Standing before Yu Zhibo was a stranger.
The man was handsome, appearing to be between twenty-seven and thirty years old. He wore an ancient-style long robe, with a gourd and a long sword hanging from his waist, looking like a knight-errant from ancient times. He stood there, his robes fluttering and his hair dancing as if a leaf blower were nearby – a man like the wind.
Yu Zhibo blinked in surprise: "Do I know you?"
The man laughed heartily, "Borrowing a line from a Stephen Chow movie, hope you don't mind. I am Ling Xiaotian, the leader of the second team in the Executive Department. I'm the leader of Yang Chen and Er Hei, whom you met yesterday. It's our first meeting, may I know your esteemed surname, young brother?"
Yu Zhibo suddenly came to his senses. He stood up and invited Ling Xiaotian to sit. Then, he looked at him with some shock, "Team Leader? Hello, my name is Ka Dian. Your psychic energy level should be B-class, right? How..."
Ling Xiaotian smiled faintly, and the wind around him stopped. "How am I still just a team leader, right?"
Yu Zhibo nodded while gesturing for him to sit. "Yes, yes. Have you eaten? Shall I order you two dishes?"
Ling Xiaotian chuckled, "No need to be so polite."
With a wave of his hand, a cupboard in the corner of the cafeteria automatically opened, and two cups flew out. Ling Xiaotian took out the gourd from his waist, poured himself a cup, and then poured about a third of a cup for Yu Zhibo.
He explained, "This is tiger penis wine, brewed with the penis of a B-class tiger demon and various spiritual herbs. With your current physical strength, you can only drink this much. It's not that I'm being stingy!"
Saying this, he raised his cup.
"Thanks, boss!"
Yu Zhibo, overwhelmed with gratitude, accepted the cup. After clinking glasses with Ling Xiaotian, he pouted like a pig and took a small sip.
Suddenly, with a "boom," a surge of heat erupted in his mouth, then burned its way down to his stomach, and subsequently spread to his limbs and bones, even causing a slight loosening of his bottleneck.
A look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face: "If I had more of this wine, wouldn't I be able to ascend immediately?"
Ling Xiaotian was very pleased with his expression. He waved his hand, signaling him to not be reserved, and then continued their previous topic, saying,
"The reason why the Executive Department's team leaders are stronger than those in the Investigation Department is mainly because our missions are mostly combat-oriented. Therefore, the branch bureau's awakened ones are prioritized for us. The Investigation Department, on the other hand, is more focused on investigation and is not inherently very dangerous. To be honest, young brother, with your lightning techniques, it's a waste in the Investigation team!"
Sensing the overture of recruitment in the Executive Department leader's words, Yu Zhibo scratched his head and smiled politely, "You flatter me. I only recently awakened these lightning techniques and haven't had a chance to announce them yet."
Although Yu Zhibo appeared simple-minded, he was actually very resolute. Wang Angge had saved his life when he was at his lowest. His team leader was also quite decent and was the one who asked Wang Angge to protect him, making her a sort of indirect savior.
Even if he were to leave, he would have to repay his gratitude first. And the opportunity to repay this kindness should arrive soon.
He vaguely recalled hearing that each department had a quota for eliminating dark creatures. Last night, the military district had summoned him, and he had claimed all the credit himself, not attributing it to Team Three.
So, from now on, as long as he continued to operate under the banner of Team Three members, dealt with more low-level dark creatures, and teamed up with Er Yang to hunt D-class dark creatures, wouldn't Team Three's quota soar? This should count as repaying his gratitude, shouldn't it? (︿(￣︶￣)︿).
Moreover, his team leader and the others were not unreasonable people. The main reason they wanted him to stay in Team Three was because the abilities of his Sharingan were suited for the Investigation Department, nothing more.
Sensing Yu Zhibo's polite refusal, Ling Xiaotian didn't mind. He took a sip of wine and said, "In any case, the doors of the Executive Department are always open to you. I'm here this time mainly to hire you to cross departments and join us in conquering dark secret realms."
"Dark secret realms? Another new term." Yu Zhibo's face showed a look of curiosity.
"Yes," Ling Xiaotian nodded. "Since you're preparing for D-class anyway, there's no harm in revealing some secrets to you."
"Please, tell me!" Yu Zhibo became instantly gossipy; he loved hearing these secret tales.
"Our world actually has many wormholes that lead to another world. That world is called Evernight. You seem to already know?" Ling Xiaotian paused mid-sentence, looking at Yu Zhibo's expression, and asked in surprise.
"I know a little. Please continue," Yu Zhibo chuckled.
Ling Xiaotian was momentarily speechless, then spoke again:
"Space wormholes appeared in 1999. At that time, wormholes could only accommodate energy fluctuations up to C-class. If it exceeded C-class, the wormhole would collapse. After a wormhole collapsed, it would generate a powerful suction force, pulling the nearest piece of land into space, eventually forming a secret realm.
If a wormhole collapsed on Earth, a 'Earth Secret Realm' would form in Evernight. If a wormhole entrance collapsed on the Evernight side, correspondingly, a 'Dark Secret Realm' would form on Earth.
At that time, C-class was already the peak of combat power in this world. Psychic energy could be used to break space. However, with the continuous influx of psychic energy from the Evernight world, space has become increasingly stable, and the tolerance of wormholes has become stronger. As long as the strong individuals entering the wormhole do not reach A-class, they will not cause the wormhole to collapse."
"There's such a thing!" Yu Zhibo exclaimed in amazement. He truly didn't know these things.
"The widely rumored 1999 secrecy agreement online, could it be related to this?"
"Yes, in 2002, an awakened individual of C-class from the Great Fengdian Nation rashly entered a wormhole. As a result, an entire village beneath the wormhole was swallowed."
"According to the calculations of the Extraordinary Research Institute, if an A-class awakened individual were to rashly enter a wormhole now, the energy feedback generated would far exceed that of C-class at the time. It's possible that a single wormhole could swallow a piece of land equivalent to our city, forming an independent space over there."
"So, the so-called dark secret realms are formed by powerful creatures from that side forcibly squeezing through wormholes?" Yu Zhibo asked.
"Exactly. It's simple talking to smart people!" Ling Xiaotian laughed heartily.
"If C-class energy could tear space at that time, then the power of a nuclear bomb should exceed C-class, or even A-class, right? Would detonating nuclear weapons also cause space to shatter?" Yu Zhibo asked, confused.
"Of course not, because nuclear weapons do not contain psychic energy!" Ling Xiaotian replied.
Yu Zhibo immediately understood. In this way, everything made sense (and the readers wouldn't be chattering and jumping around).
Since the awakened individual from Great Fengdian caused the wormhole to collapse, countries had begun to prohibit awakened individuals whose power exceeded the wormhole's capacity from entering. Thus, more and more dark secret realms appeared on Earth, while very few Earth secret realms formed in the Evernight world.
Ling Xiao continued, "The Evernight world is perpetually dark. For the creatures there, the light and vitality of our world hold immense attraction for them. Therefore, once a wormhole appears there and is discovered, they will desperately try to pour in. Consequently, over the years, many dark secret realms have appeared on Earth...
In fact, the combined area of all known dark secret realms almost exceeds the area of Earth itself. Some dark secret realms formed by S-class dark creatures are larger than our provinces, and there is more than one such secret realm in our country."
Hearing "S-class," Yu Zhibo's pupils contracted: "Will there be A-class dark creatures inside?"
"Space wormholes can only transfer energy bodies below A-class, and dark secret realms are the same. Energy bodies reaching A-class or above would have already been torn apart by spatial turbulence during the formation of the secret realm," Ling Xiaotian shook his head.
Yu Zhibo breathed a sigh of relief: "If A-class creatures were truly everywhere, Earth would have been completely merged and destroyed long ago."
But the next moment, Ling Xiaotian's words made his heart race again.
"Perhaps one day, when Earth's spatial properties become more stable, and when A-class awakened individuals can also traverse wormholes, more secret realms containing surviving A-class dark creatures will emerge," Ling Xiaotian said slowly, a hint of worry appearing on his brow.
Yu Zhibo's mood also became heavy.
Then, Ling Xiaotian looked at him intently:
"The wormhole at the entrance of a dark secret realm will reopen after absorbing enough psychic energy. Ten days from now, the entrance to Secret Realm No. 4 in our Ning City will reopen, and then close within half an hour. Are you willing to accept our employment and join us in conquering it?"
Yu Zhibo pondered for a moment, remembering that he had the Black Cat Space to hide in. As long as he stocked enough food, he could wait until the next secret realm entrance opened again, with almost no risk.
He asked, "How often does the entrance to Secret Realm No. 4 open?"
"Based on its rate of absorbing psychic energy, it's about a month!"
The Black Cat Space was sufficient to store a month's worth of food.
Thinking of this, Yu Zhibo resolutely said, "Okay! I agree!"
Ling Xiaotian burst into laughter and thrust the gourd hanging from his waist into Yu Zhibo's arms. "Take this wine and drink it. Reach D-class as soon as possible, so you can release more lightning techniques to electrolyze dark psychic energy!"
Yu Zhibo's face lit up with joy, "Thank you, Team Leader Ling!"