Chapter 12
Chapter 12: New Recruit
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When he left the armory, Xia Ping’an had two more boxes in his hands. One box contained the Manurhin MR98 sniper enhanced variant revolver, its holster, and a hundred steel core large-bore revolver bullets. Another box contained the steel whip called Black Cobra.
These two weapons, especially the steel whip, were custom-made. They could not be purchased outside.
Mo Yanshao also felt that the two weapons Big Zhou chose for Xia Ping’an were strange. However, he did not have the guts to challenge Big Zhou’s decision. In this field, Big Zhou was the authority in the National Order Council Xianghe City branch.
Xia Ping’an’s phone was left behind. Big Zhou said that from now on, Xia Ping’an could not use his phone anymore. He needed to switch to a special security smartphone. The smartphones of the National Order Council were custom-made. They were more reliable and durable. Their communication lines were more secure and prevented tapping. It also had other functions and was standard issue among all members of the Special Forces Unit.
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Big Zhou needed an hour to switch out Xia Ping’an’s phone, so he told him to return in an hour to collect it.
“There is a shooting range and a cold weapons training ground. In the future, you can come here to practice shooting or using the steel whip,” Mo Yanshao explained to Xia Ping’an as he led him back to the elevator. “The main combat squad of the Special Forces Unit consists of summoners or Awakened. The self-defense weapons that summoners and Awakened carry around daily are all non-automatic weapons or cold weapons. You can collect heavy weapons or automatic weapons when the missions require such ordinance. However, their use cases aren’t frequent. Targets that can be eliminated by automatic weapons and heavy weapons are usually handled by the Commandos of the Security Response Team.”
Xia Ping’an asked, “Big Zhou is also an Awakened?”
“Yes, he is.”
“What is his awakened ability?”
“His awakened ability is actually not very special,” Mo Yanshao revealed. “It’s an ability that allows one to compute the answer of two seven-digit numbers in one second. This ability is a talent in mathematical calculations. However, Big Zhou was born an avid weapons enthusiast. He combined his awakened ability and his hobby to form a unique ability, or rather, it should be called intuition. The items he chose for you will definitely suit you best.”
“Does Big Zhou not have any family? He doesn’t seem that young anymore.”
Mo Yanshao fell silent and said, “Big Zhou’s family have all died during dimensional invasions. That is why he has kept serving in the National Order Council. In his words, he will be here for the rest of his life. He isn’t going anywhere. He will equip whoever kills those monsters.”
Xia Ping’an also became slightly melancholic. He replied in a low voice, “I see.”
“Hmm, your custom-made suit will take three days to be prepared. You can collect it in three days. Normal bullets used for training can be collected and used without restriction. If you want to collect custom-made silver bullets, you will need my signature. You should know why we need silver bullets, right?”
Xia Ping’an answered, “I have heard some things about it. Ordinary steel, lead, and copper bullets will not cause much damage to the creatures that appear during dimensional invasions. Their wounds heal very rapidly. Only silver bullets can deal maximum damage to those creatures. After being hit by silver bullets, it is difficult for their wounds to heal.”
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Silver bullets were also known as demon-hunting bullets. This was the culmination of the experience gained by humanity after countless years battling the creatures from dimensional invasions. Silver was one of the trace elements in human cell tissue. Suitable levels of silver ions were beneficial for the human body. It could serve to kill germs and other functions. However, once silver ions entered the bodies of the creatures, their bodily functions would be disrupted.
The legends of silver warding off evil were not unfounded.
Both of them entered the elevator ,and Mo Yanshao pressed the button to another floor. This time it was the ninth floor.
“You can collect silver bullets for missions. Of course, you can have some prepared beforehand for normal times. Aside from silver bullets, there is an even higher level divine rune bullet. However, our armory does not have any. Only a select few summoners who mastered divine runes can create their own divine rune bullets. You will come across them in the future.”
“Understood. Where are we headed now?”
“I’m bringing you to take a look at your room. Each member of the Special Forces Unit has a private room in this building. You can use it while working or to rest and stay in while waiting for orders.”
“So it is a dorm room...”
“Almost, you can call it that. There are lazy, single dudes in the Special Forces Unit. Even when there are no missions, they are too lazy to go out, so they live here all year long. Summoners cannot be disturbed by the outside world when merging the boundary beads. Doing so here is the safest place to be.”
The elevator quickly stopped at the ninth floor with a ding. Mo Yanshao brought Xia Ping’an down the passageway ahead of them. On both sides of the passageway were rooms. Each room had numbers that interestingly all began with the number 9. Xia Ping’an knew at a glance that this had something to do with the summoners’ superstitions again.
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Both of them came to the door of the room labeled No. 963. Outside of the door was a smart lock. It was opened using palm prints and iris scans. Upon opening the door and entering the room, Xia Ping’an discovered that the room was spacious for one person.
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There were three rooms inside. One seemed to be an office. It had a desk, a computer, and a bookshelf. The office was connected to a bedroom. The bedroom had a fully equipped wardrobe and bathroom. They were all configured like a high-end hotel suite.
Connected to the bedroom was a secret training room.
There was also a weapons cabinet in the office specifically to place various weapons.
After taking a look around the room, Xia Ping’an placed the weapons he had acquired in the weapons cabinet. Then, Mo Yanshao continued to bring Xia Ping’an around to familiarize himself with the place.
Overall, there weren’t many people in the building. It appeared empty as each person was doing their own thing in their rooms. There was almost no one wandering around in the corridors.
According to Mo Yanshao, the title of the National Order Council was too frightening. When they were executing some special missions, the members of the Special Forces Unit would disguise themselves in order to avoid the public from panicking or the media from overspeculating things.
Their disguises included, but were not limited to, guards from security firms, private detectives, media reporters, researchers from market research companies, forensic attorneys from law offices, environmental inspectors from civil departments, plainclothes police, and disaster assessors from disaster prevention centers. It sounded pretty interesting.
The tour took the entire morning. When it was lunchtime, Xia Ping’an finally got to meet other members of the Special Forces Unit at the buffet cafeteria of the National Order Council.
The bald guy with steel teeth, Big Tu, was also around. His full name was Tu Polu. He came to the cafeteria right after he worked out in the gym. He was drenched in sweat. He finished half a roast suckling pig by himself for lunch.
The short-haired beauty with an hourglass figure and a cold temperament was called Fang Lingshan. When Mo Yanshao introduced Xia Ping’an to her, she merely cast a glance at him, nodded slightly and said, “Hmm.”
There was a flashy middle-aged man who came to the cafeteria with a floral pattern shirt and flip-flops. He was also a member of the Special Forces Unit. His name was Man Ziyi. He was the person in charge of the Intelligence Unit of the National Order Council Xianghe City branch. He was a professional stock market speculator. According to Mo Yanshao, Man Ziyi was the richest person in their Special Forces Unit. His net worth was unfathomable.
Other than these few people, Xia Ping’an also met two people from the Special Forces Unit, a man and a girl. The man was called Cao Xinghua. He was a muscular guy with short hair, around 27 or 28 years old. He seemed tenacious.
Cao Xinghua was also a summoner. He was a man of few words. When he was free, he hung out in various training rooms. He finished his lunch within three minutes and disappeared from the cafeteria after that. He showed no interest in having a conversation.
The girl’s name was An Qing. She was the kind of absolute beauty that would make everyone’s eyes brighten up as soon as they met her.
An Qing had medium-length black hair. She had a fair complexion and a pair of bright eyes. When she smiled, a pair of dimples could be seen on her cheeks. She spoke softly and listened attentively when others were speaking. She fit the description of every guy’s dream girl.
If Fang Lingshan was equated to the iceberg in the North Pole, then An Qing would be the spring season.
Looking at An Qing’s appearance, it was hard to imagine that a maiden like her was actually a summoner too.
Mo Yanshao told Xia Ping’an that there was another male member in their Special Forces Unit. However, he did not come to the cafeteria for lunch; he was sleeping.
There were also a few summoners from other Special Forces Unit who were not in the cafeteria. They were either on vacation or executing missions in other places now. The job scope of the summoners in the National Order Council Xianghe City branch was definitely not limited to affairs in the city. If other places had abnormalities, the National Order Council would relocate some manpower to help the local officers.
Currently, only six summoners were stationed in this building.
“Qingqing, are you free tonight? Come to my house and listen to my Hi-Fi set. I just spent four million on it. The quality is superb. My house is spacious and comfy.” At the dining table, Man Ziyi invited An Qing to his house. His eyes were glittering, and the corner of his mouth was drooling while he looked at An Qing.
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F*uck, was this flashy guy harassing a summoner in public?
Xia Ping’an observed the two of them with great interest.
An Qing smiled and took a sip of her fresh orange juice. She politely said, “Uncle, you’re too old. I think it’s best to keep a generation gap between us. Oh, yeah, I saw wolfberry tremella soup being served at the buffet line. Do you want to have some?”
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The smile on Man Ziyi’s face froze.
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Xia Ping’an seemed to have heard the sound of a knife being stabbed through the flashy guy’s heart.
Right at this moment, Mo Yanshao’s phone rang. He took out his phone, and his facial expression changed.
He said, “Quit bickering. A fire has started at Lyra Shopping Complex downtown. The Fire Department is on their way there. There are apartments on top of the shopping complex. Some people are trapped in the complex and the apartments. The Fire Department is worried that the rescue will be slowed down since the fire is spreading quickly and the location and number of people trapped are unidentified. Besides, the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Therefore, the Fire Department has requested for backup from the National Order Council.”
Mo Yanshao lowered his phone and scanned the people in front of him. His gaze landed on Xia Ping’an as he said, “Consider this your first mission. An Qing, you will go with Xia Ping’an.”
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