Tianxiao would never admit that she hadn't been working hard, especially during this period when there was nothing else going on. Apart from going out shopping, Tianxiao spent all her time cultivating. Of course, it's forgivable for a woman to spend a little more time shopping.
Although the power index is measured in even increments, it is clear that it becomes increasingly difficult to increase it. When the index is low, using a power once, even without any substantial gains, will raise the power index by a few points.
However, once you reach a higher level, not only will you not have any insights, but even if you discover a new use for your special ability, it may not be enough to add even a little bit. Of course, at this point, even a little bit of difference in power is not drastic, but it is still a huge difference.
Tianxiao's stats, which were less than 600, had only increased by three points in the past few days, while Zhang Lei's stats, which were over 1,600, had increased by eight points in one go. No wonder she felt unbalanced and even couldn't believe it.
"No! Let's test it again!" Tianxiao stuck the patch of the superpower index tester directly onto Zhang Lei's forehead.
The instrument was working perfectly; the reading remained exactly 1,693, with no discrepancy whatsoever.
Looking at Zhang Lei's bewildered expression, Tian Xiao knew she wouldn't get any answers. The Zhang Lei in front of her probably didn't even have a complete concept of what the superpower index was. Tian Xiao's reaction just now was more of an instinct, a reaction of hating the injustice of heaven. She didn't realize at that time that she was actually one in a million lucky ones.
"How did you do that?" Even if it was a very slim possibility, Tianxiao felt he should ask, but all he got in return was Zhang Lei's silly grin.
Zhang Lei understood from the last time that superpowers are not the same as intelligence. In this situation, it's best to let them make their own judgments. These people are quite arrogant because they are, after all, the darlings of heaven. Then they will find arguments to support their theories, which is much easier than having to find reasons for them to find fault.
"No, I have to report your situation immediately. Originally, I was going to observe you for a while, and the higher-ups would also need to study it. But I estimate that once I report your progress, we'll soon become colleagues, and you'll become a trainee. But to be honest, none of our instructors are easy to talk to!" As he spoke, Tian Xiao pulled out a box from under the machine that Zhang Lei had used to test his ability type last time.
"This is something you will be trained to master in the future. The security of our country's long-distance communications is not very strong, and it is possible for the Americans to eavesdrop on them. Therefore, we have a constantly changing code system. The first thing you will have to memorize is this code. Otherwise, you are absolutely not allowed to use the telephone or anything like that to say anything secret!"
With just a few flicks of his fingers, Tianxiao pulled out a few seemingly insignificant sticks from the box, which then formed a small and exquisite object.
Zhang Lei didn't understand a word of Tianxiao's so-called secret language. It was all jumbled up and every sentence was completely different from what she meant. If Zhang Lei didn't know what she was trying to say, he probably would have thought that this woman was flirting with her lover.
...
The person directly contacting Tianxiao wasn't Liu Yun, but a middle-aged man with a somewhat delicate face and an unusually strong build. After receiving Tianxiao's message, he hurriedly entered a conference room in the basement.
The meeting room was filled with heated arguments. Coincidentally, their argument revolved around whether to let Zhang Lei join the Guoyi Branch Bureau, and whether to completely offend the Zuo family for the sake of a future master with unknown potential, and most importantly, to hurt Zuo Ying, who was already a member of the Bureau.
The Zuo family's behavior is relatively restrained, and they are a family that cooperates quite well with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. You should know that those big families are all arrogant and don't seem to realize that the world is no longer the era where might makes right. Now it is a society governed by law, and all actions must be subject to the constraints of the law.
In other words, most families are unwilling to send young members of their families who have accidentally developed special abilities to the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities. This is what the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities is most dissatisfied with. In comparison, the Zuo family has done a very good job.
However, this is not surprising. The God of Superpowers does not favor those from noble families. They have a higher chance than ordinary people for two reasons: firstly, all their descendants receive testing opportunities almost every year; secondly, their descendants have superior physical qualities due to their family's inherited techniques, making them closer to the normal point of superpower generation and correspondingly increasing their chances of obtaining scattered points.
"Huh? What brings our great Instructor Linghu here? This is amazing! Please, have a seat!"
The meeting was chaired by a deputy director of the Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities. His surname was Qian, and he didn't possess any special abilities. Even his internal energy cultivation was something several experts had found for him, primarily for physical fitness. But that's how it is all over the world; everyone's an amateur. However, these people with special abilities all want to devote all their time to cultivation. If they were actually given a position with real power, they'd probably make a complete mess of things. Being an official is also a skill; it's not something you can simply do because you're good at it.
Linghu Zaichong is the head instructor of the new recruit training program. The name sounds impressive, but in reality, he doesn't do much. This is determined by the scarcity of superhumans. In a country as large as China, only about ten superhumans are discovered each year. Not to mention that most of them have backgrounds, backers, and power. Getting them to come to the capital for training on their own is practically impossible, except for people like Wen Tianxiao, whose family has close ties with the government and whose children are too young.
Episode 2, Metropolis, Chapter 29: The Same Superpower
Linghu Zaichong, this name has nothing to do with Linghu Chong. His father has never read the novel by the great writer Cha, or rather, he could never understand it. In his whole life, his father can only recognize four characters: Ling, Hu, Yi, and Da, which together form his name. As for whether his second uncle can recognize the "Er" in Erda, that depends on luck.
In many parts of China, there are rules for naming children. For example, the first words the father says on the day the child is born, or the words the father said at the time of the child's birth, or a word taken from the words spoken in the vicinity.
Linghu Zaichong's name comes from the latter. When he was born, his father was disciplining his second sister who was talking back to his second uncle, saying, "Zai Chong, Zai Chong, Zai Chong, I'll beat your butt into a pulp!"
Just then, Linghu Zaichong was born. According to the rules, either the father should remain silent on this day, or he can ask a fortune teller to help him choose a good name for the child. If he does speak, he must choose a word from the most recent sentence, otherwise the child will either die young or grow up to be unsuccessful.
His father had originally decided not to say anything that day, but his second daughter was too unreasonable. She argued with her second uncle and her words became more and more aggressive. If this continued, the second uncle would lose his temper. Regardless of whether she was right or wrong, how could his niece talk back to her second uncle like that? He couldn't stay silent, or people would talk behind his back. That's why he said that.
This is a bit troublesome. Linghu Buttocks? Linghu Rotten Eggplant? Neither of them sounds very good. How can the child go out and face people with such a name! After thinking about it, the only one that can be used to fill the gap is Linghu Zaichong. However, at this time, the "chong" cannot be pronounced in the first tone, but in the fourth tone, which means to argue or contradict.
On a slightly off-topic note, although the Linghu family lacks formal education, they do possess a family-inherited internal martial arts technique. While not exceptional, it is nonetheless genuine. Linghu Zaichong discovered his special ability during high school, which led him down the path he is on now.
By now, Linghu Zaichong is already one of the top experts in the Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities. However, these experts are not that different in temperament. They seem to think that nothing is more important than their own progress. Therefore, it is not these people with supernatural abilities who hold important official positions in the Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities.
However, it is impossible to completely refrain from holding an official position. This is not only a right, but also an obligation and a benefit. You must understand that many things are still linked to rank, and without an official title, many things will be inconvenient.
Linghu Zaichong was assigned the relatively undemanding position of head instructor. It's worth noting that there are only a handful of new recruits each year, far fewer than the number of instructors. Normally, instructors go to the trainees' locations to provide one-on-one guidance; his position as head instructor was merely nominal.
But now Linghu Zaichong was starting to waver. In fact, most people have a tendency to like teaching, and watching instructors build relationships with their current or former students, even passionately advocating for their students' interests, made Linghu Zaichong a little envious. He didn't know who he should advocate for, even if he wanted to. Now, with Zhang Lei possessing the same abilities as him, how could Linghu Zaichong not be tempted?
"Thank you!" Linghu didn't stand on ceremony with Deputy Director Qian and plopped down in the seat he had offered. Deputy Director Qian didn't mind; he knew that all people with superpowers, especially the experts, were like this.
He was assigned to serve these big shots because he didn't have any official airs. But then again, even if he did, he couldn't show it in front of these people. Each of them was a national treasure; each one could be as effective as a nuclear bomb. In comparison, although he had been in officialdom for many years, there were still plenty of people like him to be found, and there were several more waiting in line.
Officials in these units are actually in a very awkward position. They seem to have some real power, and most of the people below them don't like to compete for power and profit. But no matter who they're dealing with, they have to be careful and attentive. Other departments can just issue a task and give an order, but here they have to smile and beg these big shots to do something nice. If they encounter a task that they don't like, then no one will listen to them no matter how much they beg and plead. It seems like all the care and smiles they put in before were for nothing.
"We just received a message from Tianxiao in Shanghai, it's about Zhang Lei!" Linghu pointed to Zhang Lei's photo in the background. "His data has changed significantly!"
As Linghu Zaichong read out the values one by one, everyone's expression changed. Many people looked at Liu Yun, wondering if this kid had brought the wrong values when he came back last time.
Liu Yun hurriedly stood up. Unlike Linghu, his position was not so detached, and he couldn't bear such a huge burden. "Leaders and seniors, I can guarantee that the data I brought back last time is completely correct. I tested each item at least twice, and I also brought back the relevant machine-printed charts. Except for the internal energy volume, which I need to estimate, the error of the others cannot exceed one ten-thousandth!"
"Sit down, sit down, we know!" While the others were still looking at Liu Yun with suspicion, Deputy Director Qian waved his hand amicably, inviting Liu Yun to sit down. This was why he was sent here; if he hadn't eased the tension, who knows how many more mortal enemies would have formed within the Bureau of Foreign Affairs.
"Did that little girl Tian Xiao make a mistake with the values?" The question came from Li Yang, a skilled individual like Liu Yun, also a team leader. His hobbies weren't exactly endearing, but that was secondary here. Li Yang had always harbored some fantasies about Tian Xiao, but due to Liu Yun, and even more so because of Tian Kuang and the Wen family behind him, he could only dream about it. Leaving aside other forces, the fact that one family contributed two superhumans to the country without hesitation was a prime example of someone who couldn't be touched.
A bespectacled, scholarly-looking young man sitting in the corner glared fiercely at Li Yang from behind his glasses. This young man was Tianxiao's older brother.
“It shouldn’t be. I asked her repeatedly. Although the girl may be a little careless, she still checked this crucial part multiple times. There were no problems with the procedure. She also confirmed that she was present during the previous test conducted by Team Leader Liu Yun…” Linghu Zaichong took the translated record and made several copies on the spot, throwing them out. Each copy stopped exactly where it should be.
Unlike Zhang Lei, Linghu Zaichong has reached a level of precision in controlling his body. Even without activating self-monitoring, the error in his force application can be less than one gram. He once made more than 800 consecutive shots from the three-point line of a basketball. Except for the first one, none of them hit the rim; they all went in cleanly. He only stopped when he got tired of playing. This is one of the advantages of self-monitoring.
Once Zhang Lei's new information arrived, all the debates ceased. Zhou Shengwei, the deputy squadron leader and another self-examiner, quickly gained an overwhelming advantage in advocating for Zhang Lei's inclusion in the team.
The meeting accepted Liu Yun's data and did not doubt Tian Xiao, thus naturally arriving at the conclusion that Zhang Lei was at a critical juncture in his internal strength. After breaking through, his internal strength increased significantly. Perhaps this amount was insignificant to many people present, but Zhang Lei's advantage lay in his development potential, as evidenced by the two similarly sized individuals present.
"Well then, I'll head back to Shanghai right away to double-check. If there are no problems, how about we accept Zhang Lei as a member for evaluation?" Liu Yun stood up, making it seem like he was about to leave.
This issue has been discussed for a long time, and every aspect has been analyzed thoroughly. Originally, the two opinions were evenly matched, but now Zhang Lei has suddenly made progress beyond expectations, which has completely suppressed the opponents' doubts about his qualifications and whether he can still achieve something.
In fact, Qian Sen had always suspected that these guys were probably just bored and deliberately dragged it out so long so they could get together and chat.
"Is there no further objection from everyone? Let's settle on this then!" Deputy Director Qian made the decision! Although Qian Sen was the deputy director, the director was merely a figurehead; the actual decisions and executions were made by the two deputy directors.