I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

The next day, at the bureau.

Lin Yan was a temporary worker and wasn't supposed to have to work regular hours.

The main reason I'm here today is because I still owe a 3,000-word report.

He had planned to come early to catch up, but as soon as he entered the underground office area, he realized that something was wrong.

There was no one at Sister Liu's workstation.

Old Chen, the bandaged hunk, stood next to the printer, whispering something to another young man Lin Yan had never seen before.

The young man held a cup of coffee in his hand, but didn't drink from it, as if he was engrossed in listening.

Lin Yan took a few steps inside.

"They're here."

I don't know who said it.

Several heads popped out from their workstations in the office area at the same time.

Just then, Sister Liu came out of the tea room, put her thermos on the table, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and looked him up and down.

"Xiao Lin."

"Good morning, Sister Liu." Lin Yan greeted her with a smile, but secretly felt uneasy.

"Come here."

He stopped and turned around.

Sister Liu walked around him for half a circle, her gaze sweeping from his face to his feet and then back again.

Old Chen, who was standing next to him, put down the paper that the printer had spat out and came over as well.

The young man who was serving the coffee took a sip when no one was looking.

"You said yesterday," Sister Liu said, "that you were going to have dinner."

"Um."

"Japanese food costing 4,000 yuan per person."

"Three times nine times nine," Lin Yan corrected, "one piece short."

"Okay, three nines nines."

"You took a woman to eat at a Japanese restaurant called 3999, encountered a ghost-level monster, and then killed the monster."

"It's not so much about killing him," Lin Yan thought for a moment, "it just so happens that we have the means to restrain him."

Sister Liu turned to look at Old Chen, raised her small hand and pointed at Lin Yan, then chuckled, "He said it's just right."

The young man who had been serving coffee finally put down his cup and interjected:

"When Brother Chen told me this, I thought he was still recovering from a work injury and had lost his mind due to the fever."

Lin Yan looked over and saw that the young man was probably in his early twenties, wearing a hoodie with the Rockstar logo printed on it, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had a wound on his arm that hadn't been stitched up yet.

He didn't know this person, but the way the other person looked at him reminded him of the first time he saw a panda up close.

"Who are you?"

"Group Two, Xiao Zhou." The young man moved closer to Old Chen.

"Brother Chen told me that a new guy came to Group Seven. On his first day of work, he got a free meal and then killed Weird by it."

"I'm telling you, that's bullshit. If a ghost-level weirdo can die from freeloading, then what are these twelve stitches I got?"

"It counts as a work-related injury," Lin Yan said.

Xiao Zhou paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Sister Liu and Old Chen held back for about a second before they also laughed.

"Alright, alright," Sister Liu waved her hand. "Old Zhao is waiting for you in his office."

"You should be careful. It's been so long since he sat in an office. This morning when I passed by the door, I saw him looking through the fieldwork regulations."

"Fieldwork regulations?" Lin Yan became alert.

"Hmm." Sister Liu picked up her thermos and took a sip, her tone meaningful. "Anyway, be careful."

Lin Yan nodded and walked through the workstation area toward Zhao Jianguo's office.

When I first arrived, Team Leader Zhao was sitting in the office area; I didn't expect he had a separate office.

When Su Qinghan passed by the seventh workstation, she had already started filming.

As he passed by, Su Qinghan suddenly muttered to herself:

"The archives sent a request for assistance to Captain Zhao; the fragments from last night are missing."

Lin Yan paused for a moment.

"Thanks for reminding me."

"It's not a reminder, it's an announcement." Su Qinghan zoomed in on the screen, "an announcement that you're about to be questioned."

Lin Yan knocked on the door of Zhao Jianguo's office.

"Enter."

The office was filled with the smell of smoke, and Zhao Jianguo sat behind his desk.

His prosthetic arm rested on the table, his fingers tapping the surface repeatedly.

An open copy of the "Field Work Regulations" lay on the table, next to a sheet of paper.

"Good morning, Captain Zhao."

Zhao Jianguo glanced at him, his gaze lingering on his face for two seconds before moving to his ear.

"Nice headphones, new ones?"

"A gift from a friend."

"What friend?"

"Female friends with bad tempers."

Zhao Jianguo didn't delve into the topic, as if it had just been a casual greeting.

He picked up the list on the table and pushed it forward.

"Deadly Shop Visit, Bizarre and Ghostly, Reward: 500,000 after tax, 200 points."

Lin Yan took the order.

"Five hundred thousand?" he asked instinctively.

I got the black card from Zhao Jianguo before dinner last night.

Unexpectedly, Saya was a wealthy woman, and she paid the bill herself.

Just a day earlier, all he had was about three thousand yuan.

"Don't think it's too little." Zhao Jianguo picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Ten years ago, a single order for a ghost-level monster would cost a million, but in recent years the number of bizarre monsters has increased several times, so the budget has been diluted."

"500,000 is quite a lot; it's enough for a down payment on an apartment in Jiangcheng."

He refilled the hot water and put the pipe in his mouth.

"Two hundred points. You can exchange points for items in the bureau's equipment warehouse, or you can exchange them for intelligence."

"We have an intelligence trading area on our forum, but you're a temporary worker now, so you probably don't have a forum account yet."

"I want to borrow Qinghan's account on the forum." He glanced at Lin Yan. "Don't write this in the report."

Lin Yan nodded. "Thank you, Captain Zhao."

"Come on, the 500,000 is the bureau's procedure, not my approval." Zhao Jianguo put his pipe in his mouth, still without lighting it, and just talked with it dangling from his lips.

"I need to talk to you about something else."

He opened the "Fieldwork Regulations" book on the table, turned to a certain page, pointed to it, and read aloud:

"Article 31 of Chapter VII of the Fieldwork Regulations."

"After a ghost-level or higher monster is eliminated, the complete chain of whereabouts of the rule fragments must be indicated in the case closure report."

"If the fragments are received by a third party, the recipient's encrypted registration number must be provided."

"If the fragments are lost, an on-site energy residue test report is required to prove the loss."

He closed the regulations.

"The archives issued a request for assistance this morning. The fragments from last night's desperate raid on the store are not at the scene, not in the containment facility, and not in anyone's encrypted records."

"You haven't opened the containment box; it's empty and hasn't been used yet."

He leaned back in his chair and looked at Lin Yan.

"So the archives department contacted me, and according to the accountability process, we first traced my direct supervisor."

"They want to know where the fragments went?"

"Yes." Zhao Jianguo nodded. "Let me give you a heads-up."

He took the pipe out of his mouth, placed it on the table, and glanced out the door.

"You've just arrived and already killed a Ghost-level monster. The department has more than just the data room watching you."

"Some are curious, some think you're lucky, and some think good luck is more alarming than strong ability."

"You've only been here for two days, your foundation is too weak. If there's even a small oversight in the process, someone could catch you and drag you down for six months."

He paused, as if considering his words.

"So regarding the fragments, I don't care how you actually handled them. You just need to make one thing clear: your answer should be something I can take responsibility for."