How Doesn't That Count?

Yang Ming sat in the car in silence for a long time, his expression dark and unsettled. After a while, he abruptly turned the car around and floored the accelerator, heading for Qingbei Town.

Although he didn't quite believe Fang Xiu, with something like this, it was better to err on the side of caution-especially since Fang Xiu had accurately exposed his secret of slipping someone laxatives.

In the lounge, Fang Xiu finished the hot water in his cup and waited a good while longer before Shen Lingxue finally arrived.

Their report had clearly taken longer this time than it had before. Fang Xiu's earlier display of Future Prediction had evidently stunned them, leaving them with much more to report.

"Fang Xiu, I'll be administering your mental contamination test next," Shen Lingxue said, her expression conflicted.

Fang Xiu nodded, then picked up the Spirituality Lie Detector on his own. Under Shen Lingxue's astonished gaze, he fitted the device onto his hand with practiced ease.

Shen Lingxue froze for two seconds before coming to her senses. "First question. If..."

"I choose option one: fight the Ghosts," Fang Xiu interrupted.

Shen Lingxue: "..."

Ignoring Shen Lingxue's dumbfounded expression, Fang Xiu continued on his own. "For the second question, I wouldn't join the Ghosts, even if they promised me immense power and gave me slots to protect my family, friends, and lover from harm.

"My family wouldn't side with the Ghosts, because I have no family.

"If Zhao Hao joined the Ghosts and asked me to betray humanity, I'd personally send him to his grave.

"For the third question, what I most want to do after becoming a Spirit Tamer is kill every Ghost in the world..."

Without waiting for Shen Lingxue to ask anything, Fang Xiu rattled off every answer in one go.

The Spirituality Lie Detector never sounded once throughout the entire process.

When he finished, Fang Xiu stood and calmly addressed the speechless Shen Lingxue. "I passed the test. Let's go see Wang Dehai."

Then he walked out of the lounge, while Shen Lingxue remained seated, staring blankly for a long time.

For a moment, it was genuinely hard to tell who was testing whom.

Wang Dehai's office.

After meeting Wang Dehai, Fang Xiu received no introduction as he had before. Instead, Wang Dehai scrutinized him and said, "Mr. Fang, since you've already foreseen my name, I imagine there's no need to introduce myself. Please, sit."

Fang Xiu sat down, and Wang Dehai continued, "To be honest, Mr. Fang, even after hearing their report, I still find it hard to believe you can predict the future. An ability like that is on a level far beyond those of other Spirit Tamers. I'm not sure you understand what I mean. Ordinary First-Tier Spirit Tamers have abilities involving fire, strength, speed, and so on, but yours is clearly superior to theirs."

"You're saying I'm not on the same level as them, right?" Fang Xiu suddenly interjected. "A First-Tier Spirit Tamer shouldn't possess Future Prediction."

Wang Dehai nodded. "Exactly. If you were a Third-Tier Spirit Tamer who could accurately predict the future, I wouldn't be all that surprised. But you've only just become a Spirit Tamer. By any normal standard, even if you could predict the future, you should probably only be able to foresee the next second, or perhaps the next few seconds.

"Yet you foresaw Shen and the others coming to your door, foresaw the Investigation Bureau, and even predicted tonight's winning lottery numbers. That's rather inconceivable."

"Director Wang, have you considered that perhaps I simply wasn't on the same level as them to begin with? There will always be people in this world who defy conventional expectations from birth."

"True, some people are born geniuses, and genius Spirit Tamers aren't exactly rare. But Mr. Fang, if you saw a newborn baby who could talk from birth and even solve math problems, would you call that baby a genius?"

Fang Xiu smiled faintly. "How doesn't that count?"

Wang Dehai: "..."

He took a deep breath. For some reason, hearing those words suddenly gave him the urge to hit someone.

"If that's what you believe, Mr. Fang, then I have nothing more to say. By the way, Shen, where's Mr. Fang's mental contamination test report?"

Shen Lingxue seemed a little out of sorts. She hadn't even heard Wang Dehai and simply sat there in a daze.

Wang Dehai frowned slightly and called her again. "Shen!"

"Oh." Shen Lingxue snapped out of it and looked at Wang Dehai in confusion. "What is it, Director Wang?"

"The report! Mr. Fang's mental contamination test report!"

Shen Lingxue instinctively reached for the report, only to freeze. It seemed she hadn't written one.

She hadn't even managed to ask the questions before Fang Xiu had finished answering them. She had been so shocked at the time that she'd forgotten to record anything.

"I... I didn't write a report."

"You didn't write one?" Wang Dehai felt his blood pressure rising. "Shen, you're an experienced investigator. Have you really become this lax?"

"No, Director Wang, it's not that I didn't write the report. I didn't ask the mental contamination test questions."

"What?!" Wang Dehai's voice instantly rose. He felt as though Shen Lingxue was deliberately defying him. Not only had she failed to write the report, she hadn't even asked the questions?

Shen Lingxue quickly realized how misleading her words were and hurried to explain. "That's not what I meant. I was going to ask the mental contamination test questions, but Fang Xiu foresaw all of them. He gave every answer without even waiting for me to ask. His answers were flawless, too, and the Spirituality Lie Detector never sounded."

Wang Dehai stared at Fang Xiu in shock, speechless for a long time.

Only after a while did he ask, "Mr. Fang, even if you really can predict the future, doesn't it drain you at all? Can you just make predictions whenever you please?"

Fang Xiu shook his head. "Future Prediction doesn't consume much, but it comes at a steep price."

"A price?" Wang Dehai asked with some curiosity.

"Losing control of my spirituality."

At those words, Wang Dehai and Shen Lingxue both paled slightly.

Losing control of their spirituality was something every Spirit Tamer had to face. In fact, the Investigation Bureau had once suffered devastating losses because of it.

"Mr. Fang, are you saying that every use of Future Prediction increases the risk of your spirituality going out of control?" Wang Dehai asked gravely.