Chapter 27 – Fool
Lu Yuan straightened his posture, showing that he was listening carefully. Ji Yin seemed satisfied with this attitude. He stood up from his seat and began pacing.
“First, this is a classified mission. Once you receive the briefing, you will no longer have the right to withdraw. You either complete the mission, or spend one year in confinement to pass the declassification period.”
Lu Yuan nodded. That wasn’t hard to understand.
“Second, during the mission you will receive no support from the Internal Affairs Bureau. You must face all possible dangers on your own. Don’t expect me to suddenly jump out and save you like last time.
In fact, the most likely outcome is that you die and we don’t even know.”
“Finally, only if you successfully complete the mission will you obtain official military merit. If the mission fails, regardless of whether you survive, you gain nothing.”
After saying all this, Ji Yin lazily leaned back into his office chair.
“Kid, do you accept?”
Lu Yuan hesitated greatly. From Ji Yin’s tone, this was an extremely dangerous mission, and the key point was that he couldn’t rely on the Internal Affairs Bureau at all.
Although he had the system, he hadn’t yet found any abilities usable in combat. If he encountered a cultivator like Zhang Baocheng, he would undoubtedly die.
“I have a question,” Lu Yuan said after some thought. “If I die, will the Internal Affairs Bureau provide compensation to my family?”
“Of course. As you know, this is a military operation,” Ji Yin explained. “If you go missing for more than half a year, we will confirm your death and posthumously award you the title of martyr.
All benefits given to martyrs will be granted to your relatives.
Your parents can receive 8,000 yuan per month in compensation. In addition, all medical expenses will be fully covered. The remaining doses of Xikanuo for your mother will also be paid by the Cultivator Alliance.
Oh right, you also have a younger sister. When she takes the college entrance exam, she can receive a 50-point bonus to her written score—that is the second bonus policy.”
After hearing this, Lu Yuan immediately stood up. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s begin!”
This time, Ji Yin was actually surprised. He raised an eyebrow and said, “You don’t need to think it over a bit more?”
“A deal with guaranteed profit—what’s there to think about?!”
Ji Yin said nothing. After a long pause, he suddenly began typing on the keyboard while speaking.
“Lu Yuan, I admit I misjudged you.”
“I’ve seen many smart people in the Mystic Law Academy. They’re all geniuses—even at cultivator universities, they’re geniuses.”
“I always thought you were like them, a smart person. Now I realize you’re not.”
“You’re definitely cut out for the War Academy.”
Ji Yin pressed print. The printer on the desk hummed and produced a sheet of paper with about two hundred words.
“Let me give a small gift to a future battle cultivator.”
Lu Yuan took the paper and glanced at it. It described a method of controlling breathing rhythm.
“What is this?”
“Body Shield—a low-level martial technique that uses the true essence within the body to resist damage.”
“Ah! This doesn’t count as a spiritual technique!” Ji Yin added awkwardly. “Teaching it to you doesn’t violate the rules.”
“Memorize it now. Do not pass it on. I’m going to destroy this paper.”
Hearing this, Lu Yuan quickly memorized every word. He actually felt uneasy and planned to take a photo with his phone, but Ji Yin glared at him, so he gave up. Even though Ji Yin said it didn’t violate the rules, judging by how cautious he was, it probably still did to some extent.
After memorizing it, Lu Yuan followed the method and tried adjusting his breathing rhythm. He found his breathing slightly hindered, a sensation he had never experienced before. He took a moment to check the system and noticed changes in his true essence.
His current true essence was 114/120 spirit, but with the change in breathing rhythm, the number 114 began fluctuating rhythmically, rising and falling between 110 and 114.
So amazing—was this a martial technique? He still didn’t know what effect it had.
“There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask.”
Lu Yuan thought of the cultivators’ secrecy principle. He had never understood why cultivators restricted knowledge about cultivation.
Now even when Ji Yin secretly taught him a little, he still had to take the paper back. It was clear how cautious cultivators were about this matter.
“Why doesn’t the Cultivator Alliance allow ordinary people to access spiritual techniques? Is it for social stability?”
That had been Lu Yuan’s previous assumption. After all, spiritual techniques were like firearms—a powerful weapon. If anyone could master them, society would become unstable.
“No, it’s not like you think,” Ji Yin replied. “The Cultivator Alliance would love for everyone in the Hua people—men, women, young, old—to all become great cultivators. But it’s impossible. Completely impossible.”
“This question is very profound. What I can tell you now is that the essence of cultivators is secrecy. Without secrecy, there are no cultivators.”
“Not just here in Shenzhou. It’s the same for practitioners in Tianyu. Their saying is ‘the law is not passed to a sixth ear.’ Ultimately, it all comes down to the principle of secrecy.”
“If you really want to understand this, there’s a course at cultivator universities called ‘Counter-Force Logic of Advanced Mystic Law’ that explains it in detail… assuming you can understand it.”
Ji Yin’s expression didn’t look good when he mentioned this, apparently he hadn’t understood it himself.
Lu Yuan nodded and didn’t press further. It was clear Ji Yin wasn’t brushing him off.
After confirming Lu Yuan had memorized “Body Shield,” Ji Yin took back the paper and crushed it in his hand.
“Body Shield uses breathing rhythm to mobilize true essence within the body and strengthen physical durability.
This should be what you need most right now.”
“If you encounter danger, don’t think about fighting head-on. If you can run, run.”
“If the mission fails, it can still be remedied. If you die, it’s truly over.”
“Thank you!” Lu Yuan expressed his gratitude.
The two left the office, with Ji Yin leading the way down to the underground level of the Internal Affairs Bureau.
Security here was clearly much tighter, with multiple access checkpoints. Finally, they arrived at a plain meeting room. Lu Yuan saw the sign on the door read “Operations Room.”
Inside, several uniformed personnel were busy. Lines of data flashed across computer screens, giving it the feeling of a spy movie.
After Ji Yin introduced Lu Yuan, an operations officer named Shang Qiyuan gave him a mission briefing. He was a dark-skinned man with stubble. Lu Yuan noticed two green leaf insignias on his uniform.
Mission briefing:
The arrest operation the day before had completely destroyed the cult’s forces in Ningcheng.
Through interrogation of the captured survivors, the Internal Affairs Bureau learned that Zhang Baocheng took orders from a cult protector in Jiangzhou City.
In other words, the Ningcheng cult stronghold was only a branch of a larger organization in the Jiangzhou region.
According to the testimony, the cult in Jiangzhou City would soon carry out a major operation.
The kidnapping of Lu Yuan’s younger sister, Lu Youbing, was only one part of it.
The specific details were known only to Zhang Baocheng, but he was already dead.
The Internal Affairs Bureau needed someone to infiltrate the Jiangzhou cult organization to find out what they were planning. If possible, they were to locate the cult’s headquarters and identify the true identity of its leader.
Lu Yuan understood—this was basically an undercover mission.
Although he didn’t reject the mission itself, why wasn’t the Internal Affairs Bureau sending their own people, instead of a high school student like him?
Shang Qiyuan explained:
Investigations showed that Zhang Baocheng had recently recruited a new cult member—a senior high school student.
The Internal Affairs Bureau had secretly arrested this student yesterday morning.
According to the student’s confession, Zhang Baocheng had planned to send him to Jiangzhou City to join the local cult organization and participate in a specific operation.
Naturally, the contact method was also revealed.
“Zhang Baocheng hadn’t had time to report this student’s information, so the cult protector in Jiangzhou doesn’t yet know his identity. That means we can replace him,” Ji Yin said with a smile. “At first, we planned to send Old Shang.”
Old Shang was Shang Qiyuan. Seeing his rough appearance, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but laugh as well.
This man could easily pass as a thug without makeup, but pretending to be a high school student? He’d be exposed instantly.
“The mission requires a real high school student, so for now, there’s no better candidate than you.”
Shang Qiyuan handed Lu Yuan an envelope.
“This contains the contact method. You must head to Jiangzhou City by tomorrow at the latest.”
“One more important reminder: the destruction of the Ningcheng cult stronghold is likely already known to the Jiangzhou cult. They will definitely be suspicious of you.”
“How you gain their trust will depend entirely on your own judgment.”
As expected, this was a mission with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death. These 200 points were truly not easy to obtain.
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