Regarding the matter of awakening lightning abilities after transformation

Su Wanxi seemed to really like the taste, and Gu Cheng suddenly felt that the taste of sweet tofu pudding wasn't so strange anymore.

"This is my account. You can add it so we can stay in touch." After finishing her meal, Su Wanxi remembered that she didn't have Gu Cheng's contact information yet, so she handed her her phone.

"Okay." Gu Cheng stuffed the napkin into the plastic bag, then took the phone and added the friend.

Su Wanxi—that's her nickname, just three simple characters, requiring no special note. Her profile picture is a photo of a blue-eyed Ragdoll cat, its fluffy fur exuding a lazy charm, making it incredibly cute.

There is another text message waiting to be checked; it comes from an unknown number.

Your salary has been credited to your account. The bank card number used for the transfer is... followed by a string of numbers.

The black card Song Shiyan gave her could be used not only to verify her identity but also for depositing and withdrawing money. In a sense, it could also be considered an independent bank card.

I silently repeated it to confirm that her bank card number was correct and that the amount transferred was 30,000.

Thirty thousand? Gu Cheng rubbed her eyes, somewhat incredulous. Her savings had never exceeded four decimal places.

"How can there be so much salary? I just started working here on my first day!" The sudden windfall made Gu Cheng feel a little unreal.

"It should be the bonus from the two overlapping cracks," Su Wanxi replied.

“I shouldn’t have taken so much.” The crack on Huaixin Street could be considered something she handled on her own, but the other one definitely didn’t count. She did nothing and even held the team back.

She felt ashamed to accept money without having done anything right.

“As long as you enter the rift, you are considered to be involved in its handling. This is a rule of the Hermit Bureau.” Su Wanxi frowned her beautiful brows, deliberately emphasizing the word “rule.”

"We are a team, comrades-in-arms who will fight side by side in the future. There is no right or wrong. Everything is allocated according to the rules." This is the safest approach. It may not be fair, but it can greatly reduce the possibility of discord among members.

"...I understand." Gu Cheng thought about it and stopped worrying about it.

As we drove out of the city center, the drizzling rain gradually stopped, and the streetlights became sparse.

Su Wanxi only knew Gu Cheng's approximate address, so she simply parked the car on Huaixin Road.

"Goodnight." "You too." The two said goodbye to each other.

Su Wanxi didn't drive away immediately, but watched Gu Cheng walk into the building, waiting until a light came on in a window of the secluded building.

"Living in such a remote place..." she muttered to herself as she picked up her phone.

If you're looking to rent a place recently, you can come here; it's quite reliable.

After editing and revising the text message, I finally decided to send it.

Inside the rented room, Gu Cheng turned on the shower, and her phone, which was hidden under her clothes, lit up.

Section 14, Chapter Fourteen: The Source

After taking a shower, Gu Cheng returned to her bedroom, her whole body still aching uncontrollably. She didn't check her phone, but instead burrowed under the covers and drifted off to sleep. It wasn't until she woke up the next morning that she noticed the message on her screen.

If you need help, please let me know. Su Wanxi did indeed say that.

Although she appears aloof and indifferent to everything, she is a kind-hearted person at heart.

Gu Cheng recalled the warm tofu pudding from last night; the sweetness spread from her teeth to her heart, eventually melting into a gentle sense of emotion.

If I hadn't... halfway through her thought, Gu Cheng quickly patted her head.

Stop overthinking and get up. Yesterday's experience in the cracks has filled her with motivation for today's training.

After quickly washing her face and brushing her teeth, having breakfast, and changing into loose sportswear, Gu Cheng boarded the subway to the city center.

"You're here?" On the ground floor of the office building, Zhou Li heard the door behind him open and put down the mineral water bottle in his hand.

"Okay." Gu Cheng readily agreed. She had arrived earlier than before, but Zhou Li was still one step ahead of her. After a brief greeting, the two began their combat training for the day.

The main task remains practicing basic movements. At Zhou Li's request, this tedious but effective training will accompany her for most of the time.

At first, Gu Cheng couldn't fully understand this approach, but as time went on, she gradually came to understand the reasons behind it.

Zhou Li wanted her to have some kind of muscle memory, an instinctive reaction that is difficult to manifest in normal times, but can subconsciously make the best counterattack the moment she is attacked.

The road ahead is long and arduous; understanding is one thing, doing is another. In just two short days, no matter how much Gu Cheng practiced, she had only scratched the surface.

As training was nearing its end, the two engaged in their usual friendly sparring session. Gu Cheng lasted a minute this time, slightly longer than before.

Having witnessed Zhou Li's skill in handling the cracks, Gu Cheng could sense that the other party was deliberately accommodating her.

He suppressed his speed and power to a lower level, fighting solely with pure skill. In other words, Zhou Li was unleashing his power.

"It's alright, there are just a few minor issues." Most of the movements were still quite clumsy, but there were also some bright spots, and Zhou Li didn't hold back his praise.

"Phew..." Gu Cheng sat on the chair next to him, one hand on her chest, the other holding a towel to wipe away sweat. Zhou Li took out a stack of papers from his bag and leaned against the wall to carefully look through them.

"Uncle Zhou, what is that?" After spending a few days together, the two had become quite familiar with each other, and Gu Cheng's way of addressing him changed from the distant Mr. Zhou to Uncle Zhou.

"Do you want to see yesterday's crack report?" Zhou Li asked her, putting down what he was holding.

"May I watch?"

“Sure.” Strictly speaking, Gu Cheng had not yet completed her onboarding training and was therefore not qualified to view the relevant materials. However, considering that she was also a participant in this rift, Zhou Li simply opened a back door for her.

Gu Cheng took the materials, and the first thing that caught her eye was a black and white half-body photo.

It was a man's face, wearing a worn-out denim jacket, with a long, thin face covered in wrinkles, a low nose bridge, and flat, cracked lips that revealed deformed teeth.

"This is..." It looks very familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it before.

Gu Cheng narrowed her eyes slightly, a scene suddenly flashing through her mind: a human face growing on the giant spider's body in the crack. It differed slightly from the photo, but it was definitely the same person.

"Why is his face on the giant spider's body?" The materials also contained detailed information about this person. The more Gu Cheng read, the more depressed she felt, as if a huge rock was pressing on her heart.

"Because he is the source of the rift, it is not surprising that the monster has similar characteristics."

"The root cause?" Gu Cheng muttered to himself.

“The appearance of each rift requires certain conditions, including a body, some negative emotions, and a little bit of… misfortune. And once a rift forms, that person will cease to exist, so we call the person who provides the conditions the rift source.” Zhou Li explained slowly and methodically, as if this unsettling information was just casual conversation.

"You mean, human life provides the initial energy for the generation of the rift?"

"That's a very apt way of putting it. After that, it can draw the remaining energy it needs from the surrounding environment and finally complete its birth."

It sounded like some kind of ritual, and Gu Cheng couldn't help but frown.

"So, back to the point, what was it like dealing with cracks for the first time?" Seemingly unwilling to discuss this further, Zhou Li skillfully changed the subject.

"How did you feel?" Gu Cheng carefully recalled her thoughts at the time, and gave her answer after a moment of silence.

"Nervous, fearful, and a little excited."

Zhou Li carefully examined the girl in front of him and suddenly smiled with some relief.

"I've seen many new recruits, including myself, whose first missions were always disastrous. Some people performed well in training, but in actual combat, they couldn't even hold their guns properly, like limp shrimps on land, completely incapable of fighting."

"Tenseness and fear are inevitable; the key is to overcome them. From this point of view alone, you are much stronger than them." The girl was only in her early twenties, yet she was so calm on her first battlefield experience. She truly deserves to be called a promising young woman.

Hearing this, Gu Cheng turned away embarrassedly. Rather than trying to overcome it, she felt that she was simply unable to accept it, her mind went blank, and she naturally ignored these emotions, which had a bit of a sense of luck.

"As for excitement...maybe you're really suited for this job." The last sentence was half serious and half joking.

Just then, my phone alarm went off.

“If you want to learn more about the cracks, you can apply to Director Song for access to the archives.” Zhou Li put the report back in his bag and ended the morning training.

"Okay." Gu Cheng stood up and closed the training room door. She still had many questions she wanted to ask, but there was plenty of time; she could bring them up another time.

After a quick lunch, Gu Cheng could have taken a nap on the training table, but Zhou Li's words made it impossible for her to fall asleep.

"Weapon serial number D45." Lying prone would be a waste of time; it's better to start training now. Gu Cheng went to the logistics department to retrieve the gun and ammunition, put on earplugs, and began practicing.

With yesterday's shooting experience, my hand holding the gun wasn't as rusty as before.

Six rounds of ammunition, three hit the target, not bad.

He silently encouraged himself while continuing to load bullets and aim again.

"Aren't you asleep?" Su Wanxi's voice suddenly came from beside me.

"Hmm, I don't really want to sleep." Actually, Gu Cheng thought to herself, "I want to sleep but I can't."

"When did you arrive?" She hadn't even noticed.

"You loaded the bullet last time." At that time, Gu Cheng was still basking in her new record and didn't even notice Su Wanxi coming in.

"Well... good afternoon." A white crew-neck short-sleeved shirt paired with light blue jeans—simple attire, yet it looked pleasing to the eye on Su Wanxi. Looking at the person in front of her, Gu Cheng's voice was slightly awkward and unnatural.

"Good afternoon." Su Wanxi brushed past her and went to the training platform next to her.

Section 15, Chapter Fifteen: Reality and Illusion

With a slight flick of her wrist to the left, revealing an empty revolver, Gu Cheng put down the pistol, turned around, and picked up a small broom from the corner.

Despite being a state-run institution with ample funds, the Hermit Bureau maintains a strong tradition of thrift and frugality. All spent shell casings generated during training are required to be recycled and handed over to the government for unified management.

Cleaning shell casings and other such trivial tasks were not part of Gu Cheng's job scope, but since she had some free time, she thought that stretching her muscles would make things less troublesome for the cleaning staff.

Su Wanxi continued firing, maintaining extremely high accuracy despite the constant gunfire.

Her training volume in the afternoon should be far greater than Gu Cheng's. The two used different bullets to shoot, which can be seen from the obviously unequal number of bullet casings in the broom. Gu Cheng glanced at it and the ratio was close to eight to one.

I have to say, he truly deserves to be the captain of their team.

Gu Cheng simply sat down next to her, catching any bullet casings that fell with a bag, and soon they piled up into a small, dark brown hill.

"You don't need to come tomorrow," Su Wanxi suddenly said to her.

"Oh... Ah?!" Gu Cheng was stunned for a moment before she realized that she had been fired before she even started the job?

"Weekends are for rest. The Hermit Bureau doesn't exploit its employees." Su Wanxi seemed unaware of how easily her words could be misunderstood, and continued training on her own.

"..." Indeed, Gu Cheng was overthinking things. From the moment she signed the contract, she was bound to the Hermit Bureau. There was no other way to leave except through death or retirement.

"Okay, I know."

When was the last time she had a "weekend off"? Gu Cheng had no recollection whatsoever; it might have been back in junior high or even earlier. Her previous job was as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant, where customer traffic surged on weekends, forcing her to work overtime instead of rest. Given the weak concept of weekends in the world, it's no wonder she didn't immediately understand Su Wanxi's words.

"What level are you close to right now?" Feeling that it was about right, Su Wanxi took off her earplugs and turned to ask Gu Cheng.

"I haven't really tested it yet. The current can leave the body, but it can never be generated out of thin air." Every time she activates her ability, the current only surges from her heart and then flows with her will. The only decent attack method she can think of is to manipulate the current to temporarily leave her body and deliver a close-range electric shock.