Work Overtime Together

A gentle knock sounded on the door. Qi Yuan was prepared and sat up in bed.

"Mmm..." He covered his forehead with one hand. Being woken up after just a few hours of sleep was unpleasant, especially since he had relied on memories from his clones to fall asleep quickly.

Under normal circumstances, he might have made an excuse to avoid getting up. But this time it was his own doing, so he had no choice but to drag himself out of bed for the meeting.

The door was knocked on again, and Qi Yuan suddenly realized he had forgotten to respond to his uncle outside.

"Just a moment, coming," he called out.

He pulled the door open and poked his head out, trying to appear nonchalant as he raised an eyebrow at his uncle.

Qi Yunzheng wore a serious expression. "Yu Anhe wants us to get to the Duty Bureau for a meeting right away," he said gravely.

"Understood."

The two of them got dressed and headed to the Duty Bureau together.

From a distance, they could see the building was brightly lit. It seemed all the support staff had returned to work overtime.

As the culprit behind this, Qi Yuan felt not a shred of guilt. If anything, everyone working late together made him feel better psychologically.

People hurrying past greeted them, and Qi Yuan nodded politely in return.

"You're different from how Yu Anhe and the others described you," his uncle said suddenly, causing Qi Yuan to glance over.

Though he knew his reputation wouldn't be great, he wondered what exactly they had said about him that made even a polite greeting seem out of character.

What kind of strange image had he become in his uncle's mind?

Noticing his nephew's gaze, Qi Yunzheng looked back at him. "What is it?"

His uncle's eyes briefly overlapped with his mother's in Qi Yuan's mind. He rubbed his forehead. "It's nothing."

He could let those badmouthing him behind his back off the hook for now, but Yu Anhe was another matter. Having heard that, he couldn't pretend he hadn't.

There weren't many people in the conference room. Even Yu Anhe's old partner Minister Cai was absent, likely back in his hometown for the New Year.

Yu Anhe wore an expression of pain. For someone his age, a bad night's sleep left his head throbbing.

People trickled in gradually. Hong Feiheng surveyed the room before entering, then plopped down in the seat next to Qi Yuan.

"Let's begin," Yu Anhe said, pressing his temples. "The situation is urgent, we can't stand on ceremony."

Su Ke nodded in acknowledgment, turning off the lights and powering on the projector.

During this process, some who hadn't received the intelligence briefing whispered among themselves.

"What happened?"

"Not sure..."

"It's not another monster about to level up, is it?"

Qi Yuan yawned, feeling exhausted. He was willing to declare his bed the world's most powerful sealing technique.

He had thought he would be too excited to sleep earlier, but in reality he was in a state of post-climax clarity, feeling utterly unmoved.

This demeanor did not escape Yu Anhe's notice, despite his physical discomfort.

Yu Anhe couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking to himself: "You've always managed to get the better of me, kid. Let's see if you can stay so calm after this!"

The thought of seeing the youngster's shocked expression made him chuckle quietly, which then pulled at his nerves, causing him to press his temples in pain.

Su Ke's hand shook as she held the presentation remote. Even now, it felt like she was in a dream.

Her voice trembled as it carried through the microphone to everyone's ears.

Some of those unaware felt their hearts sink. Had something major happened?

"We've received intelligence that just a few hours ago, the Three Bamboo monsters were eliminated by mysterious individuals."

The room erupted into chaos. Even those who knew in advance couldn't help but join the chorus of "Holy shit!"

The loudest voice, of course, belonged to the young and energetic Hong Feiheng. He sat bolt upright, his voice cracking as he exclaimed, "No way! Is that for real?"

Qi Yuan maintained his deadpan expression, allowing Hong Feiheng to whoop and holler beside him.

Only Yu Anhe, seated in the front row and watching them from the corner of his eye, was dumbfounded.

Good grief, not even a change in expression?

Are you even a young person anymore?!

His expectation of seeing Qi Yuan's face change had been dashed. He grumbled inwardly about how quickly the world was changing, with the new generation surpassing the old.

Despite his thoughts, Su Ke lacked the seniority to control the room, so Yu Anhe had to stand up and motion for everyone to be quiet.

Su Ke recounted the events from start to finish, then produced a document.

"The following is an analysis prepared by our intelligence staff. I'll start us off, and then everyone can freely share their thoughts based on the available information."

"First, regarding these two individuals' abilities, we speculate..."

Su Ke spoke at length while the others nodded along, the rustle of paper filling the air as they jotted down notes and ideas.

When Su Ke finished, someone immediately raised their hand.

"We don't have enough intel on the 'master' they mentioned to draw any conclusions. But regarding the organization, there's one piece of information that might be worth considering."

All eyes turned to the speaker as he walked to the front and adjusted the video playback, pausing on a particular frame.

It showed the old man and child with their backs to the camera.

Qi Yuan's heavy eyelids lifted slightly. Someone had noticed it so quickly.

"Look here, there are characters embroidered on their cloaks."

Under the camera's lens, the cloaks appeared as nearly solid black patches, making it difficult to discern any writing.

The man took a screenshot, adjusted the contrast using software, then used the mouse to outline the general shape.

The old man's cloak was embroidered with the character for "human," while the child's bore the character for "ghost."

The room buzzed with discussion as people quietly exchanged views, but ultimately no one stood to speak.

"Can we see what's embroidered on the woman who appears later?" Yu Anhe asked, narrowing his eyes.

"About that..." Su Ke began searching through the videos. The intelligence staff immediately located the original, unedited uploads that might reveal more information.

There were several dozen videos in total, not an overwhelming amount for them to review.

After going through them one by one, Su Ke reported regretfully, "There's no clear shot. It was too dark, and she was too far away when her back was to the crowd."

At that point, the old man had pushed the civilians away from the battlefield, and the woman had appeared directly in the center of the fight.

Later, when she spoke with the old man, she was facing the crowd.

Those filming were more interested in capturing what the woman looked like, so there was no footage of her back.

Yu Anhe nodded. "Have the tech team take a look later. Let's move on."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone stood up.

Qi Yuan looked up diagonally, his expression slightly surprised. It was Hong Feiheng!

The others in the room also looked at Hong Feiheng in astonishment. Everyone present at the meeting had interacted with Hong Feiheng to some degree.

Oblivious to the stares, Hong Feiheng walked to the front and paused the video on one of the frames showing the child and old man unleashing their domains to kill the monsters.

"Look here, their domains are different."

Most people in the conference room were non-combatants and couldn't discern the subtle differences between domains. Hearing Hong Feiheng's words, they looked questioningly towards Qi Yuan and Qi Yunzheng.

There were only three S-level or higher ability users present; the rest had gone home for the New Year and couldn't make it back in time. If those two didn't object, it would confirm Hong Feiheng's observation.