Early next morning, as soon as Li Rui opened his eyes, he immediately placed his left hand in front of them. The marking was almost fully formed, the largest level number being a blurry-edged 1, while the Secret Realm and countdown below were still unclear.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes, got up to wash, and when he picked up the toothpaste, he sensed a dangerous aura from the cap. So he used a lighter to melt it away, and the danger dissipated. Perhaps the thing would have slipped from his hand, bumped on the edge of the sink, and bounced into his mouth, rushing into his windpipe.
Of course, such minor incidents had become routine for him, not worth mentioning.
Li Rui ate breakfast while turning on the second-hand TV he had scavenged from a repair shop, listening to the morning news. The world was the same as ever, seemingly unchanged, but for him, change was imminent.
Buzz buzz buzz—
The cellphone vibrated.
Li Rui was startled and picked it up.
"Come down, Xiaorui, I'm waiting for you downstairs." Wusun's voice came from the phone.
"Coming."
Li Rui hung up, feeling that the guy's tone had noticeably changed, seeming a bit cautious.
The two didn't talk much in the car, just zigzagging around, until they arrived in front of an old office building in the old part of Huangliang City.
Guotong Mansion.
The sign was a bit faded, vines were sprawling all over the originally light-grey cement wall, and an old man in uniform was sitting idly, holding a tea cup in the guard kiosk.
The scene matched all of Li Rui's imagination of a government office.
"Follow me."
Wusun led him around the parking lot's boom gate, arriving at a small elevator at the back of the building, scanned his fingerprint, then pressed for the highest tenth floor.
"This building has fifteen floors in total, only agents of the Superpower Division can access the upper floors. You have great potential, you'll likely be coming here often in the future."
Li Rui remained indifferent outwardly, but inside he thought, I haven't even agreed to join yet.
Ding.
The elevator arrived, the metal doors opened from both sides, pounding music filled the air.
"Who brought you to my side~"
"It's the round bright moon~"
Bollywood-style.
DJ mix.
His imagination was thoroughly shattered.
"Brother Wu, does your Superpower Division have official posts?" Li Rui was feeling a bit hesitant.
Wusun blushed: "You, you just sit at the reception for now...."
Li Rui found no staff at the reception, just a steaming cup of green tea, and sat down to wait a while. The music stopped, Wusun approached along with a thin, sleazy bald man.
"You're Xiaoli, right? Hello, I'm Xiaowu's leader, my name's Wang Ba."
"Hello, Brother Ba."
Li Rui felt this name was chosen rather hastily.
Wang Ba was puzzled by this odd address but at their first meeting, he just laughed dryly twice and then said: "It's your first time here, let me help you get accustomed. Let's start in the meeting room, which cost five hundred thousand to renovate, with that twenty-thousand high-quality sound system."
"....."
Li Rui felt even less reliable, so he asked again: "Brother Ba, do you really have official posts?"
Wang Ba raised an eyebrow: "Wow! How did you know the Baili Association with a registered capital of fifty million, nominally a local trading company, is a Superpower Division-controlled organization?"
"So what's really going on?"
Li Rui naturally suspected it was a scam organization but remembered the credentials Wusun had shown him, feeling puzzled.
"Hahaha, as I said, we are an agency under the Superpower Division, partially belonging to several other factions of the Extraordinary World. On one hand, it's for strategic needs; on the other, sometimes we can't act from an official stance."
"But we certainly have legitimate government identity, often having more authority than the police system. There's no doubt about that."
Li Rui initially didn't doubt, mainly because Brother Ba's first appearance was so unreliable, causing him to waver.
"Brother Ba, no—Leader, why don't we let the support team check his marking?" Wusun suggested.
"Makes sense—you go handle the fieldwork, I'll personally take Xiaoli to the support team, where any one piece of equipment is worth hundreds of thousands. As for organizational background, we'll introduce it after formal procedures."
".....Alright."
Following Brother Ba through the corridor, Li Rui ascended via the emergency exit to the twelfth floor and found a completely different scene: a bright and clean lab, filled with automated equipment.
"Leader Wen, this is the newcomer found according to prophecy, please conduct an examination."
Wang Ba's voice summoned a woman from among the devices, no more than thirty years old, fair-skinned, beautiful, her short hair exuding tenderness.
"Li Rui? Hello, I'm Wen Yan."
She smiled and rolled out a wheel-bottomed stool, "Sit down, I'll try to manifest your marking first."
Her voice was particularly gentle, as if afraid of scaring the new guy.
Li Rui's impression of her grew fondly, mainly because she spoke courteously, unlike the indiscreet eater Wusun or the blatant miser Wang Ba—her looks played no role in this.
"Sister Yan, what do I need to do?"
"Just place your hand here."
Wen Yan tied a tourniquet around his forearm, then retrieved three reagents in glass bottles from the drawer, dabbed them with a cotton swab on the bruised area of his hand, and then held his hand.
Though separated by latex gloves, Li Rui still felt a warmth that didn't seem like regular human temperature.
When Wen Yan let go, the marking on Li Rui's hand had become very clear.
[1]
[00:31]
[Newbie Space]
"Oh, there's only half an hour left. Looks like the physical check has to wait, let me first explain the registration process for the Secret Realm." Wen Yan tidied her hair near her forehead.
Li Rui tilted his head: "Registration?"
"Exactly, once the marking of all Secret Realm agents shows fully for the first time, they first enter Newbie Space for registration. There, you'll meet the administrator of the Secret Realm game..."
At this moment, Wang Ba slid over on another swivel chair: "Let me explain. Xiaoli, time is tight, there's no time for details. You must remember that upon reaching Newbie Space, there's a crazy puppet—it's the administrator."
Brother Ba's face showed a little resentment, he said through gritted teeth: "You must feign respect for that guy, flatter and praise him no matter what he says; at least appear respectful."
Li Rui asked: "Why?"
"Because it guides all registrations, deciding your initial talents and attributes; it's crucial for your future Secret Realm explorations. To you, that dummy is like a master at this point."
Wang Ba's face showed even more discontent.
Li Rui asked: "Is it strong?"
"Strong?" Wang Ba said insidiously, "If we only talk about power, it's just a ten-dollar piece of trash at the bottom of a plastic trash can, you could easily defeat it."
"But the focus isn't on its strength. Though responsible for welcoming newbies, it's actually the game administrator, GM—young folks should understand? Not only does it affect your initial attributes, more importantly, it can alter your Secret Realm progress. If you offend him, the difficulty of the dungeons you randomly draw, and the random events within them, will all be at the hardest level!"
He leaned back in tactical apprehension: "In comparison, unlucky sign-drawings are the most terrifying punishment."
Li Rui chuckled.
This punishment seems nonexistent to me, anyway, I'm theoretically always unlucky.