Night.
The dining hall on the third floor of the Linhai City Supervision Bureau.
Ten carefully prepared dishes sat on the solid-wood dining table: braised lion's head meatballs, Dongpo pork, steamed grouper, baby napa cabbage in supreme broth, abalone stewed with pigeon eggs, and more.
Particularly eye-catching was a large platter of meat cutlets made with a secret recipe.
Each cutlet was only palm-sized, brown all over, its surface glistening with oil and dotted with fine spices, its aroma rich and full.
This was a food specially made by the Supervision Bureau to meet the physical needs of its inspectors, whose physiques far surpassed those of ordinary people. Each cutlet provided as much energy as more than a pound of beef.
At that moment, seven figures sat around the dining table.
Shen Heng sat among them, his complexion much better than it had been that morning.
He had the Heavenly Cycle Breathing Technique to thank for that. The breathing process, dull and tedious to ordinary people, was practically rest for Shen Heng. The only annoyance was that whenever his mind wandered, the noise would disturb him, forcing him to concentrate again.
Shen Heng glanced at the dishes on the table, then turned his gaze toward someone he had never seen before, a somewhat plump figure who looked to be in his twenties.
In fact, aside from him, there were two others Shen Heng had only met that day.
One was an elderly man in his sixties-the owner of Dahuang, whom Wei Leyang had mentioned, and whom Shen Heng had met that morning. The other was a one-armed middle-aged man in his early thirties.
According to the captain, he had originally been a combat member too, but a Calamity Beast had clamped its jaws around his arm during a mission. To save him, they had been left with no choice but to cut off his arm. After that, he had stepped down to handle logistics.
This was also why Shen Heng had kept hesitating over whether to join. Real combat was never that simple. At any moment, he could be injured or even... die!
Shen Heng slowly swept his gaze around the room. Although he had already thought that, with the current overlap between the two worlds, there might not be many people in the Supervision Bureau, he still had not expected so few. Stranger still, he had not seen the one who had come to the hospital with Wang Hai yesterday...
"Yo, everyone! Good evening!"
A figure suddenly appeared in the doorway. It was none other than Han Ling, whom Shen Heng had met yesterday.
"Han Ling, remember to come earlier next time. Everyone's been waiting for you!" Wang Hai tapped the table.
"Ah, I know! I know! It's not like I wanted to. I got stuck in traffic today!"
As she spoke, Han Ling sat down beside Wang Hai. Her gaze swept over the table before quickly landing on Shen Heng, and she said with a smile:
"Shen Heng, I never imagined you really would join our Supervision Bureau, just like the captain said!"
"Yeah, we meet again!" Shen Heng gave Han Ling a polite smile.
"What, you thought he wouldn't join us?" The somewhat plump figure looked at Han Ling curiously.
"Yep!" Han Ling nodded without hesitation.
"Why?" the plump figure pressed.
"Because he..." Han Ling paused briefly. Considering that Shen Heng had just joined, she thought over her wording. "He's too cautious!"
"Too cautious?" The plump figure looked a little puzzled.
"Yeah!" Han Ling laughed. "Let me tell you, when the captain showed him his credentials, he actually called the police to verify them. I nearly died laughing!"
Shen Heng: "..."
"Oh? Interesting!" Like the others, Wei Leyang looked at Shen Heng with a smile tugging at his lips.
"What's so funny about that? If someone approached me outside with an invitation like that, I'd call the police to verify it too!" the plump figure said loudly.
"You think everyone's as cowardly as you? You even picked a shield for your weapon!" Han Ling teased.
"Hey! You don't understand. This is called respecting life. Not just other people's lives, but my own even more!" The plump figure waved a hand as he explained.
Everyone chuckled at his words.
Shen Heng chuckled along, then looked at Wang Hai and asked, "Have there always been so few of us?"
Wang Hai nodded and explained:
"There are very few Calamity Beast incidents each month. These people are already enough to deal with them!"
"Besides, awakening requires the Origin Power Crystals that condense after Calamity Beasts die, but success isn't guaranteed."
"Under these circumstances, we also have to face the high-tier Calamity Beasts that might appear."
"So rather than using more Origin Power Crystals to train more low-tier martial artists, we might as well focus on training a few high-tier martial artists!"
"Like those tier-five individuals I told you about today. The Origin Power currently present in the air actually isn't enough to support their advancement to tier five..."
"So they were all pushed up there with piles of Origin Power Crystals?" Shen Heng interjected.
"Yes!" Wang Hai nodded, then added, "Actually, we have another member named Le Gu Nan. But she normally has school, and her family is pretty strict, so she didn't come. We only call her when we need help from her ability!"
Le Gu Nan? That sounds a little familiar!... Shen Heng thought back, then asked, "Is she the one you mentioned yesterday, who helped treat my injuries?"
"Yep!" Han Ling replied. "Speaking of which, Gu Nan goes to the same school as you!"
"Oh? Really?" Shen Heng's interest perked up a little.
"Yes!" Han Ling nodded, then looked at Shen Heng somewhat strangely. "Gu Nan's a student, so she has to study. You're a student too. Don't you have to study?"
"..." Shen Heng fell silent briefly before saying, "I feel like the Supervision Bureau offers broader skies!"
"Hahaha..." Han Ling burst out laughing. "Why does that sound like something Wei Leyang would say?"
"Hm?" Wei Leyang's gaze sharpened slightly. "What's wrong with what he said? Given the way things are going, our Supervision Bureau really does offer broader skies than studying!"
"Haha, that might be true!" Han Ling was still rocking back and forth with laughter.
"All right, enough of this pointless talk!" Wang Hai spoke at just the right moment, bringing the topic to an end. "As I'm sure you've all noticed, our Linhai City Supervision Bureau squad welcomed another new member today. Let's all introduce ourselves!"
With that, Wang Hai introduced himself first:
"Wang Hai, Tier 3. My ability is the A-rank Body of Steel!"
"Han Ling, Tier 2. My ability is B-rank Explosion!" Han Ling immediately followed in a loud voice.
"Wei Leyang, Tier 2. My ability is B-rank Thread Control!" Wei Leyang rested his right hand lightly on the table.
"Wu Cheng, Tier 2. My ability is C-rank Spark!" the plump figure, Wu Cheng, introduced himself.
"Zheng Anlin. I handle logistics!" the one-armed middle-aged man, Zheng Anlin, said briefly.
"Li Jianguo. I handle logistics too!"
Old Li spoke with a chuckle. Beside him, Dahuang rested both paws on the table, poking his head out from underneath it, and barked:
"Woof! Woof!"
Meeting everyone's gazes, Shen Heng introduced himself without reserve:
"Shen Heng, Tier 0. F-rank Hearing Enhancement!"
Wang Hai stood, raising the glass of soft drink in his hand, and said:
"Welcome to the Linhai City Supervision Bureau squad!"
"Welcome, Shen Heng!" Han Ling immediately raised her own glass high and shouted.
"Welcome!" Everyone raised their glasses in turn.
"Woof!"
Looking at everyone standing in a circle with smiles on their faces, Shen Heng unconsciously felt the corners of his own lips lift slightly. He raised his glass.
"Thank you!"