Chapter 7: 7 Anomaly

7 Anomaly

Matches the job description… wait, did I ever ask what the job at the Cleanup Bureau actually involves?

It was as if the condensation on a windowpane had been wiped clean, or the curtain shielding the stage in a theater had been drawn aside — the "job description" that had been inexplicably forgotten before now eerily broke through the blockade of the red-haired woman's smile and rose up from deep within Hearing Li Ang's mind.

Other-dimensional demons trying to scour souls, mad evil gods seeking to descend their will, radical deities preparing to control the world, peculiar anomalies born of human obsessions, undying spectres that have fled the normal flow of time… ugh…

A dense layer of sweat beads crawled almost instantly across Hearing Li Ang's face, and with every item of the job description the red-haired woman had mentioned, the beads on his face grew one shade thicker.

A kind of near-instinctive intuition kept blaring warnings at Hearing Li Ang — that gorgeous yet dangerous red-haired woman most likely wasn't just teasing him…

And just as Hearing Li Ang was desperately trying to recall the Cleanup Bureau's job description, attempting to gauge just how dangerous that "runaway Contaminator" truly was, Anna — whose expression was equally fraught with unease — was wheeled over by two nurses in a wheelchair.

"Bro?"

Seeing Hearing Li Ang inside the private care ward, the pale-faced girl seemed to have found her mainstay; the tension in her expression unconsciously eased a fraction, and she then said with an urgent look:

"Cough… they seem to have got the wrong person! Cough, cough… we can't afford a private care room, but no matter how I tried to explain, they just… cough, cough, cough… Bro! Hurry up and talk to them for me! We… cough, cough, cough, cough…"

"Don't worry, they didn't get the wrong person!"

Hearing Anna's heart-rending coughing, Hearing Li Ang, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, hurriedly rose, covered the distance in three quick strides, and together with the two nurses helped lift his struggling sister onto the bed, then comforted her in a gentle voice:

"The job I went looking for yesterday came through. I'm now an Accident Handler under the Ministry of Public Security, and the Medical Bureau covers a quota of expenses every year — no need to spend the family's money!"

The job came through? And from the sound of it, it's a civil-service post in the Kingdom?

Hearing this, Anna couldn't help but brighten; a flush of excitement suddenly bloomed on her pale cheeks, and her eyes shone as if she wanted to say something.

But the next second she came to her senses — given her brother's current circumstances, the odds of him landing a good job weren't that high, yet the hospital's attitude couldn't be faked, so then…

"Bro… tell me the truth!"

Drawing strength from who-knows-where, the deathly pale girl gripped the bed's armrest and forced herself to sit bolt upright, glaring at Hearing Li Ang as she pressed:

"You… cough… did you take some dangerous job just to pay for my treatment? You… you… cough, cough, cough!"

"It's not dangerous, not dangerous at all! I'm perfectly safe!"

"Liar!"

After hearing Hearing Li Ang's explanation, the pale-faced girl only grew more anxious; covering her mouth and nose as she coughed, she gripped the armrest and said angrily:

"If you hadn't taken those life-risking jobs, how… cough, cough… how would we ever afford a private care room… cough, cough, cough…"

"In your state, stop trying to talk, alright!"

Placing both hands on Anna's shoulders and forcibly pressing his coughing, crimson-faced sister back onto the bed, Hearing Li Ang hurriedly explained:

"My job really isn't dangerous. As for why the pay's this good — mainly because there are no holidays, I'm on call all year round, I have to show up the instant something happens, and it's also incredibly hard work."

Taking out his "Dung Beetle Lady Certificate" and unfurling it, he flashed the title "Third-Grade Accident Handler," then said with a solemn face, making it all up on the spot:

"See the position name? Accident Handler! My job belongs to the Cleanup Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security. Normally I mainly… um… mainly handle the inspection and cleanup of homicide scenes and accident sites.

For example, if there's a serial dismemberment case, or a large-scale traffic accident, that sort of thing,

I have to go clean up scenes that have been reduced to a bloody mess — the kind that would make an ordinary person throw up at a single glance!

This work is exhausting, filthy, and creepy; hardly anyone's been willing to do it, so the pay's pretty decent… are you reassured now?"

The Cleanup Bureau? In charge of cleaning up bloody crime scenes?

After hearing her older brother's explanation, the pale-faced girl hesitated for a moment, then said, half-believing, half-doubting:

"Really?"

"Really!"

Not wanting to tell her that he'd joined a mysterious department where he could drop dead at any moment, Hearing Li Ang solemnly raised his right hand and swore a heartfelt oath:

"If your brother's lying you, may he stay a bachelor his whole life and never find…"

"Bro! You cough… don't talk nonsense!"

Pinching Hearing Li Ang's arm hard and forcing him to swallow the second half of his sentence, the worried, slender girl finally set her mind at ease.

Being in charge of cleaning up bloody, mangled homicide scenes — it wasn't exactly a great job either, but it was still far better than working a furnace in the mines or selling oneself as a drug tester. After all, given the family's current state, what choice was there?

Although it falls under the rather dangerous Ministry of Public Security, the department itself is the Cleanup Bureau. From the name alone it sounds about the same as the Sanitation Bureau under the Roads Department — probably a logistics post too. Apart from being filthy, exhausting, and creepy, her brother most likely wouldn't run into any danger. Except…

It's all my fault for dragging you down…

Biting hard on her bloodless lips, Anna gripped Hearing Li Ang's hand and, head slightly bowed, said with a face full of guilt:

"Bro, once we're back in Veterans' Alley, if anyone asks what your job is, just say you work for the Ministry of Public Security. The dismemberment stuff… the specifics of the job — better not tell anyone else."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because you still have to start a family."

Clutching her brother's hand with heartache, the slender girl said worriedly:

"Being in charge of cleaning up dismembered bodies and the like — earning your own keep isn't shameful, but it's still a bit… if word of what your job actually involves got out, you probably wouldn't be able to land a decent match…"

"…"

Looking at his sister — who was, in the literal physical sense, gravely ill, yet still fretting about how he was going to find a wife — Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but twitch his mouth in speechless exasperation.

Forget it! Someone like me, what marriage is there to talk about?

Given the life-threatening scope of the Cleanup Bureau's work, the moment I actually run into any one of those things I'm done for. So instead of wondering who could marry me, it'd be far more practical to wonder who could join me in a ghost marriage…

"Mm-hm, I'm not stupid — I definitely won't say."

Considering his own present situation — where he could drop dead at any moment — and not wanting to hold anyone back, Hearing Li Ang had long since abandoned any thought of marrying and starting a family. But there was no need to share these plans with Anna.

Watching his sister clearly take this matter to heart, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but smile and promise:

"As for my marriage, don't you worry about it. When the time comes to settle down, your brother's definitely going to coax the best sister-in-law back for you."

After coaxing his sister with a few words, Hearing Li Ang — who had been fretting all along about that "runaway Contaminator" — drew a deep breath, then turned to the nurse beside him and asked of his own accord:

"Excuse me, where's that… rather generously built doctor? Hasn't he come over?"

"As for the Chief, he had originally intended to come along."

Hearing Hearing Li Ang's question, the little nurse — who had long since received the stout Chief's instructions — immediately explained with an apologetic look:

"But we'd only gotten halfway there when the emergency bell in the hospital rang, and then a large batch of critical patients were brought in—something urgent must have happened in public."

"Per hospital regulations, once a situation like this occurs, all department heads and physicians of higher rank must be present, so the director had to rush over first…"

"But don't worry, before the director left, he gave specific instructions that your sister's illness will definitely receive the best treatment!"

An urgent public incident… it couldn't possibly have something to do with those "runaway Infected," could it?

Recalling the scope of work at the Cleanup Bureau, which could only be described as "frenzied," Hearing Li Ang's expression tightened at once, and he instinctively wanted to grab Anna and run first, to keep his sister from being swept into danger too.

But after looking at the IV line on Anna's arm and her extremely weak complexion, Li Ang couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, then pulled a nurse out of the ward and asked quietly in the hallway:

"How is my sister's condition right now? Can I stop the IV and take her home for a bit first?"

"Um… it's probably best not to?"

The nurse said with some difficulty upon hearing this:

"The director knew you'd ask about her condition, so he specifically told us about your sister's situation just now.

Because your sister stopped taking her medication on her own for two months, three-quarters of her right lung has already been destroyed by alchemical fumes, and her left lung has also sustained fairly serious damage. Only by continuously pushing cell supplements directly into her vein have we barely managed to stabilize her condition.

If you stop the medication now and take her home, and the treatment is delayed, I'm afraid her entire right lung will have to be removed. Not only will her life expectancy be drastically shortened, but for the rest of her life, the moment she moves even a little she'll have to… Where are you going?"

"I'm going home to get something! You go back to the ward and look after her first—no matter what's happening outside, don't come out!"