“What kind of attitude is that!” Seeing Shen Ge show no respect, the young man’s face instantly darkened. He frowned, glaring at him.
The man held a high military rank, but judging by his age, he seemed like a second-generation officer who had been promoted by ticking age boxes. In theory, he likely hadn’t seen real combat.
Shen Ge recalled Deng Yuqi mentioning that headquarters was fostering young talent, transferring a group of young officers from the military to join the Special Investigation Department (SID).
This guy’s presence here clearly marked him as one of those “transfers.”
Shen Ge replied coolly, “I’d like to ask what your attitude is. Your rank may be high, but in theory, my authority surpasses yours. You should address me as ‘Sir.'”
“You!”
Just as the man was about to erupt, a slightly excited voice cut in, its owner stepping forward before him: “Investigator Shen, long time no see!”
This person was none other than Fang Mingyue, now promoted to Captain-level. In her view, her achievements today were largely thanks to her “training” experiences with Shen Ge. Thus, her respect for Shen Ge even exceeded that for her own mentors.
Headquarters was much larger than Rong City, comprising a total of thirteen Anti-Anomaly Squads. Fang Mingyue was the captain of Squad 13.
On paper, the young man’s rank was equal to a Captain-level, but in reality, with the global outbreak of anomalies, actual authority naturally lay with the Captains.
Although Shen Ge wasn’t technically a Captain-level member, he was essentially “special personnel.” If he wanted, the Chief Captain position in Rong City would be his, not Lin Yin’s.
However, the Rong City SID branch had little internal scheming. As Deng Yuqi had once said, competition was minimal, and team members got along well. Except during operations, captains rarely flaunted their status in front of their subordinates. This was why Deputy Captain Wang Han was often pranked by his team—his laid-back, “street punk” demeanor hardly fit a deputy captain. Yet, precisely because of this, his team had some of the best camaraderie in the branch.
As Captain of Squad 13, Fang Mingyue commanded considerable respect at headquarters. Her immediate step to cut off the young man’s outburst clearly showed she wasn’t giving him any face.
Even so, the young man could only swallow his anger for now. After all, his deliberate provocation towards Shen Ge had found no supporters; clearly, no one wanted to get involved.
From the reactions of the few men beside the young officer and the middle-aged military man who had first greeted him, Shen Ge deduced this was a deliberate setup to let the young man test Shen Ge and try to take him down a peg.
Shen Ge felt a growing irritation. He smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Fang Mingyue, but in his mind, he activated the System to make a trade—
[The anomaly corpse can be sold—Value: 8000 System Points.]
“Yes.”
As Shen Ge confirmed, a flash of white light swept over the civilian airliner, whose exterior was coated in a layer of rotting flesh and hung with disgusting entrails. Instantly, all the rotten flesh and entrails vanished. From the outside, the plane now looked as if it had been abandoned at the airport for decades, rusted from rain erosion, with bizarre holes left where the flesh and organs had disappeared.
Most of the welcoming team’s attention had been on Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue. It wasn’t until the research team preparing to handle the anomalous plane noticed the change that shouts from that direction drew everyone’s focus.
“The anomalous plane… wha—what happened?”
“Anomaly energy detection?”
“No anomaly energy detected!”
“Impossible. If the anomaly vanished suddenly, why is the plane still here? Only the anomaly energy and its characteristics are gone?”
“Could there be a method to dispel anomaly characteristics?”
“Does that mean grotesques that have transformed can be changed back?”
“…”
The sudden disappearance of the anomalous plane’s characteristics also alarmed the welcoming team. This time, a third of the thirteen squad captains had been dispatched. Clearly, Shen Ge’s personal prestige wasn’t that high. Rather, headquarters had its eyes on this plane-fused grotesque. Whether for “recovery” or further research, they didn’t intend for it to fall into Rong City’s hands. Hence, they used various high-sounding reasons to demand the plane fly directly to headquarters.
But now, the anomalous characteristics of the plane had vanished right before their eyes. Some immediately suspected Shen Ge.
“Investigator Shen, what’s going on here?” A female captain in her thirties, seeing the anomalous characteristics disappear, almost instinctively turned to ask Shen Ge.
Shen Ge blinked, looking genuinely baffled. “This is an airport under headquarters’ jurisdiction. You’re asking me what happened?”
The young officer from earlier spoke up, “Don’t forget you were the one who resolved this anomaly incident. Now there’s a problem. Shouldn’t we ask you?”
Shen Ge looked at the young officer, his tone turning displeased. “I did handle this anomaly incident. But then I’d like to ask you: Did I resolve it? Did the anomalous plane successfully make an emergency landing at Capital Airport? Was the anomalous plane intact when it arrived here? Were the survivors successfully transferred? Now that the item is in your hands and a problem occurs, you’re questioning my fault?”
“The handover is still in process. The anomalous plane hasn’t been formally received by headquarters. Any problems that arise are naturally your responsibility!” The young officer’s tone was hostile.
“Are you sick? If you’re sick, go get treatment. Our nation’s military benefits aren’t so poor that we can’t cover treatment for someone who’s mentally deficient, are they?” Shen Ge’s tone was dripping with disdain.
“What do you mean!” The young officer stepped forward angrily, but only one step. It felt like he wanted to pick a fight with Shen Ge but hoped someone nearby would stop him.
Unfortunately, his “companions” were either still focused on the anomalous plane or watching with schadenfreude, seemingly hoping he and Shen Ge would clash to gauge Shen Ge’s strength.
“First, I was invited by headquarters for anomaly investigation exchange and to attend this Asia Anomaly Research Conference hosted by the Celestial Dynasty.”
“Second, I resolved this spontaneously occurring anomaly incident while on official business. In theory, when the incident occurred, the plane was closer to Rong City than the Capital. Logically, it should have returned, not continued to Capital City.”
“Given Rong City branch’s capabilities, if the anomalous plane had returned, there would be fewer complications. Timing would also be better for airport security anomaly fighters and me to jointly handle survivors. We might have even saved more people from the plane, avoiding such high casualties.”
“Third, it seems you’ve just joined the SID recently? If you don’t know the SID’s rules and regulations, find a newcomer handbook and memorize it.”
“SID regulations state that anomaly investigators, when handling anomaly incidents, prioritize resolving the anomaly and ensuring survivor safety above all else. In other words, not only if a problem occurs with the anomalous plane on your turf, but even if I had blown it up mid-air, I wouldn’t bear any responsibility.”
Joke’s on them. Shen Ge, once the “pillar” of Rong City branch, had a silver tongue that could convince Rong City’s top bosses willingly. This hothead relying on family connections stood no chance against him in an argument.
The young officer, thoroughly rebuked by Shen Ge, turned pale then flushed with anger, wanting to retort but finding no good point to counter.
Because everything Shen Ge said was “reasonable and justified,” especially the SID rule prioritizing anomaly resolution. This meant Shen Ge had no obligation to help headquarters preserve the anomalous plane’s corpse.
Moreover, the anomalous plane had indeed entered the Capital’s sealed-off airport, and the problem arose during handling by numerous researchers. They couldn’t pin the blame on Shen Ge.
Seeing the deadlock between Shen Ge and the young officer, the middle-aged person in charge, who had been watching the show, finally stepped in with a smile. He offered a few words of mediation, “formally” apologized to Shen Ge, and had Fang Mingyue—who had the closest relationship with Shen Ge—escort him to his hotel in Capital City.
To Shen Ge’s surprise, he expected headquarters to arrange a dedicated car and driver. Instead, at the parking lot with Fang Mingyue, they took her car, making her the de facto driver.
However, Shen Ge didn’t comment. He didn’t even suspect headquarters might have deliberately sent Fang Mingyue to play the “sentimental card” and subtly probe his real purpose for coming to the Capital.
First, a paramecium didn’t have that kind of brain. Second, Fang Mingyue’s concept of “justice” was separate from headquarters. If headquarters had issues, she would undoubtedly, like her grandfather Old Fang, raise her weapon against headquarters without hesitation.
The airport urgently needed to investigate the disappearance of the anomalous characteristics. Although some suspected Shen Ge, without evidence, they could do nothing.
On the way to the hotel, Fang Mingyue told Shen Ge about the young officer. His name was Song Zhengjun, from a family with several high-ranking officials. Using these connections, he entered military academy.
Song Zhengjun’s academic performance was decent, and he was promoted smoothly without a hitch. Thus, despite having participated in few anomaly incidents—mostly commanding from safe bases—he successfully attained a rank equivalent to Captain-level.
After being transferred to the SID, he joined a faction not on good terms with Deng Yuqi, hence his deliberate provocation upon seeing Shen Ge.
Shen Ge wasn’t particularly concerned. Whether within the SID, the Celestial Dynasty, or even global anomaly organizations, many people disliked him but could do nothing about it. This Song Zhengjun probably didn’t even rank among them, barely registering on Shen Ge’s radar.
“Investigator Shen, when I learned you were coming to Capital headquarters for exchange, I applied to the Chief Captain, hoping for a chance to continue learning from you during this period. The Chief Captain, considering we’ve cooperated several times, agreed to let me host you for the next few days. You can tell me about any needs you have.”
“Oh, right. This Asia Anomaly Research Conference will be held at Capital’s best hotel, the ‘Peace Hotel.’ Its standards are also the city’s highest. Many visiting foreign dignitaries stay there. I’ve arranged your accommodation there as well.”
“After I help you check in, would you like me to show you around Capital? Last time during the Capital anomaly disaster, you probably didn’t get a chance to see much. Is there anywhere you’d like to visit, or any local dishes you’d like to try?”
“I…”
Fang Mingyue chattered on like a tour guide. Shen Ge had been half-listening, still pondering how to handle the corpses in the Anomaly Sleeping Bag, when a name suddenly caught his ear. He instinctively asked, “What hotel did you just say?”
“Peace Hotel. Why?” Fang Mingyue asked, puzzled.
Shen Ge’s expression turned odd. “Peace? Hotel? That name doesn’t sound very auspicious at first hearing… Seems this Asia Anomaly Research Conference is destined not to proceed as planned?”
“Ah?” Fang Mingyue was stunned. Her first instinct wasn’t to doubt if Shen Ge was joking or making a pun, but amazement that he could predict trouble just from a hotel’s name?
Truly, Investigator Shen!
While Fang Mingyue was still immersed in her self-induced amazement, Shen Ge suddenly asked, “I recall Old Fang mentioned to our Director that you recently joined an investigation team?”
Hearing this, Fang Mingyue immediately snapped back to seriousness, nodding earnestly. “Headquarters originally arranged a dedicated car for you, but I refused, citing our familiarity and the chance to show you around Capital. This car is a new model anomaly combat vehicle from the research institute. I had two separate groups of friends check it thoroughly and confirmed it has no listening devices.”
Fang Mingyue’s meaning was simple: what she was about to discuss with Shen Ge was extremely important, something even headquarters people must not know.
Without Fang Mingyue needing to emphasize, Shen Ge had Little Seven scan the car immediately upon entering. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked so directly.
“Grandpa received your message and followed that lead. He sure enough uncovered some information related to the Grotesque Association. Remember that experimental report on the deep-sea humanoid anomaly from the Haiya Research Institute you discovered during the Capital anomaly disaster?”
“Actually, the deep-sea humanoid anomaly recovered after that incident had long been transferred by the Grotesque Association. They used it as a bargaining chip and handed it over to headquarters after being ‘recruited’ here.”
“Therefore, headquarters has been secretly conducting grotesque experiments all along. They just became more cautious after that Tier-4 experimental accident, moving from overt to covert.”
“Grandpa has currently confirmed three locations through investigation. These are all research institutes newly established by headquarters in recent years, but their research content has always been kept confidential. Unfortunately, Grandpa retired too early and knows little about these three institutes, so for now he can’t determine which one is secretly controlled by the Grotesque Association for grotesque research.”
“Oh, right. Regarding that batch of people from the Grotesque Association ‘merged’ into the research institute, after layer-by-layer investigation, we’ve confirmed two identities. Grandpa has people monitoring them. However, these two, as senior researchers, keep to themselves within the institute, even cutting off external contact. For now, we don’t know if they’re pretending or have genuinely reformed and joined headquarters.”
“Oh?” Shen Ge raised an eyebrow, thinking briefly before replying, “Earlier, didn’t you say you’d show me around Capital? I think there’s no need to look elsewhere. Just take me to the research institute where those two are. Perfect for some ‘exchange and learning’!”
