"Spiritual Origin Ability."
For a long time, Ji Xinghuo had not figured out how Spiritual Origin Ability came to be, but from its name, he guessed that it must be a kind of energy related to will or thought.
He opened the Wanxiang Star Pupil interface and observed carefully to discover it.
Aside from the numeric values, there were no other changes in the information column on the left side of the interface; on the right side, however, the human phantom image that looked exactly like him had his neural network representing the "Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand" flashing subtly within both arms, very conspicuous.
His gaze fell on it and immediately displayed: Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand, First Level, upgradable.
There was now an option to "upgrade."
Ji Xinghuo's heart shook greatly, and he almost couldn't control himself. "This upgradable feature, could it really mean directly upgrading an Ability?"
He composed himself with difficulty and focused his mind on "upgrade."
Instantly, in the human phantom image, the Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand's fine lines in the arms became brighter, flashing with light, streams of energy flowing swiftly along the neural network.
At the same time, Ji Xinghuo felt changes in his body.
Starting from the brachial plexus in his neck, extending down to his arms, palms, and fingertips, there was a faint sensation of warmth, as if something was crawling inside, itchy and numb, with a little bit of sting, but all within his tolerance.
The numeric values on the left side of the interface were jumping as well.
It was originally [Ability: Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand (First Level 10/47)], where the first number inside the parentheses represented the progress of the current level of the Ability, was rapidly increasing!
It had taken him three painstaking weeks of training to raise the progress from 1 to 10.
And now, it was climbing every second!
To the surveillance camera in the inquiry room, Ji Xinghuo appeared motionless, maintaining calm, but his heart was overwhelmed by stormy waves!
Meanwhile, the value in the column for [Spiritual Origin Ability: 137] was plummeting.
Ji Xinghuo observed carefully and even paused the test once to confirm that with each point the Ability progress increased, one point of Spiritual Origin Ability was consumed, and the increase and decrease between the two were 1:1 proportional.
The progress of the Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand reached 47/47; the upgrade automatically stopped.
Ji Xinghuo carefully felt his changes, his hands hidden under the table vibrating at a high frequency yet with extremely small amplitude, which lasted for a few seconds before returning to normal.
He could sense that his hands had become more flexible, capable of easily doing actions that were previously impossible.
His reaction speed and stability had also improved by a margin!
In the interface, the information for Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand also updated, the parentheses showing (Second Level 1/227), and the Ability display in the human phantom image remained upgradable.
"Second Level Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand!"
Ji Xinghuo let out a light breath.
He had long been aware of the difficulty in upgrading Superior Ability.
Most Rangers never advance beyond the First Level in their lifetime, and only a few Intermediate or higher Rangers can reach the Second Level after many years of training.
And he had done it in just three weeks.
He glanced at his Spiritual Origin Ability, which was exactly at 100 points now.
"The progress needed for Second Level Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand is actually 227, nearly five times the original amount," Ji Xinghuo calculated that even if he poured in all his remaining Spiritual Origin Ability, it wouldn't suffice to upgrade the Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand.
It was more reasonable to keep it as reserve without a clear understanding of how to obtain Spiritual Origin Ability.
"Spiritual Origin Ability..."
Ji Xinghuo murmured to himself, wondering what exactly this energy was that could directly upgrade an Ability! It was somewhat like experience points in games, yet he was certain that Spiritual Origin Ability could not increase Star Power, nor could it evolve his life.
He did not understand, but was utterly shocked.
"If I could obtain more Spiritual Origin Ability..."
As Ji Xinghuo was contemplating the uses of Spiritual Origin Ability, Min Chongwu entered an office not far from the inquiry room, with Yan Xiao following behind him.
The two called out one after the other, yet received no response.
A middle-aged man sat behind the office desk, apparently in his forties, with an ordinary appearance, medium build, and no signs of physique training. If he walked on the streets, he wouldn't attract much attention.
Min Chongwu and Yan Xiao had already muted their presence before entering, even lightening their footsteps.
They looked at the man behind the desk and showed a trace of surprise on their faces.
Zhou Yishang, one of the three deputy directors of the Sword Bureau and the top-ranking one, whose power and position were second only to the director, was now intently focused on the screen in front of him, frowning as if he hadn't heard the two men's words.
"Director Zhou, what are you watching so intently?" Min Chongwu asked curiously.
Zhou Yishang finally looked up, "You two take a look as well."
He tapped on the table lightly, projecting the screen's images into the air to enlarge them. Min Chongwu immediately recognized that the scene on the screen was the building where Ji Zongbang had been killed.
It was a segment of surveillance footage.
And it was from multiple angles of cameras, clear even though it was nighttime.
Yan Xiao didn't understand at first, but as soon as he saw one of the screens showed the shadows under a bridge pier, adjusted by post-production to reveal a blurry figure, he quickly realized that this was where Ji Zongbang had hidden.
What happened next was completely beyond his expectation.
In the video, Ji Xinghuo went home like other pedestrians, swiftly skating in his Power Shoes, vigilant all the way, with nothing unusual apparent. When he arrived at the front door of the building, he turned his head and glanced toward the side of the building, where Ji Zongbang was located.
Min Chongwu and Yan Xiao found this scene somewhat strange.
Yan Xiao was even more perplexed.
He had personally clashed with Ji Zongbang, who was a Super Shadow Blade, and his "Shadow Escape" was very sophisticated, at least at the Third Level, extremely adept at concealing his tracks, especially in dim environments, making even himself struggle to pinpoint Ji Zongbang's whereabouts.
It was precisely by using this Shadow Escape that Ji Zongbang had managed to escape despite being seriously injured.
And now he had been seen through by a Primary Level Ranger?
Then, the battle suddenly erupted.
Ji Xinghuo entered the gate as usual, when suddenly, as if sensing danger, he drew his composite Hunting Bow at top speed and took the initiative to attack.
Almost simultaneously, Ji Zongbang also realized his cover was blown and darted out from the shadows.
The two acted as though they had rehearsed the scene countless times.
Ji Xinghuo drew his bow and shot three arrows, each more bizarre than the last.
The first arrow blew up a billboard, the second ricocheted off the wall of the building and struck Ji Zongbang's knee, and the third arrow, with a lower trajectory as if aiming for Ji Zongbang's chest, turned out to be perfectly aimed at his eye as Ji Zongbang's body fell out of balance, hitting the target without the slightest deviation.
Min Chongwu was dumbstruck; he felt as though he had been electrocuted, and if he still had any hair on his skin, it would have been standing on end right now.
Yan Xiao's pupils contracted sharply into tiny dots.
"How is this possible?"
His first reaction was that it was fake, a fabricated video by artificial intelligence, but how could Zhou Yishang have watched for so long without considering this point?
The battle was brief, lasting less than five seconds.
The screen looped the fight, and the three of them watched over and over again, understanding less with each viewing.
Zhou Yishang paused the video, his face pensive, and suddenly asked, "What do you think? Which of his three arrows was the most ingenious?"
Min Chongwu instinctively wanted to say the second arrow.
"The first arrow," Yan Xiao answered immediately, without a moment's hesitation.
"Oh?" Zhou Yishang was somewhat surprised.
"The second arrow caused the arrow to change direction through ricocheting, which is quite impressive, but many Super Rangers and Hunters could do that," Yan Xiao explained with a hiss, his words slurred, "The third arrow was prediction, an even lower degree of difficulty than the second one."
"The truly brilliant one was the first arrow."
Yan Xiao pointed to the exploded billboard on the screen, saying, "The design of that kind of billboard is very secure, practically eliminating all safety hazards. In most cases, even if it were damaged, it wouldn't explode, not to mention causing any electrical leakage."
"And yet, he blew up the billboard with a single arrow, which I really don't understand; was it luck or did he already know there was something wrong with that billboard?"
"The explosion of the billboard didn't actually have much lethal power; it posed no threat to Ji Zongbang."
"His motive for doing so was to force Ji Zongbang to avoid the electrified puddle and get closer to the wall of the building, thus creating favorable conditions for his ricocheting second arrow."
"These three arrows formed a series of interconnected traps, each leading into the next."
"If any one of them had gone awry, Ji Zongbang would not have been killed..."
Yan Xiao's eyes still filled with incredulity as he spoke, for even after watching the surveillance footage over a dozen times, he couldn't believe that this was what a Primary Level Ranger could achieve.
But the evidence was right before his eyes.
Min Chongwu couldn't help but look at Yan Xiao, sometimes having to admit that the snake's brain was more flexible than his own, able to see more information.
Zhou Yishang exclaimed in amazement, then shook his head, "But I don't understand."
He manipulated the screen, displaying Ji Xinghuo's public profile.
Yan Xiao had quickly skimmed over it earlier, while Min Chongwu saw it for the first time, eagerly reading in detail.
"This man is a public ward, with a clear identity and background, and there's nothing suspicious in his movements from childhood to adulthood, the recorded statements, internet browsing records, and search contents. A big data analysis suggests the likelihood of him being a spy or hostile agent is only one in a thousand."
Zhou Yishang said softly, "His family, friends, and classmates, the people he's interacted with over the past five years, a few have been placed on a First Level monitoring list, but the issues were not significant, and they had no connection with him."
"Artificial intelligence's estimation of his political alignment and ideological spectrum indicates a Materialistic tendency of 93%, Asia-Pacific Community support tendency of 87%, and a whole regime tendency of 68%."
"Ji Xinghuo is a model of an excellent citizen!"
Zhou Yishang finished reviewing the data.
Ji Xinghuo's flawless record was not uncommon within the Asia-Pacific Community; indeed, there were many others just like him.
More than 90% of the public profiles accessed by the Sword Bureau were .
"So are you saying that Ji Zongbang just happened to come across Ji Xinghuo and then got shot by him?" Yan Xiao asked.
Zhou Yishang nodded, "Yes."
"Then how do we explain that a Primary Level Ranger actually killed a Super Mutant?" Yan Xiao was still not convinced.
"Because he is a genius!" Min Chongwu said loudly, "A top-tier, extraordinary genius, possessing a combat talent that surpasses us all!"