After Bai Wanyang settled the sleeping Yue Shi into his dormitory, he returned to his own room next door, exhausted. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
After a good night's rest, Bai Wanyang woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Once he finished washing up, he walked to Yue Shi's door, intending to invite him to the cafeteria for breakfast.
He knocked gently on the door. "Brother, are you awake?"
Inside was deathly silent; there was no response.
Bai Wanyang pressed his ear against the door and listened. It was terrifyingly quiet inside.
"I guess he's still resting." Remembering Yue Shi's state of extreme exhaustion the night before, he decided not to disturb him.
He went to the cafeteria alone and finished his breakfast quickly.
Upon arriving at the Special Operations Section office, Bai Wanyang immediately buried himself in writing the detailed report for this field mission.
He wrote meticulously, documenting everything: the monsters blocking the road, the milk tea shop that served as a Hive disguise, the process of killing the Queen Bee, Bai Qingyu's interference, the gratitude of the Peace Alley residents, and finally, Yue Shi's solo return to Peace Alley to slay Zhu Qunqing.
At the end of the report, in the section regarding the disposal of remains, he wrote:
"Given the massive number and staggering size of the corpses of the 'Queen Bee' and her 'Bee Women,' which far exceeded transport capacity and carried a high risk of contamination, the field personnel, Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang, thoroughly destroyed them on-site to prevent secondary hazards. The corpse of the escapee 'Bai Qingyu' was likewise destroyed on-site. Zhu Qunqing's head has been brought back as evidence of his execution and is stored in the evidence room (Serial No. ZQ-QT-0725)."
After finishing the report, Bai Wanyang submitted it to Section Chief Ling Xun.
Ling Xun read through the report. The danger level of this mission had indeed far exceeded expectations.
Bai Wanyang was unaware that Yue Shi had encountered an S-rank supernatural creature after returning to Peace Alley, so Ling Xun naturally had no way of knowing either. That was where the true danger had lied!
Setting the report down, Ling Xun picked up the internal phone and notified the Archives Department: "Rescind all arrest warrants for former investigator Zhu Qunqing. Update status to 'Confirmed Deceased.' Cause of death: Killed during flight. Evidence: Head (Serial No. ZQ-QT-0725)."
After handling this, Ling Xun recalled Yue Shi's abnormal state the previous night, and a faint sense of unease grew in his heart. He took the report and stood up, heading toward the Director's office.
Director Tang Zhuhe was sitting behind her large desk, flipping through files. She only looked up when she heard the knock. "Come in."
"Director." Ling Xun placed the report on the desk. Before he could speak, Tang Zhuhe took the initiative to ask, "Any progress on the investigation into 'Boss Pi'?"
Ling Xun shook his head. "If the intelligence is correct and 'Boss Pi' can strip human skins to perfectly mimic humans, we have no starting point for an investigation."
Tang Zhuhe asked again, "The mysterious person who provided the intel on 'Boss Pi'—have they been found?"
Ling Xun shook his head again. "The nearby surveillance failed to capture any suspicious figures."
Tang Zhuhe did not blame Ling Xun for the lack of progress.
Ling Xun said, "This is the report on Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang's mission to locate the Queen Bee. The mission was successful, but the process was extremely perilous."
Tang Zhuhe picked up the report and quickly scanned the key sections.
Ling Xun continued, "There is a situation I need to report. Yue Shi's state was very strange when he returned last night. He fell into a deep sleep and hasn't woken up yet. Bai Wanyang says he's just exhausted, but I feel... something isn't right."
Tang Zhuhe's gaze rose from the report and fixed on Ling Xun's face. "What isn't right? Be specific."
"Well... the aura on Yue Shi's body is extremely unstable. It feels dangerous, like a bomb about to go off," Ling Xun said.
After hearing this, Tang Zhuhe fell silent for a few seconds. Her slender fingers tapped the desk twice, and an invisible force radiated outward from her fingertips.
She closed her eyes, seemingly sensing something. When she opened them again, her expression was exceptionally grave. Without offering any explanation, she picked up the communicator on her desk and connected to the Security Department.
"Execute A-rank lockdown procedures immediately. Target: Staff Dormitory Room 107 (Yue Shi's room). No one is permitted to approach without my personal authorization. Execute immediately!"
"Yes, Director!" a crisp response came through the communicator.
Ling Xun was stunned; he hadn't expected the Director's reaction to be so intense. "Director, an A-rank lockdown? That's the isolation alert level for A-rank supernatural creatures. Yue Shi... what exactly happened to him? Did he contract an unknown contamination during the mission?"
Tang Zhuhe put down the communicator and looked at Ling Xun with a serious expression. She said only one thing in a tone that brooked no argument: "Execute the order, Section Chief Ling. The reason cannot be disclosed for the time being. Remember to suppress the news; do not let word of this leak."
At that moment, Bai Wanyang was at his workstation flipping through case files. Having just recently started his job, he had yet to experience the horrors of the work and was enthusiastic about everything.
In Bai Wanyang's eyes, the various supernatural incident files archived by the Amber City Investigation Bureau were like a collection of horror stories. In a sense, they truly were real-life horror tales, and he was trying to learn handling experience from them.
On the other side, the sisters Wei Jianxian and Wei Siqi were huddled together, whispering about something. Their expressions shifted from distorted to excited, and occasionally even a bit lecherous.
Originally, Wei Siqi and Zhu Qunqing had been jointly responsible for screening for Holy Mother contamination within Amber City. Now that Zhu Qunqing was dead, the screening work had fallen entirely on Wei Siqi, but she wasn't in a bad mood because of the increased workload; on the contrary, she was quite cheerful.
She had to work overtime, sure, but the person she hated had died a sudden death!
It was worth celebrating.
"Director Tang is still too gentle. If it were me, how could I have tolerated that creep Zhu Qunqing harassing me time and again? If he'd been dealt with sooner, it wouldn't have come to this, with him leading a jailbreak," Wei Siqi grumbled.
Wei Jianxian replied, "Do you think the Director didn't see through his little schemes? They weren't even on the same level; she just couldn't be bothered with him. Besides... though Zhu Qunqing's character was trash, we aren't much better than him. If the Director couldn't tolerate him, then we'd better watch ourselves too."
The two sisters smiled at each other. They were no kind-hearted pair of twin flowers. More accurately, among the transcendents in the Amber City Investigation Bureau, everyone except the newcomer Bai Wanyang had skeletons in their closets and blood on their hands; they were no strangers to using their power for personal gain.
Strangely, Director Tang's attitude toward this poor atmosphere was one of indulgence. She didn't even care if the transcendents in the Bureau fought or harmed one another.
No one knew what she was actually thinking.
Beep—
A piercing alarm suddenly blared outside the window, followed by a faint, heavy rumbling coming from the direction of the staff dormitory.
Hearing the alarm, Bai Wanyang's heart skipped a beat. He stood up and looked toward the source of the sound.
"What happened?"
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