Do You Have Depression?

The second part of the documents, "Selection and Training Mechanisms for Espers," was far shorter than the monster encyclopedia, but it was significantly more technical.

In layman's terms, it was the kind of text where you could understand every individual word, but once they were strung together, you had no idea what was being said—it was simply impressively incomprehensible.

Fang Cheng skipped the sections on principles and technology entirely, focusing only on the summary at the end.

While natural-born espers do exist among humans, they are incredibly rare, and each one is so weak that they are practically useless in combat—often less effective than a small handgun.

The fire-manipulation ability possessed by Kanzaki Rin was actually the result of years of scientific research into supernatural creatures.

Ever since the First Industrial Revolution, various nations had been capturing and studying supernatural entities, and after more than two hundred years, they had achieved fruitful results.

The most mature of these was the artificial esper technology.

This technology combined the genes of various supernatural creatures with the DNA of natural-born espers to artificially cultivate individuals with powers.

Kanzaki Rin's fire-manipulation ability originated from a traditional yokai found in Area 11 known as the Phoenix Fire, which still haunts the Kyoto region to this day.

Unfortunately, this technology was not applicable to every human; it required selecting candidates with innate aptitude and training them from a young age.

After finishing the section on "Selection and Training Mechanisms," Fang Cheng finally understood that the government's routine of vaccinating all students during elementary school wasn't for disease prevention, but to identify children with potential.

These gifted children would undergo several more rounds of selection, and those who ultimately stood out would become interns for the Disaster Countermeasure Department.

Having finished the documents, Fang Cheng finally realized that he had no chance of becoming an artificial esper.

He had received those vaccinations in elementary school, and since the Disaster Countermeasure Department hadn't selected him, it proved he lacked the aptitude.

Even if he could force his way into the technology, the time required for successful cultivation was far too long.

Take Kanzaki Rin, for example: she had been selected by the Disaster Countermeasure Department in the fifth grade and had undergone regular training every year since, taking six years to reach her current level of ability.

When she first started, her power was not even as strong as a cigarette lighter.

It was already night by the time he finished both parts of the documents; Kanzaki Rin had calculated the time perfectly, as Fang Cheng had spent the entire day reading only the parts that interested him.

She remained in the living room, waiting to ensure Fang Cheng deleted the files.

Fang Cheng had already taken photos of the vampire documents with his phone, so he let Kanzaki Rin delete everything from the USB drive.

He could tell that these files weren't considered top-secret within the Department, otherwise, Kanzaki Rin wouldn't have been able to bring them out so easily.

"You've read the files. Starting tomorrow, I will put you through three days of special training, and then you will accompany me to track down the other vampires."

Before leaving, Kanzaki Rin said this to Fang Cheng.

Fang Cheng was surprised. "So soon? And isn't three days of special training a bit short?"

Kanzaki Rin explained, "We can't drag this out. The police have already received reports of missing persons and discovered several corpses drained of blood. The vampires are growing stronger, and any delay works against us."

There was another reason Kanzaki Rin didn't mention: the Disaster Countermeasure Department was planning a ghost-hunting operation specifically to track down the vampires created by the Blood Queen that were still hiding in Tokyo.

If they didn't hurry, the vampires might be wiped out or driven away, and as an intern, Kanzaki Rin wouldn't earn any significant merit in such a large-scale operation.

Fang Cheng reluctantly accepted this explanation, and Kanzaki Rin added, "Three days is just for basic training; we will continue whenever there is time later."

As she spoke, she flashed a meaningful smile. "Basic training isn't simple. I hope you don't find those three days too long when the time comes."

Fang Cheng raised an eyebrow; this woman was speaking in riddles.

Could it be that she intended to use the guise of training to give him a taste of her authority?

After Kanzaki Rin left, Fang Cheng went through his daily training.

This time, it took nearly three hours to gain 1 point of physical fitness.

At this rate, he feared that even exercising for an entire day wouldn't be enough to gain a single point in the future.

This effectively limited the possibility of infinitely grinding for physical stats.

Fang Cheng wasn't disappointed, however, because he now had more ways to acquire power than just exercise—there was also the joy of looting corpses.

After finishing his workout, Fang Cheng opened his computer and copied the vampire documents from his phone.

Just as he finished, he saw a message from Asaka Akie on LINE.

"Fang-kun, why didn't you come to school today?"

"I had some things to take care of at home."

Fang Cheng replied casually, then noticed that Asaka Akie had changed her status again.

Her status had changed from "Are there really heroes in this world?" to "Is there really a heaven in this world?"

Looking at this status, Fang Cheng felt there was a story behind it, so he typed, "Asaka, do you have depression?"

Asaka Akie replied, "No, why do you ask?"

Fang Cheng asked again, "Let me put it another way: what do you think of the phrase, 'I am sorry for being born human'?"

"Fang-kun, did you do something wrong?"

"Let me try another way: have you ever had the urge to commit suicide?"

Asaka Akie sent three question marks.

"Never mind. If you ever decide to, remember to notify me in advance; I can collect your body."

"If you don't apologize, I'm going to get angry, okay? o(≧口≦)o"

"Gomenasai."

It seemed Asaka Akie wasn't some brooding emo kid, nor did she have any suicidal tendencies.

Fang Cheng turned off his computer, took a shower, and played a few more ranked matches.

He was lucky enough not to run into that trash support player today. Fang Cheng picked a hero that could dash around, and amidst the countless exclamation-marked pings of awe from his teammates, he logged off, feeling satisfied.

The next morning, Fang Cheng had only just woken up and was still brushing his teeth when Kanzaki Rin started ringing the doorbell; she was more diligent than a girlfriend.

When Fang Cheng opened the door, he found Kanzaki Rin holding a bag of fresh pig's blood.

He asked, "Are you addicted to eating pig's blood stewed with vermicelli?"

Kanzaki Rin arched a delicate brow: "Wasn't this what you wanted? Then I'll just throw it away."

As she finished speaking, she made a move to toss it into the trash, and Fang Cheng hurriedly stopped her.

Since she wanted to bring it, he might as well let her; having free pig's blood to eat every day wasn't half bad.

If he got tired of it, he could always switch to duck blood.

There was no vermicelli today, so Fang Cheng had to settle for stir-frying some tofu with green onions and boiling a pot of porridge.

Kanzaki Rin polished off more than half of it without a hint of politeness, causing Fang Cheng's gaze to drift repeatedly toward her completely flat stomach.

After breakfast, Fang Cheng headed out with Kanzaki Rin. Starting now, he would be undergoing three days of basic training, and he was quite curious about what it would entail.

This time, Kanzaki Rin had brought her own vehicle—a small sedan with no visible brand.

"Do you have a driver's license?"

Fang Cheng sat in the passenger seat, and it was only after buckling his seatbelt that he remembered to ask.

"You ask too many questions."

Kanzaki Rin had no intention of answering that.

"So that's a no, then. As an enforcer, aren't you a bit too practiced at breaking the law you're supposed to uphold? Taxpayer money is just being squandered by parasites in the system like you..."

Fang Cheng's roasting hadn't even finished before Kanzaki Rin skillfully turned the ignition, slammed on the gas, and the car shot forward with a whoosh.

Thanks to LVMax, Sexy Kitten, Hao Ran Cheng Kong, Rescue Failed, Book Friend 20190724233259162, and Death Smile for the tips.