Chapter 40: Federal Weird Investigation Bureau

The Federation's capital.

Three hundred meters underground, a top‑secret conference room capable of withstanding a nuclear strike.

Around the massive circular conference table sit a group of top‑tier figures whose presence could shake the entire nation.

The atmosphere is as heavy as iron.

In the center of the conference room, a huge holographic projection screen is split into two completely different images, playing silently.

Left screen.

The night sky is ink‑black, and a seven‑story unfinished building eerily floats hundreds of meters above the ground!

Dozens of special steel cables, thicker than an adult's thigh, resemble mythic chains that bind a giant beast, holding it firmly in place.

At the ends of the cables are several heavy transport aircraft hovering in suspension, their engines spitting blue flames that look like ghost fire in the darkness.

Each time a high‑altitude refueling plane approaches to top up fuel, it feels like feeding a captive ancient leviathan.

This is the cage of the "Ghost‑Wall".

A "Sky City" with no way up and no entrance down.

Right screen.

It switches to a pure‑white, airtight room with no seams.

A man in prison garb, shaved bald, his eyes numb, is strapped to a metal chair, his expression alternating between terror and bewilderment.

Inside his headset, a dull, rhythmic heartbeat plays at a rate of once per second.

"Thud… thud… thud…"

This is a death‑row prisoner.

A consumable who uses his own life as an "anchor point" to keep the Cavity Person forever trapped in this containment chamber.

As long as the heartbeat persists, as long as anyone can "hear" it, it proves the Cavity Person has not left.

The holographic projection slowly shuts down, the lights in the conference room flare on, illuminating the extremely complex expressions on everyone's faces.

Shock, dread, bewilderment, and… a trace of deeply hidden greed.

"Everyone, you have all seen it."

Seated in one of the seats, Wei Gong speaks slowly, his seemingly clouded old eyes flashing with a sharp light.

"This is the 'spoils' that the Ninth Division brought back from Jiang Hai City…"

"Spoils?" A senior military official, a star‑bearing general on his shoulder, slams the table loudly, his voice ringing like a bell.

"I think they're two timed bombs that could detonate at any moment! This thing is completely beyond our comprehension! I suggest we find a way to eliminate them and eradicate them immediately!"

He represents the military's most direct, hard‑line stance—what we cannot understand is a threat; and the best way to deal with a threat is to erase it completely.

"I oppose!"

On the other side, a white‑haired elder wearing glasses, exuding scholarly air, stands up excitedly; he is the chief of the Federal Academy of Sciences.

"General! Do you know what this means? This is a miracle! It is the key that could overturn our current physics framework! Its very existence is the greatest scientific discovery! You intend to destroy it? That's anti‑human! It's a crime!"

"Science? Discovery?" the General snorts coldly. "Can your science let a dead man, dozens of kilometers away, take another person's heart? Until we understand its principle, it remains a Damocles Sword hanging over our heads!"

"That's why we must study it! Not brutally destroy it!"

"By the time you finish studying it, the daylilies will be cold! If it escapes, who bears the responsibility? You?"

Inside the conference room, the arguing grows louder, and more participants join.

One side advocates total destruction, eradicating any future threat.

The other side pushes for in‑depth research, using it as a springboard for humanity's technological leap.

Both sides argue heatedly, red‑faced, unable to persuade each other.

"Enough."

Wei Gong lightly taps the table, and the conference room gradually quiets.

Everyone's gaze converges on him.

"The General's concerns are reasonable. They are threats."

He first affirms the senior military official's view, then looks toward the academy scholar.

"The professor's foresight is equally important. They are opportunities."

Wei Gong's eyes sweep over everyone present, his tone even yet bearing unquestionable decisiveness.

"Since they are both threats and opportunities... why must we make a choice?"

"My opinion is—"

"We need both!"

The words hang in the air, and the entire assembly is stunned.

Wei Gong stands, walks to the massive map of the Federation, and points his finger at its center.

"I propose establishing a brand‑new, highest‑level agency independent of all existing systems."

"Its sole duty will be to contain, study, and... exploit these things we temporarily call 'Weird'."

"We must determine why they appear, where their energy originates, and how their rules operate!"

"We must not only be able to kill them, but also to control them! Turn their power into our own, into our nation's weapons, into our army's armor, into the ladder of our technological advancement!"

His voice grew increasingly fervent, each word pounding heavily on everyone's heart.

"The old era has already passed."

"From today onward, the world will enter a brand‑new epoch!"

"I propose that this new agency be named—"

"Federal Weird Investigation Bureau!"

After a solemn silence,

Voices sounded one after another in the meeting room.

"I second that."

"... I second that."

""I second that!!""

At the same time.

Jiang Hai City, Chu Che's apartment.

He elegantly held a glass of red wine, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the myriad lights of the city outside.

"Federal Weird Investigation Bureau......"

He softly spoke that name, then let out a low laugh.

"Interesting."

These officials were far more interesting than he had imagined.

They did not collapse in fear, nor halt before the unknown; instead, with astonishing efficiency and determination, they tried to contain and grasp this worldview‑overturning "fear."

This made his "game" instantly more challenging.

When faced with a vicious wolf, the weak lamb did not scatter and flee; instead, it tried to sharpen its own horns, even wishing to strip the wolf's skin and wear it.

How...... lovely the struggle.

Chu Che raised his hand, pushed up the gold‑rimmed glasses on his nose, the lenses reflecting the city's neon.

He opened the interface of the "Weird Editor" that only he could see.

The surveillance viewpoint shifted to the Suffocating Ghost Girl.

"The Suffocating Ghost Girl" is the weirdest creation he made by spending 2100 points of karma, the strongest so far.

Far surpassing the 100‑point Cavity Person and the 500‑point Ghost Wall.

He really wanted to see.

How would the officials respond when facing a terrifying weird that had merged with humanity and broken the limits of the Murder Rule?

Could they still, like dealing with the Ghost Wall, violently hoist the building together into the sky?

Could they still, like with the Cavity Person, threaten using the mother it cares about?

Chu Che turned off the TV and drank the last sip of the crimson wine in his cup.

He gazed out at the deep night beyond the window, and at the same time saw the girl fused with love and hate, walking through the city's shadows with her knight.

"Well......"

He murmured to himself, like a chess player making the next move.

"O esteemed officials."

"Your first exam paper...... are you ready to receive it?"