Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

Chapter 12 Private Life
"Night General?" Li Yelai looked at his code name with a hint of regret.

In fact, he had already contacted his superiors, wanting to obtain the codename 'Lancer'.

After all, he would be using the Eighteen Spear Techniques with One Hand later on.

It's not an exaggeration to call him a spearman.

Cheese suggested the codename "Snow Leopard," so they could form a Cheese-Snow Leopard duo. Li Yelai was unaware of the intricacies of the situation, nor did he know what kind of combination Cheese and Snow Leopard could possibly have.

In short, it seems that the leaders disagree with either option.

'What's wrong with spearmen? Don't they know that historically, the greatest generals were all masters of the spear? Xiang Yu, Ma Chao, Zhao Zilong, Yue Fei, Gao Chong.'

Young Li Yelai thought to himself, thinking that the higher-ups were being too stingy.

Subsequently, Li Yelai accepted 'Cheese's' group invitation.

Cheese mentioned this to him yesterday. Afterwards, you can contact the various processors via the communicator. Forming a small group will make communication even more convenient.

After joining the small group chat created by Cheese, Li Yelai discovered that it was full of familiar faces.

Spark, Detective, Shadow Stream, Cheese, and Heavy Rider—except for Cheese, the others are all newcomers to the East City branch this season.

At this moment, Cheese noticed Li Yelai's comment when he joined the group chat.

"Welcome, Night General. It's a pity you still didn't choose Snow Leopard." Cheese sent a crying-laughing emoji.

Li Yelai typed in response: "I didn't choose a spearman either. I don't know why."

"Oh, I know that. I heard that with your luck, you dared to take the codename 'Lancer'? You'd be struck by lightning in a heartbeat! That's how the higher-ups protect you, and so on." Cheese replied with an emoji, "I don't know the specifics either. Maybe it's a secret only highly awakened processors would know."

Are spearmen going to be struck by lightning? Li Yelai frowned, thinking that perhaps the higher-ups knew some mysterious information.

But he didn't really care; it was just a code name, and Night General was alright too.

"Alright, now that you've received your codename, you're officially an operator. When you have time, go check out the forums and expand your knowledge. If you don't understand anything, ask in the small group," Cheese said. "Also, take some time to go to the branch office to practice your psionic weaponry skills and craft some equipment."

“Hesitate!” Li Yelai replied, then left the small group and clicked to enter the forum.

This forum is a common communication platform for all official psionicists in the recent major cities.

Many experienced processors share their experiences or discuss issues on it.

This also serves as a communication channel for processors in other major cities. Of course, certain confidential information will not be exposed.

In short, there are all sorts of posts on it.

[The Lava Mine City Processing Department has obtained the recipe for a potion that grants the third awakening ability of the Whispering Path. One potion costs 300 merit points; purchases from other cities require a 10% handling fee, and transportation costs 10 merit points.]

[Border City No. 2: A Class B forbidden item – the Goat – has been discovered. Two full-strength squads were dispatched and successfully suppressed! Suppression Strategy.]

[In Border City No. 3, the Church of Embers summoned ethereal creatures through evil rituals, only to be stabbed to death by a newcomer!]

[In Border City No. 1, a processor has successfully completed their fifth awakening. Congratulations!]

There were all sorts of posts, including some about himself.

Li Yelai smiled inwardly, clicked on the post, and saw a video. It was a video of himself swooping down and killing the monster with a single blow. The only problem was the low resolution; his face wasn't clearly visible, nor was his facial makeup.

The responses to the post were mostly along the lines of, "Is this a newbie? Awesome!"

Why not come to our Lava Mine City!

'What a brilliant spear and sword technique that descended from the sky!'

'Whose subordinate is this?'

These are just pointless complaints.

Afterwards, Li Ye continued searching for posts and finally found his target.

[List of Psionic Armed Forces in Major Cities]

This document contains a large number of officially recorded psionic weapons, along with their effects and prices.

This was Li Yelai's true goal, and it could even be said to be one of the main reasons he became a processor.

He needs to find an item here that can suppress his sister's curse.

Soon, he saw several things that could suppress the curse.

[Anti-Psionic Helmet] Suppresses the psionic energy of both the user and the opponent, and can also suppress some curses with zero risk of distortion. Price: 80 Merit Points. Located in Border City 1, so a 10-point shipping fee is also required. Total: 90 Merit Points.

The [Isolation Scarf] provides significant protection against all-weather curses, but its effectiveness against powerful curses from high-level psionicists is minimal, and the risk of distortion is low. It costs 200 merit points and is located in Lava Mine City. Shipping costs an additional 210 points.

[Spirit-Breaking Branch] From the Forbidden Zone of Calamity, Misty Dragon Forest. It can significantly dispel psionic energy and temporarily suppress curses. Distortion risk is medium. Price: 800 Merit Points. Only Processors at Level 3 Awakening or higher can purchase it.

There are many items that can suppress curses, but they are all quite expensive.

Li Yelai currently has 30 merit points, making him quite wealthy among the newcomers. However, he still can't reach the level of any of them.
However, there's no need to look at those higher ones. While the effects are stronger, the distortion risks are too great, making them unsafe.

Li Yelai dared not use such a dangerous thing on his younger sister.

The anti-psy helmet, which has no risk, is still the most suitable.

90 merit points isn't too far off.

If Li Yelai completes more tasks within six months, he might be able to collect them all.

Having that means that although it might be a bit more troublesome on a daily basis, at least it allows my younger sister to leave the house.

Li Yelai set his next goal in mind: accumulate merit points and buy an anti-phantom helmet!

Finally, there was hope, and Li Yelai felt much more relaxed. A huge weight was lifted from his heart.

Then, he started looking at other posts.

His understanding of psionicists is insufficient; he needs to learn more from the forum's official科普 (popular science) materials.

The seven paths officially confirmed are: Zeroing, Whispering, Divine Control, Myriad Phenomena, Netherworld, Spirit Eye, and True Martial.

This ranking is based on the ratio of spiritual energy to physical enhancement during each awakening.

The Zero Path Awakening has a psychic/physical enhancement ratio of 8:2.

Therefore, among psionicists at the same level of awakening, those on the zero-path have the strongest total psionic energy and often acquire powerful abilities like elemental manipulation. However, they are the weakest physically. That's why, when Starfire faced the Void Realm creature, he had no time to resist before his hand was severed.

Following this logic, the final True Martial Path has a spiritual energy/physical enhancement ratio of 2:8.

It has the lowest total amount of psionic energy, but the highest physical strength.

This is also the reason why heavy cavalry is so powerful.

In terms of sheer strength, she could probably beat two Li Yes in one go, right?

Li Yelai, on the other hand, follows the Myriad Manifestations Path. His spiritual energy/physical strength enhancement ratio is 5:5, a path of steady development.

You can compare your physical strength with those above, or your spiritual energy with those below. These are the characteristics of the seven paths, followed by the advancement/awakening of the psychic.

Each time a psychic awakens, the psychic energy they gain is different. Li Yelai is an exception; his mask was obtained by trading with the shadow.

Most other psionic users awaken auxiliary abilities for the first time.

Such as extraordinary animal language or a certain ability to mimic ordinary animals.

It is said that a comrade with the Path of All Things has awakened an ability similar to that of an octopus or chameleon, which is to change the color of the environment.

In theory, he's a master of stealth, no less skilled than someone from the Netherworld Path. But his clothes can't change color.

So much so that he had to take off all his clothes to hide. That's terrible!
Only during the second or third awakening will there be a chance to acquire attack methods.

Of course, if you don't want to see faces, you can drink certain magic potions.

It's the kind mentioned in the previous post.

Drinking it upon awakening will give you a high probability of gaining its specific skill.

In Cheese's words, each awakening is like a guaranteed gacha pull in a mobile game.

I don't use potions, I just pull from the regular gacha pool, it's all up to fate.

Drinking the potion is equivalent to getting a character from the featured banner; if you don't get a character from the featured banner, that's another story.

The potion recipe and ingredients are the biggest components.

Therefore, many processors are saving up points to buy potions. This is considered lucky.

Because the official knowledge of specific potions is not comprehensive. Some processors can't even buy them if they want to.

For example, Li Yelai is a Myriad Manifestations user, and the official information only provides specific potions for the third and fifth Myriad Manifestations paths. Therefore, for his second and fourth awakenings, Li Yelai's success depends entirely on luck.

Li Yelai sorted out his thoughts.

Currently, the only way to accumulate merit points faster is to complete tasks more diligently.

Therefore, one's own strength must be enhanced; as the saying goes, sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood.

Li Yelai thought to himself that he would probably still have to spend some of his thirty merit points. He didn't want to accumulate enough points only to lose everyone.

"Looks like I'll have to find some time to forge some equipment," Li Yelai thought to himself, turning off the communicator.

Li Yelai rushed back to the branch office as soon as he got off work that day.

He went to the Equipment Department and made his request.

Cold weapons are best concealed. As for what to mount on them, let the equipment department decide.

This made the people in the equipment department nod repeatedly; they liked this kind of customer who didn't make a fuss!

Then, they took away five merit points from Li Yelai! Li Yelai was very distressed and only paid the merit points after repeatedly asking if the price of cheese was reasonable.

In truth, Li Yelai is not much different now than before he became a psionicist.

Simply put, I need to write a report and upload it to the branch office every day.

Reporting whether they used their abilities, whether they employed psionic energy, and whether they were discovered by outsiders, etc. They usually stay in the antique shop, completely unlike the disaster resolver one might imagine. Perhaps this is better? However, while they receive a salary, there are no bonuses or merit points.

The next day, Li Yelai, who was still minding the shop, saw a black sedan parked in front of the antique shop.

A man in a black suit walked into the antique shop carrying a briefcase.

After looking around the antique shop for a while, he walked straight toward Li Yelai.

While Li Yelai was still in a daze, the man handed him the briefcase and said mysteriously, "Mr. Ye, your goods have arrived. You can inspect them."

"You...you're just going to do this?" Li Yelai's eyes widened. It was only because the boss wasn't around that he would have thought he was doing something illegal!

"That's cool!" the equipment department staff laughed. "Don't worry, no one will notice me. We sent your boss away beforehand."

To look cool, you sent the boss away? Couldn't you have waited for me to get off work and gone to the branch office yourself?

Li Yelai mentally complained, but opened the briefcase nonetheless.

Inside, they found a black metal axe, about the same length as a fire axe.

Strangely, there were two air vents on the back of the axe.
Li Yelai was completely bewildered. Was this considered a cold weapon?

"You said you'd handle it yourself, which shows your trust in us. We'll naturally do everything in our power to create weapons for you. Although they're not psionic weapons, they still represent our highest level of craftsmanship," a member of the equipment department explained enthusiastically.

"The entire weapon has been modified so that it won't be detected by ordinary security scanners. We were thinking of installing a grenade launcher or shotgun barrel on you, but considering that you are a psionicist, such a thing wouldn't be very effective against your own kind. So we installed an internal engine and jet engine on you. It can accelerate your weapon in a straight line instantly! Of course, only psionicists can use this kind of weapon. An ordinary person would probably dislocate their joints."

After thinking about it, Li Yelai reluctantly agreed to the statement.

If a weapon can accelerate instantly, it can indeed have a remarkable effect.

Seeing that Li Yelai agreed, the equipment department members smiled broadly: "Any questions, feel free to come to me. We can refill the fuel for these jetpacks for free. Do you need any other equipment made? We're just about to build a small chainsaw/thermos axe."

Li Yelai shook his head decisively, and a single weapon took away 5 merit points.

He doesn't have the spare money to do this.

After seeing off the equipment department members, Li Yelai returned to the counter. After examining the metal axe for a while, he tried swinging it. It was quite heavy; he figured only someone who had become a psionicist could swing it easily. As for its power, Li Yelai planned to test it out when he returned to the branch.

Then he put it into his backpack.

However, thinking about the merit points I've already spent...

Li Yelai felt increasingly heartbroken as he thought about it, so he spoke up in the small group: "Everyone, are there any other ways to earn merit points?"

"If you're in a hurry, just spend some money. Some processors will sell their idle merit points. You can probably get a few for around ten or twenty thousand," the detective replied.

One or two thousand for one point? Li Yelai was stunned, and instantly felt a sharp pain in his heart! He had made a mistake! He should have inquired about the price of merit points beforehand; he had spent five points. Didn't that mean he had spent 5 to 10 Giant City Coins?

"Besides this, are there any other opportunities to gain merit points?" Li Yelai continued to ask.

However, he received a private message from the detective.

"Night General, if you desperately need merit points, how about we take on a side job together?" the detective asked, sending an expectant emoji: "The pay is great!"

Li Yelai was taken aback, and after thinking for a moment, he replied, "Then I'll go ask."

He then messaged Cheese privately: "What kind of side jobs do our processors do? Can you take on side jobs?"

Cheese responded after a while, "Sure, the detective told you, right? The processing department doesn't interfere with this."

"Then what is private work?" Li Yelai asked.

"They're just some guys who know a little about psychics and want to hire them for high salaries to do things for them. The detective's real identity is a private investigator. He should have some connections." Cheese replied, "But it's possible it's some kind of anomaly, so taking on a job is a form of security. However, if you take a job, you have to explain the situation to the branch office. Just in case there's an emergency nearby and you're not there. By the way, come to the branch office after get off work. The captain wants to see you and wants you to familiarize yourself with your psychic weaponry."

"walk slowly!"

(End of this chapter)