#14crowAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 14 Crow
Chapter 14: Crow
A few days later, Zhou Ming finally understood what Mo Lei meant by the final assessment.
Regular students must study at the University of Anomaly Management for three years before they can join the Relevant Department and choose to become a Liaison, Analyst, or other professions like Public Security.
However, if a graduate aims to become one of the Hidden Ones, they must also pass a final assessment.
Zhou Ming's return to school this time was just a formality. Before he transmigrated, the final exams had already ended, and the original owner had already prepared the social research paper.
After he returned to school, he only needed to pass the final assessment and attend a few job-related lectures to successfully graduate and become one of the Hidden Ones.
The final assessment involved accompanying one of the Hidden Ones on a real mission. After the mission, he could only obtain true Hidden One qualifications if the Hidden One acknowledged him. If not, he would have to postpone his graduation or accept a different assignment.
This stage is often jokingly referred to as the 'on-the-job ceremony' by those in the industry.
Zhou Ming didn't understand why the school would set up such an on-the-job ceremony. This ceremony relied entirely on the subjective judgment of that Hidden One, with no objective standards. Its absurdity was on par with a company having no board of directors, with all business strategies decided by the CEO's single word.
While Zhou Ming was distracted, the lecture ended. After the professor assigned simple homework from the podium, students began to leave. Zhou Ming then came back to his senses and turned to ask his childhood friend.
"What homework did the teacher assign?"
Wang Siyan handed her notebook to Zhou Ming: "Copy this. Oh, are you preparing for the final assessment?"
"Yeah, I don't know if I'll pass," Zhou Ming sighed, casually copying the homework from the notebook.
Wang Siyan paused her action of tidying her textbooks, revealing a knowing smile: "Oh~ you're worried about this too, Chief Student?"
Zhang Wei, who was sitting in the front row, also leaned over: "Old Zhou, let's go! Let's eat together."
Zhou Ming was invited but hesitated for a moment, ultimately waving his hand to decline: "I still need to prepare a bit for the graduation assessment. I'm not sure about it yet."
After speaking, he fled as if escaping. Zhang Wei and Wang Siyan watched Zhou Ming's retreating figure, stunned.
"What's wrong with him?" Zhang Wei asked.
"I'm not sure. He seemed quite anxious a while ago, but recently he's looked a bit more normal. Probably a lot of pressure, after all, we'll all be true Hidden Ones soon," Wang Siyan guessed casually.
Zhang Wei: "Who cares if he's stressed or not! Let's eat hotpot together tomorrow!"
...
At the same time, in another teaching building, a man in a brown leather trench coat was holding binoculars, observing the classroom where Zhou Ming was. He only put down the binoculars after Zhou Ming picked up his backpack and left the classroom.
"How is it?"
Beside the man, a person wearing a silver mask and a loose camouflage coat asked.
The man showed a puzzled expression, suspiciously saying: "Very normal, no signs of losing control at all."
Based on the man's many years of investigative experience and intuition, Zhou Ming's normalcy seemed very abnormal.
Of the three murder victims, only one had no connection to Zhou Ming, and the death times of all three coincided with Zhou Ming's social practice outside the wall. Aside from the lack of direct evidence, all clues pointed to Zhou Ming; he should undoubtedly be the murderer!
But the problem was, he indeed showed no signs of losing control.
Could it be... it really wasn't him?
"You don't need to worry about this matter anymore. It will be handled by the Undertakers. We will judge and execute according to regulations," Silver said coldly.
The man was startled, then sighed, saying: "I understand."
His tone was regretful and helpless.
Clearly, he knew what Zhou Ming would face next.
The Undertakers are a covert department within the Relevant Department that handles special dangers. According to the "Abnormal Risk Handling Act," they have exaggerated enforcement powers when dealing with high-risk, uncertain targets.
Statistics prove that the social harm caused by letting go of a high-risk target is far greater than killing a thousand innocent people. To eliminate risk, the Undertakers can even kill without evidence.
Zhou Ming had undoubtedly been included in the Undertakers' execution scope. He was very likely to be killed by this silver-masked woman.
He felt regretful. Although he thought Zhou Ming probably wouldn't be considered mistakenly killed, he still felt regret because he hadn't found decisive evidence.
He was just an ordinary police officer from the Public Security Department and could not accept the Undertakers' extreme methods.
Two days later.
Zhou Ming still embarked on his journey for on-the-job training.
The Hidden One responsible for his assessment was codenamed "Crow." Their meeting point was in the wilderness outside the third wall, an extremely remote place where no one would go.
Zhou Ming drove the rented car over the undulating sand dunes.
Outside the window, sand filled the sky. He looked at the monotonous scenery ahead, recalling the brief gathering with Zhang Wei and Wang Siyan last night.
Although their meeting time was only a few days, Zhou Ming was very happy because Wang Siyan and Zhang Wei were just as he remembered them.
In this cruel and distorted world, their true nature seemed not to have changed with the deformed society, which greatly comforted Zhou Ming.
Although he would have to survive in a world full of crises in the future, with familiar friends by his side, the days ahead might not be so difficult.
Now, Zhou Ming was driving his off-road vehicle across the vast sand dunes, heading to meet his assessment teacher.
The long and bumpy journey made Zhou Ming irritable. Just as he felt his backside was about to split, he finally saw another car parked on a distant sand dune.
Finally arrived!
"Whoosh--"
Zhou Ming took a deep breath and put on the mask the school had randomly distributed to him. It was a green mask with golden lines, looking quite ugly.
Then he picked up the box containing his equipment, got out of the car, and walked towards the other car.
The opposite car door opened simultaneously, and a person jumped out, wearing a medieval doctor's plague doctor mask.
Zhou Ming carefully observed the other person's highly recognizable attire. This assessment teacher not only wore a plague doctor mask but also a top hat and a black long gown and cloak, dressed almost like a medieval quack.
Zhou Ming looked at the width of the other person's shoulders. They seemed very burly, with a large frame, possibly close to two meters tall, so it should be a man.
After his gaze swept over the person's chest, Zhou Ming was even more convinced of this idea.
"Rookie, this mission is not like the ones you did in school."
Zhou Ming heard the person speak, but the voice was a woman's!
His eyebrows shot up. He recalled that when the person spoke, their voice seemed to be mixed with slight noise from an electronic device, which was likely a voice changer. This was a small trick to avoid Curse Power erosion; it wasn't very useful, but better than nothing.
"How should I address you?" Zhou Ming asked.
"Call me Teacher Crow. Heh, I can tell you're a top student. I can already see you being scared out of your wits," Crow let out a few chuckles. Under the effect of the voice changer, the laughter became even more bizarre and distorted, sending shivers down one's spine.
"Uh... what's our mission this time?"
"See for yourself," Crow handed him a small business card.
Zhou Ming frowned, wondering why Hidden Ones would exchange business cards, only to find that such a small piece of paper was actually information!
[Location:
Longitude: ***
Latitude: ***
Address: Senma Town, a small town in the wilderness, a supply station for wanderers. Manager unknown, but investigation has proven that a manager did exist, though it is currently uncertain if the manager still exists.
Incident: Multiple disappearances, a small number of people showing signs of mental disorder, no related rumors.
Contact Person: Tian Jianzhong]
No rumors, yet strange phenomena appeared. This should be classified as a self-generating anomaly. The difficulty of obtaining information about self-generating anomalies is indeed higher than for rumored anomalies, but just these few short sentences are too little.
"Is that all?" Zhou Ming asked, puzzled.
"Do you think this is school? The missions you do in school are all specially investigated and confirmed to be relatively safe before being given to you. If any random anomaly were thrown at you, not a single person would survive three months!" Crow sneered coldly.
Zhou Ming fell silent.
"Get in my car. Leave your car here," Crow added.
Zhou Ming obeyed, obediently following the other person into the car.
This teacher's temper was truly awful. It seemed the journey ahead would be difficult.
On the way to Senma Town, the two rarely spoke to each other, but every time Crow looked at him in the rearview mirror, a few sarcastic remarks, not quite curses, would pop out of their mouth.
After careful calculation by Zhou Ming, the interval between the person's taunts was about fifteen minutes.
He thought this should also be one of the assessment indicators. After all, when Hidden Ones team up in the future, they all wear masks, no one knows anyone, and they can encounter all sorts of people. Good temper and patience are very important qualities.
After half an hour of bumping, Zhou Ming and Crow arrived at Senma Town. The off-road vehicle descended from the sand dunes, and Zhou Ming overlooked Senma Town a hundred meters away.
It was a small town that looked very similar to American Western towns in movies, situated amidst the vast yellow sand. People on the streets walked around in dirty cloaks, and everyone on the street carried weapons, giving the initial impression of a dangerous, lawless zone.
"Get out!" Crow commanded coldly.
Zhou Ming quickly got out of the car. Even he, usually good-tempered, was starting to get annoyed.
He had been scolded since they met, and it had continued until now. Even someone with the best self-control would have reached their limit of tolerance. If Crow scolded him again, he wasn't sure if he would explode.
"Kid, do you know why you've studied for three years in school, but still have to take this test?"
"No," Zhou Ming said, suppressing his anger.
"Because everything you learned in school is bullshit! Some things teachers won't teach you. It's only through direct instruction like this. Remember, learning starts now. If you can't accept the knowledge I teach you, then get out now and go punch a clock at a company."
Sharp and acrimonious words spilled from Crow's mouth, as if it were an innate talent.
Zhou Ming took a deep breath: "Please tell me what you want to teach me."
"First lesson: in the wilderness, you have to forget everything you learned in school. Anyone in the wilderness, if you feel they are dangerous, you can kill them. For example, right now, if I feel that everyone in this town is a bit off, then I can kill them all."
"Are you joking?" Zhou Ming's expression changed dramatically.
For the first time, he felt that this assessor truly had a problem in their head.
Crow let out a burst of laughter, the bird-beak of the mask pointing at Zhou Ming's face.
Zhou Ming couldn't see the other person's eyes behind the lenses, but he felt that their eyes must also be smiling, and those eyes must be enjoying his current displeased expression.
"Idiot! What do you think Hidden Ones are fighting against? Wanderers in the wilderness will stop at nothing to survive. Are you going to talk about laws with them here? If killing an anomaly requires sacrificing dozens of ordinary people, can you do it?"
...
Zhou Ming fell silent.
Seeing Zhou Ming not respond, Crow sneered and cursed:
"Fool! Of course, you must do it. Eliminating anomalies is the responsibility of the Hidden Ones. The number of people one anomaly can save is beyond your imagination! But what we do is not allowed by law, which is why I am standing here teaching you. Teachers in school, even if they know these things, won't tell you. The school's educational content needs to be politically correct. But here, forget about political correctness in school. The higher-ups know everything the Hidden Ones do; it's tacitly allowed... reality is that cruel. Becoming a Hidden One means you must accept it."
"If I can't do it, can I not become one of the Hidden Ones?" Zhou Ming asked.
Crow paused, turned to look at Zhou Ming, and let out another cold sneer.
"Of course you can, you'll just die sooner."]}```