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Extraordinary Countermeasures Bureau.

In the corridor, Xia Yu followed behind Deng Tianming with his head down, his face showing a hint of grievance and resentment.

He was repeatedly criticized by others, many of whom were seniors who had always been kind and caring towards Xia Yu. This stark contrast was difficult for the young man, who had always been favored, to bear.

"Who gave you permission to act on your own?"

Now, when Xia Yu closes his eyes, all he hears in his mind is the sound of two taps on the table, followed by this sentence.

He was questioned repeatedly all day long, and only now was he personally led back by the teacher.

The two entered the office, and Xia Yu obediently locked the door behind them. Only after the door closed did the oppressive atmosphere between master and apprentice begin to circulate slightly.

"I'm sorry to have troubled you, Xia Yu."

With no one around, Deng Tianming's stern face softened considerably.

"As long as it's the teacher's request, I don't care what kind of scolding I get." Xia Yu shook his head, the grievance on his face lessened a bit, but a child's nature can't be hidden after all. When he really felt uncomfortable, his expression and words were always inconsistent.

But as long as Xia Yu doesn't reveal the truth, that's enough.

The truth is, Xia Yu did indeed follow Deng Tianyu's instructions to provoke Ji Mo and try to get in touch with Ji Mo by resolving the school issue.

Among the higher-ups of the Extraordinary Countermeasures Bureau, there were indeed some who harbored resentment towards the Sanchuan Tailor Shop, Deng Tianming being one of them. However, no one would bring the conflict to the forefront. After all, the Sanchuan Tailor Shop had been protecting the mortal realm for a long time, and its members were all exceptionally strong. Apart from their arrogance and aversion to dealing with the authorities, they were generally considered good people.

With numerous external enemies lurking and ready to strike, there is no reason for the authorities to push away reliable allies.

Therefore, Xia Yu's provocation of Ji Mo can only be described as a "personal act," and it must be disguised as "youthful impetuosity."

Even so, it still angered many within the organization who advocated cooperation.

He opened the drawer, took out a stack of documents, and the first page featured a photo of Ji Mo.

His ancestral records are traceable, and the reason for his parents' death is also clear. Although he seems precocious, as an orphan who was not sent to an orphanage but lived alone in his ancestral home and relied on occasional help from relatives, his precociousness is understandable.

Although he often took leave under the guise of part-time work, his grades remained consistently excellent.

At the same time, Ji Mo never showed any extraordinary tendencies before the age of eighteen, and there are no similar eyewitness accounts.

Deng Tianming did not deny Ji Mo's excellence, but there were many people with even more outstanding and unconventional resumes. None of those people received an invitation from the Sanchuan Tailor Shop, nor did they attract the attention of the First Heavenly Lord.

Deng Tianming flipped through the files, which contained some of Ji Mo's combat records. It was hard to imagine that such extraordinary combat skills could have been developed in just three years.

What exactly is Ji Mo's ability? Superhuman strength? Or is it a specialization in enhancing physical attributes?

But isn't this ability too ordinary?

Deng Tianming was annoyed for the first time that the enemies that could appear in the mortal realm were too weak, which caused Ji Mo to be defeated with a single punch, and his strength was not a distinguishing feature.

Left with no other choice, he resorted to this desperate measure, sending Xia Yu to contact Ji Mo.

Xia Yu's ability is [Theft by Ten Fingers]. When he comes into contact with others, there is a chance to read and steal their abilities, but he will not steal their skills. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the probability being diluted due to the opponent's large skill pool.

When he awakens, he can steal and retain two abilities, gaining an additional storage slot with each rank advancement.

What makes this ability particularly valuable is that [Ten Fingers Steal] only steals abilities, not skills, so there's no need to worry about the opponent's skill pool being too contaminated.

However, the limitations are also obvious: stolen abilities never truly belong to oneself.

When Xia Yu was at a lower cultivation level, he was unable to use the corresponding abilities when the original owner used them.

However, based on the ability deduction, Xia Yu's ability will undergo a qualitative change when he advances to the 7th level. He will be able to reverse the situation so that when Tian Gang uses his ability, the original owner will be unable to use his ability.

Because this ability is so unique, Xia Yu's ability is currently kept secret, and only a few people within the bureau know about it.

"Have you detected his ability?" Deng Tianming didn't really expect Xia Yu to be able to steal it successfully; even just figuring out the direction would be good enough.

Xia Yu shook his head: "I've tried many times, but I can't feel anything."

"It seems that either Sanchuan took precautions to prevent Ji Mo's abilities from being detected, or his level is far higher than yours," Deng Tianming said regretfully. "You should go back first; I'll handle the compensation."

"Yes."

……

Ji Mo received a warm welcome when she returned to her dormitory.

Mo Ruqiu, the roommate who played games until the early hours of the morning every day and would look miserable and ask for a substitute to attend her classes, was moved to tears and wanted to rush over to her: "I thought you weren't coming back."

"Stop! I've never seen you this enthusiastic before." Ji Mo took two steps back, unable to bear such excitement from a fellow man. "Didn't I send a message saying I wouldn't be in the dorm for the next few days?"

Not all tasks can be completed on the same day. Whenever a task is estimated to take several days, he will set a message sending time in advance to automatically inform the outside world that he is "busy" rather than disappearing without reason.

This temporary leave, which was not approved by the academic affairs office or counselor, was only permitted because he maintained the persona of "coming from a poor family and working part-time jobs everywhere" for many years, as well as his excellent grades.

At first, the counselor would talk to them privately, but after a while, they tacitly approved. Professor Jiang, on the other hand, asked more questions.

This time was no exception; Ji Mo had already set the time to send the message before leaving.

"Final exams are coming up soon, and you're not here, so I don't have any notes to copy for review." Mo Ruqiu showed her textbook with a long face. It wasn't exactly brand new, but it was practically unopened, with the pages still curled up.

"Didn't the teacher highlight the important points?"

"The book does highlight the key points, but 80% of the content is within the exam scope, for every subject. How can anyone possibly finish reading it all?" Mo Ruqiu complained.

Having missed highlighting the key points, Ji Mo, who was preparing to review the entire book, nodded, quite satisfied that the whole class would be using the same review method as her.

"And these teachers especially like to give questions that are way beyond the curriculum." This is what's most frustrating for Mo Ruqiu. "If I fail again this semester, I'll have to repeat the year."

At Ming Chiang University, it's hard to say about other majors, but the archaeology department is definitely not a subpar one now.

Why do I say now? Because archaeology was indeed not a good major in the past.

The change began with the discovery of three ancient tombs on campus.

The tomb was discovered on our school's grounds, and by people from our school. So, in terms of archaeological priority, it should naturally fall to our school!

What do you mean by "weak teaching staff" and "just reciting from the textbook"? The school managed to secure the opportunity for on-site teaching by sheer audacity and sincerity, and even managed to "poach" a group of archaeology experts, including Professor Jiang.

It is said that the reason the school shamelessly invited him to take a position was that since they were both "jiang" (a homophone for "jiang" in Chinese), it was a real coincidence, so why not let him take a position at our school?

However, according to rumors, Professor Jiang seems to have had a child late in life, and chose Mingjiang University, which offers high salaries, so that his child can have better educational opportunities.

Excellent faculty also means rigorous exams. Since the major reshuffle of archaeology faculty, the students' fate has been sealed.