"So this is what my left hand can do?"
"But there was clearly no Spiritual Penetration. Why does it still feel like I've gained strength beyond that of an ordinary person?"
"No, my Mental Power is still being drained. It's just that compared to directly penetrating reality, the drain is much smaller—and far more subtle..."
In that instant, Han Su sensed something unusual about his left hand. He'd secretly tried it before, but hadn't had a chance to put it to use. Now that he had, he found it surprisingly handy.
If he used his right eye's ability, it would surely make a huge commotion and draw attention. But nobody could tell when he used his left hand's power. The only thing out of the ordinary might be that Han Su seemed rather strong, but as long as he kept it under control, it wouldn't look too strange.
Even the camouflage man he'd pulled out managed to use the momentum to flip over and land steadily on the ground. Five white marks showed on his palm where Han Su had gripped it.
He rubbed his arm and nodded at Han Su. "You're skinny, but you've got a lot of strength."
"..."
"These things are vicious! Fall back, fall back!"
At that moment, seeing that the camouflage man had also been rescued, little fatty immediately shouted and charged toward the stairwell.
But when he reached the stairwell, he suddenly turned around and stopped, shouting, "Hold them here! We absolutely can't let the impostors get out. If they enter society, they'll evolve into humans!"
But when he'd yelled for everyone to retreat, the panicked trainees had all rushed for the exit at once. Now that he'd stopped, the invisible terror had already overwhelmed them, and none of them were willing to stop. They scrambled desperately into the stairwell.
Some even shoved and jostled one another, tumbling down the stairs in a heap.
Only Han Su and the camouflage man stopped beside little fatty. They stood on either side of him and raised their guns. The camouflage man's gun was out of ammunition, so Han Su picked one up from the ground and handed it to him.
Before them stood countless densely packed dough-men. One after another, they came out of the elevator, marching in unison straight toward them.
As they moved farther from the elevator, the changes in their bodies became faintly visible.
At first, they'd looked like soft, strange lumps of dough, their entire bodies a waxy white. Gradually, black appeared on them, and features began to emerge on their heads.
At a glance, they now looked somewhat like a group of people in black suits.
The closer they came, the more human they looked.
That intangible, eerie pressure pressed in layer by layer. Even without chanting, Han Su felt his Mental Power beginning to stir.
But he forced himself to hold back, thinking silently, So this is still part of the evaluation?
This little fatty team leader is a terrible actor. He played his part well at first, so he probably didn't know about this arrangement either. But after the impostors appeared, he never used his walkie-talkie to ask anything. Instead, he just stood there, as if listening to something in his earpiece.
So this has all been an evaluation from beginning to end!
"..."
Since this was an evaluation, he naturally couldn't use his right eye's ability. Han Su gritted his teeth, put on a fearless expression, and raised his gun, taking aim at the impostors with a highly professional stance.
But after initially holding the gun in his right hand, he had a sudden inspiration and switched to his left.
He wasn't left-handed, so holding the gun in his left hand felt extremely awkward. Yet his left hand was strangely steady and powerful. As he aimed at the impostors and fired shot after shot, it seemed to cancel out the recoil completely.
Am I seriously a shooting prodigy?
Han Su was more than a little surprised. His left hand held the gun so steadily that it felt like he was using a machine to fire it.
His aim still left something to be desired because of his limited experience and marksmanship, but he could already imagine how much his shooting talent would improve once he got used to it.
Even as he marveled at it, he kept thinking calmly, If this is an evaluation, will it end here, or is something else waiting for us?
"Such good talent?"
At that moment, inside the Disaster Management Bureau's base, Zhang Chiguo and a group of staff watched the footage on the monitors, their faces filled with delighted surprise.
It seemed none of them had expected Han Su to do so well.
"Even people who knew about supernatural oddities before joining the Disaster Management Bureau are usually just like Lord Ye, who loves dragons. Once they actually see one, the shock is enough to make their legs go weak."
"Normally, if someone can keep calm when they see these things and avoid wetting themselves, they can get a C-class rating."
"If they can also understand the team leader's orders and carry them out, they've earned a B-class rating."
"But those two right there didn't just avoid every potential risk—they even rescued another trainee. They've kept their wits about them from start to finish despite these oddities. They're practically born investigators..."
"Exactly. They're skilled, and their shooting talent is pretty good too..."
"..."
Among the people praising them, a bald man spoke with heartfelt admiration. "This young man—this one right here—really deserves to be someone Chief Zhang picked!"
"When Chief Zhang gave him an A-rank evaluation at the start, I thought he was pulling strings for him!"
"So it really was my poor judgment. His spiritual intuition may be low, but that's exactly what makes him suited to this kind of mission. As expected, as expected—Chief Zhang really knows his stuff..."
"..."
Hearing him, Zhang Chiguo's brow twitched.
"Calling, calling..."
"Yes, yes, received, received..."
Meanwhile, in the middle of the battle against the impostors, the little fatty team leader was shouting and acting with great enthusiasm.
Although he was loud, he barely moved. He paid more attention to Han Su and the camouflage man, and only occasionally fired at an impostor that came too close, always managing to knock it down with a precise shot.
Watching the two of them aim and fire, calm and decisive, he admired them—but he also felt a little horrified.
"The soldier guy, sure, that's just professional training. But the other one..."
"Who picks up a gun for the first time and just keeps firing at things that look more and more human, bang, bang, bang, without a care?"
"He... he even smiled. He can barely keep the corners of his mouth down..."
"Everyone said a psycho with more than a dozen lives on his hands had joined this batch of rookies. Could that be him?"
"..."
He kept watching until he heard something come through his earpiece. Then he abruptly shook his head and shouted to Han Su and the camouflage man, "Stop! Stay alert!"
Han Su and the camouflage man immediately stopped shooting, even as the "impostors" came closer and closer. Some of them had even opened their eyes.
Their colors were becoming more and more distinct. Faint creases and seams began to form on them, like those of suits, and the tops of their heads were no longer completely pale white. Strange black strands appeared, forming hair.
Just as little fatty had said, they seemed to be evolving into "humans."
Clothes were appearing on their bodies, and hair on their heads. Some had even evolved glasses, leather shoes, and pink socks.
Little fatty took a step forward, pulled out a dagger with one hand, and raised the other. He slashed his palm with the blade, and blood immediately seeped out. Then, using his blood as ink, he drew a straight line across the floor.
The impostors were approaching at great speed and were just about to cross the blood line, but suddenly they stopped.
The line seemed to exert a kind of pressure on them.
Then little fatty stood before the blood line and silently uttered a short phrase, one that carried a powerful air of mystery. The air around them seemed to tremble faintly.
A bizarre scene unfolded: the blood line he'd drawn on the floor seemed to come alive.
It wriggled and twisted, the entire line of blood seeming to transform into a swarm of red ants. As little fatty took a step forward, it slowly crept forward too.
As the blood line advanced, the impostors retreated.
Little fatty seemed to be trying to force them back into the elevator this way. But just then, the elevator chimed again.
In the next instant, countless waxen figures poured out of the elevator. They looked like a wave of white surging in from all sides, sweeping up the wax figures in front and rushing forward in a frenzy.
The blood line little fatty had laid down was crushed in an instant, then immediately broke apart.
"This is bad! I can't hold them back..."
Little fatty cried out. He waved his still-bleeding hand and stepped to one side, seemingly bracing himself in case the wax figures charged at him.
Seeing this, the camouflage man immediately started forward to rescue little fatty, who looked as if he was about to be trapped inside.
"So that's how it is..."
Han Su understood in an instant. The final step of the evaluation is to see what the trainees do if they can't hold the "defensive line."
He grabbed the camouflage man and shouted, "Fall back!"
The camouflage man froze, looking confused.
Han Su had just saved his life while everyone else was panicking, so he trusted Han Su more than he trusted other people. Still, this decision left him confused.
But Han Su had no time to explain. He grabbed the camouflage man with his left hand and dragged him backward.
About four or five meters behind them, a row of stainless-steel roll-down gates was embedded in the ceiling of the corridor. Han Su had noticed them when he first reached this spot. For someone who often went in and out of the Ancient Castle, that was basic.
Now, as more and more impostors came out, Han Su dragged the camouflage man to the gate, sprang up, and pulled hard. The gate came down and sealed off the corridor securely.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The impostors were trapped behind the gate, along with little fatty, who stood there with a blank expression.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm still in here..."
Before you continue