Test

"Miniaturization technology?" Xie Qingming and Wang Sheng exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with shock.

Raiden Ryoma's gaze darkened as he thought, This shouldn't be miniaturization technology—it should be quantum technology.

Yesterday, Raiden Ryoma had clearly seen how Moon God's Protection had appeared in Li Ming's hand. Because of that, he was more inclined to believe it was the quantum technology that Anti-Entropy had been researching.

Seeing their shock but no suspicion, instead hearing them mention such a specialized term, Li Ming had to admire just how badly skewed this world's tech tree was. Still, the two of them seemed somewhat cautious. "Um, could we take a look?"

"Go ahead. It needs to be registered later anyway."

After Xie Qingming and Wang Sheng took Moon God's Protection from Li Ming, their expressions turned stunned. They carefully examined its lines. Aside from the distinctive crescent-shaped insignia, many details revealed Schicksal's technology.

Xie Qingming and Wang Sheng exchanged another look. Both of them understood.

"Mr. Li Ming, you can come with me to complete the registration first." After glancing at Wang Sheng, Xie Qingming led Li Ming out of the meeting room.

Li Ming followed Xie Qingming down the hall, while she held Moon God's Protection in her arms.

Soon, they arrived at a place resembling a training ground. Xie Qingming left first with Moon God's Protection, and then another young woman came to lead Li Ming into the training area.

"Please come this way, Mr. Li Ming."

Li Ming followed the young woman into a changing room. She handed him a set of clothes, and when he looked at the dark skintight suit in his hands, his expression immediately turned a little strange.

Still, he said nothing. Who would have thought that after he entered the changing room, the young woman would follow right in after him? Li Ming's heart skipped a beat.

But when Li Ming began taking off his clothes, the young woman still did not leave. She even stood nearby, commenting on his physique.

Once Li Ming was mostly undressed, he held the skintight suit with a troubled look, wondering where the zipper was and how he was supposed to get into it. Then the young woman took the suit from him and tapped the emblem in its center.

The skintight suit immediately loosened. Li Ming slipped into it, and the young woman grabbed his hand before tapping his chest. The clothes instantly tightened.

The dark skintight suit clung tightly to Li Ming's body, outlining even the tiny bit of excess fat around his stomach.

Then the young woman tossed him into the training room.

Sitting sprawled on the floor of the training room, Li Ming was still dazed. "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"

After a while, the young woman's voice sounded. "Mr. Li Ming, the registration assessment will now begin. There is a strength tester in front of you. Please strike it with all your strength."

As soon as she finished speaking, a strength tester rose from the ground. Li Ming found it puzzling, but he still followed the voice's instructions. He did not use his full strength, merely gathering power in secret. "Inch Force: White Tiger Listens to the Wind: Sixth Form!"

Energy gathered from within his body into his right hand. He lowered into a horse stance, releasing the power with a twist of his waist and abdomen.

Bang!

Lights immediately flashed, and the strength tester displayed a large B.

Before Li Ming could react, the strength tester sank back down. The voice sounded again at just the right moment. "Mr. Li Ming, next is the reaction test. Please prepare yourself. The speed tester will appear shortly."

Before Li Ming could react, the flat ground beneath his feet transformed into rows of cylindrical rollers. Then the rollers began spinning at high speed.

The sudden movement nearly made Li Ming fall. Fortunately, his reactions were good. He rolled with the momentum, then began running. He did not run very fast, merely keeping his breathing steady.

A minute later, the ground returned to normal. If he had not used the wall to cushion himself, Li Ming would definitely have smashed a huge hole into it.

Then a C appeared on the wall.

"Mr. Li Ming, next is the final reaction test. These are all rubber bullets, so please do not worry."

As soon as the voice fell, round holes appeared in the surrounding walls, and long metal barrels extended from them.

Looking at those pitch-black gun barrels, Li Ming's expression froze. You're making things difficult for me, Fat Tiger!

But they gave him no chance to react. Bullets instantly poured out, though they did not fire in a single simultaneous volley. Otherwise, Li Ming felt certain he would have been riddled with holes.

Whenever a barrel was about to fire, it would retract slightly, and the barrels themselves were not quiet. So although he was hit once or twice from time to time, he managed to evade most of the shots.

After the final ten bullets were fired, the walls finally returned to normal. Only then did Li Ming catch his breath.

A C appeared on the wall.

"Alright, the assessment is over."

The training room door opened, and the young woman entered with Xie Qingming. When Li Ming looked over, he could clearly see the young woman's face was full of amusement.

Xie Qingming handed Moon God's Protection to Li Ming and spoke in a somewhat solemn tone. "Mr. Li Ming, your registration has been completed. This is your gun. Would you like to see your registration file now?"

Li Ming took Moon God's Protection and held it in his hand, but he did not hurry to unequip it. Otherwise, if Moon God's Protection vanished directly from his hand later, miniaturization technology would not be enough to explain it.

Li Ming nodded. "Could I take a shower first?"

"Please."

After Li Ming left, the young woman suddenly said to Xie Qingming, "Sister Ming, that little brother has signs of corrosion on his body. Did he come into close contact with Honkai?"

"That was more than just close contact." Xie Qingming sighed. "By the way, does Logistics still have any serum?"

"There should be some left. This stuff is absurdly expensive, after all, and hardly anyone uses it."

"Alright, help me write an application report. I'll get some serum for him later."

"Okay!"

Li Ming returned to the changing room and copied what the young woman had done earlier, patting his chest. The skintight suit immediately loosened. After a few tugs, it slipped off his body. When he looked at his wrist, the faint red lines there had become noticeably clearer, like blood flowing beneath his skin. Li Ming sighed. It would be best to solve this quickly.

After bathing, Li Ming felt much more refreshed. Although it had only been ten minutes, he had worked up a full-body sweat. He placed Moon God's Protection to one side, and only after getting dressed again did he tuck it into his pocket before unequipping it.

Moon God's Protection vanished from Li Ming's pocket for a brief moment. After he left the changing room, Xie Qingming handed him a document. "Mr. Li Ming, this is your registration file. If you go to another city and need to take action in the future, you can submit this file. But I must say this: you cannot casually act against ordinary people."

"Of course. We practice martial arts to protect others."

Li Ming looked over the document in his hand. Strength: B. Speed: C+. Reaction: B-. Physical condition: C+. Weapon: Moon God's Protection. Rating: A.

It only briefly described some of his information and did not specifically list things such as the Inch Punch Fist Style or Moon God's Protection's data.

Li Ming sighed in relief. Good, they didn't see anything. Otherwise, being exposed on his first day after transmigrating would have been far too miserable.

Meanwhile, in the meeting room.

Raiden Ryoma looked at Wang Sheng and took a sip of tea. "Mr. Wang Sheng, once Li Ming's registration file is ready, please let me take a look."

"Yes, Mr. Ryoma! But would that be somewhat against the rules?"

"After all, Mr. Li Ming will be my bodyguard for the next month. Naturally, I need to understand him better. Also, that young man needs serum. Go handle it."

"As you command, Mr. Ryoma. I'll submit the application now."

The meeting room door was suddenly pushed open. Raiden Ryoma and Wang Sheng immediately acted as if nothing had happened. Wang Sheng lowered his head, informing someone to help arrange the application, while Raiden Ryoma wore a gentle smile.

There was no sign at all that the two had any connection.

"Mr. Ryoma, Mr. Li Ming, our investigation of you ends here. Sorry for the trouble. Please wait a little longer—there are still a few things that need to be handled. It will be done soon!"

Rather than bickering with Wang Sheng, Xie Qingming spoke to Li Ming and Raiden Ryoma. Li Ming merely waved his hand, while Raiden Ryoma smiled. "It's fine. This matter was connected to us in the first place. Cooperating with your work is only proper."

After saying that, Xie Qingming and Wang Sheng both left the room without prior agreement. Xie Qingming thought Wang Sheng had something to do, and Wang Sheng thought the same of her.

Then they discovered that they had both arrived at the Logistics Department.

"Wang Sheng, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here, Captain Qingming?"

"I'm here to get something." "So am I."

The two exchanged looks. After their identities were verified, they split up and headed straight for the refrigerated storage where the serum was kept.

Then they ran into each other again at the entrance to the cold storage.

"Wang Sheng, do you like me?"

"What kind of joke is that? If I liked you, would I need to come to Logistics to block your path?"

"Then tell me what you came here for."

"What I'm here for is none of your business."

"You came to get serum too?" Xie Qingming caught a hint of evasiveness in Wang Sheng's words.

Wang Sheng could also tell that Xie Qingming was here for serum. He simply stopped pretending. "Since we're both here for serum, there's no need for me to interfere. Go bring the serum over. I won't go."

Wang Sheng then left. Xie Qingming watched him, her gaze flickering slightly. Was Anti-Entropy involved too?

As the pale green serum was injected into his body, the faint red lines that had appeared on Li Ming's hand gradually subsided.

Li Ming slowly relaxed, then heard someone say, "This serum requires multiple injections to neutralize the corrosion from Honkai Energy. Since it is still in the experimental stage, its effects vary from person to person. Also, do not engage in overly strenuous exercise."

"Alright. When is the next injection?"

"One every month. Three injections in total will be enough. Every branch has serum, so just make an appointment in advance."

"Three times? Thank you, miss."

"It's nothing. You can leave now."

After injecting Li Ming with the serum, Xie Qingming cleaned up the syringe and left.

"Little Brother Li Ming, are you coming with us now?" Raiden Ryoma looked at the suitcase in Li Ming's hand and his brand-new clothes. He looked nothing like the bedraggled person who had carried a woven sack yesterday.

Li Ming teased little Yae for a moment before saying, "I'll be troubling you from here on, Mr. Ryoma."

"It's no trouble. I already spoke with your Uncle Su yesterday, so naturally I should take better care of you."

With that, Raiden Ryoma took Yae's hand and headed outside. Li Ming followed behind with his suitcase, leaving only Xie Qingming and Wang Sheng in the meeting room.

Wang Sheng paused. "How is that young man?"

"A remarkable young talent." Xie Qingming's gaze was distant. This startled Wang Sheng. That kid had earned such a high evaluation?

Then Li Ming's personal file appeared on the computer. Li Ming, from Huodou County, Qinghe City. Grandfather: martial arts grandmaster. Practiced martial arts from childhood. Strength assessment: B to B+. Calm temperament, quick reactions. Origin of firearm unknown, suspected to use Schicksal craftsmanship. Father and mother: information unknown.

Leaving aside what happened in the meeting room, outside—

After Li Ming left with Raiden Ryoma, he let Yae sit atop his suitcase and pulled her along, making her giggle happily.

Seeing how quickly Yae had become familiar with Li Ming, Raiden Ryoma also relaxed. Naturally, he was pleased to see it.

After leaving the Qinghe Branch, a new driver soon arrived before them in a black car.

Seeing that Li Ming was young, the driver assumed he was some wealthy young master and hurried to help with the luggage. Li Ming repeatedly waved him off, but in the end, the driver still helped put the suitcase inside.

After getting into the car, Li Ming hesitated for a moment before asking, "Mr. Ryoma, what brings you to Shenzhou?"

"There's no harm in telling you. Yae is about to start school, and I usually do not have much time to spend with her. Now, I simply want to keep her company more."

As he spoke, he looked at Yae, who had been so lively just moments ago but was now too exhausted to muster any energy. His eyes were full of affection.

Li Ming was also stunned. He remembered that in Honkai Impact 3rd, once Yae had grown a little older, Raiden Ryoma had been falsely imprisoned because of Cocolia's schemes. Afterward, Yae experienced the warmth and coldness of human relationships, which instead led to the Herrscher personality awakening.

It had to be said, Cocolia really was...

But he remembered that Yae's personality had seemed to change drastically because of a childhood kidnapping. He did not know whether this was that incident, or whether it had been caused by something else.

"Alright, let's discuss your compensation. Your monthly salary will be one hundred and fifty thousand. Converted into Far East Federation currency, that should be nearly three million per month. The pay is not bad. I also heard from your uncle that you want to continue your studies. I can make introductions for you when the time comes. Is there an academy you have in mind?"

Hearing Raiden Ryoma's words, Li Ming immediately thought of Welt Yang, who was recuperating at the California Institute of Technology, and blurted out, "California Institute of Technology."

Raiden Ryoma's gaze flickered as he smiled. "That works out perfectly. I have close ties with professors at the California Institute of Technology."

Seeing that Raiden Ryoma had actually agreed, Li Ming was somewhat surprised. But he did not dare push things any further now, since his many actions might already have seemed suspicious.

Seeing that Li Ming did not want to talk further, Ryoma said no more. Li Ming looked at his reflection in the car window and fell into a daze. Were the tips of his hair turning a little red?