[Drew target character "Qingyi" skill — Crystal-Clear Senses (Green).]
Fang Wen froze.
Huh?
Do constructs even have senses?
As absurd as that sounded, Fang Wen's body was already experiencing the difference firsthand.
At that moment, even with his eyes closed, he could vaguely sense the existence of the world around him.
The range was about fifty meters.
Within that area, he could clearly make out surrounding details. Even the patterns and cracks in the nearby wall appeared with startling clarity.
That said, the range of fine perception wasn't actually that large—only a few meters around his body.
Anything farther away was reduced to a vague outline.
And that was far from the only use of this skill.
For example, just now he had noticed a line of sight fixed on him from about half a meter away.
He frowned, then quickly relaxed.
Turns out it was just a mosquito itching to make a move.
Without opening his eyes, Fang Wen swung a palm toward that direction.
With a crisp smack, one bloodsucking mosquito met the end of its existence.
When he opened his eyes again and looked at the smear of blood on his palm, Fang Wen fell into thought.
This skill might end up being even more useful than he imagined.
Especially this sensitivity toward other people's gazes, and his awareness of their presence.
Their SWAT unit more or less had similar "skills," but there was absolutely no way the effect could be this clear and intuitive.
Now, if he were walking down the street, he could directly tell which person in the crowd passing by had just glanced at him.
He was basically a human radar.
It felt like cheating.
No wonder Senior Qingyi could always catch the two of them making little moves, whether her eyes were open or closed.
So all their every move had been under her surveillance the whole time…
Way too stimulating. Thinking back on it now, it almost felt like sneaking around while being secretly watched—
Shaking his head, Fang Wen threw the weird thought out of his mind.
After tidying himself up a bit, Fang Wen packed the lunchbox he had just made and rode to the hospital.
There was cultivation in every corner of life. Now more than ever, Fang Wen understood that saying his classmate once gave him.
Who could say riding a bike wasn't a kind of training?
Just imagining the look on Zhu Yuan's face when she tasted his cooking made Fang Wen speed up.
With his stamina having greatly improved lately, Fang Wen pedaled the shared bike under him so hard it practically seemed ready to start smoking.
Passersby on the roadside kept turning to stare.
Before long, Fang Wen arrived at the hospital.
Unlike the lively streets across from it, this place—thick with the smell of disinfectant—was deathly quiet.
Only the nurses and doctors on duty moved through the corridors carrying medicine back and forth.
This was a military hospital, or rather, one of the hospitals directly under the New Eridu city government, clearly separated from civilian hospitals.
Put simply, only official personnel from the military, police bureau, Hollow Investigation Association, and similar government forces could recover here.
The harsh admission standards bought medical resources far beyond those of civilian hospitals. There were many patients here suffering from severe ether corrosion.
As Fang Wen passed one military ward, he glanced inside.
Lying there was a blonde female soldier whose eye had been badly eroded by ether. Under a doctor's care, she was removing the mask that covered half her face so her eye medication could be changed.
For the rest of her life, she would probably never be free of that mask again.
Whether she would even be able to see the world anymore was another question entirely.
Compared to that, Zhu Yuan's injuries really were only minor.
Fang Wen withdrew his somewhat sympathetic gaze, carrying the lunchbox as he quickly found Zhu Yuan's room.
"How does it taste?" Fang Wen asked with a smile as he looked at Zhu Yuan, who was wrapped in bandages across nearly half her body.
In truth, Zhu Yuan's abrasions were even more serious than Fang Wen had thought. Some areas had been grazed by the Ethereal and had swollen badly.
Fortunately, she hadn't taken a direct hit.
Although Zhu Yuan's custom police bodysuit could absorb part of the force, it was still clothing designed for mobility rather than protection.
If she had been struck head-on, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Still, this probably meant she would need a few days to recover.
"Mmm, it's delicious. Did you really make this yourself?" Zhu Yuan blinked. Somehow, she felt like she could taste the feeling of home in it. Was that just her imagination?
"I'm glad you like it. Your injuries aren't too bad, right?"
"Just minor injuries. I'll be fine in two or three days. Oh, right, after this we still have to do that Public Security Patrol Month speech, and you…"
"You should listen to the doctor and recover properly. As long as nothing major happens at the bureau, Senior Qingyi is more than capable of handling your position."
Looking at Zhu Yuan, who puffed up her cheeks in protest, Fang Wen gently shook his head.
"Alright. I promise you, when the time comes, I'll go with you."
"So right now, just focus on getting better. I'll bring you lunch every day for the next few days."
"…It's a promise, then."
[Zhu Yuan Affection +1. Current Affection: 52.]
"Then I'll head back and report the situation first."
"But aren't you still on leave…?"
Seeing Zhu Yuan's conflicted expression, Fang Wen shook his head and handed her the apple he had just peeled.
"Don't you always use your own vacation time to work overtime too? Besides, I feel like I'm mostly recovered already."
"So are you coming back to work as normal, then?" Zhu Yuan raised an eyebrow and shot back mercilessly.
"Ahem. In that case, maybe I should rest a little after all. It's not like I get the chance often."
The two looked at each other, both seeing the smile in the other's eyes.
"Oh, right. Once you're back, let's find a chance to spar," Fang Wen suddenly said.
"So you've finally figured it out? You're not planning to keep slacking off anymore?"
"Yeah. I think I can still get stronger."
Fang Wen nodded, then simply sat there quietly watching Zhu Yuan, a few grains of rice stuck to the corner of her mouth, and said nothing more.
…
By the time he returned to Guangying Square, the sun had already sunk halfway below the horizon.
A few seagulls skimmed low across the glittering river. On the riverside walkway, several couples leaned against the railing, whispering sweetly to each other.
The air reeked of romance.
A few office workers carrying briefcases stared wearily at their phones, choosing what takeout to eat for dinner. At the nearby intersection, several Bangboo officers were working hard to keep traffic in order during the evening rush.
Yawning, Fang Wen stepped into the public security bureau at the street corner, which looked rather quiet at the moment.
Quiet was good.
And he also needed to start thinking about where he could get some heavy-duty weapons.
A lot of the time, the things they faced weren't just vicious criminals. In the future, there would definitely be no shortage of Ethereals like the one from today.
But he couldn't expect experienced "agents" like Belobog Heavy Industries to show up and help every single time.
Thinking as he walked, Fang Wen arrived at the bureau's most heavily guarded weapons vault.
Although ordinary sidearms could be carried on their persons, powerful ether-modified firearms like Zhu Yuan's Violence Bringer K22 had to be registered and stored each time they went on duty.
After the team returned, they were placed back into the weapons room.
Senior Qingyi, who used cold weapons, didn't really have that problem.
Maybe that was a kind of privilege too?
"I'm here to return Zhu Yuan's weapon for her."
The silent officer took the gun, and Fang Wen followed him into the somewhat cramped weapons vault.
He rarely came here, and had never really taken a close look around before.
Aside from the dozens of rifles neatly lined up along the wall, and the piles of ammunition stacked in the corners, there were pitifully few other weapons.
A few rocket launchers were probably the strongest firepower this precinct had.
The rest were only a handful of medium and small melee weapons.
Nothing big enough for what Fang Wen wanted.
There was one shield that looked rather high-tech, though, and Fang Wen couldn't help looking at it a couple extra times.
"That one has already been checked out by Officer Seth."
The otherwise silent middle-aged officer suddenly threw out that sentence.
Officer Seth, huh. Fang Wen remembered him. Earlier, he had even mentioned this new special-ops recruit to Zhu Yuan.
He had even gotten the guy's species wrong, which left a deep impression on him.
And Seth seemed to have an older brother who was also a peace officer, somewhere at headquarters or in another precinct.
There might be a chance they'd work together someday.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just looking. By the way, why are these melee weapons being stored in the vault?"
As the man dismantled the components of the K22 and arranged them back onto the rack, he glanced up at Fang Wen.
"Most of those weapons don't have users. Except for that shield."
Could it be that shield was special, and needed to be stored like a firearm?
"No. It's just because that shield is too heavy to carry around."
…Uh. So that was it.
Fang Wen suddenly felt like he had imagined this place as something far more grand and impressive than it really was.
Then again, it was only a small precinct in one district. How many genuinely valuable "good things" could they possibly have here?
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