84: New form

Lu Jianchuan remained silent for a moment. The fists beneath his armor tightened slightly before slowly relaxing. He looked up, his gaze meeting the cold tactical visor through his own azure eyepieces. His raspy, metallic voice carried a solemn tone of resolve:

"I understand. I am willing to trust the state, and I am willing to... join you."

"A wise choice." Golden Bone's electronic voice remained steady, but it seemed to lose a hint of its previous detachment. "We will arrange the relevant transfer orders and identification as soon as possible. You will be directly affiliated with the GUPA District 7 Special Operations Team, enjoying the corresponding privileges while also being subject to relevant disciplinary regulations."

"I have one request," Lu Jianchuan added immediately, his tone firm and non-negotiable. "Outside of the missions you assign, I hope to continue maintaining my identity and daily work as a police officer at the Police Station."

"Oh? You still want to be a policeman?" A trace of extremely subtle, programmed "curiosity" seemed to enter Golden Bone's tone.

"Yes," Lu Jianchuan answered without hesitation. "This job allows me to stay in the environment I'm most familiar with and continue helping ordinary people who need it in the most direct way."

This does not conflict with my goal of fighting those dangerous evolved entities. I know it might make me busier, but I am willing to shoulder this double responsibility."

He paused, his voice dropping slightly. "And... there are some things there that I need time to face and resolve."

This was both his attachment to a mundane life and a promise to the place where Uncle Li sacrificed himself; more importantly, it was an anchor for confirming his self-worth.

Golden Bone seemed to be performing a rapid cost-benefit analysis, the data streams on his tactical visor flickering slightly. A few seconds later, he gave his answer:

"Accepted. Your grassroots identity and social circle are themselves an effective camouflage, beneficial for your covert operations. We will coordinate to ensure your police work does not have a fatal conflict with GUPA missions."

He seemed to sense Lu Jianchuan's potential concern about "frequent combat" in the future and proactively added: "Furthermore, you need not worry about being run ragged. Not all evolved individuals need to be 'purified'."

He began to explain GUPA's handling principles to the new member: "We have a complete assessment process."

"For most newly emerged, weaker, and relatively mild-tempered evolved lifeforms, if an assessment confirms they won't cause significant damage to the existing ecological balance, social panic, or large-scale casualties, we usually choose on-site protection, continuous observation, or—provided control is ensured—redirecting and releasing them back into a suitable natural environment."

"Only when a target is judged to be highly dangerous, aggressive, or if its existence itself would cause the collapse of the food chain, will 'recovery' or 'purification' procedures be executed. And such hard targets are often difficult for ordinary field personnel to handle. At that time, 'mid-tier combatants' like you will be required to step in."

He shifted the topic to specific arrangements: "After you officially join, the first procedure will be a comprehensive combat power Rank assessment."

"We need to accurately grasp your ability data to allocate missions more rationally."

"You should be aware that with the current global surge in incidents, our manpower is very tight. Individuals like you, capable of independently handling high-threat incidents, are of great significance."

"Your presence means we can redeploy the precious forces originally stationed in this area to support other more strained regions, optimizing resources to more effectively respond to this Great Upheaval."

This explanation completely dispelled Lu Jianchuan's final reservations.

"I understand," Lu Jianchuan nodded. "I will cooperate with the assessment."

[Consciousness Space]

Upon hearing Lu Jianchuan say "I am willing to trust the state," Han Chengyu's long-tense consciousness finally relaxed. He couldn't help but remark with a hint of absurdity in his tone:

"Man... so this is... landing an iron rice bowl? A special civil servant with a permanent post, no less."

[Based on existing information analysis, this metaphor possesses a high degree of accuracy. Aptitude Holder Lu Jianchuan has established a formal cooperative relationship with the local order-maintaining forces.]

[Simultaneously, logic core record: The high-probability malicious events I was concerned about did not occur. Observation results are better than expected.]

Han Chengyu immediately caught the implication: "You mean... human experimentation and all that?"

[Affirmative. Based on deductions from numerous civilization contact cases, when discovering an unknown high-value biological individual, the probability of adopting control, research, or even dissection and analysis measures has a base probability of 37.5%.]

[This phenomenon highly coincides with the negative expectation bias described by 'Murphy's Law' summarized in your native world's civilization—that is, when a possibility for error exists, human worry and negligence significantly increase the chances of it occurring.]

"Murphy's Law..." Han Chengyu murmured, then smiled. "Well, fortunately, it didn't come true this time. It's really... quite good that such things didn't happen."

[Confirmed. This result has laid a good foundation of trust for subsequent collaborative operations.]

Han Chengyu's attention returned to the core task he had been busy with. He examined the nearly completed design for the new armor in the Consciousness Space—one with sharper lines and a more complex structure—and spoke with a sense of achievement mixed with a new doubt:

"System, look, the design for this new armor is almost finished. But I have a question: how are we supposed to 'install' it onto Lu Jianchuan when the time comes?"

[No need for concern,] the System's electronic voice responded steadily. [All structural blueprints and energy circuit data for the new armor have been recorded and archived within this Unit's core database.]

[However, the critical issue lies at the execution level.] The System shifted its tone. [The Aptitude Holder has already successfully guided and stabilized an evolution template (the initial silver skeleton armor) within his body. His life form and evo factor are deeply bound to it. To seamlessly integrate another more complex template on this basis—one that must ensure no conflict with the first System and allow for free switching—requires extremely precise genetic-level recompilation and adaptive adjustment.]

[This process cannot be achieved overnight. The estimated time required will far exceed the first guidance. During this period, the transformation and usage functions of the initial armor will remain normal and unaffected.]

Han Chengyu caught the main point: "In other words, it needs to 'load'? and the loading bar is pretty long?"

[That is an acceptable understanding,] the System confirmed. [However, a theoretical possibility for acceleration exists.] Its tone took on a hint of warning.

[If the Aptitude Holder falls into a state of intense rage again, similar to the medical center incident, his evo factor activity will spike sharply, potentially significantly shortening the adaptation process for the new armor. However, this move is extremely risky and highly likely to cause evolution to temporarily spiral out of control, leading to an 'out of control' state of indiscriminate attack, which would outweigh the benefits.]

"Oh, I see," Han Chengyu understood. "So we just have to wait for a 'safe cooldown' and can't count on him going Super Saiyan again."

[Correct. It is recommended to maintain observation and wait for natural adaptation to complete.]