Getting to Know Each Other

"Not only could he summon ninjas, but he was fairly strong himself?" Kingpin watched the video his men had sent over, watching the two super-soldiers he had used as bait get brutally beaten without the slightest ripple in his heart.

Only when he saw Lu Qi dodge the hidden sniper's bullets through some unknown method did Kingpin's expression change slightly. "Then he's far stronger than I estimated."

After turning off the video, Kingpin looked toward Bullseye, who was playing cards on one side of the room. "This superpowered individual seems quite capable. Go try to recruit him and see if you can bring him in. If that fails, kill him."

Kingpin had great confidence in his top assassin, and Bullseye felt the same. He flicked the playing card in his hand, sending it flying in several loops around the room before it embedded itself in the exact center of the target beside the door.

"Oh, right. Lanco's mission failed and put me in a difficult position. Send his family down to keep him company." As if he had only just remembered, Kingpin continued.

Bullseye didn't slow down. Instead, he walked out even faster, afraid someone might beat him to it.

Lu Qi made his way to a hotel, used his S.H.I.E.L.D. ID to get a room, and even received a thirty-percent discount. "Didn't expect this thing to actually pull up my information."

Looking at the card in his hand, Lu Qi recalled how it had really brought up information on the computer when he swiped it earlier, along with the thirty-percent discount. He was immediately quite satisfied.

Working was working. It wasn't like he had anything else to do. At least he could collect a salary and wouldn't have to run around robbing gangs every day. He just had to be careful around Hydra, though he wasn't too worried. If there was real danger, he could just escape into the Shadow Ninjas World.

Lu Qi opened the system and discovered that the energy cap had increased to over three hundred points in a single day. As expected, the further an idle game progressed, the faster the numbers rose. He bought several Ninja Soldiers, bringing their number up to one hundred. The system then informed him that he needed to purchase an enhancement before he could continue buying Ninja Soldiers.

There it was—the universal stat boost for idle games!

Lu Qi stared at the option with shining eyes. In the later stages of idle games, numerical values could reach the hundreds of millions, trillions, and quadrillions precisely because, after buying enough units, stat-boosting purchase options like this would appear.

After purchasing it, a unit's abilities would be directly doubled. For example, the Ninja Soldiers' current rate of extracting dimensional energy was 0.1. After the enhancement, it would double to 0.2. If it doubled again later, it would become 0.4. It was completely exponential growth.

Judging by the mining speed, he would probably have to wait until the next day to buy the stat enhancement. Lu Qi simply decided to sleep first and purchase it once he woke up the following day.

Whenever he slept, time always passed especially quickly. The moment he closed his eyes, it was already the next day.

After opening his eyes, Lu Qi lazed around in bed for quite a while before remembering what had happened last night. He opened the system and saw that he had enough energy, so he immediately purchased the stat enhancement.

A numb, tingling sensation surged through him, making Lu Qi collapse lazily back onto the bed. Once the sensation faded, he received a system notification. 'Host physique enhancement successful. The strength of unlocked units will increase based on the host's physical attributes.'

?

Did the Ninja Soldiers' physical abilities depend on his own? Lu Qi opened the system. A Ninja Soldier's mining speed was now 0.2 per second, and a new unit had been unlocked: Blade Soldiers.

Blade Soldiers were a troop type Demon Rasu had once summoned. Their hands and feet were sharp and conical, they were agile, and they excelled in one-on-one combat. Furthermore, Uncle's chi magic was ineffective against them. A single soldier from this army possessed the strength to fight many people on Jackie Chan's side alone. If not for Tohru's new magic destroying them at a critical moment, Jackie Chan's adventures might have ended there.

The requirement to add one Blade Soldier was five Ninja Soldiers plus fifty energy points. All told, each one cost a little over a hundred points.

Lu Qi tried buying a Blade Soldier and summoned him. The Blade Soldier wore a black mask and had V-shaped red eyes on his face. All five fingers were incredibly sharp, as tough as the Ninja Soldiers' katanas. His feet were like pointed awls, able to pierce straight into walls with a little force, allowing Blade Soldiers to walk on walls as if on level ground.

How did Lu Qi know the Blade Soldier's exact stats? Naturally, by having Ninja Soldiers fight Blade Soldiers.

The practical results showed that five Ninja Soldiers could barely tie one Blade Soldier. Even then, it was only a tie. If they wanted to destroy a Blade Soldier, several Ninja Soldiers would have to die.

The Ninja Soldiers' stats had also improved considerably. Their physical attributes had doubled, and their movements and reactions were much sharper. If his physical abilities could rival Captain America's in the future, wouldn't that mean he had a whole squad of Captain Americas?

Satisfied, Lu Qi dismissed the Blade Soldier. Looking at the more than four hundred energy points he had left, he simply bought three Blade Soldiers and raised the number of Ninja Soldiers to one hundred, keeping it at a nice round figure.

He still had around thirty energy points left, but Lu Qi had no intention of spending them. He could directly use energy to attack, and the more energy he kept in reserve, the stronger his burst attacks would be.

Watching the Blade Soldiers mine at a rate of one point per minute, Lu Qi was extremely pleased. His little mining squad was getting stronger and stronger.

Then he noticed all the holes around him that had been punched out during the Shadow Ninjas Army's infighting, and his expression immediately fell. This was going to cost him quite a bit in repairs. He might as well go pay Kingpin a visit.

Having decided that his future daily routine would be eating, sleeping, and beating up Kingpin, Lu Qi left the hotel after paying the repair fees.

After leaving the hotel, Lu Qi was about to contact Coulson for the locations of some of Kingpin's hideouts when Coulson called first.

Looking at the number on his phone, Lu Qi glanced around, trying to spot the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents monitoring him, but he didn't see anyone suspicious.

After all, they were professionals, while he was still just an ordinary, unremarkable "normal person." Though unhappy about it, Lu Qi answered the call, only to hear Coulson's voice from behind him.

Lu Qi turned around and discovered Coulson standing directly behind him. He hadn't noticed him at all. Reminding himself not to underestimate these agents, Lu Qi said to Coulson,

"Do you agents get reimbursed? You're this close and still calling?"

Coulson smiled. "We do receive an allowance, including free calls. You're our security consultant, so naturally you can enjoy that privilege too."

After a pause, he added, "Of course, I'd still suggest using your work ID to get a phone card first, then applying for the privilege. Otherwise, it'll be troublesome if the original owner reclaims the number."

Lu Qi looked at the phone in his hand, which had belonged to some unlucky person, shrugged, and tossed it into a trash can.

As though he had expected this, Coulson took out a phone and handed it to Lu Qi. Lu Qi raised an eyebrow at him, but free was free.

After taking the phone, Lu Qi followed Coulson's gesture and got into the car, casually taking the passenger seat.

Once they were in the car, Lu Qi asked, "What do you need me for? Don't tell me I just started yesterday and already have to head out into the field today?"

Coulson kept his eyes on the road as he drove. "First, we need to register you. You can reveal a little about your abilities; otherwise, it'll be difficult to assign you missions."

"And as a security consultant, you generally won't need to go into the field. You'll only need to handle certain more dangerous assignments."

Coulson drove Lu Qi to the Triskelion headquarters. Lu Qi followed him inside while looking around.

In his previous life, he had always been curious about classified strongholds like this. He wondered whether alien artifacts and superhumans could be seen everywhere.

But he was disappointed. The place looked just like an ordinary company. Clerks moved through various rooms handling documents, and only the occasional special operations team made the place seem unusual.

Following Coulson into a room, Lu Qi sat at the table, and Coulson handed him a form.

The form only asked Lu Qi to write down his name and abilities. Lu Qi casually wrote that he could summon Ninja Soldiers, then handed it straight back to Coulson.

Coulson took the form and looked at the entire sheet of paper, which contained only one ability written in such vague terms.

Helplessly setting down the form, Coulson looked at Lu Qi.

"Perhaps I should clarify something first. Before we ask you for help, we conduct an evaluation. We'll only come to you if your abilities and the type of superpower you possess are sufficient to handle the problem we're facing."

After a pause, Coulson pushed the form back toward Lu Qi.

"Simply put, the more abilities you write down, and the more detailed they are, the more jobs we can ask you to help with—and the more compensation you'll receive." "Why didn't you say that earlier?!"

Lu Qi snatched the form back and lowered his head, rapidly writing across it. Watching him write at such speed, Coulson nodded in satisfaction.

Lu Qi kept his head lowered so Coulson couldn't see his expression as he thought to himself.

He definitely couldn't write down all of his abilities. He needed to trim some things out and think this through carefully.

In the end, he explained the Ninja Soldiers' abilities as exceptional combat skills and Infinity regeneration, concealing their ability to transform into Shadow Ninjas around him. He also conveniently omitted the new Blade Soldiers.

Then Lu Qi simply gave himself the identity of a summoner and didn't write down any abilities of his own.

Coulson looked at the half page of filler Lu Qi had written, didn't examine it closely, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll classify your abilities, then I'll take you for an ability test."

"I get it. You're afraid people might falsely report their abilities." Lu Qi smiled. After watching Coulson quickly leave the room, he pulled out the phone Coulson had given him earlier.

There had to be some kind of S.H.I.E.L.D. safeguard on this phone, but there was no need to be overly nervous. He could store things in the Shadow Ninjas World anyway. When the time came, he could toss the phone into the Shadow Ninjas World. If S.H.I.E.L.D. could still contact it, he'd admit defeat.

After playing the built-in Brick Breaker game on the old-fashioned phone for quite a while, Coulson finally returned, though his expression wasn't very good.

Coulson looked helplessly at Lu Qi, who was happily playing, then at the form in his hand. He truly felt like crying without tears.

He had thought Lu Qi possessed all sorts of abilities, but after having them classified, aside from summoning Ninja Soldiers, they were all standard physical enhancement abilities.

In the end, there were only a handful of actual abilities. Coulson sighed. Looking at Lu Qi, he couldn't exactly ask him to write more, so he could only lead him out of the room and toward the testing room.

Following Coulson into another room, Lu Qi saw several white-coated researchers chatting inside. When they saw the two arrive, they wasted no time and immediately began working.

The researchers were highly professional and had Lu Qi step onto a running track.

"First, we'll test your hundred-meter speed." One of the researchers took out Lu Qi's ability report, which contained some information about his powers. Based on that, they would determine what needed to be tested.

Lu Qi didn't hide his abilities in this regard. There would be plenty of chances to improve his physique in the future. Even if he revealed a little now, the information would be outdated before long.

After some ordinary tests, they concluded that Lu Qi's physical abilities were equivalent to two ordinary people, or 1.2 agents. The researchers then had him summon a Ninja Soldier.

Lu Qi summoned a Ninja Soldier, and the researchers stepped forward to examine him. The Ninja Soldier seemed to interest them more than Lu Qi did.

After discussing the Ninja Soldier's method of appearance, the researchers tested his various attributes.

Dissatisfied with such superficial testing, one of the researchers asked a few questions. After learning that the Ninja Soldier had Infinity stamina and Infinity regeneration, he directly pulled out a rifle and fired at him.

Watching the gray-haired researcher wildly firing the gun, Lu Qi silently summoned two Ninja Soldiers in front of himself, afraid the man might fail to control the weapon and accidentally shoot him once or twice.

The Ninja Soldier used his katana to slash apart bullet after bullet, holding out for nearly five seconds under rifle fire before being killed. Lu Qi was very satisfied.

Last night, the Ninja Soldiers hadn't been able to defend well against rifle fire and could only block the first one or two bullets. Now they could hold out this long, so Lu Qi was naturally delighted.

After testing all the abilities Lu Qi had written down, the researchers added the detailed information to his file and made two copies. One was given to Coulson for the records, while the other was handed to Lu Qi.

Coulson then took Lu Qi to have two photos taken and entered his information into the system. With that, the ability test came to an end.

There was nothing else for Lu Qi to do here, so Coulson planned to send him back to Hell's Kitchen.