Dude, something's really wrong with your abilities.

Chapter 35 Space System

Linchuan City has a permanent population of just over three million. It is not considered a large city in China, but it is not small either. In recent years, thanks to industrial upgrading and several intersecting railway lines, the number of migrant workers has been increasing.

Of these three million people, approximately two thousand are registered superhumans, representing less than two-thousandths of the population. And of these two thousand, the vast majority are rated between F and E.

Their abilities are mostly similar to those of Zhou Yaping and Wang Demin—emitting light or electricity, etc.—and have little practical value. Such abilities are neither enough to change an individual's fate nor enough to cause social panic. They go to work as usual, farm as usual; their superpowers are at most topics of conversation over tea, or an extra line of special skills to write on during job interviews.

Only a very small number of people with a rating of C or above will be recruited by the Bureau of Supernatural Abilities or enter special industries, such as the military, medical, and building reinforcement fields.

Ordinary citizens rarely have contact with high-ranking individuals with superpowers in their daily lives. Therefore, the general public's attitude towards individuals with superpowers is probably "they know about them, but they don't care much."

The news occasionally reports cases of crimes committed by people with supernatural abilities, but the cases that make the news are basically those that have already been handled by the patrol team. They are not fundamentally different from ordinary crimes, except that they have a slightly more exotic and mysterious feel to them.

Most citizens are more concerned about housing prices and wages; to them, low-level superhumans are no different from left-handed people.

Su Xiaohe was very familiar with these data. During her time in the archives, she buried herself in old papers every day, even during her lunch break.

It wasn't because she liked it; it was because she was transferred to the archives less than a month after joining the intelligence department, and she had always doubted her work ability. So after arriving at the archives, she went through all the registration files of all the people with superpowers in the city from beginning to end, and re-indexed them by year, rating, and superpower category.

There are only three registered Space-type ability users in this city.

Furthermore, there are zero individuals in Linchuan City's official registration files who possess abilities such as body liquefaction or vaporization, which alter their physical form. There have also been no cases involving individuals with such abilities.

Su Xiaohe opened her notebook: "But the fact that nothing was found does not prove that nothing existed. Just like the underground battle at the lottery station that Group Five experienced before, there were two people with superpowers who were not registered, and no cases related to their superpowers could be found before."

Sun Tiemei nodded: "Why don't you first introduce the situation of spatial ability users to everyone?"

"Among spatial abilities, the first one is named Shao Jian, whose spatial creation level is A. He was the head of our bureau's intelligence section before he died, and he was the predecessor of Section Chief Sun."

Chen Shi turned his head: "Before he died?"

Sun Tiemei explained, "Section Chief Shao retired many years ago and passed away from liver cancer last year. His special ability was spatial generation, which allowed him to travel freely."

"The second one is Wang Lin, female, with a B-level illusory penetration ability. She immigrated to country A with her husband ten years ago. She returned to China once five years ago, but has never come back since."

Chen Shi wrote down the two characters "Wang Lin" and then drew an X on the name. He looked up and waited for Su Xiaohe to continue the introduction, but saw that Su Xiaohe looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Xiao He, there's one last one, please continue."

Su Xiaohe scratched her head: "The last one is our Director Liu, so we don't need to investigate him, right?"

Pang Daqiang walked around Chen Shi from behind, putting a hand on his shoulder: "Investigate? Of course we need to investigate. The team leader said earlier that all spatial ability users need to be investigated."

Chen Shi felt that Fatty had become a bit arrogant lately. Could it be that the team leader had been too nice to him?

Chang Biao interjected, "Daqiang, stop fooling around, that's our bureau chief."

"So what if it's the director? The director is also from the Space Department. The team leader said to investigate, and if you don't investigate, you're disorganized and undisciplined." The fat man slapped a big label on him.

Sun Tiemei coughed, and the fat man immediately shut up.

"There's no need to investigate Director Liu. He just returned from headquarters yesterday afternoon and has been in the office with Lao Zheng ever since. We even met last night." Sun Tiemei thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. "His ability is teleportation, which is at the A-level, but many people in the bureau know that his spatial ability has long since deteriorated. The last time he used it ten years ago, the teleportation distance was less than half a meter, and he even twisted his knee."

Everyone wanted to laugh, but didn't dare. Chen Shi even found the bureau chief more approachable.

Sun Tiemei glanced at the fat man who was suppressing a laugh beside her: "Pang Daqiang, are you bored? Didn't I tell you to hurry up and go to the patrol team to investigate Li Qian's cause of death?"

The fat man's smile froze on his face instantly: "Boss, I was just about to report this to you."

As he spoke, he took a half-step back, rubbing his fingers along the seam of his trousers. "I just spoke with Captain Fang of the Chengnan Squadron. He said the forensic doctor is performing the autopsy, and the report won't be out until this afternoon. I'm going right on time to get it while it's still hot. It's not that I didn't want to go earlier, but I saw Xiaohe analyzing things, so I just listened in and offered some advice or something."

Chen Shi glanced at the fat man with disdain. From beginning to end, this guy was just stirring up trouble.

"Let's go now." Sun Tiemei tapped the table lightly.

"Yes." The fat man grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and walked out without looking back. When he reached the door, he tripped on the threshold and stumbled forward half a step. He quickly grabbed the door frame, and without looking back, disappeared into the corridor.

Su Xiaohe turned her gaze away from the direction where Pang Daqiang had disappeared, and without asking a single question, quickly picked up her notebook and pen.

"Team leader, although the Space Department line has been broken, there might still be some omissions in the archives. I'll go and check again. If there are any that aren't classified under Space but have similar descriptions, I won't be coming back for lunch."

After saying that, he grabbed his notebook and ran out, not even taking the snacks from his drawer.

Before Sun Tiemei could speak, Chang Biao had already turned back to face the screen, his ten fingers flying across the keyboard, typing away rapidly, looking busier than anyone else. "Team leader, I'll retrieve Li Qian's call records right away. Don't worry, I've already applied for authorization. Now we're just waiting for the data to be sent back from the operator. At most, half an hour will be enough." He finished speaking without looking up, and typed even louder.

Sun Tiemei glanced down at Wang Jianlou, and the dog jumped up, instantly changing from a lying position to a sitting position, chest out and belly in, its little tail wagging wildly from side to side.

Actually, before Sun Tieyao had even finished saying "Go now," Chen Shi had already started to move out with his crutches, but his steps were too limited, and he barely managed to cross the threshold, looking quite pitiful.

"Chen Shi." Sun Tiemei's voice came from behind.

Chen Shi turned his head and stopped.

"Let's go together. The security guards and the dean of academic affairs at No. 3 Middle School need to talk to each of us. Also, we need to go to Li Qian's house."

"Team leader, I think I can..."

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up."