Then let the witch offer her loyalty

Upon opening the door and going inside, I saw that Dong Xiaobai was indeed not asleep and was guarding the living room alone.

The burning fireplace radiated warmth, and the firewood crackled softly. The maid sat quietly in a chair, her black skirt flowing like ink in the firelight, creating a scene of beauty reminiscent of an oil painting.

That's how Dong Xiaobai is. Unless Chen Moxin tells her in advance that he won't be coming home tonight, she will sit in the living room like this and wait until the young master returns safely.

In terms of life experience and personality, Dong Xiaobai and Luo Lingyou can be described as two extremes.

Luo Lingyou was born and raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her personality is unpredictable, and sometimes she is particularly beautiful, like a mysterious white cat.

Dong Xiaobai, on the other hand, was abandoned by her parents when she was a child and had nothing until she met Chen Moxin, when she finally had her first real home.

For Dong Xiaobai, her world is very small and very simple. She only cares about her family and her family members. As long as they are doing well, she has no other desires.

With her loyal character, tall and proud figure, and long, straight black hair, Chen Moxin often felt that she was just like a well-behaved and sensible big black dog.

Upon seeing Chen Moxin return home, Dong Xiaobai quickly stood up.

Her dark eyes clearly showed fatigue, but she still mustered her spirits and asked with concern, "Are you hungry so late? I'll go make you some late-night snacks."

Just as Chen Moxin was about to say something, her gaze suddenly fixed on him: "What happened to your hand?"

There were some bruises on Dong Xiaobai's hands, which were very noticeable on her fair skin.

Dong Xiaobai instinctively tried to cover it up, but both hands had bruises that she couldn't hide no matter what she did, so she could only hide her hands behind her back.

"It's nothing, it's from training."

The training Dong Xiaobai was referring to was naturally the military training arranged by Chen Moxin.

Old Chen didn't mince words on this matter, spending a lot of money to hire a former female instructor from the National Defense Army's special forces.

The female instructor was very strict while teaching everyone she knew. She was not lenient with even those brought by the patron. She taught them exactly how to train and punished them as required.

Dong Xiaobai probably had bruises not only on her hands, but also on her body, though they were covered by her maid's long dress.

"I'm actually a bit hungry. Let's get something to eat, and you can have some too."

"Okay, what would you like to eat? I'll make it."

"No need, I'll do it."

"Huh? This...this won't do..."

"What, you don't like my cooking?"

"No, no...that's not what I meant..."

"That's settled then! Let's switch things up today. I'll cook, and you just wait to eat!"

Chen Moxin didn't give Dong Xiaobai a chance to take over the work, and went to the kitchen on her own, locking the door behind her.

About twenty minutes later, Chen Moxin came out carrying two bowls of seafood porridge.

The white rice porridge, resembling pearls, is mixed with shrimp, clams, sea cucumber, and other ingredients, creating a translucent appearance and emitting a rich aroma.

"It smells so good." Dong Xiaobai smiled sweetly.

"How was my cooking?" Chen Moxin scooped up a spoonful of porridge with shrimp, gently blew away the steam, and then handed it to Dong Xiaobai. "You have an injury on your hand, so I'll feed you."

"Hmm..." Dong Xiaobai was at a loss for words.

As a maid in the household, it was already quite presumptuous of her to have the young master cook for her.

Now that she was being fed by the other person, she didn't dare to open her mouth.

"Hurry up, hurry up, the porridge is dripping onto my hands."

Dong Xiaobai quickly opened her mouth, carefully held the spoon in her mouth, and swallowed the mouthful of porridge.

Chen Moxin fed him spoonful by spoonful, and Dong Xiaobai ate spoonful by spoonful.

After a while, whether he heard a noise or smelled the aroma of seafood porridge, Chen Wenzhe, wearing a bathrobe, came downstairs.

Seeing that Dong Xiaobai looked flustered and wanted to stand up, Chen Wenzhe gestured for her to sit down and said softly, "It's okay, you can continue eating."

He walked to the table and looked at the two bowls of brightly colored seafood porridge, then looked at Chen Moxin with some surprise.

"You did it?"

"uh-huh."

"When did you learn to cook?"

"What? In your eyes, I'm just a good-for-nothing who's all talk and no action and can't even cook, right?"

"do not you?"

Chen Moxin was speechless, too lazy to pay attention to Old Chen, and continued to feed Dong Xiaobai porridge.

Chen Wenzhe seemed preoccupied. He sat down in a chair, sighed, and said in a deep voice, "It's good that you're back. Let's talk about your work."

“I used to think that someone as upright and inflexible as you was not suited for a government job, and that you would only run into trouble. But now I see that I was wrong.”

"Since you have the ambition and the ability, I won't say anything more. Just like you said, you're all grown up now, I don't need to manage you like I did when you were a child, just let you be."

Chen Moxin nodded.

Old Chen has finally figured it out; it seems he won't cause trouble for himself anymore.

As he spoke, Chen Wenzhe suddenly changed the subject, his face hardening as he said, "You can join the Bureau, but there's one thing that's non-negotiable: you can only work as an office clerk, and you're absolutely not allowed to stay in the Special Investigation Division as a field agent."

Old Chen must have been terrified by what happened last time, fearing that if his son continued doing this fieldwork job, something might happen and the family line would end.

Chen Moxin quickly replied, "No problem, I will definitely leave the Special Investigation Department."

"Really?" Chen Wenzhe felt something was off because Chen Moxin agreed so readily.

"Really," Chen Moxin said confidently, "If I continue to stay in the Special Investigations Division as a field agent, may God strike me dead with lightning!"

He definitely won't stay in the Special Investigations Unit.

Because he's preparing to become a witch hunter.

The witch hunter belongs to the "Demon Hunting Division 9" and is not a member of the "Special Investigation Division 7" at all.

Old Chen had no idea that his son had played a word game and fooled him, and he was even somewhat amused by it.

"Oh dear, our son has grown up quite a bit. We haven't even had a proper celebration for your promotion yet."

He had a sudden inspiration and pointed upwards: "Hey! I'll get you a bowl of noodles, try Old Chen's Beef Noodles!"

Chen Moxin: "Okay, don't add chopped green onions."

Chapter 45 Mad Imagination

After a seven-working-day public announcement period, no abnormalities were found, which means that the Twin Cities Witches Management Bureau's annual assessment for conversion from non-staff to permanent staff has successfully concluded.

Regarding Cao Jiande's case, the Administration Bureau and the Trial Court issued an internal notice, pointing out that he had repeatedly accepted money and property to seek improper benefits, and ultimately determined that his death was a suicide out of fear of punishment.

This result is exactly as Chen Moxin had predicted.

On one hand, Cao Jiande's death was a scheme he set up using psychic energy, and with the help of the talent [Suppression of Madness], he left no trace, completely exceeding the current understanding of the Tribunal.

No matter how the judges investigate, suicide out of fear of punishment is the only reasonable answer.

On the other hand, this outcome is in the interests of all parties.

As the director of the personnel office, it's impossible to say that Cao Jiande was entirely acting for his own benefit.

He was in charge of the annual assessment for promoting non-permanent staff to permanent positions. Leaders of other departments who wanted to give preferential treatment to their own people had to go through him.

It could be said that Cao Jiande was a front man, doing things for his superiors while being tacitly allowed to make a few extra bucks for himself.

But gloves are gloves after all.

Once gloves get dirty or torn, they have to be thrown away.

If we really want to dig deeper into Cao Jiande's case, who knows how many people will be implicated?

This is something that some high-ranking officials in the Administration Bureau are unwilling to see, and the court does not want to do things this way either.

Cao Jiande's "suicide out of fear of punishment" resolved this deadlock.

With the person gone and no one able to testify, the case ended with Cao Jiande's decisive action, and everything came to a close.

Therefore, the conclusion that he committed suicide out of fear of punishment is perfect. It can give everyone an explanation, and it also gives the management bureau and the court a way out.

What Chen Moxin did was to facilitate this.

As for the Wu family, with Chen Moxin's spiritual power, she could actually replicate Cao Jiande's death on them.

But he didn't do that.

One death is better for everyone.

If a whole group dies, then you're forcing others to investigate.

It's not necessary.

On Wednesday morning, Chen Moxin went through the process, signed the contract and related confidentiality agreements, and officially became a full-time operative.

In the afternoon, the bureau organized a routine welcome meeting for the 12 new staff members, with Deputy Director Qian Ming as the main speaker.

In most people's minds, welcome meetings are usually lively—tea and snacks are laid out on the table, bright red banners are hung on the walls, and leaders and new employees chat and laugh, showing their friendliness.

But the management bureau's welcome meeting was different; there was no tea or snacks, no banners, and no smiles.

The main lights in the welcome meeting room were off, only the light from the large screen shone through. Qian Ming, dressed in his uniform, sat on the stage with a serious expression, scrutinizing the 12 new agents who were wearing their official uniforms for the first time. The atmosphere was solemn and dignified.

"Comrades, I am very pleased to see that you have passed the test and officially become members of our bureau."

“I should congratulate everyone here, but I don’t want to, because I don’t think it’s something to celebrate.”

"In many people's minds, the Bureau's agents have great power and high salaries, making it a dream job for everyone."

"But before actually encountering those unknown and insane dangers, few people realize what we are really facing."

At this point, Qian Ming pressed the remote control in his hand, and the large screen behind him began to load images.

"As everyone knows, the control of psychic energy and the fight against madness are the basic national policies of the Rose Empire. The Administration was established for this purpose, specifically to house witches who have awakened psychic energy."

"But do you really understand Kuangyi?"

"You have probably all heard some arguments that the Bureau's containment of witches is a violation of human rights and a restriction of civil liberties."

"Countries around the world have long since relaxed their control over psionic energy, but our empire is still making a mountain out of a molehill and going against the grain of the rest of the world."

"As for madness, it's not as terrible as people say. Its harm has been deliberately exaggerated by our government in order to ensure the official authority."

“These ideas are prevalent within the empire, and I would even venture to say that some of you probably think the same way.”

"In that case, let's see the true face of 'Mad Imagination'."

Soon, the first video appeared on the screen.

Judging from the distance, the photographer was only a dozen meters away from the scene of the incident, and was hiding behind a flower bed to take the photos. His slightly fearful breathing could be clearly heard.

The incident occurred on a street where dozens of people were engaged in a brawl.

At first glance, it was just a regular brawl.

But as the camera focused, the details were quickly revealed.

Those people had thorn-like black marks around their eyes, as if they had been eroded by something. They had twisted smiles on their faces, their muscles bulged out, their blood vessels stretched along their skin like twisted vines, and their bones and joints showed varying degrees of deformity.

These deformed individuals surrounded some normal people and were brutally and bloodily beating them.

What he was wielding was not a knife, spear, or club.

Instead, they are different parts of the human body.

These deformed individuals would tear off the legs or arms of their victims, use these limbs as weapons, and frantically beat the victims who lay screaming in pools of blood, while emitting all sorts of manic, excited, and filthy laughter.

"Scream! Scream louder!!!"

"Hahaha! I love watching you struggle!"

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I'll fuck you to death, I'm going to hang you up and fuck your OO!"

As the group of lunatics in the video laughed loudly, Qian Ming's voice slowly rang out: "Once a witch overuses her spiritual energy, and the erosion within her body exceeds a critical point, she will unleash what we call 'madness,' forming a spiritual force field around her called 'death domain.'"

"The Dead Zone amplifies extreme human emotions to an extreme, turning them into bloodthirsty and lustful beings. Thorn-like black marks appear around their eyes, and their bodies undergo varying degrees of distortion, ultimately transforming them into the madmen you see in the videos—what we call 'Dead Apostles.'"

“Dead Apostles are different from the mindless zombies in movies. They still have complete consciousness and intelligence and can speak, communicate and think normally.”

"This means that every Dead Apostle is a killing machine with amplified physical strength, the ability to think, and a mind solely focused on inflicting pain."