Temporary Investigator

"You have no other choice." She made no attempt to hide it.

Just as she said, Sun Hang had no other choice. He forced himself upright, took the tablet, and glanced at the document on the screen.

The bold heading read: "Temporary Investigator Employment Contract."

Sun Hang's name had already been filled into the Party B field. As for Party A, it was an entity called Junshi Human Resources Company.

"A labor dispatch company? So... I'm just an outsourced temp?" Sun Hang asked.

"Investigators are officially employed staff. Once you repay your debt and obtain citizenship, you may take the relevant selection examinations," she said. "But for now, you can only work for the Investigation Bureau as a Temporary Investigator."

"..."

Sun Hang fell silent.

Though he had lost his memory, he still knew what kind of work investigators did.

More than two hundred years ago... or perhaps three hundred years ago, things known as "anomalies" appeared across the Xiazhou Continent without warning. Like irresistible disasters, they devoured vast swathes of humanity's living space, compressing human activity zones to roughly one-third of what they had been before the anomalies emerged.

Worse still, that proportion shrank every year—now, less than twenty percent of the Xiazhou Continent remained under human control.

Though they were called "things," anomalies possessed no fixed forms—they could be living creatures, inanimate objects, or even phenomena... But regardless of what form they took, anomalies were extraordinarily dangerous to ordinary people.

Furthermore, "anomalies" could infect anything that came into contact with them. People called this ability the Anomalization Virus. Of those infected by this "virus," the overwhelming majority eventually became "anomalies"... or parts of anomalies.

Before effective drugs capable of suppressing anomalization were developed, this "virus" had once ravaged the world like a plague, claiming countless lives.

Investigators, as the name implied, were the people who specialized in investigating these anomalies.

The danger of the job was self-evident.

Sun Hang felt that those who signed this Contract of servitude would probably never repay what they owed, even by the time they died.

But that was enough for the Investigation Bureau... After all, if an official investigator died in the line of duty, the Investigation Bureau had to pay an enormous death benefit. Compared to that, temps like him were far more cost-effective.

"What would you do if I didn't want this job?" Sun Hang asked. "Throw me out of the hospital, or directly out of the city?"

"No. Until you repay your debt, you cannot obtain freedom." She took out another stylus and handed it to him. "The only choice you have now is what font you want to use when signing your name."

Sun Hang took the stylus and thought for a moment.

From the "remaining" knowledge in his mind, he had probably been an ordinary person before losing his memory.

As an ordinary person, he knew of anomalies and investigators, but knew very little about the details—anything connected to anomalies was practically taboo in this era. Apart from a very small number of people with particular interests, few would actively seek to learn about such things.

Most people only hoped these matters would stay as far away from them as possible, preferably never crossing paths with them for their entire lives.

"If I become a Temporary Investigator, what will you provide me with? Intelligence, equipment, training, things like that." Sun Hang looked up at her. "Even if Temporary Investigators are merely disposable cannon fodder sent to die, we should at least be able to contribute something. You can't just let taxpayers' money go down the drain, right?"

"You'll have all the things you mentioned." She nodded and checked her watch. "It's getting late. Sign it quickly."

Sun Hang let out a long breath and signed his name at the end of the contract.

The woman in the black suit put away the tablet, took two identification cards from her pocket, and tossed them to Sun Hang.

One was a temporary citizen ID card issued by the Xiazhou Federation. Sun Hang's photograph and name had already been printed on it, but every other field, including gender, was blank.

Sun Hang glanced at the issuing authority on the card. It was Tianfu City's Population Administration Bureau.

So I'm in Tianfu City now... Sun Hang silently thought.

Tianfu City lay in the southwestern region of the Xiazhou Federation, right beside the border of human territory. It was a standard "frontline region."

The other card was a "Temporary Investigator ID" issued by the Tianfu City Anomaly Investigation Bureau. It also bore Sun Hang's photograph, but not his name. In its place was the designation "Temporary Investigator 0420."

"Your codename from now on is 0420," the woman in the black suit said. "Investigators address one another by their numbers."

"And what's your number?" Sun Hang asked, glancing at her.

"I'm not an investigator." She stood up and left him with one final sentence. "You'll be discharged in three days. Someone will come pick you up then."

The woman in the black suit left. Sun Hang stared at the identification cards in his hands, lost in thought.

This was a job that would get him killed. Its fatality rate was far higher than those extreme athletes who danced on the edge of the Gates of Hell every day.

It wasn't that he had never considered running... The problem was that he possessed nothing and had lost all memory of his past. In this unfamiliar place, even if he successfully escaped the hospital, he would have nowhere to go.

Though the laws of the Xiazhou Federation's various city-states differed, as special agencies dealing with "anomalies," the Investigation Bureaus in every city held extremely broad authority. They could even mobilize the military at will... Opposing an Investigation Bureau was tantamount to seeking death.

That woman had been right. He truly had no other choice.

According to the contract, Sun Hang needed to complete one C-rank mission, four D-rank missions, or sixteen E-rank missions to repay his entire debt. Yet he had no idea what level of difficulty or danger those A, B, C, and D mission rankings represented.

He reached out and pressed the call button beside the bed.

Before long, the female nurse in the pink uniform from earlier entered the ward.

"Miss Nurse, could you help me with something?" Sun Hang asked.

"Please, go ahead." It had to be said, the nurse's attitude was far better than that cold-faced staff member's.

"Could you lend me something that can access the internet? A phone or tablet, anything is fine. I want to look something up," Sun Hang said.

The nurse did not agree immediately. A troubled expression appeared on her face.

"...I don't even have permission to access the internet?" Sun Hang frowned slightly.

"Mr. Sun, you've only just awakened from a coma. It would be better for you to get more rest for now..." There was a trace of apology and awkwardness in the nurse's voice. "Also, unless necessary, please try not to leave this hospital room."

"Fine." Sun Hang nodded and lay back down.

This was not merely a hospital room. It was also a prison cell.

With his head resting on a pillow carrying a faint scent of disinfectant, Sun Hang stared fixedly at the ceiling light and silently murmured, ...Change for me.

Nothing happened.

The light remained stark white, and the unbearable stabbing pain deep in his brain did not appear.

"Could it... really have just been a coincidence?"