Chapter 1157: Class C Magnetoception Evolvers

The Ninth Central School has a total of four classes — preschool, junior, intermediate, and advanced — with 122 students.

If the idol were asking about someone else, Xia Qing might not know, but she knew Wang Shunkang very well. "Wang Shunkang is the adopted son of Wang Jun, our center's Class C magnetoception evolver. He's seven years old. He moved into our territory in May and enrolled in the Ninth Central School. How did you know his name?"

"The school made a name tag for every student — clear at a glance." Zhang San continued his questioning. "Both his biological parents are gone?"

Xia Qing gave a brief account. "His parents lost control and died in the third Killing Rain of Year Seven of the Calamity. The child had been hidden in an iron sheet box under the bed at the time. He must have been traumatized — after Wang Jun rescued him, he never made another sound. The entrance physical confirmed his hearing and vocal cords were undamaged, and his intellectual development was normal, so he met the enrollment standards."

Zhang San continued questioning. "The third Killing Rain of Year Seven of the Calamity at Hui-Three Base — did it involve thunderstorms, Killing Explosions, strong winds, and red-grade hail?"

Seeing Xia Qing's eyes light up at once, Zhang San immediately warned, "Stick to the matter at hand."

Xia Qing swallowed down her surging admiration for her idol. "Your memory is excellent. That Killing Rain did indeed produce all those catastrophic weather events. Countless people inside the Hui-Three Safe Zone lost control, triggering a massive riot."

Zhang San continued questioning. "When Wang Shunkang was rescued by Wang Jun, was he wearing protective gear and a protective mask?"

"Yes to both." Xia Qing was absolutely certain on this point. "I personally watched Wang Jun open the box and pull him out."

Zhang San asked again, "Were there any signs of lightning strikes on that box?"

That…

Xia Qing thought carefully for a moment. "Because there was a melee going on inside the room, the outside of the box was smeared with quite a lot of blood. And it was an old iron box that had been used for many years. I couldn't tell whether it had been struck by lightning. Third Brother, is there something off about Wang Shunkang?"

Zhang San nodded. "Did Wang Jun take him to see a psychologist?"

Xia Qing answered, "He took him to the hospital for a free physical. The doctor said the child could eat and sleep fine, so there was nothing wrong, and he never received professional psychological counseling. Back then Wang Jun was working on the construction crew just like me, and his wages weren't high."

Although the base regularly distributed welfare and subsidies to children — rations and basic preventive medicines and the like — the quantities weren't large. The wages Wang Jun earned on the construction crew were already quite good for covering food, clothing, and shelter for himself and Wang Shunkang, and he simply couldn't spare any extra credits to take him to a professional psychologist.

Moreover, as far as Xia Qing knew, the outer-city hospital of the Hui-Three Safe Zone didn't have any professional psychologists.

Zhang San asked, "The salary you're paying Wang Jun now isn't low, is it?"

Xia Qing nodded. "He's an A-grade position employee at our center — his salary and benefits are among the highest of all employees."

Zhang San instructed, "Wang Shunkang's condition isn't quite right. He needs psychological intervention. The longer it's delayed, the harder it will be to cure. When Wang Jun has time, have him take Wang Shunkang to the inner-city hospital for a checkup."

After the idol had said so much, how could Xia Qing fail to understand what he meant? She smiled and suggested, "We're too far from the inner city. What do you think about having him bring the child here for you to examine?"

Hearing Xia Qing's words, the driver Zhang Jingwu held his breath, not daring to turn and look at Zhang San's expression, and sincerely admired Xia Qing's courage. The only person in all of Hui City who dared speak to the big shot like that was the one in the car — the top sniper who liked to be straightforward.

Zheng Chen in the passenger seat, meanwhile, was surprised by how lively and animated Xia Qing was in front of Zhang San — completely different from her usual expressionless self — and couldn't help wanting to turn and steal a glance.

Zhang San shot Xia Qing a look. "You think I'm that free?"

"Of course you're not free." Xia Qing answered dead seriously. "This little matter wouldn't require your personal hands at all. Just casually send any researcher who just finished their work to take a look at the child in their spare time and draw up a treatment plan. Wang Jun is an outstanding employee at our center, and Wang Shunkang is an employee's child. Let's just count it as giving a benefit to an outstanding employee. What do you think about that side of things?"

"Not a single researcher on my team is free." With that, Zhang San pushed open the door, got out of the car, and returned to the laboratory.

Xia Qing, very perceptively, took the box Zheng Chen was carrying from him, followed her idol into the office, and only after closing the door did she lower her voice to ask, "Third Brother, what's the situation with Wang Shunkang?"

Zhang San had laid so much groundwork in front of Zheng Chen and Zhang Jingwu precisely because he wanted to find a legitimate reason to have Wang Shunkang come to the Seventh Center for examination. Xia Qing had sensed this, which was why she had played along with him in that little performance just now.

With no outsiders here, Zhang San answered directly. "Based on his behavioral performance just now, this child does indeed have psychological issues, and he should be a Class C magnetoception evolver. That's why, when in close proximity to fierce evolvers like Zhang Jingwu and Zheng Chen, and when sensing the intense emotional fluctuations of the people around him caused by my experiment, he found it difficult to control his facial expressions and body movements."

"Tell Wang Jun as soon as possible to bring the child over. This child genuinely needs psychological intervention. If we confirm he's Class C, he must learn to hide his ability as quickly as possible."

Class C magnetoception evolution — just like Xin Yu — is the ability to sense changes in animal magnetic fields. The exploitation value of this ability is extremely high. Once the news got out, Wang Shunkang would become a prime target for human traffickers.

"Alright, I'll contact Wang Jun as soon as I get back." For the idol to say this, he must be fairly certain that Wang Shunkang possessed this ability. Xia Qing was both happy and worried. She continued to ask, "Third Brother, when Wang Shunkang comes, you must personally treat him. This child is very good at math — he must be very smart. Cure him yourself, and let him feel gratitude and trust toward you."

Having a Class C magnetoception evolver feel gratitude and trust toward you is equivalent to having an extra humanoid hazard-detection and reconnaissance machine. From then on, whenever Zhang San suspected someone around him had a problem, he could just call Wang Shunkang over to sense them, and he'd be able to judge with eighty or ninety percent accuracy.

Zhang San nodded. For once, his words and his heart were in agreement.

Xia Qing kindly reminded him, "Third Brother, the data says this type of magnetoception evolver is very sensitive to human emotional fluctuations. When he comes, you need to try to control your emotional fluctuations. Don't, just because you're impatient, start considering dissecting someone or poisoning someone to death with drugs or anything like that."

Zhang San shot Xia Qing a look. "The person I most want to dissect is you!"

To see exactly what kind of stuff is packed inside that bizarre brain of yours.

Xia Qing said with a grin, "Besides Wang Shunkang, are there any other good prospects at our school?"

After talking for two whole hours, Zhang San drank a big glass of water to moisten his throat before answering lazily, "Every single one is a good prospect."

"You're right — every child is a good prospect. I'll pass your words on to Principal Yang, so he and the school's teachers can treat every child equally and cultivate them well. I'll also pass your words on to the children to encourage them to study hard." Xia Qing answered dead seriously, while secretly letting out a quiet sigh of relief inside.

Xia Qing wasn't certain whether Wang Shunkang was a Class C magnetoception evolver, but Little Shiyi definitely was. But Little Shiyi hid it very well — even Third Brother hadn't noticed she possessed this ability — which put Xia Qing's mind at ease.

After finishing the discussion of Wang Shunkang, Zhang San asked Xia Qing about last night's mission. "Didn't you go bird-hunting last night? How did you end up dueling with Hui-Five's top sniper?"

Xia Qing answered briefly, "I didn't go running over there. Hui-Five's Phantom Squad followed two blue-skin wanderers and illegally entered our base's Mountain Twenty-Nine…"

Hearing that Xia Qing had dared to stand on the hillside bombarding the opposing top sniper with only a soft-body protective shield covering her lower half, Zhang San snorted coldly. "Your nerve is really getting bigger and bigger. If Eclipse Moon hadn't been able to block the enemy's advanced sniper, or if there had been other snipers lying in ambush, your neck would already have been relocated."

Having survived to Year Eleven of the Calamity, how could Xia Qing possibly let herself fall into such a dangerous situation? The protective mask she wore was the highest safety-grade special ops model, and the neck section of the mask had been modified by Uncle Huo. Even if it were hit, the worst she'd get was a concussion.

However, she wasn't going to let slip such a fine opportunity for trading supplies. "Third Brother, what do you think — can I trade for some of your advanced equipment here for self-defense? The kind that prevents my neck from being relocated."

Zhang San shot a look at the Xia Qing who was playing dumb and suddenly asked, "How many units has Broken Waist learned?"

Xia Qing…

"The assessment has already been over for three days. You haven't even started teaching yet, have you?"

Xia Qing…

"Is Broken Waist's phone and notebook in its hands or yours? Have you cleared the phone and notebook's memory?"

Xia Qing…

"Has your pile of wasp shit started fermenting?"

Xia Qing immediately straightened her back. "I brought it back and weighed it, added compost starter powder, and started fermenting it. This morning I went to check — not just the wasp droppings, but the other three types of droppings fermenting together have all darkened in color, which shows that under the action of the starter powder, the droppings have already begun breaking down organic matter."

Zhang San!!!