Chapter 130: Aftermath

"Sit down. Is there something you need?"

Tian Sheng's arrival did not elicit more reaction from the man; he did not even display any courtesy, merely leaving a shallow crease on the document in his hand before looking up and calmly questioning Tian Sheng.

This demeanor was quite different from the "leaders" in Tian Sheng's impression.

At Fuli Academy, even Director Liu Wenqin, someone relatively unconcerned with formalities, always had to show basic friendliness and concern in front of the staff.

Yet this middle-aged man before him seemed to behave quite coldly, even displaying a sort of... dissatisfaction? This dissatisfaction was not directed at Tian Sheng, but rather seemed like dissatisfaction with his own position.

"Hello, Director. I am Tian Sheng from the Third Squad of the Special Operations Department. This is our squad's combat record for this month..."

Tian Sheng instinctively scratched his head and handed over the document in his hand. He tried his best to ensure no flaws appeared in his words, to avoid being scolded by this new Director who looked to be in a bad mood.

The middle-aged man took his report and began flipping through it right in front of him. He browsed the content of the report with a blank expression, closed the document after about a minute, and asked:

"This week's culling only caught ordinary Magic Users? No Beast-Transformers?"

Beast-Transformers are the official term used by the Anomaly Bureau for people who transform using the Beast's viscera; Tian Sheng naturally knew of the existence of such people.

So he immediately replied: "Yes, we have culled several small gathering spots, but we have not yet encountered any Beast-Transformers."

"This is not normal," the middle-aged man said, tapping the table.

"Yes."

The other party showed no emotion, but there was a strange pressure in his speech that made Tian Sheng instinctively swallow: "You are right, our squad leader thinks so too."

Under the pressure, he decisively sold out Li Yingwei.

"It is not just your squad; the reports I saw today show that every squad has not encountered any Beast-Transformers so far."

The middle-aged man behind the desk repeated: "This is absolutely not a normal coincidence."

Probably because the mastermind was executed, the remaining group is leaderless, Tian Sheng thought to himself. But he did not dare to say it; he did not want to be scolded at this moment for expressing an immature opinion.

"Tian Sheng."

However, just because he did not speak did not mean this new Director would remain silent: "You joined the Anomaly Bureau recently, are you a newcomer?"

"Ah... yes."

Tian Sheng stammered out an answer: "To be precise, I only started working last week, because when I first came to the Bureau, I happened to encounter an attack by a Remnant Beast..."

"There were ten people recruited in the same period as you, and your mana level was the lowest in the test."

The new Director asked with a blank expression: "But your performance in the combat record is the most outstanding, even showing little difference from other squad members who have reached the Controller level. Is there any reason for this?"

"Ah, this..." Tian Sheng did not expect to be asked such a sharp question so quickly.

He originally wanted to find an excuse, such as hiding his strength, to brush it off, but his intuition told him that the answer here was quite important. If he brushed it off casually, it might lead to results he did not wish to see.

So he hesitated for a moment and truthfully disclosed his situation.

From joining the Anomaly Bureau to encountering the Remnant Beast attack, from the strange moth in his dream to the subsequent abnormalities in his body, he told the other party everything clearly, without missing a single detail.

Of course, this also included the magical girl he had caught a fleeting glimpse of, who was controlling blue threads.

After saying all this, he saw the new Director's expression change slightly, but this strange look flashed by in an instant. As if it were all his illusion, only that blank face remained.

"You are saying you dreamed you turned into a moth?"

Taking out a stack of personnel files from the drawer, the new Director picked out Tian Sheng's page without any hesitation and browsed it in front of him: "After that dream, you woke up and found your mana had improved by leaps and bounds."

"Yes." Tian Sheng nodded.

"Sounds like a made-up story," the new Director said while reading his file: "But if I were you, I certainly would not come up with such a shoddy excuse in front of a superior, so it actually has a bit of credibility."

Tian Sheng could only remain awkwardly silent.

"Your previous work history... Fang Ting City First Social Welfare Institute?"

After roughly scanning Tian Sheng's personnel file, the new Director behind the desk raised his eyebrows slightly: "You worked as a caregiver there?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Then according to the timeline, four months ago you should have experienced the terror attack of Black Ash Dawn?"

"Four months ago... ah, yes."

"Did you encounter anything during that attack?" The new Director put down the document in his hand and pointed his finger at the table while looking at him.

"The terror attack at Fuli Academy..."

Tian Sheng frowned and thought for a while, but could only helplessly shake his head: "I'm sorry, Director, for some reason, I can't quite remember the events at that time."

"Can't remember?" The new Director raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"I am sure, because I have been troubled by this for a long time; I always feel like I forgot some extraordinary experience." Tian Sheng nodded.

His answer obviously made the new Director in front of him feel strange, but the other party surprisingly did not question him too much, instead raising some questions indirectly based on his file.

The two of them went back and forth with questions and answers; the new Director kept throwing out new questions while seemingly pondering something; Tian Sheng diligently dug up the limited information in his brain and gave the answers point by point.

As the questioning continued, Tian Sheng also unexpectedly discovered that the course of events seemed to become clearer as he gave each answer, and even some lingering memories became distinct.

If this continued, perhaps this new Director could really reconstruct the sequence of events. However, this question-and-answer session did not last until the end.

Just as Tian Sheng was still thinking in his mind and digging for more memories, the new Director, who had previously been slow and meticulous in listing questions, suddenly stopped. As if there was some sudden incident accompanied by extreme difficulty, the other party frowned tightly, even showing signs of distress. After a brief silence, the new Director spoke again, but it was no longer an interrogation like before:

"Sorry, I need to take a call."

"Ah... okay." Although he did not hear a phone ring, Tian Sheng did not suspect anything and nodded. In his mind, whether the phone was set to weak vibration or a wireless built-in earpiece was used, others could not hear the ringtone.

He also had no sense of needing to avoid anything; after all, in his impression, when talking to a leader, it is very common for the other party to suddenly need to take a call; one just waits for them to finish communicating. So he stood there, intending to wait until the call ended.

However, the new Director did not make any move to take out a mobile phone or telephone.

He seemed to be waiting for Tian Sheng to leave, but seeing that Tian Sheng still stood there motionless, he looked at him twice and waved his hand: "You can go back first; we will talk about your matter next time."

Is that it?

Tian Sheng only felt it was somewhat sudden.

Because based on the progress and momentum just now, he thought this question-and-answer session would continue for at least another ten minutes. But now, the conversation between the two was clearly not over, and the questions had no conclusion, yet the other party decisively dismissed him.

Is there any phone call that is so confidential?

This question arose in his mind, but before Tian Sheng could think it through, he suddenly felt his body being pulled by something.

Before he could even move his own feet to leave, in that instant, he felt his entire body become like a marionette, suddenly flying backward driven by some force.

The flat-opening door behind him also inexplicably swung open without wind; the moment Tian Sheng flew to the doorway, it opened right on time. Everything proceeded as if running like a precision instrument, and then, Tian Sheng was thrown out of the house.

Carried by an unknown force to outside the door, Tian Sheng stumbled several steps before barely managing to stand still in place. He instinctively looked at the large door before him, but could only see the flat-opening door gradually closing, and within the crack, a deep blue flash like an illusion.

Bang!

The Director's Office door closed right in front of him.

Leaving Tian Sheng standing dazedly at the door, until the very end unable to figure out what exactly had happened.

Just waiting quietly for half a minute, he then realized he seemed to be supposed to leave. Only until before leaving did he not hear the sound of a phone call inside the Director's Office; he could only carry a belly full of doubts and walk into the elevator deep within the corridor.

And in the Director's Office which he could not see, at this very moment, a petite blue-haired girl wearing a navy blue dress sat behind the desk, frowning and holding her forehead.

"This is truly terrible..."

Senior Cuique couldn't help but mutter this.

Undoubtedly, the new Director of the Fang Ting City Anomaly Strategy Bureau is Lin Yun; just now, it was him who was interrogating Tian Sheng.

And the reason why, halfway through the conversation, he suddenly kicked Tian Sheng out of the office, and inexplicably became a magical girl inside the office, was truly not Lin Yun's intention.

It was not that he wanted to transform, but because this transformation was beyond his control.

This was one of the aftereffects caused by Senior Cuique overloading the power of the Magic Armor during the battle two weeks prior, paying the price which damaged the Magic Armor and completely shattered its scissor form.

This aftereffect could be said to be either big or small; its impact on her was actually far less severe than the regression in power. If she were still in her previous resigned state, spending most of her time acting as Senior Cuique, this wouldn't even be considered an aftereffect.

But now, for her who has become the Director of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau, this aftereffect has become a huge trouble—her Heart Gem occasionally goes out of control, causing her to uncontrollably transform from Lin Yun into Senior Cuique.

In the first few days after the battle, this aftereffect was especially obvious: almost every few hours, this change would occur uncontrollably once. In that state, Lin Yun naturally could not immediately take office at the Anomaly Strategy Bureau, and could only recover from injuries while waiting.

The only thing worth being grateful for is that this out-of-control transformation is one-way; currently, there has been no situation where the transformation suddenly releases, changing from Senior Cuique back to Lin Yun. Otherwise, she would probably not even dare to visit the secret base much, fearing she would put on a grand show of a living person changing in front of her daughter.

After two weeks of buffering and recuperation, the frequency of Tang Tu's transformation gradually stabilized quite a bit—roughly fixed at once per day. This absurd aftereffect seemed to have stabilized in this state; even if there might be subsequent changes, Lin Yun had no time to continue waiting.

He had too many things to do and could not be held back by this. So, after his injuries slightly calmed and the aftereffects slightly eased, he stopped recuperating, took up his post, and succeeded to the position of Director of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau.

Right now, is his first day coming to take office.

To prevent anyone from breaking in under accidental conditions, Lin Yun had specially left Senior Cuique's magic threads at the door to monitor the situation at the entrance. He just didn't expect the accident to come so quickly; before even receiving a few employees, this farce had erupted.

If his reaction hadn't been fast enough, finding an excuse while simultaneously sending the other party out in time, his identity would have been exposed on the very first day of taking office. Precisely because of this, after finally muddling through this matter, she blurted out the conclusion "terrible."

However, farce aside, work must still proceed; as the newly appointed Director, Lin Yun still has many things to busy himself with.

Using a technique to seal the office door, waiting a little while, and after the fluctuation of magic power settled, he released the transformation. Lin Yun let out a long sigh and picked up the documents on the desk again.

This large stack of documents on the desk were all ones he had already read.

And after spending a morning studying various files and reports from the recent two weeks, Lin Yun had gained a preliminary understanding of what state the current Anomaly Strategy Bureau was in.

—In a word: a headless fly.

Although Mousi was an undercover agent and a traitor, and also an outright thug and villain, she was ultimately the Director of the Fang Ting City Anomaly Strategy Bureau. To maintain the appearance of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau operating normally, she had put in quite a bit of superficial effort in her daily life.

And with her defeat and destruction, the Fang Ting City Anomaly Strategy Bureau without a Director was equivalent to losing its helmsman; even those superficial efforts no longer existed, instantly entering a chaotic state of having no leader.

Adding to this, the previous attack caused certain personnel reductions; the surviving employees were a mix of good and bad; even the office building had only been rebuilt recently. The current Fang Ting City Anomaly Strategy Bureau could be described as a complete mess, a pile of scattered sand.

It was precisely under such circumstances that Lin Yun arrived. He accepted the proposal of Golden Green Cat's Eye and took over the position of Director of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau.

The reason was nothing else; because after the previous Mousi incident, in a short period of time, he really found it difficult to trust other parachuted personnel to serve as the Director of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau.

This position would originally have been more suitable for Hong Siyu, but Hong Siyu indeed left many aftereffects in the previous incident and is currently undergoing treatment and recuperation.

Helplessly, Lin Yun chose to take this job onto his own head.

And now, is the time for him to make his first appearance in front of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau employees and deliver a conference speech.

Thanks to the Guild Master "Cannot Cry Clown," the Ship Master "Hu Yu Jiu Xiao Ye Kong," and the support and tips from all readers, thank you.

(End of this chapter)