William returned to where they had parked, only to find Zoey standing there looking clueless.
The car was gone.
The two looked at each other, the very picture of being at a loss.
William asked, “Where’s the car?”
Zoey, with wide eyes, said, “The security guard at the gate said the police towed it away.”
“What do we do now?”
“It’s fine, I told Wes to go get it.”
William felt helpless; at this moment, he thought both of them seemed like fools.
Zoey said, “Now, come with us to find Wes and others; you also need to participate in the job assessment.”
William couldn’t help asking, “What if I don’t pass the job assessment?”
“If you don’t pass… just take it again next time,” Zoey said. “But the better your assessment test data, the higher your salary will be. If you pass the assessment, I’ll apply for a salary increase for you.”
“You think I really care about that little salary?” William sneered, thinking to himself that he might as well pass the assessment to earn some easy money.
Love what you do, and who doesn’t love a salary increase?
If you’re not working for a raise, then what motivation do you have?
Maybe to pull Zoey down from the Director’s position and take it for himself?
“You call a car with Uber,” Zoey glanced at William.
William looked at her puzzled, “Call a car with Uber?”
Zoey’s brow furrowed, “You don’t know how to use Uber? It’s like calling a ride-sharing service on your phone.”
William’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Do you know how?”
“No! And my phone is out of battery,” Zoey said haughtily, flipping her hair. “Then let’s walk.”
Alright then! William confirmed, they really were both fools.
“How did your talk with Evelyn go?” Zoey finally remembered to ask about the main issue.
“It went well,” William replied.
“Oh.” Zoey’s tone was indifferent, apparently not surprised by William’s response. She changed the subject, “We now have to walk to the new base, and we’ll pass through a food street on the way. Oh, and my phone is out of battery.”
William was a bit puzzled, not quite understanding her point.
Zoey didn’t elaborate further but led William forward. They soon arrived at a street filled with a variety of food stalls. Zoey walked up to a barbecue stall marked “Authentic Texan BBQ” and ordered twenty skewers of grilled meat in an authentic Texan accent.
The vendor quickly grilled them and handed them over to Zoey. At this moment, she turned to look at William.
William finally understood. Whether Zoey knew how to use Uber was irrelevant; the key was her phone being out of battery, preventing her from making payments. Walking also conveniently allowed them to pass through this food street.
He even began to suspect that Zoey had deliberately made him park the car on the roadside to be towed, just so she could sneak out to the food street during work hours. Yet, he also felt Zoey might not be that calculating.
Along the way, William spent a total of one hundred and eighty-eight dollars. He only drank a cup of coffee and ate two skewers of grilled meat, the whole process feeling like a dutiful attendant responsible for the bill.
The new base of the 13th Bureau was unexpectedly located in a gaming club called “CLOUD9,” just three kilometers away from Silvergate Tower. When Zoey reached the entrance, she had just finished the food in her hand, not leaving even a bit behind.
She even carefully wiped her mouth before entering, hands behind her back, striking a pose of leadership, though it was unclear whom she might have learned it from.
William followed slowly. Once inside the base, they only saw a group of teenagers playing games in front of computers.
Zoey led William into an office, then triggered a mechanism, revealing a staircase leading downwards.
William followed Zoey down the stairs.
The basement was extremely spacious, lit by overhead laser lights that made it as bright as day.
Surrounded by metallic walls and flooring, the base was home to over a hundred Soulmancers.
William spotted Walker and Wes from a distance.
At that moment, Walker was vigorously swinging his fists against a metal wall.
“Bang!” The dull sound of the punches didn’t seem like they were hitting metal.
“5720 pounds, not bad!” Wes, holding an iPad, looked at the data on the screen. He then noticed Zoey and William and waved at them.
“Sis, is William also being assessed?”
Zoey nodded and said to William, “Hit that wall with all your strength!”
All his strength?
William was genuinely worried that a full-force punch might level the whole of New York City.
“How many pounds of force are required to pass the assessment?”
Wes replied, “You’re a newbie Soulmancer, so 2000 pounds is considered passing. Come on, give it a try.”
2000 pounds?
William was completely unfamiliar with this strength testing device.
How could he hit just enough to reach around 2000 pounds?
Standing before the wall, William tried to control his power, thankfully having recently sparred with other Soulmancers, he could vaguely keep his strength within the range expected of a newbie Soulmancer.
“Bang!”
William threw his punch.
“1025 pounds, not bad,” Wes observed the data displayed on the iPad, nodding slightly, but the next moment, he was stunned.
His iPad was a genuine device designed to test Soulmancer strength, displaying not only power but also what kind of creatures such an attack could kill.
There were nine levels, ranging from ordinary wild beasts to high-level Soulmancers.
William’s punch registered only 1025 pounds of force, but the system indicated that this punch could kill a high-level Soulmancer. What was going on?
A punch with 1025 pounds of force should be nothing more than a tickle to a high-level Soulmancer.
“What’s wrong?” William noticed Wes’s expression was off. Had his punch been too strong?
“Wait, let me restart the system.” Wes seriously suspected there was an issue with the testing system. Just because it was a test system, didn’t mean it couldn’t have bugs, right?
After restarting, he said to William, “Try again.”
William took a deep breath, pretending to use all his strength, and punched the wall again.
“510 pounds?” Wes furrowed his brow, then his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. The testing system showed that William’s power could defeat a mid-level Soulmancer? What was going on with this system?
“What’s the problem?” Zoey noticed Wes’s unusual expression, took the iPad to look at it, and then said to William, “Try once more.”
Walker, standing aside, seemed a bit puzzled. With William’s level of strength, what was the point of repeatedly testing? Usually, two tries were sufficient, but now a third attempt?
William’s eyes narrowed slightly as he saw the data on the iPad through his eyes’ X-ray ability.
He suddenly realized a problem: if he thought too much, his punch might unconsciously unleash a deeper, universe-related power, whose lethality couldn’t just be measured by physical force.
He had to control himself,he hadn’t expected modern technology to have advanced to the point where it could detect such deep forces.