Chapter 35

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Hopefully I can successfully cover this up, or at the very least, I won’t be decommissioned.”

Despite everything, Lin Yu was forced to open the door.

What could he do if he refused to open it? He was left without a choice as the person was already outside his door. Should he just jump out the window then when he could not even fly?

Besides, there was a saying that stated a monk could run as far as he could but the temple would still remain. He did not wish to live his future days on the run.

When the door swung open, he was greeted by two men and a woman.

The person leading the group was a middle-aged man dressed in a suit. He had a sharp and menacing look, and his face radiated sinister undertones. Standing behind him was an old man with a full head of grey hair wearing a pair of reading glasses and a cold-looking young woman.

“Greetings, Student Lin. Don’t be nervous, we only want to talk with you.”

The menacing elderly man who led the group cracked a warm smile after noticing Lin Yu. He said, “My name is Lin Hai. I have the same first name as you. If you don’t mind, you can call me Uncle Lin.”

1While he spoke, he pointed at the two people behind him and said, “The people behind me are Professor Li and Xu Yue. Perhaps you youngsters would relate better so if you prefer talking to her, that’s fine too.”

“Uncle Lin.”

Lin Yu’s gaze followed the order of Lin Hai’s introduction, his gaze not stopping for too long on Xu Yue as he glanced behind Lin Hai while addressing him courteously.

It was obvious to him that the man standing in front of him called Uncle Lin was a professional at his ‘job’. Maybe he was concerned that he would do something extremely drastic from being too nervous, so the first thing he did upon meeting him was to break the ice. He had even used ‘sex appeal’ on him, showing just how prepared he was.

1However, Lin Yu had to admit that these methods were actually really effective on him as only a couple of statements were enough to calm his inner anxiety.

Even so, he acted naively while putting on a curious half-truth facade and asked, “Uncle Lin, are you guys from the police department? Why are you guys using the same methods on TV? You know, inspecting and delivering takeout?”

“We’re not from the police department. We’re a special division formed to deal with people like you.”

Lin Hai looked at Lin Yu as if he was implying something and said while smiling, “The temporary name for the department is the ‘related department’.”

“… The name of the department is called the Related Department?”

Lin Yu was slightly stunned and speechless after hearing that. This was obviously not fake and seemed to come from the heart.

It did not matter if it was the department’s naming choice or protocol, the name was not at all excessive no matter how much he heard it!

“We had no choice. This is to make you youngsters feel much more relatable, you know.”

Seemingly reading Lin Yu’s mind, Lin Hai chuckled again as he gently patted Lin Yu’s shoulder. He led Lin Yu to his bed by the shoulder and sat him down before saying, “You youngsters really love to overthink things, always assuming our country will terminate you guys or something. Our country has complete laws so you should believe in it more, you know.”

4“Hmm, that’s not it. How does this relate to being terminated?”

Lin Yu continued playing dumb.

At the same time, Xu Yue, who had a cold look on her face, frowned and said, “Sir, it seems we’ve made a mistake. There aren’t any dark energy fluctuations coming from him.”

“Ah?”

Lin Hai stunned for a second after hearing what she said.

Xu Yue focused on Lin Yu once again for a split second as if confirming something. After a moment, she nodded and said, “He’s a regular person, it’s been confirmed.”

1‘No dark energy fluctuations? What does that mean? Could it be possible that they can’t detect my level up ability?’

2After hearing both the earlier statements, questions began emerging in Lin Yu’s head.

If the ‘Related Department’ depended on dark energy fluctuations as a means to detect Superhumans, then that conclusion would be possible.

There was nothing odd about him and according to them, he had never felt the dark energy. His abilities relied on collecting ‘EXP’ from the outside world, and those EXP points were used in making his equipment.

“Um… Cough, cough.”

Lin Hai was slightly flustered at that moment as he awkwardly coughed while curiously patting Lin Yu’s shoulders and said, “Not bad, kid. Are you that tech nerd from the internet? The things you’ve made could actually take down a Superhuman.”

“Dark energy? Terminate? Superhuman?”

Lin Yu had a shocked look on his face while saying, “You guys aren’t here for me because I’ve hurt someone, right? What’s this about awakenings and Superhumans?”

“Well, temporarily this isn’t something…”

Lin Hai snapped out of it as he realized he said too much. He then shook his head and said, “Forget it, just stick to your own suspicions.”

“Hey kid, could you lend me that Exo suit of yours for a look?”

Professor Li, who had been standing on the side, suddenly approached him and spoke with a gentle smile.

“No problem.”

Lin Yu felt slightly off after hearing that but since he was in a forceful situation, refusing the request would raise suspicions. Hence, he had no choice but to agree to it as he dragged the horribly torn black backpack from underneath his bed.

Professor Li took out the Piston Gauntlets for a brief look but could not detect anything odd from them. Xu Yue remained silent on the side.

“Intricately designed.”

After observing it for a brief moment, Professor Li gave his evaluation and looked up to Lin Yu. With a gentle and warm smile, he asked, “Could you tell me what made you want to build this?”

“Um, Professor, I’m afraid there would be a generational gap if I told you…”

Smiling awkwardly, Lin Yu gave a forced reply.

“Don’t assume I’m old. I’ve interacted with youngsters like you a lot and my eldest granddaughter is around your age too so you can tell me.”

“I only wanted to build an accurate cosplay prop to film and upload online. Others enjoy watching it, and I can also make some money off it.”

Lin Yu scratched his hair and said with a bitter laugh, “It’s been chaotic out there recently, so I made one with a piston to carry with me everywhere. I didn’t expect I’d actually have to use it…”

Lin Yu could not continue after boasting for a while.

That was because the professor’s eyes glowed brighter with every passing moment, and it almost seemed as if beams of light would actually project out of his eyes.

Lin Yu was familiar with that gaze.

Although one should never look at anyone else with judgement, he was now, however, pressured by his own inner emotions. It was common for a teacher to look at a student with two kinds of gazes: one toward an academic failure, while the other was the teacher’s favorite student. The only difference between them was how drastic they were.

Lin Yu had never felt the latter gaze before but was familiar and quite used to the one before. Both gazes were two sides of the same coin. Besides…would it be possible to say one had never seen a real-life pig without eating pork before? No matter where he was, there would always be a distinction.

That gaze of approval and admiration toward an academic genius was like a huge light projected behind it, making him feel guilty the more he spoke.

“Impressive, interest is the best teacher. Keep it up.”

Fortunately, Professor Li never cared much about the finer details, only smiling warmly at him as he handed him a name card and said, “Just give me a call if there is anything you don’t understand in future as I might be able to help. Since you have an interest in this, don’t let it go to waste.”

Lin Yu was slightly reluctant as he accepted the name card.

Chancellor of the Huake Institute. He took a glance at the first line of text and there was no need to continue reading.

‘I, Lin Yu, am a super academic failure.’

‘But now that I have been mistaken for an academic genius by the legendary main boss of the Huake Institute, what should I do? Wait for it? It seems pretty urgent to me.’