Before the Selection

For the next three days, all the way until Thursday afternoon, everything remained calm in Wenren Sheng's home. There were no signs of any crisis.

Tomorrow was the day of the examiner selection.

He began reviewing all his preparations. He had registered, printed his Exam Admission Ticket, and confirmed the location earlier that day.

The examiner selection venue was near Dengke Tower, where the Otherworldly Species Host Qualification Examination had been held. It was the same location.

It was a twenty-seven-story five-star hotel, lavishly decorated and exquisitely furnished, with highly qualified staff. Like Dengke Tower, it belonged to a local restaurant group.

The benefit of this arrangement was obvious: it allowed the examiners to become more familiar with the examination rooms they would supervise, improving their ability to detect cheating.

As for whether there was a deeper implication—such as whether the examiners would also subconsciously search the same examination rooms for the best places and methods to cheat—that was impossible to know.

Holding the examiner selection so close to the Otherworldly Species Host Qualification Examination was precisely meant to reduce the possibility of cheating.

Otherworldly species were simply too important, while failure in the examination carried consequences that were far too severe. Naturally, there was no shortage of cheaters.

Although the penalties for being exposed were harsh—they would lose their qualification to join the Black Fir People and would no longer have the chance to obtain activation and transplantation of otherworldly species from the Palace Administration, among other things... it still could not stop people from cheating.

Wenren Sheng felt that he had prepared thoroughly. He was seventy percent confident and had no need for any underhanded tricks, so he enjoyed his dinner.

However, Zhao Han, seated across from him at the round table, was restless. From time to time, she looked up at him, seeming as though she wanted to say something but held back.

"Xiao Han, is the food not to your liking?" Wenren De asked with concern.

"No, Uncle." Zhao Han hurriedly waved her hands, then said quietly, "The food is very good. It's just that during the afternoon break today, two classmates nearly got into a fight. Yun Shuang-jie had to step in to stop them, so the instructor didn't find out."

"Oh, Otherworldly Users are different from Ordinary People. Fights between them are like street shootings in countries where guns are common—they can easily hit innocent bystanders at random. You must be careful," Wenren De said with a sigh.

"Who were the two who nearly fought?" Wenren Sheng finally asked after swallowing a piece of bread with fried egg in it. "It seems my absence these past few days has emboldened them."

Still shaken, Zhao Han slowly explained, "It was Liu Jian and Wang Xia. During the break, Wang Xia said that he had a new goal: he wanted to cultivate his otherworldly species into a family heirloom and pass it down through the generations. Then a female classmate joked that, as an ancestor, he had to set a good example and not be crooked above and crooked below, bringing disaster upon his descendants. He immediately promised that he would never be like certain people's fathers, doing evil and causing trouble. He would definitely become a great champion of justice..."

"So Liu Jian thought Wang Xia was secretly mocking him and began arguing with him, but Yun Shuang calmed him down. In the end, Liu Jian realized he had been jumping at shadows, because Wang Xia had no idea what happened last week. He was only speaking out of emotion after reading some online news," Wu Shanshan added with a smile.

"This big idiot even wanted to go explain some grand principle about how 'the father is the father, and the son is the son.' Luckily, I pulled her away in time. Otherwise, if she had exposed Liu Jian's situation, a small matter would have turned into a big one."

"Thank you, Wu-jie." Zhao Han smiled awkwardly.

She could not make sense of what had happened with the car accident last time, but today's incident had genuinely spared her from embarrassing herself.

"Two idiots," Wenren Sheng commented.

Zhao Han obediently admitted, "I'm sorry, Teacher. I was wrong."

"I wasn't talking about you." Wenren Sheng lowered his head and continued eating.

Wu Shanshan secretly glared at him.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Han said again, "Teacher, I feel that Liu Jian may still have some issues, but I can't really explain them. It's just a feeling."

Wu Shanshan snorted. "What do you mean, you can't explain it? You're just stupid. In your eyes, if Liu Jian truly were the chuunibyou justice-loving person his father described, then he should feel guilty. When faced with mockery, he should meekly admit defeat, swallow his anger, and become a decent person... yet now, he explodes at the slightest provocation."

"Yes, yes, Shan Shan-jie, you're so smart. That's exactly how I feel. Besides, Teacher said at the time that his father's fate depended on him. Doesn't that mean his father still has a chance to be saved? He should all the more become a good person for his father's sake." Zhao Han sounded rather frustrated.

A murderer who had slaughtered more than twenty people could actually be saved because of his son being an Otherworldly User. Wasn't the Patrol Division's way of handling things far too unfair to the victims? She had actually harbored this thought subconsciously for a long time, but she did not dare say it, did not even dare think it, much less ask.

Because her uncle had repeatedly warned her that one of the greatest taboos for a new Otherworldly User was showing dissatisfaction with the Patrol Division. They could very likely be judged as a "disloyal dissenter."

Wenren Sheng did not answer. Instead, Wu Shanshan studied her seriously for a while, then suddenly smiled.

"What did I say wrong this time?" Zhao Han muttered softly.

"No, this time it isn't because you're stupid. It's only because you know too little," Wu Shanshan said seriously. "You probably don't know Liu Bo's true fate, do you?"

"Wasn't he imprisoned as a means of controlling Liu Jian? As long as Liu Jian becomes an expert, or even someone more powerful, he can be released and reunited with him. Cartoons and TV dramas often portray it that way. Great villains are eventually forgiven by saintly women, while the good people all die for nothing..." Zhao Han asked.

"How naive. How could reality have something so convenient?" Wu Shanshan said flatly. "If that were the case, how much conventional deterrence would the Patrol Division retain against murderers like this, who manufacture mysterious incidents and lose their humanity? All they would need was an awesome son."

"Then how exactly did they deal with Liu Bo?" Zhao Han immediately pressed.

"In fact, the control you mentioned does exist. But Liu Bo's soul and flesh were used to place a bloodline restriction on Liu Jian, while Liu Bo's soul struggles in endless pain. Only when Liu Jian fulfills specific requirements can he be released," Wu Shanshan said coldly. "Remember this: the mysterious world is far harsher than the ordinary world, because punishment can reach the Soul Domain. Death is not the end."

"In other words, Liu Bo is actually already dead. He just didn't get a swift death like in an ordinary execution..." Zhao Han immediately thought of the censored scenes from many brutal cartoons and could not help shuddering.

"Enough. This topic ends here. It's ruining my appetite," Wenren Sheng said, tapping the table. "These things cannot be discussed casually. When you're outside, you must use coded language."

Zhao Han stuck out her tongue. No wonder they had spoken so cryptically at the time, and why Liu Jian had said, "His final sins will be erased through him."

So that was what it meant. Only after Liu Jian completed his task and Liu Bo was released would the sins he had committed truly disappear.

After dinner, Wenren Sheng returned to his study and continued preparing.

But half an hour later, Zhao Han sneakily slipped in without even knocking.

"Teacher, do you want to know whether tomorrow's examiner selection will go smoothly?" She glanced around before standing before Wenren Sheng and speaking.

"What, do you want to perform another divination for me?" Wenren Sheng was somewhat interested.

Although he did not want to use any underhanded tricks, he truly wanted to know whether his Mystery Resistance could withstand a prophetic otherworldly species.

The fact that she had deliberately approached him before showed that she had obtained some information about him through the Seed of Narration. However, the extent of what it could do remained unknown.

"Yes. Thanks to your care these past few days, I've improved somewhat. Of course I want to repay you a little. As the saying goes, a teacher for a day is a father for life. You also said before that life's greatest sorrow is when a child wishes to care for their parents, but the parents are no longer there. I don't want to leave behind such regrets either." Zhao Han spoke with great sincerity.

Wenren Sheng's expression became complicated upon hearing this. After a long while, he said, "As long as you're happy."

Her words sounded beyond reproach, yet they somehow felt strange, as though she were certain he would die before her...

In reality, though, he was only three years older than her. He had received an Expert Level Evaluation and possessed an "Extraordinary Physique" that was nominally intermediate but in practice nearly as effective as Master Level. He would most likely live longer than she did.

At that moment, Zhao Han activated her ability on her own, apparently forgetting Wenren Sheng's previous warning again: before learning concealment techniques, do not use one's seed in front of Otherworldly Users.

Only moments later, her eyes rolled back, and she fell backward.

Wenren Sheng did not reach out, because there was a sofa right behind her...

He merely shook his head and, quite gratified, made a phone call.