Comprehension

"Hello, City Executive Zhao." "Miss Lin, my subordinates have been quite thoughtless lately. I trust they haven't caused you too much trouble?" Zhao De led with an apology, but his tone was completely steady, sounding more like deliberate provocation than genuine regret. As a local official wielding real power, he had no need to lower himself before Lin Zhiyan. After all, the Federation was not the ancient past; spoiled scions could only bully petty clerks and minor officials. Unless Lin Zhiyan's father had been his direct superior—and that assumed her father were still alive. Lin Zhiyan replied caustically, "It was quite troublesome indeed. It can't be easy for you either, City Executive Zhao, having subordinates who are all so useless." "Pardon our embarrassing showing. I'll have them write self-criticisms later." Zhao De turned to business. "This case is being supervised directly by the Circuit Politics Bureau, so we naturally wouldn't dare take it lightly. However, I hope Team Leader Lin will keep local difficulties in mind. Our administrative efficiency cannot compare to Cangwu City. "I will certainly root out the fugitive for the special investigation team. Please give us a little time." Lin Zhiyan's expression softened slightly as she laid out her demands. "I want him alive, and of sound mind." "The target is a superhuman. We cannot guarantee his survival during the arrest." "Dead is fine too, but the stolen goods must be recovered." "I cannot guarantee that either." "And what if I insist?" After a long silence on the other end, Zhao De answered, "Then our city will cooperate fully with the special investigation team." ----- Meanwhile, Lu Zhao and the others returned to the Special Counter-Terrorism Detachment to collect the personal mobile phones they had turned in. Detachment Leader Wang Tong seemed to have been waiting for some time. Handing Lu Zhao a bottle of water, he asked, "Young Mistress Lin must be hard to serve, eh?" "She's all right. Not as bad as I imagined," Lu Zhao answered without hesitation. Though she still retained the haughty habits of the aristocratic elite in some respects, she wasn't bad at heart. *She probably needs something from me.* Lu Zhao could sense the friction between the special investigation team and Fangshi; Lin Zhiyan was looking to make a breakthrough through him. "Is that so? I heard she's quite difficult to deal with—she offended a whole crowd of people the moment she set foot in Fangshi." Wang Tong seemed to speak with hidden implications. "Coming from Cangwu City, she probably doesn't understand the hardships of a border city like ours. First, we have virtually no industry; second, we take the brunt of illegal border crossings and smuggling; third, we still have to guarantee grain production. "Brother Lu, you guys in border defense have it the hardest. Getting paid that pittance every month just to feed mosquitoes in the jungle." Lu Zhao said nothing; he could already guess what the man was getting at. Among the three apparatuses of state force—the Special Counter-Terrorism Detachment, Public Security, and Border Defense—the public security police department held the most authority, followed by Special Counter-Terrorism, and finally the border defense station. In terms of pure combat power, however, the border defense station's weaponry and equipment surpassed both Public Security and Special Counter-Terrorism. The four companies of the Ant Ridge border defense station possessed a full array of heavy firepower. Yet they were not permitted to enter the city; their authority was restricted to Ant Ridge. Internal struggles within the Federation followed the rule of competing without fracturing. Very few dared openly oppose their superiors, and those who did rarely came to a good end. Thus, the customary tactic was delay. All they needed was the ability to spoil things. Public Security refused to cooperate, while Special Counter-Terrorism dispatched only a single squad. If the border defense station also went along with them, Lin Zhiyan might as well pack up and go home. Seeing that Lu Zhao remained silent and refused to take a stand, Wang Tong continued, "Brother Lu, have you ever considered transferring to another unit? Come join our Special Counter-Terrorism Detachment. It suits your development much better. One of our companies happens to need a company commander." "I think the border defense station is quite fine." Lu Zhao offered a polite refusal, though his decisive answer caused Wang Tong's expression to stiffen slightly. Wang Tong gave a dry laugh. "Well, you can think it over in the future. Here's my number." Leaving his phone number, Wang Tong turned and left. Beside them, Liao Lang and the accompanying soldiers looked on with envious eyes. This was a personal invitation from the detachment leader of Special Counter-Terrorism himself. Liao Lang flattered him, "Brother Lu, you're really on the fast track now. When you make it big, don't forget about us!" "Doing our own jobs well comes first." Lu Zhao glanced at him. People instinctively pursued power, yet many remained oblivious to its underlying currents. The Special Duty Quick Reaction Detachment ranked higher as an organization than the border defense station, and a company commander sounded better than an operations and training staff officer, but Lu Zhao's foundation lay with the border defense station. Going to Special Counter-Terrorism would be jumping straight into a trap. Lu Zhao retrieved his phone and found a missed call from his mother, Luo Xiuhua. They spoke once every month, just to give a brief update on everyday life. His mother was a quintessential rural woman who had only completed junior high school under the nine-year compulsory education system. She harbored no grand ambitions in life, asking only for peaceful, steady days, and often complained about how his father and elder brother had rushed off to throw their lives away back then. Yet when it came to Lu Zhao's affairs, she never interfered or passed judgment. All that remained was always that single reminder: "Take care of yourself; don't work yourself into the ground." Then the phone was snatched away by his niece. "Hello? Hello? Uncle Zhao, can you hear me?" His niece Lu Xiaotong's booming voice made Lu Zhao instinctively pull the phone an inch away from his ear. "I hear you. You're going to deafen me." "Hehehe! Uncle Zhao, I got first place in my grade on the monthly exams!" "What score?" "Eight hundred points on academics, just ten points shy of a perfect score." "And life-force development?" "Uh... only seventy points." Secondary education in the Federation was divided into academics and life-force development. Life-force development had a standardized maximum of 100 points, while high school exams in Nanhai West Circuit had a maximum academic score of 810 points. Top institutions generally held rigid requirements for life-force development. Lu Xiaotong's score was more than enough to get into a first-rate university, but not Dijing or Chishui. She needed at least 90 points to meet their minimum threshold. Still, there was no helping it; Lu Xiaotong simply didn't have access to top-notch resources. Lu Zhao had been raised in an official welfare home, where ample resources were provided to cultivate model successes. Lu Xiaotong then chattered about trivial daily matters, venting about friends at school, cursing some stupid teacher, or complaining about whichever dish her mother had botched. Listening to her, an unconscious smile curled at the corners of Lu Zhao's mouth, and his face relaxed from its usual tautness. For a brief moment, he was pulled clear of the quagmire of political maneuvering. The world held more than just intrigue and deception; it was not populated solely by enemies or comrades-in-arms. Countless ordinary people still lived with simple yearnings for a better life. In the quiet recesses of his mind, thoughts surged. The most direct way to perceive another person's presence was touch, and carrying others within one's spirit was a form of touch as well. Lu Zhao's skin tingled faintly as his extending thoughts conveyed perceptions back to him. His spirit could touch physical objects. The chilly ground, the dew-dampened blades of grass... Cast toward the mountains, it let him feel the howling winds; drifted toward the heavens, it felt as though he stood atop the clouds. For a moment, he seemed to take flight. Lu Zhao slowly drew back his divine sense. He watched his hand open and close, his spirit returning reluctantly to his physical body. "Touch... This feeling is just like the spirit leaving the body." Lu Zhao was certain that he had comprehended touch, one of the five senses. Counting taste and smell from before, he needed only hearing and sight to attain completeness in the first rank. Once all five senses were gathered, he would possess an almost omniscient, godlike perspective, along with the characteristics of all psychic divine powers. He would transform from having only vague perception and telekinetic manipulation into being versatile and all-encompassing. This had to be the true meaning of completeness—not restricted merely to the Fate Bone itself. In his teacher's words, it was focusing the spirit, condensing divine intent. He had caught a glimpse of the knack; nature cultivation seemed not to be quite as difficult as he had imagined. It sounded mystical and abstruse, yet in actual practice, the Dao was present in every aspect of life. "Visualizing the five senses seems to encompass far more than just the senses themselves." The five senses were merely the outward form, and projecting them onto the divine soul was just a mode of expression. Divine intent—the emphasis was on the intent. Techniques were merely aids to guide a person's cultivation, much like textbooks: their primary purpose was not absolute infallibility, but making things understandable. Yet was what he had realized right, or wrong? Carrying that question with him, Lu Zhao returned to his dormitory, closed his eyes, and entered Primordial.