Very soon, a man stepped out of the office, dressed impeccably in a suit vest, with graying hair, gold-rimmed glasses on his face, and an air of refined elegance. He was very handsome, strikingly so—the first impression he gave was of extraordinary good looks. It was hard to imagine just how charming he must have been in his youth, given how attractive he still was at his age.

However, despite his impressive appearance, his actions were a bit clumsy. As he walked, he was zipping up the front of his pants, complaining as he glanced at the bearded man nearby who was grinning mischievously. He grumbled, “You really can’t keep doing this. I’m getting old, I can’t handle being startled like that.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept around and landed on William Carter, who was standing in the courtyard. A smile immediately spread across his face.

“You’re the young Carter the HR department called about earlier?”

He smiled and said, “My name is Owen Hall, I’m the captain here. I’ve been waiting for you for a while.”

William Carter looked up and saw a voluptuous woman, graceful and elegant, walking out of the office behind him.

She moved languidly, her makeup heavy, wearing an almost transparent white dress. She turned lazily and exited through the back door.

William Carter instantly figured out what the captain had just been up to.

He didn’t go to shake his hand, but instead took a step back, stood at attention, and saluted with three fingers.

“Hello, Captain.”

“……”

Captain Owen realized what was going on, awkwardly withdrew his hand, and said with an embarrassed smile, “Hello, hello, come with me.”

He didn’t take William Carter back to the office behind him, but instead led William Carter to the main hall at the front of the courtyard.

Opening a side door, he sat down, wiped his hands with a wet wipe, and put on his reading glasses.

Only then did he open the documents William Carter had brought, reviewing them for a moment, nodding repeatedly:

“Good, good.”

“William Carter, 19 years old, thirteenth session trainee at Dongshan Tengshe Training Camp.”

“Graduation evaluation: A-.”

“Instructor’s recommendation: This trainee excels in both character and academics, is kind and shy, meticulous and diligent, civilized and disciplined…”

“……”

Even William Carter was a bit stunned, then nodded sincerely, “Yes, that’s me.”

……

……

“Very good, very good. I didn’t expect our little team to welcome such an outstanding professional.”

Captain Owen seemed very pleased with William Carter’s arrival. He made some enthusiastic small talk, reviewed all the documents and files, and the more he looked, the more satisfied he seemed. “Coming from a formal training camp is much better than us self-taught types! First-class status in the life system, hmm, and professionally trained in extraordinary incident investigation…”

“Excellent, we’re just in need of someone like you.”

“Only 19, tsk tsk, a bright future ahead…”

“……”

After a round of praise, he closed the file and smiled at William Carter, asking, “Where are you from?”

William Carter smiled and said, “Right here, I’m a local, that’s why I applied to come back.”

Captain Owen immediately sized him up and smiled, “No wonder you look a bit familiar. Where’s your family home?”

William Carter also smiled gently, “I haven’t been back in many years. I used to live outside the city, rarely came into town. Now… my family is gone. I just passed by and took a look—the old house has already been demolished.”

“Outside the city?”

Captain Owen suddenly frowned, as if something occurred to him.

But his expression quickly relaxed again. He nodded repeatedly, saying very good, very good, then returned William Carter’s ID to him, but sealed the rest of the documents in a file bag. Standing up, he said to William Carter, “Alright, we’ll handle the paperwork in a bit. You’re now a member of our team. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to the others, and we’ll have dinner together tonight.”

“Okay.”

William Carter put away his ID and stood up obediently.

At this moment in the courtyard, the chubby man who had been squatting and stewing meat had already set up a large round table. The pot of meat was placed in the center, with several baskets of fresh green vegetables and meatballs beside it, and small bowls, chopsticks, and stools arranged around.

“Come, let me introduce everyone.”

Captain Owen came into the courtyard, smiling and waving, saying to the group, “This is the investigator just assigned to us for an internship, named William Carter. He’s from a formal training camp, so you all should learn from him.”

“…Come on, put down the cue sticks, come over and say hello first.”

“……”

Once everyone had gathered, he turned and smiled at William Carter:

“These are basically the teammates we’ll be working with from now on.”

“Our team only has six people, now with you it’s seven. One is on duty at the security office, and another is an intern like you. The remaining four are here—get to know each other, and let’s all get along well.”

He pointed to the bearded man among the three and introduced him to William Carter: “Charles Brooks, everyone calls him Uncle Jack, he’s in charge of investigations.”

“Investigations? So you must be from the Enhancement system?”

William Carter smiled and nodded to the bearded man, “Hello Uncle Jack, I look forward to learning from you.”