Chapter 16: Go On, Show Me How Rude You Can Be

A blue road sign, eroded by wind and sand, stood beside a fork in the abandoned highway.

【White Stone Town: 42 kilometers ahead.】

Several mud-spattered off-road vehicles were parked by the roadside.

Six vehicles from Skyvault City arrived one after another.

The person leading the Skyvault City contingent was the same lead enforcer Lin Ye had met in the mission hall.

His name was Zhao Yue, captain of the branch’s enforcement team.

At their first meeting, he’d nearly arrested Lin Ye himself. Only after Gu Qinglan’s divination showed everyone in the branch dead except Lin Ye and Su Jin had Zhao Yue been forced to put away his weapon.

So when he faced Lin Ye again, his expression was somewhat awkward.

He clearly remembered how little regard Lin Ye had shown for the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, and remembered Gu Qinglan’s warning even more clearly.

But with colleagues from other cities nearby, he couldn’t appear too wary. He did his best to maintain a businesslike manner.

“Mr. Lin, I hope the journey wasn’t too difficult.”

Zhao Yue nodded to him, considerably more polite than he’d been in the mission hall. “The teams from the other cities arrived ahead of us. Under the provisional plan, we’ll reorganize here, then establish a cordon around White Stone Town.”

Lin Ye nodded casually, his attention on the investigation team nearby.

Including the arrivals from Skyvault City, there were more than twenty people. Most wore Bureau uniforms from different cities. Some checked firearms, some gathered by the vehicles to compare maps, and others stood at the edge of the road observing the distant mountains and forest.

They looked over at the sound of the vehicles.

At first their attention settled mainly on Zhao Yue and Lin Ye, but before long their gazes shifted, almost in unison, to Shen Qingyue.

She’d changed into light-colored clothes suitable for movement, her black hair tied back. Since becoming Sequence 9 of Calamity, her features hadn’t visibly changed, but she had acquired an attraction that was difficult to ignore.

Even standing quietly beside Lin Ye and brushing a speck of dust from his shoulder drew involuntary second glances.

She soon noticed the attention.

Rather than mind it as she once might have, she moved closer to Lin Ye and naturally linked her arm through his.

Zhao Yue saw everything but had the sense not to ask. He simply led Lin Ye forward.

“This is Deacon Liang Hong of the Beichuan City branch, the overall leader of this operation.”

He introduced the middle-aged man at the front of the group first.

Liang Hong was around forty, tall and broad, with an old scar running from his left brow to his ear.

When Zhao Yue introduced him, he merely nodded to Lin Ye and the others without offering any greeting.

“Beside him is Song Wenshan, head of the Changhe City branch’s investigation team. That’s Fang Chi, deputy captain of the containment team from Blackrock City.”

Zhao Yue continued, “The man with glasses is Zheng Tong, head of the Yunlan City branch’s cordon division. And finally, this is Gu Wantang, a special investigator from the Linjiang City branch.”

The young woman at the edge of the group looked up.

Her hair was tied in a neat high ponytail. She wore a close-fitting black combat suit without unnecessary decoration, with several equipment pouches of different sizes secured at her waist.

She was tall and proportionate, the lines of her muscles clearly visible through her clothes. She’d plainly undergone intensive training for a long time.

Unlike the Bureau members around her, whose expressions varied, she showed almost no emotion.

Gu Wantang’s gaze passed over Zhao Yue and rested briefly on Lin Ye and Shen Qingyue. Then she looked down again to check the fastening on her gloves. She didn’t take another look because of Qingyue’s charm, nor did she try to ingratiate herself because of Lin Ye’s status.

The remaining people wouldn’t be entering White Stone Town. Zhao Yue mentioned only the cities they came from, without introducing them by name.

When he finished, Liang Hong unfolded his map and gathered the operation leaders from the various cities around him. Zhao Yue turned to Zhou Chengan and the other academy students, his voice resuming the severity he used with ordinary mission personnel.

“You stay here.”

He pointed to the vehicles parked beside the road. “The outer camp will be established shortly. The remaining personnel will seal the road and support the internal investigation team. You’ll work with the people on the perimeter. You are not to approach White Stone Town on your own, much less leave camp and enter the forest.”

The students had already known their role was limited to outside assistance, so they naturally raised no objection.

“Understood.”

“We’ll follow the arrangements.”

They answered one after another, thoroughly respectful.

The danger in White Stone Town had been enough to make a Sequence 7 powerhouse disappear. Although they’d used family connections to get places on the mission, none actually wanted to go inside and die.

Participating on the perimeter would still earn them a record of service and some credits when they returned to the academy.

Having given his instructions, Zhao Yue prepared to catch up with Liang Hong and the others, who had begun moving forward.

But Lin Ye didn’t stop.

Hands in his pockets, he followed Zhao Yue toward White Stone Town as though he hadn’t heard the order for academy students to stay on the perimeter.

The students froze.

Bureau members from the other cities also looked at him in surprise.

To them, the cleanly dressed young man accompanied by a beautiful girl was probably another descendant of a Skyvault City dignitary, sent along to pad his résumé.

It wasn’t unusual.

Some family scions only had to accompany a convoy to a mission site and take a few photographs on the perimeter to claim experience investigating a major anomalous incident.

Once they returned to their academies or families, the experience would be dressed up as a personal venture into a danger zone to help the Bureau resolve an anomaly.

But Lin Ye looked as though he actually intended to enter White Stone Town.

Zhao Yue slowed slightly when he saw Lin Ye following, but didn’t stop him.

Unlike the others, he knew that the one person whose safety probably needed no concern was this Upper City young master, who looked less serious than anyone else present.

Seeing Lin Ye walk on, Shen Qingyue immediately hurried after him.

“Young Master Lin, wait for me.”

She caught his arm from behind and tucked it against her, a distinctly coaxing note in her voice. “If you’re going in, I’m coming too.”

He turned his head. “Everyone inside has lost contact. What would you go in for? Wouldn’t it be better to wait outside?”

“I can help too.” She held his arm and wouldn’t let go. “Besides, you’ve brought me all this way. You can’t leave me alone outside for the last forty kilometers. Everyone here is with the Bureau, and I don’t know them.”

After a moment’s thought, Lin Ye decided there wasn’t really a problem with taking her.

“All right. Come if you want.”

“Thank you!”

She smiled immediately and nestled closer to him.

Zhou Chengan watched, his expression shifting.

He’d assumed she’d stay outside with the other students, giving him at least a chance to speak with her over the next few days. But now she intended to enter White Stone Town with Lin Ye.

Once they went in, he wouldn’t even be able to watch her from a distance.

He gritted his teeth and stepped out of the student group. “Captain Zhao, I’d like to join the internal investigation too.”

Zhao Yue turned to look at him. “You?”

Shen Qingyue was puzzled too. “You’re not a supernatural. Why go in? Even official Bureau investigators could come to harm in there. Wouldn’t you be safer on the perimeter?”

The question caught in Zhou Chengan’s chest.

She’d been an ordinary person only yesterday, yet now she spoke as though they were no longer on the same level.

What hurt more was that she didn’t seem to realize how humiliating her words were. She simply thought he wasn’t qualified to go in.

He suppressed his resentment and tried to sound sincere. “Aren’t you an ordinary person too? I’m just worried about your safety. We don’t know what’s happening in White Stone Town. With someone familiar along, we could at least look after each other if something happens.”

She pursed her lips and leaned against Lin Ye again.

“I don’t need you to look after me. Young Master Lin will protect me.”

She spoke naturally and firmly, as if there were no reason to doubt it. “With him here, I won’t be safer with anyone else. You should stay outside. If there’s danger, we’d have to divide our attention to protect you.”

Zhou Chengan’s face darkened.

His eyes settled on Lin Ye, his hand gradually clenching at his side. But remembering the gap between their status and strength, he forced his fist open again.

“I won’t hold you back.” His voice was much lower as he looked at Lin Ye. “I may not be a supernatural yet, but I’ve had combat training at the academy, and I know the maps around White Stone Town. If you need messages carried, supplies moved, or anything else an ordinary person can do, I can at least help.”

Lin Ye didn’t care whether he was doing it for the mission or for Shen Qingyue.

“Whatever. Come if you want.” He yawned. “But let’s get this straight first: don’t hold me back once we’re inside. I won’t have time to pull you out.”

Hearing the distinction put so bluntly, Zhou Chengan’s expression worsened, but he nodded.

The three hadn’t made any effort to lower their voices.

Liang Hong, checking the route up ahead, finally lost patience. He rolled up his map sharply and turned with a shout. “Are you fucking done yet?”

His voice rolled over the conversation like thunder. Bureau members sorting their equipment stopped what they were doing.

Face dark, he strode up to Zhao Yue and pointed at Lin Ye’s group. “Captain Zhao, did your Skyvault City branch come to investigate White Stone Town, or bring a bunch of young masters and misses on a picnic?”

“All dressed up like respectable people, and the first thing they do when they get here is cry and beg to enter the danger zone. What, life too comfortable for them? They have to go in and give whatever’s there an extra meal?”

Zhao Yue frowned. “Deacon Liang, their circumstances are somewhat special.”

“Special, my ass!”

Liang Hong cut him off without courtesy. “Every time you bring connected brats along to pad their records, it’s ‘special circumstances.’ This one’s someone’s only son, that one’s some official’s relative, and the rest have parents who’ve paid your branch how much? Should I set up a table and kowtow to each of them too?”

“If you want to trade mission places for money on ordinary days, I can’t be bothered to interfere. It’s your people who die and your branch’s reputation that stinks. But what kind of place is this? More than a hundred thousand people in White Stone Town died overnight. The last investigation team went in and didn’t send back so much as a hair, and one of them was Sequence 7!”

He jabbed hard at White Stone Town on the map, spittle nearly reaching Zhao Yue’s face. “And you still dare stuff a few unweaned students into the team? What are you thinking? Afraid the anomaly won’t get enough to eat, so you brought it some tender little snacks?”

Zhao Yue’s expression soured, but he didn’t lose his temper. “Mr. Lin’s participation in the internal investigation was personally approved by Deacon Gu.”

“So what if Gu Qinglan approved it? Did some contaminant eat her brain, and yours along with it?”

Liang Hong sneered, his gaze passing Zhao Yue and landing openly on Lin Ye. “At first I thought your Skyvault City branch had at least a little shame. I figured you’d bring them to the perimeter for a few pictures, then boast they penetrated the corrupted zone and fought aberrations to polish their records.”

“Turns out your appetite’s bigger than I thought. You actually plan to stuff trash like this into the internal team.”

Lin Ye had been studying an oddly shaped weed by the roadside. Only when he heard “trash like this” did he slowly lift his head.

Liang Hong looked him up and down, making no attempt to hide his contempt. “What are you looking at? I’m talking about you.”

“I’ve hated your whole Upper, Middle, and Lower City setup for years. A bunch of useless bastards hogging resources, relying on bodyguards to go out, connections to get things done, and family to clean up their messes. And you actually think that makes you better than everyone else.”

“No one in the Upper City dares curse you because they can’t afford to offend your father, not because you’re capable. Outside that lousy wall, what the hell are you?”

Zhao Yue’s eyelid twitched. He hurriedly warned in a low voice, “Deacon Liang, that’s going too far.”

“Too far, my ass!”

Liang Hong kept going. “Don’t look so offended. I’ve seen more dead people than you’ve slept with women, and plenty of idiots just like you.”

“Before going into a mission zone, every one of you boasts about your background, your expensive equipment, your powerful bodyguards. The moment you meet an anomaly, you’re the first to piss yourselves.”

“If you insist on going in, sign the liability waiver first. Once you’re inside, even if an aberration sucks your brains dry, don’t expect my people to turn around and save you.”

The roadside fell frighteningly quiet.

Lin Ye stood there, subjected to this torrent of abuse for no apparent reason, and stared for a full two seconds.

He looked first at Liang Hong, then back at Zhao Yue, as though checking whether he’d missed something important. But from beginning to end, all he’d done was walk a few steps forward. He really hadn’t said a single word to Liang Hong.

Lin Ye pointed at his own face. “Wait. All that spraying you just did—were you cursing at me the whole time?”

Liang Hong’s face was cold. “Is there another connected brat here who can’t understand plain speech?”

Lin Ye laughed in anger.

“How much did you have to drink to end up like this, old man?”

He walked slowly up to Liang Hong and looked him over as though examining a fellow patient who’d just climbed over the wall of a psychiatric hospital. “Since getting out of the car, I haven’t touched a hair on you or said half a word. But you? You set up the pot, built the fire, poured in the oil, and cooked up a whole story by yourself, just so you could play the righteous hero and shove it in my face.”

“Upper City trash, connected brat, dead weight, crying for you to save me—you’ve got so many stories in your head, why doesn’t the Bureau send you to write novels on Fanqie?”

Lin Ye stepped half a pace closer, rapidly closing the distance between them.

“Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t go easy on me? That you’d tie me to the road sign? That you’d show me who was in charge here?”

He raised a hand and beckoned, his smile growing dangerous.

“Come on. Stop standing there spraying shit like a cesspit that’s come to life.”

“Show me how rude you can be. Give this young master something to look at.”