novelraw Chapter 251: Just Take It
Chapter 251: Just Take It
Finished speaking.
Ye Hongyu turned around in quite a good mood, humming an unknown little tune, leisurely sipping her tea, completely dumping the entire room's workload onto the newly appointed "Secretary Wang."
Wang Mingyuan rubbed the spot on his forehead that had been flicked, watched his teacher's carefree departing back, then looked at the mountain of documents piled before him, ultimately only able to let out an even more helpless sigh.
Stuck with a teacher and superior like this, what could he do?
Endure it, that's what.
Wang Mingyuan began sorting the pile of "trivial matters" on the desk by urgency and importance.
As he organized, he shook his head with a bitter smile. "Teacher, you sure know how to slack off. Weren't all these things personally reviewed by you in previous years? Especially the reports on material consumption and personnel rotations from the various border fortresses..."
"Previous years were previous years. Now I have you, don't I?"
Ye Hongyu leaned lazily against the window, gazing out at the heavy night outside, and said offhandedly, "Besides, after that big fuss last time, the border has actually become much more stable. These reports look scary, but they're really just routine formalities. They're already much simpler than in previous years."
Mentioning "that big fuss last time,"Wang Mingyuan's hands, busy sorting files, paused. He gently set that particular report down. "Yes... the price for that stability... wasn't small either. If only that kid Su Zhan were still here..."
He lowered his head and continued organizing the documents, though his movements noticeably slowed.
Ye Hongyu also fell silent for a moment, letting out a soft sigh. "That kid... it truly is a pity. He should have had a bright future ahead of him. But venturing into the Mist World... sigh.
The Mist World... even I wouldn't dare venture deep into it lightly.
Let this matter rest, Mingyuan."
"I know, Teacher. It's just... occasionally thinking about it, I always feel... sigh."
Wang Mingyuan forced a smile, then seemed to suddenly remember something. "Speaking of which, Qin Bai got his wish. He's completely left the academy and been transferred back to the Aberrant Purge Division. I hear he's been rising pretty quickly over there."
"Hmph, who doesn't know his little schemes? At the academy, bound by rules and my presence, many of his methods couldn't be fully deployed."
Ye Hongyu's tone was disdainful. "A place like the Aberrant Purge Division suits him just fine. He can really stretch his legs and go all out there. Our paths differ;
we don't work together."
Wang Mingyuan didn't comment on that. "To each their own ambition. I just hope he... doesn't go too far."
The topic ended there.
Quietness returned to the office once more...
...
A certain branch of the Aberrant Purge Division.
The corridor lights were pale and cold.
The iron door of the interrogation room let out a dull sound as it was pushed open from the inside.
Qin Bai walked out at a measured pace. He unhurriedly removed the white gloves from his hands, which were stained with some grime, and casually tossed them into the nearby medical waste bin.
Through the not-yet-fully-closed door crack,
one could vaguely see inside the interrogation room. A figure was fastened to a specially designed torture rack, its original form no longer recognizable, only a blurry mass of flesh and mangled limbs visible.
Occasional unconscious twitches proved it was still a living thing.
But it was clearly no longer in its right mind, completely broken.
Outside the door.
Several subordinates wearing Aberrant Purge Division uniforms immediately stood at attention respectfully.
"Everything recorded?"
Qin Bai's voice was flat and devoid of waves.
The lead adjutant, his eyes holding a trace of awe, answered respectfully, "Reporting, Brother Qin. Everything's recorded. High-definition audio and video, guaranteed clarity. What he should have confessed, and what he shouldn't have, he said it all!"
Qin Bai nodded with satisfaction, carefully washing his hands with disinfectant from a nearby dispenser. "For these tight-lipped Aberrants, conventional methods are useless. You have to use something special to pry their mouths open, to dig out more of the rats hiding in the sewers."
The adjutant's face showed an expression of admiration. "You're absolutely right, Brother Qin! In the year since you came to our division, you've led us in cracking over a dozen major cases, smashing several Transcendence Society hideouts!
Our case clearance rate and efficiency here have increased by well over 200% compared to before!
The brothers all admire you to the point of prostrating themselves!"
The other team members nearby also nodded in agreement, their gazes burning as they looked at Qin Bai.
Qin Bai's highly efficient methods, in a place like the Aberrant Purge Division, had instead become a source of admiration.
Qin Bai casually waved his hand. "Enough with the pleasantries. That matter I asked you to investigate privately, any progress?"
The excitement on the adjutant's face immediately faded a bit, and he spoke carefully:
"Brother Qin... We used a fair amount of our authority, secretly screened all the records we could access of personnel returning from the fringes of Mist incidents, including some rumors from the black market...
But... we found absolutely no trace of that Su Zhan."
Qin Bai's expression didn't change, as if he wasn't surprised by this.
The adjutant hesitated for a moment, then added, "Brother Qin... I think... he's probably really dead.
After all... that's the Mist World we're talking about... No one has ever come out of there alive."
The other team members also nodded silently, agreeing with this view.
In their hearts, they were actually quite puzzled. They didn't understand why this highly accomplished superior of theirs was so fixated on a Vermilion Bird Academy student who had been dead for over a year.
They had checked Su Zhan's records. An SSS-grade Life Soul genius, his fall was indeed a pity, but... that was about it, right?
Could it be that Brother Qin had a very close personal relationship with this student?
Qin Bai was silent for a moment.
How could he not know this logic?
Venturing into the Mist World meant almost certain death. That was common knowledge.
But...
In all things, what if a miracle really did happen?
Not having personally pried open Su Zhan's mouth, not having exposed the secret hidden beneath that SSS-grade halo to his face, not having watched him completely break down, repent, and spit out all his accomplices...
This had become an obsession in Qin Bai's heart, an unfinished knot.
This feeling made him extremely uncomfortable.
Qin Bai could see his subordinates' perfunctory attitude and lack of understanding. He also knew that continuing to expend resources investigating a dead man seemed foolish and pointless to anyone.
Thinking of this,
Qin Bai said lightly, "Hmm, understood. From now on... just keep an eye out."
The adjutant felt as if pardoned from a great ordeal and quickly nodded. "Yes, Brother Qin! We'll keep an eye out!"
But in his heart, he knew this matter would most likely be shelved from now on.
Qin Bai said no more and turned to walk deeper down the corridor.
He knew they wouldn't truly take it to heart.
But he still felt unwilling deep down.
He hoped that kid named Su Zhan was still alive.
Only then would he have the chance to personally complete that unfinished interrogation.
To personally uncover a world-shaking secret of this world.
...
Daxia, Lincheng.
Lincheng Third Senior High School, during the break after the second afternoon class, Classroom 7 of the twelfth grade was somewhat noisy.
Some classmates were discussing the math problem from just now, others were planning weekend gatherings.
By the window,
sat a female student named Lin Wei.
She was indeed very beautiful, with fair skin, delicate features, and a neat ponytail. Even wearing the uniform blue-and-white school uniform couldn't hide her outstanding aura.
At the moment, she was slightly frowning, focused on a difficult physics problem on her desk.
Several boys stole glances at her from time to time.
Or deliberately spoke loudly trying to get her attention.
Another boy eagerly placed a drink he had just bought by her desk, only for her to politely but distantly push it back.
She seemed long accustomed to this kind of attention but didn't care much, her mind more focused on her studies.
But the sky outside the classroom darkened abruptly, without any warning.