I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

The next morning, at the Jiangcheng Folk Customs Bureau, in the underground parking lot.

An off-road vehicle with a special license plate from the provincial bureau was already running.

Chen Feng stood by the car door and handed a file to Lin Yan.

"This is your first project assignment."

Chen Feng lowered his voice and said.

"The main task force is currently focused on tracking down their leader, and there are simply no other people available."

"But we caught a new development of theirs on the internet."

Lin Yan took the file and quickly glanced at it.

[Jiangcheng Pedestrian Street: Win a million-yuan prize by 100-second single-bar suspension challenge]

Chen Feng looked at Lin Yan: "This should just be a test activity used by that organization; it's not on a large scale."

"Now that you have special envoy authority, Lao Zhao will cooperate with you on the surface to take down this outer outpost for me. Consider it a test for you to join the task force."

"Understood." Lin Yan nodded, then casually rolled up the file and stuffed it into his pocket.

Just as Chen Feng turned to get into the car, Lin Yan suddenly took a step forward.

"Commander Chen, wait a moment! I have a personal matter I'd like to ask you about."

Chen Feng turned his head, raising an eyebrow: "Speak."

Lin Yan coughed lightly and touched his chest, which was still aching slightly from the slap he received from Saya yesterday.

"Well... you see, I'm considered part of our elite task force, but in the end, I'm just an ordinary person without any spiritual power."

Lin Yan felt a little embarrassed, after all, the question he was about to ask might be someone else's closely guarded secret.

If it's inconvenient for Chen Feng to say this, he'll go back and ask Old Zhao for advice.

"If I were to encounter a higher-level monster, even if my brain works incredibly fast, my hardware might not be able to keep up and I could easily kick the bucket."

"Does our department have any... methods for cultivating spiritual power?"

Chen Feng was genuinely surprised that Lin Yan would ask this question. He looked at Lin Yan strangely, sizing him up and down.

He originally thought that Lin Yan had some secret inheritance or some ancestral treasure.

But now it seems this kid can actually ask such a basic question.

Could it be that he's just an ordinary person who has survived this long solely through his intelligence and incredible luck?

Chen Feng found Lin Yan's naive look somewhat amusing, but he still patiently explained:

"Cultivating spiritual power is never like in novels, where you just absorb a couple of breaths of the essence of heaven and earth and that's it."

"The bizarre is a product of rules, and ultimately it is a product of condensed resentment."

"If people want to fight against the bizarre, they have to use their own spiritual core to tough it out."

"The cultivation methods recorded in the bureau are varied and the specific details are classified. I can only give you a general overview."

"There are ascetic practitioners who rely on extreme physical pain to stimulate their potential. You young people can't really handle that, and the potential for growth is limited."

"There are also spiritualists who try to communicate with ancient spirits through deep meditation. If you come from a wealthy family, you could give that a try."

"A wealthy family?" Lin Yan was a little confused. Did they even have spirit stones as a form of hard currency? Otherwise, what did having money have to do with cultivation?

"Yes, after all, the mediums used for psychic communication are usually antiques, and the provincial bureau has basically reserved all the ones that can be borrowed."

After Chen Feng finished speaking, he pointed to himself and his tone became serious.

"What I am doing is upholding the precepts."

"Set rules for yourself and adhere to them year after year to anchor yourself and hone your spiritual power into a spiritual force that can resist the pollution of the bizarre."

"However, whether it is spiritual communication or keeping precepts, both paths are long and painful single-plank bridges."

Lin Yan frowned as he listened.

Asceticism? Meditation? Observance of precepts?

This sounds like someone becoming a monk!

This is completely different from the cultivation Lin Yan imagined. If he really tried to cultivate like this, he would probably die of suffocation before he could even cultivate any spiritual power.

"So there's no other way?" Lin Yan pressed, unwilling to give up. "The kind that can be done quickly?"

Chen Feng's eyes sharpened immediately. He stared at Lin Yan for a long time before slowly continuing:

"Yes, that's the path of heretical practitioners, which we call symbiosis."

"Those who walk this path use different methods, but the means by which they cultivate are all similar."

"Most of them felt that since the bizarre had mastered the power of the rules, they should just borrow their power."

"By establishing deep causal bonds, even emotional bonds, with the bizarre, the rules of the bizarre feed on him, thereby gaining power far beyond that of ordinary people."

Lin Yan's heart tightened upon hearing this, and she subconsciously looked up, meeting Chen Feng's eyes. She immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

Chen Feng said sternly, "But you'd better give up on that idea."

"This is suicidal! The bizarre has no human morality; it's mostly formed from pure resentment."

"Once you connect with them, their bizarre and twisted rules will gradually influence you, and the connection between you will become increasingly strong!"

"And there are even worse ones, like those who build cults and trick ordinary people into supporting their bizarre symbiotic relationship, harming both themselves and others."

"Those who tried to take this path in history either suffered a backlash from the bizarre and became puppets and playthings in its hands."

"Either they suffer a mental breakdown, their personality changes drastically, and they eventually become something neither human nor ghost, harming the local area."

Chen Feng patted Lin Yan on the shoulder and earnestly advised him:

"You're a bright kid, a good prospect. But never get involved with those dirty things. Borrowed power can cost you your life."

Lin Yan nodded repeatedly.

Chen Feng gave a few more instructions before closing the car door.

Watching the car drive out of the parking lot, Lin Yan stood still, pondering Chen Feng's words.

The more I thought about it, the more something seemed off.

Cause and effect? ​​Emotions? Bizarre reciprocity?

Why do I know all of this so well?

How come every single one of these posts matches up with a dating group?

According to Chen Feng, those who take the path of symbiosis are risking their lives to fill that bottomless pit, and they may be polluted and alienated at any time.

But I... it seems like I was forced down this evil path from the very beginning.

The favorability system in the group is just what Chen Feng calls "emotions."

Those "bond value" red envelopes given out with life-saving money—aren't they just karmic entanglements?

However, there is indeed a strange individual named Chu Chu who exhibits a possessiveness towards him that can be described as perverse.

The problem is that, so far, apart from being accidentally pushed away by Saya yesterday, he hasn't felt any signs of being affected at all.

Lin Yan thought for a moment, then suddenly sighed.

However, the side effects of this matchmaking group are no less than the symbiotic backlash that Chen Fenggang mentioned.

First and foremost is that deadly affinity value.

The group is full of weird and realistic people. If he dares not send out red envelopes for three days, all those in the group who have never won the "Lucky King" title...

For example, there's the senior student who always wants to turn people into red dresses, and the nun who always wants to stuff people into a subwoofer.

They could climb over the internet cable and tear him apart in a heartbeat.

Before, every time he opened his eyes, his mind was filled with thoughts of how to work in the bizarre events to earn money and give out red envelopes, which put him under immense pressure.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have encountered so many strange and bizarre events.

What's even more challenging is maintaining relationships with other group members.

The "Lucky King" and "Weird" products that I've met in person are indeed useful, but the after-sales service after using them is absolutely terrible.

The difficulty and danger of falling in love with these capricious and bizarre people are definitely no less than those evil cultivators that Chen Feng mentioned.

But... how exactly do I turn this thing into my own spiritual power?

Lin Yan touched his chin, still not understanding.

Even now, Saya and Chuchu are more like cheat codes, helping him fight, while he himself is still an ordinary person who can't even kill a chicken.

Since Chen Feng said it was about giving back,

How can that bizarre power enter my body and become my usable spiritual power?

A bold guess suddenly popped into Lin Yan's mind...