Just Don't Like It

At 8:25, the door was pushed open again.

Wenren Sheng turned to look and saw a man and a woman enter through the doorway.

Judging by their faces, both were around forty, though the woman looked slightly older. Their features were proper and pleasant, immediately putting people at ease.

The man carried a long, thick suitcase in his hand, while the woman followed behind. After entering, the two nodded to Wenren Sheng in greeting.

"Mr. Wenren, I presume? I'm Liao Zheng, and this is Ms. Cheng Ning. We'll be responsible for your selection exam today. We'll begin with the Martial Exam. Please just follow our instructions, and there's no need for any additional concern," the man said.

"Mr. Liao, Ms. Cheng, then I'll be relying on you both." Wenren Sheng rose and nodded.

The other woman, Cheng Ning, remained silent. She simply stepped forward, took the suitcase, placed it on the table, and opened it.

Inside, all sorts of instruments were neatly arranged, resembling ordinary examination equipment—blood pressure monitors, grip strength testers, scales...

Yet beneath that resemblance lay differences. Every instrument was plated with strange patterns, red and green intertwined, giving off an unconventional aesthetic beauty.

After checking Wenren Sheng's Exam Admission Ticket, the two began the procedure.

"Please sit down and extend your right arm," Liao Zheng instructed from across the table.

Wenren Sheng did as asked.

Liao Zheng carefully removed the blood pressure monitor from the suitcase and began operating it.

It was not the electronic blood pressure monitor popular nowadays. Instead, it was almost identical to an old-fashioned one: stethoscope, inflation bulb, cuff, mercury column display... everything was there.

If not for the strange patterns on its components, it would have been difficult to tell the difference.

Liao Zheng's procedure was likewise the same as measuring blood pressure in the old days. After having Wenren Sheng expose his upper arm, he wrapped the cuff above his elbow and adjusted its tightness.

He then put on the stethoscope, gripped the inflation bulb, and began pumping air into the cuff.

At that moment, Wenren Sheng noticed something unusual.

Liao Zheng stared at the mercury column, while pale blue wisps appeared in his hand and streamed into the inflation bulb.

Before long, Wenren Sheng felt waves of warmth coming from the cuff around his upper arm, flowing through his blood and spreading throughout his body.

He was not lulled by that warmth. Instead, he quietly heightened his vigilance.

Meanwhile, Cheng Ning held her phone at the side, staring intently at the mercury column.

When she saw the mercury shoot upward, passing the Chinese-character mark for "Expert Level" and coming within a hair's breadth of the "Master Level" mark, her expression changed at once.

She immediately began recording the data on her phone.

Liao Zheng repeatedly squeezed the bulb until the mercury column stopped rising, then finally released it.

He let out a breath, removed the cuff from Wenren Sheng's arm, and exclaimed, "Amazing. Data like this can only be possessed by an Otherworldly User with more than ten years of grueling training and extraordinary combat talent. As expected of the youngest expert to cause such a stir. It's truly our honor to test you."

"You're too kind, Mr. Liao." Wenren Sheng smiled.

Cheng Ning, who had not spoken until then, studied him seriously for a while before finally saying, "It's just such a pity. If this had been several centuries ago—no, even seventy or eighty years ago—you would definitely have been someone nurtured with the greatest importance, capable of dominating an era. But now..."

She shook her head, her face full of regret, as though lamenting that a Hero had been born at the wrong time.

Liao Zheng also nodded slightly. After putting away the blood pressure monitor, he took out the grip-strength-tester-like instrument from the suitcase.

Cheng Ning stopped speaking and continued recording the data.

Wenren Sheng merely smiled and said nothing. He did not think there was anything to regret, because he was confident he had an even greater future ahead of him.

The grip strength test was much simpler. Liao Zheng instructed Wenren Sheng to hold it, then channel Alien Power into it until he said "stop."

Wenren Sheng did as told, feeding dark purple wisps into the air bladder. He had already understood the purpose of these two tests.

The first tested the most fundamental physical qualities: cell vitality, bodily strength... It was a physiological test. The latter tested the strength of his Alien Power.

Combined, the two could establish the basic data for combat ability and its upper limit. However, actual combat ability was not tested, such as combat awareness and combat techniques. Those could only be assessed through real battle.

The test was quickly completed. After Liao Zheng called for him to stop and saw the data displayed on the grip tester, he was even more astonished.

An exceptionally strong physique might still be attributed to an innate gift.

After all, history had produced quite a few people born with divine strength. Their physical qualities were explosively powerful, capable of lifting thousand-jin cauldrons, their constitutions several times greater than those of Ordinary People. If they then activated an Otherworldly Species, they could likewise reach shocking heights.

But the Otherworldly Species he had activated was clearly recorded in the files. It was his first activation, and he was also its first-generation host.

This Alien Power data clearly showed that the strength of his Alien Power was above Expert Level and close to Master Level.

Seeing this data, Liao Zheng also revealed a regretful expression, then could not help saying, "Mr. Wenren, your foundation is excellent right now. You absolutely must not waste it. Forgive my bluntness, but the hottest direction in the combat field today is the development of all kinds of mysterious weaponry. It encompasses everything—attack, defense, mobility, and more. You should develop in that direction."

Cheng Ning nodded along. "Xiao Liao is right. With your current foundation, as long as you throw yourself into it, you'll certainly stand out and have a promising future. A strong body can sustain long-term 007 work schedules, giving you greater endurance than others; and your extremely high Alien Power strength can ensure what is needed to manufacture all kinds of mysterious weaponry."

Wenren Sheng felt a headache coming on. This woman was actually telling someone like him—someone who got off work at two and felt cheated if he had no excuse to take leave—that the inhuman 007 work model was a good thing. She really had a hard head.

He did not believe she had not read his file. It definitely contained his habits and preferences.

Of course, he would not flare up over it. After all, the two genuinely meant well. They were not mocking him, nor did they harbor the slightest malice.

But sometimes, the hardest thing to deal with in this world was precisely this kind of "good intention"—like your parents pressuring you to get married...

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you two know what sport I usually like best?"

"What is it?" The two exchanged glances, not knowing why he was asking this.

Didn't the files say this genius liked sleeping most?

At first, some people agreed that he was studying with his eyes closed, calling it a good method of learning. But after observing him for a long time, no one said that anymore—because he often started snoring after closing his eyes...

"What I like most is free fighting, no-holds-barred combat, and fitness training." As Wenren Sheng spoke, he proved it to them. He had just undergone a physical test, and it was summer, so he was wearing only thin clothes.

Biceps, pectorals, an inverted-triangle back... and, of course, the most important thing of all: eight perfect abdominal muscles.

Though strong, he did not look frightening like those fitness fanatics. Instead, his body possessed harmonious, flowing beauty, like a marble sculpture.

Liao Zheng, who had long since become a greasy middle-aged man, secretly felt envious. Still, he shook his head. "Those are merely things for Ordinary People. For the world of Otherworldly Users, the future trend is to exploit the hybrid advantages of mystery and technology.

"With the foundation of modern science, we can develop powerful mysterious weapons and cultivate corresponding operators... Individual martial training has long fallen behind the times. It may be useful for fitness and longevity, but it can no longer achieve much, much less elevate one's standing in the Mysterious Realm."

Cheng Ning nodded and urged him as well. "That's right. The most important things for us humans are wisdom and the brain. Top scientists among Ordinary People are likewise sought after by every country. Once a mysterious crisis occurs, they and we belong to the first tier of protected targets. But no fitness coach or boxing champion among Ordinary People could ever receive corresponding treatment, even if they might earn more money. The best among them can make hundreds of millions from a single match."

Hearing this, Wenren Sheng smiled faintly.

"Thank you, both of you. You're good people, and everything you said is very, very good. But I just don't like it."

Liao Zheng and Cheng Ning exchanged glances, shook their heads slightly, and wore expressions of incomprehension.

They had not expected that this genius, who had become an expert at such a young age, would have the same incurable flaw as many young Otherworldly Users they had seen before.

They had grown up in the society of Ordinary People and been deluded by all sorts of supernatural films and television dramas made by Ordinary People. Ordinary People could only rely on fantasy, but they had the opportunity to make it real themselves.

Thus, driven by the urge to show off and their inner sense of superiority, they embarked on the path of cultivating individual martial strength.

It could not be said that this choice was wrong. It was merely poorly timed, falling behind the tide of the age.

The so-called peerless martial strength they cultivated, which seemed extraordinary to Ordinary People, was actually now inferior even to the most ordinary Black Shirts in the First Team. In actual combat, they were often crushed. They might win three or five times, but that held no meaning.

Because the training cycle for Black Shirts was only three to five years, and their sources were far broader.

The two seemed to see Wenren Sheng discovering his mistake decades later and being forced to switch careers and return. By then, however, he would have become mediocre. Perhaps he could still achieve quite a bit, but he would never, ever again be as stunning as he was today.

Seeing the changes in their expressions, Wenren Sheng was just about to say something when he suddenly froze slightly:

Your actions have greatly defied the mainstream choice, triggering an unfathomable mysterious state. Current Mystery Points are full. Mystery Points maximum increased by 1. Current maximum increased to 107.