Yu Kuangtu

"With so many people here, and this place so remote, we could shoot you all and skip the hassle of disposing of the bodies."

Everyone was left speechless. They turned to see who was being so brazenly vulgar, but night had fallen, and since none of them knew each other, they could not tell who had spoken. They had no choice but to let it go.

"Over here!" A black vest called them into the base. "Eat first! After you're done, head to the square and find your own team to wait!"

At the mention of food, everyone realized they were already starving. Even those who had eaten at two o'clock had gone at least six hours without food—long enough to digest the whole thing.

Besides, the trip had taken a heavy toll on their bodies and minds. Being brought to this unfamiliar place for the first time, they desperately needed the act of eating to lower their stress levels.

The thirty of them were taken to the large dining hall inside the base. They picked up trays and ordered their food themselves. It was free: two vegetable dishes, one meat dish, one soup, and as much rice as they wanted. It had the atmosphere of a school cafeteria.

There were already people eating in the dining hall, making it quite lively. Ren Suo noticed that many of them did not look like civil servants. Their skin was dark, and there was something about the way they moved... a soldier's bearing.

Naturally, Ren Suo went to eat with Qiao Muyi and the others. For some reason, Qiao Muyi had become quite familiar with Li Qingxuan. The two women carried their trays to a corner of the dining hall. Just as Ren Suo found them, several men headed over as well, intending to share a table with the beauties. Ren Suo took a quick step forward and set down his tray. "Hey! What a coincidence!"

What coincidence...? The men looked resentfully at Ren Suo, who had swooped in out of nowhere, and could only go eat somewhere else.

Li Qingxuan looked at Ren Suo with an odd smile on her face, while Qiao Muyi quietly ate without saying anything. Ren Suo took the initiative to start a conversation. "We aren't here for military training, are we? This dining hall, this base... damn."

Although he had no idea how to make Qiao Muyi let down her guard, sleep peacefully, and allow him to touch her for a full two minutes to obtain the key, getting on good terms with her first could not hurt.

Li Qingxuan looked somewhat depressed. "I'm already starting to regret coming. I thought we were only here to study. If this is military training..."

"It's only five days."

"Five days is still troublesome. I didn't bring any skincare products..."

Qiao Muyi suddenly said, "I think this will be a turning point in our lives."

Noticing their gazes, she added faintly, "Of course, a turning point can lead either to the heavens above or the underworld below..."

The girl's words made Ren Suo's heart sink. After they finished eating, the three of them went to the square to find their organization. All three belonged to the Eighth Team. There were clear markers outside the square, and Ren Suo saw at a glance that there were only nine teams.

At thirty people per team, there were a full two hundred and seventy civil servants here for intensive training!

Lianjiang City alone had several thousand civil servants, and the entire Lian Province likely had tens of thousands. But nearly everyone here was among the youngest civil servants, and they also met the National Security Bureau's "special requirements."

That was including people from the Public Security System and the judicial system. During their earlier conversation, Ren Suo had learned that Jie Qiansi was actually a clerk in the Civil Trial Division of the People's Court.

The people who could be here were truly one in ten.

What exactly was going on that required all of them to come here and undergo isolated training?

A little after eight, the last group of diners came out. The Black Vests sent people over to organize the teams. They were civil servants, not students, so naturally no one acted up. They quickly lined up by gender.

"For the next five days, I will be your instructor, Zhao Jingzhong!" The black vest standing before the Eighth Team spoke loudly. "If you fail the training after five days, then naturally we will never meet again. If you pass, we will probably still never meet again. Those who pass will be sent back to their original cities to take on more important work!"

"For the next five days, I do not require you to be as swift and disciplined as soldiers, but! Obeying orders without question is mandatory! Be quiet when it is time to be quiet, eat when it is time to eat, assemble when it is time to assemble, and when advancing in formation, no one is allowed to fall behind!"

"We are now heading to the great hall. Every question you have will be answered there. I guarantee that every bit of resentment and impatience in your hearts will turn into motivation to strive after you leave the great hall!"

A booming voice suddenly rose from the crowd. "Strive for the rise of the Xuan Kingdom!"

Everyone: "..."

They all turned their heads and looked around, but still could not find the person who kept butting in—and was damn well always so accurate.

They followed the team onward. After walking for nearly ten minutes, they arrived at the great hall. There were no chairs inside, and everyone was told to sit cross-legged on the floor.

A moment later, a young man wearing a black vest like the others, though with a rather mature-looking face, stepped onto the stage.

Jie Qiansi, sitting beside Ren Suo, suddenly felt vibrations coming from next to him. When he turned around, he discovered that Ren Suo was staring at the man onstage with drool running from his mouth. That fixed gaze reminded Jie Qiansi of the poodle at home during mating season. A chill struck his pituitary gland, making goosebumps rise all over his body.

Ren Suo seemed to realize how indecent he looked and hurriedly wiped the corner of his mouth, but his gaze did not leave the young man onstage for even a moment.

If Qiao Muyi made Ren Suo's heart race like a startled deer;

Then the young man onstage was a stampede of ten thousand horses, trampling every little deer in Ren Suo's heart to death!

The surge of emotion that made Ren Suo want to rush over and cling tightly to him nearly made him unable to restrain the primordial power within his body.

Without a doubt, this young man was also a key—and definitely an extremely high-level one, because he was far more appetizing than Li Dan or Qiao Muyi!

"Quiet."

The young man spoke calmly, and the entire hall fell silent.

A strange pressure descended upon everyone, making them instinctively obey the young man's commands. He seemed to carry an aura that compelled submission, and no one even wanted to resist him.

Yet to Ren Suo, in that instant, the young man had transformed from a delicious cake into a delicious cake decorated with strawberries!

I want him so badly, I want him so badly...

Jie Qiansi seemed to hear Ren Suo muttering to himself. A chill ran through him, and he hurriedly shifted farther away from Ren Suo.

"I am Yu Kuangtu, deputy director of Lianjiang City's National Security 18th Bureau," the young man said calmly. "At the same time, I am currently Lian Province's strongest individual combatant, a cultivator who has reached the Second Cycle!"

Strongest individual combatant? Cultivator? Second Cycle?

Before this, the young people below the stage would definitely have thought Yu Kuangtu was a delusional chuunibyou who had read too many web novels and possessed unusually strong initiative.

But under Yu Kuangtu's stern pressure, though they did not believe him, none of them made a sound. They continued listening to Yu Kuangtu speak.

"Many things are difficult to believe when merely spoken, so..."

Yu Kuangtu lowered his body slightly, drawing back his right fist while his left hand formed a palm around it.

"It is more practical to let you see for yourselves. Li Dan!"

Yu Kuangtu punched toward the ceiling of the hall!

With an explosive boom, everyone saw a fireball burst from Yu Kuangtu's fist. The fireball rapidly expanded, and by the time it reached above their heads, its radius was as long as a dump truck. It was like a blazing sun!

"Understood!"

Ren Suo saw Li Dan, who had been standing to one side, suddenly leap into the air and punch the enormous fireball!

The fireball vanished like early snow beneath the sun, dissolving into waves of mist. A refreshing gust suddenly swept through the hall, chilling everyone to the bone and lifting their spirits.

Looking at the crowd, still shaken by what they had seen, Yu Kuangtu tapped the microphone by his ear. Once he had drawn everyone's attention back, he said, "This is the power of cultivators."

"And you are the civil servants who possess the aptitude to cultivate."