Chapter 50: The New Captain

Liao Tianhua obviously wasn’t actually going on a blind date. He had only remembered what Xia Mi said when she dumped him on her own, and the words had burst out of him in a moment of impulse. The second he finished speaking, he wanted to slap himself.

He wasn’t really trying to leave, either. Xia Mi had finally woken up, and there was still a great deal to do. There was no way Liao Tianhua could just walk off.

But if they kept talking, it would be hard for him to speak to Xia Mi calmly. He planned to go into the stairwell and cool off. Once his emotions settled, he would come back and talk to her about what had happened recently, as well as the key points of their follow-up work.

Xia Mi, however, kept right on his heels and gave him no room to calm down. He could only dash downstairs and run all the way out of Building 6.

The moment he ran out of the building, Liao Tianhua looked back. Seeing that Xia Mi hadn’t followed him out, he had just let out a breath of relief when he saw her leap straight from the sixth-floor corridor window and land right in front of him.

Liao Tianhua: “…”

He grabbed Xia Mi by the collar and dragged her into a deserted corner, hissing through gritted teeth, “Aren’t you afraid of being caught on camera?!”

“How could I be that careless?” Xia Mi said. “Our neighborhood doesn’t have surveillance.”

“They installed it during the month you were asleep. After such a huge incident in Building 6, even if the property management was too stingy to install it, we would have put it in for you,” Liao Tianhua said.

Xia Mi said, “That’s fine too. I had Silkworm silk hanging behind me, and it was pretty obvious. If I get caught on camera, I’ll just say there’s a wire behind me and I’m filming short videos.”

There were so many fake videos online these days, and small short-video crews could be seen all over the streets in big cities. There was really no need to worry about being exposed.

Liao Tianhua really had no way to handle Xia Mi. He said weakly, “I’m not leaving. I just came out for some air. I’ll be back in a little while.”

Xia Mi said, “I’m asking about the Bianzhi too. What’s the status of my Bianzhi?”

Liao Tianhua said, “It’s already been settled. Your employment date is counted from September 21, the day the Building 6 incident happened, and you’ll start getting paid from that day too.

“Since you’ve been sleeping all month, you never handled the paperwork or set up a payroll card. We didn’t know where to send the money, so it hasn’t been paid yet. But don’t worry, you won’t be shorted. It’ll be backpaid.”

“Can I still get full pay for lying in bed for a month?” Xia Mi asked, her face bright with delight.

“You weren’t on a month-long vacation. You were off for a month with a work injury, so of course you’re paid as if you were on duty. But you’re still in your probation period, so the salary isn’t very high yet. It’ll go up a bit once you’re officially confirmed and ranked,” Liao Tianhua said.

Xia Mi nodded vigorously. “I know, you told me before. The normal civil service probation period is one year, but ours is shorter. We can be confirmed in just three months!”

Liao Tianhua said, “Tomorrow, pack your things and move into the team dormitory. That’ll save on rent, utilities, and meals.”

“If room and board are covered, then the salary isn’t low at all!” Xia Mi said happily.

For workers living in big cities, a great deal of money went toward food, clothing, housing, and transportation every month. A job that included room and board was truly wonderful!

Liao Tianhua continued, “Generally speaking, once an undergraduate is confirmed, they start at the staff level, which is Second-class Police Officer. A postgraduate starts at Fourth-class Police Sergeant¹, with deputy-section-level treatment. Without any special meritorious performance, promotion comes once every two years. It takes six years to go from Second-class Police Officer to First-class Police Officer, Fourth-class Police Sergeant, and Third-Class Police Sergeant.”

Xia Mi counted on her fingers and asked, “So Second-Class Police Sergeant and First-Class Police Sergeant are section-chief-level treatment? By your calculation, it takes ten years to become a section chief. But you’ve only been on the job for seven years. How are you already a First-Class Police Sergeant?”

“Our frontline team members all enter the team directly from the academy. We were already police officers while we were studying, and if someone served as a platoon leader at school, that rank is also counted when they join. I entered as a Third-Class Police Sergeant,” Liao Tianhua said.

“Then how are you still a First-Class Police Sergeant now? Shouldn’t you have gone up one more level?” Xia Mi asked, puzzled.

Liao Tianhua told her, “The ceiling for normal promotion is First-Class Police Sergeant. If you want to be promoted to Fourth-class Senior Police Sergeant, you’ll have to wait for the right opportunity and depend on your individual performance.”

Xia Mi counted on her fingers. “I’m 22 this year. In three months it’ll be the new year, so I’ll be 23 when I’m confirmed. Confirmation makes me Second-class Police Officer. It takes ten years to reach First-Class Police Sergeant. By then I’ll only be 33, still a young backbone, and I’ll definitely have a chance to move up to the division level!”

Seeing how obsessed Xia Mi was with official rank, Liao Tianhua couldn’t help laughing. “Don’t you think the promotion is too slow?”

Xia Mi sighed. “It is indeed a few years later than yours. But I’m different from you. Your ceiling is First-Class Police Sergeant, but I can definitely rise to Senior Police Sergeant!”

“Why are you so confident?” Liao Tianhua asked.

“The bigger your heart, the wider the sky. People can’t be trapped by their own thoughts, and they must never have the thought of, ‘This is all my life will ever be!'” Xia Mi said firmly.

Liao Tianhua looked at her curiously and couldn’t help asking, “Why do you want to be a leader so badly?”

“Isn’t wanting to make progress something every young person should have?” Xia Mi said very naturally.

Liao Tianhua said, “You’re different. You’re especially persistent.”

Xia Mi thought about it and said, “Probably because I want other people to envy me.”

Liao Tianhua said with some surprise, “I thought you had some especially lofty faith.”

Xia Mi said, “How did you get that misunderstanding?”

Liao Tianhua said, “Group Leader Mi used the power of Rong to write down from memory every piece of information she saw in the laboratory. With time so tight in the Domain, Group Leader Mi only focused on deciphering the materials related to our escape. She didn’t try to interpret the rest.

“Over this past month, their group has worked together to crack the data and has updated a lot of information about Rong.

“Group Leader Mi said that the key to becoming Rong is having willpower strong enough to completely suppress Zhuo’s appetite. Only then can you obtain power. But if you want to rely on willpower to suppress Zhuo’s erosion, personal ambition and desire alone aren’t enough.”

“What do you mean?” Xia Mi asked, confused.

Liao Tianhua said, “If you only have an especially strong will to survive, at most you can become something like the True Self Mirror, a Shi. Even if you have great power, you won’t live for long. A typical example is Lü Hongmei. She had already become a Shi.”

Lü Hongmei was the resident of 701 in Building 6. She had cancer and had been fighting it all along. Her will to live was especially strong, and she preserved her self-awareness under Zhuo’s erosion. She helped Xia Mi defeat the Zhuo in Building 6, and in the end she died when her strength was completely spent.

Liao Tianhua continued, “The difference between Shi and Rong is that Rong can keep a human appearance and consciousness. Its lifespan is the same as a human’s, and biologically speaking, it is a very perfect evolved being. But Shi is only a container for Zhuo. Its outer form may be human or not, its lifespan is short, and once its life force is exhausted, it dies.

“Etornit has always wanted to produce Rong in a stable, mass-produced way. After many experiments, they reached one conclusion, that the birth of Rong is related to collective consciousness.

“One person’s desire can’t suppress Zhuo. A group of people can.

“The reason the members of our Disposal Bureau can become stable Rong, aside from your presence, is also because our desires align with collective consciousness.

“Uniforms, badges, and faith can all build our collective consciousness group, helping us suppress Zhuo’s appetite and allowing us to tap into Zhuo’s power.

“But Xia Mi, you haven’t undergone special training. Where does your collective consciousness come from?”

Xia Mi frowned. “Can you explain collective consciousness a bit more simply?”

Liao Tianhua said, “Do you think people can gain strength from others?”

“I don’t know,” Xia Mi said.

Liao Tianhua said, “Research shows that humans are social animals. Other people’s attention can make a person ‘stronger’ or ‘weaker.’ When someone is on the rise, surrounded by applause and flowers, they can bring out a kind of strength they’ve never had before. Likewise, when someone is at a low point, with criticism and condemnation coming from everywhere, they fail easily at everything they do. Sometimes they can’t even do what they’re best at, and they even start to run into bad luck.

“A great many examples prove that people can gain strength from the expectations of others.

“The reason we can become Rong is that collective consciousness, that is, ‘other people,’ helps us share the erosion of Zhuo. That’s a natural advantage that comes with our identity, but… what about you? That’s why I asked earlier what reason supports the especially powerful desire inside you.”

Xia Mi carefully understood Liao Tianhua’s words and quickly recalled her past life. She said, “You probably know the place I grew up. It was a bit patriarchal. When I was little, women weren’t even allowed to sit at the main table² for New Year’s dinner.

“I often heard the elders around me say how enviable it was when some family’s daughter married a good husband. I really hated hearing that.

“I’ve always had a wish. When people mention me, I don’t want them to say, ‘Xia Mi married so-and-so, how enviable.’ I want them to say, ‘Xia Mi is so rich, Xia Mi became a scientist, Xia Mi became a high-ranking official, how enviable.’

“I don’t necessarily have to be a leader. Being rich is fine, having a good reputation is fine, as long as the girls around me envy me, anything works. But they have to envy me as a person, not envy who I married.”

Liao Tianhua looked at Xia Mi intently. At that moment, there was light in Xia Mi’s eyes.

“You want to be a role model,” Liao Tianhua said.

Xia Mi wasn’t becoming obsessed with official rank for her own sake. She wanted to use her own strength to awaken the consciousness of a certain group.

And in this society, that group’s consciousness was already awakening.

That was the source of Xia Mi’s tremendous power.

“It’s probably not as noble as you make it sound,” Xia Mi said, shaking her head. “I still just like being a leader and bossing people around. I like seeing that ‘Xia Mi is so annoying but there’s nothing I can do about it’ look on your face, hahahaha!”

Liao Tianhua rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He realized Xia Mi had a kind of romance allergy. The moment the atmosphere turned even slightly sentimental, she had to ruin it.

Forget it. Better to say something that would make Xia Mi happy.

Liao Tianhua said, “By normal standards, you’re only a Second-class Police Officer. But now that we’re all Rong, we can’t act by the normal rules. The higher-ups have decided to set up a superpowered squad. The new squad can only have the strongest person as captain, and the strongest person is you. But your rank is too low, so you’re not suitable to be captain. That’s why Group Leader Mi applied to the higher-ups. In special circumstances, they’ll use special methods. When you are confirmed, they plan to give you a specially assigned rank.”

Xia Mi’s eyebrows shot up with delight, and she said happily, “What rank? What rank? A Fourth-class Police Sergeant?”

Liao Tianhua said, “Group Leader Mi first applied for Third-Class Police Sergeant.”

Xia Mi clutched her chest, her face full of bliss.

Who knew Liao Tianhua would then say, “But the Director overruled it. He thought it wasn’t appropriate.”

Xia Mi bit her lip and put on an injured expression, looking as pitiful as could be.

Liao Tianhua couldn’t help reaching out and patting Xia Mi on the head before continuing, “The Director said that Captain Qiu and I are both at the section-chief level. If our new captain were only at the deputy-section-chief level, he was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep us in line. The Director thinks you should be at the same level as us, so your rank has been set at Second-Class Police Sergeant.”

Xia Mi felt like her heartbeat was about to stop.

She looked up at the empty air and said, “Director, you are truly great and radiant. Your heart, as vast as the universe, is so worthy of our study. No wonder you are the Director while I am only a tiny Second-Class Police Sergeant. I am truly far inferior to you. From now on, I will definitely take you as my role model, strictly demand the best of myself, and strive to…”

“Enough, enough, stop putting on a show for me.” Liao Tianhua felt annoyed just looking at her and said directly, “If you have something to say, say it straight to the Director at your interview in a couple of days.”

“An interview?!” Xia Mi almost cracked.

Liao Tianhua said, “How could such an important cross-level promotion not involve an interview? Tomorrow, go get a neat, sharp haircut, pick up a properly fitting uniform, and ask Captain Qiu for some emergency etiquette training. We’ll set up the interview for you in a few days.”

“What will they ask in the interview? What do I need to learn? Do you have any internal materials?” Xia Mi grabbed Liao Tianhua’s hand and asked.

Liao Tianhua said, “I can give you the textbooks from the academy, but the leadership might not necessarily test those subjects. However, there’s one thing I need to warn you about. If they ask about a boyfriend, you…”

Xia Mi didn’t wait for Liao Tianhua to finish and immediately promised, “I can stay unmarried and childless, devote my limited life to this infinite great cause. A boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend at all. That was just a paper boyfriend³ from a game!”

Xia Mi felt she wasn’t wrong. After all, wasn’t that boyfriend forced on her by Project Queen Bee?

Liao Tianhua said through gritted teeth, “I was trying to tell you that you need to let the leadership know you can correctly distinguish reality from hallucinations. I wasn’t telling you to stay unmarried for the rest of your life!”

“Why are you angry again?” Xia Mi looked completely baffled. “What’s wrong with what I said? Will the leaders get angry if they hear it too?”

Liao Tianhua realized that at this moment, Xia Mi no longer had him in her eyes. Instead, she was looking through him toward the leaders she had never even met.

He suddenly felt drained of all strength and called Qiu Hailan. “Xia Mi is awake, but it’d be best to observe her for one more night. I’m not feeling well, so you’ll cover the shift tonight.”

When Qiu Hailan arrived, Liao Tianhua said weakly, “See you at the office tomorrow.”

Then he covered his chest and left.

Xia Mi had been awake for less than two hours, and he already felt as if he had suffered a full-body internal injury.

Translator’s Notes