No strange things are allowed to evolve!

"You son of a bitch."

Bai Lian slowly raised her head.

Her hair was unkempt and all over her face.

Her bloodshot eyes, filled with resentment from working overtime all night, peeked out from between her hair, giving her a strangely Kayako-esque charm.

"You've been here all night?"

Jiang Shu sat down in his seat.

I wonder if Shen Mo assigned Jiang Shu to this position with the idea that good operators working next to each other would encourage mutual learning and progress.

In short, the two sat next to each other, so they were considered deskmates.

"I had dinner last night and came over. I've been writing reports until the early hours of the morning." Bai Lian grabbed her hair. "It's so hard to write, so incredibly hard! Every time I write a report, I think, 'If only writing reports were as easy as doing a task!'"

"What's so easy about it?" Jiang Shu laughed. "You didn't complete the task either, did you?"

"Even Consultant Liu couldn't do it, so it's normal that I can't finish it?" Bai Lian didn't seem to care.

If Consultant Liu hadn't been there yesterday, she might have genuinely doubted her own abilities.

But since Consultant Liu had no clue, she naturally didn't care.

It doesn't cause any stress at all.

“Speaking of which,” Jiang Shu asked tentatively, “don’t the evolved beings have any skills or items that can rewind time? For example, just stand there, activate it, and you can know what happened here a period of time ago.”

"Evolvers can only be considered superhumans at best, not gods."

Bai Lian looked at Jiang Shu speechlessly:

"And even if such a skill or item really existed, as far as I know, anything involving time and space would at least be at the catastrophic level, but that would only slightly affect reality. If it could really reverse time as you say, what level would that be? What kind of person could possess that?"

"Too."

Jiang Shu nodded.

He is the most qualified to speak on this point.

The Pocket Watch of the Dead is a calamity-level item that can only stop time for one second, and it has a one-day cooldown.

Judging from this, the kind of gadget in the book that can stop time in the entire world, or at least the school, to the point that the protagonist can have multiple orgasms, would probably be at least a natural disaster in reality.

Indeed, the protagonists in doujinshi and gag comics are the most invincible.

Standing up from her seat, Bai Lian picked up the report and said listlessly, "They should all be at work by now. Once I hand in the report, the task will be complete."

"What happens after that? Do you just stop investigating?" Jiang Shu asked.

"There's no way to investigate, so we'll just have to seal it for now."

Bai Lian answered instinctively, but then suddenly remembered that the victim was Jiang Shu's good friend, so she stopped and began to work on Jiang Shu's mindset:

"As I just said, even Consultant Liu couldn't find him. All we can do now is pray that he's safe and sound, and that the person who did this will contact his family."

Although it may be hard for you to accept, I think there's really nothing we can do about it.

"Evolved beings are different from ordinary people, but they also have limits. You should understand that, right?"

"Mm." Jiang Shu nodded.

Watching Bai Lian's departing figure, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Even the Bureau of Different Principles has tasks that cannot be completed and need to be sealed. Will your friend know this?

After sitting for a while, Jiang Shu got up and planned to go to the vending machine to buy some sweet drinks.

When you're feeling irritable, it's good to drink some sweet water, as the sugar can help relieve your mood.

But just as he walked up to the vending machine and scanned the QR code, his phone rang.

It is silence.

Tilting his head, with his phone tucked between his shoulder and head, Jiang Shu pulled the tab on a soda can: "What's wrong?"

"Are you at the station?" the person on the other end of the phone asked.

"Burp~" Jiang Shu burped after taking a sip of soda, and then replied, "I'm here."

"Come to the minister's office. Do you know the way?"

"I know, I'm coming."

"ASAP."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Shu, though confused, finished his soda in a few gulps, threw the can into the trash can, and hurried toward the minister's office.

When he pushed open the office door, he was surprised to find Bai Lian there as well.

She stood there somewhat at a loss, while the minister looked very serious.

Shen Mo, however, looked displeased: "It's just a missing person case. If Consultant Liu were really present, wouldn't it be easy to solve?"

"No, this situation is very special."

If it were just facing Shen Mo, Bai Lian could still retort, but in front of the minister, even she wouldn't dare to speak loudly.

"What's going on?" Jiang Shu, who had just entered the room, was a little confused.

Shen Mo explained to her, "Yesterday, Bai Lian took on a mission, but not only did she fail to complete it, her report was also terrible. The mission department sent it back to me and asked us to find someone else to handle it. Group Six has really lost face this time."

"How did the minister find out?" Jiang Shu asked curiously.

"She said that Consultant Liu was also present yesterday, so I thought I would come to find Consultant Liu to understand the situation and see what exactly happened. But Consultant Liu wasn't there. I ran into the minister in the hallway, and that's how the minister found out."

Shen Mo shrugged:

"The minister said that Consultant Liu left work very early yesterday and had no idea about this matter, so it was impossible for her to have been there. Then Bai Lian said that you were the one who brought her there, so he came to ask you about it."

Hearing Shen Mo's words, Jiang Shu felt something was off.

Shen Mo...when did he become so much like a villainous supporting character?

Hasn't he always trusted his subordinates?

Why don't you believe anything I say today?

At this moment, Bai Lian looked at Jiang Shu and said, "Can you help me explain? I can't write this in the report, so they don't believe me."

So Jiang Shu explained, "It was indeed I who brought Consultant Liu there, and this case is rather complicated, and Consultant Liu has no clue what to do."

"Really?" Shen Mo stared at Jiang Shu suspiciously.

Jiang Shu nodded.

The next second, Shen Mo said to Bai Lian, "Even if it's true, your work attitude is terrible. The misunderstanding is because your report was written so perfunctorily. What's inconvenient about it? A report should be based on the facts. Go back and reflect on it, understand?"

Bai Lian wanted to say something, but after glancing at the minister secretly, she could only lower her head and whisper, "I understand."

"Okay." Shen Mo nodded, looking extremely disappointed. "Go ahead."

Bai Lian felt as if she had been granted a pardon and fled the office as if she were escaping.

As soon as she left and the door closed, Shen Mo and the minister's expressions immediately relaxed.

At this point, Jiang Shu was almost certain that something was wrong inside.

He finally asked, "What exactly happened?"

"The mole you discovered last time has been found," Shen Mo said.

Jiang Shu was stunned, and immediately said with disappointment, "So it was Bai Lian! I didn't expect that she would actually get involved with me and even fool me. I was really blind."

"Uh..." Shen Mo said awkwardly, "It's not a white lotus."

"Then why are you deliberately avoiding her?" Jiang Shu asked.

"Because we can't let her know about the mole," Shen Mo explained. "The mole is in the mission department. He's the one who reported back to Bai Lian. He doesn't know he's been exposed yet, so the fewer people who know, the better."

Jiang Shu immediately understood the mystery: "Are you planning a Normandy landing?"

Seeing Jiang Shu's quick reaction, the minister's eyes showed admiration: "Although it won't cause such a big commotion, it is indeed intended to use him to infiltrate the rebels."

“That’s indeed a very good way to handle it.” Jiang Shu nodded, then asked, “So what is the real purpose of calling me here?”

"The mole specifically named you to take over."

Shen Mo squinted his eyes:

"To be precise, he provided a list of people who seemed capable of handling the matter, and you were eligible to be on it because of your merit in dealing with the strange rat incident last time."

The most crucial point is that while the list seems reasonable, everyone else except you is currently not in the bureau; they are either in the incubator or on field assignments.

So, you're actually the only choice.

Jiang Shu was taken aback, then realized what was going on.

I was wondering how my friend could make sure I could access those things; turns out this was what was waiting for me.

If they hadn't known that the person who named them was the mole, neither they nor Shen Mo, nor even the minister, would have taken it seriously and dismissed it as a mere coincidence.

Thinking of this, Jiang Shu was somewhat puzzled: "If that's the case, then you should also know that no matter what his purpose is, and no matter who initially accepted this task, it will eventually fall on my shoulders, right? Why are you treating Bai Lian like this?"

"On one hand, the main goal is to lull the mole into a false sense of security; on the other hand..."

Shen Mo sighed helplessly:

"We also wanted to take this opportunity to teach Bai Lian a lesson."

She is capable, but what's worse is that she knows she is capable, so as she takes on more and more missions from the mission department, her attitude becomes more and more perfunctory, and she even seems to be a little arrogant.

She only cares about whether she can complete the task, how to complete it, what the impact will be, and how to handle and clean up the mess afterwards. She doesn't care about any of that. If things continue like this, it will be very detrimental to her.

So since this happened, and it'll leave a deep impression on her, I might as well take this opportunity to give her a little nudge. I want to cultivate her into a well-rounded person who can stand on her own, not just the "task maniac" everyone talks about.

After hearing his words, Jiang Shu looked him up and down, marveling at him as if he were meeting him for the first time.

"I didn't expect you to be so perceptive."

"?"

Shen Mo gradually became expressionless.

Chapter 138 Illustrations

"What are you saying? What are you saying?!"

Enraged, Shen Mo pointed at Jiang Shu's nose and demanded:

"Don't you even respect me as your team leader anymore?!"

Before Jiang Shu could even speak, the minister said unhappily, "Alright, alright, stop yelling and shouting. Don't you even respect me as your minister?"

"Minister...you're on his side?!" Shen Mo's eyes widened in disbelief.

The minister simply shook his head: "It's not that I'm on his side, it's just that I think you were quite understanding this time, so I cooperated with you in this charade."

"It wasn't you..."

"Alright, that's enough for now." The minister waved his hand, stopping Shen Mo's protest, and then said, "Getting back to the point, Jiang Shu, you've already been there. Did you find anything? And do you have any clues about why he specifically asked you to take over this missing persons case?"

"Hmm... I didn't find anything." Jiang Shu shook his head: "I guess the reason I was asked to take over is just because the rebels know that he is my good friend, so they want me to know about it and show me their power."

"Are you using this to blackmail me?"

The minister pondered:

"However, so far there is no clear evidence to show who should be held responsible for this. If we didn't know the identity of the mole, we would be completely clueless right now."

"Perhaps they don't want to be exposed, so they're creating an unknown identity to force Jiang Shu to do something?" Shen Mo guessed.

"Maybe..." Jiang Shu was also thinking.

However, he wasn't thinking about that.

He's now certain that his friend disappeared on his own.

He was just wondering how his friend could be associated with rebels.

Was he originally one of the rebels, or did he have some connections to get the rebels to help him achieve his goals?

At this moment, the minister suddenly asked, "Then, why did Consultant Liu go with you?"

"I ran into her at the main entrance yesterday when I was leaving get off work," Jiang Shu replied, but he only said half of the story and did not explain the details.

Sure enough, the minister continued, "Did she bring it up herself?"