Awakening and Sleep

"You mean, the gap between you and Morrill's mission was because you were concentrating on treatment. And the root cause of her illness was the locator recovery mission you carried out a few months ago." After listening to Li Ming's story, Lu Ming looked quite regretful, as if he had thought of something.

His gaze became distant, and he rubbed the backs of his hands together. After a moment of silence, he said, "You did a great job."

"You didn't expose this matter lightly, but instead endured until now. You two have a better perspective on the overall situation than Lu Zhiqi. For this, I want to thank you on behalf of the entire family."

Lu Ming sighed softly. "That kid, Morrill... it's a shame. But speaking of which, you were exposed to that poison up close. Did you get a physical examination afterwards?"

Li Ming shook his head: "No, there is nothing wrong with me, and you know the situation between me and my family, Uncle Lu, I will not go back." He pursed his lips, as if he was unwilling to say even a word more on this topic.

Lu Ming naturally knew it all very well, so he thought for a moment and said, "Okay, for your safety, let me check you out, so you can feel more at ease." This made Li Ming a little flattered. After all, to be honest, he and the head of the Lu family did not have a very close relationship.

"Also, I plan to have you study with me for a few years. Just like Lu Zhiqi, I'll teach you personally." Li Ming looked up in disbelief, only to see the warm smile from the person opposite him. "Let's just treat today as a preliminary inspection."

Li Ming: "Me? But I'm only level 3."

"A psychic's abilities shouldn't and can't be determined by their level." Lu Ming extended his right hand, placing it palm up on the table. He looked at Li Ming with an encouraging look. The young man's blood surged, and he finally placed his hand on Li Ming's.

When the old butler received the pager and entered the study again, it was time to prepare dinner, so he said while clearing the tea table, "Master, I have asked the kitchen to prepare more food." Lu Ming didn't have a big appetite and didn't like leftovers on the table, so whenever he ate at home, the butler would ask about his physical condition in advance and record it in order to prepare the meal.

Today, a guest came unexpectedly, and the two of them talked for a long time behind closed doors in the study, so he took the initiative to give orders to the kitchen.

Unexpectedly, Lu Ming said, "Well, I'll go clean up a bigger room later, and Li Ming will stay with me from now on." The old housekeeper lowered his head and replied "yes" without daring to ask more questions. After cleaning up the table, he turned around and went to do new things.

"Go ahead, go back and pack up your necessary daily necessities and bring them here. After dinner, I'll have them take you to familiarize yourself with the house." Lu Ming seemed very satisfied with his new apprentice, with an irrepressible smile on his face.

Li Ming also cooperated: "Okay, thank you Uncle Lu!"

...

District 1, Association Headquarters.

Ying Yungui emerged from the simulated combat area, sweat dripping from his feet. As soon as his shoes touched the ground, his knees buckled and he fell to his knees. A pair of shiny leather shoes appeared before his eyes, and a voice drifted overhead, saying, "55 minutes and 13 seconds. That's quite an improvement."

As soon as he finished speaking, several people gathered around Ying Yungui. After a while, his physical strength recovered to about 70%. "Stand up, go in and continue."

So Ying Yungui once again stepped into the area covered by the light column. As soon as his figure sank into it, the light at the edge became gray. If you look closely, you can see fine lines floating on it.

Ying Yungui glanced at the time above his head - "60:00:00". This meant that he had to hold on for at least 1 hour this time before Ying Xiangze would open the space barrier and let him out.

The sound of "clicking" mechanisms rang out one after another, and densely packed black holes appeared on the ground, ceiling and surrounding walls. Ying Yungui knew that a new round of attacks was coming.

The long-pole weapons that shot out of the black hole were covered with a higher-level surface space, which Ying Yungui could not break open yet, so he naturally could not use his ability to control the weapons.

He could only control his body to stay in mid-air to avoid being pierced through by the things shot out from under his feet, and concentrate on dodging every random attack from unknown direction and number.

And all these precise operations must be performed without the assistance of any limiters.

A few hours ago, when the Yellow Level Response was initiated at the Association Base in District 8, Ying Xiangze immediately prepared an approval and personally selected a team of personnel to immediately set out to pick up Ying Yungui. While waiting for his return, he also arranged every venue to be used.

He performed all of this with impeccable skill, as if he'd practiced it thousands of times. Unbeknownst to anyone, Ying Xiangze was thinking, "How could it be so fast? Nearly three years faster than expected." He calculated that Ying Yungui would need at least several years of practical experience to break through to Level 7. Even if his progress went as expected, Ying Yungui would undoubtedly become the youngest high-level psychic in the association's history.

But the reality happened much faster than he expected, and this day came suddenly.

This means that something big must have happened to Ying Yungui that he had not expected.

Ying Xiangze's expression grew increasingly serious. If it was simply because the limiter had been lost, theoretically, this wouldn't be the case, unless...

Just as he was making plans for the next step, a red mist appeared on the surface of the space barrier, which meant that the energy fluctuations inside were too huge and were approaching the limit of what the barrier could bear.

"Should we abort?" the observer nearby asked Ying Xiangze with some concern. "No, he can handle it."

Since his father had said so, the observer put away his useless sympathy. However, he had only known the leader of the decision-making group as a decisive and swift person. He would absolutely implement any rules he set, whether it was for tasks or for dealing with people.

But he didn't expect that his own son would undergo such cruel training, and he could continue to watch and record without changing his expression. He was indeed cruel enough.

The red fog on the surface of the barrier became thicker and thicker, almost condensing into a solid entity. Ying Xiang was still observing the data that kept jumping on the screen, glancing at the time from time to time, and finally unlocked the spatial barrier of the area at the moment the countdown returned to zero.

Ying Yungui, who came out from inside, was almost covered in blood. The observer went forward to support him but didn't know where to start, so Ying Yungui fell straight to the ground and lost consciousness.

Just as the healing staff assisting with the training wanted to step forward, Ying Xiangze finally spoke up, "That's all for today. Just treat his wounds. No need to restore his strength. Then we can go back to our respective duties. We'll notify you next time."

"Yes." Several people answered and surrounded the exhausted and unconscious Ying Yungui.

Ying Xiang took Ying Yungui to the nearest lounge, wiped the blood off his body, changed him into dry clothes, and sat aside to take care of his own business.

Perhaps the lighting in the lounge was too dim, and Ying Xiangze's eyes felt a little sore from staring at one place for too long.

"Turn on the light, I'm awake." Ying Yungui's somewhat weak and tired voice suddenly came. Ying Xiangze put away the screen and walked to the door to turn on the light, then turned the brightness down considerably. He turned to look at the person still lying on the bed and asked, "Did something happen to you? In District 8."

It wasn't that Ying Yungui didn't want to get up, but he was too weak to do so. After trying a few times without success, he gave up. He looked at a small area of the roof and found that the colors were blurry and had no boundaries, so he simply closed his eyes again.

"Nothing. The raid by the Maintenance Bureau has been resolved."

Ying Xiangze thought about the documents he had just browsed and asked, "The day before the full association review, you also met someone from the Maintenance Bureau?"

"Well, I asked the interrogation department for someone, and now he's locked up at home."

Ying Xiangze: "...Why didn't you tell me? Your early breakthrough might be related to that incident."

"You haven't been home for a long time. Is it any use telling you?"

Ying Xiangze: "Do you think such a sudden energy breakthrough is a good thing? You've forgotten the pain just now, right?"

"That's nothing. Didn't you train me like this when we were little?"

The room fell silent for a long moment. When Ying Xiangze spoke again, he regained his usual composure: "Once you pass all the tests this time, you will be a true Level 7 Psychic. But before that, I have something to tell you."

Ying Yungui closed his eyes and didn't answer him, as if pretending to be asleep, unwilling to listen to the so-called advice of an elder. Ying Xiangze also knew his son's personality, so he continued.

"Superpowers are innate abilities, but they are definitely not labels that define us. Too many people have been stagnant due to the constraints of their own abilities, limited and content with the little success they have achieved and the cutting-edge social status they have achieved."

"I'm very confident in you on this point, because you're definitely not mediocre." Ying Xiangze paused here, "But sometimes I regret letting you get involved in combat too early. I don't know if you have a correct understanding of superpowers."

Ying Yungui's mouth twitched: "Whether it is right or wrong is not something that can be defined by humans."

Ying Xiangze: "I know you would think so, but if one day you were to take the position of president of the association, would you amend the current association rules?"

"Would you give up the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary people for one person?"

"For the future of mankind, will you be willing to become a cornerstone of the development of superpowers?"

"What if one day the person standing opposite you is your long-time friend, trusted companion, or dear lover?"

"Behind you are all those ordinary people who have no power to resist. Will you take up arms for them?"

Ying Yungui opened his eyes and seemed to see a familiar figure in his blurry vision. He could not answer this question.

Ying Xiangze stood up and said, "Ying Yungui, you won't. Because you never recognize the value of ordinary people. You think they are dispensable, but I must tell you."

“Everything in this world is more fragile and more easily disappearing than you think, but it is also more important.”

...

"I said he'd been taken to District 1 headquarters, but you refused to believe me." Mai Er angrily bit the green dates in her hand and said to Shi Youchen, who was lost in thought not far away, "Now that you've seen the video footage yourself, you should believe it."

Shi Youchen stared at the figure on the screen, lost in thought. He remained silent for a long time after regaining consciousness. Then, as soon as his memories were archived, he tried to rush out of the room, but was stopped by Mai Er, who was standing by. Facing Shi Youchen's sharper gaze, Mai Er gestured for him to look around and revealed Ying Yungui's whereabouts.

Shi Youchen just stopped moving to leave, but seemed not to believe her one-sided statement until she was speechless and took out the surveillance video evidence that she had already copied.

"...I understand." Shi Youchen said and leaned quietly on the sofa, lost in thought, without responding to Mai Er's departure.