“That’s why I said you’re lucky.” Green Hair still didn’t hold back his arrogance. “If you want to blame someone, blame Cheng Li. He brought you here at the wrong time.”
However, almost immediately, his words were sternly stopped.
“Okay, don’t say that.”
The man in the middle gave him a warning look. “Do you want your assessment file to be marked again?”
This sentence seemed very lethal.
Hearing this, Green Hair had no choice but to shut his mouth in disappointment. At the same time, he glared at Cheng Li fiercely with an expression of disgust.
“Go get the information first.” The young man who had answered Jian Xie’s question earlier urged them, as if he didn’t want to watch them argue anymore, “It’s about to start.”
After saying this, he glanced at Jian Xie and paused. “Good luck.”
“……”
Jian Xie nodded and gave him an encouraging smile, but the smile was a little stiff, as if he was not good at doing this action, so he quickly let it go.
When the three men came out of the elevator and passed by Jian Xie, he was able to see their work badges at a closer distance.
In fact, there was a big difference among them.
When the light staggered, only the green-haired one had black patterns under the [Eye], while the other two looked like ordinary cards.
After the three people left, Cheng Li entered the elevator first, then motioned Jian Xie to come in and immediately pressed the close button when he walked in.
After the door slowly closed, he selected the button for the seventh floor, then withdrew his hand and straightened his suit.
The elevator paused before beginning to rise.
At the same time, it was visible that Cheng Li’s mood had improved, as if he felt happy about Green Hair’s humiliation just now.
“I hope this doesn’t leave a bad impression on you.” He turned his head to Jian Xie and said, “After all, there are so many employees in the Bureau and there will be a few idiots in the mix no matter what.”
“Oh.” His voice was indifferent.
The truth might make Green Hair vomit blood. Even though he jumped up and down like a clown in front of Jian Xie for a long time, he didn’t take him seriously at all.
The only thing Jian Xie was concerned about at the moment was his new discovery.
“They are from the same department so why are their work badges different?” He asked.
“Oh, you’re asking about this…” Cheng Li blinked and was a beat slow to realize what he was saying.
A little surprised by Jian Xie’s keen observation, he explained after a moment, “Because only that bastard is an investigator, the others are ordinary people without Insight, so they are naturally distinguished by their work badges.”
It’s not just the people in the Investigation Department who are called investigators, but—
“As long as you have Insight, you will be called an [Investigator].”
“The Bureau’s headquarters alone has several hundred employees. And the members with Insight value may only account for less than 5% of them.”
Cheng Li had said a long time ago that investigators with Insight values were a minority among the minority.
How rare was it?
Even though Jian Xie was just a senior high school student and had no experience in dealing with monsters, the Bureau was willing to provide him with a part-time job opportunity.
“Every year the number of new recruits in the [Investigation Department] is minimal.” Cheng Li looked at Jian Xie, “Because the mortality rate is extremely high, and only members with Insight are recruited.”
There were also various strange screening criteria and the review standards have not been announced to the public so far.
For example, the green-haired guy, although he was an A-level investigator, he did not receive an invitation email from the investigation department. Instead, he was directly rejected without even a reason.
At that time, everyone discussed it for a long time, and finally came to a unanimous conclusion—the Investigation Department truly lives up to its reputation as a gathering place for prodigies, oddballs, and madmen.
At this point, Cheng Li said thoughtfully, “But our salary is also the highest, and members of other departments are very envious of it.”
Of course, people also complain that they make money but have no life to spend it.
“That doesn’t make sense.” Jian Xie said, “Since only people with Insight can see monsters, why do you recruit so many ordinary people?”
Isn’t this equivalent to covertly increasing the mortality rate?
He believed the Bureau would not do so without any basis.
“Because there are just too many monsters.” Cheng Li said succinctly, “Have you seen an instrument developed by the weapons department? If I remember correctly… Fu Huanyu gave you one. It does not require any Insight value, therefore, the logistics department is mostly made up of ordinary people. As for [Eye] observation, this is something that ordinary people can do as well.”
Even in the weapons department, there was no limit on the Insight value, and it all depends on your talent and creativity.
Not to mention the [Anomaly Containment Department].
After all, those were non-living monsters. As long as they were not triggered, they wouldn’t lead to terrible consequences. With detection equipment, there was no need for special investigators.
In short, only the [Investigation Department]’s screening requirements were so stringent, and all the conditions were very strict.
“It’s normal for that guy to feel unfairness.” Cheng Li shrugged, “After all, as an A-level investigator, he’s forced to take on missions involving living monsters, risking his life without being able to join the Investigation Department for a higher salary—that’s how a psychopath is cultivated. But I don’t feel any sympathy for him.”
Mental instability wasn’t grounds to become a bad person, and the world didn’t revolve around him.
So, there was no preferential treatment.
Green Hair might’ve made a mistake, but the Bureau didn’t fire him because the risk of accidental death for investigators was already very high.
Most investigators do not die a good death, as evidenced by the extremely high mortality rate.
Jian Xie: “…”
Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the only two members of the Investigation Department that he has met, Cheng Li and Yu Jinghe, were indeed quite reliable. Perhaps the screening mechanism really worked.
After he finished speaking, Cheng Li looked away, raised his hand to look at the watch on his wrist, and checked the time.
[Do you want 6 or 7? ]
A voice suddenly came from his ear, and Jian Xie was immediately: “?”
Qin Zhuo sighed, and said lazily, 【In my opinion, only you can be picky about others; others have no right to choose you.】
…Really doesn’t take other people seriously.
【Choose one.】
“No,” Jian Xie refused, “It doesn’t matter where we go.”
【I like your arrogance.】 Qin Zhuo laughed softly.
Before Jian Xie could respond, the bottom of the elevator under his feet vibrated, indicating that they had reached the corresponding floor.
With a buzzing sound overhead, the elevator door opened.
Almost instantly, Jian Xie heard restless sounds coming from the lobby on the seventh floor as the voices of all kinds of discussions fell into his ears. There were not many people in the lobby, and the number of people could be seen at a glance. A large screen was hung in the center with a huge number sign on it.
The number was slowly rising, and when Jian Xie looked over, it was at 101.22.
Like some radio channel.
What was even more bizarre was that the entire hall was filled with various plants, and many of them even had abnormally lush green leaves that were obviously in the wrong season. They did not look like plastic products and even if they were used as decorations, there were really too many of them.
“What does this mean…”
“I haven’t seen any staff give a serious explanation yet. Are we going to innovate to this extent this year?”
“Please bless me, help me avoid the first three areas when drawing lots…!”
The restless sounds echoed throughout the hall.
Jian Xie took a step outside, and Cheng Li immediately followed him and whispered beside him, “I can’t follow you from now on. I’ll wait for you in the lobby on the first floor.”
He was probably the only one who has gone to such lengths to recommend someone.
But there was nothing he could do. For some reason, every time he saw Jian Xie, he felt that he was the type who needed protection.
“I understand your concerns.” Jian Xie nodded, “As far as this is concerned, you can rest assured.”
Rest assured……?
Wait a minute, what are you reassuring here?
Thinking of the other party’s shocking remarks before, Cheng Li opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but swallowed the words after seeing the other party walk forward without looking back.
He has this feeling that someone was going to get into trouble…
Jian Xie walked towards the hall. Although he attracted the attention of some people who were talking because of his young appearance, it was only short-lived. Most of them put all their attention on the upcoming assessment. Two or three people gathered together to talk, which seemed to be a bit like forming cliques in advance.
After all, that slowly rising number card really looked like——
Everyone’s eyes suddenly widened.
At some point… it has actually stopped!
This was impossible!
Although they didn’t know what the Bureau was trying to do, they had all heard from the employee with green hair that this was an alternative calculation method used by the [Eye] to measure the comprehensive level of Insight value in the current space. The authority of the [Eye] was self-evident and it would never easily have bugs.
So, what was going on? Was there any employee who can explain this? Did the assessment start early?
Just as everyone was staring at the panel, the stuck number suddenly jumped quickly, as if there was a temporary malfunction in the data flow. Everything that happened next proved that they were not dazzled, because in the next second, the value actually jumped from a stagnant 101.22 to a five-digit number out of thin air!
And this was far from the end. Something even more jaw-dropping and shocking happened——
It was known that seven digital display positions were reserved on the panel, probably just to make the three-digit values look good, but now it was actually used. They saw the five-digit value getting higher and higher, seven zeros were generated which directly exceeded the capacity of the panel, leaving everyone with a blank panel showing a string of zeros.
There was no way to see exactly what the level it was at because it was limited to seven digits.
What just happened…?
The hall first fell into deathly silence, and then suddenly there was a burst of commotion.
“So, it was probably stuck just now, right? Is this normal now?” Some people speculated.
Although the previous value was quite high, no one would consider themselves exceptionally talented in the face of the overwhelming data.
“If that’s the case—”
“Some of us will be extremely high level!” There was an eager light in the eyes of the person who spoke.
It was known if it was an illusion, but after this guy finished speaking, he even looked specifically at Jian Xie.
Jian Xie just took another step and walked to the corner alone. He didn’t pay any attention to what happened on the panel after he came in. He just leaned against the wall with a cold face, waiting for the relevant staff to come in and preside over the rules.
【You are being observed.】
“I know.”
After saying that, his eyes fell on the bottom of the heavy leaves of the nearest plant, where the red light of the monitor was flashing.
“……”
Like the group of people in the hall, the people behind the scenes who had been monitoring the dynamics in the hall were alarmed by the sudden changes before their eyes.
Especially the staff with a blue badge sitting on the edge. Faced with Jian Xie’s cold gaze sweeping across the camera, even the sleepiness from waking up early was forced back. He coughed repeatedly, causing the person next to him to pick up their cup and move it away in disgust, asking, “…What’s wrong with you?”
“H-He, he——” Blue Badge stuttered a little while pulling the sleeve of the person next to him and pointing at Jian Xie, “I saw it, it’s him!”
He had just been watching the monitor, counting the number of candidates who came in and giving initial impression assessment scores.
This was originally a somewhat boring job, but he was in the logistics department and had to be responsible for such tasks.
Just when he saw the teenager appear, the numerical panel in the hall that was originally displaying normal values suddenly soared upwards rapidly. He was stunned on the spot and forgot to click the recording board in his hand. He thought he saw hell until he saw Jian Xie’s eyes through the monitor and came to his senses.
“Didn’t you see it?” Facing the indifference of the people around him, Blue Badge opened his eyes wide and said, “It’s true!”
“Here we go again…”
“You’ve been working here for a year. Can you be more steady?”
Everyone ignored his words and started discussing. “The ‘Eye’ hasn’t malfunctioned for a long time… What’s going on?”
“Ai, restart the device.”
“Don’t let this happen again later, otherwise the initial evaluation will be really troublesome…”
No one cared about what Blue Badge said.
It was not that they didn’t want to listen or that they didn’t respect their colleagues. If the value was a few digits less, they would be as excited as he was, but it had exceeded seven digits… This was simply not a level that humans could achieve. After all, the Insight value of the S-level instrument “Eye” was only in the six digits, so what basis do they have to believe it as true?
Was there any human being whose Insight exceeds S-level?
That was impossible.
Being casually negated by everyone, Blue Badge was a little unconvinced and said to the person whose sleeve he pulled, “You saw it too, right? You were counting with me after all.”
The one whose sleeve was pulled, Wu Qinghe, was sweating profusely, pretending to pick up his cup and take another sip of coffee, almost ready to flee the scene.
I want to die, I am in pain, and I dare not speak.
It was one of the people sent by the [Weapons Department] to give impression points and was responsible for part of the headquarters, but it never expected that Jian Xie would appear here.
The reason why it called itself a fence-sitter was because it was afraid of death, but the drama of black eating black1A villain doing another villain dirty was about to be staged again in front of it. As the only person present who knew the true identity of Jian Xie and the willful evil god in his body, it wanted to announce its withdrawal from the Supernatural Management Bureau right now.
“Sorry about that, but I-I didn’t notice,” Wu Qinghe said vaguely, with a heavy tone, “Let’s take another look.”
It was unknown what Jian Xie was trying to do. Its desire to survive made it not dare to act rashly. It would be best for it to just become a passerby.
“……”
Since Wu Qinghe, who was always accurate, said so, maybe there really was something wrong with the instrument.
After all, after the instrument was restarted, the value did drop back to a relatively normal value…
Blue Badge was a little shaken. He looked again and again, and gritted his teeth and wrote a relatively mediocre B in Jian Xie’s initial impression form in the [Comprehensive Evaluation of Insight Value].
After waiting until the clock had turned half a circle and they were sure that no one would come again, the person in charge of the preliminary assessment announced, “Let’s proceed to the next step.”
——That is, drawing lots.
“Who were the sixth and seventh people to come through the door?” The person in charge turned to blue badge.
A widely acknowledged unlucky link.
Just as some buildings have to consider Feng Shui before deciding their layout, 6 and 7 were crucial numbers for the other side of the world. Countless missions have proven that in tests that required getting close to monsters, the power of these two seemingly simple numbers couldn’t be easily ignored.
There was no such thing as accidental or coincidental here. The arrival of 6 and 7 has certain reasons.
Even the investigators whose employee IDs were randomly assigned to 6 and 7 each year have completely different performances, which could be described as worlds apart. These were numbers chosen by hell.
Blue Badge pulled out two resumes and sent them to the main screen. In an instant, two faces were projected in front of everyone at the same time.
In the ID photo that was shining through with blue light, Jian Xie had a cold expression, with a faint shadow of sleepiness under his eyes. He seemed to be simply looking ahead, but gave people an aura that one could not look directly at. His extremely unique magnetic field immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
……Hm?
He’s actually Cheng Li’s recommendee?
The people from different departments couldn’t help but look at each other, knowing the other was curious about this newcomer.
As internal members, they naturally checked the forums and knew long ago that Cheng Li had a recommendee this year, which made the letter’s identity attract much attention. However, for some reason, they could not find any information about the other party, so everyone assumed that this was definitely the dark horse player this year.
Although Cheng Li deserved a beating in the past, he has never made any mistakes at work.
There must be something special about his recommendee.
“Which one is he?” The person in charge pointed and couldn’t help but ask.
There was a hint of urgency in the voice. Faced with good seedlings, each department could not help but get excited.
“…The seventh one.”
The all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing ruler… right?
Upon hearing this, those who were originally interested in Jian Xie were immediately disappointed and couldn’t help but look away from his ID photo.
They really don’t know why Cheng Li recommended him.
Is this a vase2All beauty no skill?
One should know that although the meaning of 7 was good, it was limited to this.
Not to mention, to some extent, it illustrated that the other party has no talent at all…
Because this number represented rationality.
In a world where higher Insight level brings greater sensitivity, leading to confusion and insanity, it was clear that the devil’s 6 better illustrates an investigator’s potential. This has been an unspoken rule that everyone has tacitly accepted for a long time.
“Who is number 6?”
With a bit of regret, everyone’s attention turned to the other person.
At that moment, the door opened, revealing the green-haired guy who had gone downstairs to get some information.
He stood at the door with his hands crossed, facing everyone’s gaze. He said happily, “My recommendee.”
Unlike those who believed that Jian Xie would die in the first three districts, Green-hair was very confident in his own judgment that there would be absolutely no problem with his recommendee, even if the latter was put in the first three districts.
Because they were the most promising new investigator he had ever seen, and now that he had become number 6, it naturally verified his idea.
——Even if he wasn’t able to join the Investigation Department back then and although it was just their recommendees, he must be better than Cheng Li this time!
Translator Xena’s other works: https://ko-fi.com/xenatl/gallery
– Just click the pictures and the link will show <3
