Chapter 5: Outstanding Talent

The Xiaoshan District Patrol Branch is located on Dongmen Avenue, right near the center of the entire Xiaoshan District, very close to the transportation hub.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

After Lin Qing entered the main gate of the Xiaoshan District Patrol Bureau through the iris recognition system of the access control, he headed straight for the Political Work Section responsible for title assessments.

"Regularization?"

Inside the office, a middle-aged man wearing silver-rimmed glasses sized up Lin Qing standing opposite him, his eyes filled with some confusion.

He pushed his glasses up and said, "I remember you are Captain Chen's cousin? You've only been in the team for a few months, your tenure is insufficient, you haven't established any great merit, and the professional exams haven't even started yet; you want to regularize?"

"Yes," Lin Qing said, "Gao Kezhang, I heard that outstanding talents can be specially recruited and regularized as an exception, right?"

Normally, for a temporary patrol officer to regularize, besides working for five years, having excellent performance, and having no record of illegal crimes, one must also pass the professional exams held by the patrol agency.

The assessment includes physical fitness and professional skills, plus several written tests, which is quite troublesome.

Otherwise, one can only rely on establishing merit, but that is rare.

However, the rarest of all are the specially recruited outstanding talents who are regularized as an exception.

"Outstanding talent?"

Gao Kezhang was slightly stunned first, then looked at Lin Qing in surprise and couldn't help but ask, "Did you succeed in the Morning Sun Cultivation Method?"

"It's been a while; I just didn't think about regularizing before," Lin Qing nodded.

According to regulations, as long as one cultivates the 46th Edition of the Morning Sun Cultivation Method to completion, they belong to the category of 'Outstanding Talent'.

With the Entropy Reverser present, his future progress speed would be very fast, so as long as he pretended he had succeeded long ago, even if he made further progress later, it wouldn't seem so strange.

"Didn't think about regularizing before?"

Gao Kezhang was even more surprised, suddenly sized him up, and said with realization, "I know; you came to regularize because of your sister's matter?"

He naturally also knew about the serious injury of Captain Chen Yanan.

This cousin of Captain Chen probably didn't want to leave any grounds for criticism for Captain Chen due to the imminent arrival of a new acting captain, so as soon as Captain Chen had the accident, he came to regularize.

"You could say that," Lin Qing knew the other party misunderstood, but there was no need for him to deny it.

"Looks like you have quite some talent."

Gao Kezhang's gaze towards Lin Qing also gained a bit more warmth; he nodded and said, "In that case, you can indeed be specially recruited and regularized; after verification is error-free, you can be directly granted the rank of Level One Patrol Officer."

"Then I'll trouble Gao Kezhang to help process the procedure," Lin Qing said.

"No trouble, no trouble, it's a small matter," Gao Kezhang shook his head with a smile.

If it were a patrol officer regularizing normally or through merit, his attitude wouldn't need to be this good, but since Lin Qing is an outstanding talent being specially recruited for regularization, this is completely different.

Even if the former regularizes, the rank is generally only Level Two Patrol Officer.

But once the 46th Edition of the Morning Sun Cultivation Method is completed, one starts directly at Level One Patrol Officer, and the rank can quickly advance to 'Level Three Patrol Commissioner'; after establishing merit in the future, even Level One Patrol Commissioner is within hope.

This is potential.

The leaders of the six groups in the patrol team are all outstanding talents who have completed the 46th Edition of the Morning Sun Cultivation Method; the most difficult requirement for the position of group leader is completing the 46th Edition of the cultivation method.

As for professional exams and waiting out seniority, as long as one is willing to put in the effort, it is generally achievable.

It can be said that once the cultivation method is completed, the future group leader position is basically reserved, so naturally it is different.

"Alright."

After finishing the procedure on his work computer, Gao Kezhang immediately took a simple blood collector from the cabinet nearby and handed it to Lin Qing.

"Just collect a drop of blood; anyway, it's just to detect whether your blood contains the mysterious energy mobilized by the cultivation method. I'll send it to the Testing Center for you in a moment; the report will be synchronized very quickly."

"Okay," Lin Qing took the blood collector, clamped it between his fingertips to collect blood, and casually said, "I thought the bureau had a testing instrument."

Gao Kezhang let out a speechless laugh: "This kind of advanced high-tech instrument is produced by the Wisdom Star Group; the quantity is limited globally; how could we possibly equip a district branch with one?"

Lin Qing understood and said, "I thought technology was already very advanced now."

"If you only look at the Urban Circle, then yes, it is indeed very advanced."

Gao Kezhang shook his head and said, "But the Urban Circle was invested in and constructed by the Wisdom Star Group, an extraterrestrial civilization; even temporary residence requires being a true social elite; it has nothing to do with the vast majority of people, hehe... our current social living standards might not be much different from before the End of Days outbreak a hundred years ago."

Lin Qing pondered thoughtfully.

He was born in the early 21st century and experienced the era before the End of Days, so he naturally knew this point clearly.

Excluding the Urban Circle, compared to before the End of Days outbreak in 2025, 2120 indeed didn't lead by much.

"By the way, Gao Kezhang."

Lin Qing asked, "You are responsible for personnel changes in the bureau; do you know who the new acting captain is?"

"The one transferred over is a deputy captain from the Bai Lu District Patrol Branch; his surname is Xiao."

Gao Kezhang said, "After all, our branch's patrol team doesn't have a deputy captain, so we can only transfer one from another district." Lin Qing was somewhat puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "Why doesn't our bureau have a deputy captain?"

"To be evaluated as a deputy captain, the rank level must be at least 'Level Three Patrol Officer'."

Gao Kezhang shook his head and said, "A deputy captain is equivalent to a captain candidate; setting aside merit and seniority for now, the key is that strength must be like your sister's; not only must one complete the 77th Edition of the Morning Sun Cultivation Method, but at least two combat techniques must also be cultivated to a certain extent to be qualified for evaluation as a deputy captain."

Lin Qing understood.

As far as he knew, in the entire Xiaoshan District Branch patrol team, only his cousin had reached this standard.

Once the 77th Edition of the cultivation method is completed, even without using combat techniques, physical attributes such as speed, strength, and reaction are several times that of ordinary people, more terrifying than the soldier kings of a hundred years ago.

However, with such strength, my cousin was still severely injured by that fugitive; how terrifying must that fugitive be? "The new captain is one year younger than your sister, only twenty-five years old."

Gao Kezhang instructed, "He has a broad future, and his ambition might also be quite high; you must be careful; after all, your sister's current situation... you should understand."

"Twenty-five?" Lin Qing nodded slightly.

To become a district patrol team captain at this age is indeed a broad future.

"Alright, you go out and wait first."

Gao Kezhang stood up and said, "I'll have someone send it over right now; don't worry; the Testing Center will produce results very quickly."

After leaving the Political Work Section, Lin Qing glanced at the time; it was only 8:16, so he planned to go to the second-floor library to read some books.

To go further on the path of the inspection system in the future, while personal martial ability is the focus, various professional exams are unavoidable; since they must be learned sooner or later, time must naturally be carved out to study.

Compared to struggling to survive in the apocalypse, this difficulty is truly too easy.

Just as he reached the stairwell on the first floor, footsteps were heard approaching; he saw several people walking down from above the stairs.

Lin Qing looked up and saw that the one walking in front was a youth in a tracksuit, hands in his pockets, stride leisurely, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

The several people behind him were all dressed in neat, crisp inspection uniforms; following step for step, close behind, their strides compared to the youth's clearly revealed a hint of caution and submission.

Regarding the few people walking behind, Lin Qing basically had an impression of them.

They should all be squad leaders of the inspection team.

However, he was just a temporary inspector muddling through days in the inspection team, belonging to no squad, going wherever a squad needed people, and having almost no interaction with the several squad leaders.

Is this youth's status even higher than that of the several squad leaders? Could it be... Lin Qing had a faint guess in his heart; not rushing to go upstairs, he immediately moved a few steps to the side.

At this moment, behind the tracksuit youth, one middle-aged man with dark skin also saw him and immediately spoke: "Lin Qing, how is your sister?"

"Squad Leader Liang."

Lin Qing did not expect this leader of Squad Three to speak to him, so he said: "My sister is still in the hospital, but there is no major problem anymore."

The middle-aged man nodded and said nothing more.

The youth at the head glanced at Lin Qing with interest, said nothing more, and led the several squad leaders toward the first-floor meeting room.

In a short while, the group crossed the corridor and entered the meeting room.

After closing the door, the tracksuit youth glanced at Squad Leader Liang and spoke with a smile: "Squad Leader Liang, does that young man just now have a connection with Captain Chen?"

"Yes."

Squad Leader Liang nodded slightly. "That is Captain Chen's cousin, named Lin Qing. Because his family circumstances are relatively difficult, Captain Chen specifically took care of it, letting him serve as an external temporary inspector in the team, just muddling through days."

"A temporary inspector, and Captain Chen specifically took care of it?"

The tracksuit youth raised his eyebrows slightly, then smiled meaningfully. "It seems he doesn't even meet the basic requirements for an inspector?"

"After all, he is just a Gao San student." Squad Leader Liang nodded. "Having participated in several training sessions is already good; there is no time to learn so much professional knowledge."

"This is not good."

The tracksuit youth shook his head. "Even a temporary inspector is part of the inspection work; we cannot ignore it just because the problem is small. If temporary inspectors are all in such a situation, how can our inspection work be carried out?"

"Captain Xiao speaks correctly; it is our work negligence." Squad Leader Liang nodded solemnly.

He hesitated for a moment and asked: "Since Captain Xiao says so, then... shall we dismiss these temporary inspectors whose basic qualities do not match today?"

"Investigate clearly, record in the files; we must ensure such mistakes do not happen again." The tracksuit youth said seriously.

"Yes." Squad Leader Liang replied.

Anyone could see the true purpose of this acting captain, but with such high-sounding remarks, no one could say anything.

Truly, a new official starts with three fires.

(End of this chapter)