Chapter 999
Chapter 999 - 985 Transactions
1,609 words
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9 min read
"...These are the entirety of Lu Ping’an’s report for this incident, his detailed list of abilities, and the current development plans of Rebirth Company..."
Xia Qin sighed helplessly and passed a gray file bag to the other party.
The person nodded, accepted it, and immediately opened the bag to skim through the contents, revealing a surprised expression.
"...Much more detailed than we expected, especially the marking of the threat and flaws of the abilities, as well as the potential disasters he could cause when he goes all out. It’s as if he’s narrating it himself. Captain Xia, you’ve also exceeded our expectations. We thought you had a quite good relationship with him..."
It was Monday morning work hours, and there weren’t many people in the coffee shop, which made it convenient for "intelligence work."
"Ha, of course it’s detailed, because this is exactly what he said. And handing these over to you is also his request."
Xia Qin sighed again, sometimes her position was indeed quite delicate... She was Lu Ping’an’s friend, but also a public servant; it was hard to face direct requests from superiors.
Fortuitously, at least for now, Lu Ping’an’s choices hadn’t strayed from the right path, and there was no direct conflict between the two parties.
Upon hearing this, the intelligence officer across from her did not show any surprise. Instead, he smiled knowingly, as if it all made sense.
"This is a good sign. It shows that he indeed has a sincere intention to cooperate, and we too favor a win-win cooperation, especially when the other party is a potential Rule-level. Rest assured, we are neither as neurotic as that island nation to the east, nor as overbearing as our northern neighbor. We have no interest in forcing potential collaborators to the opposite side..."
The Abnormity Management Department, a government organization that does not officially exist on the roster, is in some sense a sibling branch to the Bureau of Anomaly Management (the higher authority of the Bureau of Anomaly Management) but actually leans more towards operating as a central direct-controlled institution focused on special cases... To put it bluntly, they are the central intelligence operatives.
As indicated by the name, while a normal supernatural management organization handles "abnormalities," they manage "dangers," particularly those that may destroy a city or a country.
For example, Rule-level and the seedlings of Rule-level...
"...We have a well-established mechanism for cooperation with Rule-level seeds. You don’t have to worry about us oppressing his living space. On the contrary, in this New Era, we hope for more such individuals, and the stronger, the better. Would you like a refill? The coffee here is quite good."
When Xia Qin openly showed her surprise, the operative in front of her felt somewhat vindicated; he had seen too many misunderstandings.
In fact, as managers of ultra-hazardous items, after suffering losses, they had developed their own relatively mature system.
That is to bully the weak... Uh, to be lenient on top and strict on the bottom.
For dangerous items they can manage, they would not hesitate to bring them under control. But for those that have come into their own, they prefer to prioritize mutually beneficial outcomes.
Especially since the policy has changed again in the past two years. Items that would have required immediate "Sealing Management" are deliberately allowed to develop, with a more proactive approach to positive guidance.
"...Times have changed. In the past, having fewer Rule-level, Quasi-Gods, and even Deities was better. But now, the more, the better. For those with sufficient strength and amicability, our terms are quite favorable. We even have supportive policies, especially for young and potential individuals like Lu Ping’an. In all senses, he is someone we’ve cultivated, and much of this is thanks to you..."
Colonel Li of the Department values Captain Xia greatly.
From the records, it’s clear that if Xia Qin hadn’t fully vouched for him from the beginning, it’s possible that Lu Ping’an might have been directly neutralized... And even if he wasn’t neutralized, there was a high chance he would have been pushed to the other side.
Colonel Li took a sip of coffee and sighed.
His job was actually not easy at all. Most of the time, it involved being caught in the middle, dealing with complaints from both sides... The situations in various regions were too complex, and the Awakened and professionals were all kinds of bizarre, with many tearful stories arising from their interactions.
Sometimes it was a big fight over ridiculous reasons like "I’ve awakened, now you look down on me" or "You’re nice to me because I’ve awakened, what about before."
Sometimes disputes arose from ridiculous ideas like "The Supermen of this place are naturally my ’mayor’s’ assets and should serve me."
In short, most of the thankless parts of his job were about cleaning up local messes or placating those powerful seeds who went berserk, making all sorts of compromises.
Twenty years ago, his main focus was "to defuse bombs before they exploded," but now it has long since been "to keep every dangerous item in a stable state," ideally pairing them with a loving family and a secure job.
He had read Lu Ping’an’s assessment reports and even observed the young man from not too far away. He had even consulted professional psychologists to conduct a psychological profile of him.
The results were rather subtle.
"Extremely dangerous, exceedingly dangerous. A complete nihilist. Once untethered, he will have no social stability whatsoever."
"Very safe, he is very rational, he has no excessive desires, people governed by ’trade’ are the most stable class, after all, the premise of trade is ’equality’, which suggests high societal stability."
The completely opposite psychological report, however, received unanimous approval from the special case team.
Because essentially, it isn’t conflicting, and even is the type of person the old stagers of the Abnormity Management Department admire, a group jokingly referred to as "mature observers".
They are indifferent, seemingly having lost passion and drive, yet they encounter far fewer reckless incidents, and there’s no need to worry about the "despair" that can result from excessive "hope".
They are rational, knowing they are weaker when faced with the entire society, the entire nation, and therefore adopt an attitude of communication and trade, rather than confrontation.
As for their true nature, whether they have psychological issues...
"...that actually doesn’t matter at all. What matters is what he has done in the past, and what he will do in the future..."
Compared to the file (most of which had already been vetted), Colonel Li cherished this attitude more—the attitude of cooperation for mutual benefit.
If you have any needs, any ideas, just lay them out. As long as our positions align, and you have the capability, we are in need of people now and naturally wouldn’t want you to be disappointed.
"Okay, this ’mercenary training’, the Bureau of Anomaly Management and the municipal government will approve it very soon."
"Then you all..."
"We don’t exist. Heh, at least not officially on paper."
An organization that didn’t exist officially made promises on behalf of the local formal institutions.
But at the same time, he also presented a list...
Just one glance, and Xia Qin stood up directly.
It was a list of bottom lines, clearly defining what Lu Ping’an was not allowed to do.
"You can’t promote yourself actively in the media, you can’t purchase print media ads to promote yourself personally, ..."
"You are not allowed to actively bestow favors widespread in the local area..."
"Corporate actions take precedence, personal actions are best under the name of the corporation, corporate operations are limited to the supernatural domain, and must not interfere with the livelihood domain..."
These seven or eight restrictions were all meant to prevent Lu Ping’an from turning the Ancient City into his own "nation", and listing this showed that they actually knew Lu’s abilities inside and out.
The details were even more extensive than the information Xia Qin had just provided.
How was this achieved? On one hand, it’s "people"; on the other, it could be some strange and unusual abilities... just as Lu Ping’an had said before, in this world there are no absolute secrets, especially to local intelligence organizations.
"We investigators actually admire his ’trade’ principles, a very promising and suitable ’Balance Rule’ for development..."
Before leaving, Colonel Li even revealed some secrets... which, in essence, were also indirectly handed over to Lu Ping’an himself.
These might be of great help to Lu Ping’an, but from another perspective, they also set limitations on his actions...
"In the world of high-level professionals, actually, excessively self-serving rules like Devour and Fusion that grow extraordinarily fast often go against the wind and meet with great disasters and thresholds..."
The commentary on this statement seems to need no further explanation.
"The more altruistic or self-damaging the rule, the growth tends to be slow, but their development is stable, and they advance without issue. Especially the rare self-sacrificing rules, like the one your team member from the Xue Family has, his growth has no thresholds..."
This seems to be another extreme, the other side of paying "costs", is additional gains and friendliness.
"But among these, ’balance’ and ’moderation’ rules are actually the most promising. ’Trade’ is a rare and potentially boundless rule, we have high hopes for it, please don’t walk the entire path..."
— End of Chapter 999 —