Born with Superhuman Strength!

Not long after dinner, Huai Shi found himself back in the Special Affairs Department's interrogation room.

It felt as warm and comforting as coming home.

Though he was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, with the wounds on his face still smeared with purple antiseptic, he could hardly be called presentable.

Then he saw the Special Affairs Department's director again, the man he had met once before. He remembered... his surname seemed to be Fu? Was that surname really so common?

Or was it just his imagination?

Of all surnames, why did it have to be that one? This uncle had probably never enjoyed being the top dog in his life...

Noticing Huai Shi's pitying gaze, Director Fu could tell with his heels what the brat was thinking. Remembering how this guy's news had utterly ruined his pleasant family dinner, his anger surged as he snapped:

"Huai Shi, what exactly are you trying to do? Don't you have school tomorrow? Skipping class at your age already—are you planning to end up in prison when you grow up?"

The hell with school starting!

Why did he sound like the dean of discipline?!

For some reason, Huai Shi felt the pressure of school starting in a place like this, and his feelings immediately became complicated. "Someone paid money to have me killed. I'm pretty desperate too!"

"So this is your second visit, huh? Less than half a month, and you've been dragged into the Special Affairs Department twice. You're really something—"

Suppressing his anger, Director Fu sat across the table and opened the report handed over by his subordinate. Pointing at its title, he barked, "A serious assault case, too? Seven severely injured, and five are still lying in the ICU. Don't you think you've gotten a little too full of yourself?"

"Could you stop assuming all I think about is committing crimes?"

Huai Shi sighed and pointed at the wounds on his shoulder and arm. The closest cut had come within a centimeter of an artery. "This was self-defense..."

"Enough. Don't give me that."

Director Fu picked up the remote and pressed a button at the enormous television in the corner. The screen lit up, revealing the miserable scene in the alley.

In the surveillance footage, the crowd collided with the boy.

Then it was like waves crashing against a reef.

Someone flew backward, screaming soundlessly in agony on the recording.

Then came a crushing, one-sided beating. From the first person to the last, it was as horrific as charging into a kindergarten with a weapon.

Everything was silent.

There was no sound when bones broke. Those who fell to the ground could not scream. When blood poured from their noses and mouths, there was no audible buzzing.

It was as though he could not feel pain.

A hammer struck his body, yet he did not retreat a single step. A blade slashed across his back, yet he did not hesitate in the slightest. Savage as though he cared about nothing, he nearly fought to the death as he knocked down every person in sight.

From beginning to end, it took less than three minutes.

Throughout it all, the boy's expression never changed.

Only after no one in the alley could move anymore did he turn around, retrieve his suit, and sit wearily on a fire hydrant, waiting for the distant sirens to sound.

Blood ran down his pant legs and pooled into a shallow puddle on the ground.

Reflecting those calm eyes.

It was chilling.

The footage abruptly ended.

Then Director Fu slammed the table and roared, "Huai Shi, didn't you say you didn't know martial arts?"

"I was born superhumanly str— I taught myself, okay?" Huai Shi shrank his neck back. "Was I supposed to let them chop me to death on the spot for it to count as normal?"

"This was a serious brawl. With an Ascender involved, that makes the crime even worse."

Director Fu stared into Huai Shi's eyes. "You know the Special Affairs Department exists specifically to handle incidents like this, right? Last year, I sent an Oni about your age to the border. Take a guess what he's like now?"

Huai Shi asked tentatively, "He achieved Buddhahood and became a patriarch, living it up?"

"The grass on his grave is as tall as you are!"

Director Fu turned to leave, but hesitated as he opened the door. He looked back at Huai Shi. "I've already read the statements from those people. I know you were defending yourself.

"But was there really no other choice at that time, Huai Shi?"

"Hm?" Huai Shi looked blank.

"You're an Ascender. From the moment you underwent sublimation, you were no longer the same as ordinary people. In many situations, you have more choices and more power because you possess strength."

Director Fu looked into his eyes. "But does strength only have value to you when you use it to assert yourself over the weak?"

"..."

Huai Shi did not know what to say. Director Fu turned to leave, only to hear a voice behind him. "Um... wait!"

He slowly turned back, his expression cold. "What else do you have to say?"

"..."

Huai Shi hesitated for a long time, then raised his hand and asked weakly:

"I'm a little hungry. Do you provide meals here?"

Bang!

The door was slammed shut.

By the time Ai Qing arrived, Director Fu had smoked half a pack in his office, yet the anger in his heart still refused to fade.

He wanted to hit someone.

He wanted to beat up a minor.

To hell with the minor protection laws...

"Where's Huai Shi?" Ai Qing asked.

Director Fu raised a hand and pointed toward the interrogation room. "He's still in there eating our boxed meals. He's on his sixth one already. Could you hurry up and take your Astronomical Society's pig spirit home?"

"He's in his growth phase. It's normal."

Ai Qing remained calm about it.

On the way over, she had already learned what had happened. Director Fu was not about to bring that accusatory attitude toward Huai Shi before a proper Inspector, either.

In East Xia, the relationship between Inspectors and the Special Affairs Department was often awkward. At its root, it all came down to the positions of both sides.

As everyone knew, even ordinary Ascenders who had not implanted a Stigmata possessed abilities and physical strength beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Therefore, in order to respond to border threats to the greatest extent possible and prevent power that could have protected the Present Realm and the border from being abused in war, all Ascenders qualified for military service exemption.

In other words, apart from the Astronomical Society, which had passed a Five Powers resolution within the Unified Bureau, no organization or force could forcibly conscript Ascenders for combat at any time, nor could they illegally detain Ascenders or subject them to inhumane experiments.

This law, inscribed in the Twelve Tables, protected the personal safety and freedom of Ascenders to a certain degree.

Yet at the same time, to prevent Ascenders from recklessly abusing their power, all crimes committed by Ascenders received enhanced penalties, and every place of imprisonment was uniformly designated at the border.

The Special Affairs Department was a violent institution established to prevent Ascenders from persecuting ordinary people. Most of its members were undoubtedly elite-trained soldiers, using coordinated suppression, guns and cannons, battle axes and missiles to teach people a lesson.

In the Present Realm, with its Three Great Blockades, aside from the handful of Crowned Ones, the military was the greatest source of violence.

Never mind Little Boy or Tsar Bomba, never mind missiles and bombers. Just the frontal fire coverage of an artillery battalion and infantry-armor coordination were enough to give those Ghosts and Monsters a miserable time.

Nothing should ever think about confronting the military head-on.

Whoever did would die.

Ascenders were no exception.

And determining whether Ascenders had committed crimes, then issuing Black Letters, was the duty of Inspectors.

Inspectors generally did not make trouble for the Special Affairs Department. As long as they could maintain the balance between ordinary people and Ascenders, that was enough. More often than not, whenever the Special Affairs Department needed to act, all they had to do was call the Inspectors and put a case on file.

What they truly needed to worry about, aside from border development, was Ascender groups smashing each other's brains out over profit. In the worst cases, smashing each other's brains out was fine, so long as it did not splash onto ordinary people trying to live honest lives.

Whoever caused trouble got killed.

The Present Realm was only so big. It could not even hold a few natural enemies, let alone accommodate so many people causing havoc.

Fortunately, New Sea was fucking small. There were only seven or eight Ascenders, big and small, and none amounted to much. Everyone lived rather peacefully. Some worked as gigolos, some as middlemen, and some ran detective agencies while slacking off all day... It was remarkably worry-free.

And after dealing with those people who had been secretly sabotaging her, Ai Qing had no reason to be at odds with the Special Affairs Department.

One serious brawl was not enough to make either side fall out.

It was a small matter. Neither side would bring personal emotions into work. After briefly exchanging information, they got straight to the point.

"Who attacked him?"

"A bunch of worthless trash..."

Mentioning them made Director Fu angry. He set the files on the table one after another and counted them off. "Members of illegal gangs, human traffickers, fugitives, and idle drifters... What the hell are these people?"

As he spoke, he could not help lighting another cigarette. Seeing Ai Qing there, he opened the window, took two hard drags, then stubbed it out. Pulling a phone from a bag, he asked:

"You've heard of the Myriad Sins Collection, right?"

"That dark web app?"

Ai Qing saw the skull icon on the phone screen and could not help frowning.

Though it was technically software, its nature was actually far more complex. It had reached the level of a pernicious scourge, and even the Astronomical Society had established a dedicated file on it.

Unfortunately, because of the existence of the free border, the Border: Dark Web, it could never be completely eradicated.

In short, it could be described as a brokerage platform for the world's dark side.

It provided every kind of transaction that satisfied humanity's darker desires: murder, abduction, kidnapping, human organ trafficking, slaves, and even deeper dealings aimed at Ascenders—Stigmata, Border Relics, Origin Essence Crystals, sacrifices... It encompassed everything and lacked nothing.

And now, someone had posted a bounty for Huai Shi on it...

But who would have nothing better to do than pick a fight with a salted fish?

His body had finally recovered~ Starting now, there would be a guaranteed five thousand words every day. Please give me recommendation votes~