Policy

The early morning sunlight fell across Chen Ling's face. His eyelashes trembled slightly as he slowly opened his eyes...

"I'm back..." He rubbed the corner of his eye and let out a long breath.

After drawing the prize, he had wandered around the stage for quite a while, yet still found no exit. In the end, only when the stage bell rang and the curtain rose was he automatically returned.

"Current Expectation Value: 23%... It's getting close to the line between life and death again." Chen Ling recalled the words on the screen before he left and muttered, "I need to do something soon..."

"Brother..."

The bedding shifted aside. Chen Yan sat up from the bed, rubbing his reddened eyes. "Morning."

"Morning." Chen Ling glanced at the clock on the wall, pulled the last few copper coins from his pocket, and handed them to Chen Yan. "I need to head out. I don't know exactly when I'll be back, so get yourself something to eat today first..."

"Brother, where are you going?"

"To catch myself."

"...?"

Chen Ling draped a cotton overcoat over himself, tucked the envelope the Enforcers had given him yesterday into his breast pocket, then turned and rubbed Chen Yan's head. "Don't ask too much about the details. Just stay home and wait for me to come back, understand?"

"Understood." Chen Yan obediently nodded.

After watching Chen Ling leave, Chen Yan rolled out of bed and looked at the two huge holes by the front door. His brow immediately furrowed.

"How am I supposed to fix this..."

He looked at the few remaining copper coins in his hand and silently put them away. Then he pulled a heavy hammer and some wooden boards from inside the house and began comparing their sizes.

Just then, a figure appeared beyond one of the holes, startling Chen Yan.

It was a man in a woolen overcoat, with a dark blue scarf wrapped around his collar and silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He looked cultured and wise.

But at that moment, as he looked at the house with nothing left but two gaping holes, confusion surfaced in his intelligent eyes as well...

He wanted to say something, but felt that would be impolite. So he tried to knock on the door, only to circle the house once without finding where the door was.

He returned to the hole and looked inside.

"Do you need something?" Chen Yan tilted his head.

"Is Mr. Chen Ling here?"

At the mention of his brother's name, a trace of vigilance flashed through Chen Yan's eyes. He sized the man up again and repeated, "Do you need something?"

The man removed his white gloves and took a letter from his overcoat pocket. He spread it open in his hand and calmly spoke into the house.

"I heard that Mr. Chen needs a [Doctor]."

"So I came."

The biting cold wind poured in through his collar, making Chen Ling shiver.

"Young man, where are you headed? I can give you a ride." A lean, dark-skinned man dragged a rickshaw alongside Chen Ling, baring a row of yellow teeth in a grin.

Chen Ling glanced at him. "Enforcer Headquarters."

"I know that place. I just dropped off two people there. You're all going to become Reserve Seats, right? Tell you what, we've got fate. I charged them ten, but I'll take seven from you. Deal?"

"...No, thanks."

"Six, then. Six. Can't go any lower."

"I don't have any money on me."

"No money?" The man frowned and gave him several looks, then dragged his rickshaw away while muttering, "What kind of Enforcer tries to join with no money... Bad luck."

Chen Ling: ...?

Chen Ling thought the people in this world had terrible manners. Rubbing his hands red from the cold, he unconsciously quickened his pace toward the center of the Third District.

Before last night, Chen Ling had been constantly considering how he could prevent the Enforcers from noticing anything suspicious and tracing the investigation back to him again... Now, he had an answer.

He would become an Enforcer.

He would become an Enforcer, participate in every operation investigating Calamity, then interfere with them so they could never pin him down.

"I join them, I take part, I cause trouble, I run."

That was Chen Ling's current policy.

After crossing several streets, Chen Ling finally stopped before an enormous building that resembled a glass dome.

"What a grand place..." Chen Ling looked up at the dome and could not help sighing. "How much funding did this thing swallow?"

In a district filled with nothing but little two-story mud houses, a building like this was as conspicuous and jarring as suddenly erecting an art museum in a rural village in his previous life.

At that moment, several young people carrying letters hurried into headquarters as well. They exchanged glances, then politely smiled and nodded at one another.

More than seventy people from the entire Third District had passed the written test. Generally, the elimination rate for the Martial Trial was also around fifty percent, so only about thirty people could become Enforcers each year. Although this year's Martial Trial had changed format, the final elimination rate would not change.

In short, everyone entering this building now was actually a potential competitor.

Chen Ling entered the headquarters. Beneath the glass dome, several rows of people were already standing in neat formation.

Like Chen Ling, they wore the clothes of ordinary citizens. Ten stood in each row, all with their heads held high and their chests out, every muscle in their bodies taut. They looked like warriors awaiting a summons at any moment.

Chen Ling had arrived fairly late and could only stand at the edge of the last row. Once he took his place, an Enforcer glanced over the roster and nodded slightly.

"Everyone is here."

Another Enforcer picked up a prepared speech and was about to begin when the headquarters doors were forcefully pushed open. Two figures slowly walked in.

Han Meng tossed his burned-out cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it beneath his foot. The four silver patterns on his black trench coat gleamed as his calm gaze swept over every Reserve Seat. An inexplicable pressure instantly settled over everyone's hearts...

Except Chen Ling.

Chen Ling raised his brows in surprise, his gaze unconsciously falling on the back of Han Meng's head...

He had hit him that hard yesterday, and he was already healed today?

Was this guy's head really that tough?

"It's Han Meng!"

"It really is him... He came too?"

"Who's Han Meng?"

"The chief Law Enforcer of our Third District, and the Third District's only Four-Pattern Enforcer."

"They say he's a super genius. He rose to Four-Pattern at twenty-four and even crushed all the Enforcers of his generation in Aurora City... He's the pride of our seven districts!"

"He crushed the Enforcers of his generation in Aurora City? Seriously? If he's that incredible, why wasn't he recruited into Aurora City?"

"No idea... They say he has a grudge against some big shot in Aurora City."

"I heard he's an amazing fighter. My mom really likes him."

"...How old is your mom this year?"

"Almost fifty."

"..."

With Han Meng's appearance, the Reserve Seats immediately began whispering among themselves. Even the many Enforcers standing nearby unconsciously straightened their backs, their expressions turning stern and serious.

Han Meng came to a stop beneath the dome and suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head, as though someone were examining his weakness...

He instinctively turned around and found a group of Reserve Seats secretly watching him.

Once their eyes met Han Meng's, every Reserve Seat lowered their head and dared not continue gossiping. The entire headquarters fell utterly silent.

"My name is Han Meng. I am currently the highest-ranking officer in the Third District." Han Meng composed himself and slowly spoke. "The next three days will be your Martial Trial assessment. Of the seventy-two of you, only thirty will ultimately remain..."

Thirty... That was even lower than the expected pass rate. Chen Ling fell into thought.

The ratio likewise surprised the other Reserve Seats. They could not help exchanging words again, their eyes filled with confusion.

"However, among these thirty people, three will receive advance qualification to enter the Martial Way Ancient Treasury..."

The moment Han Meng said this, the entire headquarters erupted in uproar. Even the Enforcers standing nearby widened their eyes.

Chen Ling did not understand.

More than half of the Reserve Seats present did not understand either.

Seeing this, Han Meng began explaining unhurriedly. "Do you know the difference between Enforcers and Law Enforcers?"