Chapter 35: The Transcendent Handbook
The testing site was on the third floor. The girl known as “Cheng Zi” was actually named Meng Cheng, and the delinquent-looking boy was Meng Yang, her older brother. These were details the girl eagerly volunteered to Xu Zhi on her own.
Xu Zhi felt that the girl was overly trusting, but since it wasn’t to her disadvantage, she didn’t bother to warn her.
“Although the full name of this place is the Special Event Handling Department, it’s commonly called Special Investigation Division — ‘Special’ and ‘Investigation’. Apparently, that name had already started circulating before the department was officially established.”
“Don’t be fooled by the number of people here. Most of them are just regular folks. There still aren’t that many ability-users right now.”
Xu Zhi nodded as she observed the people passing by. Many, like Cheng Zi, wore casual clothes, but some wore black uniforms — not quite like the armed police but similar. The black-and-gold color scheme was sleek and practical, suggesting that the wearers were probably involved in dangerous operations.
There were also others in the same color uniforms, but theirs were more refined and stylish. Most of them sat at desks or carried documents, clearly handling administrative tasks.
On the third floor, more of the latter kind could be seen. As soon as they spotted Meng Cheng and Xu Zhi, a woman approached them.
“Can I help you with something?”
Xu Zhi looked at the woman and realized she didn’t recognize Meng Cheng.
So the staff here didn’t know who Cheng Zi was.
Given that the disaster had only occurred a month ago, this department couldn’t have been around long. With such a short setup time and so many personnel, it was normal for staff to not know everyone. But Cheng Zi and her team were ability-users — not regular employees. For them not to be recognized meant they weren’t important.
Was that why Cheng Zi had been trying so hard to recruit her in the car? Because their team wasn’t valued and had trouble getting new members?
Cheng Zi seemed used to such reactions and responded with a cheerful smile, “Sis, I ran into this new ability-user while on a mission. She doesn’t know her attribute yet, so I brought her to get it tested.”
The woman glanced at Xu Zhi and nodded. “There’s one person ahead of you. It might be about ten minutes.”
“Take a look at the handbook first.”
Her tone was smooth and practiced — clearly, new ability-users getting “picked up” like this happened frequently. She walked over to the counter and handed Xu Zhi a brand-new booklet. “This contains basic knowledge all ability-users should know. Make sure to read it. The handbook is updated monthly. Once you’re registered, you’ll get an account for the official site where you can check updates.”
“Just sit over there for now. I’ll call you when it’s your turn.”
Xu Zhi suddenly felt like a child waiting to see the head nurse at a hospital.
Meng Cheng sat down next to her and urged her to read. Xu Zhi “went with the flow” and opened the thin booklet.
The first page was about Attributes.
As she expected, it listed eight types of attributes. In addition to the ones she already knew — [Moth, Cup, Blade, Winter, Heart] — there were three new ones:
[Lamp]
[Inspiration]
[Forge]
Xu Zhi wondered why she had rarely seen these three in Cloud City.
Were they incompatible with the city’s environment and reluctant to appear?
She read the descriptions, but something felt off.
The explanations were vague, imprecise, and not detailed — as if the authors didn’t fully understand the attributes themselves and had to rely on observation and speculation.
Take the Moth attribute, for example:
[Moth]: Ability-users with this attribute often have unstable mental states, many strange but unrealistic thoughts, a fondness for fantasy, and tend to behave in ways that defy logic. Their loyalties are inconsistent, and they cannot be classified as good or evil. Whether they are dangerous depends entirely on their current condition.
Xu Zhi read this with a head full of question marks.
This unclear definition and “unstable mental state” business — what did it even mean?
It kind of pointed to some characteristics, but it was far from accurate.
If the official handbook was this vague, then they probably really didn’t know much. More accurate information would likely come in future updates.
In other words, while the outside world knew what the eight attributes were, they couldn’t describe them precisely — only guess based on how ability-users behaved.
Xu Zhi read the other attribute descriptions she already knew and found them similarly vague.
But the description for [Cup] stood out:
[Cup]: Be extremely cautious of any ability-user with this attribute! Report them to the Handling Department immediately! Do not trust a single word they say, and do not accept any offers from them! DANGEROUS!
Well, that was blunt. Clearly, the outside world’s zealots weren’t good news either.
Xu Zhi then focused on the three new attributes. Even though the descriptions were unreliable, there were still some insights to gain.
[Inspiration]: Few known ability-users possess this attribute. Based on current intelligence, wounds caused by them heal very slowly. They also seem to become skilled in certain things — for example: lockpicking.
Lockpicking???
Xu Zhi was baffled. She knew the handbook was unreliable, but this still seemed out of left field.
Then again… what if it was true?
“Wait, maybe it’s not that literal. It’s likely connected to unlocking. The name ‘Inspiration’ could imply unlocking potential or secrets?”
Xu Zhi mulled it over. She couldn’t believe the Federation hadn’t thought of this interpretation. That meant the handbook probably was hiding something.
It made sense. A publicly available document wouldn’t include anything truly important.
Having realized this, she kept reading.
[Forge]: As the name suggests, this attribute is related to forging. Ability-users with this attribute often have exceptional talent in smithing, crafting, and machinery.
After reading this, Xu Zhi’s eyes gleamed with insight. She thought she finally knew which censored word had appeared in her system when it came to ability-user crafting.
It must have been Forge.
The sentence had likely been: Increasing affinity with [Forge] improves success rate.
It was no surprise that the Forge attribute was rare in Cloud City. Mutant beasts weren’t likely to have talents related to forging or mechanics. And among the humans who had stayed, most were elderly, sick, or weak — the rest stayed behind for personal reasons, and few would naturally possess this kind of talent.
Still, based on the vague nature of the other descriptions, Xu Zhi guessed that only part of the Forge attribute’s capabilities had been revealed here. She’d need to obtain a Forge core to learn more.
Now, there was only one left — the one whose name alone intrigued Xu Zhi the most:
[Lamp]
Just seeing the word made her think of the all-encompassing black fog over Cloud City.
Could [Lamp] bring a sliver of light to humanity in that darkness?
