Chapter 30: Joint Investigation of Global Strange Events, Strategic Defense Attack and Logistics Support Bureau

Bang!

He opened the door.

His wife stood at the door like a devoted homemaker.

"Honey, you're back. Have you eaten yet? Would you like me to cook something for you?"

Fang Xiu ignored his charming wife, acting like an overworked office drone returning home late at night, using fatigue as an excuse to avoid fulfilling his marital duties.

He took a hot shower and then lay down on the bed to sleep.

Though he claimed to be sleeping, he was actually studying spirituality. He desperately wanted to grow stronger, as only by becoming stronger could he uncover the secrets of Qing Shan Mental Hospital, uncover the truth behind the strange occurrences, and then seek revenge on his wife, making the world's strange phenomena feel pain.

That night, he studied for half the night, but gained little. He knew almost nothing about spirituality, and all the information he had was from Wang Ziting's account, who in turn had heard it from his cousin, so the truly useful information was limited to a few sentences.

With no other option, he fell into a deep sleep.

...

...

Green Vine City Investigation Bureau.

This was a department that almost no ordinary people knew about. No one knew what it did, and no one knew where it was.

Despite being such a low-key and secretive department, it had a formidable reputation among the spirit masters of Green Vine City.

Because it was a special department tasked with guarding against the bizarre and protecting the safety of the entire city.

The Investigation Bureau, officially known as the Global Anomalous Events Joint Investigation Strategic Defense, Attack, and Logistics Support Bureau, is commonly referred to as the Investigation Bureau.

The headquarters of the Green Vine City Investigation Bureau, the conference center.

A group of people were seated around the conference table.

Among them were men and women, some dressed in formal attire, others in casual wear, and even a few in eccentric outfits. Each had their own unique characteristics, but the one thing they all shared was their youth—most were in their twenties or thirties.

The oldest among them is the middle-aged man in his forties sitting at the head of the table, dressed in a black suit, exuding an air of authority without needing to raise his voice.

"We are holding an emergency meeting. I assume everyone has heard the news. Five hours ago, an anomalous zone appeared at the Bai Liu Academy in the city's development zone. Currently, the anomalous zone is covering the sales office of the Bai Liu Academy, and there are no signs of it spreading further." The middle-aged man gets straight to the point.

The others had various expressions on their faces.

"There have been more and more strange incidents lately," someone said solemnly.

"Hehe, isn't that a good thing? For us spirit masters, the more strange incidents there are, the faster our strength will grow."

"Hmph, you're talking big. Be careful not to die at the hands of the strange."

"Do you want to fight?"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

The middle-aged man looked at the chaotic crowd, his expression unchanged.

Clearly, he was already accustomed to their style of handling matters.

The middle-aged man was named Wang Dehai, the director of the Green Vine City Investigation Bureau. However, he was not a Spirit Tamer but an ordinary person.

Yet this ordinary person was tasked with managing a group of Spirit Tamers.

Almost all city investigation bureaus were structured this way, as Spirit Tamers had an extremely high mortality rate. They were combat roles, not administrative ones, and no one wanted to waste resources by assigning Spirit Tamers to mundane administrative tasks.

Moreover, Spirit Masters, having been corrupted by mysterious forces, often have eccentric personalities, and some are even brutal.

For these reasons, Spirit Masters cannot serve as bureau chiefs.

However, there are captains among the Spirit Masters, who assist the bureau chief in management.

"Enough!" Wang Dehai slammed the table angrily. "Anyone who disregards meeting discipline will have their Spirit Master spiritual materials halved next month!"

With that, the entire meeting hall fell silent.

Clearly, all the Spirit Masters cared deeply about the so-called spiritual materials.

As Spirit Masters, they possess physical abilities surpassing ordinary humans and various powers beyond common sense. Such individuals can easily earn money, so their need for wealth is low.

However, spiritual materials are an absolute necessity for them, as they directly concern their very lives.

This was also the key reason the Investigation Bureau could recruit a large number of Spirit Masters. After all, few people work for the sake of love alone; to get Spirit Masters to risk their lives against the supernatural, sufficient incentives were necessary.

Seeing the hall had fallen silent, Wang Dehai composed himself.

"Xiao Lin, retrieve the surveillance footage from around the Bai Liu Academy."

"Yes, Director Wang."

A young woman dressed in secret arts attire, looking very capable and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, hurriedly began operating the computer, projecting the surveillance footage onto the screen in the meeting room.

Everyone looked at the screen, which displayed the surveillance footage around Bai Liu Academy, but not the internal surveillance.

To be precise, it wasn't that there was none; the internal surveillance seemed to have been corrupted by some strange force, causing all the surveillance equipment to malfunction.

The surveillance footage began to flicker.

A scene of the main road leading to Bai Liu Academy appeared.

The main road was empty, with only the trees on either side rustling in the wind.

"Fast forward," Wang Dehai ordered.

Secretary Xiao Lin began to fast forward.

"Stop."

The footage froze and began to play.

The next second, the air suddenly twisted in the main road on the screen, and two figures appeared out of thin air.

They were Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao.

"These two are survivors who managed to escape from the mysterious realm of Bai Liu Academy. The more handsome one is Fang Xiu, and the more scruffy one is Zhao Hao. They are both staff members at the sales office of Bai Liu Academy. Xiaolin, read out their profiles."

Xiao Lin immediately opened the folder in his hand and began reading.

"Fang Xiu, age 20, male, native of Green Vine City, orphan, graduated from.....

Zhao Hao.....

According to investigations, there is nothing particularly notable about their backgrounds. Before entering the Bai Liu Academy's mysterious realm, they were likely ordinary people."

"What do you think?" Wang Dehai asked.

A young man wearing a studded leather jacket sneered, "A mysterious realm where even ordinary people can survive? Its danger level is probably only D-class. For such a realm, just send anyone and it'll be handled."

"I don't agree. Look at the surveillance footage. That Fang Xiu is too calm. This isn't the expression of an ordinary person who survived the mysterious realm. There's no joy of surviving a catastrophe, nor any fear of encountering the bizarre. It's an abnormal calmness.

If he was an ordinary person before, he's likely become a spirit master within the mysterious realm now." A man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses countered.

The man in the studded jacket remained dismissive: "A haunted realm that even a new Spirit Master who has just awakened their spiritual abilities can survive is probably only C-level in danger. A haunted realm of this level could be handled by sending any seasoned Spirit Master."

"Never make assumptions about a mysterious realm you haven't experienced. Perhaps this mysterious realm is highly dangerous, and these two simply survived by sheer luck."

"A new spirit master who has just awakened their spiritual energy and had good luck managed to survive in this mysterious realm. The danger level is probably just..."

"Shut up!" Wang Dehai snapped, shouting directly at the studded jacket man.

He felt a headache coming on. He must have lost his mind to even consider discussing this with these people.

So he made a decision on the spot: "Shen Lingxue, Li Wenhao, the two of you go and investigate Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao. Find out if they have become spirit masters, their strength and weaknesses, the extent of their mental corruption, whether it is necessary to recruit them into the Investigation Bureau, and assess the danger level of the mysterious realm at Bai Liu Academy."

"Understood, Director Wang."

"Got it."