Ch 198: Is There Really Such a Good Thing? [QT]

Shen Yunxuan had no idea what was happening in the supernatural realm. As soon as she and Elder Xu’s team returned to the transversal chamber, she quickly counted the group to ensure that everyone had made it back safely. Only when she confirmed that not a single person was missing did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The others were deeply moved by this. They were supposed to be the ones protecting Shen Yunxuan, yet in the end, it was she who worried about them the most, as if she saw their safety as her own responsibility.

Gao Lang couldn’t help but say, “We were so useless this time. We didn’t even get to help you, Captain Shen, and you still had to worry about us…”

Shen Yunxuan quickly interjected, “Don’t say that. If not for me, you wouldn’t have been dragged into this, facing all these unknown dangers. I know you’ll say that as soldiers, you’re always prepared for battle and crisis situations. But those are dangers within the scope of our understanding, not something beyond the natural world like traveling between dimensions.

This time, we faced Taoist masters and ghosts. Next time, it might be magic or supernatural abilities—things that could completely overpower us. That’s why I care so much about this. I feel like I brought you all into a situation far beyond our expectations.”

It was the first time Shen Yunxuan had openly expressed her thoughts, and it suddenly made sense to everyone why she was so determined to grow stronger. She carried a heavy sense of responsibility on her shoulders. She had initially handed herself over to the country for protection, and in theory, she could simply rely on the government’s resources without caring about sacrifices. As long as she remained valuable, the country would do everything to keep her safe.

But she had a heart. Seeing her teammates struggle against supernatural forces, she had worried for their safety. Every time she planned an action, she always made sure to first draw protective formations around them.

Hearing her words, the group felt incredibly touched.

Elder Xu patted her shoulder and said, “It’s good that you think this way. Someone in your position should have this kind of heart. But don’t feel guilty about it. Everyone here is serving the country of their own free will. We should be standing side by side, not as your burden or responsibility.”

“This dimensional travel really caught me off guard,” he continued. “To be honest, Old Chen and I probably shouldn’t be following you on these missions anymore. We ended up being a burden more than anything else. So from now on, we need to assess and adjust our team composition for each mission. And everyone needs to focus on getting stronger together—if we work as a team, we can face any danger.”

Elder Chen sighed with a wry smile. “Hiding in the General’s Residence this time made me feel useless. I spent my whole life being respected, and now I’ve become a liability in my old age.”

Before the others could comfort him, he waved a hand to stop them and chuckled. “But I’ve come to a realization. If we ever find ourselves in an extremely dangerous world that we can’t handle, Captain Shen, you should just hide with us and wait until the mission time runs out.

“If we don’t manage to bring back any resources once or twice, or even if we fail several times in a row, it doesn’t matter. Our safety comes first.”

“That’s right—safety first.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Of course, they all knew that if they had the chance, they would still try to collect rare resources, but no one voiced it at that moment.

The group then turned to Shen Yunxuan and said, “Captain Shen, take a look at what we brought back this time. If there’s anything we can learn, we’ll train like our lives depend on it!”

Shen Yunxuan smiled and nodded, urging everyone to complete their return documentation, go through decontamination, and get some rest. She then headed to the warehouse to sort through the collected resources, including the two storage pouches. The storage pouches were among the most valuable items obtained and were specially marked by her so that only she could use them. They would be studied in a controlled lab under her supervision.

Everyone went to rest. Even though the mission had only lasted a single day, the mental and emotional toll was immense. Just hearing the tragic stories of those vengeful spirits had left a deep impact on them. They would need several days to fully recover.

Shen Yunxuan was no exception. This mission had been unexpected, but also thrilling.

Instead of returning home, she chose to stay in her office. The administration building had all the necessary facilities, making it more convenient, and she could stay in close contact with different departments. The rest area was also comfortable, so there was no real need to leave.

After lying down and relaxing for a moment, she quickly sat up cross-legged and began circulating her spiritual energy to test whether she could cultivate in her home dimension.

Previously, she had tried multiple times but had always failed.

But this time, she succeeded!

Shen Yunxuan was shocked—then overjoyed!

This was an incredible breakthrough. No matter how many resources she brought back or how much dimensional currency she accumulated, this was far more valuable. If she could cultivate, she could truly become a Taoist master. That meant she would be able to protect herself in future missions, far beyond what martial arts training alone could offer.

After some thought, she realized that this must be an additional benefit of the system.

Dimensional travel would only grow more dangerous, but at the same time, the opportunities it provided would also become more extraordinary. If she could seize these opportunities, she could continuously grow stronger. Unlike material possessions, personal strength was something that could never be taken from her.

It was also a safeguard. If anyone ever coveted her system and tried to control her, she could simply bring them into a mission and use the world’s dangers to eliminate them while she continued growing stronger.

In the end, dimensional travel was both a blessing and a curse—whether it turned out to be a gift or a trap depended entirely on how she chose to use it.

Zhang Yang, the system’s previous owner, had never understood this. He had only sought wealth from different worlds, indulging in a life of luxury upon returning, even resenting the system for forcing him into missions. Eventually, he viewed the system as a curse and forcibly bound it to her, trying to rid himself of it.

That was a mistake she would never repeat.

Thankfully, she had the government as her backing. As long as she focused on becoming stronger, she would achieve far greater results with their support.

Looking at all the resources and knowledge she had gained from this mission, she knew it wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s help. If not for them scanning books, she wouldn’t have had enough time to assist the ghosts and obtain the storage pouches and other rare treasures.

Shen Yunxuan was so excited that she didn’t feel tired at all. She rushed to her desk, turned on the computer, and recorded everything that had happened during their mission. Sometimes the cameras might not have captured events clearly or completely, so she made sure to write everything down in detail to help the clerical department summarize and organize the information.

When she finished and went to submit her report, she ran into Xu Wenyu, who was verifying the list of ghosts she had recorded from the mission with the clerical department. Seeing how quickly Shen Yunxuan had finished writing, Xu Wenyu was surprised. “You didn’t rest? You were the most exhausted this time. Stop working and go get some sleep.”

Shen Yunxuan smiled. “Auntie, I’m not tired! Let me tell you something amazing—I just tried cultivating, and my spiritual energy from the other dimension still works here. I can continue training!”

Gao Lang, who was standing nearby, immediately froze. “Captain Shen, what did you just say? Our world doesn’t have metaphysics, right? If you can cultivate now… doesn’t that mean… ghosts might exist here too?”

He whispered the word “ghost” so softly, as if afraid of summoning one just by saying it.

Shen Yunxuan shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I find it strange too. The system never explains anything to me. But being able to cultivate is definitely a good thing. You should try it too—maybe you’ll be able to train, and then you won’t be scared of ghosts anymore.”

Gao Lang imagined himself effortlessly defeating ghosts and shook his head. “I think… I’ll start by watching some horror movies to desensitize myself first.”

He ran off quickly, making Shen Yunxuan chuckle. She turned to Xu Wenyu and said, “Auntie, you must be tired too. Go rest—I’ll handle things here. I don’t feel sleepy at all right now, so I might as well get some work done. That way, when everyone wakes up, we can go straight into the meeting.”

Xu Wenyu patted her hand and smiled. “You really are a workaholic. Alright, I’ll leave it to you. I’m getting older, and I really do feel exhausted. I should probably start exercising more.”

After Xu Wenyu left, Shen Yunxuan thought to herself that in her previous life, she really had been a workaholic, often forgetting to eat properly. She had neglected her health and suffered from stomach pains as a result. This time, she needed to take better care of herself.

She ordered food from the cafeteria and made sure her coworkers ate before she continued processing and confirming all the data from their mission. Then, she headed down to the first-floor training area, where she found a few special forces soldiers practicing martial arts. She took the opportunity to teach them how to sense spiritual energy, hoping they might be able to cultivate.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, none of them felt anything.

Just as military training required physical talent, cultivation required innate aptitude. Some things simply couldn’t be forced.

But the soldiers didn’t get discouraged. They were already elite troops, and even if they could only master basic qinggong, it would still be a significant improvement. They understood the importance of being realistic and working hard to improve step by step.

Spending time with these special forces soldiers also taught Shen Yunxuan a lot. Their perseverance, determination, and unwavering courage had a grounding effect on her, making her feel more steady and composed.

Since they weren’t in a hurry, she wasn’t either. Instead, she planned to review the scanned books they had retrieved from the other world. If possible, she wanted to compile a manual suitable for cultivation in their home dimension.

By the time she had finished her tasks, Elder Xu and the others had woken up from their rest. They called her, and she quickly joined them for a meeting to review their earnings from the mission.

This time, they had earned the highest amount of dimensional currency yet.

The scanned books alone were invaluable—most of them contained knowledge that didn’t exist in their home dimension. The storage pouches were extremely rare treasures, and the materials from the zombie, along with various magical artifacts, were all highly valuable.

The most precious gain, however, was Shen Yunxuan’s cultivation progress. Since she directly converted faith energy into spiritual power, she advanced at an incredibly fast pace. In just one day, she had already reached a level comparable to Taoist Master Li, making her no longer a weak combatant. The system rewarded her with 500,000 dimensional currency just for this breakthrough.

Adding everything together, their final balance reached 1.38 million—and she had officially advanced to level four!

If she could accumulate 2 million, she would be able to reach level five. At this rate, as long as they went on another mission next month, she could reach that goal.

Once she reached level five, she wouldn’t have to rely solely on mandatory missions—she could spend her own dimensional currency to travel to worlds of her choosing.

This was a game-changer.

If she could access safer dimensions, she could continuously trade for valuable resources. This would put her in a much stronger position, allowing her to equip herself better before facing dangerous missions.

Shen Yunxuan also explained how she had spent dimensional currency to increase her agility during the battle, which was how she had managed to defeat the zombie. The others were impressed, praising her for her quick thinking and adaptability.

“That zombie was insanely difficult to fight,” someone said. “If you hadn’t boosted your agility and taken it down, we could’ve all died horrible deaths. You might not have made it out either.”

Elder Xu then asked, “Yunxuan, what other attributes do you think you need to improve? I’ll include it in my report and request additional funding from the higher-ups.”

Shen Yunxuan thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I think randomly upgrading stats without a clear purpose would be a waste of money and might not even be useful. It’s better to wait until we’re in a mission and upgrade based on what we actually need.”

“That makes sense,” Elder Xu agreed. “Then I’ll request an official authorization that allows you to have full control over the use of dimensional currency during missions.”

He then turned to Elder Chen with a proud smile. “Well, what do you think? My granddaughter is incredible, isn’t she? Jealous yet?”

Elder Chen rolled his eyes at Elder Xu. “You’ve got some nerve showing off. If you hadn’t gotten to her first, I would’ve taken her into my family. My household doesn’t have a granddaughter, and I’ve always wanted one.”

Elder Xu waved his hand dismissively, grinning from ear to ear. “A step behind means always a step behind. You missed your chance—no way you’re going to be Yunxuan’s grandfather now. Go on, go home, nothing left for you to do here.”

Elder Chen’s eyes twinkled as he turned to Shen Yunxuan with a sly smile. “No worries, Xiao Shen, you’re still single, right? What kind of guy do you like? Tell me, and I’ll arrange something for you. If I’ve got someone suitable in my family, we could still become one big family, couldn’t we?”

Shen Yunxuan was caught between laughter and tears. She quickly said, “Grandpa Chen, with my current identity and all the secrets I’m involved in, do you really think it’s the right time for me to find a partner? Besides, I don’t even have the time or interest for that. All I think about is the different dimensions and my cultivation. I have no interest in dating.”

“Huh? No interest?” Elder Chen was baffled. “A young woman your age should be thinking about relationships! Don’t tell me that scumbag Zhang Yang scared you off?”

Shen Yunxuan waved her hand. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I’m just genuinely not interested.”

Elder Xu also asked, “Could it be that what you saw in the last mission affected you? Seeing so many innocent women die tragically, unable to find justice, suffering so much—it’s understandable if that makes someone lose faith in relationships and family. But Yunxuan, you have to remember, it’s not all bad. There are good men in this world too. Don’t let those tragedies scare you.”

Shen Yunxuan nodded. “I understand, Grandpa. Don’t worry, I know the difference. I can tell that there are both good and bad men in this world.”

Hearing her say this, the two elders stopped worrying and officially ended the meeting. They were getting old, and after the nerve-wracking mission, they were exhausted. After wrapping things up, they took a car home.

On the way, Elder Chen turned to Elder Xu and asked, “So what do you think? Since Xiao Shen isn’t looking for anyone, should we still pick out some good candidates and see if she changes her mind?”

Elder Xu thought for a moment and shook his head. “Yunxuan knows what she wants. We don’t need to interfere. And honestly, where would we even find someone good enough? When I think about it, who could possibly be worthy of my granddaughter?”

Elder Chen was taken aback and thought carefully. He had always known Shen Yunxuan was outstanding—beautiful, strong-willed, ambitious, and a natural leader. The more he got to know her, the more impressive she became. Back when she first learned martial arts and qinggong, it was already hard to find someone who could match her. Now that she had cultivated spiritual power, setting her up with someone almost felt like making her take care of a freeloader.

Sure, there were men who were good at supporting their wives and being a strong presence at home, but those were rare, and you could never truly see inside someone’s heart. If they introduced someone and it backfired, hurting Shen Yunxuan, that would be terrible.

Elder Chen sighed. “You’re right. We’re old, but we shouldn’t be old-fashioned. We should respect the kid’s choices. But… I can’t help but feel that Zhang Yang has something to do with this. He must’ve pestered Xiao Shen so much that she’s sick of the idea of relationships.

“No way, I need to have a little ‘chat’ with him.”

Saying that, Elder Chen pulled out his phone and called Gao Lang, telling him to arrange a secret mission—an interrogation session for Zhang Yang, with some extra “discipline” thrown in.

There were plenty of ways to “discipline” someone without leaving any visible wounds but still making them suffer.

Gao Lang had just watched two horror movies and was itching for something to do. Now that he had a reason, he eagerly headed to the underground interrogation room and gave Zhang Yang a thorough beating.

Zhang Yang, unable to bear it any longer, shouted, “Are you guys ever going to stop? What else do you even want to know? How long are you planning to keep me locked up?”

Gao Lang smirked and said, “Let’s try a lie detector. See if you’ve been telling the truth.”

Zhang Yang panicked. He had never been trained to beat a lie detector. If they used it on him, they’d find out that eight out of ten things he said were lies.

But Gao Lang wasn’t going to give him a choice. Within moments, Zhang Yang was hooked up to the polygraph. He quickly warned himself not to think about his past life—just focus on this one, and don’t mess up his answers.

Gao Lang skimmed through Zhang Yang’s previous statements out of curiosity, then suddenly asked, “Do you like Shen Yunxuan?”

Zhang Yang: “Yes.”

Beep—!

A shrill alarm sounded. Zhang Yang had lied.

Gao Lang let out a mocking laugh. He had deliberately used this kind of polygraph because of its loud and direct responses. And Zhang Yang had failed immediately.

He continued, “If you don’t like her, why did you confess to her on the night of the meteor shower? And did you drug her?”

Zhang Yang remained silent.

Gao Lang suddenly shouted, “Answer me!”

Reflexively, Zhang Yang blurted out, “I didn’t.”

Beep—!

Gao Lang smirked. “Looks like you did.”

Zhang Yang yelled, “This thing isn’t even accurate! You can’t use a lie detector as evidence in court. I told you—I didn’t do it!”

Gao Lang sneered. “Who said anything about court? I’m just here to get to the truth. Are you a spy?”

Zhang Yang felt utterly drained.

They weren’t even trying to use this as legal evidence—they were just going to keep grilling him like this indefinitely. He was starting to break.

The next question came immediately.

“Are you a spy?”

Zhang Yang immediately shot back, “I’m not a spy.”

No alarm sounded.

Gao Lang nodded in satisfaction. “Alright. Next question—do you love your country?”

Zhang Yang: “I love my country!”

Beep—!

Gao Lang looked Zhang Yang up and down. “Wow, so you don’t have a shred of patriotism? That’s the only way the machine would flag your answer as a lie. That person you saved at the hospital—have you known him for more than a year?”

Zhang Yang: “No, I haven’t.”

Beep—!

Gao Lang glanced at him. “More than five years?”

Zhang Yang gritted his teeth. “No, not more than five years.”

Beep—!

Gao Lang was surprised. He checked the interrogation records, unable to make sense of it. “More than ten years?”

Zhang Yang was stuck. These were questions he had been asked before. He knew the authorities didn’t believe his answers, but as long as he didn’t admit anything, what could they do? Courts needed solid evidence. He hadn’t expected someone to come in and throw all the usual rules out the window—ignoring proof and just pressing him for answers to strange questions.

He steadied himself. His only option now was to stick to his story and claim the lie detector was faulty. So, he doubled down and answered again. “No, not more than ten years.”

Beep—!

Gao Lang thought for a moment. “More than twenty years?”

This time, the machine remained silent. Gao Lang immediately marked it in the interrogation log and then asked, “When did you first learn about the foreign patent investment project? More than ten years ago?”

Zhang Yang had previously stated that he only found out shortly before he was caught. He took a deep breath, hoping the lie detector would beep again, and said, “No, not more than ten years ago.”

Beep—!

Gao Lang immediately followed up, “More than twenty years?”

Zhang Yang: “No, not more than twenty years.”

The lie detector remained silent.

Zhang Yang was out of options. Was he supposed to tell the truth now? He couldn’t. But at this point, Gao Lang seemed to have already picked up on something. If he kept pressing like this, he was bound to figure it out. What should he do?

Zhang Yang shut his eyes and tried to fake passing out.

Gao Lang, unfazed, grabbed a few bags of ice and dumped them on Zhang Yang’s body. The sudden cold made him jolt awake—there was no way he could keep up the act.

Gao Lang immediately asked, “Can you predict the future?”

Zhang Yang: “No.”

The lie detector remained silent.

Gao Lang frowned. “How many years into the future do you know about? More than ten?”

Zhang Yang: “No.”

Beep—!

“More than twenty?”

Zhang Yang: “No.”

No sound.

Gao Lang had found the pattern. A crazy thought popped into his head, and he immediately ran off to report to Shen Yunxuan.

Zhang Yang closed his eyes in despair. How could he possibly keep his secret now? Even if he refused to admit anything, the questions themselves had already exposed too much. If this were a courtroom, he could argue and try to escape conviction. But locked up here for so long, he had the sinking feeling that they had figured out something was off about him—and now they were planning to treat him like a lab rat.

Gao Lang burst into Shen Yunxuan’s office, barely containing his excitement. “Captain Shen, that guy Zhang Yang is definitely hiding something. He knows at most about the next ten to twenty years—but nothing beyond that. And it’s not a predictive ability.”

“I threw in a few random questions along with the key ones, and I realized that ninety percent of what he knows is about business. He also knows a little about major national events, but not much. As for natural disasters, he only knows a few, and only because they affected his interests. Anything else? He has no clue.”

Gao Lang took a deep breath and dropped the bombshell. “I have a bold guess—could he be a reborn person?”

After saying this, he furrowed his brows again. “But if he was reborn, why would he try to drug you? Did he know about your system in his past life and try to steal it? But that doesn’t make sense—he didn’t take the system back then, and after you passed out, he didn’t harm you. Could it be that the system protected you?”

Shen Yunxuan hadn’t expected Gao Lang to hit the nail on the head so quickly. Xu Wenyu had spent so long interrogating Zhang Yang, yet they had only suspected he had foresight abilities. But Gao Lang had immediately figured out the truth.

However, from her perspective, she technically shouldn’t know anything about this. She definitely did not want to expose the fact that she was also reborn.

So, she said, “If you suspect that, then keep interrogating him. If he really is reborn, maybe we can get some useful information out of him.”

Gao Lang, fired up, grinned. “Just wait, Captain Shen! I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. Breaking down criminals’ mental defenses is my specialty—I’ll make him snap and spill everything soon enough. Just sit tight and wait for my good news!”

Shen Yunxuan nodded and let him go. She could already guess that Elder Chen was the one who had sent Gao Lang to “handle” Zhang Yang.

But honestly? If they accidentally uncovered Zhang Yang’s true identity this way, it was actually a good thing.

At least now, his case could be put to rest once and for all.

She thought about it for a moment. Even if Zhang Yang’s entire secret was exposed, it wouldn’t affect her in any way.

After all, in her past life, she had been a legitimate businesswoman—she had never broken any laws.

So, whatever happened to Zhang Yang was none of her concern.

She pushed the thought aside and returned to cultivating her spiritual energy.

🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆