ask
"Besides, you've saved me, Pei Chanbai, Li Sen, and many other people with abilities higher than yours. Have you forgotten?" Ying Yungui patted Shi Youchen's back and let him go. "Saving sentient beings isn't anyone's responsibility. Don't even think about becoming the god of all mankind."
Shi Youchen felt a little dizzy from lack of oxygen. He lowered his head, walked to the living room, and opened the window, not wanting Ying Yungui to see his red and swollen eyes. A cool breeze, carrying a few snowflakes, squeezed in through the window. He reached out to stop it, and the cold spread from his fingertips. "I understand what you mean. I used to think I was indifferent, but being protected as an ordinary person and protecting others as a superpower are fundamentally different. It's my own lack of ability and my oversimplification." Therefore, all the negative emotions accumulated over a long period of time were constantly tugging at his nerves. "I won't hold myself to the same standards as before."
This is his compromise, but also his unyielding spirit.
Shi Youchen looked at the tall figure reflected in the window and said, "Thank you." Ying Yungui, who was given a thank-you card, raised his eyebrows and shrugged: "So, do I have permission to pursue you?" He pretended to be relaxed on the surface, but he was actually very nervous in his heart.
Then he heard a voice with a muffled nasal voice: "Of course, that's your freedom."
...
After dinner, Ying Yungui cleaned up the dishes while chatting with Shi Youchen who was doing stretching.
"You said Lu Zhiqi looked for you just now? What did he look for you for?" Ying Yungui, wearing a purple apron, was wiping the dining table meticulously. She leaned over and looked at the table, observing whether there was any stain left.
Shi Youchen pulled the business card from his pocket and waved it. "According to him, he came all the way here specifically to invite me to train at the base in City A. You should know that. Lin Zhouze told me it was jointly established by your families and the association." Ying Yungui crumpled up the disposable rag and threw it into the trash can, then wiped his hands and said, "Speaking of which, there was indeed such a collaboration, but our family's participation was relatively limited. I only went there a few times a long time ago, and then I was busy running around on missions."
"Then what? How did you respond to him?" Ying Yungui took off her apron and hung it back on the hanger, asking with her arms folded.
"I said I won't consider it for now." Shi Youchen said this after considering it for a moment. "What's your opinion?"
Ying Yungui immediately answered him, "From the perspective of a colleague and teammate, I still strongly recommend you go. The resources and facilities there may not be as comprehensive as the association's, but there is one huge advantage."
"The efficiency of updates and upgrades is much faster than that of the association. Basically, when it comes to newly discovered energy or newly developed facilities, compared to the association's strict review process, the base will get them first. This is the benefit of family resources."
He paused and continued, "But from the perspective of a pursuer, I don't recommend you go."
"Most of those there are people with special abilities who have backgrounds, from children as young as seven or eight to old men in their fifties and sixties. It's a mixed bag, and there are quite a few strange people. And those who have grown up in a privileged environment and have enjoyed preferential treatment in society are the most likely to target groups that are different from them."
"It's not like I haven't seen this before. In short, I get annoyed just by looking at it, and it brings bad luck just by thinking about it." Ying Yungui's expression eased slightly. "That's my opinion, but ultimately it's up to you to decide. Even if you choose not to go, I can still find a better way for you."
After hearing what he said, Shi Youchen's first reaction was embarrassment. He wanted those resources, but didn't want to deal with so many people. "Could the good way you're talking about be..."
Ying Yungui smiled brightly: "Of course it's Old Yan. If I don't look for him now, then when will I look for him?"
So that evening, Ying Yungui invited Yan Zhiyuan to dinner at the most upscale restaurant in the association's base. When Yan Zhiyuan opened the door to the private room and saw the layout inside, he thought about turning around and leaving, but for some reason, his body was frozen and he sat down uncontrollably.
"Old Yan." Ying Yungui sat opposite and raised his wine glass, the liquid inside gurgling with bubbles, "Thank you for honoring me with this meal." Then Yan Zhiyuan's hand also reached out stiffly for the wine glass in front of him, picked it up, pressed it against the corner of his tightly pursed lips, and poured it into his collar.
Ying Yungui's eyes flashed: "Okay, if you drink my wine, you have to listen to me." The next moment, he bent his upper body to the side to avoid a water bullet from Yan Zhiyuan who had regained his freedom, and did not forget to shout: "Who told you not to open your mouth? If you take the initiative, everything will be fine!"
Yan Zhiyuan's forehead was bulging with veins. "Shut up! If you have to fart, do it now. I have things to do back home." He grabbed a napkin and with a flick of his finger, the entire napkin was soaked until it was half wet. Yan Zhiyuan wiped the remaining liquid from his neck and looked at the several candles on the table with disdain. "If I didn't know you had a crush on Shi Youchen, I would have thought you were going to confess to me."
Ying Yungui chuckled, "Sorry to disappoint you." Then he said complacently, "But unfortunately, secret crushes are already a thing of the past." Yan Zhiyuan paused and looked at him with sympathy: "Have you been blocked? Do you need me to plead for you?"
Ying Yungui pretended to wave his hand and said, "What are you talking about? Hurry up and finish your work. I have to bring him some midnight snacks."
"..." Yan Zhiyuan suspected that either Ying Yungui was mentally disturbed or there was something wrong with his ears, until he heard the next serious sentence from the opposite side.
"Shi Youchen wants to apply for higher-level permissions to access the archives and apply for some experimental resources." Ying Yungui didn't wait for Yan Zhiyuan to raise questions or objections before continuing, "The data he'll be looking for will mainly focus on records of past combat missions, and the experimental resources will mainly be related to his abilities."
"He wants to temporarily suspend accepting any missions and focus on consolidating his foundation."
Yan Zhiyuan understood: "Has he made up his mind?" What Ying Yungui said were not things that Shi Youchen would take the initiative to do in the past, but based on his understanding, the man in front of him was definitely not a guy who spoke nonsense, so something must have happened that made Shi Youchen make up his mind, and this thing would most likely not be a good thing.
At this time, the waiter knocked on the door and came in to deliver the meal. Ying Yungui tapped the table with his fingertips: "Well, these are some unavoidable changes. If we don't do this, I'm afraid the association's health consultation office will need to intervene sooner or later." The association's health consultation office sounds like some department of a hospital, but in fact it is comparable to a confinement room and an interrogation room.
That place is specifically responsible for "correcting" those with special abilities who develop mental abnormalities during their missions. As for the methods or means used, no one knows except the parties involved. Yan Zhiyuan's fingers tightened around the knife and fork. He knew what it meant to go in there.
Because he was one of the few people with special abilities who was judged to be "qualified" and came out of the health consultation center.
The waiter quietly served the dishes and retreated without a word. After the door was closed, Ying Yungui picked up a piece of semi-cooked beef, chewed it carefully, and swallowed it. He looked up and said, "I won't let him take that risk, so I made an agreement with him."
"I will do my best to make him strong enough."
Yan Zhiyuan lowered his eyes: "What is this? A promise after confession?"
"Yes, but his worries and pain won't disappear just because of a change in a potential relationship or a verbal agreement. So whether or not the health consultation office will be alerted in the future depends on whether I can fulfill my promise well." Ying Yungui rinsed his mouth with sparkling water. "But I'm temporarily restricted by headquarters, so I came to you for help."
"If it's you, you should be able to do it. I think you don't seem to lack anything, so in return, I promise to do three things for you in my personal name, no matter what they are." Yan Zhiyuan was stunned. He knew how heavy this matter was, and was also surprised that Ying Yungui would go to such an extent for one person.
"I can apply for permissions on his behalf as a guarantor, but experimental resources are not so easy to obtain. I can only try my best."
"It's okay, I'll find a way when I come back." Ying Yungui raised his glass, and the contract was finalized.
After leaving the restaurant, Yan Zhiyuan stopped by the equipment department, while Ying Yungui, in a good mood, packed some snacks and returned to the 16th floor of Building 7. When he entered, Shi Youchen was putting on the sheets. Hearing the noise, he stuck his head out to see: "You're back?"
Ying Yungui grinned: "Are you helping me clean the room?" When he mentioned this, Shi Youchen suddenly realized that doing so might be a bit ambiguous given their current relationship, so he explained: "It's to thank you for asking Yan Zhiyuan for help." In fact, he took the initiative to ask for help together in the afternoon, but was rejected by Ying Yungui on the grounds that "you will be in trouble if you are monitored by the association, but I won't."
"Oh, thank you." Ying Yungui suppressed a smile, changed into slippers, and walked into the living room. He took out the snacks he had packed and arranged them on the coffee table. Then he glanced at the paused picture on the TV screen and asked Shi Youchen who had walked out of the guest room, "Are you watching the introduction of the past presidents of the association?"
"Well, I want to see what kind of people they are." Shi Youchen went to the kitchen to wash his hands and took two pairs of dishes and chopsticks. "These contents were not within our learning scope before." He was naturally referring to the time when he was just an ordinary citizen before awakening.
"The frequency and intensity of their participation in missions far exceeded my imagination, and most of them involved events with extremely significant impacts on society or the supernatural world." Shi Youchen took a piece of glutinous rice cake and put it in his mouth. The sticky taste made his speech a little slurred. "For example, the 'Gene' Recombination Project from 62 to 67 New Calendar, the 'Healthy Operation' in 100 New Calendar, and the 'Clearance Plan' in 117 New Calendar. These events all have records of the participation of a certain president, and in some cases, even several presidents."
Ying Yungui didn't touch his chopsticks; he'd just drunk too much sparkling water and was feeling bloated. "It's more like back then, when order was still being explored, and wherever there were people with special abilities, there was unrest. The association didn't have much to offer, so they used the title of 'President' to keep people in line, which is why the reward points for major events were ridiculously high."
"No normal superpowered person is not proud and unwilling to be inferior to others. The highest status is there. Over time, everyone belongs to the same management system. The weak obey the strong, and the strong manage the weak."
"But it's a good thing the rule that the president's succession should be from the first place in the standings was set from the beginning, otherwise who knows how chaotic things would be." Ying Yungui sat down half a person's distance from Shi Youchen and rubbed his stomach. "You should know that 'genes' became extinct after 61 years."
Shi Youchen was just swallowing his second piece of cake when he heard this. His cheeks puffed up as he nodded, "Yeah, Chen Bushen said that on the day of his awakening."
Ying Yungui's eyes darkened. "To be precise, the last case of a mutant awakening after being exposed to the 'Gene' virus was during a large-scale epidemic in 1961. The number of victims in that epidemic far exceeded expectations, and most of those who survived were left with lifelong disabilities. Since then, the 'Gene' virus has not been detected again."
"I know this so clearly because that person with special abilities is an ancestor of the Ying family."
Shi Youchen suddenly choked, and Ying Yungui quickly poured him a cup of milk tea. After recovering, Shi Youchen put down his chopsticks and asked, "But Lin Zhouze told me before that in a family with superpowers like yours, everyone in the family has superpowers, and it's all inherited through bloodline."
"So that ancestor's case is very special. He indeed awakened his superpowers at birth, but he was also born during the outbreak of the epidemic. Since no new superpowers appeared for a long time after that, the association tested him and found that his energy had a 'genetic' reaction."
"After a while, new non-newborn superpowers began to appear around the world, but the 'genetic' reaction never appeared again until today. You know what happened next. Now the superpower world only has those with natural superpowers 'inherited by blood' and those with natural superpowers 'suddenly awakened'. I am the former, and you are the latter."
Shi Youchen asked doubtfully, "Then weren't those who were infected with the 'gene' and awakened before also essentially 'natural superpowers'?"
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