“You still haven’t gotten your rabies vaccine.”
“If you’re bitten or scratched by a dog carrying rabies, once symptoms appear, the fatality rate is nearly one hundred percent. You become afraid of wind and water, your entire body convulses, and you lose your mind. It’s even worse than the Reapers you’ve seen…”
The moment Team Leader Shang had a little free time, Diva noticed and even started playing funeral music for him again.
For a supposedly humanized AI companion, she had absolutely no sense of how to moderate emotional intensity. Team Leader Shang felt she had far too little respect for personal boundaries and had been putting up with her for a long time.
Diva continued, “Don’t think you can underestimate rabies just because you’re physically fit. What’s a fear of needles compared to—”
Passersby started looking over.
Shang Lu finally reached his limit and shut her off with a click.
Getting the injection had taken two hours round-trip. Shang Lu had absolutely no desire to remember what happened in between. In any case, the doctors and nurses at the vaccination clinic had worn some fascinating expressions, and one of the children getting an injection there had apparently taken pity on him and given him a piece of candy.
Back at the Anomalous Case Department, Shang Lu found a few biscuits in the break room. Before the chair in his office had even had time to warm beneath him, Director Chen called and summoned him upstairs.
In the past two days, Shang Lu had visited the seventh floor more often than he normally did in an entire month.
He greeted coworkers as he walked. Everyone he encountered in the elevator looked as though they wanted to say something but stopped themselves. Shang Lu had no idea what was going on.
The office of the Director of the Anomalous Case Department was at the very end of the corridor. Its wooden door was tightly closed, and the blinds had been pulled all the way down, though vague shapes could still be seen through them.
Shang Lu caught a glimpse of dark blue.
It looked strangely familiar.
Before he had time to think about it, he raised his hand and knocked.
“Come in,” Director Chen called from inside.
Shang Lu pushed the door open.
The first thing he saw was a dark-blue backpack.
Then a baby-blue sweatshirt.
How could they not look familiar?
He had bought both of them.
Fang Huan Xing was actually standing inside Director Chen’s office.
The teenager turned at the sound of the door and glanced at him, still wearing the same world-weary expression as always.
Fortunately, his face was good enough to make almost anything work. Combined with the gray beanie he had gotten from who knew where, he had somehow turned a randomly assembled outfit into something an influencer might deliberately wear.
Wait.
What was this kid doing at the Anomalous Case Department?
“What a coincidence.” Shang Lu looked him over several times, pulled out a chair with practiced ease, and sat down. “I heard you ran away. How did you end up running all the way here?”
Director Chen looked painfully constipated.
Since none of this had anything to do with him, Shang Lu found the situation rather entertaining.
But if his superior had called him here because he wanted Shang Lu to drive the kid back again, absolutely not.
He was not blessed enough to enjoy that privilege.
Other people deserved a turn.
Shang Lu had asked him a question, but Fang Huan Xing neither answered nor sat down.
Just like before, he stood there coldly, his fingers hooked around the straps of his backpack, looking as though he could turn around and leave at any moment.
We’ve survived life-and-death situations together, at least.
Cold.
“Xiao Shang.” Director Chen cleared his throat and slowly began, carefully choosing his words. “Didn’t you tell me a few days ago that you were short on manpower?”
Shang Lu turned around. He was surprised Director Chen had actually taken that seriously. “Yes. What, are we opening a third recruitment round this year?”
“No. Recruitment only happens twice a year. There aren’t that many suitable people circulating in the job market,” Director Chen said. “I’ve already spoken with Director Jiang’s side. Next year, they’ll prioritize preparing a group of police-academy graduates and let our Department choose first. I’ve thought it over too. I’ll keep a closer eye out for you then and try not to stick you with whoever everyone else passed over again.”
Actually, aside from being a little timid, Zheng Xiao Yu wasn’t completely beyond saving.
After making do with him for a while, Shang Lu had gotten used to him.
Since his superior was deliberately showing him consideration, Shang Lu obviously wasn’t going to reject the goodwill.
But as for the price behind that goodwill—
Sure enough, Director Chen continued, “How about taking one more rookie for now?”
Shang Lu finally caught on.
He looked at Fang Huan Xing, then back at Director Chen.
“What exactly do you mean?”
During the few hours Shang Lu had been away, Fang Huan Xing had already made his intentions perfectly clear.
He had not run away.
Nor had he “left home.”
He had come looking for a job.
It was an extremely hardcore approach to job hunting. He had gone straight to the highest-ranking person he could find, volunteered himself, and bluntly announced that he wanted to work at the Anomalous Case Department.
The reason was simple.
He needed money.
When Shang Lu thought back carefully, everything suddenly made sense.
Back when they were narrowly escaping death in the hotel, the kid had repeatedly asked about his salary.
Apparently, he had already been planning a fallback option for himself and scouting out employment.
Shang Lu actually found this perfectly reasonable.
With Fang Huan Xing’s personality—refusing to be controlled, refusing to yield, preferring to break rather than bend—how could he possibly accept being a dependent freeloader living under someone else’s roof?
On top of that, the kid was deeply suspicious of everyone and had very little social experience. There was no chance he would obediently remain at Dr. Xu’s home simply because someone told him to.
When Fang Lan entrusted Fang Huan Xing to her former teacher, she probably hadn’t considered the fact that the old man was already in his eighties. How much energy could he possibly have to spend every day checking whether a young person had run away?
According to Director Chen, Dr. Xu had become so agitated that morning that an ambulance had already taken him away once.
“No. This isn’t right, is it?”
Understanding was one thing.
Shang Lu still felt as though he were hearing something completely absurd.
“How old are you? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”
Fang Huan Xing froze under the question.
His fingers curled slightly.
He answered with only four words.
“None of your business.”
“None of my business.” Shang Lu found that perfectly reasonable. The corner of his mouth curved as he turned to Director Chen. “I already have one intern in my group. Sure, he was the leftover no one else chose at the time, but at least he went through systematic training and has some basic knowledge. If you give me another one now, it won’t solve my manpower shortage. It’ll just dramatically increase my management burden.”
Fang Huan Xing frowned and formally clarified, “I never said I had to join your group.”
He had told the security guard he was looking for Shang Lu only because Shang Lu happened to be the one person he knew.
It didn’t mean the man was special.
As long as there was a salary, Fang Huan Xing didn’t care where he went.
Shang Lu smiled at him. “Kid, I’m just discussing the situation objectively. I’m not targeting you.”
Director Chen had already expected this answer from Shang Lu.
They had worked together for years. How could he not understand the young man?
Shang Lu had grown up surrounded by wealth and comfort in the Shang family. After graduating from high school, he had gone directly to a specialized training center, studying academic subjects while undergoing physical conditioning at the same time.
The people who came out of that place were specifically trained for specialized agencies.
The coursework and training intensity were inhuman.
Since joining the Anomalous Case Department, Shang Lu had always been diligent and responsible. Large cases, small cases—he handled them all well and could endure hardship better than most.
But that came from his extremely high standards for himself and his ability to focus entirely on a mission.
It didn’t mean he had no personal limits.
“Then how about this?” Director Chen thought for a moment. “I’ll have He Zhen take him. She happened to be the one who brought him in just now, and I think her group can probably squeeze in another person.”
Shang Lu thought he had misheard.
“He Zhen?”
The top-ranked intern Shang Lu had originally wanted had been taken by He Zhen.
That woman stole everything.
She fought dirty.
Director Chen asked, “What? You object?”
Shang Lu stopped talking.
Chen Ting Zhao was an old fox—meticulous, observant, and excellent at reading people.
He immediately turned to Fang Huan Xing. “Xiao Fang, why don’t you go sit on the fourth floor for a while and familiarize yourself with the environment? If you don’t like it, that’s fine. We also have the Analysis Center, the Containment Center, and the Dispatch Center. The Dispatch Center isn’t bad either. Most of the work is just answering and making phone calls—”
Fang Huan Xing had no idea what polite social niceties were.
“I’ll only join an Investigation Action Group. If I can’t, forget it.”
Young people spoke hard and straight, without circling around anything.
The internet was always talking about young people “putting workplaces in their place.”
The old fox finally understood what that meant.
He was left speechless and could only wave a hand.
Fang Huan Xing left the moment he decided to. He turned, pulled the door open, and didn’t even bother closing it behind him.
Shang Lu had to get up and shut it himself.
“Don’t be angry. At least he didn’t stab you with a fountain pen.”
Shang Lu could tell his superior was about to have a heart attack and offered the observation sincerely.
“He came at me with a toothbrush once, and he even lifted the gun off my body… It’s all in the investigation log. Read it when you have time.”
Chen Ting Zhao was in no mood for jokes. He dragged the conversation back on track and glared at him. “Do you really hate training rookies that much?”
“It isn’t about whether I want to train another rookie,” Shang Lu said. “Do you seriously think that, given his age, personality, and background, it makes sense for him to join a high-intensity organization like the Anomalous Case Department? A kid his age should be either a high-school senior or a first-year university student.”
Although given the kid’s habit of killing without blinking, school didn’t exactly seem like the right place for him either.
Director Chen countered, “Then why were you unhappy when I said I’d give him to He Zhen?”
“I wasn’t unhappy. If you really insist on keeping the kid, I think Group Six would suit him pretty well. Isn’t Li Ping An always complaining that he needs more people? Give him to Li Ping An.”
Fang Huan Xing had a hard temper.
He Zhen had a fiery one.
Put the two of them together and they were basically a powder keg waiting for someone to light the fuse.
There was no reason for the kid to suffer through that.
He should have a team leader with a good temper.
“There were some things I couldn’t say in front of him just now,” Director Chen said. “Do you really think I don’t know this arrangement is inappropriate? I couldn’t explain too much while he was standing here. In any case, this isn’t something I came up with on a whim just to dump extra work on you. This is what the Academy of Sciences wants.”
That genuinely surprised Shang Lu.
“The Academy of Sciences?”
The Anomalous Case Department had existed for a long time. Although it was an independent department, in practice it relied on the police for operational cooperation, while the overall direction of its actions was determined by the Academy of Sciences.
The entire Anomalous Case Department was essentially the hand that carried out missions.
The Academy of Sciences was the real brain.
Which meant that even Chen Ting Zhao, the Department’s highest-ranking director, was not necessarily the person with the highest level of authority.
“The moment he left Dr. Xu’s home this morning, the people above arranged for him to be tracked. As soon as he arrived at the Anomalous Case Department, the call came directly to me.”
Seeing Shang Lu clutch his stomach, Director Chen stood and went to the tea cabinet, returning with a box of food he had ordered that morning. It was Cantonese dim sum. He tossed it in front of Shang Lu and gestured for him to eat something.
“Their position is this: they approve of his personal wishes, but they won’t force him to work. In other words, on paper, he can become an intern. In practice, his work permissions and authorization to enter field scenes will be under your control.”
Shang Lu didn’t immediately argue that he hadn’t agreed to anything yet.
The dim sum tasted much better than the biscuits in the fourth-floor break room.
Perfect for breakfast.
Since the Academy of Sciences was involved, Shang Lu ate while beginning to think the situation over.
He should have included Fang Huan Xing’s ability in his report or directly informed his superior.
But after encountering those assassins, Shang Lu understood that the secret could mean life or death.
If even Director Chen lacked the clearance to know about it, Shang Lu had no idea how much the Academy of Sciences knew either.
At minimum, he needed to ask Fang Huan Xing himself first.
“If he stays here, the Academy of Sciences will provide us with a batch of the latest equipment. The batch we applied for before the New Year can also be delivered immediately,” Director Chen said. “The kid just wants a job. He could be a mascot for all I care.”
So the old fox had another calculation behind all this.
“And as for his age and background… you don’t need to worry about those. They aren’t things we’re supposed to concern ourselves with.”
Mysterious.
Shang Lu stopped pursuing the subject and instead brought up the Chengchuan Middle School case.
“The school bus at Chengchuan Middle School was actually purchased from Xianlu Hot Spring Hotel in Xueping County. Both locations have interference sources. There’s something very strange about that.”
He explained everything that had happened.
After listening, Director Chen said, “It is strange. But Xueping is only a little over three hundred kilometers from Fog Harbor and used to fall under Fog Harbor’s jurisdiction. Under normal circumstances, a school obtaining a vehicle from Xueping wouldn’t be that remarkable. Once an interference source is involved, though, that changes things. Keep following it.”
Shang Lu nodded.
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Director Chen said. “Last night, the deputy director and the others held a video meeting with me. There are some new work arrangements. Since you’re already here, I’ll tell you now. Starting today, all the cases currently in your hands will be transferred to Groups One and Three.”
Shang Lu asked, “You’re giving me another person and reducing my workload at the same time?”
Director Chen laughed. “I wish. I’d love nothing more than to reduce everyone’s workload. Unfortunately, reality is harsh. Your cases go to them, and their cases come to you.”
“Swapping assignments? Is there some kind of internal review?”
They had gone through something like that once before.
“No,” Director Chen said. “The Department has decided to establish a Fusion Disease Task Force. From now on, Investigation Action Group Seven will exclusively handle cases related to fusion disease.”
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