Chapter 189: Riding Our Little Electric Scooter to the Outskirts

The scientific value of the virtual device was extremely high, classified as special department confidential equipment. Only the Xia Du headquarters controlled such technology; other city branches only had usage rights.

Xia Du!

Headquarters!

Xu Zihao's elderly father, having battled evil creatures his entire life, rose step by step to become the head of headquarters through sheer hard work.

Inside the dimly lit office, he gazed at the family photo on his desk. The picture showed his wife and several children. He picked up the frame, tracing his fingers over the woman in the photograph.

His wife.

The daughter of the former Xia Du Special Department head.

Back then, he was just an ordinary member, unremarkable, just another face in the crowd. Yet, it was someone like him who married the daughter of such an important figure.

And he hadn't disappointed his wife.

Through his own efforts, he climbed the ranks to become the head of headquarters.

He set down the frame.

Knock, knock!

A bespectacled man entered, standing respectfully before the old man.

"I need all the information on Lin Fan from the Yanhai City Special Department. Also, instruct the tech team to immediately repair the Yanhai City Special Department's virtual device."

"Yes, sir."

The bespectacled man respectfully withdrew.

Highly efficient, the bespectacled man returned in a short time with Lin Fan's file, more comprehensive than any other investigation could have produced.

The old man flipped through the information, engrossed in its contents. His usually calm face occasionally registered surprise.

"Nineteen years old?"

"Qingshan Mental Hospital?"

"Tortured himself from a young age with various tools, believing he could cultivate, ultimately diagnosed as mentally ill and sent to a mental hospital, where he remained until recently recruited by the Special Department."

This was an unusual personal file. Had it not come from the department's investigation, he would have thought it was a prank.

The only sound in the quiet office was the rustling of pages.

Finally, the old man closed the file and said in a low voice, "If all this is true, this young man is definitely a talent. As for the mental illness, it's likely a disguise. Is he afraid of being discovered for being too exceptional?"

He speculated, being perhaps the only one to praise Lin Fan as a talent. He simply couldn't believe Lin Fan was truly mentally ill.

This was a frightening thought.

Nightfall.

After seeing Xiao Bao off, Lin Fan sat with Lao Zhang on a bench under the night sky.

Both looked up at the stars twinkling above.

Neither spoke.

"The night sky is beautiful," Lin Fan said.

"Yes, it is," Lao Zhang replied.

The evil rooster cursed inwardly, Are they crazy? Staying up late, not going to bed, just sitting here staring at the sky? Their brains must be mush.

But it was undercover.

An undercover agent had to act the part.

It had to please these foolish humans.

April 12th!

Clear weather!

Training room.

Technicians from the Xia Du headquarters had worked through the night to repair the virtual device. "How could you let the equipment run on overload?" they'd asked. "That's incredibly dangerous. It could have exploded."

The local staff were bewildered. Overload? It was just three people lying inside. If that's considered overload, then this machine is way too outdated.

"I want to go back in," Lin Fan said, appearing behind a technician with a smile.

The technician, upon seeing him, recalled the stern, intimidating glare of the one-eyed chief. If he comes back, I don't care what you do, get rid of him. And don't tell him it was me. The technician felt caught between a rock and a hard place. The chief was tough on him but deferential to Lin Fan. How am I, a lowly technician, supposed to tell this big shot he can't use the device? I might get beaten up.

"I'm sorry, the device is broken. It's unusable," the technician mumbled, resorting to a lie.

"When will it be fixed?" Lin Fan inquired.

"Maybe in a year or two," the technician replied, shaking his head.

"Alright, I'll come back in a year or two then," Lin Fan said thoughtfully, turning to leave.

The departing figure left the technician dumbfounded. He was truly speechless. Then, he fell into deep thought. What did he mean by that? I just made up an excuse. Nobody usually believes those. But he did, and he even said he'd come back in a year or two. A chill ran down his spine, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong. He'll be watching me. If he sees anyone else using the device, he'll tear me to shreds.

Increasingly frightened, he immediately went to find the chief. This is terrifying. I need to talk.

Outside the department, Lin Fan said, "Lao Zhang, I want to go for a walk outside the city."

"Sure," Lao Zhang replied.

"Remember when we went camping with Xiao Bao?" Lin Fan mused. "That's where we encountered those powerful individuals. I want to go find them. I've discovered a new cultivation method."

"What method?" Lao Zhang asked curiously.

Lin Fan faced Lao Zhang, clasped his hands together, and said with a serious expression, "I, Lin Fan, humbly request your guidance."

Lao Zhang exclaimed, "Isn't that a line from the movie we watched last night?"

"Yes."

Learn by doing. That's how it was in the movies. Whenever the protagonist said those words, a fight would break out. In movie terms, it was called sparring, a way to improve one's strength.

Back in Qingshan Mental Hospital, they only watched the news. They never watched movies. If they had, they would have discovered this new cultivation method much earlier.

Beep beep!

Liu Ying rode his little electric scooter to work. Yesterday had been exhausting, leading new members was tiring, and he'd had to "pay his dues" at night, leaving him too drained to visit Lin Fan for treatment.

"Lin Fan, Master!" Liu Ying called out a greeting.

Looking for transportation, Lin Fan spotted the scooter and smiled, returning the greeting.

Soon…

"Lin Fan, please take good care of my little scooter!" Liu Ying watched the receding figure, the scene reminiscent of Zhu Ziqing's prose piece "Back View."

Lin Fan rode the scooter with Lao Zhang sitting behind him, holding onto his waist. The rooster perched on Lao Zhang's head as they rode off into the wind.

"These two foolish humans are actually going to the outskirts," the evil rooster thought. It had come to terms with reality. These foolish humans were quite powerful. Its plan to use its kin to eliminate Lin Fan seemed unrealistic now. Summoning its kin might get them all killed. For now, I'll lay low and wait for an opportunity. Besides, this breeze feels quite nice.

Xu Zihao weaved through the buildings, following Lin Fan. "Where is this guy going?" He was very interested in Lin Fan. He wanted to know how he cultivated. If he could figure that out, he could learn from him. As the saying goes, learn from others' strengths to offset one's weaknesses.

Unbeknownst to Xu Zihao, Master Yongxin was also following. The situation wasn't ideal for him. He was the first to approach Lin Fan with ulterior motives, but now he found that his approach wasn't very effective. Mainly because he couldn't bring himself to fully commit. As one of the top experts in the Yanhai City Special Department, suddenly acting like a sycophant around a young man would look bad if anyone saw.

Special Department.

Monitoring room.

The one-eyed man frowned at the screen.

"Just now, there was an energy fluctuation detected in the outskirts. At the same time, the fragment in the research lab also emitted an energy fluctuation. Based on our research, there seems to be a connection between the two," Jin Heali reported. She had been busy with this matter recently. Old Chen and his student, Su Qi, had been working day and night on the research, but so far, they had only discovered the presence of divinity within the fragment, with no other progress.

The one-eyed man pondered, hesitant. He considered sending someone, or going himself, to investigate the energy fluctuation in the outskirts, but he was worried about something happening here. Then, he thought of Lin Fan. If I could take that kid with me, it would be perfectly safe. The one-eyed man believed himself to be the strongest in Yanhai City. However, with Lin Fan's arrival, he was gradually relinquishing that title. I hereby bequeath the crown of strongest to you. That's how confident he was.

"Is Lin Fan here?" the one-eyed man asked.

"No, he left early this morning," Jin Heali replied.

The one-eyed man felt frustrated. This complicated things. He immediately gave orders to assemble a few experts to investigate the energy fluctuation with him. Of course, this was a covert operation. It was best to avoid attracting the attention of evil creatures. Encountering something like the cockroach demon would be disastrous.

The one-eyed man was weary. Why had the peaceful Yanhai City suddenly become like this? Give us a little breathing room, he thought. His biggest dream was to retire successfully, leaving Yanhai City as the safest city during his tenure. But now, that dream was shattered.

Outskirts.

A group of mysterious individuals moved swiftly through the forest. They descended from the sky, landing gracefully.

"Where is the approximate location of the energy fluctuation?" a man with two large machetes strapped to his back asked.

Another man opened a suitcase containing high-tech equipment, resembling radar, with a blinking light.

"The energy fluctuation is about one kilometer ahead."

"Very close."

This group was clearly also after the fluctuation.