Chapter 58: An Gang's Valor

In a classroom of fifty students, a middle-aged, bald man wearing a plaid shirt was teaching them a foreign language.

"ABCDEFG... We've finished the twenty-six letters. Now let's move right on to phonetic symbols, and then quickly go over grammar..."

Xia Shou was sitting in the third row, with Su Weiyu seated beside him.

While everyone else's desks were piled high with textbooks, Su Weiyu's desk held a plate of steak and lobster, filling the entire classroom with the aroma of fine food.

Eating in class would normally be considered a disruption of classroom order, but since Su Weiyu was the one feeding him, everything was deemed "normal."

Su Weiyu picked the lobster meat out of its shell, dipped it in sauce, and fed it to Xia Shou.

"... Want some more? Or would you rather have some steak?" Su Weiyu asked.

"Let's go with the steak."

Xia Shou suddenly felt how truly unpredictable life could be.

Three days ago, he was still an ordinary high school senior.

Back then, their classes were structured similarly, but their study intensity was several times greater than this professor's. Important points were highlighted without pause, and notes were taken from start to finish.

And now, all he had to do was listen to the lecture; taking notes was entirely unnecessary, as the knowledge imparted by the professor was branded into his mind as if by a hot iron.

By the time the class ended, Xia Shou's mind was already packed with English knowledge.

Whether it was grammatical tenses or word pronunciation, everything was firmly engraved in his memory. Reading various English books was a breeze, and fluent, authentic London slang rolled right off his tongue.

When evening came, Xia Shou went to the crash-course drawing class that Shangguan Yan had signed him up for to practice self-portraits.

Meanwhile, Su Weiyu seized the opportunity to read books to 678, stating that she wanted to finish her upcoming reading assignments ahead of time during these few days to avoid any complaints from 678.

It wasn't until 9:00 PM that Xia Shou's workday finally came to an end.

When he returned to the department to clock out, Shangguan Yan was still working overtime, and Bai He was also in the office, though he was busy playing a video game.

"You're back. Perfect, there are some things I need to brief you on beforehand. Have a seat," Bai He said.

"Aren't you getting off work, Brother Bai? It's already very late," Xia Shou tactfully reminded him.

"Oh, it's fine. I've been playing games the whole time, so I'm not tired. As soon as I finish telling you this, I'll go back to my dorm to play more games," Bai He said casually.

Suppressed anger raging inside him, Xia Shou sat down next to Bai He. He had originally thought everyone in this department was a tireless pack mule, only to discover that the absolute clown was none other than himself.

"According to the director, we'll start teaching you from the very basics.

First of all, if you go on a business trip in the future like you did this time, you shouldn't just investigate the incident you're pursuing; you also need to contact local departments and review the tricky cases they are currently handling.

Because anomalous incidents don't discriminate. You might have gone there for Incident A, only to be inadvertently dragged into Incident B which is currently unfolding. If you haven't familiarized yourself with Incident B beforehand, your survival rate will be very low.

This time, the place we're heading to has already had a barrier set up. It seems some organization intends to hold a dangerous ritual to sacrifice all the women and children in Edinburgh.

Of course, this matter has nothing to do with us; other specialized personnel will handle it. You only need to know that people bearing this kind of tattoo on their bodies are members of that cult."

With that, Bai He pushed a picture of a tattoo toward Xia Shou.

It depicted a tree, with an eye at the base of the roots—a quite distinctive pattern.

"If you see this kind of tattoo, call the local Control Bureau; they'll take care of it."

"If the ritual succeeds, the women of the entire city will be sacrificed. Do we really not need to do anything about it?" Xia Shou asked, feeling anxious because Su Weiyu was coming along as well.

"The ritual cannot possibly succeed, because the authorities have already stationed a Tier 5 Finisher to hold down the fort. When push comes to shove, the Finisher will step in."

"Then why not just have that Finisher resolve the matter directly?"

Bai He let out a light chuckle. "Just as the director said, you really do know nothing at all... But that's fine. Once we arrive at our destination, I'll slowly fill you in on these common sense things. For now, take a look at this file."

[Criminal: Angang Xiongwu]

[Superpower: Ability Bank]

[Specific Effect of the Ability: Can temporarily borrow the superpowers of other transcendents, causing the lenders to temporarily lose their abilities.

Angang Xiongwu can also lease the borrowed abilities out to other transcendents, operating essentially like a bank for abilities.

His personal Ability Bank can store a maximum of four abilities.

(If the lender is unwilling, Angang Xiongwu can accelerate his own aging to forcibly borrow the ability for a period of time.)]

[LV: 2]

[Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous]

[Detailed Intelligence: During his escape, the abilities stored in Angang Xiongwu's "Ability Bank" included pyrokenisis, freezing, physical enhancement, and making eligible linear objects stiff and straight.

However, because Angang Xiongwu's abilities fluctuate drastically, the above intelligence holds no reference value.]

"There's actually an ability like this?" Xia Shou drew a sharp intake of breath.

This ability was practically a protagonist template—flexible, possessing extremely high growth potential, and rapid growth speed.

He only needed time to grow, and before long, he would become a bona fide Ability Bank.

Just looking at its effects, he was already unrivaled at his tier.

Fighting against any transcendent of the same tier, he could simply pay the price of aging to forcibly strip away the opponent's ability and instantly annihilate them.

He was simply an invincible monster among his peers!