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Chapter 141 - 140: The Big Stage for Powers

"As everyone knows, since the great commotion at Jiang City’s Botanical Garden, the phenomenon of superpowers has become increasingly prevalent in our city, and the existence of superpower users has become an undeniable reality." Jiang Wenbin held the microphone and addressed the crowd, "But you may not be aware that our city’s security environment is also rapidly declining. A friend of mine works in the police department, and according to him, the crime rate over the last five months has increased significantly compared to last year, while the case resolution rate has plummeted. Why?"

The crowd began to whisper among themselves.

"Is this true?"

"Isn’t this a variety show? Is it appropriate for him to say these things?"

"Who cares? If these clips get aired, the ratings for this episode will definitely skyrocket."

President Jiang didn’t wait for a response from the audience and directly provided the answer, "Because there has been a significant increase in superpower-related crimes! Such as theft through telekinesis, hypnotic fraud... and more heinous crimes such as rape and murder. I can’t disclose the details here, but I believe many of you have heard about it. The sudden explosion at the shopping mall on the pedestrian street half a month ago that resulted in 3 deaths and 15 injuries was actually caused by a superpower user!"

The audience was instantly in an uproar.

Because the official announcement stated it was an illegal modification of the natural gas pipeline leading to a leakage explosion.

"Is this true?" Chen Xuan asked, surprised.

"Yeah... you were staying in Chang’an City at the time, so you didn’t follow what’s happening here that much," Lin Qing replied softly. "Actually, many people online have been discussing it, because the fire captured by surveillance cameras didn’t look like it was caused by natural gas combustion."

He perked up his ears to listen to the conversations around him, discovering that most people’s attitudes towards this were "as expected," only a few were stunned.

Huanxin awkwardly interjected, "President Jiang, we should get to the main topic sooner."

"Without explaining the rationale, how can everyone appreciate the weight of the one billion cash?" Jiang Wenbin retorted indifferently, "You can cut out this part if you wish, but I must ensure the audience understands."

"I agree with part of what the Dimensional Limit Mechanism says, that the people creating the chaos are committing crimes! They are intentionally causing trouble, creating disorder in our city, and should be held accountable for these series of heinous incidents! Although the law doesn’t have specific regulations in this regard, I believe the clause on endangering public safety can certainly be applied to them!"

This statement received considerable agreement from the crowd.

Some audience members even applauded.

"This situation is inevitable." Lin Qing placed one hand on his hand, "You don’t have to take it to heart."

"I’m actually okay." Chen Xuan shook his head, sitting in the audience, listening with thousands of others as his former boss delivered a judgment on him. This feeling was somewhat subtle.

After all, during the annual meeting, he and his colleagues were the audience, listening either to the leaders’ inspirational stories or to how prosperous the company’s performance was. Employees never became the focus of the boss’s attention. Little did he expect that after resigning, he would become the center of everyone’s discussions.

Jiang Wenbin then shifted his tone, "But there’s one point where I disagree with the mechanism. Ability is not a curse, but a blessing, a power, a tool of the new era! It’s no different from any other tool; whether it’s good or bad depends on the user! The Dimensional Limit Mechanism considers it a curse, yet they still offer people the chance to have their abilities tested and even consider recruiting members from the public. Isn’t that contradictory?"

"Moreover, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism is an external organization. Though they have researched superpower users early on, we cannot entrust all our safety issues to them! Therefore, I plan to establish a Superpower Defense Team belonging to Jiang City to tackle these special criminals with special methods. This program is a rehearsal!"

President Jiang raised his hand again, pointing to the suspension bridge, "After today’s big ability showdown, I will select five people as the first members of the defense team to divide this one billion annual salary. Yes, this is just the salary for one year, shared among five people. Besides the candidates who will definitely appear, those of you in the audience can also enter the stage anytime and participate in the selection activity! I believe... some of you must possess abilities, or you wouldn’t be so eager to join this episode!"

"Oh my, is he serious?"

The audience suddenly became restless. Dividing one billion cash on site is far more thrilling compared to previous episodes!

"Five people share... so the annual salary is two million per person! Just one payment and they can live comfortably in Jiang City!"

"Seems like Boss Jiang is using the show for advertising, this one billion is essentially advertising cost."

"The TV station benefits too; the effect of spending money on recruitment publicity is more useful than any gimmick."

The crowd excitedly discussed among themselves, even if they don’t get it, watching others fight darkly and fiercely for a large sum is interesting, isn’t it?

Moreover, President Jiang allows the audience to join and compete with the players, which is quite an innovative move!

"Alright, the program’s theme has been announced. Now let’s invite the players onto the stage!" Huanxin breathed a sigh of relief and quickly moved the program to the next stage.

A group emerged from backstage and stood in a row at the front of the stage.

The player’s information was also displayed on the big screen; there were ten people — they were the main participants of this episode.

Interesting, Chen Xuan thought, based on the public information, these ten people come from various social strata, including civil engineers, financial white-collar workers, school teachers, and live-streaming internet celebrities. Their ages range greatly from over forty years old to as young as ten.

While other spectators were still discussing which of the players had real skills, he already raised the scanning gun to examine them one by one.

"How is it? Any impressive characters?" Lin Qing asked curiously.

"Hard to say... but they are indeed Ability Users." Chen Xuan muttered. Under the gaze of the scanning gun, each person possessed at least one ability; some had over four, the rarity of abilities ranged from blue to green, which was quite uncommon.

He had scanned many guests in Celestial Ridge District, apart from customers actively chosen by shops, even the most common White Ability was rarely seen.

Sure enough, Stand-in Envoys attract each other, and Superpower Users are no different.

The host asked the players to step to the center of the stage one by one for a brief self-introduction — this was a standard routine for variety shows, although the screen provides identity information, the self-introduction segment truly showcases the players’ personalities and styles, impacting the final audience voting.

And the internet celebrity girl "Si Tian" undoubtedly received the most support; she looked sweet and cute, wasn’t shy facing the audience, and even performed a fire magic trick on the spot, winning rounds of applause from the crowd.

The second most popular was "Octopus," a resigning homebody. He looked average, appeared somewhat nervous in front of the camera, but when he shared his resignation story, he instantly earned thunderous applause: after awakening his ability, he frequently complained about his boss due to regular overtime; during a morning meeting, he publicly amplified his boss’s secretly abusive remarks about employees and covert desires for the boss’s position, which let out a lot of steam.

Most of the audience were adults; how could they not empathize?

Once everyone finished introducing themselves, the host finally revealed the program’s content — because it focused on security, everyone should try to demonstrate their abilities in this area.

"There is only one test, and that’s combat!" Huanxin said with a smile, "Of course... the players can’t really fight, I believe everyone is good, and the power should be used against bad people, so we have provided several optional scenarios, ranked by difficulty, allowing players to choose which scenario to tackle, or they can choose them all. Regardless of completion, the judges will score, if tied, then audience voting will determine the ability king in this showdown!"

"The five players, including the ability king, will also be recruited by special guest Jiang Wenbin to safeguard our city’s security and order!"

The host paused at this point, "After all scenarios are announced, we will take a short ten-minute break. During this time, the program team will open the audience registration channel; we welcome all aspirants who wish to showcase their skills on camera, to join this big ability showdown!"