I'm Naturally Gifted with Strength!

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

It felt as warm as coming home.

Though he was covered in bandages and his facial wounds were smeared with antiseptic, he certainly wasn't looking his best.

Then, he saw the head of the Special Affairs Department again, the one he'd met once before. He remembered... his surname was Fu? Was that a common surname?

Or was it just his imagination?

What a shame to have a surname like that. This guy probably never got to enjoy being treated like a VIP in his life...

Sensing Huai Shi's pitying gaze, Director Fu knew exactly what the kid was thinking just by the way he tapped his heel. The thought of his originally pleasant family dinner being ruined by this kid's news made him furious, and he snapped, "Huai Shi, what exactly do you think you're doing? Don't you have school tomorrow? Planning to skip class at such a young age? Do you want to end up in jail when you grow up?"

School tomorrow! Seriously!

Why are you talking like the dean of students?!

Huai Shi felt a strange sense of pressure, as if he were actually facing school, and a complex emotion welled up inside him. "Someone paid to have me killed, I'm just as desperate!"

"This is your second time, you know. Caught by the Special Affairs Department twice in less than half a month. You really outdid yourself—"

Director Fu suppressed his anger, sat down opposite Huai Shi, and opened the report his subordinate had handed him. He pointed to the title and berated him, "Another aggravated assault case? Seven people seriously injured, five of them still in the ICU. Are you getting a little too full of yourself?"

"Can you stop thinking I'm always up to no good?"

Huai Shi sighed, pointing to the wounds on his shoulder and arm. One of the gashes was less than a centimeter away from a major artery. "This was self-defense..."

"Enough with the excuses."

Director Fu picked up the remote and pressed a button on the large television in the corner. The screen flickered to life, showing the brutal scene in the alley.

In the surveillance footage, a group of people clashed with the teenager.

Then, it was like waves crashing against a reef.

Some were sent flying, screaming silently and tragically in the video.

What followed was a devastating onslaught, from the first person to the last, as brutal as charging into a kindergarten with weapons.

Everything was silent.

There was no sound of bones breaking, no screams from those who fell to the ground, no buzzing as blood flowed from their mouths and noses.

It was as if they felt no pain.

Like a hammer striking flesh, he didn't retreat an inch. Like a blade cutting into his back, he showed no hesitation. He fought with a ferocity that seemed to disregard everything, taking down every visible person in a near mutual destruction.

It all took less than three minutes.

Throughout the entire ordeal, the teenager's face remained expressionless.

Only after no one else in the alley was moving did he turn around, retrieve his suit, and sit wearily on a fire hydrant, waiting for the distant sound of police sirens.

Blood flowed down his pant leg, pooling into a shallow puddle on the ground.

It reflected those calm eyes.

It was chilling.

The video abruptly ended.

Immediately after, Director Fu slammed his hand on the table, his voice filled with anger: "Huai Shi, didn't you say you couldn't fight?"

"I'm naturally gifted... Can't I say I'm self-taught?" Huai Shi flinched, shrinking his neck back. "Do I really have to let them kill me on the spot for it to be considered normal?"

"This is an aggravated brawling incident. If an Ascendant is involved, the penalty is doubled."

Director Fu stared into Huai Shi's eyes. "You know the Special Affairs Department is specifically for managing these kinds of incidents, right? I sent a kid about your age to the border last year. Guess what happened to him?"

Huai Shi tentatively asked, "Achieved enlightenment, attained Buddhahood, blissful and content?"

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

Director Fu turned to leave, but hesitated as he pushed the door open. He looked back at Huai Shi and said, "I've already seen the statements from those people. I know you acted in self-defense, and you're not wrong. But was there truly no other choice at that moment, Huai Shi?"

"Hm?" Huai Shi looked bewildered.

"You are an Ascendant. The moment you ascended, you became different from ordinary people. In many situations, you often have more choices and power because you possess strength."

Director Fu looked into his eyes. "But does power always have to be displayed against the weak for you to feel its value?"

"..."

Huai Shi didn't know what to say. As Director Fu turned to leave, he heard a voice from behind him: "Uh... wait a minute!"

He slowly turned back, his expression cold. "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"..."

Huai Shi hesitated, wanting to speak but unable to. After a long pause, he raised his hand and meekly asked, "I'm a bit hungry. Do you guys provide food here?"

Bang!

The door was slammed shut.

By the time Ai Qing arrived, Director Fu had already smoked half a pack of cigarettes in his office, and a surge of anger still wouldn't subside.

He wanted to hit someone.

He wanted to beat up a minor.

Screw the minor protection law...

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

Director Fu raised his hand and pointed towards the interrogation room. "Still inside eating our boxed lunches, on his sixth one. Could you please take your Astronomical Society's pig demon back already?"

"He's in his growth spurt, it's normal."

Ai Qing remained calm.

On the way, she had already learned the cause and effect, and Director Fu wouldn't put on an accusatory front towards Huai Shi when facing a proper inspector.

In Dongxia, the relationship between inspectors and the Special Affairs Department was often awkward, ultimately stemming from their respective positions.

As everyone knew, even ordinary Ascendants who hadn't been implanted with Holy Marks possessed abilities and physical capabilities far beyond those of normal people.

Therefore, to maximize the response to border threats and prevent this power, which could be used to defend the current realm and the border, from being misused in war, all Ascendants were exempt from military service.

In other words, except for the Astronomical Society, after a resolution from the Five Permanent Members of the Unified Bureau, no organization or force could forcibly conscript Ascendants for combat at any time, nor could they illegally detain or conduct inhumane experiments on Ascendants.

This decree, etched into the Twelve Tables, to a certain extent protected the personal safety and freedom of Ascendants.

However, at the same time, to prevent Ascendants from wantonly using their powers for chaos, all crimes committed by Ascendants were to be punished with an increased sentence, and all places of incarceration would be uniformly designated as the border.

The Special Affairs Department existed as a violent agency established to prevent Ascendants from persecuting ordinary people. Most of its members were undoubtedly elite trained soldiers, capable of suppressing with group tactics, teaching lessons with long guns, short guns, battle axes, and missiles.

In the current realm, which had the [Three Great Blockades], the greatest source of violence, aside from a handful of the crowned, was the military.

Never mind the Tsar Bombs or the missiles and bombers; even the frontal firepower coverage of an artillery battalion, coupled with infantry-tank coordination, was enough to make those ghosts and monsters sweat.

Don't even think about confronting the military head-on.

Whoever tried would die.

Even Ascendants.

And it was the inspector's duty to determine the fact of an Ascendant's crime and issue the black letter.

Inspectors generally didn't clash with the Special Affairs Department; as long as the balance between ordinary people and Ascendants could be maintained, it was enough. In most cases, it was the Special Affairs Department that needed to get things done, and they would simply make a phone call to the inspector's office to file a record.

What they should really be concerned about, besides border development, was the infighting among Ascendant groups over profits. In the worst-case scenario, it was acceptable for them to fight amongst themselves, as long as it didn't splash onto ordinary people living their lives peacefully.

Whoever messed around would be killed.

The current realm was not that big; it couldn't even accommodate a few natural enemies, let alone so many people causing trouble.

Fortunately, Xinhai was truly small, with only a handful of Ascendants, barely forming any significant force. Everyone lived a very laid-back life; some were gigolos, some were second-hand dealers, and some ran detective agencies, slacking off all day... it was quite worry-free.

And after dealing with those who had secretly tripped them up, there was no longer any reason for Ai Qing and the Special Affairs Department to be at odds.

A vicious brawl was not enough to make them turn against each other.

It was a minor matter, and neither side would let personal emotions interfere with their work. After a brief exchange of information, they directly got to the point.

"Who attacked him?"

"A bunch of low-life scum..."

Mentioning this made Director Fu angry. He placed the files on the desk one by one, checking them. "Members of illegal gangs, human traffickers, fugitives, and idle social personnel... what kind of trash is this?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but light another cigarette. Seeing Ai Qing, he pushed open the window, took a few hard drags, then extinguished it. He took out his phone from a bag and asked.

"The Myriad Sins Collection, have you heard of it?"

"That dark web app?"

Ai Qing frowned when she saw the skull icon on the phone screen.

In reality, although this app was software, its essence was actually more complex, reaching the level of toxic influence. Even within the Astronomical Society, a targeted file had been established for it.

Unfortunately, due to the existence of the Free Border · Dark Web, it had always been impossible to eradicate.

In a nutshell, it could be described as an intermediary platform for the dark side of the world.

It provided all transactions that satisfied humanity's dark side, whether it was murder, kidnapping, abduction, human organ trafficking, slavery, or even deeper transactions targeting Ascendants' Holy Marks, border relics, origin essence crystals, sacrifices... it encompassed everything, lacking nothing.

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

But who would be idle enough to pick a fight with a salted fish?

My body has finally recovered~ Starting with a daily minimum of 5,000 words, please give me recommendation votes~