I Can Control Resources

"Gao Neng, why did you bring a cat to the exam?" the Examiner asked, somewhat displeased. To be fair, the preliminary test didn’t have any explicit rules against bringing pets.

’But isn’t that common sense?’

"Examiner!" Gao Neng shouted, his posture earnest. "My family’s poor, and my mom’s away at work. There’s no one home to take care of my cat!"

"All right, all right... I get it." The Examiner rubbed his ears. Gao Neng had shouted so loudly it nearly deafened him.

The other students, meanwhile, just looked at each other.

"Gao Neng is so kind-hearted!" a female student murmured, her eyes glazed with admiration.

"He cares so much about a cat. Imagine if he and I had children... Aaaah, I’m blushing, I’m blushing..."

"That cat’s so cute. I want to take care of it for him."

"..."

A wave of chatter swept through the room.

At that moment, the Examiner waved his hand, signaling for quiet.

"Gao Neng, stick both your hands inside. Then, imagine you’re trying to pull everything out of the testing machine. Got it?" the Examiner said, pointing to the machine in front of him.

"Got it." Gao Neng nodded.

He’d been watching from the back for over an hour, so of course he understood the procedure. But the question on his mind wasn’t about how to pull things out.

’It’s... where’s the power cord for this thing?’

"All right, you can begin," the Examiner nodded.

"Gao Xiaomeng." Gao Neng glanced at the cat on his shoulder. He thought this was the moment she was supposed to leap down and find the machine’s power cord.

"Meeow..." Gao Xiaomeng squinted, grooming her whiskers with her paws, wearing an expression that said, ’I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.’

Dark lines formed on Gao Neng’s face.

’Quit playing dumb!’

’Get down there, now!’

Gao Neng twitched his shoulder, trying to shake Gao Xiaomeng off.

But Gao Xiaomeng’s claws were dug firmly into his clothes. No matter how much he shook, she remained as steady as a rock, like a buoy in the middle of the ocean.

"Gao Neng, why haven’t you started?" the Examiner prompted.

"..." Gao Neng was speechless. Now he was starting to panic. If Gao Xiaomeng didn’t find the power cord, the machine would operate normally. How was he supposed to get through this?

He’d figured out the baseline from watching the others. Normally, a single talent above 40% was considered good. If someone had two talents over 20%, they could be called a bona fide genius.

And him?

Gao Neng glanced at his Attribute Panel: Iron 100%, Copper 100%, Tin 100%, Silver 100%, Gold 100%, Phosphorus 100%, Sulfur 100%, Silicon 100%...

’If I actually test these numbers, everyone in this training base, including the Examiner, will probably piss their pants in shock, right?’

"Gao Neng, what are you stalling for? Hurry up, the other students are waiting," the Examiner urged again when he saw Gao Neng still hadn’t moved.

"..."

"Don’t be nervous. Just relax. Believe in yourself; I’m sure you’ll get a good result!" After a moment’s thought, the Examiner decided to offer some encouragement.

"Gao Xiaomeng..." Gao Neng looked at her again.

"Meeow!" Gao Xiaomeng blinked innocently.

"Two fish! How about two fish?" Gao Neng played his trump card.

"Mrow."

"Three! Three fish!"

"Meeeow..."

"Fine, fine, fine! I’ll skip four and go straight to five! That’s my absolute limit! Five fish! I’ll buy them for you the second we get home. Deal?" Beads of sweat formed on Gao Neng’s forehead.

"Meeow." Gao Xiaomeng just kept looking adorable.

"Gao Neng, are you taking this test or not? If not, I’m marking it down as a forfeit, and all your talents will be recorded as zero!" The Examiner had finally had enough.

’What the hell is he doing?’

’Bringing a pet is one thing, but standing here counting fish...’

’Is he trying to mock my math skills or something?’

"Fine, Gao Xiaomeng. If I’m screwed, you can go back to sleeping in a dumpster!" Gao Neng gritted his teeth and finally stepped forward.

"Stick both your hands inside," the Examiner said, pointing to two holes in the testing machine.

Gao Neng glanced one last time at Gao Xiaomeng on his shoulder. He saw that she had actually closed her eyes and was even letting out a yawn.

’The nerve of this cat!’

"Aargh... To hell with it!" Gao Neng squeezed his eyes shut. No more hesitation. He plunged both hands straight into the machine.

Instantly, he felt his hands enveloped by something soft and spongy. He could even feel a substance flowing within it.

’What the...’

’Absorb!’

BOOM!

The entire testing machine suddenly started to vibrate violently.

Then, Gao Neng heard a series of startled cries erupt around him.

Even the Examiner shot to his feet.

Gao Neng opened his eyes.

’Holy crap...’

’Damn!’

The numbers on the machine’s display were going berserk, shooting upward like a rocket.

All sorts of numbers were spinning and tumbling across the screen.

It was a dazzling, chaotic mess.

"Whoa, what’s happening?!"

"I think I saw his Iron talent hit 50%, and it’s still climbing!"

"And Copper... Copper’s at 50% too!"

"Whoa, Copper’s at 60%!"

"What’s that? Tin... Holy crap, Tin’s at 60% too!"

"Silver!!!"

"Oh my god, is that Gold...? Gold’s at 60%!"

"And Sulfur... Silicon... Phosphorus..."

"..."

BANG!

Amid the shouts, a loud bang suddenly rang out. A shower of electric sparks erupted from the machine.

Gao Neng was thrown backward by the force of the blast.

THUD!

He landed right in the arms of a female student.

"Whoa, Gao Neng, what happened?! Are you hurt?" the female student asked nervously, hugging him tightly.

Meanwhile, the surrounding students and the Examiner were completely dumbfounded.

The machine...

...had exploded!

It had actually exploded!

The expensive talent testing machine, specially shipped all the way from the City of Hope, had exploded?!

The Examiner was dumbstruck.

The surrounding students were even more stupefied. They weren’t concerned about the machine exploding, but about the string of ridiculously brilliant scores that had appeared on the screen just moments before.

Iron 60%...

Copper 60%...

Tin 60%...

And Silver 60%, Gold 60%, Phosphorus 60%, Sulfur 60%, Silicon 60%...

...

It was utterly terrifying!

Gao Neng snapped back to his senses. He quickly squirmed free from the girl’s suffocating embrace and shot a complicated look at Gao Xiaomeng, who was still clinging tightly to his clothes.

’Not bad, little Miss Xiaomeng!’

’You had a real blast, didn’t you?’

’Do you have any idea... that you blew up the machine?!’

’If I have to pay for this, they could strip me naked and it still wouldn’t be enough, would it?’

’Wait!’

’What should I do with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?’

Gao Neng’s mind raced. In that instant, he unleashed his genius-level intellect, running at double speed. He finally realized this was his last chance.

SWOOSH!

Gao Neng dashed in front of the Examiner. He took a deep breath and roared, "Are you an idiot? Are you trying to kill me? Speak! Are you one of Wang Ju’s men? Did he send you here to kill me? You tried to murder me during my talent test?!"