Miss Crow was also in a state of extreme shock and horror.

She stood dazed in place, as if too many incomprehensible matters had suddenly struck her, leaving her somewhat bewildered.

But under the urging around her, she slightly composed herself, then slowly raised her head and turned to Zhang Zhiguo at the doorway, saying, “I wanted to stimulate some mental activity for him, to help him understand the state during Mysterious Power Training in advance.”

“But…”

She paused, then continued, “I failed to control the intensity properly and directly helped him complete the process of Spiritual Penetration.”

“This seems to violate the regulations. I am willing to accept punishment.”

“……”

“Butcher, sit there and do not move.”

“Miss Crow, please leave the training room for now and wait outside.”

“Butcher, next, we will give you a few instructions. Please follow them one by one. Don’t overthink, and don’t be nervous. Also, security personnel, put away your guns.”

Miss Crow’s words caused the expressions of everyone who had entered the training room to change drastically. But unexpectedly, after this moment of shock and suspicion, they immediately relaxed their actions and demeanor under the subtle signal from Zhang Zhiguo.

The security personnel put away their guns but remained alert inside the training room, their hands still resting on their weapons, ready to lift them to chest level at any moment.

Miss Crow exited the training room.

Zhang Zhiguo then stepped inside, nodded firmly at Han Su, as if to signal him not to be nervous, and then spoke:

“Cui Qiao, isolate this training room and bring in the necessary items.”

“……”

Secretary Cui Qiao immediately went out and shortly returned with others carrying several items.

Among them was a large full-body mirror and a few word boards and similar objects.

She first placed the mirror in front of Han Su. Zhang Zhiguo stood to the side, watching calmly, and maintained a relaxed, soft tone as he said, “Little Han, take a look at the mirror and describe what you currently look like in it.”

It was only at this moment that Han Su got a chance to speak. He looked seriously into the mirror and said, “One nose, two eyes. Although I’ve nearly gone an entire night without sleep, I’m still quite spirited. Appearance— not ugly.”

Zhang Zhiguo nodded, and Secretary Cui Qiao turned the mirror around.

Zhang Zhiguo continued, “Now, imagine the appearance of those Impostors you encountered during the previous assessment.”

“Impostors?”

When Zhang Zhiguo mentioned that name, the image of those monsters that had emerged from the elevator naturally surfaced in Han Su’s mind.

It was hard to fake.

When others mentioned the name, the associated image would instinctively appear in one's mind.

Unless trained professionally, it was nearly impossible to resist.

Zhang Zhiguo watched Han Su’s face with tension. After a few seconds, he gave a signal to Cui Qiao, and the mirror was turned around once again to face Han Su directly.

“Little Han, describe your current appearance again.”

Han Su found it somewhat novel and still replied slowly, “Spirited. Good-looking.”

Zhang Zhiguo let out a slow breath, but he still did not relax. He pondered slightly, then suddenly said, “Imagine the appearance of the Ghost Freight Truck you encountered earlier.”

“Then, describe it once more…”

“……”

Han Su steadied himself and carefully looked at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t quite sure why Zhang Zhiguo was doing all this, but he figured it was likely some technique used by the Disaster Management Bureau.

But he truly hadn’t changed in any way…

Except… were his eyes slightly bronze?

His heart skipped a beat.

He focused more intently and found there really wasn’t much difference.

Only his skin appeared slightly paler, and though his eyes looked normal at first glance, upon closer inspection, there did seem to be a faint bronze hue to them.

He was silent for a moment, frowned, and said, “One nose, two eyes. Uncle Zhang, I really haven’t noticed anything unusual.”

“You keep asking me… is it because there might be some kind of change?”

“Don’t worry.”

Zhang Zhiguo reassured him, then continued, “Now I’ll give you a passage. Read it out loud in full. You can take your time— no need to rush— but try to complete the entire passage.”

As he spoke, Cui Qiao had already brought over a cardboard sheet.

Han Su was somewhat surprised.

The content on the cardboard turned out to be from the Operational Code he had memorized before.

The words still felt familiar.

He read it out bit by bit, and after reciting a few dozen characters, Secretary Cui Qiao, who was holding the board, gradually shifted from a tense expression to a relaxed one.

Not only her, but the nearby security personnel and Zhang Zhiguo also relaxed. Zhang Zhiguo stepped forward and waved his hand. It was as if some taut string in the air had suddenly loosened.

Zhang Zhiguo stood about two meters away from Han Su and said, “Cui Qiao, go and try it.”

Secretary Cui Qiao gave a nod, set down the cardboard in her hands, and walked up to Han Su. Seeing this, the people around them seemed to grow slightly tense again.

“Don’t be nervous.”

Secretary Cui Qiao squatted down, looked at Han Su, and asked, “Where is your breach?”

Han Su was slightly taken aback by the question, not quite understanding it.

It was Miss Crow, who had been standing at the entrance of the training room all along, who spoke up: “His right hand. I was holding his right hand during the intrusion.”

Cui Qiao nodded, then took hold of Han Su’s right hand and said softly, “Try it. See if you can recall that feeling just now, the one where the spiritual force flowed out through your right hand…”

Han Su looked at her deliberately gentle expression, pondered for a moment, then raised his right hand and held it together with hers.

Silently, he recalled the sensation of that spiritual force springing to life and instantly surging back into Miss Crow’s palm.

He appeared to be exerting himself with great intensity, the tension even visible along the line of his jaw.

Because he was worried about some abnormal reaction, he instead used his strongest willpower to control the force of the penetration, using the greatest strength to exert the lightest touch.

But in the eyes of others, it simply looked like a newcomer earnestly trying to execute Spiritual Penetration, which only increased their concern that he might fail to manage the intensity properly.

Fortunately, it was Secretary Cui Qiao who was holding hands with him.

No matter how reckless a newcomer might be, she could always handle it.

Finally—

That sense of spiritual force suddenly coming alive surged once again. Yet, under the suppression of Han Su’s spiritual power, the massive tsunami was reduced to just a thin trace of a splash, which seeped out through his right hand.

Ka-ka—

The walls surrounding the training room instantly bloomed with another pattern of lines.

Secretary Cui Qiao’s palm gave a slight tremble as if shocked by electricity, then a gentle wave of spiritual force rebounded and pressed back the splash that had seeped from Han Su’s right hand.

Han Su’s entire body shuddered. He endured with great difficulty.

Because that little splash being pushed back triggered a kind of instinctual, frenzied counterattack.

But this time, he had experience.

Naturally, he suppressed that instinct and, after feeling the rebound, hurriedly withdrew the hand he was holding with Cui Qiao.

It looked as if he couldn’t bear the pressure and hurriedly let go of Secretary Cui Qiao’s hand, his face pale, showing immense strain.

“Hoo…”

Secretary Cui Qiao stood up and said to Zhang Zhiguo, “He has indeed achieved penetration. The breach is currently located in the right hand. The intensity of the Spiritual Penetration is already quite good, but the control is very poor— like an impatient young man.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiguo finally let out a long breath of relief, and the security personnel also loosened their grips on their weapons.

“What kind of situation is this…”

Zhang Zhiguo’s voice carried a sense of helplessness. “I had just decided to be a bit more open-minded in the future and learn from you young people, but is this really how young people handle things nowadays?”

“Do you have any idea? The two of you have made the work of the Disaster Management Bureau look completely unserious.”

“He doesn’t understand the dangers of Spiritual Penetration, but you do, don’t you? You recklessly opened the breach. What if he had been polluted by some bizarre cognition and lost mental control?”

“……”

Seeing Zhang Zhiguo begin to express his dissatisfaction, Han Su realized this hurdle had been passed and said, “Uncle Zhang, what does this mean?”

Zhang Zhiguo glanced at Miss Crow at the entrance and said, “It means you’ve just completed Spiritual Penetration training through an extremely risky method.”

“What? Are you trying to help the Disaster Management Bureau cut costs?”

“It was my fault.”

At this moment, Miss Crow entered the training room and said, “I overestimated my ability to control Spiritual Penetration. I am willing to accept punishment from the Disaster Management Bureau.”

“There’s no way you’ll escape punishment!”

Zhang Zhiguo stared at her coldly and said, “More importantly, your actions were far too dangerous. Do you understand?”

“I know that a superior stimulating the mental activity of a subordinate is considered a form of grace, an opportunity the lower ones can only dream of. But after all, you are still just an operations personnel. You haven’t obtained your Investigator license yet.”

“Just performing spiritual activation sensing, and you directly opened a breach— how much force did you use?”

“This time, we were lucky there were no accidents. But I must issue a warning, and it must come first:”

By the time he finished, his tone had become stern. “If something had gone wrong, his mind would have been polluted— that goes without saying. And you…”

“You could have been immediately demoted to the D7 Workgroup. Do you understand?”

“……”

Miss Crow listened and lowered her head deeply, as if she had already accepted this outcome. Han Su, however, stepped forward and said, “Uncle Zhang, there’s something not quite right. It wasn’t that she actively invaded my mind— I initiated the request. If punishment must be given, it should be mine.”

This was simply the natural order of things— one should take responsibility for their own actions. But Miss Crow suddenly turned her head to look over, her expression unexpectedly showing a trace of astonishment.

And even… a bit of emotion?