Chapter 64

Chapter 64

#Xia Ke’er Seriously Ill, Temporarily Leaves Stage#

#Xia Ke’er Announces Departure from Rainbow Raiment Dance Troupe#

#The Butterfly Lovers Pulled, Fans Mob Dance Troupe#

#Trash Rainbow Raiment Dance Troupe, Give Us Our Money Back!!!#

#Trash Xia Ke’er Played Her Fans, Give Us Our Money Back!!#

News about Xia Ke’er had completely taken over the entertainment section of social media.

The din was deafening. No one could tell how many factions were battling behind the scenes, nor which voices on social media belonged to real users, which came from competitors kicking the troupe while it was down, and which belonged to Logistics Department staff working overtime to calm the storm.

None of that commotion had anything to do with Xie Qingling anymore.

She gave it only a cursory glance, closed the app, and stretched.

Today was the last day of her seven-day vacation.

And on the final day of her vacation, she had to sit in the office and finish her self-criticism.

On that bright, sunny afternoon, Xie Qingling poured herself a cup of tea to settle and focus her mind. She sat beside the conference table, gnawing on the end of her pen and racking her brains over what to write.

Honestly, she felt this self-criticism was deeply unfair. Factually speaking, yes, she had indeed let Xia Tian go, but…

Ah, forget it.

There was no reasoning with a workaholic, especially when he was sleep-deprived and cranky from being woken.

Xie Qingling would simply consider herself unlucky enough to have wandered into the line of fire.

Still, Ling Fang had reminded her that she talked too much when she felt guilty.

She absolutely had to correct that habit.

After some thought, Xie Qingling put pen to paper.

In the past, she had written earnestly, word by word and sentence by sentence, keeping her pages neat while reflecting deeply on her mistakes.

Now, her handwriting was a scrawl and she wrote whatever nonsense came to mind, caring only that she finished. She had no idea what else she was supposed to reflect upon.

“To the Esteemed Director:

“First, I would like to express my utmost sincerity in reflecting upon my mistake.

“Of all the things I should never have done, I should never have touched that deity shrine, much less spoken to the fox. Even if that fox called out to me, I should have remembered that every word from a fox’s mouth is a lie. However, I also believe you should not have left it in the cabinet, where the fox found an opportunity to trap me inside the world of rules it constructed.

“Second, I request that you explain to me how to contact headquarters. I have several work-related matters to report to them. I believe the nature of our work requires reform. For example, department members should not be required to write self-criticisms – or at least, should not be required to write so many words.

“The process of reform may be painful, but the world changes by the moment. If we wish to keep pace with those changes, we must shoulder that pain, move with the times, continue innovating, and march forward with conviction. Great Director, I believe only someone of your wisdom can lead us through this pain of present hardship for future reward and guide us toward a brighter tomorrow. Below, allow me to offer several opinions on how reform should proceed. First, there remains the matter of self-criticisms…”

After filling page upon page over the entire afternoon, Xie Qingling finally finished her self-criticism.

Her talent for spouting nonsense had reached new heights.

Xie Qingling gave a small yawn, put away the self-criticism, and planned to hand it to Ling Fang when she returned to work the next day.

–

The next day, it was time for Xie Qingling to return to work.

The moment she came downstairs, she saw Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu sitting together and talking.

Hearing her footsteps on the stairs, both men looked up at her in unison, their gazes rather peculiar.

Curious, Xie Qingling asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Dai Xingyu chuckled. “We were praising you.”

“Praising me?”

“Mm.” Shen Huaizhou nodded. “You’re pretty impressive.”

Xie Qingling grew a little embarrassed. “It was nothing. I only did what I was supposed to…”

“We were saying you’re impressively good at causing trouble,” Shen Huaizhou said.

Xie Qingling fell silent.

She shook her head in denial. “That’s not true. I’m not that good at causing trouble.”

Shen Huaizhou studied her for several moments, then walked over and patted her shoulder. In a tone that might have been pleased or admiring, sympathetic or hopelessly outclassed, he said, “You’ve set a precedent in our department.”

“What?” Xie Qingling was even more confused. “Did my performance put so much pressure on the Director?”

Dai Xingyu waved a hand. “Nope. Our department received a complaint.”

“Huh? What does that have to do with me? Shouldn’t that be the Director’s problem?” Xie Qingling asked in return.

Dai Xingyu’s baby face broke into an adorable smile. “This isn’t an ordinary complaint. It was filed by the Logistics Department.”

Xie Qingling’s expression remained perfectly natural. “I’m only an intern. I spent all day yesterday writing a self-criticism. Whatever this complaint is about, it can’t have anything to do with me.”

Shen Huaizhou tilted his chin toward the small garden behind the office. “Anyway, the Logistics Department’s Administrative Director is already here, negotiating with our Director in the training room. If you’re interested, you can eavesdrop. We won’t report you.”
Xie Qingling had no words.

Why would they negotiate in the training room?

Wait. The Logistics Department… What Administrative Director?

Smiling, Dai Xingyu produced an earpiece from nowhere and handed it to Xie Qingling. “How could a negotiation in the training room escape the Groom’s ears?”

These two had clearly been eavesdropping from the start, yet they had still encouraged her to run over there and court death. They were awful.

Xie Qingling shot Shen Huaizhou a fierce glare, then accepted Dai Xingyu’s earpiece.

The moment she put it on, she heard Ling Fang say, “Every member of my department worked diligently and followed normal operating procedure. I see no problem that requires correction.”

A rich, low female voice soon replied, “…I won’t even mention that they demolished half a building. I’ll consider that a normal requirement of the job. Nor will I mention altering the city’s layout by tearing down an entire street. We can even handle erasing three years of Xia Ke’er’s memories. But…”

“Xia Ke’er isn’t an ordinary person. Her fame has spread far too widely over the past two years. She draws attention wherever she goes. The moment she appears, she becomes the center of a storm of discussion, and far too many people have crossed paths with her. To stop the endless questions, everyone in my department has become so good at inventing stories that we could practically go online and write web novels.”

“…I’ll write a self-criticism tomorrow.” That was Ling Fang’s voice.

“A self-criticism? Hah. I only want you to understand that the Logistics Department isn’t omnipotent.”

The woman said, “If this keeps happening, let’s switch jobs. You can take over Logistics, and I’ll go to Operations.”

Ling Fang said, “You might not pass our department’s assessment.”

There was a tremendous crash, as though something had been split in two, followed by the muffled sounds of a fight that were impossible to make out clearly.

After perhaps two or three minutes, the rapid whistle of wind from their blows finally ceased.

The woman said coldly, “Hand in your self-criticism tomorrow.”

Ling Fang said nothing.

Then came a rapid clack of footsteps.

The sound soon echoed through the first-floor lobby.

Dai Xingyu and Xie Qingling immediately pulled off their earpieces and hid them behind their backs, pretending to converse with their heads lowered.

Before long, a young woman in a black suit appeared in the lobby, her bearing classically refined and innocent.

She was not particularly tall, but her proportions were excellent. Her figure was elegant, and she possessed an ethereal, almost immortal air – provided she neither spoke nor moved.

Clack, clack, clack.

She strode as though she meant to crush every floorboard in the office beneath her heels.

Without glancing aside, she marched imperiously out of the office.

Only after she disappeared from view did Dai Xingyu adjust his stiff posture and quietly explain to Xie Qingling, “Her surname is Yang. Her name is Yang Liuqing. You do not want to cross her. Even the Director tries not to provoke her.”

Xie Qingling nodded. After what she had just heard and seen, she could have guessed as much without Dai Xingyu’s explanation.

Dai Xingyu continued, “She heads two departments by herself, so the pressure on her is enormous. She has to manage both logistics and administration. I hear that when she’s in a bad mood, even a dog passing by gets slapped a few times.”

Xie Qingling fell silent.

What had the dog done wrong?

Still, Xie Qingling understood.

She asked, “Future City seems to have a lot of supernatural incidents. Why are we so short-staffed? Can’t we recruit more people?”

Dai Xingyu was about to answer when Ling Fang emerged from the training room. Hearing Xie Qingling’s question, he said, “There weren’t this many before. The incidents only started increasing recently. The Logistics Department is already under tremendous pressure at the best of times. Now they’ve probably worked so much overtime they’re losing their minds, and they’re full of resentment. Don’t take it personally.”

“As for recruitment… There are actually quite a few Spirit Wielders, but very few are suited to this line of work.”

Not everyone could endure the loneliness of remaining in some unknown corner, doing work that would never see the light of day.

Nor did everyone possess the tremendous courage required to face strange, terrifying monsters without their knees weakening or their expression changing.

The Operations Department placed extremely high demands on a Spirit Wielder’s body and mind alike.

Taken together, those requirements were even harsher, leaving very few people capable of meeting them.

Some recruits entered the department but failed to endure the three-month internship and had to leave.

Ling Fang adjusted the black leather gloves on his hands. He appeared to have put himself back in order after the earlier “negotiation.” His voice turned cold. “Besides, recruiting certain pieces of trash only causes more trouble than leaving the posts empty.”

“Pieces of trash?” Xie Qingling paused.

“Spirit Wielders who possess abilities but use them only to commit crimes. I generally call them trash,” Ling Fang said coldly. “All team members will remain after work today for a department meeting.”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

The three people in the lobby answered in perfect unison.
–

Seven in the evening.

The sun had set, and the sky had darkened until no light remained.

Every member of the Future City Special Incident Response Department’s Operations Department sat around the conference table, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Ye Anran muttered under her breath, “Didn’t we just have a meeting? Why are we having another one?”

Her words earned her a single dagger-sharp glare from Ling Fang.

Ye Anran fell silent. Like Xie Qingling, she could only place both hands obediently on the table and sit like a good student.

Ling Fang cleared his throat. “Today’s meeting concerns three main matters.”

His gaze swept over everyone present before he said slowly, “First is the after-action summary for the Xia Ke’er incident. There was originally nothing more to say about it, since the case file has already been archived. What I need to discuss now is primarily the follow-up.”

“Through unknown means, Xie Qingling obtained the inner core that a fox spirit cultivated over a thousand years. Over the past few days, we have used that core to return the sick victims’ human vitality. Its cultivation power has been damaged in the process, but quite a few of the fox’s divine abilities remain.” Ling Fang glanced at Xie Qingling. “As for the bead’s final owner, I have decided to follow our system of rewards and penalties and give it to the person who deserves it.”

“Give me Bloodsworn,” Ling Fang said.

Although Xie Qingling did not understand why, she obediently handed Bloodsworn over.

“By regulation, this bead belongs to Xie Qingling. I will set it into her weapon, making it an item that belongs to her. Does anyone object?”

Yu Wei spoke first. “No objection. Xie made a major contribution to this operation.”

Shen Huaizhou said, “I have no objection either.”

Dai Xingyu and Ye Anran also said, “No objection.”

“Good. That settles the first matter. Now for the second.”

Ling Fang took a black box half the size of his palm from his coat pocket and pushed it across the table to Xie Qingling. “The second matter concerns granting a new member full status ahead of schedule.”

“In view of Intern Xie Qingling’s outstanding performance since joining the department, I submitted a request to our superiors for her to be made a full member. The request has been approved. Therefore, as of today, Xie Qingling is an official member of the Future City Special Incident Response Department.”

“Welcome to our newest member.” Ling Fang looked at her, his expression suddenly solemn. “Open it. Your badge is inside.”

“A badge?” Xie Qingling paused.

Ling Fang nodded. “Strictly speaking, this badge is a form of identification proving that you are an official employee. It represents your status as a qualified preserver of order. Every official employee has one, but we rarely wear them. We only need to produce them on certain occasions.”

The others nodded and took out their own badges as well.

With several light clinks, a handful of objects resembling gold coins appeared on the table.

Xie Qingling opened the black box and found a golden medal slightly larger than her thumb resting inside.

The badge was shaped like the sun. At its center was a symbol that resembled an eye without truly being one, while a halo of unknown material encircled its edge. It looked both beautiful and mysterious.

Xie Qingling asked, “Director, now that I’m an official employee, what improvements will I see in my compensation?”

“There are certainly some,” Ling Fang said. “Your monthly salary will rise from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand. Apart from that… with this identification, you may use any item within our organization free of charge or apply to the relevant departments for any assistance you require. You’ll understand the rest after you’ve been here longer.”

After hearing that, Xie Qingling murmured, “…I feel like the monthly salary is very high, but somehow doesn’t seem particularly useful.”

After all, if she could use everything for free, what use was money?

Ling Fang gave her a meaningful look and explained, “Because fundamentally, an employee’s monthly salary is not meant for the employee. It is meant for the employee’s family.”

Xie Qingling lowered her head. “I understand.”

That concluded the second matter.

One remained.

Ling Fang said, “Now for the final matter.”

“I have added another rule to the department’s code of conduct. Listen carefully: while carrying out a mission, no staff member may develop feelings for a demon, ghost, or god that cross the proper boundaries. Put simply, humans may not fall in love with demons, ghosts, or gods. Otherwise, the Logistics Department may start a civil war with us.”

Xie Qingling said nothing.

Shen Huaizhou said nothing.

Dai Xingyu said nothing.

Ye Anran said nothing.

Yu Wei said nothing.

“Everyone must keep this in mind at all times and obey it carefully,” Ling Fang said. “All right. Meeting dismissed.”