Chapter Twenty-Four: Leveling Up

The Purification Alliance headquarters is located in the base's first civilian hospital, where the mental strength testing department still has staff on duty.

"We brought in a few refugees from the wilderness today. We just finished testing them, and the machine is still running. You've come at the perfect time, Ms. Tang." The female tester on duty saw Tang Xinying and quickly poured her water and brought her a stool, being very attentive.

She recognized Qi An and joked as she placed the sensors on his temples one by one, "I hope the device won't malfunction this time."

Three years ago, when Qi An first entered the base, it was this same tester who measured her mental enhancement value.

The measured data at that time suddenly spiked to 10, then changed and fluctuated continuously.

The tester was startled and quickly checked the equipment.

But the value quickly stabilized, settling at a moderate level of 7.

The tester called the supervisor over to take a look, and after several more tests, the result was still 7. So, it had to be attributed to the instrument malfunctioning.

Qi An closed his eyes and felt a very slight electric current running through his scalp.

Then a massive amount of information flooded into my mind, from mild to stimulating, to stimulating with pollutants, to intensely stimulating!

The instrument displays several fluctuating lines, with the thickest and brightest red line continuing to rise and soon settling within the range of the number "7".

Tang Xinying stared at the number, lost in thought.

The tester chuckled, "Above the midline, Dr. Qi has already made progress, unless it's someone like Professor Tang..."

Before she could finish speaking, the thread had sprung up another bit!

The tester was stunned, but Tang Xinying perked up. The two watched as the red thread slowly climbed until it broke through the range of "8"!

"This..." The tester was momentarily stunned.

A purifier with a mental enhancement value of 8 has appeared!

And it went from 7 to 8 within three years!

The line crossed the threshold of 8, stabilized at the midline of 8, and stopped rising.

......

Yu Shuang and Zhao Bohan had dinner at the Dongying canteen and then walked back to their dormitory in the light night rain.

Yu Shuang's meal was still paid for by Zhao Bohan's card, because her annual salary and subsidies had been deducted, and she didn't save any money. Now she was so poor that she had to mooch off others to pay for her meals.

However, she was certain she would pay him back, so she spoke with righteous indignation, and was also a little annoyed by Zhao Bohan's statement, "Are you saying that Xiao Qi's file is falsified? She has superhuman strength but is keeping it from us?"

Zhao Bohan frowned and denied it, "I don't know, I'm just observing the facts and raising questions. Didn't you notice?"

Yu Shuang was certainly aware of it, but she didn't want to dwell on it, and snorted:

"First, theoretical strength is one thing, but actual combat performance is another."

Secondly, what reason would she have to hide her strength? Just to join our team? What does our team have? Does anyone in our team have the strength of Jiu? Or is someone's aunt the logistics manager?

Is it possible that her strength has increased, but she hasn't been tested in a long time, so her file hasn't been updated?

Her tone was a bit sharp, and her eyes narrowed slightly, causing Zhao Bohan to lean back involuntarily.

He composed himself and said, "I don't mean to doubt Qi An's intentions... What you said is indeed very possible, but Qi An has discovered the traces of the Fallen Insects many times before any of us."

Her sensory enhancement is only 4, lower than all of us, which doesn't seem reasonable!

Yu Shuang choked up and remained silent for a moment.

......

Qi An processed the discomfort from the test and opened his eyes.

The tester snapped out of her daze and hurriedly looked at Tang Xinying: "Teacher Tang, shall we conduct a second test?"

Improving mental enhancement, especially to a value of 7 or higher, is extremely difficult and highly dependent on talent.

When Tang Xinying was promoted from 8 to 9, it caused a sensation in the league!

Qi An is so young, the tester had a slightly unsettling feeling.

"No need." Tang Xinying stared at the number for a while, then looked at Qi An, a smile playing on her lips. "Keep the test records. We'll be back soon."

Tang Xinying took Qi An to her old workplace—the purification department of the military hospital.

She intercepted all the remaining patients, arranged them according to the urgency of the purification process, and handed them over to Qi An.

Qi An knew this was an actual test of purification capabilities. Behind the one-way glass, not only Teacher Tang was observing, but also the hospital's senior leaders, and possibly her former boss, Sister Qu.

There were 15 patients waiting for purification, making Qi An regret that he should have slept more in the afternoon to replenish his energy.

Even though he wasn't in the best condition, and even though four of the patients had contamination levels above 50%, Qi An still managed to complete the purification work very steadily, though he was extremely exhausted afterward.

When she came out, the hospital leaders were both moved and delighted, while Sister Qu was even more shocked.

"A scholar should be looked at with new eyes after three days' absence. Congratulations, Xiao Qi!" She congratulated him repeatedly, feeling honored as Qi An's former superior.

Qi An smiled and accepted the thanks, repeatedly expressing his gratitude to Sister Qu for her guidance and care.

Tang Xinying seemed to sigh and patted Qi An's head: "You really... have a lot of potential."

"I also insist on using the methods taught by Teacher Tang, developing a routine and exercise habit, persisting in deep meditation in the morning and evening and after purification, using deep sleep to relax my mind, and controlling my emotions in daily life."

I have also used the neural control device and deep brain stimulation prototype developed by Professor Tang's team, which is why I was able to improve so quickly.

"This shows that Teacher Tang's concepts and methods for mental strengthening exercises are correct," Qi An said, looking at Tang Xinying.

Tang Xinying's gaze softened instantly, and a smile once again radiated from her eyes and brows. "Thank you."

She pulled Qi An back to the Purification Alliance Testing Department, and amidst the testers' undisguised envious gazes, she took the test data and uploaded it to the Alliance database on the spot.

"Your enhancement value has reached 8. Have you noticed any outstanding or strange abilities emerging?" Tang Xinying asked.

She had only asked casually, but Qi An hesitated and said, "I... seem to be able to sense the location of the Fallen Insects."

Tang Xinying was taken aback.

She sat up straight abruptly and asked, "How do you sense it? Can you only sense fallen insects? What is the range of your senses?"

"It can sense them as soon as they get close, within a range of... 1-2 kilometers. It's clearer within 1 kilometer, but becomes blurry within 2 kilometers." Qi An honestly said, "It can only sense fallen insects, not people. It's probably sensitive to pollution sources."

Tang Xinying slowly leaned back in her chair, her gaze shifting, as if she understood, yet seemed even more confused.

After a moment, she smiled and said, "There are many kinds of special enhancement abilities in the brain domain, but yours is really the most suitable for the battlefield, and even more so for long-range teams and battlefields behind enemy lines!"

"I will also report your awakening of a special enhancement ability. Your Purifier rating should rise, and your stipend from the Alliance will also increase," Tang Xinying said, her beautiful eyes crinkling.

"Next time, the teacher will leave right after the meal. As for the bill and everything else, that's up to you to figure it out!"

Qi An: "I promise, the teachers won't even know when I went to settle the bill!"

Tang Xinying chuckled as Qi An brought up another important matter that had been on her mind:

"Teacher, when I visited your lab last time, Engineer Xu mentioned that you had also developed a mental energy transmission device that can remotely treat and prevent pollution. Has this been debugged and is it ready for deployment?"

Tang Xinying raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but exclaim, "You have a really keen nose! You can smell the best things!"