Chapter 1 I Don't Feel Any Different

"So, how come I don't feel any different?" Hao Ren pinched the bit of muscle on his arm, discovering that he hadn't become incredibly strong, nor impervious to pain. He strained for a long time, trying to shoot a bolt of lightning at the distant corner of the wall, but nothing happened. All in all, he felt like a normal person, perhaps with enhanced regenerative abilities? Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to cut himself to find out...

"What kind of changes were you expecting?" Raven 12345 said, not even looking up as she consulted the manual to restore the adjustment and enhancement chamber to its original state. "To unleash a triple fireball on the spot or something?"

"Um, weren't you going to give me some combat ability?" Hao Ren felt cheated again by this unreliable superior. "You're making me hang out with a bunch of superhumans who can kill people with a wave of their hand. Give me some way to protect myself. What exactly did this adjustment adjust?"

"I smoothed out your endocrine system, removed those two scars on your elbow, and, by the way, got rid of your gray hair," Raven 12345 said with a straight face. "At least for now."

Hao Ren: "..."

"Aha, that expression on your face is priceless!" Raven 12345 seemed to thoroughly enjoy seeing Hao Ren's entertaining expression. She held back for a full ten seconds before bursting out laughing. "Don't overthink it, don't be too greedy. I know what you want. I've brought in quite a few newbies. We're professionals. You new recruits, for the first month on the job, all you think about is becoming a superhero overnight. But consider this: if I really gave you that much power, or even just the ability to jump twenty meters from a standing start, what would be the consequences?"

Hao Ren thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "I wouldn't be afraid of elevator power outages anymore? I could sign up as a stunt double for Spider-Man?"

Raven 12345 stared at Hao Ren with wide eyes. "Hey, your brain reminds me of someone... but you're going too far. If you really became a superhero directly, the only result would be that you'd spend over twenty hours a day crashing into walls or hanging from the ceiling. Physical enhancement is a gradual process—" As she spoke, Raven 12345 patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. "You've already been given what you should have, but for now, it's locked by a mental suggestion program that will ensure you don't prematurely use abilities beyond your capacity. Experience more things, do a few small tasks to hone your skills, and your physical potential will slowly unlock."

Hearing this, Hao Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he hadn't been scammed after all, just switched to an installment plan. And Raven 12345's explanation made a lot of sense: for an Earthling who had been bound by Earth's gravity for twenty-five years, suddenly gaining the ability to fly would definitely not be a good thing. At best, you'd probably end up tearing down your own house. Adding a temporary safety lock was essential.

Hao Ren knew his personality very well. He was usually calm and steady, but in special circumstances, his curiosity was excessively strong. If he really gained superpowers, the first thing he would do when he got home would be to touch an electrical outlet to test them...

"So, what aspects of my body have been enhanced?" Hao Ren looked at Raven 12345 expectantly. "Asking this shouldn't violate any rules, right? It would be good to have a general idea so I have some mental preparation."

This time, Raven 12345 explained seriously, "Reaction speed, strength, recovery ability, adaptability to extreme environments, resistance to poison, radiation, high and low temperatures, corrosion, resistance to everything you should be resistant to. But basically, it's all an enhancement on top of a human foundation. In the future, after you pass the assessment, there will be other adjustment programs, but there are strict standards. And even after the enhancements are complete, you won't be allowed to use various dangerous powers casually. You must first prove that your will can control superhuman strength, you understand."

Hao Ren nodded, examining his body from head to toe. He felt that his mentality would definitely pass the assessment: his name says it all, a good person, after all. But as Raven 12345 said, everything still needed to be tested in practice. From this day on, his special career as a "low-level employee of the Space-Time Administration" officially began.

"Okay, the labor insurance has been given, and the new employee onboarding enhancement is complete. You can study the rest of the employee rules slowly when you get back. Anyway, for now, you need to remember the most important point in the rules: do not reveal information about the Space-Time Administration to irrelevant people. This irrelevant person refers to anyone other than your tenants. Remember, anyone," Raven 12345 looked seriously into Hao Ren's eyes. "And even with your tenants, you can't just talk nonsense. Just let them roughly know why you're protecting them. Although your tenants were specially selected by me, it doesn't mean they've entered the circle of the Space-Time Administration, at least not yet. It's a very delicate balance, you need to be careful."

Hao Ren looked at the other person in surprise. "Confidentiality agreement? The Space-Time Administration... according to you, this is an organization of 'gods', right? How come you gods are afraid of people knowing your existence? The gods I've heard of are all very high-profile, wishing the entire human race would come and worship them, and usually spending their free time researching how to expand their religion..."

"There are also times for publicity, but we only do that when necessary," Raven 12345 shook her head. "For the Space-Time Administration, this kind of publicity is unnecessary. Remember, the areas that the Administration deals with all have their own development trajectories, their local indigenous civilizations are evolving normally, and they are highly independent. Even if we become gods, we can't casually interrupt the evolutionary process of a normal civilization. Letting a group of intelligent beings suddenly know that outside the world they know, there is a group of super-lifeforms that can manipulate the constants of the universe, letting them know that the entire world they live in can be arbitrarily rewritten or deleted by 'gods', is almost a mental catastrophe for most civilizations—of course, telling others about the Space-Time Administration won't lead to such serious consequences. Most people won't believe you, but it's a matter of principle."

Hao Ren nodded, seeming to understand. "I understand... but according to this, the Space-Time Administration is actually a secret organization? Apart from you... us, no one else knows?"

"Not entirely, the structure of the macro-world is not immutable," Raven 12345 still shook her head. "The macro-world is a vast system built by His Majesty the Emperor, a virtual network connecting all universes within the Empire's territory. This network is growing every day, and the Space-Time Administration is the control system for this network, so we encounter all kinds of situations. Sometimes a civilization or a group will grow to the point where they can contact the Empire, or some areas will encounter huge disasters, to the extent that the Administration has to intervene fully. In this case, of course, we can no longer keep it a secret. After approval, the Administration can decide to reveal the existence of the Empire to a certain group, after which that group is officially accepted as a member of the Empire. But these things are all quite far from you—you should take care of your own little patch of land in front of you first. To be honest, the screening process for you new inspectors is already loose enough these days. When the Administration was first established, the imperial situation was still unstable, and the confidentiality agreements were much stricter than they are now. Back then, we were used to using the standards of imperial soldiers to demand from civilian departments. Leaking any information at all was punishable by execution. Although the execution system is still in place now, as long as it doesn't cause any real harm, it's fine, so just be happy about it!"

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat, finally realizing what a huge and serious organization was behind this seemingly unreliable female superior: execution was mentioned so casually!

But at the same time, he also heard a huge opportunity in Raven 12345's words: even if he still didn't quite understand the space-time network and the Space-Time Administration, he could vaguely imagine what a behemoth it was. And he was now a member of this behemoth. How insignificant were this planet, this solar system, even this universe, in the entire "macro-world?"

Just thinking about this made his motivation skyrocket!

At this time, Raven 12345 had already packed up the equipment in the room and led Hao Ren out. "Don't think so much. Now that the procedures you need to go through have been completed, I have a mission to give you."

When Hao Ren heard this, he immediately perked up: the organization needed him!

"In a couple of days, you need to go to Europe," Raven 12345 said casually. "Pick up a new 'tenant'. I put in a lot of effort to get him over here, but that idiot got the time zones wrong by a full eight hours when he landed! I'm not going to personally handle such trivial matters. It's a good opportunity for you to get some experience."