Chapter Twenty-Four: I Have Fifty Accounts

At night, the Earth Immortal Community police station was far from quiet. Occasionally, some drunken fellows would be escorted by friends, hoping the officers could help send them home.

Black Feather was somewhat speechless.

Zhang Wu, on the other hand, showed no complaints; he never turned anyone away.

Most of those making such requests lived nearby, and both Zhang Wu and Chen Yang could call them by name, clearly not strangers to these peculiar requests.

The drunkards were mostly oblivious, caring little about being carried home by Zhang Wu.

Throughout the evening, Zhang Wu was in and out, Black Feather sat in the main hall reading case files, and Chen Yang watched the door with unwavering alertness.

Captain Wang Meng guarded the detainees in the holding cell; Liu Dali and Liu Xili were still locked inside.

The case files Black Feather read all involved ability users, detailing the methods used to apprehend them, the coordination involved, their countermeasures, and vivid descriptions of fights and psychological states—even including the offenders’ inner thoughts at the time.

Black Feather almost felt he was reading a fantasy novel rather than case files.

He knew these people; since they were all ability users, unless guilty of murder, they’d be enlisted under their command.

“Why are there psychological descriptions? If those are added after the fact, isn’t their authenticity questionable?” Black Feather asked Chen Yang.

But Chen Yang ignored him, still watching the door with sharp focus.

“Did that person contact you? The one from the station?” Black Feather deliberately brought it up. Now under the protection of the Oath Stone and with the power of his own manual, he didn’t fear Chen Yang’s strange strength or wind.

Chen Yang glanced at him, then continued staring outside.

An elderly man in ragged clothes pushed a cart loaded with neatly folded cardboard boxes past the entrance.

Chen Yang sprang up and rushed outside; Black Feather followed. Chen Yang glanced at him and said coolly, “Go back and watch the place. I’ll be right back.”

Black Feather stood at the door, watching as Chen Yang took the cart with one hand and supported the old man with the other, crossing the road until they disappeared behind the roadside greenery. Only then did Black Feather return to his seat in the station.

After a while, Zhang Wu returned first, grabbing the hot water kettle and gulping down water.

“Chen Yang went to help her grandfather with the cardboard boxes again?” Zhang Wu asked as he refilled the kettle at the dispenser, turning to Black Feather.

“That’s her grandfather?” Black Feather recalled only the old man’s sloppy, dirty attire—so different from the meticulously dressed Chen Yang, as if from two worlds.

“Yes! She didn’t introduce him to you?” Zhang Wu screwed on the kettle lid, sat beside Black Feather, and continued in a gentle, storytelling tone: “Chen Yang was raised by her grandfather, who scraped by selling collected cardboard and soda bottles. She’s a clever and resourceful girl. Her college entrance exam ranked her in the top ten of the prefecture, but she didn’t attend university.

“The papers reported on her back then. Many kind souls even raised money for her education, but she refused and worked at a nearby supermarket. A few years ago, some thugs bullied her grandfather, and her ability suddenly manifested. They were beaten badly. When Captain Wang and I arrived, our sensors detected strong ability fluctuations from her. After testing, we decided to recruit her.

“Don’t be fooled by her tough exterior, thinking she’s older; she’s actually only twenty-three. She just pretends to be strong, but inside, she’s still a little girl.”

“What’s her ability?” Black Feather feigned curiosity.

“It’s hard to say.” Zhang Wu shook his head mysteriously.

“No test at the orientation?” Black Feather doubted Kang Tiansheng would forgo testing; he himself had been forced to reveal his trump cards. Could Chen Yang really have evaded that?

“There was no orientation back then, no dinner. The Oath Stone and the welcome banquet were added only in recent years.”

Black Feather was speechless.

“I only saw her use that ability once. Headquarters sent three teams to hunt down a maniac who’d awakened abilities and killed over a dozen people. The order was to kill on sight.

“Don’t bother searching; you won’t find that case file. All related materials were taken by Captain Wang.”

“What happened? Was it powerful?” Black Feather knew well the force capable of dragging rats out of sewers and tearing them apart, but he wanted to hear Zhang Wu’s account.

“Not just powerful. The murderer was chased into a dead end, and Chen Yang happened to confront him. Without a word, both vanished into thin air. Later, instruments detected a high concentration of the criminal’s DNA molecules in the air at the site. Chen Yang emerged as if nothing had happened.”

“You mean Chen Yang vanished with him?”

“Yes. No one knows what she did. We asked, but she never answered. Eventually, no one dared pry further. Last time, that Black Tiger dared take her hostage. Both we and Captain Wang were sweating for him, but surprisingly, Chen Yang didn’t even get a chance to act—he escaped.”

Black Feather was speechless. Didn’t Black Tiger escape right under your noses?

Zhang Wu seemed to sense the meaning in Black Feather’s gaze and fell silent, picking up today’s Evening News and pretending to read.

In truth, it must have been his system’s ability that kept Chen Yang from acting. If her attack was indiscriminate, he might have been collateral damage.

The thought alone was frightening!

This unreliable system had unwittingly done a good thing.

Should he try to improve relations with it?

“Hey, system!” Black Feather called out in his mind.

[What do you want?]

A fierce voice answered—not the cute little girl’s, but a powerful male baritone.

Black Feather paused. Had it changed its voice? Whatever.

He continued, “How’s Black Tiger now?”

Since he could contact the system, Black Feather immediately wanted to know if releasing Black Tiger as bait yielded any results.

[What’s it to you?]

“What’s with that attitude?” Black Feather didn’t bother being polite. Would this system really dare fully take over his body?

Perhaps it really would!

Black Feather thought, and backed down.

He wanted to apologize.

But...

[Sorry, boss, sorry, it’s my fault—I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you.]

Was this really the same insensitive, conniving system he knew?

Now it simply admitted defeat!

“I won’t blame you. What’s Black Tiger’s situation now?”

[Number Three went after him. The guy who dropped the house on you hasn’t been found yet, but a poor devil transferred over to take your punishment is now lying in the prefecture hospital.]

“How many bad things have you done behind my back?”

[None. You basically know everything.]

“Who’s this person lying in the hospital?”

[Not a good person. He often sneaks into homes to steal when people are out. We had our sensors on at the time and caught him lurking in a corner, so we pulled him in as a scapegoat.]

“What’s his name? I’ll check on the station computer to see if you’re lying.”

[Wild Wave]

Beside it was a photo of a thin, unruly-looking man.

“Stop kidding. His real name.”

[That is his real name.]

Black Feather was speechless. He typed the name into the computer, and sure enough, the file appeared. The official photos were more formal, but still couldn’t hide his true nature. He was indeed a petty thief, caught several times, and had only been released less than a week ago.

“Why are you checking on this guy?” Zhang Wu noticed Black Feather suddenly using the computer and came over, surprised to see him investigating this person.

“Uncle Liu... When Liu Jinqiang’s house collapsed, was this guy one of the injured?”

Zhang Wu paused. Indeed, there was a victim; his team hadn’t responded at the time, so he hadn’t paid special attention.

He picked up the phone and called the officer who handled the case, quickly getting a positive answer.

“How did you know?” Zhang Wu looked at Black Feather curiously.

“Intuition,” Black Feather replied casually, not expecting Zhang Wu to believe him.

Ability users had all sorts of tricks, and after Black Feather had demonstrated his powers, Zhang Wu, though skeptical, forced himself to rationalize the situation.

Black Feather paid no mind to Zhang Wu’s thoughts and continued questioning the system. He still had another question—the so-called Number Three.

“Hey, system, who’s Number Three?”

[You don’t know? The World-End System has fifty brothers. You’ve currently awakened me, Number Five. You can call me Five. Besides me, you’ve also awakened Number Three and Forty.]

“The little girl is Number Forty?”

[Yes.]

“Number Three is the pure text one?”

[Correct. He doesn’t like to speak aloud.]

This system was enormous—fifty numbers sharing one mainframe. No wonder it often lost contact.

Could his body really handle it?

Was that Daoist also one of them?

Just as he was about to ask, Chen Yang rushed in, panting, with traces of blood on her clothes. She grabbed Zhang Wu and dragged him outside without a word.