Merely upon encountering Lin Bai and the others, she could sense that the extraordinary powers in this world might be lower than she had imagined.
In the mermaid world, those who haven’t broken through the ranks of the extraordinary are considered mere babies, unable to even step out of the door, alright?!
People like her, who reached the first rank only as an adult, are destined to be cannon fodder.
The thought of it feels quite tragic…
If it weren’t for the inevitable death trap, she thought she could endure and wait until her body naturally grew to the fourth rank. Then she might venture onto the mainland to experience the unique fantasy world vibes.
What’s “Ordinary Rank” anyway?
In the leveling system, isn’t everyone dependent on the starting point?
But in this world, it’s a legitimate fieldwork team.
During the many days spent at Shen Zhifei’s home, she didn’t just laze around and live a fishy life, she did something.
During these days, she consistently used this villa as a center, splitting off a small portion of her spiritual essence to explore the surroundings.
In the mermaid world, if she did something like this, it would probably take less than two days before her spiritual essence outside would be wiped out by passing mages or knights. The person who recorded this method even remarked that this method was useless. Apart from probing the mortal world, using this method in any other place would easily present a big eyeball in front of others. People would extinguish you without a second thought. The only function might be sensing that someone has come when your spiritual essence is being erased by someone’s spiritual power, but there are so many effective surveillance methods in the world, why bother with this one?
Zhao Xiaokui did know a few other methods, but unfortunately, S City was too vast, and those more concealed and effective reconnaissance spells either consumed too much mana or had too narrow a range.
This didn’t fit her lazy otaku character.
Zhao Xiaokui initially thought that her outward projection of spiritual power would probably bounce around for just two or three days before being discovered by someone. Therefore, she had been cautious all along. Even when she sensed strong extraordinary fluctuations in certain places, she didn’t investigate. Before understanding the situation, it was better not to recklessly court death.
As a result, her spiritual essence bounced around until now, and the car following Shen Zhifei, she saw it with her spiritual essence first and transmitted the information to her.
She always felt that the extraordinary powers in this world shouldn’t be too high. After seeing Lin Bai and the others, she became more certain of this speculation.
In the mermaid world, killing a newly transformed vampire is akin to crushing an ant underfoot. Who cares about the death of an ant?
However, in this world, the death of a mere ant is treated as if it were as significant as the heavens.
Though Zhao Xiaokui found it somewhat amusing, considering the goodwill displayed by the official forces, she was willing to invest a certain amount of trust in them.
“Contact is definitely something that needs to happen,” Zhao Xiaokui said. “I can’t stay alone forever. I need to understand the distribution of extraordinary powers on the entire Earth, the organizational structure, and an official, openly acknowledged identity would be a good point of access. However, I can’t initiate this matter; I need them to approach me willingly.”
Zhao Xiaokui hooked the corner of her lips, revealing a small pair of snowy white tiger teeth. Her eyebrows and eyes curved, giving her a mischievous yet indescribably cute look.
Absolutely deadly.
Shen Zhifei, who usually felt like there was something wrong with her heart, reached out and ruffled her hair. “I’ll follow your lead.”
Grumbling, Zhao Xiaokui complained, “Don’t you know that too much head-patting hinders growth?”
Although she said that, she leaned slightly forward, placing her entire body against Shen Zhifei’s palm.
Lin Bai’s judgment was not wrong; she had an unconscious dependence on Shen Zhifei.
Shen Zhifei calmly said, “Little friend, you’re already quite tall. Growing any taller would be overdoing it.”
Zhao Xiaokui languidly remarked, “Who doesn’t have a dream of being 1.8 meters tall?”
As for the ideal height for other girls, Zhao Xiaokui didn’t know. Anyway, since childhood, she had hoped to grow to 1.8 meters.
Shen Zhifei glanced at Zhao Xiaokui, who was not much shorter than her own 1.73 meters: “…”
Always felt like if this kid grew any taller, her majesty would be diminished.
The two left the study, not mentioning the issue of the listening device.
It seemed like an ordinary conversation in the study, and no one knew what they had really talked about.
Lin Bai and the others were curious, but their wide-ranging listening device had not yet reached the level of eavesdropping through walls.
If they had such technology, why bother hiding the listening device under the sofa? They could just throw it outside Shen Zhifei’s villa.
At noon, it was supposed to be the aunt coming to cook for Zhao Xiaokui. Now that Shen Zhifei had returned, she didn’t rush back to the company. After seeing the abundance of ingredients in the refrigerator, she rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen.
Zhao Xiaokui happily went to fetch an apron for the chef.
Shen Zhifei’s cooking couldn’t be described as exceptionally delicious; it was merely above average, reaching the level of an ordinary person. However, perhaps because it was Zhao Xiaokui’s first meal back, there was a special fondness. Anything cooked by Shen Zhifei, even a piece of jerky she handed over, tasted better than what she picked herself.
“By the way,” Zhao Xiaokui stood in front of Shen Zhifei, lowering her head to embrace Shen Zhifei’s waist, and tying an apron behind her. Staring at her delicate forehead, Shen Zhifei belatedly remembered something, “Rong Zhen called me.”
Had she not brought it up, Zhao Xiaokui might have forgotten who Rong Zhen was. She raised her head, looking confused, “Ah?”
What did Rong Zhen want by calling?
“He asked me to hand you over, saying that illegal confinement is against the law.”
“Pfft, who does he think he is?” Zhao Xiaokui scornfully rejected, “I won’t talk to a man who has a fiancée but still messes around outside.”
After saying this, as if recalling something, she tugged at the edge of Shen Zhifei’s apron, pouting and wrinkling her pretty brows, pitifully asking, “Are you going to abandon me for him, becoming a scum who discards me?”
“…”
Even though she knew Zhao Xiaokui was pretending, there was an unhidden smile in her eyes, and Shen Zhifei’s heart inevitably softened.
She thought that if she had a younger sister or a daughter, it might feel like this.
“You don’t love me anymore, sob sob sob—”
The Night Walker’s surveillance personnel: “…”
Going deaf.
Seeing her getting more and more excessive in her words, Shen Zhifei, with an expressionless face, pushed her away. Zhao Xiaokui, who had her face held by Shen Zhifei’s hand, stepped back three steps, just out of the kitchen’s range.
She looked up, and Shen Zhifei had turned around, facing a pile of ingredients. “Go watch TV, behave yourself, I won’t give you to him.”
Zhao Xiaokui gave her a heart gesture from behind, “Love you!”
In no time, she leaned against the door frame and asked, “Can I help? I can help you wash the vegetables; I’m really fast at it now!”
Shen Zhifei paused, “…Alright.”
While the two were preparing lunch, Zhang Hongyi and Lin Bai, holding lunch boxes, also sat in front of the listening device.
Zhang Hongyi said, “Listening is quite interesting.”
The person responsible for monitoring was a night watcher, and his expression was quite hard to describe, “The way Shen Zhifei takes care of Zhao Xiaokui is similar to how my mom took care of my sister.”
Gou Rixin came in carrying a lunch box, hearing this, his eyes suddenly lit up, “Oh, you have a sister too? Why haven’t I heard you mention her? Bring her out sometime, let’s take a look. After all, the fat water does not flow to outsiders’ fields.”
The night watcher’s face immediately turned dark, “My sister is only seven years old, you beastly thing.”
Lin Bai turned his head and sneered at him.
Gou Rixin, with an unchanged smile, brazenly said, “What’s the big deal? Brother, think about it. Although I’m older than our sister, I’m mature, understanding, considerate, and caring. I know everything about her…”
The night watcher kicked him out, “Get lost!”
Seeing the night watcher’s ugly face, burning with furious rage and showing signs of an imminent volcanic eruption, Zhang Hongyi scolded him with a smile, “Go far away. We’re discussing serious matters here. If you want to get married, go back to the tribe for a blind date, and you can follow me.”
Hearing this, Gou Rixin immediately wore a bitter expression, “Captain, can’t I admit my mistake? The women in the tribe, can they be considered women? They are all tigresses. If I date them, it’s not seeking a beating; it’s seeking death!”
Lin Bai pushed his glasses, raised the screen in his hand displaying a wavy line, and said, “Recorded.”
Gou Rixin left the room in embarrassment.
The voices in the listening device continued.
After a strange crackling sound, Shen Zhifei’s helpless and tired voice rang out, “I asked you to wash the vegetables, not the clothes.”
“What’s the difference between washing vegetables and washing clothes?” Zhao Xiaokui’s voice sounded full of vitality, “This is my newly researched vortex spiral vegetable washing. Isn’t it amazing?”
Even just listening to the audio, Zhang Hongyi and the others could feel her triumphant attitude.
“Very impressive, very impressive…” Shen Zhifei’s voice sounded like an emotionless killer, “In the future, we won’t need a washing machine for laundry. Having you is enough.”
Zhao Xiaokui seemed to find this statement reasonable. Zhang Hongyi and the others heard her saying, “Hmm… That’s a good idea. I think I can open a laundry shop in the future. No need to buy a washing machine; having me is enough. It saves electricity and water.”
Shen Zhifei remained silent.
At this moment, Lin Bai’s phone rang; the monitoring personnel in the neighborhood sent a photo.
The direction of the surveillance camera in the neighborhood could be adjusted. One of the hidden cameras in the trees happened to rotate, capturing the chaos of leaves scattered on the walls and floors in Shen Zhifei’s kitchen. Even on Shen Zhifei’s head, there was a piece of vegetable leaf.
Zhao Xiaokui wasn’t in the frame due to the angle, only one of her hands appeared in the shot. In Shen Zhifei’s gaze, there was a sense of lifelessness and helplessness.
“Have you ever considered that there might be another possibility?” Hong Ying, who appeared out of nowhere, found a seat next to the two and looked at the photo on Lin Bai’s tablet. She said, “Shen Zhifei is not the superhuman; it’s Zhao Xiaokui.”
Lin Bai frowned, “But when I met Zhao Xiaokui before, I didn’t detect anything.”
“The detection is not always accurate. The detector developed by the department has an error rate of up to seven percent, meaning that out of a hundred superhumans, seven may not be detected. If Zhao Xiaokui is one of these seven, it’s not surprising that she wasn’t detected.” Like a ghost, Hong Ying stated her viewpoint, “Is it possible that when Zhao Xiaokui dived to save someone, it triggered her superhuman ability, but for some reason, she lost her memory.”
Lin Bai and Zhang Hongyi pondered, finding her consideration not without reason.
The events that occur when each person’s superhuman abilities awaken are always different.
For instance, in their small team, Gou Rixin awakened his ability when he was in the bathroom, feeling a foul odor, and the more he thought about it, the fouler it became, causing him to faint from the stench; Lin Bai awakened his ability while studying in the juvenile class, struggling with a difficult problem all night. Suddenly, he found that his thinking had become extraordinarily active. He enthusiastically solved problems for three days and eventually passed out due to malnutrition…
