Chapter 16: Divine Power

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“Ability Assessment Day?” Li Chenqiu halted, a trace of confusion in his voice.

“Huh?” Zhu Cheng asked in surprise. “You don’t know about the Special Abilities Bureau’s Ability Assessment Day?”

“Not really. What exactly is Ability Assessment Day?” Li Chenqiu asked curiously.

“That’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we meet.”

In the end, Li Chenqiu gave Zhu Cheng his address.

A little over ten minutes later, a Public Security Bureau sedan came to a smooth stop in front of Li Chenqiu. The window slowly lowered, and a good-natured face poked out.

“Hop in, kid!”

“Sorry to trouble you.” Li Chenqiu nodded, opened the front passenger door, and sat down.

The morning news was playing inside the car, reporting on the incident at Lujiang Bridge the previous night.

“The Revived remains missing. Citizens are advised to take precautions when traveling.”

Zhu Cheng let out a long sigh. “Aiya, it’s terrifying. I hope I never run into that Revived!”

Sitting beside him, Li Chenqiu wore a peculiar expression. He turned to look out the window.

“It is rather terrifying. Let’s hope neither of us ever runs into it.”

Zhu Cheng glanced at him. Seeing the grim look on Li Chenqiu’s face, he assumed the news had frightened him and hurried to reassure him.

“Don’t worry. Once the Disaster Administration Bureau determines the Revived’s threat level, they’ll send a Chosen One to City 11. That Revived won’t be alive for much longer.”

“I hope so.” Li Chenqiu nodded. “By the way, Uncle Zhu, what did you mean by Ability Assessment Day?”

“Every Chosen One’s supernatural ability differs in strength. Ability Assessment Day is when Chosen Ones whose abilities haven’t yet been rated receive their classifications. It’s held twice a year—once in April and once in October. Today is the April assessment.”

During the rest of the journey, Zhu Cheng explained various matters concerning supernatural abilities, giving Li Chenqiu a basic understanding of the subject.

The Federation divided the supernatural abilities of Chosen Ones into three major categories: Elemental, Extraordinary, and Physical Extremity.

Elemental abilities included things like lightning and raging fire. They were widely acknowledged as the strongest category in terms of offensive power.

Physical Extremity abilities acted directly upon the Chosen One’s body. Wang Zhongshan’s ability belonged to this category. Such abilities had a low ceiling but a high floor, making them a fairly middle-of-the-road classification.

Extraordinary abilities were more unusual. Any ability that belonged to neither the Elemental nor Physical Extremity categories was classified as Extraordinary. Some of these abilities were astonishingly powerful, while others were exceedingly weak. This category had the greatest disparity between its strongest and weakest abilities.

The purpose of Ability Assessment Day was to classify Chosen Ones’ abilities precisely and rate their strength according to their effects.

From highest to lowest, there were six grades: A, B, C, D, E, and F.

Most Chosen Ones possessed F-rank abilities. They could do little more than perform odd jobs at the Special Abilities Bureau or take minor leadership positions in the Public Security Bureau.

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E-rank was considered fairly respectable. Those with such abilities could serve as squad leaders in the Special Abilities Bureau. D-rank Chosen Ones could become leaders of the bureau’s special operations teams. The ranks above that belonged to the Disaster Administration Bureau.

As for what lay above A-rank, Li Chenqiu had no idea—because he was about to ask.

“Uncle Zhu, are there ranks above A?” Li Chenqiu leaned toward him.

Zhu Cheng thought for a moment. “I don’t know. But there are some unreliable rumors online. Do you want to hear them?”

“I do.” Li Chenqiu nodded curiously.

“They say there’s a stone inscription hidden within the Disaster Administration Bureau. It records many strange and extraordinary supernatural abilities.

“A few years ago, someone even posted information about the inscription online, claiming it was a sequence list of divine abilities. Anyone who awakened one of the abilities recorded on it would possess the power to destroy heaven and earth.” Zhu Cheng snorted disdainfully.

“Divine?” Li Chenqiu’s heartbeat faltered at the word.

He remembered the sentence from two years ago:

“Take my body, wield your power, ascend once more to godhood. My name is Pangu. Will you?”

Both the parchment and the stone inscription contained the word “god.” Could there be a connection between them?

“What’s wrong?” Zhu Cheng glanced at the passenger seat. “It’s all nonsense people made up online. When has the Federation ever had gods?”

“Nothing, Uncle Zhu. Other than that, what else did the person say?” Li Chenqiu asked casually.

“Nothing much. Oh, right—he seemed to mention the ability of the First Sequence.”

“What was that ability called?”

“I think it was called Freedom. Strange, isn’t it?”

…

…

The streets of City 11 were extremely broad. Although there were plenty of vehicles in the morning, traffic moved smoothly without any congestion. Zhu Cheng soon drove to the entrance of the Special Abilities Bureau.

Li Chenqiu pushed open the door and stepped out. He raised his head and looked ahead.

A hundred-meter-long black-iron gate stood in the heart of the city. Under the sunlight, it gleamed with a deep, dark sheen, like a colossal steel beast silently looking down upon the pedestrians and vehicles passing by.

Soldiers carrying rifles stood on either side of the entrance. Their icy gazes scrutinized every vehicle and person entering or leaving like scanning instruments.

“Building a gate like this must have cost at least a hundred thousand,” Li Chenqiu marveled.

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Zhu Cheng patted Li Chenqiu on the shoulder and said smugly, “Young people really haven’t seen enough of the world. This cost at least several hundred thousand.”

At that moment, a sharply dressed man in a suit passed by them and sneered contemptuously.

“You country bumpkins. That cost more than ten million.”

A gentle breeze drifted past. Zhu Cheng awkwardly rubbed his nose and walked toward the entrance without saying a word. Seeing this, Li Chenqiu followed him.

After registering their information at the guard station, a staff member of the Special Abilities Bureau led them into a long corridor.

Li Chenqiu moved from room to room like a robot, repeatedly scanned by an array of precision instruments.

It took nearly an hour before he finally reached the stage where his ability was registered.

“Give me a general description of your ability,” said a young woman seated beside a computer.

Afraid Li Chenqiu might not understand, Zhu Cheng hurriedly explained, “Just tell them roughly what it does. The staff will name your ability and enter it into the database.”

“Understood.” Li Chenqiu nodded.

His abilities were Absolute Control and Extreme Water, and he certainly could not reveal either of them. From the moment he decided to become a Chosen One, Li Chenqiu had already chosen the ability he would claim to possess.

“My ability is that I’m very strong,” Li Chenqiu said with a smile.

“Very strong?” The woman stopped typing and looked at him in surprise. “Ordinary people all break through to the First Threshold when they become Chosen Ones. Everyone becomes very strong. Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?”

“I haven’t. My ability is simply immense strength. I’ve watched videos online of First-Threshold battles. I’m stronger than those people.” Li Chenqiu spoke with certainty.

“Um… How much stronger?” The woman turned her attention back to the computer screen.

Li Chenqiu stroked his chin and thought for a moment.

“A lot stronger. But we’ll have to see what the test says.”

Click, click, click…

The woman’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Before long, she had entered all the basic information, leaving only the ability’s name blank.

“You can name it yourself. If you can’t think of anything, I’ll name it for you.” The woman looked at Li Chenqiu.

“If possible, call it Divine Strength.”