A Show of Force

"Qiye, don't sell yourself short. You might be a lot more famous than you think!" Zhou Meng's voice suddenly rang out.

"Really? I'm just a minor Nightwatcher from Cangnan City. I have to keep a low profile, a low profile," Lin Qiye joked.

After the instructor checked Lin Qiye's credentials, he let him into the training camp.

Lin Qiye looked around and realized that he was actually the first recruit to arrive.

Sure enough, after the training site was moved from Shangjing City to Cangnan City, he had the advantage of being close by.

But he would have to spend a year here without being allowed to leave camp. Lin Qiye suddenly found himself reluctant to part with the members of the 136th Squad, and he wondered just what sort of people the other recruits coming here to train would be.

Still, at least if he got tired, he could go to the Mental Hospital to see his mother, Li Yifei, and Zhou Meng.

Because Lin Qiye had arrived so early, there were no other recruits at the training camp. As a result, he spent his entire first day being shown around the camp by Instructor Hong Hao.

The only interlude was Baili Pangpang, who looked as if he had wandered into the training camp by mistake. Lin Qiye only thought he was a young master who was a little off in the head, but Zhou Meng had taken an interest in him.

Baili Pangpang's real name was Baili Tuming—or rather, even the name Baili Tuming was a lie. He was actually a discard of the Baili Family, a substitute meant to take the knife for the real Baili Tuming: Baili Jing, the "adopted son" of his father, Baili Xin.

Although Baili Pangpang had a tragic background, there was more to him than that. His true identity was the reincarnation of one of Daxia's gods, Lingbao Celestial Worthy.

So Zhou Meng wanted to see what traits Baili Pangpang had.

But at a glance, Zhou Meng discovered that Baili Pangpang himself had rather few traits.

The brightest, crimson-gold trait was his true identity, [Reincarnation of Lingbao Tianzun]. The others included things like [Landlord's Foolish Son], [Pitiful Substitute], [Spend a Fortune at a Throw], [Poor Acting], and [Foot Odor Absorber].

Foot Odor Absorber? It was a green trait. Anyone who had it would come to enjoy smelling other people's foot odor, and no matter how foul that odor was, it would smell fragrant to them.

Even Zhou Meng thought this trait was a little too absurd.

This was a green trait? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an orange trait!

But the most eye-catching things on Baili Pangpang weren't his traits, but a pocket on his person and the ornaments and jewelry he wore.

The Baili Family wasn't simply rich. It also had the nickname "Forbidden Item Museum," and as the Baili Family's "little granduncle," Baili Pangpang was like a walking warehouse of forbidden items.

All his forbidden items were hidden inside his own personal space, which was itself a forbidden item. It had nearly limitless space and could store whatever he wanted.

[Scroll of Sealing], [Yaoguang], [One Into Three Thousand], [Little Zhanbai], [Eye of True Sight], [Thunder Tornado], and so on and so forth—too many to count.

The sight made Zhou Meng's hands itch. After all, he was the God of Theft. How could he see something good and not swipe it for a closer look?

Unfortunately, this wasn't a critical moment, and he couldn't go out and take over without Lin Qiye's permission, so he could only gaze at them and sigh.

Most importantly, as he looked at Baili Pangpang's forbidden items, he suddenly had a sense of familiarity. One of the items among them might have some connection to him.

Maybe this has something to do with the memories I lost!

But there were simply too many forbidden items in there. There was no telling how long it would take to identify them one by one. He would deal with it when he had the chance later!

It was now the afternoon of the second day after their arrival at the training camp, and that afternoon was the first training session for the new recruits.

Lin Qiye and Baili Pangpang arrived rather late. The group was scattered; although almost everyone was present, they weren't in any sort of formation.

By contrast, the twenty-odd instructors and Yuan Gang on the platform stood straight with their feet apart, like tall, upright pines, looking down at the crowd below.

Even Lin Qiye, an agent of three gods, felt the pressure from the instructors on the martial arts platform! It wasn't an ability from a Forbidden Ruins, but the result of life-and-death combat, of being tempered by rolling and crawling through mountains of blades and seas of fire!

Yuan Gang was silent for a moment before speaking in a deep, resonant voice. Of course, Lin Qiye had already expected what he said.

It was nothing more than the usual attempt to knock down the recruits' confidence and make them realize that, in the recruit camp, they were just ordinary rookies.

Lin Qiye had heard those lines in movies, on television, and even during military training in middle and high school, so he knew roughly what Yuan Gang would say.

Thus, when Yuan Gang demanded to know who in the crowd refused to accept it, several hot-blooded-looking fellows immediately said they didn't. At their head was a guy named Shen Qingzhu.

Lin Qiye himself, however, didn't make a sound.

"Hey, Qiye, do you accept it?" Baili Pangpang was a little bewildered. Although what Yuan Gang had said didn't feel particularly real to him, he nudged Lin Qiye.

"Me? I accept it."

"Huh?"

Lin Qiye snorted. "Instructor Yuan is right. If you've never encountered a real Mystery, of course you have the nerve to say you don't accept it. But when we really run into a Mystery, how many of the two hundred-odd people here would survive?"

"You've seen a real Mythical Creature?" Baili Pangpang's gaze instantly filled with admiration.

"Not only have I seen them, I've killed them." Lin Qiye held up two fingers, indicating that he had killed two.

"Wow! Two! That's amazing! All right, if you accept it, then so do I." In an instant, Baili Pangpang decided to cling to Lin Qiye's thigh and never let go.

But just then, Lin Qiye suddenly heard a mocking voice in his head.

"Not bad, Qiye. You've already learned to show off? Were you the one who killed those two Mythical Creatures?" Zhou Meng said with a laugh.

This kid Qiye really is worthy of being the will of the universe. He showed off so confidently and so subtly that he picked up a little fanboy in no time.

"No, Brother Meng, it would've been a shame not to show off with such a good opportunity. Besides, it's not like I did it in front of everyone. A little showing off is fun; too much can hurt you," Lin Qiye replied in his head.

"All right, all right. I hope you can still show off in a little while, Qiye."

"? What do you mean? I know how this goes. Once Instructor Yuan's done with his tough talk, shouldn't the instructors come out and give us a show of force?" Lin Qiye was a little puzzled.

"Never mind the others. Right now, you're one of the God's Agents who haven't appeared in Daxia for many years, a suspected wielder of multiple Forbidden Ruins, and you've got a 'second personality' like me in there. Do you think they're qualified to give you an ordinary show of force? Do you think they dare?" Zhou Meng's voice grew increasingly cheerful.

"Brother Meng, do you mean they're going to hit me with something extra?" Lin Qiye frowned slightly.

Good, that's exactly what I want! If they're too weak, what's the point of coming to this training camp?

Just as he craned his neck and looked around, ready to see what they had in store, he suddenly heard a cry of alarm from the crowd.

"Look! Someone seems to be falling from above the clouds!"