Ring, ring, ring!
A firm and powerful hand quickly silenced the ringing alarm.
“Time’s up for today. Another day of total failure.”
Yang Zicang stood up from his desk and stretched. As he rose, the light flickering from a small transistor-like cylinder on the walnut desk shifted from a steady, rhythmic pulse into a chaotic jumble.
A girl with a cute face adorned with a hint of delicate charm, her medium-length hair tied into a coiled ponytail, walked over with a smile.
“Looks like someone’s a bit anxious, huh?”
“Group Leader Jiaoma,” Yang Zicang said helplessly, “Yeah, it’s been so long, and I haven’t even caught a single Dissonance Band from the old world. Anyone would get anxious.”
“Practice makes perfect. By the way, did you enjoy the training ground yesterday?”
“It was alright. I got a SUPER rating on my first try, and I plan to go again later. It’s just that the Psychic Bodies of those Demonic Nightmares are a bit too… enthusiastic for comfort.”
“Haha, you’ll get used to them once you’re familiar with them!” Jiaoma, holding a folder under her arm, clapped her hands lightly with a grin. “I really wonder how you managed to find that place all by yourself.”
“Well… it’s as if something guided me there without any conscious direction. I just wandered around and happened to stumble onto that path. Luckily, when you contacted me, you casually asked if I was heading to the training ground, which was how I learned such a place existed.”
Thinking back to the afternoon when he was wandering alone around Lost Illusion Company, Yang Zicang couldn’t help but smile. Fortunately, his employee ID allowed him to ask for directions back to his office and dorm anytime, or else he wouldn’t have dared to roam aimlessly in such a massive building.
“Once you acquire the ‘Base Pattern’ there, the growth and control efficiency of your mental power will improve significantly.”
A middle-aged man passed by, holding a teacup, and casually remarked:
“But Zicang, don’t get your hopes too high. After all, to seize those fleeting usable bands amid countless chaotic signals, even with the help of the ‘Base Cognition Pattern,’ you’ll still need some time to adjust.”
Jiaoma, clutching a stack of files, said softly: “Actually, the reason Zicang has such low success rate is because he hasn’t been to the Literature Department yet and has no grasp of what those bands really are. Hmm… I’m heading over now. You sure you don’t want to come?”
A poised middle-aged woman walked past the two:
“Yeah, Zicang. If you go check out what these bands are really like over at the Literature Department, you’ll find it much easier. My time’s up for today—I’m off now.”
Over recent days, the group leader had already invited him two or three times, but Yang Zicang directly refused each time.
“Thanks for the reminder, everyone.” Yang Zicang shrugged.
……
Yang Zicang hooked his coat with a finger and draped it over his shoulder. Humming a tune, he walked along the vintage tiled corridor under the gaze of classical sculptures.
[The Barking Dog Gate welcomes my arrival.]
{Please insert your employee card.}
Yang Zicang picked up the card and glanced at it, his eyes sinking slightly as he thought. He felt a vague emptiness, as if something had slipped his mind, but when he tried to recall it, nothing came.
Shaking his head, he inserted the employee card into the slot in the door and then pushed the door open with both hands.
The clamor from inside reached his ears.
—”The box-pushing master is here!”
—”Wow, the challenger of the hidden level is back again!”
Beep, beep, beep. Several silhouettes darted over and crowded around Yang Zicang, a few psychic humans among them revealing admiration in their eyes.
A girl with elf-like beauty handed Yang Zicang the psychic game cartridge he had used yesterday.
—”This is your cartridge!”
Yang Zicang nodded.
“Thanks for holding onto it. Everyone, make way, let me pass first. Hey, hey.”
A few bodies squeezed and jostled against Yang Zicang, pushing him toward the far side of the room.
{So you’ve come.}
Yang Zicang entered the training grounds again, and the Wind Spirit Warrior’s figure emerged from the entrance of the dilapidated temple.
{It is my friend who chose to challenge the hidden level. Today’s process is the same as before. Come, when the sword falls, you may begin.}
As he finished speaking, the warrior drew a longsword slung diagonally at his waist and cast it into the air. The sword plunged into the center of the rock square that had expanded even wider. In an instant, winds arose and clouds surged, as six wooden crates fell from the sky in succession.
Beyond the force field walls, strange and oddly shaped humanoid heads were packed tightly against them.
[The Group Leader of the First Purification Unit of the First Action Department is watching me.]
This time, no one was there to push him into the first crate. However, its falling angle and force were identical to yesterday’s. Yang Zicang, who hadn’t even activated his Modal Aura, managed to easily push it into the position that the wind spirit warrior had concealed the day before.
“For the second crate, I’ll try it without the Modal Aura too.”
Yang Zicang walked in advance toward the spot where he had prostrated himself to push the wooden crate the previous day. This time, with mental preparation, although there was still little improvement in controlling his bodily movements, he managed to use the deceleration effect of the Modal Aura to give the crate a push with his hand, sending it to the same location as yesterday.
[The Barking Dog Gate has informed me that my Group Leader is watching me.]
One by one, the cases fell, and soon a blazing hot wind arose, with flames spreading all around.
The halo on Yang Zicang’s chest flickered.
“What exactly are you?”
Starting from yesterday, Yang Zicang had maintained a strong sense of doubt. In his heart, he had developed a certain conjecture about this Modal Aura that could vibrate and grant courses of force to other entities.
Unfortunately, because there are still people on that Lost Frequency Land stranded beyond self-rescue, his hands were tied. So not even this conjecture could be shared with anyone.
[Barking Dog Gate informs me that Gong Huanwu, the executive officer of the Second Operations Department, is paying attention to my performance.]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Wooden crates fell like rain. Yang Zicang began to draw his longsword, gripping it firmly as he prepared for the high-speed descent of the ever-expanding crates.
Boom! With a swing of his sword, a massive crate shattered into smaller pieces, scattering and pressing down on the glowing floor tiles beneath.
—”Wow, yesterday he was still collapsing several times, but today he hardly moved at all.”
—”Even without grappling in the ‘storm,’ this newbie can still score perfectly. It’s almost… like cheating.”
With Yang Zicang’s final sword slash, the enormous metal crate burst apart with a loud crash.
[SUPER!]
{Perfect again. I never thought someone below third-ring mental strength could achieve such precise control.}
The intense heat receded, and Yang Zicang leaned on his sword, panting heavily as he stood upright.
Such high-intensity training would be difficult even for seasoned martial artists using their own bodies, let alone in this telekinetic field, where they maneuver bodies enveloped by telekinetic force.
Yang Zicang guessed that this space was originally meant for repeated challenges—to become familiar with the trajectories of the falling objects through constant practice, gradually adapting until ultimately succeeding.
If someone were to endure such prolonged training, their control over their telekinetic body would undoubtedly become remarkably sophisticated.
“It’s a shame I can’t stay here for long. Otherwise, this training ground would truly be a precious place to refine mental control.”
His psychic energy, honed by the Complete Stamp Emblem world, reinforced by the “Silent Night” meditation and empowered by the “White Shadow Nian Dragon,” possessed a potent spiritual force. As a result, under the tempering of the Dissonance Band’s turbulent flow, he could rapidly advance to the second ring’s eighth-tier strength.
According to Group Leader Jiaoma, further elevation either requires deep meditation or must come naturally with age and one’s deeper comprehension of life.
The Wind-Spirit Warrior approached. Yang Zicang looked at its blurry face as it stood before him.
Initially, this figure wouldn’t even notice that he had left his original position, but now it could precisely walk right up to him. It seemed that under the hidden challenge level, its Psychic Body had been imbued with significantly more sensory psychokinesis.
{This is the second time you have received the “SUPER” rating, friend. You may use the additional reward I have left for you.}
As it raised its hand, three small constructs of psychic energy appeared in its palm.
— “Wow, I get to try it out in advance, huh.”
[An executive from Banishment Group Two is watching me.]
[The Barking Dog Gate tells me that because of my hidden challenge, many company employees have become interested in these cartridge cards.]
“Is everyone wondering what this is?”
Yang Zicang first picked up the ring floating and spinning slowly in the air.
“A Memory Diamond Ring? It can be used to explore memories?”
A faint, unfamiliar voice attached to the psychic ring echoed in his mind.
— Humans are always prone to forgetfulness. Not only can’t we recall the details of a summer afternoon from ten years ago, but we also struggle to remember how many dishes we had for lunch last Wednesday.
“Indeed.”
Yang Zicang, now feeling his thoughts much sharper, let go of it, and it suspended in the air again.
The second item was a pair of glasses.
— Humans are always prone to judgment. When someone stands before us, if they are of noble status, the attitude we offer tends to be much kinder; if they are a castrated slave, contempt will rise in our hearts.
Yang Zicang picked it up and held it to his eyes. The warrior before him, naturally, saw nothing amiss. But when he turned to look at the psionic figures gathered outside the gate beyond him, the young man realized that at this moment, his perception of those psionic beings had inexplicably been calmed.
It was as if those bizarre heads were just bizarre heads, nothing more. They were so ordinary that no readily amusing jokes could be made of them.
“Hmm…” He roughly understood what this thing was used for.
For some people, this tool could be a huge help. For instance, a freshly licensed lawyer, a novice speaker, or a simpering flatterer always trying to ingratiate himself with an upright superior.
Then came the third item. It bore an irregular shape, condensed within a faint mist. Once Yang Zicang held it, he could see it clearly: it looked like a miniature beehive.
[The Barking Dog Gate reveals that many people want to know what this one is.]
As fingers touched it, a faint new sound indeed emerged.
—People are always prone to righteous anger. Water is silent, but stirred by wind, it roars. Yet when faced with injustice, onlookers may not always have the courage to truly voice their dissent, but their anger genuinely resides in their hearts.
Yang Zicang, holding the soft, small honeycomb-like object, did not notice anything different about it.
{Trial ended.}
“Can I ask what this last item is for?”
The Wind Warrior smiled, hearing but not listening, as she retrieved the three items.
“Ah,” Yang Zicang sighed as he exited the training ground, returned to the dorm to wash up, and was then pulled by Jiaoma to have dinner.
In the dead of night, the simulated clock’s hands ticked faintly in the darkness.
Suddenly, the sleeping young man sat up wide awake, springing bolt upright from the covers.
“Who is Wei Zhenguo?”
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