–Good morning, Mr. Zicang.-
–Good morning, Sister Lili.-
Entering the office, Yang Zicang’s gaze first fell upon the wooden flower-screen stand on the right side of his workstation.
–What are you staring at?- Jiaoma, dressed in an elegant white dress with yellow polka dots and a small cloth bag slung across her shoulder, stepped briskly into the office.
–I…- Yang Zicang glanced at the girl with clear eyes, –I had a dream that felt very real.-
–Oh? Since when did you get all sentimental?-
Yang Zicang pointed to the sturdy wooden stand next to his workstation that held the flower screen.
–There used to be another desk here, occupied by someone named…-
Thinking for a moment, Yang Zicang quickly picked up a pencil from his desk and, under Jiao Ma’s craning gaze, wrote the characters –Wei Zhenguo- on the back of the paper.
–Is that even a surname? So weird.-
–Your name is weird too.-
–But my name was given by my father before he left. He gave me my real name first; this is an alias, said to be able to ward off curses to some extent.-
Yang Zicang smiled, –Then do you know your real name?-
He had long heard that although this little girl was young, she was a living veteran—she had been following her father into the company and living there since she was three or four years old.
Upon hearing Yang Zicang’s question, Jiao Ma pursed her lips, surreptitiously glancing left and right. Seeing that besides the two middle-aged women at the far end of the office, no one else had come in yet, she whispered to the pensive Yang Zicang:
–Are you still thinking about resigning?-
–Ah? I…-
–This place is countless times safer than Hub Town. Many people are desperate to get in. And here, as we get promoted, we can become really powerful in the future.-
Yang Zicang was well aware of this, but he had a reason not to stay for long.
Jiao Ma lifted her small face, her eyes naturally carrying a hint of innate charm, yet looking at Yang Zicang with about seventy or eighty percent innocence:
–We’ll all have long lives, even with colleagues around. But here…-
Suddenly, her ears turning bright red, she lowered her head and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. –I… I’ve actually always wanted to ask you…-
–This…- Yang Zicang’s heart gave a few heavy thuds.
–I, I… if you’d be willing to transfer to the Documentation Department with me, we could actually spend more time together in the future. I live alone, and my psychic field is pretty large.- She covered her face with her hands, her voice muffled: –What am I even saying…-
Yang Zicang nervously glanced at the two colleagues in the distance, who were doing their best to keep their heads down. He felt that everything was a bit odd—Jiao Ma’s state seemed too impulsive, as if she were actively trying to make up for some deficiency.
Come to think of it, hadn’t that person in last night’s dream said they wanted to attend the wedding feast for him and Jiao Ma?
Hmm… could this be a hint?
Yang Zicang also felt his face warm slightly as he scratched the back of his head.
–Group leader… there are partners in the city who would risk their lives for me. I’m destined… sigh.-
Yang Zicang suddenly calmed down. –I’m destined to leave. And you, group leader, probably don’t like the kind of person who abandons others for personal pleasure, right?-
–Hooo—- Jiao Ma released her grip and exhaled, her eyelashes fluttering. She hummed in acknowledgment, clenched her small fists, and hurried away.
Only after she left did the office door slowly creak open a crack. Old Xing, who looked in his fifties, poked his head in, glanced at the girl sitting quietly in her seat, and tiptoed inside.
As he passed Yang Zicang, he whispered, –Jiao Jiao is at the group leader level, with a real private psychic realm of ten square kilometers. Are you really not going to reconsider?-
The girl in the distance whipped her head around, fixing a murderous glare on the man.
–Ahem. Good morning, Zicang.- The man instantly straightened his back, solemnly adjusted his collar, and walked toward his own seat under the girl’s slowly shifting gaze. –Another day of spirited work ahead, group leader.-
……
In the afternoon, Yang Zicang walked along a corridor paved with alternating dark cyan and white floor tiles, glancing at the decorative statues around him.
Just as he was about to turn onto the path leading to the training ground, his eyes fell on an iron statue carved nearly as tall as a person, and he stopped in his tracks.
This beast’s head, with its ruby-like eyes, was carved lifelike, but it was already covered with a layer of dust, giving it a somewhat tarnished appearance.
Yang Zicang thought for a moment and hesitantly asked, –Are you all… attached to mind-power bodies? Is this another form of body for you?-
The corridor was silent; no one answered.
Yang Zicang lowered his head.
–What exactly is this ring? Why must we all possess it, and why must we fight one another? Can’t we just live in peace like people on Earth?-
The moment his voice left his mouth, it vanished without a trace.
It was still quiet here. Yang Zicang glanced at a figure passing by the corner of the corridor.
–I had a dream. It felt very real. In the dream, I was told that some of these statues have mind-power bodies attached to them. You all… never mind.-
Yang Zicang turned around and nearly bumped into a figure.
–Hey!- The youth stepped back, looking at a beast-faced man with a three-petal mouth and ruby eyes staring at him.
{What else do you want to ask?}
–You scared me to death.- Yang Zicang let out a breath and glanced at the glowing ring on his chest. –I still want to know… never mind. Excuse me, are you able to watch over this place at all times?-
{That’s not what you really wanted to ask. Are you worried that if you guess correctly, you won’t be able to leave the company?}
The beast-faced figure before him smiled, as if he could read his thoughts.
{Don’t worry. As long as you don’t widely publicize the speculations you deduced yourself, they aren’t bound by the confidentiality treaty. And as for constant monitoring? Hah, we’re not that bored.}
Why do I have a sense of déjà vu?
Yang Zicang took a closer look at the man who had suddenly appeared before him. Dressed in crisp black trousers, with a fashionable scarf made from a folded large square cloth draped over his shoulder, the man’s eyes glowed like dazzling rubies. He pulled a psychic pocket watch from his chest, glanced at it, and saw the hands pointing precisely to half past five.
{Every month, in the morning and evening during the latter part of the month, this time slot just happens to be my patrol interval. If there’s nothing else, go claim the reward that belongs to you.}
Having said that, this seemingly tangible psychic manifestation turned around and prepared to leave.
Yang Zicang quickly said, –Sir, may I ask what’s going on with that dream of mine? To some extent, it has already come true twice today.-
{Two possibilities. The stronger your psychic power, the more likely you are to be influenced by elemental forces, the ether field, and other psychic spaces, gaining some insights. As for the second, you’ll know when you reach the Full Moon.}
–Full Moon?-
The beast-faced man turned his head, let out a soft laugh, and continued:
{That is, awakening the Fifth Ring. Indeed, while enhanced psychic power brings insights, it also carries danger. There are several bloodline abilities that obtain information beyond reality by sensing the free-floating information in the universe. That is a kind of mental resonance. If you don’t possess that bloodline ability, don’t actively attempt it.}
Yang Zicang’s brows furrowed.
The beast-faced man toyed with his pocket watch and let out a soft laugh:
{For instance, the ‘Fundamental Knowledge Pattern’ you seek is like an anchor—it can help those whose spiritual power first resonates with deep energy to pin their mind in the safe zone of frequencies.}
With that, the man took two steps forward and vanished into the corridor.
—-The box-pushing master has arrived!-
—-Youngster, so fierce, standing still, but slow to run—yet you take on the hidden level, for the dim and clumsy, you show your flair~-
Pushing the door open, Yang Zicang saw that even more –people- had woken up today.
—-The last day to challenge the hidden level. It’s already a foregone conclusion. When the holiday comes, my boss will also come and give it a try.-
[The Barking Gate tells me that today…]
[I, the great quadrilateral, inform the ‘Barking Gate’—you can drop the barking.]
Taking the telekinesis cassette from the hands of a different –keeper,- Yang Zicang entered the training ground. Scorching heat waves began to lick his skin, but after two days of experience, the third round’s heat was no longer so unbearable.
After one round of challenges, Yang Zicang felt that even if he were asked to hold on for a few more minutes at that very moment, he could manage it.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The dull thuds of the boxes hitting the ground grew denser and denser. As the last few boxes, under Moxel’s control, settled into the empty slots on the square, the blurry-faced Wind Spirit Warrior walked over clapping.
{Truly a peerless talent, my friend, to achieve SUPER rating for three consecutive rounds—a rare genius indeed.}
Yang Zicang subtly dug at his ear.
He strongly suspected that this foreigner was being toyed with by someone with abilities similar to Bopoli’s.
The Wind Spirit Warrior with a blurry face appeared before him; the first things that materialized in his palm were two different Celtic knots.
{Which seal would you choose, friend? Of course, you may also accumulate points.}
–I choose this one.-
His finger, now crystalline from the overlaid psychic energy, pointed toward the turquoise green seal of –Lullaby of the Wood.-
Yang Zicang had already decided which to choose on the very first day. As his finger touched it, the solidified –psychic energy circulation pattern- quickly shrank into the young man’s body through his fingertip.
A sound vast as a tidal wave—like wind brushing through treetops—resounded within his consciousness.
[I have implanted the psychic energy circulation pattern: Lullaby of the Wood.]
In that instant, Yang Zicang felt as if he were immersed in a sea of forest—the sound of heavy snow crushing pine needles, the murmur of clear streams caressing moss, sunlight slicing through billions of colliding leaves, dead leaves rustling down, all transformed into sensations unfolding…
Empty, remote, vast, yet silent.
Involuntarily taking a deep breath, Yang Zicang suddenly felt the –Lucid Sense- circuit within him start to operate actively. His eyelids, which had grown slightly weary from the challenge, promptly opened wide.
–So soothing… Is this the pattern of mental power circulation?-
Now, he could no longer find that mark. Or rather, the illusion that followed him like a shadow, making him feel as if he were always immersed in a vast forest, was the mark itself.
[The Barking Dog Gate tells me that this mark can last until around the Third Ring, Fourth Stage.]
The Wind Spirit Warrior ahead waited quietly; three –Psychic Alchemy- creations, which he had commissioned someone to forge, were floating before him.
How should he choose among these three? They all seemed useful, yet none seemed immediately needed.
–These ones…-
Yang Zicang frowned, deliberating on how to choose.
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