"What do you mean by 'only need'?"

Cui Qiao found Han Su's words strange. "It means you need to perform well, receive a decent evaluation, and then catch the eye of an Investigator who’s willing to cultivate you. Then, by using the quota in their hands, they can help you achieve Spiritual Penetration, followed by Mysterious Power Training."

"Of course, this would let you receive the blessing of mysterious powers earlier than ordinary personnel, but there are downsides too."

Pausing for a moment, she said, "For example, if you become an assistant at the Investigator’s side, your own evaluation progress will become more complicated, and your promotion speed to Investigator will also be relatively slower."

"Sigh, the internal workings of the Disaster Management Bureau are really deep!"

At this point, even she shook her head. "But there’s no way around it. The current Investigators and Independent Investigators mostly went through the rough-and-tumble phase of the Disaster Management Bureau’s growth. The power in their hands is too great—almost beyond retraction."

"The Administrative Department has already established a series of regulations and procedures to restrain them. Director Zhang was sent down to enforce these issues, but..."

She shook her head again, clearly aware of the difficulties involved.

As for this issue, Han Su only nodded slightly, not particularly affected.

What mattered was that he needed to quickly learn that spell.

A spell that could conceal one’s presence was incredibly important for a child who often had to play hide-and-seek with those monsters inside the ancient castle.

Besides, why hadn't there been any signs of him being kidnapped yet?

After the initial shock, he vaguely had a guess: could it be because he had returned to the castle once in advance?

If the current pattern held, he should be kidnapped once every fifteen days. But during his first entry into the Disaster Management Bureau, due to the Encrypted Text spell, he had been kidnapped just one day later.

This variable had led to two possibilities:

One was that, starting from the new kidnapping, the interval had been reset, meaning a new countdown began. He would be kidnapped again after roughly fifteen days.

But he hadn’t been kidnapped this time, so that possibility could be ruled out.

Then the second possibility had to be considered:

Stacking.

The first time, he had only spent one day before being kidnapped, which meant there were fourteen days of free time remaining, now stacked onto the current fifteen days.

In other words, he would be kidnapped again after approximately twenty-nine days.

Of course, there could be a third or fourth possibility—maybe he had rescued someone new, which caused the interval to change again.

Or maybe, he had accidentally struck a stroke of luck and wouldn’t be kidnapped again?

…Han Su had to admit, the last guess sounded a bit like wishful thinking.

But no matter what, the answer would be clear in twelve days.

As for the kidnapping, there was nothing he could do about it. What he could do now was make sure he learned that spell for invisibility within these twelve days.

Perhaps he should go find Zhang Zhiguo again, see if he could give a gift and try to pull some strings...

Just as he was thinking this and waiting here with Secretary Cui Qiao for Zhang Zhiguo to arrive, his phone suddenly chimed with a notification.

Curious, he took it out and saw it was a new message from Miss Ai of the Disaster Management Bureau:

【Qinggang City Disaster Anomaly Evaluation and Management Bureau B-class Investigator, codename “Mr. Strange Bird,” has sent you an invitation. In view of your outstanding performance in task execution, he hopes you can come to work and study by his side.】

【Hope you two work well together and become the strongest line of defense against penetration.】

【Application period……】

【……】

“Mr. Strange Bird?”

Han Su was momentarily stunned by the notification.

Beside him, Cui Qiao glanced at the guy being questioned, casually checking his phone without any regard for her presence, which made her feel somewhat disrespected.

But when she heard what he said, her expression changed slightly, and she immediately leaned over for a look.

Upon seeing the notification on the interface, her face had already darkened: "How could this be?"

"That guy is applying to have you work by his side. Isn’t that the same as sending you to your death? Why would Director Zhang allow such an application?"

"……"

Zhang Zhiguo should currently be in conversation with that Mr. Strange Bird Investigator, which meant he was aware of this application?

Han Su trusted Zhang Zhiguo. Although he also felt it was quite odd, he wasn’t panicked. Instead, he unexpectedly thought, "If I follow the Disaster Management Bureau’s procedure, could this be an opportunity to get early access to Mysterious Power Training?"

"It was I who had him submit that application."

Just as Secretary Cui Qiao raised her question, Zhang Zhiguo’s voice came from the doorway. He entered with his hands behind his back, a faint weariness on his face, but his tone carried a hint of decisiveness.

Han Su stood up upon seeing Zhang Zhiguo, instinctively feeling that causing such a mess might have displeased him.

But to his surprise, Zhang Zhiguo merely patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to sit, and said, "I know what you’re worried about, but I won’t blame you. This kind of thing isn’t your fault. It’s a problem with the atmosphere inside the Disaster Management Bureau."

Han Su was a little surprised and slowly sat back down.

"Why?"

On the other side, Secretary Cui Qiao was visibly shocked by Zhang Zhiguo’s decision. "That guy’s reputation in the Disaster Management Bureau is notoriously bad!"

"Because this is an opportunity. There aren’t many people left who have such an opportunity in their hands."

Zhang Zhiguo walked in and sat down across from Han Su, rubbing his brow as he said, "An Investigator can apply to have two personnel work beside them as assistants."

"But usually, these slots are always filled. After all, every Investigator wants to have reliable assistants at their side, so they often select promising candidates in advance and place them close, cultivating them while also testing compatibility."

"To some extent, this assistant slot can even be seen as an internal recommendation. It’s something typically reserved for scholars of the mystical arts with personal connections or among certain families grooming each other’s descendants."

"Only this Mr. Strange Bird Investigator is different. His assistants were already full too, but not long ago, one of them died."

"So now, he effectively holds a guaranteed recommendation slot."

"……"

Han Su listened carefully and asked, "Uncle Zhang thinks this opportunity is important for me?"

"Extremely important."

Zhang Zhiguo slowly raised his head and said, "From this incident, I realized one thing—in the Disaster Management Bureau, never mind the crises or ill intent from others, just the Bureau’s internal atmosphere alone is enough to cost someone like you your life at any time."

"That’s why you must receive Mysterious Power Training in advance."

This statement also seemed to serve as an explanation to Secretary Cui Qiao’s earlier doubts. "Mr. Strange Bird’s application essentially grants you early access to Mysterious Power Training."

Han Su listened and smiled. "That Investigator doesn’t seem too friendly. Would he really be willing to train me?"

"How could he?"

Zhang Zhiguo shook his head. "That guy is stingy when he should be generous, and unpredictable when he should follow the rules. Forget about you—he won’t even train his actual assistants."

"Especially since he has a box that can turn people into puppets."

"If you end up under him, maybe the first thing he’ll do is erase your self-awareness and turn you into a flesh-and-blood tool."

"……"

Han Su listened, quite intrigued. "So what do you mean?"

Zhang Zhiguo slowly sighed. "I arranged for you to have this slot. Then, using one of my personal favors, I’m exchanging it for someone else to train you in Mysterious Power."

"Before you had this slot, undergoing Mysterious Power Training was against the rules."

"But now that you do have it, as long as Mr. Strange Bird agrees, anyone can train you. I’ve already reached a consensus with him on this."

"Once the training is complete, he’ll cancel the application, and you’ll be free again."

"……"

Han Su listened and seemed thoughtful. But it was Secretary Cui Qiao beside him who suddenly frowned. "What if he refuses to cancel the application?"

"I already said I reached an agreement with him. I’m reasonably confident that even if he’s unwilling, he’ll still cooperate with me on this matter."

Zhang Zhiguo looked at Han Su. "Of course, there are still risks. You might worry about other possible consequences. But even if risks exist—this chance for Mysterious Power Training—do you want it or not?"

Han Su couldn’t help but laugh. "Of course I do."

Uncle Zhang was dependable as always. He had everything arranged before Han Su even had the chance to go bribe someone.

As for Secretary Cui Qiao’s concerns and the risk involved—was there even a need to mention it? In this world, when has anything ever come with a 100% guarantee?

Especially for someone like him—had any of his escapes from the ancient castle ever been without risk?

Zhang Zhiguo gave Han Su a somewhat admiring look, waved his hand for him to leave. But this time, Secretary Cui Qiao didn’t escort Han Su out. Instead, she turned and looked back at Zhang Zhiguo, saying:

"You seem different from before."

Zhang Zhiguo knew what she meant and directly replied, "Do I look like a fool to you?"

"You do."

Secretary Cui Qiao said, "But you’re much better now. At least you’ve learned how to exploit loopholes."

Zhang Zhiguo was stunned for a moment, then shook his head in exasperation. "…Maybe there’s something wrong with my personality!"

"Back when I was at the Security Department, I ended up benched just because I couldn’t stand some things. Now that I’m at the Disaster Management Bureau, I still find a lot of things I can’t stomach."

"But—"

He paused, then slowly continued, "The same loss—I already suffered it at the Security Department. Now that I’m in the Disaster Management Bureau, it’s about time I start learning how to adapt, isn’t it?"