scandal

"Have you heard? There's big news about the Lu family in District 8."

"I heard it, I heard it! It's too perverted, is this something a human could do?"

"So this big family's secret tactics are so dirty. My grandfather even wanted to establish a relationship with them before."

"That's not bad! If you really married into their family, you might be even worse off than that guy!"

"Hey, do you think the higher-ups will take care of this? It's become such a big deal."

"It's hard to say. Lu Ming is only a level 8 psychic after all. There has never been a precedent for trying a high-level psychic before."

In the summer of the 175th year of the New Calendar, the world of supernatural beings was bustling with activity. The events that unfolded that summer were, in many ways, unprecedented and astonishing.

——

Inside the Maintenance Bureau, in a small private room at the gathering place.

As usual, Morrill ordered a special drink for himself, pinched the cold stem of the glass with his fingers, and walked to his seat. There was already someone sitting in the dim corner, but there was nothing in front of him.

The Maintenance Bureau is actually a very loose organization. This alien space not only has places for training, rest and living, but also many places for everyone to entertain and relax, such as this tavern.

As the enemy of the Global Management Association of Superpowers, the Maintenance Bureau isn't solely comprised of superpowers. Many ordinary people live here, too. Some, like Xiaowei, were brought back from the outside world, while others have chosen to join the Maintenance Bureau for various reasons. Regardless, the lives of ordinary people here can be described as "stable."

The only ones who are truly at the bottom of the recognized society and cannot live here peacefully are the "unfittest".

The Maintenance Bureau lacked the strict management system and hierarchical regulations of the Association, nor did it have a mission system or scoreboards, or even a so-called "power holder." Instead, the principle of "the strong prevail, the weak depend on the weak" prevailed. The only real institutional element was the monthly "challenge."

A challenge is a battle that any member of the Maintenance Bureau can initiate. Even ordinary people without special abilities can challenge special abilities if they wish. The winner does not receive any material rewards, only a record of victory.

As long as you win enough games, you can get your own "code name." Code names like 07, which use pure numbers, are recognized as strong in the rankings within the bureau, and can almost walk all over the place.

Because of this principle, those with physical disabilities who are considered "inferior" are ineligible to participate in the challenge, so they naturally become a group of weaklings who can only rely on the strong. The vast majority of psychics do not consider the inferiors of any value to them, so naturally, only a very small number of them are protected.

Unless they have some extraordinary conditions, such as appearance, special talents, etc.

These underdogs with backers love to congregate in entertainment venues, exchanging outside intelligence gleaned from their "backers." Naturally, these places have become hubs for all kinds of information. Not only do those unable to leave their "alien dimensions" enjoy these places, but even many psychics who can freely enter and exit these spaces often come here to relax.

Morrill sipped the slightly fishy liquid, looking a little drunk. He asked in a daze, "Have you heard about that guy?"

Before the man in the dark corner could answer, the wall of the box suddenly flashed, and then a person appeared out of thin air on the floor.

Yan Zhiyuan had cut his hair again, apparently using it for some experiment. Lately, he's been appearing in public wearing a hat. As soon as he entered, he couldn't wait to speak, telling the two people who had been sitting in the box for a while, "Lu Ming ran away!"

The glass in Mollier's hand cracked with a crack. She slammed the glass down on the table and asked, "He ran away? When did it happen?"

Yan Zhiyuan took a deep breath to calm himself, then moved closer to the corner, sat between the two of them, and drew a curtain of light.

A huge headline appeared on the screen: "Shocking Scandal Confirmed! The Lu Family Leader Mysteriously Disappeared on the Eve of His Trial!"

Yan Zhiyuan: "Just now, I heard it when I came in. It was a mess outside. The boss said he might have to close early today."

The publishing time displayed next to the title was indeed a few minutes ago. Morrill said with a "tsk" sound: "What kind of supervisory department of the association is this for? They can't even keep an eye on one person!" If Yan Zhiyuan didn't know the inside story, just looking at her furious look, he would probably think she was a loyal supporter of the association.

At this time, the man in the corner finally spoke: "It's nothing strange. Since the boss said he wants to close early, let's go to my place first. Xiaowei said she caught some rare ingredients today and asked you to try the dishes."

Yan Zhiyuan and Morrill said almost at the same time: "Did you predict it? / Did you see it?"

The uncertainty and evolution of superpowers had long been known within the Maintenance Bureau. Anyone interested, especially those with superpowers like them, would eventually hear about it. Therefore, Shi Youchen's "precognitive" ability was no longer a secret among them.

"It's not me." Shi Youchen stood up, walked out of the dark corner, and stood under the light. His hair hadn't been trimmed in a long time, and its natural growth gave him the look of an ancient wizard.

"07 saw it. He told me, 'Lu Ming won't die in the association.'" He even imitated the tone 07 used when he said that.

Morrill's brows twitched slightly: "You really are... becoming more and more like him." Yan Zhiyuan nodded in agreement.

"So he predicted that Lu Ming would escape from the association's supervision? Did he say where he would escape to?" Morrill cared about Lu Ming's whereabouts, very much. She wanted Lu Ming to be ruined more than anyone else, and even more than she wanted him to die.

"That's not what they said." Shi Youchen calmly scrolled down the screen a few times and read the messages from passersby. "But even if he didn't flee before the trial, according to the association's usual practice, they wouldn't necessarily take his life."

"Maybe they'll even establish some new rules specifically for him, like..."

"Restart the 'Gene Recombination Project' or something."

The cup Mollier had placed there shattered completely, its murky liquid spilling all over the table. She chuckled in anger, "That's certainly possible. After all, if there's any progress, it would be a huge achievement for them."

Yan Zhiyuan spoke up to ease the tense atmosphere, "It shouldn't be that serious. Although the association is a bit shaky, its attitude on this matter is still quite firm. After all, the decision-making committee of the headquarters still has the final say."

Hearing Ying Xiangze's name, Shi Youchen seemed to remember something and ended the topic: "Let's go, this place will be closed in ten minutes." Then his figure disappeared from the spot first, followed by Morrill's figure.

Watching the two men leave, Yan Zhiyuan felt a little worried. Somehow, ever since he joined the "Eliminate Research Team," his encounters with these two had significantly decreased. Their attitude towards the association had become increasingly hostile, even somewhat extreme.

What exactly happened...If it were just those confirmed scandals about Lu Ming, it shouldn't be like this.

Yan Zhiyuan knew about the major events that happened in the association this summer.

Initially, entrepreneurs and officials from various cities in District 8 jointly petitioned the association for assistance, claiming that powerful individuals within the psychic families were pressuring them and threatening their personal safety. Initially, this incident didn't cause much of a stir, and even showed signs of being suppressed.

Until the group of people who jointly appealed expanded from the upper class among ordinary people to the people at the bottom of society. A group of men, women, young and old appeared from nowhere, each of them claiming to be from a family with supernatural powers, and together they made a fuss from the local to the upper class.

The ridiculous thing is that the vast majority of them came from orphanages, and it is the kind of orphanage where no information about their biological parents can be found at all.

The relevant departments of the association originally conducted genetic tests on these people based on the principle of preventing the maintenance bureau from interfering and affecting social public order. Unexpectedly, it was found that each of them actually carried genes from several famous supernatural families.

The largest proportion of them came from the Mo family in District 8, which was destroyed overnight.

This incident immediately caused a stir. To avoid affecting the regional assessment, the District 8 Association branch initially did not report the incident to headquarters, intending to handle it behind closed doors. However, halfway through the investigation, the matter somehow reached the headquarters' decision-making team.

Later, considering that Mo Lian, the murderer who destroyed the Mo family, had limited abilities, and that there might be the support of the Maintenance Bureau behind the scenes, they decided to recruit a group of experts to dig deep into the backgrounds of these people. This was the fuse that later broke out regarding Lu Ming's scandal.

The results of the investigation and analysis showed that some of these people who were more or less related to several supernatural families were the products of the Mo family's "orphan adoption" program, some were the descendants of illegal unions in special places, and some were the descendants of servants and housekeepers in those families long ago.

None of them had a formal and legal background, and their identities were not presentable. The most crucial reason why they were not recognized by the family was that they had not awakened their special abilities.

This result completely broke the previous understanding and definition of "superpower family", and attracted the attention of the general public of superpowers, who asked the association to investigate thoroughly.

While the investigation was still in progress, it wasn't long before Mai Er, the head of the interrogation department of the District 8 Association branch and a leader of the contemporary young generation of the ancient "hypnosis" family in District 8, came forward to report that Lu Cheng, the previous head of the Lu family, had impregnated hundreds of servants and then abandoned or killed their offspring in order to use these direct bloodlines for the "bloodline purification plan."

That is to say, let the direct bloodline of superpowers combine with each other to give birth to children with more rare superpowers.

Lu Cheng knew very well that such a child would most likely carry genetic defects, but he was still obsessed with this plan. As a result, his energy was overdrawn for years and he could only rely on external forces to maintain his life. In the end, he died in the hospital bed.

However, his "bloodline purification plan" began to take effect after his death - some children who were once abandoned awakened special abilities during their growth. The most representative of them was "No. 8461, Lu Quezhi", who was killed by the Maintenance Bureau shortly after joining the association and had participated in the Z City aid mission and was a contemporary of Shi Youchen.

When the association's supervisory department questioned Mai Er and asked her why she took so many years to come forward to report, someone no one expected appeared next to Mai Er.

Lu Zhiqi, the young master of the Lu family, who had been missing since May of the new calendar year 174, actually stood with Mai Er to testify for him. He said—

"Because my grandfather Lu Cheng originally extended an invitation to the Maile clan to participate in the bloodline purification plan, but it was rejected by the clan leader at the time."

"Now, my father Lu Ming intends to restart this plan and has once again extended an invitation to the Maile clan. After being rejected, he used his abilities to tamper with the clan leader's memory and forcibly restarted the bloodline purification plan."

"The first group chosen to become mother bodies were Mai'er and Maya. For the past year or so, I have been locked away in an isolated 'domain' by my biological father, Lu Ming."

"Apart from these, my only recognized uncle, Lu Shen, was also born under Lu Cheng's plan. He awakened the ability passed down from generation to generation in his family at birth, so he was recognized immediately."

This incident caused a huge uproar in the circle of superpowers, and the headquarters attached great importance to it. The head of the decision-making group, Ying Xiangze, who was Lu Ming's early friend, took the initiative to take the responsibility of getting to the bottom of the matter and gave the results before the end of summer.

"Lu Ming, a Level 8 'Touch Perception' ability user, has used this ability for selfish reasons to severely disrupt the Association and public order, causing extremely negative consequences worldwide. This department has decided to hold a trial on September 30, 175 New Calendar. We hope all Association members will take this as a warning."

——

However, Lu Ming mysteriously disappeared before the day of judgment.