Human Genius? Sorry, I’m a Deviant-Chapter 166: Five-Star Good Citizen

Vermilion Bird Academy dean's office.
"I've already warned Qin Bai."
Ye Hongyu spoke without turning her head. "At least it should keep him quiet for a while."
Wang Mingyuan sat on the sofa, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold. "Right now he poses the biggest threat to Su Zhan's identity being exposed, but rashly removing him... would only draw attention from higher-ups."
"Of course we can't kill him."
Ye Hongyu gave a faint laugh. "An SSS-grade Life Soul Awakener like Qin Bai is on Daxia's registered awakeners priority list."
She pulled a bronze seal from a hidden compartment.
Complex runes were carved across the face of the seal.
Wang Mingyuan took a sip of tea and waited quietly for further instructions.
"I'm heading to the southern border next week."
Ye Hongyu handed over the bronze seal. "The border situation has been unstable the last few months. Those mist creatures have been attacking more aggressively; the pressure over there is intense now."
Wang Mingyuan accepted the seal solemnly. "Don't worry. I'll keep a close watch on Qin Bai."
"Use the communicator I gave you."
Ye Hongyu pointed to the bronze seal. "Regular communication lines are not safe."
"Understood."
Wang Mingyuan nodded.
Ye Hongyu walked over to the military map on the wall, her finger tracing the winding red line along the southern border.
There were symbols marking a dozen or so fortresses.
Next to each symbol was a small "Ye" character.
"Being dean of Vermilion Bird Academy is only one of my identities."
Ye Hongyu's voice grew low. "At the southern border, the lives of three hundred thousand soldiers rest on me alone. So long as I stand on the wall, those monsters won't cross the electric moats."
Wang Mingyuan nodded in silence.
Inside the academy, this teacher of his was an imposing dean.
At the border, she was the soldiers' beloved "Crimson Phoenix General."
He remembered his time serving in the southern border.
Those battle-hardened soldiers would often say: as long as General Ye's banner still flies, the fortress will never fall.
"As for Su Zhan..."
Wang Mingyuan hesitated to speak.
"Proceed as planned."
Ye Hongyu had once again donned the dean's coat embroidered with the Vermilion Bird crest. "Keep providing him resources, give him honors, give him... a home.
You're right.
That kid is lonelier than we thought."
Wang Mingyuan slipped the seal into his inner pocket. "I'll take care of it."
Ye Hongyu turned toward the door. "No matter what happens, make protecting Su Zhan's identity the top priority. As for Qin Bai... if he really crosses the line, use that seal. I'll come."
...
Su Zhan opened the Vermilion Bird Academy task terminal.
He expertly filtered the task list, setting the difficulty to top-tier Dew Realm.
He limited the type to personal missions.
Soon, three matching task entries popped up:
Investigate anomalous activity on the edge of Hengduan Forest.
Location: Hengduan Forest.
Objective: Confirm the traces of recently frequent aberrant variants and kill them using your own abilities.
Warning: Do not enter deep into the forest; there may be threats above the Stream Realm.
Reward: 18,000 credits.
Hunt aberrant variants in the sewers.
Location: Stone City's underground drainage system.
Objective: Eradicate the aberrant populations breeding in the sewers...
Special requirement: Confined environment; not suitable for large-scale attacks.
Reward: 18,000 credits.
Purge underground black market smuggling routes.
Location: Black City's alley district.
Objective: Eliminate the aberrant gangs hiding in the smuggling channels (confirm at least three low-risk rank-10 individuals).
...
Reward: 18,000 credits.
Su Zhan's gaze scanned the three missions.
Black City...
Wait, no—bro?
Why is this even legally listed as a task?
He dug deeper into the mission background and discovered more.
Black City.
Black City sits on Daxia's southern border.
It operates outside both local government control and direct military intervention—truly a no-man's-land.
How Black City came to be.
After the mist invasion and the resurgence of spiritual energy, the world descended into chaos.
Across Daxia people fought the mist incursions.
Amid that turmoil, a powerful Awakener stepped forward.
This person’s strength was unfathomable; alone, they repelled dozens of mist creature assaults in the borderlands, carving out a safe zone in the wasteland.
Gradually, refugees, escapees, and wanted criminals gathered there, forming a city beyond the rules.
Daxia's upper echelons knew about it.
But at that time they had troubles at home and abroad and couldn't spare the attention.
Besides, the city had shouldered a lot of pressure for Daxia.
It acted like a sponge, absorbing displaced refugees, dangerous aberrants, even deserters retreating from the front.
So long as it did not threaten Daxia's core interests, its existence was tacitly tolerated.
Over time, a unique survival code evolved there.
No official laws—only "rules" upheld by several major underground forces.
No moral constraints—if you have value, you can survive.
Awakeners traded forbidden knowledge, caravans dealt in goods of dubious origin, and sometimes aberrants disguised as humans could be seen moving through dark alleys.
Daxia officials were well aware but never moved to clean it up.
Because Black City was a double-edged sword.
It was dangerous, but it handled things Daxia could not publicly do.
To this day it remained lawless.
So long as no one crossed the line, all was peaceful.
Su Zhan hadn't expected such a place to exist in this world.
However...
Is what he read in the files necessarily the whole truth?
The real reason the city exists...
might be the true secret.
At his level he couldn't access that information.
Fine.
Su Zhan exhaled.
Black City.
An interesting place.
Since heaven had given him a second chance at life, he should experience this world properly.
Su Zhan smiled inwardly.
In his last life, he was a veteran of vice-filled cities.
He had raced through neon-lit streets in illegal cars, tangled with cops amid hailstorms of bullets, and glided between skyscrapers with a wingsuit.
That city let him run wild.
Rob a bank?
Just an after-dinner pastime.
Gang warfare?
Something to pass the time with.
Do you know the value of being a five-star good citizen!
And now.
Black City.
This place was actually more thrilling than any game.