Chapter 6: National Civil Affairs Bureau

He serves as the deputy director of the Welfare Lottery Issuance Management Center.

Zhou Xun's greatest desire—toppling the director Yang Kai.

Who wants to be deputy when they could be the director?

He may look imposing, but the moment he shows any hint of not aligning with Yang Kai, he'll be scolded mercilessly.

Often he also has to clean up Yang Kai's messes, and after the job's done, all he gets are a few lofty verbal promises and nothing else.

He's downright stingy to the bone.

But today—

His chance arrived.

A young man with a fresh voice just called him, saying he wanted to report Yang Kai.

He asked the youngster where the evidence came from.

The young man replied, "Under Yang Kai's office desk lies his incriminating evidence."

He asked again, "How do you know that?"

The youth said, "Just go look, and you'll find out."

"It's all guided by the gods."

Then the call ended.

Zhou Xun thought the youngster was full of mystic babble—'divine guidance'? He must be a charlatan!

But still.

It's better to assume it's true than to dismiss it.

So Zhou Xun went.

He started searching.

Goodness, he actually found a ledger and a notebook hidden in a secret compartment beneath the floor.

It clearly listed who Yang Kai was dealing with behind the scenes, and how much corruption and cover‑ups occurred…

Why did he record it?

Zhou Xun knew it was to leave a leverage point, making it easy to blackmail later.

Because he also has one.

And

The people he contacts are also hostile to Yang Kai.

Knock them down, and some will rise—like the emperor rotating seats, next year it'll be my turn!

"Little Zhou, you did well."

"I'll remember this favor of yours…."

"Brother Zhou, I'm truly grateful! I've long despised that old bastard—he even tried to marry his 300‑pound piggy daughter to me, which makes me sick! Toppling him now really helped me a lot!"

"Next time I'll treat you, at…."

"Lao Zhou, they say distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, I…"

"Ah Xun, meeting you in school is the greatest…."

Zhou Xun hung up the last call, feeling extremely pleased.

He went to the window, gazed at the night view, and whispered, "Divine guidance?"

"Whether you're a charlatan or not, from today I'll carve a tablet for you, offering incense daily…"

He hadn't finished speaking.

His phone screen lit up, displaying a notification:

"The person who won is my man."

Just a simple sentence.

An anonymous number.

But Zhou Xun knew who it was.

The young man who called.

Hmm, maybe just a pawn.

The real big players remain hidden in the shadows.

If only I could get some connection with them…

Zhou Xun shook his head, driving those unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

The current situation is already excellent.

He picked up his phone again and dialed:

"Hello, it's me, the winner…"

Click.

Yu Lin snapped the freshly obtained Anonymous Phone Card in half and tossed it into the trash can.

He didn't guarantee the ledger and notebook were under the desk; it was just offhand.

If they weren't there, he'd have someone else keep calling.

Just a bit more time.

Passing a snack street, he had intended to buy a plate of fried noodles.

But all his money was already spent on medicine and lottery tickets.

He could just smell it.

Fortunately, there were still a few buckets of instant noodles at home.

Waiting for the instant noodles to soften.

Yu Lin opened the college entrance exam results website.

What came into view was—601.

Working part‑time while studying, and also suffering from late‑stage stomach cancer, achieving such a score was already beyond his expectations.

It could be called an extraordinary performance.

The steam from the noodles swirled in the cramped rented room.

Yu Lin closed the website, opened WeChat, and ignored the landlord's collection notices.

The homeroom teacher Yang Yuren's message was second in line:

【Yu Lin, have you checked the results? How are they?】

【If you have trouble with tuition, feel free to contact me】

【I can take you to apply for a student loan, or lend you some money first】

【Just repay slowly after graduation】

Besides these, there are others as well.

They've been sent intermittently over the past few days.

Yang Yuren—true to his name, is a genuinely good teacher.

During three years of high school, this homeroom teacher secretly slipped him countless meal cards and applied for numerous scholarships under the guise of "grade subsidies."

To be honest, Yu Lin is very grateful to him.

He was about to reply when his phone suddenly vibrated—an unknown number appeared.

"Never ending?"

He frowned and hung up immediately.

But the other side persisted and called again.

Yu Lin pressed the answer button, his tone cold: "Hello?"

Unexpectedly, a clear, sweet female voice came through the receiver, with a hint of tentative probing:

"Is… Yu Lin?"

Hm?

Yu Lin replied, "I am. Who are you?"

"Hello, I am Chen Tian of the National Civil Bureau; you must have heard of the National Civil Bureau, right?"

"Sorry, I've only been working part‑time and studying, I haven't heard of it."

".........."

His words made Chen Tian on the other end pause, but she quickly resumed normal speech:

"So you really are diligent and ambitious; are you trying to raise tuition for university? We............"

"No, I'm just raising money to treat my late‑stage stomach cancer."

"........."

Chen Tian seemed to set the phone down, and from the other end came intermittent words:

"Wuwu... Captain... really should die."

"Alright, you... go over there,... come and speak."

The phone was picked up.

A deep, resonant male voice came:

"Yu Lin, hello, I am Zhang Jiangping, Deputy Director of the National Civil Bureau."

"Hello, what is it?"

"It's like this: according to our records, your late‑stage stomach cancer shows signs of self‑healing? And you won the first prize in tonight's Double Color Ball?"

"....... Is there a problem?"

"Don't misunderstand, we're not investigating you; we have a reasonable suspicion that you have awakened some Supernatural Ability, such as—luck?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? You're scammers, right? Stop calling me, or I'll call the police!"

Yu Lin hung up the phone directly.

His furrowed brows indicated his mood was not as relaxed as his tone suggested.

"National Civil Bureau? Look it up."

After a moment.

Besides discovering that the full name of the National Civil Bureau is actually the National Folk Anomalies Investigation Bureau, Yu Lin found nothing else.

"Sure enough, they're scammers."

"No, we're not scammers."

"........."

Yu Lin looked up and saw a man squatting at the window, cloaked in a black windbreaker, half of his face hidden in shadow, smiling and greeting him:

"Yu Lin, hello."