Chapter 46: 46 Clearance Bureau Ranks

46 Clearance Bureau Ranks

Don’t touch! Even if it were your hair, I wouldn’t want it—let alone something else! You’re really…

After being half-tested, half-teased, Li Ang couldn’t help but glare at the Red-haired Woman, thinking the Black Goat’s evaluation of her was spot-on.

When she has alcohol, she’s a drunken fool; when she doesn’t, she’s a cruel prankster—either she gets so drunk she makes a spectacle of herself and gives others amusement, or she’s sober and scheming to turn others into jokes; in short, she never rests.

By the way, her office has been so clean these past two days—where are all the empty bottles?

…

Is he… looking for my empty bottles?

Watching Li Ang keep glancing behind his desk as if searching for something, the Red-haired Woman’s heart clenched at the memory of that binge that left her in debt, her gaze toward him turning dangerous as she smiled faintly:

“What? Didn’t get the upper hand and still can’t bring yourself to leave?”

“Uh… you’re joking, I just have something I want to ask.”

Hearing her words, Li Ang snapped back to reality, clenched his fist secretly, and asked with serious expression:

“If we confirm the Black Goat’s heart is in the Lyon family, after completing the mission and recovering it, could I possibly gain the right to use its heart?”

“Hmm… that’s hard to say—it depends on your luck.

If you didn’t personally recover the anomaly, and you want to reclaim it later, you’ll have to see if anyone with a higher rank wants to compete with you… or let me put it this way!”

After thinking for a moment, the Red-haired Woman picked up her dip pen, found the back of a discarded document, and swiftly drew five circles from top to bottom.

“If these five circles represent our Clearance Bureau’s ranks, the top one is for the Director and the twelve Directors.”

“Though the Director holds half a rank above the twelve Directors, if over two-thirds of the Directors agree, they can veto the Director’s proposals; if over three-quarters agree, they can even remove him—so the Director and the Directors are roughly the same level.”

Moving her pen downward, she tapped the second circle, leaving a large ink blot, then continued:

“Next are the eighty-seven branch offices. You know the zodiac constellations, right? Our twelve zodiac branch offices are major bureaus; the other seventy-five are minor bureaus.

Major bureau directors are generally stronger than minor bureau directors and hold half a rank higher, but overall they’re still considered the same level.

Beyond the first-level Directors and second-level Bureau Directors, the remaining three circles are you—first-, second-, and third-level Anomaly Handlers.”

Writing a “1” inside the third circle, the Red-haired Woman smiled sweetly:

“First, Level One Disaster Handlers—those assigned here are usually the top agents of their bureaus, super-strong individuals capable of leading teams to handle large-scale disasters.

When vacancies arise among the seventy-five minor bureau directors, the most outstanding among these top agents can be directly promoted upon approval by the Directors—Emma is currently at this level.”

Senior Emma… a top agent?

Hearing the familiar name, Li Ang froze slightly, feeling a strange sensation like seeing a childhood classmate on TV.

Emma had always struck him as a cautious, gentle, reliable senior—hardly the image of a powerhouse. After all, her first mission with him nearly ended in disaster…

“Little Li Ang~ You don’t think Emma is weak, do you?”

As if reading his thoughts, the Red-haired Woman tapped the “1” in the circle with her pen tip and smiled:

“The hospital incident went wrong

First, because the opponent was a true god—too high in fundamental status. Emma was infected first, triggering the core rules of their ability, rendering her carried anomalies useless, which is why she was caught.

Second, her main anomalies are too large—the boxes issued by the Bureau can’t hold them, so she keeps them stacked in her office and only takes them out when needed. During the hospital mission, she didn’t even unleash one percent of her power.

Since you already have a forced intelligence-gathering ability, when she returns, have her take you to see her collection—you won’t doubt her Level One Disaster Handler status anymore.”

All of that… in her office? Anomalies?!

After hearing the Red-haired Woman’s explanation, Li Ang recalled what he’d seen outside Emma’s office window—his pupils shrank slightly.

Bandages, coffins, nail boards, scalpels, skull-crushers, crosses, iron maidens, execution platforms, bone specimens, curved sickles… that room had at least thirty or forty items, if not fifty!

And in the corner of her office, there were several old boxes that occasionally made strange noises—no telling how many small items they held… Good heavens! How many anomalies does Senior Emma have?!

I knew it—this would shock you!

Seeing Li Ang’s stunned expression, the Red-haired Woman’s lips curled with satisfaction as she continued cheerfully:

“As for the remaining Level Two Crisis Handlers and Level Three Accident Handlers… just think of them as senior staff and regular staff.

According to Clearance Bureau rules, a team of one senior staff member and five regular staff can handle certain low-level regional crises—but you, you won’t get a chance to join such group missions.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because although we’re a major bureau, due to things I did in the past, most of the staff have left—we can’t even gather enough people for group missions… Haven’t you noticed most offices on the first floor are empty?”

With a resigned shrug, the Red-haired Woman took a sip of… water, then sighed heavily:

“We still have two Level One top agents, but Level Two and Three staff are scarce—fewer than ten combined.

More precisely, we have nine Level Two Disaster Handlers and one Level Three Accident Handler.”

Nine Level Twos and one Level Three… so I’m the only regular staff?!

By this point, Li Ang had forgotten what he originally wanted to ask—he stared blankly and blurted:

“Our bureau building has seven floors! Someone who scared off six floors… Director! What exactly did you do?!”

“Things any person in my position must do—though perhaps cruel, and indeed hard to accept… Also, you’re mistaken about one thing.”

Turning his gaze away to the window, the Red-haired Woman stared at the withered willow outside, her expression calm as she stated:

“The top six floors aren’t empty—they’re now filled with my anomalies.”