Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

And in fact this is truly so. Not everyone who strives will succeed; the key to success lies with Heaven—that is, with luck.

All along, luck has been an elusive, insubstantial thing. Vague and unreal as it feels, one cannot but admit that some people's fortunes are indeed extraordinarily good.

For instance, some people buy lottery tickets their whole lives and never win, while others buy once and win—and keep buying, and win a second time, and a third.

Setting aside the possibility of cheating, the only explanation is luck, for this no longer conforms to the laws of probability.

Precognition, too, is a special ability to which the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs Investigation attaches considerable importance. This ability is mysterious yet extremely practical. Naturally, precognition covers a broad range—the most formidable being the power to directly and truly foresee what will happen in the future, as depicted in that famous foreign film Next and in The Precognition.

However, the bureau has to this day never encountered anyone possessing that ability. But it has come across several similar cases. Such people cannot clearly foresee the shape of the future, yet they possess a keen judgment as to whether the future will be good or bad.

For example, the win or loss of a gamble, the success or failure of a negotiation, even the good or ill of a particular thing—all can be sensed in advance. What Xia Yan did not know, however, was that this ability did not belong to Yang Juehuan but to Lan Ling.

The remaining one is clairvoyance. It is one of the most inconceivable and most valuable paranormal abilities. Such an ability defies explanation, and Xia Yan had never met anyone like it; but by conjecture, such people ought to exist.

The bureau has never encountered anyone with true clairvoyance, but it has come across several similar cases—for instance, the yin-yang eye, that is, people who can see ghosts and spirits. Then there are those with extraordinary farsighted vision, able to make out things very far away. There are also those with exceptionally powerful night vision, like owls.

But the latter two are basically of little use: farsight can be replaced by binoculars, and night vision by infrared night-vision devices.

If Yang Juehuan's ability were the first kind, then Xia Yan could only lament, for luck is a thing invisible and intangible; even knowing that Yang Juehuan's luck was exceptionally good would be of no help whatsoever to the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs Investigation. Still, Xia Yan also felt this possibility to be the least likely: good luck at most improves one's odds at gambling—it could never reveal what was in another man's travel bag, still less allow one to guess directly at the contents of a hand of cards.

By comparison, the third ability seemed somewhat more likely. This excited the director of the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs Investigation greatly: if Yang Ce truly possessed clairvoyance, then, should he join the bureau, it would be like giving a tiger wings.

They were in a meeting discussing how to make contact with Yan when the Bureau received a request for assistance from the Songjiang police to investigate a recent string of haunted-traffic cases.

In truth, Xia Xue had simply run out of ways to hold back the pressure. And because she herself had witnessed something like a "ghost wall" the night before with Yan, she suggested to Chen Fei that the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs be brought in. The situation was already beyond anything the police could anticipate or control.

Since Xia Xue's brother worked at the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs, it made sense for her to be the one to reach out. Sure enough, the moment Xia Yan heard that his sister had nearly died in a car crash caused by a "ghost wall," he set off for Songjiang without a second word.

What Xia Xue told him only hardened Xia Yan's determination to meet Yang Juehuan in person. The situation had been like this: Xia Xue recounted the recent cases and her own experience the previous night, and when she said that the person in the car had avoided the crash because he was utterly certain of the road as he remembered it, Xia Yan found it strange—how could anyone be so confident? Still, he thought little of it at the time.

Xia Yan promised Xia Xue he would board a plane for Songjiang at once to help her deal with the matter. But before ending the call, he asked, as if casually: "Little sister, you have a friend named Yang Ce, don't you?"

"Ah—yes, that's right. How did you know, brother?" Xia Xue's conscience pricked her for no reason she could name; the moment her brother mentioned Yang Juehuan's name, she could not help but tense up.

Xia Xue knew well the capabilities of her brother's department—their information was far more extensive than the police's. Could her brother suspect something about her relationship with Yan?

She was still turning this over in her mind when Xia Yan said: "Yes. Yang Cenbin is a somewhat unusual person. We may invite him to join our Bureau."

Xia Xue herself worked in law enforcement, so Xia Yan had no reason to hide anything from her—especially since he had already looked into the matter, and Yang Ce and Xia Xue were on good terms.

"What?" Xia Xue was startled. "He's joining your Bureau?"

"That's right, though the specifics remain to be seen. Don't tell anyone about this." Xia Yan instructed her: "By the way, when you've been in contact with Yan, have you noticed anything special about him?"

Special? Xia Xue thought it over. Apart from being especially unserious, Yang Cenbin had nothing else particularly special about him. But since her brother had asked, she knew it must be important, so she answered carefully: "Yang Juehuan seems exceptionally skilled—even I'm no match for him. And—oh, right—that person I mentioned who was driving last night, that was him."

"What?" Now it was Xia Yan's turn to be stunned. The one driving last night was Yang Ce? He replayed in his mind what Xia Xue had just told him, and a bold, wild notion suddenly surfaced.

Suppose Yang Ce had not been so certain of the road because of his memory, but because he possessed an ability—an ability related to his eyes—and had therefore seen through the "ghost wall"...

At this thought, Xia Yan grew excited. He gave Xia Xue a few brief instructions—telling her to leave the haunted-traffic case alone for now and wait until he reached Songjiang.

Armed with this crucial lead, Xia Yan hurried to report to the Director, who immediately ordered Xia Yan to set out for Songjiang at once to resolve the "haunted-traffic case," and to make contact with Yan privately: if Yang Ce truly had a "clairvoyance" ability, then no price was too high to bring him into the Bureau.

In Chen Fei's study, Xia Yan produced his credentials and placed them before Yang Juehuan. "These are my credentials. You may verify them. I'm being completely open with you now, and I hope you'll do the same with me."

"All right." Yang Ce took Xia Yan's credentials, sneering inwardly. So showing me your credentials counts as being open with me, and you want me to hide nothing from you—do you take me for a one-year-old, or a fool?

He picked up Xia Yan's credentials and found there were two booklets. One was from the Bureau of Mysterious Affairs; the other made Yang Mo ask in some surprise: "You answer to the military?"

"On paper, yes, but we're two separate organizations with no direct chain of command between us. We answer directly to the highest levels." Xia Yan explained: "It's just that some local agencies don't know our Bureau exists. For the convenience of our work, we produce the other identity."