Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Ling Fang’s decision was final.

Lu Ying was down for the count.

Xie Qingling thoughtfully reminded her, “I have plenty of pen refills. If yours runs dry, come ask me for one.”

Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze and soft rain. Lu Ying nearly burst into tears at the sound of it.

For the next few days, whenever they had no field assignments, Lu Ying and Yao Qiang sat at the conference table miserably copying out the Department’s work regulations.

They had assumed copying the regulations would be much easier than writing a twenty-thousand-word self-criticism. Only after they began did they discover that ten copies of the regulations were hardly short.

Each copy ran to four thousand words, meaning they had to write a full forty thousand in all.

Lu Ying and Yao Qiang could no longer tell whether every department had regulations this long or whether Future City alone was like this.

Among the thousands of words, some rules were so absurd that they defied belief.

For example, the final one:

While carrying out a mission, Department members must not develop any feelings that cross established boundaries with demons, ghosts, or gods.

When they reached this rule, Yao Qiang kept starting to speak and then stopping, only to look up at Lu Ying from time to time as though he had something to say. Lu Ying was already irritable from being punished with a self-criticism, and his behavior only made it worse. She stopped writing and glared at him. “Spit it out.”

Her tone was anything but friendly.

Yao Qiang jumped and held the work regulations out to her. “Look at this one.”

“While carrying out a mission, Department members must not develop any feelings that cross established boundaries with demons, ghosts, or gods,” Yao Qiang read aloud, word by word. Then he said, “Don’t you think this rule is ridiculous? It makes me feel less like I’ve taken a job and more like I’ve ascended to the celestial court and joined the ranks of immortals. This sounds exactly like a law of heaven.”

Lu Ying fell silent. She glanced at Yao Qiang, then nodded slowly.

He did not look like much of a talker, yet he knew quite a bit about that other world. He even knew about the celestial court.

It was a remarkably apt comparison.

Forbidding romances between humans and demons, humans and ghosts, and humans and gods? What kind of antiquated attitude toward love was that?!

Lu Ying’s expression brightened considerably. Mostly, her desire for gossip had diluted her irritation at writing the self-criticism. She speculated, “Generally speaking, every outrageously absurd rule has an outrageously absurd story behind it.”

Yao Qiang nodded hard in wholehearted agreement. “Exactly. There’s a story. There has to be.”

“My guess is Brother Shen. One look at him, and you know he has stories to tell. Big Sis Qingling is so cautious that it definitely has nothing to do with her,” Yao Qiang reasoned.

Lu Ying did not commit either way, but in the interest of fairness, she said, “It could be someone else. Enough talking. Get back to copying.”

Yao Qiang said, “Oh,” and bent over the table again. Yet he could not suppress his curiosity. He furtively leaned his head toward Lu Ying and whispered, “Why don’t you ask around?”

“If you want to know, ask around yourself.” Lu Ying rolled her eyes at him. “Writing one self-criticism is exhausting enough. If I get assigned another one for being nosy and gossiping, that would be too unfair.”

“You’re honestly not curious?” Yao Qiang coaxed. “Maybe more than one person has a story. Maybe there are several.”

Lu Ying: “…”

“I’m really not curious!” Lu Ying ground out through clenched teeth, never raising her eyes as she wrote furiously.

After two or three miserable days, they finally completed the task Ling Fang had assigned. They submitted their self-criticisms, then stood to one side and waited for the lecture.

Ling Fang carefully reviewed their self-criticisms and said approvingly, “You’ve reflected well. You knew to look for the problem in yourselves.”

Did that mean someone had once dared to write a self-criticism without looking for the problem in themselves?

How bold!

Ling Fang continued, “You just joined the Department, so making mistakes is normal. But you must remember never to repeat a mistake once you’ve made it. And no matter the circumstances, never play the reckless hero. Better safe than sorry. You must never gamble with your life or your teammates’ lives.”

He rambled on until even his own mouth felt dry before finally waving them away. Lu Ying, however, remained where she was, looking as though she had something to say.

Ling Fang asked, “Is there something else?”

In the end, her hunger for gossip overcame her fear. Lu Ying summoned her courage and asked, “Director, about the last item in the Department’s work regulations…”

“Did someone in our Department have a romance that crossed species? Is that why this rule was created?”

Yao Qiang, who had been about to leave, immediately stopped. He lowered his head again, pretending that he was still listening earnestly to the lecture, but his downcast eyes shone with avid curiosity.

Ling Fang glanced at Lu Ying and shook his head. “No.”

“I merely foresaw the possibility and decided to nip it in the bud.”

“…”

“…”

Their Director’s thoroughness was terrifying.

At the thought of those densely packed work regulations, Lu Ying’s scalp prickled again.

She never wanted to copy the regulations or write another self-criticism for the rest of her life.

All her youthful, devil-may-care bravado had been completely ground away by days and nights of copying her punishment.

“Goodbye, Director.” With no gossip to be had, the boss’s office was no place to linger. Lu Ying and Yao Qiang fled.
Ling Fang watched them flee as though escaping a disaster, his mind considerably more at ease.

The new members might be rash, but they were clearly easier to discipline. One self-criticism was enough to make them correct their behavior. They were not the sort of troublemakers who said, “I understand, and I’m sorry, but I’ll do it again next time.” At least they would not give him another headache.

Over the following month, none of the newcomers had to write another self-criticism.

They familiarized themselves with the work environment and procedures quickly. After one month, they no longer needed veteran members to accompany them on patrol and could complete assignments independently.

These people had been specially selected by headquarters to fight the Eleventh Realm, and they were exceptional learners to begin with. They had not made any mistakes in their evaluations either. Every one of them had been thoroughly vetted.

Barring any accidents, once their three-month assessment period ended, they could pass probation and formally join the Department as full members.

Xie Qingling felt the burden on her shoulders lighten and began reconsidering moving out of the office.

She had stayed before because she was the Department’s only resident, and living in the lounge had felt no different from living alone. Now that there were more people, she could not help feeling somewhat constrained.

But Li Tiantian’s cooking made Xie Qingling deeply reluctant to leave.

Li Tiantian’s arrival knocked Shen Huaizhou out of first place in the Department’s cooking rankings. Not only was she steady and reliable, she was such a superb cook that people wanted to fall to their knees in worship. Xie Qingling, who had lived on steamed buns every day, finally felt she was living like a human being.

Today’s menu was sweet-and-sour pork ribs, stir-fried choy sum, and tomato-and-egg soup. Apart from the ribs, the other two dishes were fairly simple, and Li Tiantian finished them in no time.

The moment she called, “Dinner’s ready,” Xie Qingling rushed eagerly into the kitchen to help carry the food out.

There were only three dishes, but the portions were generous. Six people had to eat, after all, so the quantity was substantial.

As she ate the fragrant, slightly sweet rice, Xie Qingling asked, “Tiantian, how did you become such a good cook? This is delicious! Before you arrived, we practically never used the stove.”

“I learned in the dormitory kitchen at headquarters,” Li Tiantian said.

“You have time to cook at headquarters? Work here already keeps us so busy that there’s hardly any time to make meals.”

“Mm. Future City is a little busier than headquarters,” Li Tiantian said, leaving Xie Qingling puzzled.

Xie Qingling stopped moving her chopsticks. “What kind of place is headquarters, exactly? From the sound of it, shouldn’t there be a lot of special incidents there too?”

Li Tiantian stopped smiling.

She ladled Xie Qingling a bowl of soup. “Spar with me after this.”

“All right.”

Xie Qingling picked up her bowl and quickly finished dinner.

After putting away the dishes, she and Li Tiantian went to the courtyard.

Sparring was merely a pretext. What they really wanted was somewhere else to talk.

Some matters were better kept from the other four, who were still interns. Li Tiantian had her reservations, and Xie Qingling understood them.

The two stood facing each other in the training room converted from the small garden.

“Are you very curious about headquarters?” Li Tiantian asked.

“I wouldn’t say very curious. All right…” Xie Qingling admitted honestly. “I am pretty curious.”

“If you’re curious, you can apply to transfer there yourself.”

“Hm? We can apply on our own?”

Li Tiantian gave her a long look. “It seems Director Ling never mentioned it to you.”

“Though I can understand why.”

“Director Ling probably doesn’t want you going to headquarters so soon. That place, after all…” Seeing the surprise in Xie Qingling’s eyes and realizing she knew nothing about the Old Royal City, Li Tiantian paused before explaining, “is the only city with a Level Five danger rating.”

Level Five. It had to be extremely dangerous… Xie Qingling thought.

Li Tiantian continued, “If you want to go, you can submit an application yourself.”

“And an application is all it takes?” If there were no barriers at all, wouldn’t that make getting into headquarters absurdly easy?

Li Tiantian laughed. “Others can’t, but if it’s you – of course you can.”

“Headquarters has a ranking. No, to be precise, there are two: the Rookie Ranking and the Points Ranking.”

“Anyone with less than a year of service can enter the Rookie Ranking, while everyone is eligible for the Points Ranking. Both are ordered by points. Those points come from the evaluation you receive after every mission. You’ve been here for less than a year, yet you’ve killed numerous ghosts and monsters, dealt with a half-immortal, killed a deity, and personally executed Tang Tian under a kill order issued by headquarters.”

“You’re ranked first on the Rookie Ranking.” Li Tiantian made no attempt to hide the admiration and respect in her gaze. “In fact, I already knew about you when I received the order transferring me to Future City.”

Xie Qingling froze.

She had not even known such a ranking existed.

“Anyone in the top ten of the Rookie Ranking can apply for a transfer to headquarters after completing one year of service.”

“The gap between your points and second place is enormous. With your strength, even if you applied now, headquarters would approve your transfer immediately.”

“The decision whether to go is yours.” Li Tiantian looked at Xie Qingling. “So, do you want to?”