Infinite Divine Gears in the City

Chapter 22

“Go ahead and fill it in, I wanted to bring you for registration anyways.”

Wang Lei patted him on the back and shrugged his shoulders.

Name, ID number, date of birth, gender… the questions at the start asked for normal information, but it got confusing toward the end.

“Uh… Brother Chao, what does energy level mean? Main cultivation techniques? Previous cultivation techniques? Special skills…”

As he went on, Li Rui became even more speechless.

“Oh, since you are a sporadic awakener, just state none under energy level. You have never practiced cultivation before this right? Whenever you’re free, you can log onto the national website for the extraordinary. From there, you can use contribution points in exchange for all sorts of cultivation skills… simply just fill out the rest of the form.”

With Chao Zhi’s guidance, Li Rui quickly filled out the rest of the information, his iris was scanned, and his DNA was collected as well.

“Well, that’s it with registration. Here, this is your phone.”

Li Rui was bewildered when he took over a really cool looking smartphone. He hadn’t expected that registering as an Awakener would get him a smartphone. Shouldn’t this happen in a telecom office instead?

“This is your personal terminal for the future, take good care of it. The replacement fee for it is more than a hundred thousand yuan. Plus, it’s very troublesome to replace it. Wang Lei will teach you how to use this. We’ll leave now so that you can rest.”

After shaking hands with Li Rui, Chao Zhi stretched his hands and gently tapped the wall. T translucent energy then receded like a tide and the enchantment enveloped the room before this intently collapsed. The bright yellow runes turned into mist and disappeared without leaving a trace.

Chao Zhi walked out of the room with his subordinates, their expressions gradually becoming even more somber.

“Zhang Ming, you’re in charge of this case. Gather a group of spiritual experts, and I will support you with tracking, prediction, exorcism, and enchantment experts. You have to find the person behind this as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Zhang Ming, who was holding onto the computer, immediately straightened his back out of excitement and saluted.

The lady standing next to Chao Zhi curiously whispered to him, “Captain, this spirit’s sanity isn’t low. They usually wouldn’t be fixed only on one target. That little girl…”

“En, looks like she is a highly spiritual person! What a pity! If only the country was able to provide enough supervision and inspection…”

He shook his head and got rid of all the unrealistic thoughts in his head.

“Children that are highly spiritual and unguarded are their favorite things to feed on but she could withstand being fed on for such a long time. That little girl’s foundations must have been very strong! But now it has all gone to waste!”

Chao Zhi couldn’t help but sigh with regret as he looked at the sky outside the gate and whispered to himself,

“The world of the extraordinary is weird, crazy, and cruel. That kid… losing her ability may not have been a bad thing. At least now she can continue living happily as an ordinary person.

“Captain, what did you say?”

“Nothing, let’s go!”

……

In the ward, Wang Lei sat on Li Rui’s bed while cutting an apple. He noticed that Li Rui was staring at the phone and couldn’t help but smile.

“This thing is similar to all the other smartphones out there. The only difference is that it has facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris scanning. After you switch it on, remember to set a password. By the way, make sure you set four totally different passwords as they correspond to giving permissions to four different things. Just think of it as logging into Alipay or any other payment site.”

With Wang Lei’s guidance, Li Rui managed to smoothly use his new phone.

“It comes with an encrypted virtual number which uses the latest quantum communication technology so it’s almost impossible for anyone to track or eavesdrop on your call. Plus, it is directly connected to the BeiDou Satellite so there is connection anywhere on Earth.”

Wang Lei opened a hidden interface while introducing the phone.

“The outer system of the phone is just the same as any other smartphone and could meet your daily needs, but its main functions are found in this independent hidden system.”

After verifying himself through facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris scanning, Li Rui punched in his passwords and entered a simple and lively ‘space’.

Missions, cultivation skills, tracking, trades, socializing… countless banners constantly refreshed themselves and there were all sorts of inexplicable fancy words that Li Rui had never seen. All of this seemed like a new world was opening its doors to him.

“There are… so many Awakeners?”

Upon looking at the page which was constantly refreshed, the mysterious, lonely yet noble and cool image of an Awakener in Li Rui’s fantasies was completely crushed.

Why did all of this felt just like a video game?

He suddenly felt that being an Awakener was worthless!

“There are about seventy thousand people registered in this country itself. If you add up those from abroad, there should be around a hundred thousand.”

Wang Lei finished cutting the apple and handed it to Li Rui.

“However, there are still thousands of them in this country that have not registered, and about half of them are criminals. You can check the ‘wanted’ list from the missions column. If you manage to catch one of them, you’ll be loaded.”

“The reward is huge?”

Li Rui’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“About a few hundred thousand for normal awakeners. For those who are ranked, it depends on their energy levels; it could range from thousands to millions.”

Wang Lei frowned and was a little speechless upon seeing Li Rui’s face.

“Millions? RMB?”

Li Rui placed his hand over his chest as he suddenly had a bold idea.

“Obviously. What else? Indonesian rupiah? Zimbabwean dollar?

Wang Lei rolled his eyes, and upon seeing Li Rui’s excitement, he decided to dampen his excitement.

“It’s not that easy to be a bounty hunter. The targets for millions of dollars are at least a gold-level Transcendent. Your tiny arms and legs aren’t even enough to crush one tiny finger of theirs.

“Plus, the biggest benefit of these missions isn’t the bounty but the contribution points! You can directly use them in exchange for various resources, many of which you may not be able to buy with money!”

“For instance, cultivation skills?”

Li Rui immediately responded.

Wang Lei showed a satisfied smile.

“It’s still too early for you to know all this. You should check out all of the public materials first. This city is a safe place. You have enough time to get familiar with the world of Transcendents!”

He patted Li Rui’s shoulder and gently touched Li Wei’s head before leaving the room.

“Oh!”

He suddenly turned around and looked at Li Rui seriously.

“Although I know that you are not that stupid, I still have to remind you again. Don’t reveal any real information of your own on the internet, and don’t simply believe anyone! They are all beasts that eat up people without spitting out the bones!”

“Do you know why Chao Zhi didn’t ask you about your abilities in detail just now?”

Li Rui shook his head thoughtfully.

“That’s because no one would showcase their true selves in public! Even if he knew that you had just recently awakened, once you make progress in the future, all of this information would be useless! Any official data provided can’t be trusted unless it is supported by recent records. Otherwise, only their names and gender can be trusted!”

“The more you hide from others, the longer you’ll stay alive. Don’t tell anyone, and that includes me as well!”