Zhao Yang pressed the button on the recorder and began the assessment.
“Name?”
“Wang Liang.”
“Gender?”
“?”
“Ahem, routine protocol. Just following the procedure.” Zhao Yang coughed and explained.
“Male.”
“Place of origin?”
“Da’an City.”
“Why do you want to become the person in charge of Da’an City?”
“I want to stay in my hometown.”
“Mm, anything else?”
“For love and world peace.”
“Well said! Then, next question. How long have you been a ghost controller?”
“That’s inconvenient to answer.”
Through several conversations with Zhao Jianguo and Su Xinxi, and from their attitude toward him, Wang Liang speculated that in the eyes of headquarters, his image was that of a mysterious ghost controller who had been one for a very long time. His abilities were unknown; it was simply that for some inexplicable reason he had been teaching in Dachang City, only being exposed after the Knocking Ghost incident. Even after continuously resolving supernatural incidents, using his supernatural powers multiple times, and afterward deliberately showing that he was in excellent condition, headquarters might even suspect that he had preliminarily solved the problem of fierce ghost revival, and that he could use supernatural powers at a low cost—or even no cost—to a certain degree.
This was exactly what Wang Liang deliberately displayed. In this world, hiding one’s abilities too much was like wearing brocade on a night walk—it was meaningless. As for those from whom he needed to conceal himself, they knew very well what he was capable of. The fact that they didn’t come to eliminate him was already a tacit indulgence, so there was nothing to worry about. As for everyone else, they weren’t worth the effort of hiding his abilities from.
After keeping some necessary trump cards in reserve, he needed to display some strength and value to gain more benefits and respect. Therefore, maintaining this misunderstanding, letting headquarters remain unclear about both the fierce ghost he controlled and the actual time he had become a ghost controller, and maintaining an image of power and mystery was definitely in his best interest.
“Inconvenient to answer? That’s fine. It’s just that this will affect headquarters’ evaluation. Uh, but in the end it probably doesn’t matter. Ahem, let’s move on, next question.”
“Any plans to start a family?” Zhao Yang continued.
“Not for now,” Wang Liang said.
“Oh, I see. Hey, it’s only temporary anyway. So, among these photos, what type of woman do you like?”
Zhao Yang took out several photos. There were domineering mature women, lolis, students, sophisticated ladies—every type imaginable.
Wang Liang glanced over them and replied:
“It depends.”
“On what?” Zhao Yang asked curiously.
“This morning I might like the domineering mature style, but by afternoon it might be lolis.”
“Oh, I get it. Not picky.”
“More or less.”
“Mm, then next—”
Zhao Yang was somewhat annoyed by this answer. Back when he had gone through these assessment questions himself, he had thought headquarters would arrange a wife for him based on his answer to this question.
So he had seriously agonized over it for two and a half hours. He never expected one could just answer like this.
“Next are the ability test questions, testing your emergency response. Pay attention—the following questions are the true key to this assessment.”
Zhao Yang took out a photo and placed it in front of Wang Liang.
“This question is a classic, but very useful. A train is traveling along a track. Up ahead at a fork, on the right track where it should normally continue, seven children have been tied up by bandits. On the left track, one child has been tied up. If you were the train driver, and you could still contact the staff controlling the track switch, giving you the decision-making power over whether to change tracks in this incident, would you choose to continue normally and run over the seven children, or switch tracks and run over the other one?”
“I choose to brake,” Wang Liang said.
Zhao Yang paused and added:
“If you can’t brake, how do you choose?”
“Then I brake while continuing along the original track,” Wang Liang said without the slightest hesitation.
Curious about Wang Liang’s decisiveness, Zhao Yang confirmed:
“So you choose to kill seven people?”
Wang Liang shook his head.
“You’ve got it wrong. It’s not me killing seven people—it’s the bandits. I did my best to brake, but I couldn’t stop. If something happens in the end, it can only be said that they were fated to suffer this calamity. Their parents should blame the bandits most, not me, an innocent train driver who tried his best to brake. This is merely an accident. At most, I would receive some moral condemnation. As for the rest, I have insurance.
But you must understand—if I arbitrarily changed tracks, chose to save these seven children who were supposed to die, and abandoned the other one who was supposed to live, then that would be ‘me’ actively killing a person. An accident would become murder. And the parents of that dead child would hate not the bandits, but me, the murderer driver. The parents of the other seven children I saved, even if they were grateful, couldn’t get me out of prison.”
Hearing Wang Liang’s words, Zhao Yang nodded in realization.
“So that’s your thinking. I quite agree, but how it’s specifically judged will depend on headquarters.”
“Mm, next one. Hurry it up.”
“Alright, then next question—”
This rather meaningless psychological assessment went on for nearly two hours before Zhao Yang finally turned off the recorder, packed his things, and stood up.
“All done, that’s everything. I’ll bring the recording to headquarters. These are your International Police credentials and the new satellite phone. The satellite phone you currently have needs to be reclaimed. Don’t mind—this is necessary protocol. Well then, congratulations on becoming the official person in charge of Da’an City.”
Wang Liang handed Zhou Zheng’s satellite phone to Zhao Yang, took the new satellite phone, and said:
“This assessment really was a waste of time. In the end, you gave me the credentials without even waiting for the results.”
Zhao Yang winked at Wang Liang.
“Hey, I’ve assessed so many people, and I’ve never seen anyone fail. It’s just a formality on headquarters’ side—a matter of a few days earlier or later. Giving it to you early means I won’t have to come back in a few days.”
After handing over the gold box containing the Old Woman Ghost to Zhao Yang to take away, the assessment was completely concluded. This also meant that Wang Liang had thoroughly become the official person in charge of Da’an City.
Although this didn’t mean much, because long before this assessment, ever since he arrived in Da’an City, he had already possessed authority over the city exceeding that of an ordinary person in charge—that had been the result of his negotiation with headquarters. Now, having completed the procedures, he had also become the official person in charge in name.
Another day passed. That next morning, Wang Liang packed his luggage and prepared to board a plane to Wangshan Village in Dahuai City to face the descent of the Movie Ghost.
[Descent Location: Wangshan Village, Pingchai District, Dahuai City; Time Until Descent: 1 day, 15 hours, 21 minutes; Fierce Ghosts Already Descended: 1]
With only a little over a day remaining until the second Movie Ghost’s descent, he had to go to Wangshan Village a day early to scout the area and see what the situation there was actually like.