180: Chapter 179 Strange Tales (Part 1)

Cao Xiao feigned an expression of annoyance as he said to the old man, "Old man, you're being quite unfair! I respect you as a senior, so I won't lay a hand on you, but you haven't explained things clearly. If you were really an enemy invader, do you believe you'd be a pile of minced meat by now? I wasn't born yesterday; don't believe me? Try me."

The old man looked at Cao Xiao in disbelief, stunned for a moment. He was about to explode in rage, but then something seemed to occur to him. He merely said fiercely, "Kid, you've got guts! I won't lower myself to your level, but this year's rent is doubled. You figure it out yourself!"

Cao Xiao looked at him with disdain. "Heh, isn't it just rent? How much? Just give me a number. I'll pay ten years upfront, or just sell the house to me and I'll level it to rebuild."

"Fine! You said it. The monthly rent for this house is one million. Doubled, that's two million. That's twenty-four million a year. But since it's you renting, the annual rent increases by half. For ten years, that's 1,383,960,000. Adding bank interest or currency depreciation factors, I'll just take 1.5 billion. Can't help it; property prices are rising too fast these days. It's called keeping up with the times. If you want to buy, the price might be higher. Hard to calculate. Not that I'm looking down on you, but this house has permanent property rights. Even if I sold it to you at the price of a hundred years' rent, you still couldn't afford it!" The old man rattled off a string of numbers on his fingers, looking at Cao Xiao with schadenfreude.

Cao Xiao stared at the old man, dumbfounded. Gritting his teeth, his lips trembled as he pointed at him. "Old geezer! Are you crazy for money or have you never seen it before? Do you want Hell money? Or should I just burn a bank for you? Even for this dilapidated house, I'd have to think twice about five hundred a month. Two million? Would you take it if I rented it to you?"

The old man huffed and puffed. "Hmph! You're the first person to curse me to my face. I'm kind enough not to hold it against you, but don't regret it when you come begging me for help one day. People are clamoring to rent my house for ten million a month; two million was a friendship price. Now the price has gone up—four million a month. Take it or leave it!"

Cao Xiao scoffed. "Tch! I wouldn't come begging you even if the sky fell. With those old bones of yours, you might kick the bucket tomorrow. I didn't plan on renting this dump anyway. Keep it for your own graveyard! I'm calling people to move my things right now!"

The old man pointed at Cao Xiao angrily. "You think you're so capable. I won't argue with you now; wait until you're crying later. This old man is in tip-top health; dying isn't easy. Living another eighty or a hundred years is no problem. I might even attend your funeral!"

Just as Cao Xiao thought he would storm off in a rage, the old man suddenly switched to a sleazy smile. His wrinkled face looked like a withered yellow chrysanthemum as he spoke again, "But... how about one million? I'm giving you the original price only because I see you have backbone. Don't you dare refuse, or I'll get angry!"

"I wouldn't take it now even if it were free. This place looks unlucky. The rent hasn't expired yet! You should just head back to wherever you came from!" Cao Xiao had an expression that said 'Do you take me for an idiot?' as he heartlessly evicted the old man.

"Hmph! Ungrateful! We'll see!" The smile vanished from the old man's face. He turned to leave but stopped after a few steps, looking back craftily. "By the way, a friendly reminder: you'd better read through the files in the database carefully. I live right across the street. If you regret it... hehe!"

"Tch~!"

Cao Xiao didn't know the old man's specific identity in the Supervision Department, not even his name. Regardless, he only viewed the Supervision Department as a platform to understand another strange world and didn't care if the old man held a grudge. Even if the other was a senior or a great expert, he could see the old man wasn't a petty villain; on the contrary, he found him quite interesting—sloppy, lecherous, greedy, and boastful, but without much of an ego, and fundamentally not a bad person, somewhat like an old prankster. If it were anyone else, it might have ended in tragedy by now. So, he couldn't be bothered to waste more words and turned to walk into the room. He did take the old man's words to heart, mentally preparing himself for the world behind the mysterious veil about to be revealed.

The door was an old-fashioned solid wood door, unlocked, and opened with a gentle push. The house looked dilapidated from the outside, but the interior was well-decorated in a modern Chinese style. Aside from the furniture, everything was new, likely recently renovated. Though the furniture looked old, it was all Ming and Qing dynasty style antiques made of extremely precious wood: a three-meter-long Golden Silk Phoebe Zhennan Ebony table, a six-meter-long nine-panel Small-leaf Red Sandalwood screen, eight Huanghuali Wood armchairs, an Agarwood display shelf covering an entire wall, and so on. These pieces were made from large timber. Even the stairs were made of Wenge Wood, and the floors were genuine Portuguese Cork, leaving Cao Xiao speechless. This was just the living room; the actual value of this furniture alone was no less than several hundred million, and it was the kind of large-scale, old-growth antique furniture that money couldn't buy. If all ten or so rooms were furnished like this, this dilapidated small building might be the most expensive residence in all of Huanghe City. Without that massive chicken blood stone, even Tianxing Garden couldn't compare to this place.

Was the Supervision Office's primary business collecting antique furniture? Or did this furniture originally belong to that old man? Cao Xiao didn't bother to investigate; he considered all this furniture his now. Although he didn't like antique furniture due to a mental quirk—he liked everything to be new—that didn't stop him from giving it away or selling it! Not just furniture, he clearly saw many decorations were priceless antiques: ceramics from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, as well as various large gemstone carvings. Many paintings on the walls were works by famous masters. Another massive windfall! Now he didn't complain about the Supervision Department being stingy with funds; selling this furniture would be enough to establish a substantial foundation for the Supervision Office!

He immediately prepared to have Zhang Qiling contact a moving company, but on second thought, these items were too valuable to trust to a moving company. His bodyguards were on vacation, and he felt bad about breaking his word again, so he could only have Zhang Qiling rent two trucks while he packed and moved everything himself. It wasn't much trouble for him. Once Zhang Qiling left, in less than two minutes, every valuable item in the building had been scavenged clean. The archives in the database and large items difficult to move were stored in his space, while everything else was neatly packed and piled in the courtyard. He even tore out the floors, stairs, and chandeliers. Every room was left empty; nothing remained but the walls.

Half an hour later, two trucks were parked outside the small courtyard, the rear of one facing the gate. Cao Xiao and Zhang Qiling were moving things into the cargo hold like thieves, constantly keeping an eye on the courtyard across the street. Fortunately, the old man never appeared. After finishing, the two carefully drove away.

But shortly after Cao Xiao left, the sloppy old man from across the street appeared in the building, stretching with bleary eyes. Immediately after, a pig-slaughtering wail erupted from the building. The massive sound wave shattered all the window glass in nearby houses, leaving the neighbors in a daze. It was said that the surrounding area was brightly lit that night as people suffered from collective insomnia.

...

The items moved from the building were stored in the basement of Biyuntian Villa. This part of the villa's basement had long been renovated by Cao Xiao. There were no fewer than ten secret rooms alone. The three levels of underground space totaled nearly ten thousand square meters, but only three were currently in use: one for general storage, one for fresh cold storage, and the other eight entrance passages were not yet open. He opened one today specifically to store the day's haul. He didn't waste time organizing; he could only rely on his Intellect Brain for antique valuation. But even for identical antiques, prices varied. The transaction and auction records collected by the Intellect Brain were only for reference; for a specific valuation, he would have to ask his teacher. Without the Intellect Brain's help, he was a complete novice. While he didn't mind losing a bit on the price, he absolutely could not tolerate being looked down upon for it.

He took out the calligraphy and paintings separately. Now he was vigorously using an electric drill to make holes in the walls, directing the girls to hang the paintings. After being busy for a long while, the home's decor finally had an air of elegance. Having an early dinner, Cao Xiao dove into his bedroom, lay on the bed, and began browsing the Supervision Office archives compiled by the Intellect Brain.

These files were at least at the "Confidential" level and were only circulated within the Supervision Department. A portion consisted of records of mysterious events nationwide and within the province and city, while a smaller portion contained basic knowledge of superpowers and management files for local superpowered individuals.

Cao Xiao learned from these materials that "Superpower" refers to abilities that transcend basic natural laws. They are miraculous abilities that a tiny minority of humans and animals are born with or develop under special stimulation, which science cannot explain. Such superpowered people and animals are extremely rare. The conditions for developing superpowers follow no discernible pattern, and the powers themselves are diverse—over two thousand types have been recorded to date. Most seem miraculous but are useless, lacking even the entertainment value for a performance. However, some powerful superpowers have infinite uses; in the right place, they can play a massive role, achieving things that technology and human labor cannot.

According to the Supervision Department's statistics, there are 1,682 effective superpowered individuals nationwide, accurate to the single digits. Because they are so rare, and to this day it is impossible to artificially awaken superpowers in ordinary people or inherit them, the Supervision Department places great importance on every superpowered individual discovered. Some hide their powers and live ordinary lives among the populace, thus remaining unrecorded. Others who use their powers for crime are not on this list but are recorded in separate files—those who haven't been caught, essentially a national wanted list for the supernatural.

There are fewer than a hundred such animals because many lack intelligence and cannot be domesticated. Some are extremely aggressive and threaten public safety if left in the wild. Consequently, the Supervision Department kills them upon discovery. Only spiritual animals with extraordinary intelligence are captured and domesticated, having the fortune to become Battle Beasts for superpowered individuals. Some of these are awakened from common cats and dogs and stay by their masters' sides for life.

Superpowers can be fundamentally divided into seven systems: Mental, Energy, Control, Rule, Enhancement, Mutation, and Auxiliary.

Psychic Type superpowered individuals possess the ability to control or influence mental energy and the soul. Examples include mental perception, mental attacks, constructing virtual illusions, beast taming, soul communication, mental hypnosis, and so on.

The Energy Type can also be called the Element System. Its users can employ various elements in nature for attack, defense, or manipulating objects. The most common are the Five Element (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) superpowered individuals, but the "Five Elements" here are not just five elements but a basis for classification.

The Control Type involves controlling various organisms and matter. Fundamentally, Control Type users possess both Mental and Energy Type abilities. Mental energy communicates with the complex elements of an object to create resonance, allowing the user to move it or change its shape and structure. The most representative of these is Psychokinesis.

Rule Type superpowers belong to those who master certain supernatural rules, such as Feng Shui Masters, Diviners, and Witches. The legendary Cultivators also fall under the Rule Type. However, they possess powerful and complex strength themselves; with specific talent, they can potentially master abilities from all seven systems. They also possess inheritances to strengthen their own abilities, making them the most mysterious and powerful class of superpowered individuals.

The Enhancement Type involves strengthening one's own body or objects. Enhancement is divided into two types: Energy Enhancement and Cultivation Enhancement. Energy Enhancement users use their mental energy and supernatural rules to change the structure and composition of the body or objects to make them stronger, yet they are fundamentally different from the Control, Mental, and Rule Types. This is a composite ability made of small branches from other systems; Energy Enhancement users can only use it as a unified whole and cannot use the individual components separately, and it is one-way. Such users are extremely rare—only five in the entire Supervision Department. Cultivation Enhancement users strengthen themselves through specific human biological laws, gaining formidable physical strength. Reaching a high level grants them miraculous abilities. The representative class is the Martial Artist. Martial Artists are the most numerous in the Supervision Department's records, accounting for nearly half, because this is the only way for ordinary people without special talent or fortuitous encounters to become superpowered. However, in the eyes of many other superpowered individuals, low-level Martial Artists aren't even considered superpowered; they're just stronger than ordinary people. Even if their strength can rival other systems of the same level, they don't possess any supernatural abilities. From the records, it's clear that low-level Martial Artists are not highly regarded by the Supervision Department.