Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“This person has interesting ideas…”

After they watched Lane leave in a wheelchair, the muscular middle-aged man whose right arm was a bionic prosthetic commented suddenly.

“He doesn't come from a police or military background and his degree of physical disability isn't severe enough either.”

Another blonde-haired lady noted without hesitation. “People like him aren't suitable candidates.”

“I think so too.”

The man who cut off Lane mid-sentence just now agreed with a firm nod. “The key factor is the ideas he has. He's simply too rebellious for our company's cause. I'd advise against putting him through the preliminary selection.”

“Seconded, let's move on from this one.”

The final examiner agreed as well.

With that, three out of the four examiners had selected the FAILED input on their computers.

It was only the middle-aged man who spoke first left. He held his mouth open and darted a hesitant look at the other three examiners as he looked at the screen displayed in front of him.

Name: Pedro lane.

Age: 26.

Physical Condition Rating: C.

Political Mindset Rating: C.

Mental Health Rating: B.

Overview:

After some consideration, he proceeded to write down several sentences in Leon's evaluation form.

“The applicant displays a strong sense of justice and personality as well as strong self-awareness. I believe he's an ideal observation target, awaiting further review.”

After providing this evaluation, the middle-aged man gave Lane the only Pa.s.sED review among the four examiners and promptly closed the window.

The rest of the examiners did not raise an issue with the middle-aged man's review. They were the staff in charge of the preliminary screening. The information would then be handed over to the higher-ups for another round of sampling review. There was a chance that the final ruling may be revised, though it was very unlikely.

It was very rare for candidates that received a FAILED score from three examiners to have their final ruling revised and invited to the next round of screening.

The blonde-haired lady gave the middle-aged man a gentle nod before pressing the b.u.t.ton to summon the next candidate. Soon, another candidate afflicted with frostbite came into the room in a wheelchair.

The previous segment was nothing too notable. The screening process for the combative police force was still ongoing…

Unbeknownst to the examiners, after Lane's information was submitted into the system's back-end database, something strange happened to it. Perhaps due to a system error or some similar issue, it was transferred from the group labeled as “FAILED” to the group labeled as “Pa.s.sED”.

In addition, the “FAILED” grading marked in red that was issued by the three examiners was somehow modified and turned into a bright green “Pa.s.sED”…

“Bang!”

There was a loud and sudden slam. A large and muscular man wearing a west who was built like an Olympian burst through the metal gate with a relentless kick as he stomped into the dark and damp garage.

The interior of the garage was a mess. Bits and pieces of unknown engine parts and wire were scattered all over the floor. There was also an off-road vehicle parked in the corner of the garage.

On the other side of the garage, there was a cl.u.s.ter of five to six server machines. The heat they radiated made the garage feel stuffy while the low hum of the machines echoed across the garage endlessly.

A black young man who was tweaking a device suddenly snapped around upon hearing the loud bang and took out a gun which he aimed at the door. When he identified the person who came in through the entrance, he cursed out loud and went back to the device he was working on.

“Wildfire, does it kill you to open a door normally?”

Meanwhile, another figure stepped outside gracefully from a dark corner of the garage. It was a lady with pink-colored hair that draped over one side of her face. She was chewing gum and she spoke with a soft, sultry voice, “What p.i.s.sed you off so much, hold on, let me guess…”

The lady narrowed her eyes as she fixed her gaze on the figure behind the man in the vest. It was Lane wheeling himself in his wheelchair. “Did Lamb screw up the application process into the Blackwatch Combative Police Force?”

“Right on the mark, Kraken!”

The man in the vest ranted with great irritation, “Lane never follows through with the plan that we devised for him, what a pain!”

The man in the vest turned and angrily jabbed a finger at Lane's direction. “Do you have any idea how much we've done for you to take care of your wounds, how much time and effort went into it? You'd never believe it even if I told you!”

“I'm so sorry, Wildfire…”

Lane said with a bitter frown, “It won't happen again.”

“Of course it won't because there's no more next time!”

Wildfire roared and darted into a room at the other end of the garage.

He viciously slammed the door shut behind him as soon as he entered.

A suffocating silence immediately loomed over the garage.

“Hey, relax. Wildfire has become quite uptight ever since losing his wife and daughter.”

As soon as Wildfire left, another young man covered in engine oil slid out from under the off-road vehicle parked in the corner of the garage. He made a quick comment to Lane and slid back under the car before Lane had time to respond…

“Thanks, buddy…”

Lane nodded dejectedly and proceeded to wheel himself to a corner. He took a photo frame on the table and silently wiped off its stains.

The picture in the frame showed a beautiful field and in the center of it was a woman sitting on a summer chair. The woman in the picture looked to be a mother and seemed charming and graceful.

There was a young and shy-looking young man standing next to the mother in the picture. Upon close inspection, this young man in the picture looked like Lane in his youth.

“Lamb.”

While Lane was staring at the picture of his mother in the photo frame, there was disappointment in his eyes. The pink-haired lady suddenly approached him from behind. She bent down and leaned closer to look at the photo frame that Lane was holding. Lane could immediately smell the cheap perfume mixed with faint womanly fragrance seeping into his nose…

“Lamb, what happened today?”

The lady asked with concern in her voice.

“No, not much. It's just that I didn't answer the questions of the examiners as we've previously planned.”

Lane awkwardly scratched his cheeks as he said this. The side of his face was getting itchy due to Kraken's hair brus.h.i.+ng against his cheeks. He subconsciously tilted his head to one side. “Christina, I…”

“Call me Kraken, thanks.”

The lady reminded Lane.

“Alright, Kraken… As you know, there are some things that I'm deeply fixated on, so…”

Lane shrugged as he said this, “Let's come up with some other solution. Maybe there are some other approaches we can take to expose the evil deeds of the BHB Combative Police Force and drag their reputation to the mud.”

“I suppose that's our only choice.”

There was a heavy look mixed with regret in Kraken's eyes. She looked up at the black young man who was still messing around with the server machine. “Digit, you have any ideas?”

“I'm just a plain old hacker, I'll leave the planning and the rest to you guys!”

The black young man called Digit replied without so much as making an effort to turn around.

“Don't ask me, I don't know anything.”

Another voice came from under the off-road car in the corner of the garage.

Kraken felt helpless and discouraged by this. She straightened up and brushed her hair, accidentally exposing her right cheek that was covered underneath her hair. Riddle across her right cheek was a thick, hideous, and uneven layer of a scar.

It was the kind of scar that could be inflicted by chemical corrosion.

It was right at that moment when Lane suddenly received a notification of a message on his phone. He instinctively reached for his phone and saw that it was an email that he received.

Lane's heart skipped a beat as he seemed to have realized something. When he tapped open the email, he saw that it was sent to him from the official account of Blackwatch.

Could it be…

Lane immediately swiped down the display to read the contents of the email.

“Dear Mr. Lane, after the initial screening, we believe that you have great potential and possess an above-average sense of justice. You also meet the conditions for Blackwatch's requirements for bionic combative police. We'd like to inform you that you are invited to the second round of Blackwatch Combative Police Force screening next Wednesday, the venue will be at 311, Reston Street, New York City. Please ensure that you can join us on time – Blackwatch Northern American Branch Combative Police Department.”

Lane's eyes widened like two large pearls when he read the email. He looked up at the pink-haired woman who had the same expression as he did. “Christi… Kraken, I pa.s.sed the first screening!”

“Thank G.o.d…”

Kraken was ecstatic as she s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone away. Digit and the other young man under the car rushed to the lady's side as well, each trying to take a look at the contents of the email.

“Oh, good work Lamb!”

“Awesome! There's a less than one percent chance to be chosen, you've done a great job, Lamb!”

Upon hearing the commotion in the garage, Wildfire, who had been hiding inside the other room all this time, bolted into the garage as well. He took the phone from the others in utter disbelief and after he finished reading the contents of the email, he burst into roaring laughter!

“Hahahaha… Great work indeed Lane, I know you had it in you!”

Wildfire was so ecstatic he wanted to hold and kiss Lane's cheek. His current mood was a complete turnaround from his previous state.

Lane immediately pushed himself away from Wildfire, barely avoiding his fate of being covered in the greasy man's sweat and grease.

The five of them celebrated together for a moment before finally recollecting themselves. They stopped working on their respective tasks and sat down together at the table to discuss their next move.

“Our next goal is to ensure that Lamb can get past Blackwatch's second screening.”

Wildfire took a large drag of beer enthusiastically before asking, “Digit, what can you do for us to help with the second round of screening?”

“I can try to hack into the Blackwatch branch internal server and see what tests we should expect for the second round of screening. This way, we can go in with a proper game plan.”

Digit pondered for a moment and noted uncertainly. “But my previous hacking attempts have been unsuccessful. Blackwatch is very cautious when it comes to the handling of their network security.”

“I'd advise against taking such an approach unless necessary.”

Kraken shook her head. “There's no shortage of stories on the dark web of hackers who try to hack this company and end up having their IPs tracked down and arrested. I'm confident in Digit's hacking skills, but I doubt it's enough to be a match for this particular company.”

“We can approach this from another angle. For example, we can improve Lamb's combat abilities, shooting skills, and whatnot. We just need to find some way to make him stand out from the other candidates.”

“I agree with Christina's point.”

Wildfire noted with a short chuckle before turning to the other young man covered in engine oil. “What do you say, John?”

“Mr. Wildfire, please refer to us by our codename in the organization!”

The pink-haired Kraken immediately knotted her eyebrows together. “Your reckless name-calling is going to be the death of us one of these days!”

“Alright, Ms. Kraken.”

Kraken shrugged nonchalantly before finis.h.i.+ng the beer in one swing.

After finis.h.i.+ng the beer, Kraken slammed the end of the bottle against the table ceremoniously before turning to Lane. “Alright Lane, from today on, I'm putting you through h.e.l.lish training to raise your shooting and close-combat skills. I hope you won't act selfishly again this time, you got it?

“Don't forget, our ultimate goal is to ensure that the BHB Combative Police Force and the company behind them face the punishment that they deserve. We're not only doing this for us but also to ensure that everyone gets to witness their ugly side!”

“No problem, Wildfire!”

Lane responded with a confident nod.

The meeting ended on this note. After that, the five of them left the garage and went their separate ways while Lane returned to his cheap rental room.

The sky had turned dark by this point. When Lane reached the door, he made sure to check the trap he laid down beforehand to ensure n.o.body entered the room while he was gone. After making sure that the coast was clear, he opened the door and wheeled himself inside.

After returning home, the first thing Lane did was to take a thorough shower to wash off the scent of beer and cigarettes. After that, he dragged his worn-out body to bed.

Lane fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes and quickly fell into a dream…

He dreamt of himself in a small square covered in bright, wet gra.s.s.

A middle-aged woman with an air of maturity around her led a teenager through the square. They soared across the field among the wind and leaves. The hair of the woman danced in the wind like smooth silk.