Night was as black as ink, and the lights of countless homes below merged into a dazzling river of stars.
Qin Feng opened the dark-gold "Yellow Springs" app on his phone. He skillfully entered the personal center, his gaze lingering on the Soul Reaper badge for a second before swiping to the page explaining the organization's structure and promotion system.
His strength had soared, and naturally, his sights had risen with it.
Being a Soul Reaper was no longer enough to satisfy his ambitions.
Higher authority meant access to higher-level missions, richer rewards, and the powerful items lying in the shop that he had coveted for so long.
He had even decided that once his promotion succeeded, he would use his first reward to exchange for a spell. His current offensive options were far too limited.
[LV.3: Soul Custodian] [Description: Regional elite combatant. Possesses the strength to independently handle D-Class incidents, usually leading a Soul Reaper squad and taking responsibility for C-Class incidents or difficult D-Class incidents.] [Promotion Requirements]: [1. Spiritual Sense level must reach the Form Observation Realm.] [2. Must have a record of independently handling a D-Class incident, or have played a leading role in multiple D-Class incidents.]
Qin Feng read every word carefully, his brows lifting slightly.
Form Observation Realm? He had just broken through, so that was covered.
The Human Meat Buns incident had been exceptionally raised to D-Class in the Special Cases Department's final assessment because of its bizarre rules and the extent of its contamination.
"What a coincidence?" Qin Feng stroked his chin, a playful smile appearing on his face.
These promotion requirements had practically been tailor-made for him.
Without hesitation, he tapped the "Submit Promotion Application" button.
A standard electronic form popped up, requiring him to fill in his reason for applying and supporting materials.
After thinking for a moment, Qin Feng swiftly typed several words into the reason field: "Strong enough. Applying for promotion."
[Your promotion application has been submitted and is under review. Please wait patiently.]
Seeing the system prompt pop up on the screen, Qin Feng nodded in satisfaction, casually tossed his phone aside, and stopped paying attention to it.
In his eyes, this was merely a formality. The outcome was certain.
He began browsing the mission hall, searching for a solo mission that suited him.
While he remained calm and untroubled, he had no idea that at the other end of the Yellow Springs Organization, his application was about to stir up a towering storm.
Meanwhile, deep underground in an ordinary-looking office building somewhere in Donghai City.
This was the internal operations center of the Yellow Springs Organization's East Sea Branch.
Unlike the field operatives who constantly risked their lives, this place was so quiet that only the low hum of servers and the crisp clatter of keyboards could be heard.
Dozens of internal staff dressed in uniform were methodically processing enormous amounts of intelligence data.
In Group B of Zone Three, Lampbearer Zhang Wen adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, lifted his thermos steeped with goji berries, and prepared to enjoy a brief moment of leisure.
As a veteran LV.3 Lampbearer, his job was to review and organize mission reports and intelligence submitted by field operatives, then compile them into the organization's central database, the Sansheng Stone. Day after day, it was tedious but stable work.
Suddenly, a bright red pop-up window labeled "Manual Review" appeared on his screen.
"A promotion application?" Zhang Wen frowned.
Most low-level promotions were automatically reviewed by the system based on data. If one had been transferred to him for manual review, then either the materials were incomplete, or... the situation was unusual.
He opened the application, and a collaborator profile codenamed "Raven" appeared.
[Name: Qin Feng] [Gender: Male] [Referrer: Frost (Shen Bingyue)] [Start Date: July 12, 2024]
"Referred by Shen Bingyue?" Zhang Wen's frown deepened.
The young miss of the Shen Family of Ice City, one of the most outstanding members of the Special Cases Department's younger generation—someone she had referred could not be taken lightly.
He patiently continued reading.
[Application: Promotion from LV.2 Soul Reaper to LV.3 Soul Custodian.]
Zhang Wen nearly sprayed a mouthful of goji berry tea onto the screen.
He subconsciously glanced at the time in the lower-right corner of the screen: 4:00 PM, July 15, 2024.
At most, this guy had been employed for less than three days.
Did this brat think Yellow Springs was an online game and come looking for a GM to open the back door and power-level him?
Zhang Wen suppressed the absurd feeling in his heart. He felt that something had to be wrong.
As a meticulous records administrator, he decided to pull up all of Raven's mission records and use the facts to expose this newcomer who did not know his limits.
[Mission Records]: [Incident One: Slit-Mouthed Woman (E-class Anomaly). Handling Method: Unknown. Result: Target eliminated. Note: Incident independently completed before employment, later entered into the records by the referrer.]
"Hmm, he has some skill. Not bad talent," Zhang Wen said, nodding.
[Incident Two: The Thing Under the Bed (E-class Anomaly). Handling Method: Used a mixture of Virgin Boy Urine and Fengyoujing to destroy its rule core, then finished it with a Cursed Item.]
When Zhang Wen saw the words "Virgin Boy Urine and Fengyoujing," the corner of his eye twitched uncontrollably.
He suddenly recalled the Vigorous God of Essential Balm who had caused an uproar in the internal community two days ago, leaving countless veterans clicking their tongues in amazement. So it had been this brat!
"A wild method. Completely wild..." He shook his head and continued reading.
[Incident Three: Human Meat Buns (D-Class). Handling Method: Disguised himself as an urban management officer and used urban management regulations for verbal discipline, shattering its psychological defenses and causing its rules to become unstable, then forcibly finished it with a Cursed Item.]
When he saw "disguised himself as an urban management officer," the thermos in Zhang Wen's hand fell onto the desk with a clang. Warm goji berry tea spilled all over the floor, but he did not notice at all.
He rubbed his eyes, leaned closer to the screen, and reread it word by word.
D-Class, independently completed, killed above his level—he knew every one of those words, but what did they mean when put together?
Zhang Wen's breathing began to quicken, and his mind buzzed.
Three days! A newcomer who had only joined for three days had gone from resolving E-class Anomalies to independently eliminating a D-Class Anomaly!
What kind of growth speed was that?
Even a rocket could not be that fast!
For ordinary collaborators, who did not spend several months going from Soul Reaper to becoming qualified to challenge D-Class incidents? And that was only for the exceptionally gifted ones!
"The Soul Custodian's hard requirement is the Form Observation Realm..." Zhang Wen muttered. As though he had thought of something even more terrifying, he tremblingly pulled up Qin Feng's initial Spiritual Sense assessment report from when he first joined.
[Initial Spiritual Sense Level: Spirit Touch Realm (Early Stage)]
"Hiss—!" Zhang Wen sucked in a sharp breath. A chill shot from his tailbone straight to the top of his skull, nearly making him slide off his chair as every hair on his body stood on end.
Three days!
From an Early Spirit Touch Realm rookie who had only just become capable of sensing spirit entities, he had rocketed all the way to the Form Observation Realm, where he could see them clearly!
And along the way, he had casually slaughtered an E-class Anomaly and a D-Class Anomaly as easily as chopping melons and vegetables!
This was no longer something the word "genius" could describe.
This was a monster!
A peerless monster wearing human skin, even more unreasonable than an Anomaly!
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