The Essence of Humanity

"Name?"

"Huai Shi."

"Age?"

"Seventeen... Wait, is the Astronomical Society recruiting gigolos now?"

In the silent office, the young man behind the desk scratched his chin, looking at the expressionless interrogator opposite him with confusion. "I say, uncle, you've asked and investigated all these days. Haven't I, Huai Shi, eliminated a scourge for the Astronomical Society? Why am I being treated like a traitor?"

"Routine investigation, please cooperate."

For the umpteenth time, the interrogator uttered these words, then asked, "Can you describe your battle with Red Glove again?"

"Forgot, can't remember," Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "Maybe some bald, caped hero named Peppa Pig showed up and killed him with one palm? Seriously, the moment I walked in, I saw him fighting Red Glove..."

"Oh, the bald, caped hero named Peppa Pig... That's not what you said last time."

"I can't remember!"

"Then, can you explain how you, a newly promoted Ascendant, killed a third-tier Red Glove? According to our previous investigation, you seemed to be a music major who had never even been in a fight."

Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "I have the strength of a god!"

"Then the next question..."

Two hours later, the interrogator calmly tidied up a thick stack of records in his hand and stood up to say goodbye as if it were routine. "Well, thank you for your cooperation, and thank you for your contributions to this world."

After a formal handshake, he turned and left.

Huai Shi stood at the doorway, completely bewildered.

"Is it finally over? I mean, is there something wrong with your Astronomical Society? Sending someone like that to ask the same questions over and over for days..."

Ai Qing, who was reading, said calmly, "It's normal. It concerns Green Day, so a detailed record is necessary. They are all transcription specialists. Their job is to write down whatever you say and file it back.

"Are such superficial records really useful?"

"It's just going through the motions," Ai Qing said calmly. "If no one wants to cause trouble during this process, it's probably fine."

"Huh?" Huai Shi looked over. "Cause trouble?"

"Standard procedure, sit down."

Ai Qing calmly drank the coffee brought by her female attendant. "Where there are people, there is struggle. The position of inspector is very important, and there are always more wolves than meat. If someone like me, who is still a few months shy of twenty and a cripple, occupies it, everyone will be unhappy. If they can create some trouble and clear a spot, I wouldn't mind causing some trouble myself."

"..."

Huai Shi gasped. "Your Astronomical Society is truly a deep and turbulent place."

"One last reminder—"

Ai Qing finally looked up and glanced at the name tag on Huai Shi's chest. "Not 'you guys,' but 'us'—of course, I don't mean for you to have a sense of collective honor, but if something happens to me, you won't get away with it either."

"Ah, I get it, I get it. You mean we're in the same boat, right?"

Huai Shi sighed. After so many days, he had almost gotten used to Ai Qing's way of talking, but why couldn't he hear any positive words from her mouth?

If he was a negative energy manufacturing machine now, then Ai Qing could definitely open a factory—their output levels were not even on the same scale.

How did this woman survive until now?

"Of course, by relying on strength,"

Ai Qing replied without looking up.

Huai Shi was stunned, and then his heart grew cold. Did this woman even know telepathy?

"I'm not an Ascendant, so I don't have those inexplicable abilities. If I were you, I wouldn't write all my problems on my face."

"Uh..."

Huai Shi subconsciously touched his face. "Is there something written on my face?"

"Yes," Ai Qing, who was reading, looked up again and glanced at him with pity. "It vividly illustrates the essence of humanity."

"Huh? Is it a pigeon or a repeater?"

Huai Shi asked curiously.

"..."

Ai Qing really didn't want to deal with him anymore.

Under Huai Shi's constant barrage of noise, she finally showed a hint of impatience, closed her book, and sincerely wondered if she had a problem with her brain when she recruited this person as her secretary.

"What exactly do you want?"

She raised her finger and pinched his nose, narrowing her eyes. "Since you've finished your report and have nothing better to do, why don't you thoroughly investigate the top ten haunted houses in Xinhai that some busybodies have ranked online? That way, people like you who are bored won't go exploring haunted houses and go crazy."

"Don't even mention it!"

Huai Shi slammed the table in anger when this was brought up. "That ranking is complete garbage! The number one spot is my house!

How is my house a haunted house? It's just a bit desolate and poor, isn't it? If I had money, would I not even have fixed the door? I've already chased away four groups of crazy people taking pictures these past two days!"

"..."

Ai Qing was helpless. "So what are you trying to say?"

"Uh… I just wanted to ask…" Huai Shi suddenly became shy, rubbing his hands together and forcing a fawning smile. "Boss, could you possibly give me an advance on my salary?"

"……"

Ai Qing took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to slam her book onto this guy's face. "Didn't I already give you over twenty thousand?"

"It's all gone." Huai Shi held back tears, looking out the window at the dead crow on the tree as if recalling painful memories. "In short, it's a long story.

School's starting soon, and I still owe over four thousand on my Huabei. Forget tuition, I can't even afford to eat. Boss, could you give me some of my salary in advance so I can get through the year?"

"It's only the end of September, and Lunar New Year is still half a year away."

Ai Qing stared at him expressionlessly. After a long pause, she took out her phone. "How much do you want?"

Huai Shi's eyes lit up immediately. He leaned closer. "Hey, five or six thousand would be great. I'll pay you back when I get my salary."

Beep!

"Alipay transfer of four thousand yuan received."

Ai Qing indifferently put away her phone. "This is your basic salary for this month. Take it. Unless there are other urgent tasks, you'll have to live on this until the fifteenth of next month."

"My salary is actually four thousand a month!"

Huai Shi was overjoyed. He used to earn much less playing his violin in bars and at orphanage talent shows.

"Oh, perfect! Old Liu is getting discharged tomorrow, so I can even treat him to a meal."

"Since when did you two get along so well?"

"Ha, jealous?" Huai Shi started to get carried away. "Friendship between men is that simple."

"Is that so?"

Ai Qing calmly picked up her coffee and took a sip, asking as if casually, "So, have you thought about how you're going to explain to him that you burned down the car he bought with over a million in loans?"

"……"

Soon after, Ai Qing finally welcomed a rare moment of peace as she watched a dejected Huai Shi leave her office.

In the silence, she sighed and looked at the substantial sum of money on the bank page displayed on her computer screen—a total of 3.4 million US dollars.

Forget it.

Maybe it's better not to tell him about the bounty on the Red Glove for now.

"Why is this perfectly good house a haunted house?"

Huai Shi stood with his hands on his hips at his doorstep, looking at the lush, towering trees surrounding him, the vibrant green moss on the walls, and the climbing ivy.

Beyond the rust-covered gate, wild flowers and grass bloomed in the courtyard, and fragmented statues cast white light under the sun…

"It looks like a scenic, sun-drenched place to me!"

Huai Shi inwardly scoffed at the people who made those nonsensical online rankings, selectively ignoring how creepy his house became at night. He shook his head and pushed open the creaking front door.

"I'm home!"

No one answered, only the sharp sound of the front door slowly closing behind him.

See? How thoughtful! Even the front door is fully automatic!

Does anywhere else have this? Does it? Does it?

Anyone who calls this place a haunted house has a seriously bad conscience.

Huai Shi snorted, then stepped on the creaking floorboards and pushed open the main door of the house, returning to the dust-covered living room. He picked up a cup from the table, drank some hot water, and then headed to his room to pack for school.

However, for someone like him who basically guessed his way through academic subjects, the curriculum for his final year of high school was practically abandoned. He was focusing more on preparing materials and textbooks for his professional-level performance exam next month.

An ABRSM professional performance certificate could be used as a diploma in most countries around the world. With that in hand, as long as his college entrance exam scores weren't disastrously bad, getting an acceptance letter from an art university should be no problem.

"So, does this really mean anything to you now?" the Crow asked.

"Hm?" Huai Shi was confused.

The Crow asked again, "Do you think a diploma means anything to an Ascendant?"

"Do Ascendants not need to eat? Don't Ascendants need to work?" Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "Do they just get money falling from the sky while sitting at home?"

"……"

The Crow sighed. "What I mean is, for most Ascendants, money is not a problem. While they might not be rich, they certainly won't go hungry."

"Where do Ascendants get their money from?" Huai Shi scoffed. "Murder and arson? What's the difference from stealing? Can't they just live peacefully and earn a living?"

Honestly, although the jobs the Astronomical Society gave him paid well, with a base salary of four thousand a month even if he did nothing, he knew how dangerous it would be when he actually had to work.

Just look at Liu Dongli.

He was a gigolo who was living a good life, but he came to be his bodyguard. While protecting him, he got into trouble! Not only was he forced to join an elderly women's square dancing group, but he also got stabbed in the back by a traitor.

If Huai Shi had learned anything from his experiences in the world of Ascendants so far, it was that the only word that mattered was danger.

Numerous border relics scattered throughout the real world, with unknown functions, unknown threats, and unknown purposes; each person possessing entirely different soul abilities and bizarre Holy Marks integrated into their bodies…

Any one of these could easily kill a person.

Even Liu Dongli, a gigolo who relied on his looks, could use his peerless beauty (as he claimed) to forcibly charm onlookers to the point of forgetting to breathe, causing them to suffocate to death.

And he himself was nothing more than a weak, pitiful, and helpless negative energy manufacturing machine.

Just finishing off a half-crippled Red Glove had nearly cost him his life several times.

Life and death struggles?

Let's forget about it.

He needed to find a way to become economically independent as soon as possible, then quit his job at the Astronomical Society, and honestly work towards his dream of playing the violin in Vienna.

Being a music teacher would be fine too!

"...While the life of an Ascendant might be dangerous for the vast majority of people, some people are self-sufficient. Don't assume all Ascendants in the world are bandits, okay?"

Crow sighed helplessly, raising a claw to his phone. "Look at this message first."

"What is it?"

Huai Shi leaned over and examined the draft of the Tomorrow News article. "Roman Auction House sets a new record, Twilight Spectrum Tier 5 Holy Mark Níðhöggr sold for forty-three... one, two, three, holy crap, how many zeros is that!"

Thanks to everyone's understanding, his body has finally gotten a bit better. He's been back home recently, and I'll work hard to reply with double updates a few days after I return to Chengdu~