It took Mei Zhu a while to finally speak, though she said nothing new. "Hurry up and notify them. Director Tang needs to be informed too."
"Okay."
Lang Jin was about to turn away when Mei Zhu called out, "Lang Jin."
"Mei Zong?"
"Did you hear about the second one that went off?"
"I just saw the reports. They only said it exploded around ten o'clock. There's no authoritative information yet."
Mei Zhu gave a vague chuckle. "East 927 District... I remember when we went there together for maintenance in 91 Year, during the strongest High-Energy Tide."
It had been an entirely ordinary bit of conversation, but at such a sensitive moment, Lang Jin's heart still skipped a beat. Nothing showed on his dark, gaunt face, however. He merely hummed and continued listening to his former superior.
Mei Zhu was only making conversation. "I remember that place wasn't especially remote to begin with, but it happened to be hit by the Sixth High-Energy Tide. There were all kinds of bizarre Aberrant Species, as if the fifties had come back."
Lang Jin forced a smile. "I didn't live through the fifties."
"I was little back then too. Thinking about it now, all my impressions came from stories other people told. What I do remember vividly was when the Reclamation Corps arrived. Almost overnight, the governing system that had only just begun to take shape after the war collapsed... Those who obeyed lived, and those who defied died."
That sounded more like something Wang Peilie would say than Mei Zhu.
Lang Jin felt that his former superior might have smoked too much.
Ever since Mei Zhu had been promoted to deputy director, the two were no longer office mates. She had hardly ever spoken so bluntly again, and for a moment, Lang