This means the country already has very few people with superpowers, and almost all of them have a unique sense of crisis. Like Zhang Lei, who hides his abilities from even his family for fear of being captured and dissected. That's why Liu Yun performed for Zhang Lei first, to ease his guard. Otherwise, most people only reveal their abilities when they're already fighting or fleeing.
The reserved nature of the Chinese people has also resulted in a much lower rate of discovery of people with supernatural abilities compared to Europe and America, and even lower than that of Japan. Although there is a large base of people with supernatural abilities, the actual number of people under their control is not necessarily much larger.
This detection ability can't be done by just sticking patches all over the streets and sticking them on people, right? These things aren't that expensive to make, but they're not so cheap that every city can have dozens of them.
Therefore, the State Administration for International Exchange's stance is: it's better to wrongly raise a thousand than to let one go unpunished.
Episode 2, Metropolis, Chapter 22: The Handsome Middle-Aged Man
(5)
Therefore, once scattered superhumans are discovered, the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities must bring them under its control. The National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities is the official name, and they are temporarily affiliated with the National Security Bureau. However, the National Security Bureau does not have the right to directly command them and can only issue orders indirectly through the leaders of the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities.
The reason why the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities did not become the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities is that their number of people limited their development. Therefore, as long as they are superhumans, regardless of whether their superhuman abilities have been discovered to be effective, they must be recruited first.
Moreover, superpowers are something that might not be useful today, but could be useful tomorrow. The limited number of superpower records means that the National Bureau of Superpowers is at a relatively low stage in its research on superpowers. Not all superpowers have had users with an index of over 1,000, and there are simply too many types of superpowers, with numerous branches within each category.
It's like a user with a condensation-type ability who, before breaking through a thousand, could only condense and solidify water droplets on his body surface, which obviously had no effect. But who would have thought that after his ability index exceeded a thousand, he would suddenly undergo a mutation? He could condense water droplets from five meters away, and almost ignored obstacles other than internal energy or other abilities. In other words, as long as he got close, he could generate several blood clots in the heart of almost anyone. Even ability users or martial arts masters, if unprepared and without finding the cause of the illness in time, could still fall victim to him.
Zhang Lei's situation is rather special. He has a high level of superpower index, but his superpower is not very useful in the short term, or even in the foreseeable long term. Therefore, Liu Yun is undecided.
In fact, there is only one possibility that Liu Yun could decide to give up after determining that Zhang Lei has a special ability: that is, Zhang Lei's special ability has been recorded in detail and is known to be a useless ability that still has no effect after reaching a thousand.
Liu Yun didn't need to worry about whether Zhang Lei would join. Few ordinary people could resist the temptation of such a glorious, powerful, and lucrative job. Even if they could, they would have no choice but to submit under the pressure of powerful agencies, as there were plenty of ways to do so.
As for treason? Unless he can be sure he can take away every psychic in the organization, it's just wishful thinking.
Liu Yun told Zhang Lei all this, and of course, her purpose in being so open with Zhang Lei wasn't just because she liked him. Zhang Lei understood this, but he just couldn't figure it out for the time being. The adult world was still a bit complicated for Zhang Lei at the moment.
"Don't be discouraged. You can tell from the fact that I can tell you so many confidential things that you still have a great chance. Otherwise, your big brother wouldn't be telling you all this, right?" Seeing Zhang Lei's somewhat dazed expression, Liu Yun patted Zhang Lei on the shoulder.
"Well, I'll be going now. Brother Liu, are you going back too? Will I ever see you again?" Zhang Lei nodded sadly, his disappointment evident. However, it wasn't easy for his face to evoke sympathy from others. In fact, Tian Xiao even smiled when he saw it.
Zhang Lei also noticed this. Back then, Zhang Lei's expression was irresistible to both men and women, especially girls, as it could instantly trigger their maternal instincts.
"My former appearance!" Zhang Lei muttered softly, glancing around. Liu Yun and the others were in a secluded alley, and hardly anyone passed by. Zhang Lei closed his eyes, and before the effects of this self-examination wore off, he extracted all the vital energy from the newly formed tissue in his face. In an instant, his round face sunken in.
Although Zhang Lei didn't have a mirror, she knew that her appearance should have returned to normal. "Let me experience that feeling of being a female star again!"
Zhang Lei also missed that feeling. If it weren't for the impact of the Lao Jiu incident on his psychology, Zhang Lei might have really become the same as before.
Smugly anticipating the admiring glances of young girls, married women, and middle-aged women, Zhang Lei wandered through several narrow alleys. Then, Zhang Lei realized he was lost.
Even if Zhang Lei hadn't been distracted, he might not have been able to find his way out of the alleyways. Liu Yun and the others had chosen a rather secluded location, and the way they brought Zhang Lei there was all winding and confusing; Zhang Lei had long since lost his way.
Zhang Lei may not be directionally challenged, but the small town he used to live in only had one main road, and all the alleys were straight—frankly, even straighter and wider than the narrow streets of Shanghai. Now, after wandering around these winding alleys for a few turns, it's not surprising that he gets lost.
Zhang Lei didn't attract the attention of the young women and married women he was hoping for, but he did attract the attention of young men. "Handsome guy, I'm talking to you, handsome guy, come here!" Two seemingly frivolous young men waved to Zhang Lei, perhaps attracted by his good looks.
Somewhat excited, Zhang Lei pointed to his nose. "Are they calling me?" Zhang Lei felt a surge of happiness. It had been a long time since someone had called him handsome. Maybe he really made a mistake by making himself ugly. Should he slowly change back to his original appearance?
"Yeah, who else could it be but you, you bastard? Don't even think about running away!" Someone shoved Zhang Lei on the shoulder from behind. "Hurry up, don't dawdle!"
Zhang Lei was a master of internal energy; he must have been distracted just now, Zhang Lei emphasized, which was why he didn't notice that there was someone standing behind him.
Behind Zhang Lei stood two children, who looked to be junior or senior high school students. They weren't much taller than Zhang Lei. Children in Shanghai develop quickly, and many of them were taller than Zhang Lei by the time they graduated from elementary school. It was a bit difficult to determine their age based on their height.
Now, Zhang Lei understood that he had finally met his match. This place was actually near Hongzhen Old Street, and the children living in the area were all familiar with Zhang Lei's face.
Rabbits really don't eat the grass near their burrows, but who told Zhang Lei to change his appearance today? When he first arrived in Shanghai, Zhang Lei basically never went out, so what these kids saw was Zhang Lei's round face after the change. They had never seen such a handsome face before.
Because Zhang Lei didn't have a mirror, he didn't realize that the skin on his face hadn't completely tightened with the muscle contraction. Although it had tightened a bit due to its elasticity, it still looked somewhat wrinkled.
In addition, the extra fibrous tissue on Zhang Lei's face couldn't be completely concealed and still took up some space. As a result, Zhang Lei's originally youthful face looked much more mature. With the slight wrinkles on his face, although he was indeed very handsome, his face didn't look like a student's face at all. Instead, it had a sense of vicissitude.
Zhang Lei hesitated, wondering whether he should resist. These brats were carrying knives, but Zhang Lei knew that they were just for scare tactics. He didn't have the courage to actually use them.
Although these children don't seem to be old enough to bear full legal responsibility, there are still juvenile detention centers. They've committed crimes like armed assault and robbery, and they're qualified to be executed when they reach adulthood if they're caught in a crackdown.
Zhang Lei was worried that these kids were hard to control and might accidentally cut him, which would be a huge loss.
Normally, Zhang Lei wouldn't carry more than twenty yuan on him. Even if he gave it to them, he could just save money for a few more days. It wasn't worth the risk. But today was different. Today, he had just received a thick stack of banknotes from Tian Xiao.
"Hey guys, let's talk this over. How much do you want to let me go?" To be honest, if it weren't for the weapons they had, Zhang Lei wouldn't have given them a second thought.
Perhaps it's because the people Zhang Lei has been in contact with recently are all extraordinary individuals, or perhaps it's because Zhang Lei has already killed people. Regardless of whether it was self-defense or not, people who haven't gone through this ordeal have a completely different level of courage. At least Zhang Lei's ruthlessness now will definitely leave these petty thugs in front of him speechless.
"Hey handsome old man, you're pretty good at putting on airs. Who's your little brother? Stop talking nonsense and hand over all your money. If you have a lot of money and are generous, our boss might even leave you some travel expenses if he's happy with you!" A blond-haired guy shoved Zhang Lei, trying to push him into the narrow alley ahead, a dead end that was only a little over one person wide.
He didn't see that Zhang Lei's expression suddenly hardened, and in the dim light of the alley, it seemed to have a somewhat sinister feel to it.
There were already two kids in the alley, the same two who had waved earlier. They were young and each had a tuft of red hair dyed on their head, as if to tell others, "I'm a delinquent, don't mess with me."
"Alright, leave this old guy to us. You two go out and see if anyone else passes by. If they're mobile, bring them over. We'll have enough money for the server room tomorrow!" One of the guys, a young man with red hair drooping down the middle of his head, walked over. "Go ahead. Worried we'll skimp on your share? Don't worry, you'll get yours!"
Zhang Lei waited quietly. He hadn't fought since arriving in Shanghai. He had backed down when he had a conflict with his neighbor because he was unfamiliar with the area. So he wasn't very clear about the fighting level in Shanghai. Of course, it would be best if he had two fewer opponents.
People all over the country say that Shanghainese don't fight with their hands; they fight with their mouths more. But Zhang Lei knows that's true for most Shanghainese. In Hongzhen, fighting isn't uncommon. However, it's hard for Zhang Lei, who's just watching from the sidelines, to judge their skill level. Zhang Lei doesn't have the awareness of a martial arts master and can't tell someone's strength at a glance. He doesn't even know how Liu Yun tested his internal energy.
However, thinking back to that moment, Zhang Lei recalled how he felt back then. He thought he could probably do the same thing, and maybe he could learn it.
"Hey old man, what are you thinking about? Stop spacing out and hand over your money. Don't think you can skip spending money just because you're handsome!" Another red-haired guy walked over. The difference between him and the red-haired guy in front of him was that his red hair was dyed on the side. Only when you got closer did you realize that the dyeing was very uneven. It was estimated that these guys had bought hair dye and dyed it themselves.
"That's right, being handsome is a privilege. So what if you don't have to spend money? I'm so envious!" Zhang Lei had secretly filled his body with internal energy, and apart from his face, which had just slimmed down, his whole body seemed to have suddenly grown bigger.
Although the most economical way to fight is to use the power to instantly enhance the target area, that requires a high level of skill, and since this is Zhang Lei's first time fighting in Shanghai, it's best to be cautious in everything.
"What did you say? Kid, look where you are! This is Hongzhen Old Street, not a place for you to run wild!" The red-haired kid in the middle walked over to Zhang Lei, waving a small knife back and forth in his hand. It wasn't big, just like a fruit knife.
Zhang Lei checked the remaining internal energy in his body. Fortunately, it was still sufficient. The self-examination he had just used had just expired, so he decided to activate it again. He could try using the self-examination to guide his internal energy in battle.