The two chatted as they walked into the office of Team Five, where Marcus imdiately noticed the odd looks from the other three.
"What’s up?"
lincha said faintly, "Boss, didn’t you check your secret account?"
Marcus, puzzled, opened the account—a Bureau of Mystic Security internal account that registered rit points instead of money.
Marcus’s face fell imdiately. "They only gave 20 rit points?"
Chen Gu rembered Marcus had once told him that field agents normally received around 30 rit points per mission, while a team leader got 90. Now Marcus was earning less than his own subordinates.
"Director i deducted them," Silver Eagle explained. "She said you had to compensate for that expensive life support equipnt..."
Marcus grumbled sothing under his breath, certainly nothing pleasant. He continued to read, "Silver Eagle, you got 32 this ti, with 130 in the account already, making it 164 rit points total!"
Marcus looked at his own total rit points: 76...
He glared at Silver Eagle fiercely and cursed, "You rich bastard!"
"Let’s see how the lass did, Selena... oh, nice, 35, well done. You’ve got 152 rit points now, excellent, keep it up and surpass this rich bastard!"
Silver Eagle just rolled his eyes.
"And our most popular puppet beauty, hmm, 30, not bad, you’ve got a nice pile of rit points too, 155!"
"Oh, my God, why am I, the team leader, the poorest one?!"
Marcus was in utter pain. "Life is truly a bitter journey for !"
Silver Eagle reminded him in a wooden tone, "Keep reading. Don’t forget we’ve got another person in our team now..."
Marcus, rembering the newbie he was supposed to be taking care of, felt a rare mont of relief. "Right, we’ve got a new guy now. At last, I, the glorious team leader, am not the poorest bachelor in the team anymore... 200!"
His voice suddenly rose, his eyes nearly popping out as he refreshed the simple secret account dozens of tis, double-checking that the number representing rit points next to Chen Gu’s na was "200"!
Marcus, green with envy, was ready to breathe fire. "What the hell is going on?"
Silver Eagle shrugged. "Director i said..."
He coughed and mimicked Director i’s tone and posture, jabbing his finger forcefully on the table, his voice laden with endless resentnt and dissatisfaction, "He, Marcus, still wants rit points? Where do I even begin to find mine?
His life support equipnt has made my operational budget overrun by 78%! Thanks to his hindrance, I, a venerable director planning a major operation, ended up with a asly 26 rit points. How much more does he, Marcus, want?
Every single ti it’s like this, every ti I’m cleaning up after him, the bastard!
Do you know how many rit points I have in my account? A total of 83! My God, there was a big discount for exchanging rit points bureau-wide in March, half price! I watched other directors go on a shopping spree, and what about ! Thanks to him, Marcus, I taped my eyes and handcuffed my hands to the back of the chair!
On the bureau-wide rit points exchange leaderboard, your director—I’m ranked last!"
Marcus, who had been in a "spewing dragon" mood, slowly shrank down but still murmured defiantly, "I... safety cos first."
He looked enviously at Chen Gu again. "Why does he have so many?"
Silver Eagle didn’t speak this ti. It was the mischievous Selena who stood up with malicious intent. "The Director herself addressed this issue to Silver Eagle in person."
Then, with a cough, she showcased her professional talent, imitating the voice perfectly. She nearly poked Silver Eagle’s nose with her small finger. "How can you have the nerve to ask?!
Your esteed operative team just took out a minor monster and ran away—leaving the big boss to a newbie! And the newbie wasn’t even a Professional but still managed to save all of the clerical, cleaning, and action teams with a desperate struggle!
You five Professionals, seasoned operatives, didn’t even have basic vigilance. If I were you, I would be so ashad of these rit points that I’d want to kneel before so little newbie, offering my rit points and remorse with both hands, begging them to accept!"
Silver Eagle felt embarrassed being pointed at and stepped back, only to be grabbed by the little demoness who then seriously asured the distance between her finger and the tip of Silver Eagle’s nose, nodding in satisfaction and saying to Marcus, "That’s right, the Director’s finger was exactly this far from poking Silver Eagle’s nose."
The office fell silent. After a while, Chen Gu suddenly raised his hands and cheered, "I’ve saved enough rit points! I can beco a Professional now!"
This feeling... It’s just like in my previous life when the big shots would show off. It was like, ’I need to save up for a Lamborghini!’ One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds—’Alright, I’ve saved up enough!’
"Hey, I’m going to save up rit points to exchange for a position!"
"One mission!"
"All right, I’ve saved enough!"
This ti, the whole group couldn’t stand Chen Gu anymore, and various objects from all around the desk ca flying at him.
...
Chen Gu submitted his "induction" application to Director i. Director i, whom Silver Eagle and the ’little demoness’ had portrayed in their imitations as an old woman with a comically distorted face, treated Chen Gu quite kindly. Chen Gu attributed this kindness to the ’face’ of his ’grown son,’ preferring not to dwell on certain unbearable mories from his past life.
Director i promised to report it imdiately. If everything went smoothly, preparations could be done within a week, and by then, Chen Gu could beco a Professional.
"Have you decided which profession you’d like to beco?" Director i suddenly pulled Chen Gu’s hand and seed to ask offhandedly before he left.
Chen Gu almost blurted out "Star Battle Instructor," but then, with a turn of his thoughts, he displayed his skilled acting abilities.
A hint of confusion, a smidgen of bewildernt, mixed with so speculation... but above all, reverence and anticipation for the future. "I don’t really know. I’m not very familiar with Professionals."
Director i patted his hand like an old aunt. "With your physical fitness, you et the preliminary standards for any Professional, so you can choose any profession available with authority in the Bureau... TSK, TSK, look at these biceps as hard as iron and... the quadriceps!"
"The sub-bureau has a general introduction to Professionals; I’ll send it to you. Consider it carefully."
Chen Gu gracefully left the Director’s office and casually opened the docunt on his way.
The docunt wasn’t comprehensive. It started with a disclair: Humanity is still just a stumbling explorer in the vast Star Sea. The boundless Star Sea hides too many mysteries.
Professionals are just one of those mysteries, perhaps not too prominent.
Many professions still haven’t seen anyone reach the Ninth Power Level, and they can’t claim to fully understand their own fields.
Moreover, with the great developnt of interstellar navigation and the war between humans and the Alien Insect Race, new professions and skills continue to erge.
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