Bonus 6 Part 3

Yan Qiushan asked, "Why are you still following us?"

But Zhi Chun had already said not to worry about certain people's manners.

Zhang Zhao made up his mind and shamelessly said, "Are you going to Director Xuan's house? Take me with you. I want to learn from the big shots."

"No," Zhi Chun laughed, "at this hour, disturbing Director Xuan in person would only make him angry. Next time, he'll write a popular science article in the internal publication and criticize you with hidden messages."

In the popular science articles written by Xuan Ji in the internal publication, whenever there were examples, the antagonists were mostly played by a person surnamed Xiao from the Thunder-fire types, who had slow-growing hair and loved to make early morning and late night phone calls, with the remaining 20% of the antagonists played by another one surnamed Sheng from the anti-social department.

Director Xuan's keyboard was as unreliable as his mouth.

Zhang Zhao didn't want to end up as a "deceased Zhang" in the articles and shrank his neck in fear.

Then Zhi Chun said, "It's Teacher Qian who invited us."

Zhang Zhao was taken aback.

When the blade of the Zhi Chun sword was contaminated and its spirit fell into a delirious state, Yan Qiushan was forced to lock him up. Two teams of field agents were dispatched by the Bureau to take turns monitoring their residence.

But even with such tight security, they couldn't prevent the infiltration of the followers of the True Nature Sect into the organization.

Someone took advantage of Yan Qiushan's absence and secretly released the crazed Zhi Chun, who then rampaged through the city and injured six people.

If it weren't for Zhi Chun's habit of showing mercy and never delivering fatal blows with his first strike, those six innocent bystanders would have all perished.

Things eventually spiraled out of control, and it was only then that the Bureau decided to destroy Zhi Chun.

One of the six victims was a certain "Teacher Qian."

After the Chiyuan incident, Yan Qiushan and Zhi Chun did not return to the Wind God forces.

They are now both employed in the Social Reconstruction Department of the Research Institute. This department mainly deals with specific issues after the re-ignition of the Chiyuan - such as how some particularly talented individuals have evolved with exceptionally sensitive vision and hearing, how to renovate residential buildings to protect the privacy of others now; how to prevent special abilities from cheating in large-scale competitions such as the college entrance examination and the Olympics, and how to reorganize athletes based on their lineage and special ability levels; and how to protect the legitimate rights and interests of non-special abilities and low-level special ability individuals.

In addition, the two of them also work as part-time instructors at the Youth Training Institute of the Bureau.

They have multiple jobs, but actually only receive one salary.

In addition to Yan Qiushan's basic salary at the Research Institute for daily expenses, all other income - including Zhi Chun's salary, various bonuses for both of them, and instructor subsidies - will be deposited into the accounts of several victims who were injured by Zhi Chun's mistake that year, and this has been going on for five years without interruption.

Most people are reasonable.

As long as the harm is not irreparable, a sincere apology can usually resolve the issue. After all, holding onto hatred is more draining than high cholesterol.

Out of the six victims, five were either forgiving or satisfied with compensation after learning the whole story.

They even exchanged gifts during holidays and special occasions.

However, Mr. Qian was an exception. After being injured, he was rushed to the hospital and remained unconscious for a whole day.

Unfortunately, during this time, his elderly mother suffered a stroke at home and was found too late.

Life and death are beyond our control, and sometimes we can only blame others.

After that incident, Mr. Qian became a staunch anti-special ability person.

He was originally a teacher at a decent technical college, but was also dismissed.

He refused to accept compensation from Zhi Chun as a way to reject reconciliation.

He made ends meet by doing odd jobs and dabbled in performance art in his spare time: spraying paint on the cars of special ability neighbors, burning photos of special ability celebrities on the street, and even attempting to illegally purchase mithril guns...

Because of these incidents, he was frequently taken on "vacations" by the police.

Yan Qiushan and Zhi Chun had bailed him out countless times.

When Zhang Zhao heard his name, he cringed: "What now? What has he done this time?"

"I don't know, he didn't say," Zhi Chun said. "He just asked to meet tonight over the phone. We need to hurry, we've been held up by those kids for too long. You go ahead and take care of things."

"Why should we?" Zhang Zhao approached them, his mind regressing to that of a teenager as he blurted out, "Why do we have to listen to him? After we've done what he asked, he doesn't even give us a good face. Zhi Chun, your sword body is broken, what more do they want from us? And why do we have to give them money every month? Besides, you were framed back then, so even if we take the blame, it's really the fault of the bureau's poor supervision--"

"Zhang Zhao," Zhi Chun interrupted him.

Zhang Zhao saw the wooden puppet sitting in Yan Qiushan's arms, its face stiff and its obsidian eyes staring at him as if there was a soul inside.

"Everyone, regardless of who they are, will always find excuses and ways to avoid responsibility. It's innate, you don't need to encourage it or teach it," Zhi Chun looked at him sternly. "Some responsibilities can be overlooked, but too many excuses can cloud your judgment and corrupt your character. Do you understand? Don't say these things again in the future."

Zhang Zhao was momentarily speechless, caught off guard by Zhi Chun's words.

"Let's just leave it at that," Zhi Chun said, waving his hand. "I'm not blaming you, I understand you mean well. Come over to my house for dinner sometime."

After getting lost several times using the navigation, they finally found the small fly-infested restaurant where Mr. Qian had arranged to meet them.

As the story goes, Mr. Qian hadn't caused any trouble for quite some time. When Yan Qiushan and Zhi Chun ran into him at a small restaurant, they noticed he had gained some weight.

When a person gains weight, their features tend to get distorted by the excess flesh. Mr. Qian's eyes had become smaller due to his weight gain, and his eyeballs didn't protrude as much, making him look less neurotic.

He had also tidied up his hair and looked like an ordinary middle-aged man.

In the past, when Yan Qiushan and Zhi Chun bailed Mr. Qian out, what they received in return was at most a spit in the face.

This was the first time Mr. Qian had taken the initiative to invite them.

When he saw them from afar, his expression twisted as if he had a toothache, but he eventually stood up and said, "You're here, please sit down."

Mr. Qian had invited Yan Qiushan and Zhi Chun to thank them for their past help and to treat them to a meal.

For three years, Yan Qiushan had been undercover in the True Nature Sect, but he had only managed to learn how to socialize superficially, and even then, he wasn't very good at it. Zhi Chun was better, but every time Mr. Qian saw the puppet speak, he would make a face as if he had a toothache.

The dinner was awkward and uncomfortable, and everyone was relieved when it ended quickly.

As they were saying goodbye, Mr. Qian still hadn't explained what was bothering him.

Finally, Zhi Chun couldn't resist asking, "Is there something troubling you?"

"Oh, no," Mr. Qian replied.

Zhi Chun waited for a moment, but when he saw that Mr. Qian still wasn't willing to talk, he suggested, "Well, maybe we should go then. If you need any help, just let us know."

"Uh... okay," Mr. Qian said.

As they walked about five or six meters away, they suddenly heard the man behind them muttering to himself in a low voice, "My son has been born."

Yan Qiushan stopped in his tracks and turned around, holding Zhi Chun in his arms.

"It's... it's huge," Mr. Qian held his hands apart to the length of a large rat. "When he was born, he had fins on his back that took a week to disappear. The doctor brought in a specialist who confirmed that he's a special ability user."

"Water-based?" Yan Qiushan asked.

Mr. Qian nodded silently.

A strange creature born with a clear water-based inclination, with limitless potential for the future. If it were anyone else, they would have congratulated the father at this point.

But looking at Mr. Qian's conflicted face, Yan Qiushan opened his mouth to speak, but then swallowed his words.