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Chapter 141 Ability Stage

"As we all know, since the commotion at Jiangcheng Zoo, there has been an increasing number of superpowered phenomena in our city. The existence of superpowered individuals is now an undeniable reality." Jiang Wenbin held up the microphone and addressed the crowd. "But what you may not know is that the city's public security is also rapidly declining. A friend of mine works at the police station, and according to him, the crime rate in the last five months has increased significantly compared to last year, while the case-solving rate has dropped sharply. Why is that?"

People began to whisper among themselves.

"real or fake?"

"Is this a variety show? Is it appropriate for him to say these things?"

"Who cares? If these shots can be released, this episode will definitely get tons of views."

Without waiting for anyone to answer, President Jiang directly stated, "Because there have been numerous cases of crimes involving superpowers! For example, theft from a distance, hypnotic fraud... and even more heinous cases of rape and murder. I can't reveal the details here, but I believe everyone has heard about the horrific incident that occurred half a month ago in a shopping mall on a pedestrian street, which resulted in 3 deaths and 15 injuries. That was actually the work of someone with superpowers!"

There was an uproar at the scene.

The initial announcement stated that the leak and explosion were caused by illegal modifications to the natural gas pipeline.

"Is that so?" Chen Xuan asked in surprise.

“Yes… You were in Chang’an at the time and didn’t pay much attention to the situation here,” Lin Qing replied in a low voice. “Actually, many people online are discussing it because the flames captured by the surveillance cameras don’t look like they were caused by natural gas combustion.”

He listened intently to the conversations around him and found that most people's attitude towards the matter was "as expected," with only a few expressing great surprise.

Huanxin interjected somewhat awkwardly, "President Jiang, let's get down to business as soon as possible."

"If I don't explain the reasons clearly, how can everyone understand the significance of 100 million yuan in cash?" Jiang Wenbin said dismissively. "It's fine if you cut out this part, but I at least want the audience to understand."

"I agree with part of what the authorities said, namely that those who caused the erosion committed crimes! They deliberately did evil and created chaos in our city, and they should be held responsible for this series of heinous crimes! Although the law does not have relevant provisions, I believe that the clause on endangering public safety can be fully applied to them!"

This statement resonated with many people.

Some audience members even applauded.

“This is unavoidable.” Lin Qing placed one hand on the back of his hand. “You don’t need to take it to heart.”

"I'm actually fine." Chen Xuan shook his head, sitting in the audience, listening to his former boss judge him along with thousands of others. The feeling was, to say the least, somewhat complicated.

After all, at the company's annual meeting, he and his colleagues were just listeners, hearing either the leader's inspirational stories or how thriving the company was; employees were never the boss's focus. Unexpectedly, it was after he left the company that he suddenly became the center of everyone's conversation.

Jiang Wenbin then changed the subject, "However, there's one point I disagree with the organization: abilities are not a curse, but a blessing, a power, a tool of the new era! It's no different from any other tool; whether it's good or bad depends on its user! The Visionary Organization considers it a curse, yet it still provides opportunities for everyone to test their abilities and is even considering recruiting members from the public. Isn't that contradicting itself?"

"Moreover, the Limitation Agency is still an outside organization. Although they started researching ability users earlier, we cannot entrust all our security to them! Therefore, I plan to form a superpower defense team belonging to the people of Jiangcheng to deal with special criminals using special methods. This program is a rehearsal!"

President Jiang pointed to the suspension bridge again, "After today's ability showdown, I will select five people as the first batch of defense team members to share this 100 million annual salary. That's right, this is just one year's salary, to be shared by five people. In addition to the contestants who are guaranteed to participate, everyone in the audience can also come up at any time to participate in the selection process! I believe... there must be some capable people among you, otherwise you wouldn't be so eager to participate in this program!"

"Holy crap, is he serious?"

The audience was immediately agitated. One hundred million in cash being distributed live on the spot—this was far more exciting than any previous episode!
"Five people split it... that's an annual salary of 20 million! Jiang Cheng could just lie down and relax after receiving it once!" "So Boss Jiang is using the show to advertise, this 100 million is basically advertising fees."

"The TV station isn't losing out either; spending money to recruit people is more effective than any gimmick."

The crowd discussed excitedly. Even if they couldn't get it themselves, wouldn't it be interesting to watch others fight tooth and nail for such a large sum of money?

What's more, President Jiang even allowed audience members to go on stage and compete with the contestants—that's some serious entertainment!

"Okay, the theme of the show has been announced. Now, please welcome the contestants to the stage!" Huanxin breathed a sigh of relief and quickly moved the show to the next stage.

A group of people walked out from behind the stage curtain and stood in a row in front of the stage.

The contestants' information was also displayed on the big screen; there were ten people in total—they were the main participants in this program.

"That's interesting," Chen Xuan thought. Judging from the publicly available information, these ten people came from all walks of life, including civil engineers, financial professionals, school teachers, and livestreaming influencers. Their ages also varied greatly, ranging from their forties to their teens.

While other spectators were still discussing how many of the contestants were truly talented, he had already raised his barcode scanner and started scanning each one.

"So? Are there any tough guys?" Lin Qing asked curiously.

"Hard to say... but they are all definitely ability users," Chen Xuan muttered. Under the scrutiny of the barcode scanner, each person possessed at least one ability, with some having more than four. The rarity of their abilities ranged from blue to green, a rather rare occurrence.

He scanned so many customers in Tianlu Community, and apart from the customers actively chosen by the shops, he rarely even saw the most ordinary white-clad customers.

As expected, Stand users are attracted to each other, and the same goes for psychics.

The host invites each contestant to come to the center of the stage and give a brief self-introduction to the audience—this is a common practice in variety shows. Although the contestants' identities are displayed on the screen, the self-introduction segment is where their personalities and styles are revealed, which is crucial for the final audience vote.

Internet celebrity "Sitian" undoubtedly received the most support. She is sweet and cute, and she was not shy in front of the audience. She even showed off her fire magic on the spot, winning rounds of applause from everyone.

The second most popular person after her was a worker who quit his job and stayed at home called "Octopus". He looked average and was a little nervous when looking at the camera, but when he talked about his experience of quitting his job, he instantly won a round of applause: After he awakened his ability, he resented his boss because of frequent overtime. He publicly amplified his boss's silent scolding of employees and his desire to be the boss at a morning meeting, and got a good venting of his anger.

Most of the audience are adults, so how could they not empathize?

After everyone had finished their introductions, the host finally announced the program's content—since the theme was safety, everyone should try their best to demonstrate their abilities in this area.

"There's only one test, and that's combat!" Huanxin said with a smile. "Of course... the contestants won't actually fight. I believe everyone is a good person and should use their strength to deal with the bad guys, so we've provided several optional scenarios, arranged according to difficulty, for the contestants to choose which scenario to tackle, or they can choose all of them. Regardless of whether they complete it or not, the judges will give a score. If there's a tie at the end, we'll have the audience vote to select the king of ability in this grand showdown!"

"Five contestants, including the King of Abilities, will also be recruited by special guest Mr. Jiang Wenbin to safeguard the safety and order of our city!"

The host paused for a moment, then continued, "After all the scenes are revealed, we will take a short ten-minute break. During this time, the production team will open the audience registration channel. We welcome all aspiring individuals who want to showcase their skills in front of the camera to join this ultimate competition!"

(End of this chapter)