Turning Point

Watching the experts on television speak with such confidence, Lu PingAn did not know where to vent his frustrations.

The host and audience on the television all seemed far too normal, giving Lu PingAn the strange illusion that perhaps he was the one who was wrong.

Yet some things had not changed.

"With this much attention and such a news bombardment, it seems some things are undergoing major changes."

Though the wording was awkward, Lu PingAn truly felt as if he could hear the wheels of history turning.

The times were always changing. Perhaps one day, everything would be unrecognizable.

The wheels of history kept rolling, and no one could stop them. But when they rolled over his own face, the feeling was rather subtle.

"This hurts. The number of applicants has increased fivefold—how can things be this competitive? Aren't people in the Logistics Team people too?"

The feeling was probably like having the college entrance exam reforms suddenly hit in the very year he was taking the exam, only to encounter exam setters who had decided not to act human.

To put it plainly, with the number of applicants increasing fivefold, his odds of advancing had become one-fifth of what they had been.

"What are you complaining about, meow?! What are you complaining about?! You have the right to complain, meow?! At this rate, even the Logistics Department might not fill its enrollment quota! The regular division is the one that's truly finished, meow! The king of competition is the regular classes, meow! A lot of people predict the cutoff might rise by five points this time, meow! I'm done for, meow meow meow!"

Cat Cat was meowing nonstop on the other end of the phone. It was clear that her mindset had truly collapsed.

After his brief surprise, Lu PingAn only found it somewhat amusing.

Lei Shui Yun had been right. This college entrance exam reform did not actually affect him that much.

Even if he failed to get a scholarship because of it, he was still confident he could pass.

Cat Cat, on the other hand, was facing competition that had at least doubled, and might very well get crushed by it.

What concerned him more was this whole series of new policies—the "reforms" so drastic that experts had to spend twenty-four hours a day explaining and promoting them.

Compared to the violent upheaval in society, the "minor adjustments" to the college entrance examination system were merely an inconspicuous interlude in the grand narrative.

The most eye-catching news was actually another report, and it was also the fundamental reason behind the explosive increase in applicants.

"Our country has successfully developed the X-07 Potion. This potion can turn ordinary people into quasi-Awakened, with a success rate as high as 71%."

There was another related news report.

"To meet the ever-growing training needs of the increasingly large population of Professionals, we will develop nearly a hundred ultra-low-level Polluted Secret Realms. Within these Secret Realms, there will be no threat to survival, and the natural awakening rate will be as high as 51%!"

"71% and 51%? Heh. What a lie. They really picked numbers right at the edge of people's psychological limits."

These matters were no secret within Professional circles. The X-series potions had actually been developed long ago.

They were expensive and impractical, and their awakening rate had always hovered around 60%. Even if the new potion had improved, the difference should not have been significant.

Those who failed to awaken? There were only two outcomes after being polluted: successfully becoming Awakened, or completely turning into "Pollution."

The awakening odds in the other Secret Realm were even more absurd.

Professionals had always claimed that the highest awakening success rate was 50%, but in truth, the weaker the Secret Realm, the higher the success rate; the weaker the awakened ability, the higher the success rate.

With both factors at their weakest, the real highest probability still did not reach half.

And that fifty-fifty claim actually meant, "There are only two options: success or death. So it's fifty-fifty."

The real number was probably around 37%. Seen that way, although X Potion produced awakenings even weaker than those from the weakest Secret Realms, it still had a certain necessity.

The most direct change brought by this reform was that X-07 Potion could now be bought on the market. On the ordinary people's market, at that—and its price had been slashed to one-tenth!

"The official side used to keep a firm grip on the core materials, but now they've loosened that control. A little over ten thousand is still painfully expensive, but many families would be willing to pay it for a future. They say it requires strict review, but once it truly reaches the market, everyone knows it can't be controlled."

And if one got into a Preparatory Class, both Secret Realm training and X Potion would be provided free of charge by the Training Institutions.

That was the true root cause behind the massive surge in "applicants": the invisible threshold to becoming a Professional had been drastically lowered.

In fact, if the policy had not come so suddenly, a tenfold or even hundredfold increase would have been possible.

These policies all pointed toward one outcome: the total number of Professionals would rise dramatically.

"You're killing people! Mass slaughter! You're against humanity—"

That interruption vanished in an instant, replaced by the familiar footage of beautiful mountains and rivers. Yet Lu PingAn felt that something was wrong.

Lu PingAn shook his head. He could already see the mess that would follow.

Fortunately, it probably had little to do with him.

"Heh. Spiritual energy revival—every kind of demon and monster is coming out now. What a joke. Has the official side already lost? At the very least, it can no longer bear the burden."

More Professionals meant more Secret Realms and Pollution Incidents, which would then create more cases requiring even more Professionals to resolve. It was clearly a vicious cycle destined to collapse sooner or later.

Pollution and Secret Realms were, in a sense, resources to them—gold mines.

But this now undoubtedly showed that the situation had become so dire that the original control strategy of "keeping Pollution away from ordinary people" had completely failed.

Since they could no longer maintain such strict containment, they could only open the floodgates and cultivate large numbers of Professionals loyal to their side, preparing for the New Era in which supernatural incidents ran rampant.

When both sides were increasing their new forces, they would naturally gain greater returns.

As long as order did not collapse, perhaps they could hold things down for many more years.

But this was undoubtedly still drinking poison to quench thirst. More Professionals would certainly create more Secret Realms and cases, bringing about a society-wide "spiritual energy revival."

Pollution breeding more Pollution would only make things darker and darker. Had the situation truly deteriorated to the point where they were simply smashing the pot?

If he was not mistaken, supporting policies had surely already been introduced.

For instance, the difficulty of the latest Professional Keeper examination would be greatly reduced, and the employment threshold would be lower as well.

Xia Qin and the others had received raises and improved benefits—several times over.

As for matters related to himself, Lu PingAn opened the official websites of Gu University and several other specialized Training Institutions. Sure enough, he found exactly what he had expected.

"Rank rewards have been upgraded again? They're openly competing for people now."

The other first-rate Training Institutions had all begun expanding their enrollment as well, and had greatly increased their ranking rewards.

As far as Lu PingAn knew, among the six first-rate Training Institutions, only Gu University was entirely official.

The other institutions also provided X Potion and Secret Realm trial packages, but they offered relatively greater freedom.

Though the tuition was expensive, student loans were available. As long as one did not die, the pressure was not too great.

He still had other choices.

"Am I going to have to choose a side this soon?"

After sorting through everything, Lu PingAn realized that he had unknowingly arrived at a crossroads in his life.

But the next moment, he shook his head and began carefully studying the new admissions brochures.

Two days later, he entered Gu University's examination hall.