Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After everything that had happened in the span of a single night, Xie Qingling had assumed she wouldn’t sleep a wink.

To her surprise, once she returned to the dorm and settled Dong Jia in, she fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. She slept exceptionally well, without even dreaming.

Even Xie Qingling found her own adaptability and astonishing nerves absurd.

She rarely slept this long or this deeply.

The abundant sleep nourished her overtaxed body and taut nerves. It wasn’t until noon the next day that Xie Qingling slowly woke.

By then, everyone else was already eating lunch.

The first thing Xie Qingling did upon opening her eyes was look for Dong Jia.

Dong Jia was awake. Holding a boxed lunch, she sat pressed close to Jiang Lulu as the two of them looked over some document.

The aroma of food filled the air.

Hearing Xie Qingling stir, Jiang Lulu pointed to the boxed meal beside her without looking back. “There. That’s yours. We brought you one too. Come down and eat after you wash up. It’s almost cold.”

“I really don’t understand you two. I was the one who went to a dinner party yesterday, but you both slept like pigs – even longer than I did, and I was drunk. You little piggies would starve without your great and noble keeper.”

Dong Jia protested indignantly, “I didn’t get up that late! I woke up a whole hour before Qingling! You have no idea what happened to me last night – ”

Dong Jia’s voice abruptly cut off. A troubled expression crossed her face as though she were trying hard to remember something, but after only two seconds, she gave up.

“You have no idea how hard dance practice was last night. What’s wrong with sleeping in a little?” Dong Jia said.

She looked completely normal. In fact, the excellent sleep had left her full of energy, and her complaining voice rang with life.

Just as Ling Fang had said, everything that happened last night had vanished completely from Dong Jia’s memory.

Dong Jia took a bite of crispy fried pork and said indistinctly, “Still, it’s lucky the University Student Activity Center is closed for repairs for three days. Dance practice was canceled at the last minute, or I’d have been late. Thank goodness, thank goodness.”

“Wow, I actually lived to see this day? That shabby University Student Activity Center has been standing for who knows how many years, and they’re finally fixing it. I thought they wouldn’t get around to it until after we graduated.”

“Maybe the university finally grew a conscience.”

The two traded complaints back and forth.

Xie Qingling didn’t join the conversation, but understanding dawned inside her.

This was probably the so-called Logistics Department’s doing.

She had no idea how they had coordinated their story with the university, but the result was that everything had been concealed perfectly.

On the surface, all was calm, as though nothing had happened. No one on campus was discussing the incident at all.

To the other students, it was merely the university finally growing a conscience and repairing an aging building – nothing out of the ordinary.

Smelling the meat and listening to her roommates complain, Xie Qingling suddenly grinned foolishly.

She had never imagined that one day these boring, trivial moments of daily life would bring her such profound happiness.

When a person was living an ordinary life, it never seemed particularly precious. But now that Xie Qingling had one foot in that bizarre and fantastical world, even the most mundane routines had begun to look endearing.

At least she didn’t have to worry about dying for no reason.

Xie Qingling shook her head inwardly and stopped thinking about it. She quickly washed up and ate.

By then, both her body and mind had completely recovered.

Innate Spirits really were incredible.

Her formerly dislocated arm and cut palm barely troubled her anymore.

It was as though everything had been a dream.

At that moment, the ruby on Xie Qingling’s bracelet flashed red.

Sensing something, she opened the communicator and found a message from Ling Fang.

Codename Zero: Come see me.

An address was attached beneath it: 221 Central Street, Future City.

Future City was the urban center of Xie Qingling’s city. It had the best resources in healthcare, education, and nearly every other area, while transportation was convenient as well.

Xie Qingling calculated the travel time. If she left now, she should still be able to return today. She immediately replied, made an excuse, and headed out.

–

A small, three-story Western-style house stood on bustling Central Street.

It rested there quietly, old-fashioned and steeped in age. Against the noisy modern city around it, it looked strangely out of place.

If she remembered correctly, this solitary building was a historic structure left behind from some unknown year.

Xie Qingling and her classmates had passed it more than once. They had assumed it was some wealthy family’s ancestral property, or perhaps that it stood vacant.

She had never expected it to be the office of Ling Fang’s department.

A retro semicircular arch framed the entrance. A heavy black ebony door stood half open above three stone steps, with neither guard nor doorman in sight.

Two stone statues did stand on either side of the steps, however. Based on Xie Qingling’s meager knowledge of traditional mythology, they appeared to be qilin meant to protect the house.

Xie Qingling drew a deep breath, then went inside.

The first thing she saw after entering was a huge foyer screen. Designed like an ancient silk painting, it was old and slightly mottled with age, but the image remained clear: two snakes with their tails intertwined.

The screen blocked curious gazes from outside. Only after walking around it could she see the tall, brightly lit main hall.

One side of the hall was dominated by an enormous floor-to-ceiling window. Sunlight streamed through it and fell across a long conference table inside.
Ling Fang sat at the head of the conference table, watching her.

Xie Qingling drew a deep breath, walked over, and said, “Hello.”

“Please, sit.” Ling Fang rose and indicated the empty seat beside him, then sat back down after Xie Qingling took her place.

“Before you formally decide to join us, there are still a few things I need to make clear.”

Ling Fang’s expression was grave, his gaze carrying an oppressive weight. “You should understand that many things concerning our department must remain confidential. Sometimes we even have to use unconventional methods to restrict the spread of information and ensure the greatest possible safety.”

Xie Qingling nodded. “I understand.”

“No. It may be even more complicated than you imagine. Let me finish. The ‘safety’ I’m talking about doesn’t refer only to us, the operatives. It also means the safety of the general public.”

“Those beings ordinary people have difficulty perceiving feed on fear. Any negative emotion that takes root strengthens them. Humans are social creatures. A tiny stone dropped into a lake can still raise enormous ripples, and one individual’s fear can develop into a group’s fear. To keep order from collapsing into chaos, we curb their growth by cutting off information at its source.”

“Whether they feast on incense offerings or reap faith, ultimately those are merely ways of obtaining power. For certain things, fear and disaster serve the same purpose. If people don’t touch them, don’t learn about them, and remain completely unaware they exist, then ignorance brings freedom from fear – and people won’t provide them with nourishment. That’s why the Logistics Department helps cover our tracks after every operation. Confidentiality is important both to us and to everyone else.”

“Read these first. If you can accept them, then I’ll continue.” Ling Fang pushed two paper documents across the table to Xie Qingling.

Xie Qingling looked down. One was a nondisclosure agreement. The other was… a liability waiver.

Her eyes widened slightly, and her previously even breathing faltered for an instant.

As a forensic medicine student, Xie Qingling not only studied medical subjects, but also took supplementary law courses.

She could understand both contracts.

The nondisclosure agreement needed no explanation. The liability waiver alone gave Xie Qingling pause.

It stated that the department would bear no responsibility if Xie Qingling was injured or killed in the line of duty during her employment.

It did, however, also specify death benefits and compensation for her family.

The amount was high.

Xie Qingling said quietly, “Your standards for selecting personnel really are strict.”

Strict almost to the point of inhumanity.

They wanted her to sign away her life right from the start.

“I told you from the beginning that our standards were strict.” Ling Fang smiled helplessly. Rubbing his leather glove, he continued at an unhurried pace, “But don’t reject us just yet. Our conditions may be harsh, but the compensation is excellent. As an intern, your base salary alone will be fifty thousand a month. If you earn merit, there are additional rewards. We treat talent very, very well.”

Was fifty thousand a lot?

It certainly was.

In exchange for her life.

Xie Qingling could no longer weigh the value of one against the other.

She looked up at Ling Fang. “Where’s the pen?”

“…” Ling Fang hadn’t expected her to be so decisive. He froze. “You really are different.”

“What’s different about me?” The moment she got the pen, Xie Qingling signed her name with a rapid flourish, without another word.

Even if she didn’t sign this contract, wouldn’t she die sooner or later if she kept wandering around the mortal realm like this?

Simply by existing, she was an irresistible temptation to monsters that coveted her flesh and regarded her as food. Trouble would find her sooner or later.

If she was going to die either way, she might as well trade her life for money.

In all her years, Xie Qingling had never held more than five thousand at once. What reason did she have to refuse a monthly internship salary of fifty thousand?

Were Spirit Wielders powerful?

Spirit Wielders still had to eat!

Xie Qingling looked at him. “Can we continue?”

Ling Fang gathered her two contracts and looked them over before raising his head. “Yes. Sign the employment contract, and you’ll officially be one of our employees.”

“…Employment contract?”

“We’re a legal, compliant, properly regulated department on the official record, even if most people don’t know about us,” Ling Fang said. “You’ll start reporting for work tomorrow. Ye Anran will show you the procedures. Tomorrow counts as your first day, and after three months, you can become permanent if you pass the assessment.”

Xie Qingling stared at him in astonishment. “That soon?”

“Of course. We’re extremely short-staffed.” Ling Fang organized the documents as he spoke. “Including you, our intern, and me, the entire department has six people in this city. The others are all out on assignments right now.”

Xie Qingling: “…”

Six people.

So few.

She suddenly felt as if she’d been suckered into something she couldn’t get out of.

Xie Qingling could practically see the endless overtime and sunless days awaiting her.

After putting away Xie Qingling’s contracts, Ling Fang took a thumb-sized glass bottle from his pocket.

Inside was a silvery-white substance. It looked somewhat like powder, yet flowed like liquid.

The tiny bottle sat on the table. Sunlight refracted through the window and fell across the silver liquid, making it release a halo that seemed not to belong in the mortal realm.

It shimmered with flowing color, dazzling and dreamlike.

He placed the bottle before Xie Qingling. “All right. Next, I’ll tell you how to obtain a divine blessing.”