18 Lipu Street.
The crooked plaque bore two faintly engraved words: Dream Whisperer.
After entering through the long and cramped passage and going up the stairs, the view widened. The office environment here was unexpectedly spacious and very neat. Upon entering, people could see a large floor-to-ceiling window with the curtains drawn to the sides. In front of the window was a long rosewood desk, and on both sides were enclosed rooms that looked well soundproofed.
The noon sunlight streamed in.
Zhou Yexin was sitting at her desk, frowning while scrutinizing the young man holding a cat in front of her. She already knew that her teacher would send a young intern to be her assistant, but she didn’t expect this assistant to be… this young.
“Name.”
A familiar question, a familiar formula.
Gu Shen quickly pulled out a chair, sat down, and familiarly introduced himself in one breath. “Gu Shen, seventeen, male.”
“Male… That’s obvious.” Zhou Yexin was stunned for a moment before saying with a strange expression, “You’re the intern recommended by my teacher. You look too young. Can you handle this job?”
Gu Shen sat upright, and the file of the director of Dream Whisperer appeared in his mind.
Zhou Yexin, twenty-nine years old, an ordinary person without a transcendental ability.
What was admirable about her was that she had traveled alone to the Central Continent when she was eighteen and studied psychology there for seven years. After returning to the East Continent, she began to devote herself to dream research. After moving around many places, she finally arrived in Dadu and opened this counseling center with Tang Qingquan’s support.
What was even more admirable was that Miss Zhou did not know about the existence of transcendents at all, but she followed her intuition… and explored the secrets of the transcendental domain.
She looked very young and approachable, completely unlike someone nearing thirty. When she smiled, she looked like a squirrel, revealing her white teeth and shallow dimples on both cheeks.
This image was very suitable for this line of work. At least it would put people at ease.
“Miss Zhou, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to do.” Gu Shen scratched his head and smiled sincerely. “But I learn quickly, so you can rest assured.”
“Calling me Miss Zhou makes me sound too old. Just call me Sister Xin. I’ve heard about you from my teacher. He said that you’re smart, talented, and self-taught.”
Zhou Yexin looked at Gu Shen a few more times and found that the more she looked at him, the more pleasing he appeared with his clean and clear features.
She poured a cup of tea for Gu Shen and said, “I’m just a bit worried. At your age, you probably haven’t faced many hardships, so it’s easy for you to see things through rose-tinted glasses. When it comes down to actually doing the work, you’ll find it’s quite different from what you imagined.
“Our work isn’t easy. The normal business hours are nine to five. But if there are special appointments, we’ll have to work overtime.”
Gu Shen held his cup of tea and quietly listened to Sister Xin’s words.
“In addition, you’ll have to organize the experimental reports regularly. But you don’t have to worry about that. You only need to organize the reports entering the database. You won’t be responsible for the actual experiments.”
At first, Gu Shen almost laughed out loud. Nine to five?
“There’s no problem.” He quickly took a sip of tea to calm himself down and then said sincerely, “This hardship… I can handle it.”
Not only could he handle it, but he was more than ready for it.
The following week was very fulfilling for Gu Shen.
He had rented a one-bedroom apartment near Lipu Street and lived alone. The environment was much better than his previous residence in the suburbs, but it couldn’t compare to the downtown apartment that Nan Jin had ‘gifted’ him. In fact, he was no longer short of money. From the moment he boarded the plane and officially began his mission, the Adjudication Bureau would pay him a post-tax living allowance of 100,000 yuan every month.
On the plane, Cui Zhongcheng had explained the rank divisions in the Adjudication Bureau. After newcomers passed the assessment, they would become trainee arbiters. After accumulating enough qualifications by completing a certain number of missions alone, they would be promoted to the next level, arbiter.
Next was trainee adjudicator and then adjudicator.
Finally, there was only one grand adjudicator.
The patrol area of a trainee arbiter covered approximately one or several streets… Gu Shen conscientiously included Lipu Street and the nearby streets under his supervision.
Cui Zhongcheng said that his internship was an inspection.
The most troublesome thing was this silent inspection. Gu Shen felt like he was a player at a card table, but the other party had yet to play their cards.
The best method, and only method was…
… to wait quietly for them to move.
Therefore, Gu Shen calmly followed his mental power cultivation plan and completed his daily cultivation without any hitches. He would arrive at the counseling center at 8:30 a.m. sharp and organize and summarize the experimental materials half an hour in advance. After getting off work, he left punctually. He spent the rest of his time on the Transcendent Trials in the Deep Waters and practicing the Jingzhe Breathing Technique.
He knew there was no shortcut on this path.
He could only work hard.
Besides these mundane matters, Gu Shen also noticed something worth paying attention to… This small psychiatric clinic was actually quite famous on Lipu Street. Perhaps it was related to Sister Xin’s management over the past six months. Many patients made appointments every week.
These patients came from all walks of life, but they were all ordinary people. There were young people nursing heartbreaks, bankrupt and despondent business owners, working-class people under great pressure… Before entering the clinic, they often looked gloomy. But upon leaving, they were clearly in much better spirits, and their overall complexions had improved significantly.
Was it hypnosis?
However, Zhou Xin did not have a transcendental ability, so how did she do it?
It was Gu Shen’s ninth day on Lipu Street. He looked at the clock while organizing the files. 8:20 p.m. Hmm, there’s no special appointment today… I should be off work in another forty minutes.
In these nine days, Sister Xin had not let him observe once.
What exactly was happening in those rooms… It was quite mysterious.
“Little Gu, please bring two cups of hot water in.” A voice came from inside.
Gu Shen knew that this ‘psychiatric consultation’ was over.
He poured two cups of hot water and knocked on the door. After getting an affirmative response, he slowly pushed open the door.
The patient was a girl who looked about the same age as him. When she came, she had looked haggard and had obvious tear stains, but her expression was much better now, though her eyes were hazy, as though she had just woken up.
Zhou Yexin was tidying her clothes. Gu Shen caught a detail. He saw Sister Xin put a pocket watch into her pocket and sensed a slightly unsettling aura in the room.
Transcendental aura!
It was a transcendental sealed object… But its aura was very weak.
Compared to the sealed objects brought by the five assessors, it was far inferior, like the difference between clouds and mud.
It seems Sister Xin’s secret is this pocket watch. If it’s an item with transcendental power, then my suspicion can be explained.
Gu Shen’s expression remained unchanged. He pretended not to have seen anything and brought two cups of hot water into the room, one for each of them.
“Thank you.” The girl’s expression was gentle, but her voice was hoarse. She took a small sip of the hot water and said softly, “Thank you, Dr. Zhou, and thank you, Dr. Gu.”
The patients who came here were used to calling Sister Xin doctor… There was no problem with this form of address. After all, Zhou Yexin was a capable person who had returned from studying in the Central Continent.
As for him, an intern, he had benefited a little and was also addressed as a doctor.
Gu Shen wasn’t used to it at first, but he had grown accustomed to it now.
During this period of time, he had been tempering his mental power and vaguely felt that his Blazing Fire power was gradually stabilizing. It shouldn’t be long before he could use ‘mental hypnosis’.
This was actually the reason why Gu Shen could accept being called Dr. Gu with a clear conscience.
Who said that an intern psychiatrist couldn’t be considered a doctor?