival rations, and completely finished his dinner within two minutes.

There was no helping it; if he ate any slower, the water and rations would spoil.

His backpack was specially crafted. Once the items inside were removed, the backpack itself functioned as a basic tent, while the sleeping bag was compressed using a specialized material, starting out tiny and requiring inflation before use. The remaining contents consisted of some routine medications, water, survival rations, a small knife, a nuclear-powered flashlight, and so forth.

At most, it was only enough to sustain him for ten days, after which he would have to head out to restock logistics supplies.

Bai Hewei disassembled the backpack to pitch the tent and blew up the sleeping bag in one breath before crawling inside to rest.

He turned on his phone, and sure enough, it showed a complete lack of signal.

Fortunately, he had pre-downloaded some novels on his phone, so he wasn’t entirely devoid of entertainment.

“At a time like this, I actually miss Cecilia a bit,” Bai Hewei sighed. “If he were here, I could at least play games with him tonight. The greatest perk of his superpower is being able to play video games anytime, anywhere. Otherwise, tonight is just dry and boring, and I feel like I can’t really fall asleep.”

Wen Zhiyi had originally intended to bid Bai Hewei goodnight before heading back to pull more overtime. However, hearing Bai Hewei’s sigh, he couldn’t help but chime in, “Do you need me to download a few administrative aptitude test papers for you? You can practice the questions using the robot’s screen.”

“Cough, I feel rather drowsy after walking for so long today. Goodnight.” Hearing this, Bai Hewei expressed his refusal with absolute gratitude.

Wen Zhiyi really wanted to say: You talk a big game about wanting to grind hard for the exam, yet at the critical juncture, laziness takes the upper hand again.

The fact that Bai Hewei had failed the exam so many times was inextricably linked to this trait of his.

Yet he stubbornly insisted on passing legally and legitimately based solely on his own hard work.

This contradictory behavior was truly laughable.

However, it made Bai Hewei appear far more authentic, instantly rendering the world’s strongest Evolver highly down-to-earth and erasing that pre-existing sense of distance in people’s minds. After all, an ordinary human fundamentally lived their days amidst a myriad of absolute contradictions.

The more authentic Bai Hewei was, the better the impression others harbored of him instead. In fact, they genuinely believed down to their core that Bai Hewei was getting the short end of the stick, trying every possible method to compensate him from other angles.

Even Wen Zhiyi noticed the shift in his own perception of Bai Hewei.

From initial vigilance and distrust to genuinely considering Bai Hewei’s future career path at present—the time elapsed had merely been a short few months.

He was a truly miraculous person.

Wen Zhiyi swallowed his study advice, deciding it was best not to provoke Bai Hewei further. This was a Forbidden Zone, after all; if he genuinely provoked Bai Hewei into an absolute fit of rage, it wouldn’t end well.

“Goodnight,” Wen Zhiyi bid Bai Hewei farewell.

Once Mister Number One’s lights went dark, Bai Hewei snapped his eyes open, stealthily crawling up to read novels on his phone.

As a young guy, not pulling an all-nighter was virtually impossible.

The tent offered exceptional light-blocking properties. The tiny sliver of faint light radiating from the phone screen was sealed airtight. Bai Hewei pulled a full all-nighter, completely safe and sound.

Meanwhile, over on Cecilia’s end.

“The backpack is completely stuffed with survival rations, sigh,” Cecilia said, a look of absolute misery on his face. “Let’s wrap this up quickly; I miss the entire street of food stalls right below my house.”

“You’re actually adapting rather well,” Pullman remarked, looking at Cecilia with a somewhat complex expression. “Although I hadn’t crossed paths with you in the past, I vaguely heard rumors that the ASEAN had secretly cultivated an elite Evolver, spending a fortune to satisfy your requirements.”

Yet upon being captured, Cecilia had smoothly accepted his change of citizenship, even starting to attend school, cooperating exceptionally well with the Research Institute’s operations, and studying how to speak Huaxia language word by word.

This left Pullman profoundly surprised. In Cecilia, he seemed to catch a glimpse of his own and his sister’s future path.

“That wasn’t the kind of life I wanted anyway,” Cecilia let out a cold sneer. “Every single meal consisted of the so-called health meals they curated for me, constantly telling me how expensive the ingredients used for each dish were. After I arrived in Huaxia, I went to check out the supermarkets and food streets from time to time, only to discover I had been thoroughly fleeced by them. A head of lettuce clearly costs less than two yuan, yet they billed me a price hundreds or thousands of times higher. Being expensive is one thing, but it tasted terrible too.”

“Every single time I wanted to eat something, they would always slap a requirement on me first as an exchange. Either they made me go assassinate some Evolver, or they forced me to cooperate with a certain laboratory’s operations. Even heading out to play required a pre-filed report; if I wanted to go to an amusement park, they would evacuate every single civilian inside.” The more Cecilia spoke, the angrier he became. “What difference was there between locking me up like that and being a prisoner? I’m just a minor, I’m not an idiot.”

Cecilia knew perfectly well who treated him well and who treated him poorly.

Although Huaxia monitored him strictly, he had asked around online and consulted his classmates; everyone was monitored just as strictly, and as long as they followed the rules, they were entirely free. He could eat or drink whatever he pleased, provided he didn’t skip his three proper meals.

Walking out in the open, there wasn’t a pack of handlers trailing right behind his ass, and he could invite his classmates to hang out at amusement parks or other places without anyone casting bizarre glances at him.

To Cecilia, this was an incredibly rare yet deeply precious experience. He loved this kind of life.

Therefore, taking advantage of the summer vacation, the moment Wen Zhiyi requested his backup, he had stepped forward without a shred of hesitation. If he never made any contributions, Cecilia worried his comfortable lifestyle wouldn’t endure for long.

Yet realistically, Cecilia knew perfectly well that if it weren’t currently the summer vacation but rather the school term, he likely wouldn’t be deployed out here at all.

“True. Huaxia is highly suited for people who harbor zero ambitions to live,” Pullman nodded, expressing absolute agreement with Cecilia’s sentiment. “I hope my sister can be exactly like you.”

He was thoroughly exhausted by those endless conflicts, and he detested chasing after things that didn’t belong to him; simply finding a location to lead a routine, ordinary life was enough.

“Rest assured, it will all happen,” Zhang Fuzhi said upon overhearing their conversation, the pride and satisfaction on his face completely impossible to mask. “Our nation welcomes people from all over the world to settle down.”

“Besides, there’s absolutely nothing to harbor ambitions over anyway,” Cecilia muttered in a low voice. “That guy Bai Hewei is a complete freak of nature. Any Evolver who harbors ambitions would probably lose them entirely upon facing him.”

Pullman expressed absolute agreement with this statement as well.

Unlike Bai Hewei’s and Pullman’s groups, the team on Wei Yan’s side had undergone specialized training to begin with. They could march while eating simultaneously, allowing them to travel at a pace vastly faster than the other two groups.

Naturally, they were currently the group closest to The Embargo squad.

“I think we might be hitting the jackpot soon,” Huang Silin signaled for the team to halt, stopping their forward progress. “There are quite a few powerful Evolvers up ahead. I suspect we’ve already run into The Embargo squad. Advancing further will likely result in a direct confrontation. Right now, I don’t know if they’ve detected us, but it’s best to wait a bit.”

Fortunately, their group didn’t include Pullman or Bai Hewei, allowing them to pretend they didn’t recognize The Embargo squad at all, simply acting as if they were passing through normally to avoid a clash.

Their group consisted of only three individuals, whereas Huang Silin—as a mental-type Evolver—detected at least five to six members within The Embargo squad. Facing an absolute numeric disadvantage, it was best not to act rashly.

“Have they discovered us?” Wei Yan asked, her brow furrowing.

Among the three of them, Chu Han was defense-type, Huang Silin was mental-type, and she was the only one who possessed a tiny bit of offensive capability as an anomaly-type Evolver. Dealing with members of The Embargo squad would likely prove rather thorny.

“I don’t know if they’ve detected us, but within a formal operations squad, a mental-type Evolver is standard equipment,” Huang Silin let out a sigh. “Let’s operate under the assumption that they’ve already discovered us. Since they haven’t marched over for the time being, let’s refrain from heading over either. We’ll observe the situation first.”

“Use the robot to contact the others first, transmitting our coordinate data,” Wei Yan said immediately. “As for the rest, we’ll take it one step at a time.”

“Understood,” Chu Han agreed immediately, operating the robot to transmit the message directly.

Members of The Embargo squad had naturally detected the presence of Wei Yan’s group.

“There are three Evolvers, but their energy readings aren’t exceptionally high; it isn’t Pullman’s crowd,” the mental-type Evolver within the squad opened his eyes. He was a transgender Evolver who had transitioned from female to male, which was why his physical stature was a bit shorter compared to his teammates.

Following the emergence of Evolvers, many surgical procedures had become vastly more sophisticated, causing many individuals who had zero concept of gender to undergo surgery in a complete daze. The sole discrepancy lay in the fact that ordinary people required lifelong medication to sustain their transitions, whereas for the Evolvers within The Embargo squad, they had long since spent a fortune to hire healing-type powerhouses to clear away all latent anomalies, achieving a complete, seamless gender transition devoid of any side effects.

“Captain, should we strike?” a man inquired.

“No need for the time being,” the blonde, blue-eyed captain shook his head. “This Forbidden Zone ranks third globally. There are bound to be Evolvers from other nations and organizations entering to explore, likely sharing an objective similar to ours. At a juncture like this, rashly engaging a handful of completely unfamiliar enemies is foolish—not only does it squander our own strength, but it easily invites complications. Our only priority is to locate the item the Doctor desires first. Beyond that, as long as those few Evolvers don’t bring trouble to our doorstep, we will refrain from taking action.”

Inside a Forbidden Zone, if one could avoid conflict, it was best to completely avoid it. Otherwise, if they triggered a mass panic among the Forbidden Zone lifeforms, they would merely end up dying in this exact location.

Hearing the captain say they wouldn’t strike for now, the others let out a collective sigh of relief. They had been thoroughly tormented by this Forbidden Zone, feeling exhausted and drained after a full day of marching; they truly had zero desire to throw hands with anyone else.

“It’s best that you don’t strike, otherwise I’d be the first to collapse,” Shirley also let out a sigh of relief. “Inside the Forbidden Zone, I have no way to replenish my evolutionary energy. Once it’s drained, it’s permanently gone.”

The energy within a Forbidden Zone was highly chaotic; an Evolver attempting to absorb it would merely trigger a severe internal backlash. Consequently, the energy inside their bodies ticked down with every use. Unless they encountered a life-or-death crisis, it was best to conserve it as much as humanly possible.

“Captain, I actually think that while we can refrain from fighting, we can go exchange information,” another team member raised his hand to speak. “We’ve already been inside for three or four days, yet we haven’t tracked down the item the Doctor wants at all. This Forbidden Zone is massive, and the historical maps have long since become distorted. Continuing like this means we’ll only return empty-handed.”

And if they returned without a shred of results, the organization likely wouldn’t let them off easily.

“This… is actually worth a shot,” the captain hesitated briefly before agreeing to the proposal.

Inside a Forbidden Zone, information didn’t circulate, and there were absolutely no directional markers; continuing to wander aimlessly was undoubtedly a complete waste of time. If they could exchange information or get the opposing party to assist them, it would save an immense amount of effort. Furthermore, The Embargo squad currently maintained an exceptional public reputation; as long as they acted the part convincingly, they might be able to exploit the other faction.

“Captain, let me handle it,” the dark-haired woman smiled. “I’m a mental-type Evolver, so I don’t present a massive threat profile, making it easy to test their baseline.”

“Alright,” the captain agreed.

Compared to the others in the squad, the dark-haired woman possessed a stellar public image and excellent diction. She commanded a colossal fan base back in America, making her highly suited to act as the face of the squad to handle this kind of matter.

Once the dark-haired woman finished speaking and departed, Shirley noticed that two individuals in the squad displayed expressions of absolute disdain, particularly the Black woman with dreadlocks who had cursed her previously; her face appeared even more unsightly.

Evidently, they were far from being a monolithic entity internally.

“Someone is approaching, but it’s only a single individual—an Evolver of the same type as me,” Huang Silin reminded. “We’ll play it by ear in a bit.”

“Understood.” Wei Yan and Chu Han exchanged glances, immediately stashing away every single item that bore obvious Huaxia styling.

Particularly the robot—they hurriedly concealed it, as that specific technological tier made it far too easy to expose their identities. Anyway, foreigners couldn’t tell the difference between Asian nationalities. If push came to shove, they could just pretend to be from Japan or South Korea, ensuring they didn’t bring disgrace to their own country.

Before long, a tall woman with dark hair and gray eyes arrived before them.

Wei Yan was stunned for a moment, recognizing the individual.

Just a couple of days ago, she had seen this woman’s red carpet appearance on entertainment news: Vivian, a mental-type “superhero” from America. What fans loved to rave about most was her providing free mental therapy for fans suffering from mental health issues, helping a substantial number of fans return to normal, which granted her an exceptional reputation. Coupled with the fact that she was deeply devoted to public charity work and harbored zero negative scandals, she even commanded a sizable fan base within Huaxia.

She hadn’t expected the woman to actually be a member of The Embargo squad.

Wei Yan immediately flashed a hand gesture to Chu Han, pretending to be South Korean.

“Hello Vivian! I absolutely adore you, could I get an autograph?” Wei Yan immediately adopted a heavily accented English typical of South Korea, happily stepping forward to welcome her.

If nothing else, due to operational requirements, they all knew how to speak basic, routine phrases in South Korean and Japanese. Regardless, whenever the Evolvers of these three nations went out for missions, they would swap blame onto each other depending on the scenario, to the point where many foreigners believed the three nations were effectively one single entity.

Vivian’s expression remained entirely composed. Instead of refusing the autograph request, she appeared thoroughly delighted, expressing her gratitude for the support and so forth.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, Vivian stated her purpose. “Our nation discovered that the energy inside this Forbidden Zone has been highly anomalous lately, and we were worried it might impact the global Forbidden Zone ecosystem, which is why they deployed us to investigate. However, our current strength is somewhat lacking. If the three of you have some spare time, why don’t you come help us?”

Vivian’s tone was gentle, yet her words carried a subtle undercurrent of absolute assertiveness.

Expressions of hesitation and anxiety flashed across the faces of Wei Yan and her companions before they ultimately nodded in agreement. There was no helping it; when South Korean Evolvers faced American Evolvers, they naturally carried a bit of a submissive posture, which they performed with absolute precision.

“Speaking of which, the three of you possess excellent strength and highly robust energy readings. How come you never immigrated to our nation previously?” Vivian inquired with an air of casual indifference.

“Hehe, we just came to explore the Forbidden Zone, but our goals aren’t high. We only need to spend a few days here, gather some samples, and head back. We took the Evolver serum to elevate our ranks,” Huang Silin said, a smug look on his face. “His Excellency the President recently promised to grant us a few luxury apartments in the Gangnam District.”

“Then congratulations are in order,” Vivian said with a smile. She questioned them further, and seeing them answer flawlessly without a single hitch, the suspicion in her heart slowly dissolved.

It appeared they truly were South Korean Evolvers who had utilized the evolutionary serum to ascend to S-class, which perfectly aligned with her mental profile of them.

Vivian proactively offered to introduce them to her captain, spinning a tale about helping them immigrate and detailing the advancement pathways to become “superheroes.” Huang Silin and the others displayed an absolute, perfect measure of yearning.

Those acting lessons back in the day truly weren’t in vain, Wei Yan couldn’t help but reflect.

Sure enough, when Evolvers executed missions, the instances of raw violence were few, while navigating social graces and human dynamics constituted the vast majority. Relying solely on raw combat offered zero means to complete a mission efficiently.

Extracting intelligence, securing the enemy’s trust, and wrapping up the contract without drawing blood—that was exactly what they were supposed to do.

Before long, under Vivian’s guidance, the three of them arrived before the rest of The Embargo squad.

Wei Yan’s eyes swept across the group, locating Shirley within the crowd without the slightest surprise.

She hadn’t expected them to track down the targets this quickly, racing ahead of the other two groups. Wei Yan was absolutely ecstatic inside; this time, they were guaranteed not to finish dead last.

“Rest assured, our squad is currently short on hands. As long as you assist us in completing the mission, I guarantee I can help you secure immigration status, allowing you to enjoy global superhero treatment just like us,” the captain said, a gentle, spring-like smile plastered across his face, though the amusement reflected in his eyes appeared highly fabricated.

“Not at all, this is exactly what we should do.”

“Just give the word if you need anything done.”

Wei Yan and her companions acted the part flawlessly, keeping humble smiles pinned to their faces. “We don’t know what exactly we can do for you gentlemen? Additionally, we set out in a bit of a rush, so our food supplies are pretty much depleted. I wonder if you could back us up with a bit of rations?”

They had long since hidden their own food supplies, aiming precisely to consume the enemy’s logistics resources first.

But it didn’t matter. They would drain their food reserves first, waiting until the enemy was too starved to exert any strength before making their move. Even though they numbered only three, they wouldn’t necessarily lose.

The expression on The Embargo squad captain’s face turned a bit unsightly, but he still pulled out some food to distribute to them; asking for backup without providing food was simply unjustifiable by any standard.

Huang Silin and his companions had actually eaten their fill before coming out, but right now, for the sake of bleeding the enemy dry, they forced themselves to devour all the food handed over to them.

Bai Hewei had only just woken up when he spotted the notification transmitted by the robot.

“Wei Yan and her team located The Embargo squad and tracked down Shirley this quickly?” Bai Hewei was thoroughly astounded. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

“They are currently disguised as South Korean Evolvers, extracting information from within The Embargo squad. We have no means to assist them for the time being, and rashly blending in would merely disrupt their data gathering. Right now, Shirley is safe, and that’s plenty,” Wen Zhiyi said casually.

His side had already confirmed the operational details via text communication, approving Wei Yan’s squad’s strategy. Resolving a crisis inside a Forbidden Zone without drawing blood was the absolute ideal outcome. The worst possible result was merely their identities being exposed, forcing Bai Hewei to sprint over to bail them out; overall, the benefits vastly outweighed the risks, making it well worth a try.

Hearing the play-by-play of Wei Yan’s current operation, Bai Hewei fell into a brief silence.

The novels and television dramas he had consumed in the past never featured this kind of development. Shouldn’t they cross paths with a formidable enemy, plunge into a dire crisis, and then have him—the world’s strongest Evolver—descend like an absolute savior to turn the tide?

As expected, fiction and real-world administrative operations still carried a massive discrepancy.

However, this worked perfectly fine too. They could operate along parallel tracks, simultaneously rescuing Shirley while securing the Zero Research Institute archives.

“I just hope Pullman’s side can hold himself back.”

Pullman naturally wanted to sprint over to rescue his sister immediately, but he was jointly held back by Cecilia and Zhang Fuzhi.

“The Embargo squad doesn’t recognize Wei Yan and her team, but they absolutely recognize you. The moment you step onto the stage, this entire production falls to pieces. Furthermore, with them embedded, you have absolutely zero need to worry about your sister’s safety,” Zhang Fuzhi reasoned earnestly, trying to soothe him. “Moreover, they mentioned your sister is wearing a peculiar collar around her neck, which is likely the control mechanism keeping her in check. For the sake of safety, you must endure.”

Pullman had merely suffered a momentary surge of blood to the head; he wasn’t an idiot. He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.

“You’re right. The absolute priority right now is to secure my sister’s safety first.” He couldn’t press them too hard, otherwise it would merely force a mutually assured destruction scenario.

“What a pity. My physical traits carry an obvious discrepancy compared to Huaxia citizens, otherwise if I could play like this in the future, I could openly play an undercover mole game—that would be simply awesome.” Cecilia merely found it incredibly cool, wishing he could be a part of it.

Pullman felt an absolute wave of anxiety churning inside his chest, but he still forced himself to maintain his composure. He only hoped Wei Yan and her team could rescue his sister a bit faster.

Conversely, looking at these three individuals who claimed to be South Korean Evolvers, Shirley’s heart was filled with deep confusion. She wasn’t highly familiar with Asian nationalities, making it impossible to definitively tell them apart, yet she simply felt something was rather off down to the core.

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