Chapter Forty: Assignment Transfer

Late at night, at the 304 Sentinel Base of Southport New City.

The base contained three underground safe houses, the largest of which served as living quarters, sprawling over 580 square meters. Its interior was extravagantly decorated, with four master bedrooms and several additional rooms, including the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and a simulated balcony—altogether more than ten rooms in total.

Luo Rao and Chen Qian had each chosen their rooms and, after washing up, gone to sleep. Ji Cheng, after much negotiation, had finally secured his own private bedroom for the first time.

At this moment, the lights were bright in his room. Dressed in pajamas, Ji Cheng lounged comfortably on an inflatable sofa, beside which stood a box containing a black trench coat and a ring-blade insignia embedded with an identification chip.

In his hand, he fiddled with his newly acquired personalized wrist computer. After playing with it for a while, he slipped it on, booted it up with practiced ease, tapped a few times, and a column of light shot out, projecting the screen’s contents onto the wall.

Beep-beep-beep!

As soon as the screen appeared, the sound of incoming emails rang out.

Beep-beep!

Two more emails arrived.

This is endless, Ji Cheng muttered inwardly. With a wave of his finger in midair, a message automatically opened:

—Dear Ability User,

—First, congratulations on passing the rigorous selection process and becoming one of the Ability Users. To help you adapt quickly to your new identity and further realize your potential, we are honored to introduce you to related matters.

The rest of the email detailed the rights and obligations of Ability Users. Only after reading did Ji Cheng truly realize the extraordinary status held by Ability Users on this planet.

There were, after all, only two fundamental differences between the upper and lower classes: one was control and allocation of resources, the other was asymmetric access to information. As an Ability User, one possessed both:

1. Ability Users were a privileged class on their own. For ordinary people, even if one became a minister or a director-level expert at a research institute, one must still greet an Ability User with respect. In formal occasions, calling an Ability User by name was even considered a criminal offense.

2. The legal protection of Ability Users’ rights bordered on the excessive. In the entirety of Southport City-State, in any legal case, fairness existed only if both parties were of the same class. If an Ability User faced an ordinary person in court, regardless of the case, it was nearly impossible for the ordinary person to win.

3. Ability Users had a duty to complete mining assignments. Of the energy crystal ore collected during missions, everything above the minimum required quota became personal property. The city-state encouraged trading the surplus but did not mandate it.

4. Ability Users had unconditional access to all classified materials below top-secret level. This meant that within Southport New City, any commercial secrets, research patents, or identity files could be accessed freely.

5. Ability Users were exempt from all transaction taxes within Southport New City, and when purchasing equipment or supplies from official sources, could receive substantial discounts based on their contribution points.

“Contribution points… tch.”

Ji Cheng curled his lip, unimpressed.

In truth, this system was merely Southport New City’s way of encouraging Ability Users to trade more energy crystal ore. As long as you exchanged the ore for money or materials with the city-state, you’d receive contribution points. Completing city-state mining tasks also earned points.

Ji Cheng opened the other two emails. One was an instruction manual for the robotic guards, the other a notification of task transfer.

“Task transfer? What’s going on? Aren’t new Ability Users exempt from assignments during their six-month orientation period?”

As he puzzled over this, his phone rang.

“Hello, Ji, it’s your brother Lu. I have a favor to ask.” Lu Shangbai’s voice came through the receiver.

A favor? What could possibly stump a veteran Ability User like him, but not me?

Ji Cheng was momentarily taken aback, but quickly replied, “I’m here, Brother Lu. Just say the word.”

“It’s really nothing major.” Lu Shangbai sounded relieved. “I received a mission from the city-state today, but… for certain personal reasons, I can’t go. I’d rather not trouble anyone else, so after thinking it over, I could only ask you.”

Not wanting to trouble others, so you’ve come to me? Ji Cheng was a bit surprised by Lu Shangbai’s candor, but listened patiently.

“Here’s the situation: as you know, there are several mining zones near Southport New City. Some of the lower-tier mines aren’t that dangerous, so to save manpower, we usually have one Ability User lead a handful of certified prospectors for mining.”

Ji Cheng knew this too; low-risk mines rarely dispatched full Ability User teams, as this was much more efficient.

Lu Shangbai continued, “Tomorrow, a team of prospectors is heading into the wilds. The designated leader was supposed to be me, but I really can’t make it. You may be new, but I know you’re solid with mining knowledge. Plus, you’ve fully assimilated with your original gene template, and even took first place in the selection. Handling a low-level mine should be no problem for you… Hey, easy there.”

He paused abruptly, and after several seconds his voice returned.

“Brother, I really owe you for this. The task is already transferred; check your email. I’ll hang up now—thanks again. Oh, and remember I told you you’d get a special spot? It should arrive after you return from this mining trip.”

“This spot…”

Click—the call ended.

“Hello?” Ji Cheng put down his phone with a shake of his head.

He still had no idea what this spot was supposed to be.

“I can’t believe I just became an Ability User and already have to head into the wilds. What a hard life.”

Ji Cheng quickly composed himself. In truth, venturing into the wild wasn’t a bad thing; at least he could make some money. And after just killing a councilman’s son, it was a good idea to lie low outside the city for a while.

Thinking of this, he exited his inbox and opened the virtual marketplace exclusively for Ability Users in Southport New City.

[Name: Ji Cheng]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 18]

[Gene Template: Lynx]

[Ability User ID: NG131201]

[Account Balance: 98 million Baishan coins]

“Huh? The reward’s been deposited.”

As the top scorer in the Ability User selection, Southport New City naturally awarded him a bonus, though not as much as Sand City had offered when trying to recruit him.

Ji Cheng tapped a few times, swiftly typing in his query.

Second-tier gene template.

“It’s not available?” He was stunned. He had planned to work hard in the mines, make enough money to buy a second-tier gene template injection as soon as possible, so that even if Councilman Yao discovered he was the culprit, there’d be nothing he could do.

“Oh well, I’ll ask Old Lu about it another day.”

Putting aside his doubts, Ji Cheng took out a coil of metallic wire—the wager he’d won from Ding Wei in Southport.

He gazed at it, deep in thought.