“…”
Deng Yuqi looked at Li Xiang with a peculiar expression. After a long pause, she said, somewhat exasperated, “If the higher-ups ever got wind of this, they’d definitely grill you on whether you work for the Special Policy Department or for Shen Ge personally. Good thing you’re a guy, or Director Cheng would have some serious competition.”
“Stop right there!”
Li Xiang adjusted his glasses and quickly cut off Deng Yuqi’s dangerous train of thought. “First, my orientation is perfectly normal—Peipei can attest to that. Second, Shen Ge holds absolutely zero appeal for me compared to the Crimson Mist Battle Armor. His sole reason for existing, in my book, is simply that he’s the only one who can wear the armor.”
“And for the record, the only reason I even thought of retrofitting the Crimson Mist Battle Armor into an all-terrain super-suit—capable of dominating land, sea, and air—is because that guy questioned my professional competence. That philistine actually said I didn’t have the chops to pull it off! So I’ve been burning the midnight oil for months, and just as I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, the bastard goes off gallivanting around Dajing.”
“…” Deng Yuqi was sorely tempted to explain that Shen Ge was hardly “gallivanting”—he was currently out of contact while investigating a dream world. But seeing how worked up Li Xiang was, she wisely swallowed her words.
After a solid ten minutes of Li Xiang’s grumbling, during which Deng Yuqi was nearly lulled to sleep, he suddenly asked, “Wait a minute. What did you just say? Shen Ge found new monstrous humanoid samples from that ‘future’ anomalous space? Including strains with strong fusion and devouring properties?”
Deng Yuqi’s eye twitched involuntarily as she stared at Li Xiang’s surprised face. “So you mean you didn’t absorb a single word I said before?”
“My apologies. I was so focused on venting about Shen Ge that I completely missed that part. Well, if there are new monstrous humanoid samples involved, and he specifically requested it… I suppose I can grudgingly make the trip.” Li Xiang spoke with utter seriousness.
“…” Deng Yuqi let out a long sigh. She wanted to make a snide remark but had even less desire to continue this conversation with a madman. She promptly left the Research Department.
With Li Xiang—the most difficult attendee—now confirmed for the symposium, the next priority was assembling a security detail to ensure his safety.
Excluding Lin Yin, whose combat prowess was second only to Shen Ge’s and who needed to remain stationed at the Rong City Branch, at least two members from the remaining pool of captain-level personnel would have to be selected.
Currently, the most suitable candidates were the two most senior captains: Yang Yuxin and Tu Doupi.
Deng Yuqi went to the Operations Department, found the two of them, and briefly explained the situation regarding the upcoming Asia Anomaly Research Symposium in Dajing. Yang Yuxin was quite interested; it was a chance to interact with Anomaly Countermeasure Agents from other nations and observe their equipment firsthand.
But Tu Doupi immediately poured cold water on the idea. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. For starters, two of Asia’s big three are down for the count. Sakura Country is on the brink of annihilation—a third of their islands have already sunk. The whole nation is either dealing with disasters or on their way to the next one. Their elite Anomaly Countermeasure Agents have been decimated in combat. Whoever they send to this conference might not even be field agents.”
“Bang Nation isn’t faring much better compared to Sakura. The first time Shen Ge, the Anomaly Investigator, tore through their secret human experimentation lab to rescue Captain Lin, it left a mountain of unresolved issues. Then, his second incursion into Seoul coincided with an anomaly disaster. Bang Nation never had much land to begin with, and now it’s practically an anomaly nest. Their coastal regions have been hit particularly hard.”
“As for the rest of Asia, their anomaly research still relies heavily on our support. The fact that this conference is being held in Dajing is entirely about the higher-ups cementing our position as the leading power in Asia. They want to use this opportunity to unify the continent’s anomaly response agencies under one umbrella, making it easier to coordinate against future large-scale anomaly disasters. So, mark my words… this ‘research symposium’ is just a smokescreen.”
Deng Yuqi gave Tu Doupi a meaningful glance and smiled. “Well, look at you. Becoming a captain has clearly broadened your perspective.”
“Sigh, let’s just say dealing with these anomaly crises has given me a clear read on what those people are really after. As for me, I’m content just protecting our little patch of turf here in Rong City,” Tu Doupi replied.
Deng Yuqi asked, “So you’re not planning to go this time?”
“Oh, that’s not what I meant. If the Director orders me to go, I go. If there’s a better candidate, I’ll stay behind and guard the fort here at the Rong City Branch. I follow the Director’s commands!” Tu Doupi stood ramrod straight and spoke earnestly.
Yang Yuxin scoffed disdainfully. “Oh, drop the act. Weren’t you just telling me yesterday how awesome it would be to tag along with Investigator Shen to Dajing and show off a bit? You said that since our Rong City Branch is on equal footing with Headquarters, becoming a captain and not going to flaunt it is like wearing fine clothes and walking in the dark…”
“…”
“…”
Tu Doupi hastily clapped a hand over Yang Yuxin’s mouth and turned to Deng Yuqi with an awkward laugh. “Director, don’t listen to Little Yang’s nonsense. She loves to joke around, haha, hahaha.”
Deng Yuqi sighed. The Anomaly Countermeasure Agents at the Rong City Branch were all highly competent, but there wasn’t a normal one in the bunch. Fortunately, she was used to it by now.
“Director Li from the Research Department will be accompanying us on this trip. The stakes are high, so the two of you get ready. You’ll be part of the escort detail,” Deng Yuqi instructed.
“Yes, ma’am!” Tu Doupi snapped to attention and rendered a crisp military salute. His overly formal posture was too much for Yang Yuxin to bear. As Deng Yuqi turned to leave, Yang Yuxin planted a swift kick right on Tu Doupi’s backside.
THUD!
Deng Yuqi had only taken two steps when she heard the loud thud. Tu Doupi had faceplanted spectacularly right in front of her. He looked up with an embarrassed grin.
She chalked it up to the usual antics of a bickering couple and couldn’t be bothered to intervene. She proceeded directly to the Operations Department to find Chen Ke and Feng Chengxiu, to brief them on matters concerning her absence.
After hearing Deng Yuqi list the personnel accompanying her, Chen Ke nodded thoughtfully. “If Li Xiang is going to Dajing, sending two captains as escorts is the most prudent course of action. Li Xiang’s importance to the Special Policy Department now rivals that of any captain-level field agent. However, once you’re in Dajing, be wary of those folks from Headquarters’ Research Department. Make sure they don’t lure this kid away with sweet talk and promises.”
Deng Yuqi wasn’t the least bit concerned on that front. Under the guise of inter-departmental exchange, Headquarters had already dispatched several waves of personnel to Rong City to woo Li Xiang, hoping he’d accept a post there.
He hadn’t just ignored their “carrots and sticks”—he hadn’t even bothered to glance at the official transfer order from Headquarters. Ultimately, Deng Yuqi had to step in and squash the matter herself.
The truth was, whatever benefits and compensation Headquarters could offer, the Branch could match without issue. But crucially, Headquarters’ resources paled in comparison to what the Branch had access to. The Crimson Mist Battle Armor project for Shen Ge alone was more than enough incentive to keep Li Xiang firmly rooted at the Branch.
“Director, besides the captain-level personnel, how large an escort detail are you planning to bring to the Dajing symposium?” Feng Chengxiu inquired.
Deng Yuqi considered it for a moment. “Although Shen Ge is currently out of contact, given his capabilities, he should resurface before the symposium begins. With him already there, bringing a large contingent is unnecessary. Conversely, with myself and two captains gone, the Rong City Branch will need more strength to hold the fort. I intend to bring one full squad, at most.”
Feng Chengxiu nodded. “Understood. In that case, I have a candidate in mind. Wang Han volunteered to attend the last symposium. His position as Deputy Squad Leader makes him a suitable choice.”
“Wang Han?” Deng Yuqi was genuinely surprised to hear Wang Han had volunteered for symposium duty. “He gets headaches just from our branch meetings, and now he wants to attend the Asia Anomaly Research Symposium?”
Feng Chengxiu chuckled. “He heard the security detail comes with extra hazard pay. He’s been putting in extra effort to earn more money these past couple of months. His training intensity has increased noticeably, and last month, he led the response teams for three separate Tier 2 anomaly incidents in the eastern suburbs. Handled them flawlessly.”
“Money? Wasn’t he always going on about how the true meaning of life is to ‘lie flat’ and coast? What’s gotten into him suddenly?” Deng Yuqi asked, amused.
Feng Chengxiu shrugged helplessly. “Must be the power of love. The guy says he’s getting married in a few months.”
“Married? Wang Han has a girlfriend? How did I not know this? Is she from within the department?” Deng Yuqi’s tone held a note of surprise. It wasn’t that she was particularly nosy, but the department was a relatively small community. News of significant personal events usually filtered through eventually.
The Rong City Branch had explicit regulations discouraging romantic relationships between male and female personnel during active service. However, when you spend your days and nights together, often relying on each other in life-or-death situations, it’s hard not to form bonds. Even if most of it is camaraderie, human nature and hormones inevitably lead to sparks in some cases.
Especially after the pairs of Shen Ge and Cheng Shengnan, and Li Xiang and Jiang Wenpei became public knowledge, other budding connections had started surfacing within the department.
The first to be exposed were Tu Doupi and Yang Yuxin. Early one morning, someone in the dormitory area witnessed a disheveled Tu Doupi getting kicked out of Yang Yuxin’s quarters, inadvertently revealing their secret relationship.
The fourth pair, currently still navigating the ambiguous pre-dating phase, consisted of Feng Chengxiu and General Captain Lin Yin. To this day, though, no one in the department quite understood how those two had become interested in each other.
Feng Chengxiu elaborated, “No, she’s not from within the department. I heard she’s Wang Han’s first love. They missed their chance years ago but eventually found their way back to each other. Since our work involves considerable classified information, Wang Han reported the situation to me after arranging for his fiancée to stay in an apartment across from the branch. As per protocol, we conducted a background check. There’s no evidence of any contact with monstrous humanoid organizations or foreign anomaly agencies.”
Deng Yuqi’s expression turned slightly conflicted. “Well… procedurally, it was the correct thing to do. But if Wang Han’s fiancée ever finds out she was investigated, wouldn’t that sting a bit?”
Feng Chengxiu sighed. “It can’t be helped. The Special Policy Department is humanity’s last line of defense against anomalies. If it were just fighting these monstrous entities, it’d be one thing. But we’re also dealing with monstrous humanoids—human traitors. We have to be cautious. Wang Han explained the necessity of it to his partner. I trust she’ll understand.”
Deng Yuqi nodded. “Alright then. Add Wang Han to the roster for the escort detail. As for the rest… you and Chen Ke can finalize the list.”
“Will do.”
“Understood.”
After confirming the list of attendees from the Rong City Branch for the Dajing trip, Deng Yuqi headed to the Logistics Department to find Cheng Shengnan and update her on Shen Ge’s current status.
Hearing that Shen Ge had, yet again, gone missing, Cheng Shengnan could only sigh in resignation. What made it particularly frustrating was that Shen Ge had been on a video call with her right before he vanished.
“Wait a minute. You’re saying he was on a video call with you just before disappearing, and he suddenly mentioned having an ’emergency’?” Deng Yuqi asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.
Cheng Shengnan nodded. “Yes. He said he was waiting for his system to finish an upgrade. He also gave me a data file containing monstrous humanoid sample profiles to pass along to Li Xiang. I delivered it to Li Xiang yesterday. I also filed a report about it—it should be underneath the anomaly reports from the European and American agencies on your desk.”
Deng Yuqi rubbed her temples. “Sorry. I’ve still got over seventy unread reports on my computer, and the physical stack on my desk is half a meter high. I probably haven’t gotten to that one yet.”
“The sample data was from the dream world Shen Ge accessed, plus the monstrous humanoid data he gathered on the anomaly plane en route to Dajing,” Cheng Shengnan clarified.
Suddenly, a nagging feeling of wrongness prickled at Deng Yuqi’s mind. She couldn’t quite place it, and her expression grew serious.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Cheng Shengnan asked.
Deng Yuqi frowned. “Monstrous humanoid sample data from a dream world and an anomaly plane… and this was already delivered to Li Xiang?”
“Yes.”
“But I just met with Li Xiang this morning. When I brought up the Asia Anomaly Research Symposium in Dajing, he was incredibly reluctant to go. He only showed any interest when I mentioned Shen Ge had brought back a wealth of experimental materials from the dream world. Based on his reaction then, it certainly didn’t seem like he’d already received the sample data.”
The pieces clicked into place for Deng Yuqi. When she’d mentioned those reports to Li Xiang, he had reacted as if hearing about them for the very first time.
She pressed further, “When exactly did you hand over the materials?”
Cheng Shengnan replied, “Yesterday afternoon. Li Xiang came to the Logistics Department to submit his latest research report. I gave him the compiled sample data file at the same time.”
“Yesterday afternoon? Li Xiang came personally to submit a report?” Deng Yuqi’s voice was now laced with gravity.
Cheng Shengnan nodded.
Deng Yuqi instantly realized something was seriously amiss. She strode quickly toward the exit of the Logistics Department, with Cheng Shengnan hurrying after her. “Director, what’s going on?”
“Since you became Director of Logistics, how many times have you seen Li Xiang personally deliver a research report? If he were actually that diligent, I wouldn’t have had to assign him a Deputy Director who essentially functions as his personal assistant,” Deng Yuqi stated flatly.
Cheng Shengnan now also sensed the discrepancy. Through her connection to Shen Ge, she had a decent personal relationship with both Li Xiang and Jiang Wenpei. However, aside from the occasional private dinner among the four of them, Cheng Shengnan rarely interacted with Li Xiang in an official capacity, and almost never directly handled work handovers with him.
What made this even stranger was the standard procedure for the Research Department to submit final reports for archiving by Logistics. There were two methods: one was direct encrypted upload via the internal computer network; the other involved an assistant delivering a physical paper copy, which Logistics would then shred and destroy after archiving.
The former method, ever since Little Seven began assisting the Information Department with encryption, had become virtually impenetrable—even the world’s best hackers couldn’t breach the Rong City Branch’s defenses.
The latter method…
Should not involve Li Xiang coming in person!
And the timing was far too coincidental—right after Cheng Shengnan had received the monstrous humanoid sample data transmitted by Shen Ge, he showed up!
By the time Deng Yuqi and Cheng Shengnan arrived at the laboratory, Li Xiang was still huddled with his assistants, studying the amorphous blob of “flesh.” Seeing Deng Yuqi return so soon, Li Xiang looked surprised. “Director, you’re back? And Director Cheng, you’re here too? Oh, by the way, Peipei was just saying she hasn’t seen you in a while and wanted to invite you…”
Deng Yuqi cut him off mid-sentence. “That can wait. Did you visit the Logistics Department yesterday afternoon? Director Cheng claims she handed you a file containing monstrous humanoid sample data.”
“Yesterday? Afternoon?” Li Xiang blinked, bewildered. He shook his head firmly. “I was in the lab all day yesterday working on the sub-armor. They can confirm it—they were all here with me.”
Li Xiang’s assistants nodded in agreement, affirming that Li Xiang hadn’t left the Research Department at all yesterday, even taking his meals in the adjacent break room.
The Rong City Branch had significantly bolstered its defenses multiple times. With the monitoring network woven by Little Seven in place, it was practically impossible for any monstrous humanoid to infiltrate the premises.
And Cheng Shengnan certainly wouldn’t have mistaken someone else for Li Xiang.
So where had the breakdown occurred?
