The Black Room has only one covenant: no member's information may be disclosed to outsiders, no matter who.
All actions are entirely voluntary; come or not, it's up to you.
When there's nothing to do, the Black Room is merely a place for everyone to practice and relax; not everyone is always present. At this moment, three are absent: one normal member and two masked individuals.
That means there are only nine people in the Black Room, three of whom are masked. Adding Chu Ge and two others, that makes eleven people, with five masked individuals.
A very small organization; they can barely fill one table for a banquet.
Everyone introduced themselves briefly.
The young man who wrote was named Wan Zijun. His original profession wasn't farming, but copywriting at an advertising company; somehow, copywriting ended up on his face.
Since discovering his superpowers, Wan Zijun has fantasized about becoming a superhero. As a result, the goofy superpower didn't make him a hero; instead, he almost died at his company. He had no choice but to quit and go to the countryside to inherit his grandfather's few acres of land to farm, providing a stable supply to supermarkets and Chef Jin. Aside from the hard work, the income was actually quite good.
Of course, he chose to accept this inheritance because he and Chu Ge thought it would be more convenient to train their superpowers in the suburbs. Wan Zijun rarely came to the Black Room, since he lived far away; today he came specifically to meet the newcomer.
The fat guy's name was very fat: Panda.
He was also "unemployed" because he was a gold digger in the game.
Everyone was chatting, while a row of computers in the corner were automatically mining cryptocurrency—all using cheats.
Wait, is this a place to train superpowers or a gold-digging studio?
"Anyone still mining in WoW these days?" Chu Ge exclaimed in surprise. "Are there many people playing Classic WoW?"
"There are a lot of rich players in Classic WoW. Those students from back then are all wealthy now, spending lavishly..." Fatty Panda's gaze towards Chu Ge became even more friendly. Not only had they read the same book, but they'd also played the same game; the likes and dislikes of internet addicts were that simple.
"Sanwa, add me on QQ, I'll add you to our 'Fighting Together' group."
Chu Ge pretended not to understand: "What's that?"
"A place where everyone fucks that Chu Ge idiot." Qiu Wuji grinned behind his mask.
Chu Ge weakly said, "I think we should still show a little respect to Chu Da. Her writing is good, and she keeps updating..."
"One thing at a time!" Panda laughed, "That group is really fun! And the admin is cosplaying Qiu Wuji, doing a pretty good job, it's a pity he hasn't been active much these past few days."
Chu Ge deliberately said, "Maybe she really is Qiu Wuji?"
"Still dreaming, Third Brother." Panda stroked his fat chin, thought for a moment, and suddenly laughed, "Speaking of which, it's one thing for us to be 'fucked' by Chu Ge, but if it really is Qiu Wuji, and she's 'fucked' by herself, does that mean she's riding on her father god and moving herself?"
Qiu Wuji's grinning expression froze behind the mask.
Chu Ge was astonished and instinctively protected his lower back.
Wan Zijun was asking Qiu Wuji, "Why isn't Sixth Brother saying anything?"
Say what?! Qiu Wuji, suppressing the urge to slap the fat man, took a deep breath: "Can't you tell I'm a woman? Do you really think I can say whatever dirty things in your crappy group?"
"Emmmm..." Panda's fat face stiffened for a moment. It wasn't his fault; the mask was too deceptive. A good figure was useless; the first impression was always that of a gourd-shaped gourd, a chibi-style one with a tilted head.
Speaking of which, if the face is a gourd-shaped gourd and the body is also gourd-shaped, then he's an iron gourd-shaped gourd!
Qiu Wuji gritted his teeth and said, "We heard you have equipment for training superpowers here, and we were incredibly envious, so we joined. So your so-called training is just bullshit?"
"This is training our superpowers," Panda said matter-of-factly, pointing to his computer. "When you're playing games and you see that idiot on the other side, don't you want to slap him across the internet? I'm building up my emotions."
Chu Ge: "Yes, yes, yes."
Wan Zijun kept drawing on his face with a mirror: "This is training too! If we didn't train, who among you could write a proper word on their face? One, two, three don't count."
Qiu Wuji: "..."
We can't write anything, and we didn't intend to write on our faces!
Chu Ge couldn't contain his curiosity any longer: "How did you first discover this ability? How did you come up with the idea of writing on your face?"
"Once, I was watching a football game and wrote 'China will win,' and they actually won."
Chu Ge: "I don't think it was caused by an ability, or rather, your ability shouldn't be that powerful..."
"Hey, even though the joke was a bit lame, you don't have to be so serious..." Wan Zijun smiled slightly: "Just like we wouldn't ask you how you discovered your abilities. Everyone has their own secrets."
Chu Ge nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly remembered something and smiled at Panda: "So I won't add you on QQ. After all, I'm a masked man."
"How boring." Panda chuckled as he returned to his computer: "You guys have fun, I'm going to tease Qiu Wuji in the group chat."
Go ahead and look for him in the group chat.
Wan Zijun said, "Fatty, let's make a bet: will Chu Da be up before dawn tonight?"
Panda: "Most likely!"
Chu Ge: "I bet he isn't."
Panda protested: "Chu Da took aphrodisiacs today, he definitely is! What are we betting on?"
Chu Ge earnestly said, "Just let me slap your fat face."
Panda jumped up: "Bet! I won't hit you, just take off your Calabash Brothers mask!"
Chu Ge revealed an extremely honest smile: "Deal." Qiu Wuji, despite his anger, couldn't help but laugh. Chu Ge's bet was absolutely the most shameless bet in the world, acting as both referee and player, just like his bet with Yan Qianlie in that world.
So much cheating.
Chu Ge was also looking at Qiu Wuji, both of them smiling, both feeling that this "organization" didn't seem like an organization at all.
What's the difference between this and a casual chat group? Even the notoriously idle online writers' association that Chu Ge participated in was more organized than this.
But that was perfect, exactly what they needed.
Superpowered individuals are indeed lonely. It's nice to chat with a group of similar people, and they can wear masks to conceal their identities, so it doesn't affect their lives. Chu Ge thought about creating a new QQ account and adding them all.
"How's it going?" Zhong Yi appeared beside him with a smile. "No pressure here, right?"
Chu Ge said helplessly, "The people are nice... but I'm mainly here to train my superpowers. How should I put it? This equipment feels like a gym."
"This floor really is like a gym... If a superpowered individual needs to fight, their physical reflexes need to be fast enough, otherwise, they'll be killed with a single punch. What's the point? The gym equipment here is top-notch; it's just that these lazybones don't use it much." Chu Ge thought about his treadmill at home, which was indeed unsuitable for his current training. The Golden Bell Shield, a physical training method, would feel strange sitting there meditating all day. Seeing that this place not only had a full set of gym equipment but even sandbags, it was worth coming.
However, it was a bit different from what he had imagined. It looked like Buckingham Palace was written outside, but inside, a row of KTV hostesses stood facing him. Qiu Wuji, however, noticed something interesting: "This floor? Does that mean there's something else upstairs?"
Zhong Yi patted Chu Ge's shoulder: "Learn from Liuwa. Not only is he meticulous, but he also speaks in a classical style."
Chu Ge: "..."
"Come on up and take a look, it's actually quite interesting." Zhong Yi led the two upstairs: "The rooftop has places like plum blossom stakes for practicing footwork, but nobody ever uses them, a waste of my money. The second floor has some special equipment rooms, mainly for training the mind, and some for training elemental perception, although we don't have any elementalists in our Black Room, we'll have them ready."
This is starting to get interesting... Chu Ge thought to himself that these facilities are generally impossible for ordinary people to obtain. Zhong Yi's place is probably officially supported; other organizations might have different channels. In the years of superpower development, the development and training of abilities might be more important than the abilities themselves.
And there are even facilities like plum blossom stakes for practicing footwork... This really hit Chu Ge's needs, and suddenly this ridiculous place didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.
"Here." Zhong Yi pushed open the door to a small room containing some electronic equipment, a chair, and a helmet suspended from the chair by various instruments.
"A CT scan?" Chu Ge complained.
"More or less," Zhong Yi said. "The helmet can detect brainwaves and roughly assess your mental strength. Choosing different pressure levels might also have some mental training effects." Chu Ge showed some interest: "Can this detect what specific ability it is?"
"It can't. Abilities are incredibly diverse, making it impossible to collect accurate samples. This can only roughly assess mental strength, and it's not very accurate." Zhong Yi turned to look at Chu Ge, his eyes meaningful: "Want to try it?"