This is what an immortal should be like

Chapter 207 The Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations of the Imperial Observatory
The importance of the Imperial Observatory was undoubtedly elevated, but not in the sense of the Observatory in name only; rather, a department that was not well known to the general public was added.

It's not accurate to say that a new department was added; in fact, it should be said that an old department that had been closed long ago was restored.

This department is the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations of the Imperial Observatory.

The staff of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations consists of three main parts.

The first part was selected from the original staff of the Imperial Observatory, mainly those who were proficient in the original work of the Imperial Observatory, were enthusiastic about learning the knowledge inherited from the original Imperial Observatory, and had a strong interest in ancient culture.

Such people were not uncommon in the original Imperial Observatory, after all, the atmosphere of the Imperial Observatory was quite different from that of many other national departments.

The second part, naturally, consists of nearly a hundred special experts and scholars who were invited to Kyoto after being thoroughly investigated because of the Xuan Tian Yi incident. There's not much to say about these people; almost every one of them is a big shot.

Moreover, it turns out that the two masters, Ban and Gong, who seemed to be amateur scientists with no higher education or research experience, were actually the real gems among them.

The third group of personnel is also quite simple: elite soldiers and officers are selected from the military, police, and other organizations to serve as both permanent and temporary staff within the department.

All members of the Bureau of Astronomical Observatory’s Bureau of Investigation automatically enjoy the minimum military rank of Second Lieutenant and the rank of First-Class Police Superintendent, and receive special state allowances, but must sign a confidentiality agreement.

The establishment of this department was clearly a landmark event, and everyone involved was aware of that.

However, not many people actually know that "the end of the world is approaching," and only the higher-ups in the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations know about it.

But all members of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations knew that this was a very broad special department established to target supernatural forces, which made many young people among the original staff of the military, police and the Imperial Observatory extremely excited.

However, there is also a painful side.
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, in a modern building next to the ancient building of the Kyoto Astronomical Bureau, which is now one of the headquarters buildings of the Bureau of Anomalies, a man with a buzz cut couldn't help but let out a painful complaint in an office.

"Oh my god, there's so much to learn! My head is about to explode, and to make matters worse, there are exams!"

The man's desk was covered with many documents and various labels, but what gave him a headache was not the documents, but the several books on the corner of the desk. They contained content that he was required to learn, or at least memorize. They were mostly knowledge that the Imperial Observatory had originally preserved, and were mostly related to metaphysics.

A man sitting at a desk next to another desk grinned.

"This is nothing, it's alright. Ask me if you don't understand. Sigh, I'm the one who's worried. Even if you're not good at it, you can just memorize it. I'm nearsighted."

The man pushed up his glasses and said helplessly.

"What am I going to do about my combat skills assessment?"

"You're really too skinny. Eat more and gain some weight, at least you'll be able to take a beating. In my experience, the more you get beaten up, the more you'll be able to beat people up too. Sigh! How about this? I'll give you extra lessons in combat and firearms, and you teach me all this gibberish?"

"By the way, how are you guys doing?"

The person at the desk across the way, who was flipping through documents, replied indifferently upon hearing this.

"It's alright. Let's hurry up and familiarize ourselves with our work. I have a feeling we're going to be very busy. I wonder when the Xuan Tian Yi will be used again."

The man's words also drew the attention of some people at nearby desks, who looked toward the center of the office, where a model of a celestial instrument was placed.

This model of the Xuan Tian Yi (a type of celestial instrument) is Master Ban's masterpiece. It is made of hardwood. When existing instruments could not accurately scan the Xuan Tian, ​​Master Ban used his naked eye and his own experience to create several small Xuan Tian Yi in a month, almost in a proportional scaling manner.

Of course, these are just models. Because the Xuan Tian Yi is too precious and is a credible metaphysical treasure, it cannot be disassembled. Therefore, Master Ban's model only resembles the Xuan Tian Yi.

Although it only resembles the original in appearance, it is impossible to replicate the internal, invisible structure. The replicas of the star ring and compass on the top are very accurate. The star ring and compass pointer can be rotated, and when only one star ring rotates, the other stars will automatically move their orbits according to the changed position of the stars.

Even though it's just a model, it still provides some convenience for studying the Xuan Tian Yi (a type of astronomical instrument).

The current employees of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations all know at least one thing: they will most likely deal with supernatural events in the future, or to be more precise, they will mainly be involved in the metaphysics of the ancient Great Yan Dynasty.

At this moment, new employees were being led in, up the stairs to the second floor, and past this office.

The people inside the office looked out through the glass partition, their faces filled with curiosity and excitement, just like when they first came to the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations.
-
The ancient building of the Imperial Observatory houses the offices of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations, which currently refers to the group of experts and scholars previously gathered.

Of course, security here has been greatly strengthened. There are guards inside the building, and there are also visible and hidden sentries outside the building. The level of defense is at the highest level.

However, that group of people each have their own jobs and identities. The Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations respects their lives and does not need to be stationed at the Bureau full-time. They can still shine in their respective fields, but they have an additional, more important job.

On the second floor of this ancient building, through the door you can see Xuan Tianyi's conference room. Duan Kang is presiding over a meeting. In addition to the people present, there are also people participating in the video conference on several display devices.

The Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations of the Imperial Observatory has only recently been restored, and many old archives have either been lost or poorly preserved and have decayed; much of the work is still being organized. Many affairs of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations are still rather chaotic, but some matters cannot be delayed.

For example, today is the first important meeting since the establishment of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and it is also an important meeting to establish the direction. There are relatively few participants, with only about thirty people at the main table and the side seats.

"Gentlemen, after this period of digestion, I think everyone has a certain understanding of the contents of the tortoise shell diagram. The problem now is that although the Bureau of Investigation has been established, our working direction has not been fully established. The leader also frequently inquires about this matter. Let's share our thoughts."

The people in the room included those with military and police backgrounds, as well as many experts and scholars. After Duan Kang finished speaking, everyone was deep in thought.

"The contents of that picture can be considered a prophecy of ancient immortals. According to the prophecy, the appearance of the tortoise shell picture will naturally reveal its mysteries!"

Someone spoke first, but someone immediately objected.

"Professor Lu, the message left by the ancient immortal was that the birth of the Xuan Turtle would reveal profound mysteries, so the Xuan Turtle itself is also a very important component. However, it is clear that the Xuan Turtle has long been dead. If it weren't for that storm that washed the tortoise shell out of the bottom of the Yangtze River, we don't know how many more years it would have taken us to find out about this!"

"The ancient immortal must have a backup plan!"

"What backup plan? Even the immortals in the tortoise shell diagram weren't sure. Clearly, they didn't leave any backup plan for future generations. Just as the tortoise shell diagram says, we, their descendants, must strive to be better!"

"What are you saying? At least our ancestors left us the tortoise shell diagrams, otherwise we wouldn't even know what happened if the world ended!"

Is there really an end of the world?

Originally, no one was talking, but now it was starting to sound like an argument, so Duan Kang had to speak up immediately.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing. The world may not end, but we don't have the right to gamble. It would be good if there was no end, but as the department responsible for dealing with this, we shouldn't discuss the other possibility. That's something for the normal development planning unit to handle!"

Everyone agreed with this statement, and no one argued about it anymore. But then an old man with gray hair spoke up.

"I agree with part of Professor Lu's statement; the ancient immortals must have had a backup plan!"

All eyes turned to that person, who gathered his thoughts and glanced at the crowd around him.

"First, we can confirm one thing: the Xuan Tian Yi activated itself first, and only then did the storm suddenly appear in the Jingzhou area. According to meteorological data, the storm appeared very suddenly and disappeared just as abruptly."

"Therefore, based on all the information available, it is reasonable to infer that the appearance of the Xuan Turtle Shell was not accidental, but must have been a contingency plan left by the ancient immortals. Of course, I also agree that the Xuan Turtle itself is very important, but obviously the Xuan Turtle has long since died, but the shell, as the most important carrier of information, has survived and maintained its mysterious power! Hmm, let's assume that this is the magic of immortals!"

The speaker is articulate and very logical.

"Consider this: if the immortal techniques on the tortoise shell can exist, then the claim that the ancient immortal's backup plan was ineffective is invalid. Also, there's the Xuan Tian Yi, a national first-class cultural relic. This treasure itself also possesses mysterious power, and its existence cannot be ruled out as being the work of an ancient immortal!"

Duan Kang thought for a moment and then added a sentence.

"The casting time and records of the Xuantianyi are still documented in ancient texts in the Imperial Observatory. This information is relatively clear, indicating that it was initiated by ancient emperors, at least on the surface."

The person who had just spoken nodded.

"But what I said still holds true, and the possibility that the emperor orchestrated the event while immortals were involved cannot be ruled out."

"During the transport of the Xuan Turtle Shell, the coordinates of the Xuan Tian Yi (a type of astronomical instrument) were almost constantly adjusted according to the position of the shell, which proves my point! My opinion is..."

The speaker thought for a moment and then said.

"Start with religious organizations across the country, and then extend to all religious traditions and sects. It would be best not to overlook folk sects as well, as they might have some information. Although it's a clumsy method like finding a needle in a haystack and may not be effective, we're at our wits' end, aren't we?"

Actually, many people present had thought about this, and now that it's been brought up, no one has much objection, but they feel that it probably won't have much effect.

After all, the Great Yan Dynasty has always been quite strict in this regard since entering the new era. They had already conducted thorough investigations and screenings. Moreover, the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations is not a truly new department. When it still existed, it mostly dealt with things like supernatural and mystical knowledge.

"You have a point, but it would be better to sort out all the old documents from the Bureau of Investigation first!"

"Then do it on both sides, what else?"

In the corner of the conference room, Master Ban, though present, did not offer any opinion. After all, a craftsman like him was not suited for decision-making, and he was happy to maintain this persona in the eyes of outsiders.

However, listening to the argument in the meeting room, Master Ban thought to himself that perhaps the work of the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations would still need to be "arranged" by Mr. Zi'an and his team.
(End of this chapter)