Without waiting for Hua Yan to speak, Li Dong suddenly surrounded her, continuously sniffing. "Miss Hua Yan, the fragrance on you is quite unique." Closing his eyes for a moment as if enjoying the scent, Li Dong suddenly said, "Now I regret treating you like this again. What should I do?"

His sincere expression vanished, replaced once more by calculation. Hua Yan was bewildered by Li Dong's strange change and chose not to say much in response, "Secretary Li, I'd like to rest alone for a while, if you don't mind..."

"In that case, I won't disturb you. Good luck," he replied.

After seeing off Li Dong, Hua Yan entered the waiting room designated for anomalous soldiers and saw several of different ages inside. They all looked worn out, their spirits depleted. One young man, around eighteen or nineteen years old, looked particularly distraught, his eyes red as if he had been crying.

Sitting beside him, Hua Yan asked, "What's your name?"

The young man didn't lift his head, seemingly lost in his own world. After conversing with another dark-skinned man in his late twenties, Hua Yan learned that the young man was an orphan discovered at fifteen and brought into the team.

Initially withdrawn, the young man gradually opened up in the team, becoming more cheerful. However, his abilities became highly unstable over the past year, and now he felt completely devoid of his powers. For him, his abilities had been a pillar of self-confidence, and losing them made him withdraw from social interaction.

"I don't want to leave, I don't want to leave," the young man suddenly cried, his voice choked with tears. Hua Yan and the others felt for him deeply. Everyone understood that unless his abilities could be restored, being advised to leave was inevitable.

After some thought, Hua Yan took out a ping-pong ball-sized piece of jade from her bag. It was a top-quality emerald. Placing it in the young man's hand, she said, "Hold onto this. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and imagine absorbing it into your body."

The young man looked at her with disbelief and uncertainty. Encouragingly, Hua Yan smiled and said, "Give it a try."

The others looked on in puzzlement as the young man closed his eyes. After a moment, some guessed what was happening and watched in astonishment, wondering what Hua Yan intended to do. Hua Yan motioned them not to disturb the young man.

After his abilities were restored, Hua Yan became highly sensitive to the flow of energy. The jade in the young man's hand emitted a continuous flow of energy into his arm. Seeing this scene, Hua Yan felt inexplicable joy.

Observing the reactions of others, she knew they hadn't yet noticed. Several minutes passed. The young man opened his eyes in confusion, looked down at the jade in his hand, and murmured in disappointment, "Nothing's changed, nothing."

Hua Yan picked up the jade and, upon closer inspection, found tiny granules inside, finally feeling relieved. She smiled faintly and said, "Try using your abilities now."

"Uh? But..."

"Give it a try," Hua Yan encouraged again.

After hesitating for a moment, the young man finally squeezed the jade between his thumb and middle finger with force. There was a snap. Instantly, everyone surrounded him. However, his middle finger still showed no response. The young man slumped, on the verge of tears.

Frowning, Hua Yan said, "Try again."

Perhaps her firm gaze gave the young man confidence. He took a deep breath and tried again.

A faint yellow flame flickered on the young man's pale middle finger, reflecting in his clear eyes. "Good, it's working... I'm okay now."

Others crowded around, eagerly asking the young man about his experience. Some looked expectantly at Hua Yan, who felt their eyes piercing her soul.

Suddenly, the young man cried out in despair again, and those around him lamented. The flame on his finger extinguished, and despite his frantic attempts, subsequent flames were shorter and shorter.

"Don't rush. Your condition isn't severe. The time you spent absorbing the jade was brief," Hua Yan reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. The young man's eyes lit up. Without saying another word, he immediately closed his eyes and absorbed the jade again, much to Hua Yan's amusement.

After asking the others whether they still wanted to remain in the team, how long their abilities had been absent, and the severity of their conditions, none of them wanted to leave. At that moment, they looked at her with eyes that seemed to see her as their savior, leaving Hua Yan at a loss for words.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

On this return to the capital, Hua Yan brought along a portion of jade. Now her bag contained over a dozen pieces, all carefully selected for their superior quality, originally intended for her own use in case of need.

She distributed one piece to each person, watching them attentively as they began to absorb the energy. Hua Yan discreetly withdrew to speak quietly with Lao Yang for a few moments.

Soon after, they were notified that the examination of their abilities would begin in the afternoon. When the anomalous soldiers heard this, they all cheered with joy. Half a day's time was ample for them to potentially see improvements in their anomalous conditions.

Due to Lao Qiao's influence, Li Dong was temporarily barred from entering the waiting room. However, at lunchtime, Li Dong shamelessly sat beside Hua Yan again. Lao Yang was about to intervene, but Hua Yan stopped him.

"Miss Hua Yan, why haven't I seen anyone else coming to eat? Don't tell me they've lost their appetite?" This was the secret research station's cafeteria. Despite its vast size, there was no sign of any other anomalous soldiers. Li Dong looked at Hua Yan triumphantly, as if he had won a cockfight.

Hua Yan couldn't be bothered with this lunatic. When she came to eat, she had checked on the people in the waiting room. They shook their heads when she offered them food, saying they were focused on restoring their abilities in one go.

Without a word, Hua Yan ignored him, Lao Yang was too lazy to bother, and Li Dong sat there bored. After taunting Hua Yan a few more times, he left.

"Xiao Yan, do you think your plan will work?"

Hua Yan raised an eyebrow happily and replied confidently, "You can rest assured, Sir."

"Lao Qiao owes this girl a huge favor this time. To him, these anomalous soldiers are more precious than his own life."

"When the time comes, I'll ask Lao Qiao for a few more jars of his secret aged wine."

"Alright, Lao Qiao won't hesitate this time."

In the afternoon, when the examination began, Li Dong saw that the dozen or so people led by Hua Yan were all relaxed, even chatting and laughing. He felt a touch of disdain in his heart. Originally, he had only wanted to drive Hua Yan out of the three departments, while the others were just unfortunate bystanders. Given their careless attitudes, they deserved to be expelled from the anomalous team.

The first to go in was the young boy. After everyone waited with bated breath, he emerged a few minutes later, sporting a wide smile and immediately hugging Hua Yan, proclaiming he had passed. Congratulations filled the air. The second person went in, came out smiling; the third went in, and still came out smiling... The tenth person went in, and again came out smiling.

At this point, Li Dong could no longer mask his hypocrisy. He angrily pulled Hua Yan aside at the door, "Did you have something to do with this? Was it you?"

"Do you think I have such great power? In fact, it seems like you have quite a bit of energy," Hua Yan said, pulling her arm away from him.

Li Dong, enraged, seemed like he was about to grab Hua Yan by the neck. Before he could react, the young boy ran over and stood in front of Hua Yan, glaring angrily at Li Dong without fear. The others were also very upset by Li Dong's actions, ready to rush in if he made a move.

After pondering for a few seconds, Li Dong lowered his hand that he had prepared to raise, smirked at Hua Yan mockingly, and turned to another resting place to wait for news. He didn't believe that Hua Yan could be so lucky as to suddenly restore her abilities.

When it was Hua Yan's turn to go in, her ability test score was the highest, and her stability coefficient was the best. The attitudes of the leaders changed drastically compared to the morning.

In the morning, Lao Qiao wanted to intercede and give them more time to recover, but the leaders immediately refused with a firm attitude. At this moment, all anomalous soldiers who had issues suddenly showed signs of improvement. Although some still had unstable abilities during the examination, the overall trend was positive.

Experts could tell that with continued recovery, they would surely return to their peak condition. Lao Qiao's team was full of talent, and these senior leaders also gained prestige, which was crucial for their own achievements.

Knowing that Hua Yan not only did well but had the best results, Li Dong anxiously spread slander to other leaders, suggesting they all be retained and allowed to recover slowly. However, this would require a significant amount of time and investment, disproportionately large compared to the national military budget, which could hinder funding for other military technologies.

Unfortunately, in his haste, Li Dong didn't think it through. Anomalous soldiers have always been crucial to the country's defense strategy since their establishment. Their existence is indispensable, as important as researching space shuttles and naval carriers.

In the end, he was reprimanded by the leaders and left dejectedly. However, the look in Li Dong's eyes as he left told Hua Yan that he still had other tricks up his sleeve.

Finally, the anomalous soldiers and the leaders held a meeting together, where it was demanded that they not leak the news that jade could restore abilities. Anyone caught doing so would be charged with treason. This secret was completely unknown to Li Dong and some leaders who were not qualified.

The matter finally concluded perfectly. Hua Yan chatted with the other anomalous soldiers for a while and then went home with Lao Yang. Upon entering the house, she smelled a rich aroma of food and saw Hu Li, wearing an apron, busy in the kitchen with Da Pang.

Hua Yan was pleasantly surprised. When she left the seaside city, Hu Li had told her that the company had too many pending matters and couldn't accompany her back. She hadn't expected him to come the next day.

What Hua Yan didn't know was that Hu Li could only stay for about nine hours; he needed to rush back to the seaside city overnight to host a major meeting the day after tomorrow.

Just before dinner was served, Lao Qiao also arrived with fine wine.

Lao Yang joked, "Rare sight, Lao Qiao actually volunteered to bring out the wine. I hope it's not some ordinary wine to deceive us."

Lao Qiao, embarrassed yet amused, retorted to Lao Yang, "Get lost, you small-minded person. This is the wine I've dug out for my grandson's wedding."

Seeing that Lao Qiao didn't seem to be lying, Lao Yang hurried off to fetch bowls to pour the wine.

"Old drunkard."

Upon hearing Lao Qiao's words, Lao Yang lifted his chin and countered, "Aren't you also an old drunkard? Ravens are all black in this world." This angered Lao Qiao so much that his face turned as red as a ripe persimmon.