Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Assessment
Yang Wenqing carried the thick stack of books back to his new home in the Dongning Community. He placed the books in a neat pile on the desk by the window. Looking at the mountain of textbooks, he didn’t feel daunted. Instead, a strange sense of reassurance washed over him.
’Knowledge is another form of power.’ He was a firm believer in this.
For the next half-month, Yang Wenqing’s life fell into a strict routine. He would wake up on time every day before dawn. First, he would unfailingly meditate and practice his Qi Cultivation, using the rich Spiritual Qi in the community to fill his Qi Sea and solidify his Early-stage Qi Cultivation realm. By the time the sun began to rise, he would already be at his desk, beginning a day of study.
Just as Vice Section Chief Li had said, his cognitive abilities, memory, and comprehension had taken a qualitative leap after advancing to the Qi Refining Realm. Key points that might have once required repeated study to memorize were now fully grasped after just one or two read-throughs. He could even extrapolate from them, and at incredible speed.
When he felt mentally exhausted, he would get up and practice the few spells of Magic he had mastered, or he would simply guide the Spiritual Qi through his body in a complete cycle.
This life, immersed in an ocean of knowledge and personal cultivation, brought him a sense of fulfilled tranquility. All the noise of the outside world was shut out from his small study.
About ten days into his training period, Yang Wenqing received a letter from his family in the Yang Family Village in Sanhe Town.
The letter was from his father, Yang Jianmu. As always, the handwriting showed a strained effort to be neat, making it look rather awkward.
The letter began with the usual questions about his life in the county seat, reminding him not to slack off in his cultivation and to take care of his health. Then, his father got to the main point:
"A few days ago, two guards from the county bureau’s records department, escorted by the town garrison, came to the house. They asked for details about your birth, your upbringing, and your performance at the clan’s school. They even examined the family genealogy..."
"When the clan elders heard you had broken through to the Qi Cultivation Stage, they were all overjoyed. That very day, they led us to the ancestral hall for a grand ceremony to worship our ancestors..."
Putting the letter down, Yang Wenqing walked to the window, his thoughts drifting to the time the clan had pooled money for him to go study in the city.
Now, the clan’s grand ancestral worship ceremony made him feel the heavy weight of expectation once again—an expectation from his family, from his bloodline.
After a long moment, he let out a soft breath and carefully put the letter away.
For the remaining few days, Yang Wenqing studied even more diligently. On the final day, he constantly ran simulations of various tactical scenarios in the Golden Core World, repeatedly memorizing key points of criminal investigation to ensure he was completely prepared.
「The half-month deadline passed in a flash.」
On the day of the assessment, Yang Wenqing arrived at the Operations Section’s third-floor office area a quarter of an hour early.
When Sister Song saw him enter, she smiled and pointed toward the inner office. "Section Chief Li said you can go straight in."
"Thank you, Sister Song."
Yang Wenqing nodded his thanks and knocked lightly on the office door. After hearing a steady "Come in," he pushed the door open and entered.
Vice Section Chief Li was still sitting behind his desk. Aside from the usual documents, there was now a blank test paper and a pen. He glanced up at Yang Wenqing and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit. We’ll start with the written exam."
"Yes, sir."
Yang Wenqing sat down as instructed and took the test paper, his eyes quickly scanning it.
As expected, the questions were all from the dozen or so textbooks, covering key points of tactical command, identification of Spiritual Qi traces, and the application of laws concerning Cultivator crimes. The questions were a mix of short-answer and essay formats.
He took a deep breath, picked up the pen, and after a moment’s thought, began to write.
His enhanced memory and comprehension from advancing to the Qi Cultivation Stage were on full display. The knowledge points he had crammed for half a month surfaced clearly in his mind and were methodically organized into words.
In just over an hour, Yang Wenqing put down his pen and handed the completed exam back with both hands. "Section Chief Li, I’m finished."
Vice Section Chief Li took the paper and skimmed through it quickly. He read fast, pausing only briefly at one or two key arguments. After a moment, he set the exam down.
"Mm, your fundamentals are solid enough," he commented lightly, then stood up. "That’s it for the written test. Come with me to the operations room."
The operations room was at the end of the same floor. It was spacious, and the most striking feature was the enormous sand table in the center.
The sand table was a detailed model of a section of the county seat’s districts and the surrounding terrain. Buildings, streets, forests, and rivers were all represented, and there were even markers for different combat units.
Vice Section Chief Li walked to one side of the sand table, picked up a blue command flag representing his forces, and pushed a red command flag for the enemy forces toward Yang Wenqing.
Then he said softly, "For this simulation, we will each command a hundred-man team. The terrain is this suburban-urban fringe area. I will defend, you will attack. My objective is to use this abandoned factory complex ahead and the forest to the side to hold out until the simulation time ends. Your mission is to break through my defensive line within the time limit and capture the core objective in the factory area."
He pointed to a prominent model of a tall tower within the factory complex on the sand table.
"The rules are simple. Forces and equipment are equal: eighty basic infantry, twenty Qi Cultivators, and no High-tier Cultivators. During the simulation, you can ask for intelligence within your line of sight at any time. Understand?"
"Understood!" Yang Wenqing’s gaze fell on the complex sand table. This was a standard assault drill.
The simulation began.
Vice Section Chief Li was clearly experienced. His blue markers quickly occupied advantageous terrain.
Yang Wenqing didn’t rush to attack. He first ordered a small number of reconnaissance units forward to cautiously probe the enemy’s firing points and ambush positions. At the same time, he directed his main force to spread out at the edge of the enemy’s long-range fire, build simple fortifications, and assume a posture of cautious advancement.
’Playing it safe?’
Seeing this, Vice Section Chief Li immediately ordered a small unit in the flanking forest to launch a brief assault, attempting to harass and draw out Yang Wenqing’s main force.
Faced with this probing attack, Yang Wenqing reacted calmly. He used only a portion of his forces to block and repel them, while his main force held the line. He also ordered his reconnaissance units to intensify their search for weak points in the enemy’s defense.
Time ticked by, and the confrontation on the sand table seemed somewhat dull.
Yang Wenqing was like a patient hunter, constantly using small-scale engagements and reconnaissance by fire to wear down and probe the enemy. He carefully recorded the position and firing arc of every enemy firepoint, as well as the patterns of their troop movements.
Vice Section Chief Li tried several times to lure him into a rash advance with feints, even intentionally revealing a flaw, but Yang Wenqing remained unmoved. His advance was slow, ensuring every step was secure, and he never got greedy for a quick victory.
Finally, two hours into the simulation, after compiling a large amount of information, Yang Wenqing discovered a minor gap in the enemy’s defensive line.
’An opening!’
Yang Wenqing didn’t immediately send his entire army forward. Instead, under the cover of a powerful feint from his front-line troops, he suddenly ordered the elite squad of ten Qi Cultivators, who had been on standby, to strike like a sharp sword right into that gap!
The blow was swift and vicious!
Vice Section Chief Li clearly hadn’t expected Yang Wenqing to find this fleeting weakness so precisely, nor that he would dare commit his precious elite Qi Cultivators to a do-or-die assault. He hastily mobilized his reserves to try and plug the gap and intercept the strike team.
But this was the very moment Yang Wenqing had been waiting for—the moment he moved his reserves!
The instant the enemy reserves left their positions, the main force that Yang Wenqing had held back suddenly launched a full-scale assault on the factory front. Without the support of their reserves, Vice Section Chief Li’s troops on the front line came under immense pressure from the fierce attack of Yang Wenqing’s well-rested forces.
"Not bad!" Vice Section Chief Li’s voice boomed. "First, one makes themselves invincible, then they wait for an opportunity to defeat the enemy. A good tactic!"
He studied Yang Wenqing carefully and commented, "You’re steady, but you haven’t lost your edge. You’re patient, yet you can seize a fleeting opportunity. Most importantly, you can keep your composure. I tried to lure you out several times, but you never took the bait. That kind of mindset is rare in a young man!"
Finally, he concluded, "You’ve passed this simulation. In fact, you were excellent."
As he spoke, he took out a document he was carrying and quickly wrote something on it. Then he looked up at Yang Wenqing and said, "Come with me."
He led Yang Wenqing back to the section chief’s office, took a certificate from a drawer, used Magic with his badge to emboss his signature onto it, and then handed it to Yang Wenqing, saying:
"With this document, you can study all the basic incantations in the bureau. The Secret Techniques for the Qi Cultivation Stage will also be open to you. Also, your official transfer orders have come down. You’re going to the Major Case Team. Remember to report there before the 20th of this month. They’re very short-staffed."
"Thank you, Section Chief!"
Yang Wenqing thanked him sincerely.
Vice Section Chief Li nodded and said, "I’m just following procedure. You can go and receive your new Cultivation Technique now."
Yang Wenqing gave a respectful salute and then left, closing the door behind him.
Vice Section Chief Li again wrote something quickly on the document he’d been carrying. After a moment, he picked it up, walked to the Records Section, and knocked on the door to Qin Feng’s office.
"A rare visitor! What brings you here today?" Qin Feng was a little surprised by Vice Section Chief Li’s visit.
"I’m here to drop off a file. Weren’t you always saying we never create files after our trainings? Well, I made one this time." Vice Section Chief Li handed the document he had just written to Qin Feng.
"Yang Wenqing? Is he special?"
"What, you’re not optimistic about such a young Qi Cultivator?"
"His talent lies in the strength of his consciousness, but his cultivation foundation is too poor. To properly develop one’s foundation during the Qi Cultivation Stage, you need to be a bit flexible to acquire enough resources."
"Is he rigid?"
"Not exactly..."
"Then that’s fine. The power we old-timers have is limited. When we see a promising talent, we give them a little push. Whether or not they can make it to the top is up to them."
Qin Feng accepted the file and lowered his voice. "Yang Wenqing’s old boss, Wang Ren, the chief of the East City Public Security Office... is there any chance he could be transferred to the General Affairs Section?"
Vice Section Chief Li immediately understood. "Is he aiming for the deputy chief position?"
Qin Feng nodded. "Hoping to follow your brother-in-law’s path?" He then added, "During the cleanup operation before the new year, didn’t the West City Public Security Office suffer heavy losses in a cave? The position of General Affairs Section Chief probably won’t go to their chief now, right?"
