Do You Not Have Reimbursement?

Less than three minutes after ordering, the waiter arrived with a steady stream of dishes.

Plate after plate of steaming food filled the table.

"Cousin, do the chefs at your Destiny Bureau always serve food this fast?"

He poked at a piece of meat on the plate with his chopsticks, looking disgusted.

"Don't tell me this is pre-made food? This is the Destiny Bureau; how could they stoop to this?" It was one thing for fast-food joints outside to use pre-made meals, but for an official enforcement agency to be this perfunctory was ridiculous.

Shen Tingxue rolled her eyes and picked up a mouthful of greens.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

She looked at the table full of dishes, her face full of heartache.

"It's obviously prepared in advance. These are all cuts from ranked ferocious beasts."

"If they cooked them to order, the toughness of the meat would shatter your teeth. You'd be better off waiting until tonight to eat."

Gu Yuan thought about it, and it did make sense.

Ferocious beasts were brimming with vitality, and their meat was incredibly tough; without long periods of high-pressure stewing, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to chew it at all.

He stopped talking nonsense, reached out, and tore off a leg from a Wind-Runner Chicken. He took a bite, and juices overflowed; the rich energy of the beast's vitality slid down his esophagus into his stomach, leaving him feeling warm and cozy.

Good stuff.

Gu Yuan's eyes lit up. This thing definitely wouldn't be cheap to buy outside.

In a few bites, he tore the meat clean off the leg.

A clean bone was tossed onto the table.

Sun Miaomiao sat opposite him, her eating speed not losing to Gu Yuan's in the slightest.

The girl looked petite and delicate, but did she have a black hole in her stomach?

She held two roasted ribs in her hands, her cheeks puffed out, chewing at an incredible speed, not even caring that the sauce smeared on her mouth.

The two of them turned into heartless eating machines.

They swept through the food like a storm.

The plates on the table emptied at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The scraps on the table piled up into a small mountain.

Half an hour later.

Sun Miaomiao leaned back in her chair, rubbing her slightly protruding belly with satisfaction.

"So delicious. Captain, can you treat me again next time?"

She let out a satisfied burp.

"I haven't eaten this well in a long time. It's just that I'm getting a bit sleepy after eating so much."

Shen Tingxue glanced down at her. I think you're just suffering from a carb coma. Eating and then sleeping—did I recruit a team member or a pet pig?

"Once you crack the case, I'll treat you to another grand feast."

Upon hearing Shen Tingxue's words, Sun Miaomiao's dazed state vanished instantly.

She stood up abruptly, one hand still clutching her stomach.

"Don't worry, Captain! I'm heading to the crime scene right now! I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Shen Tingxue nodded in satisfaction at this.

A rookie full of this much drive was just so easy to use.

Much better than those old slackers in the team who only knew how to push responsibilities around.

Gu Yuan pulled out a tissue and wiped his mouth.

"Sis, that missing persons case—can I tag along and take a look later?"

Shen Tingxue turned her head and looked him up and down.

"You?"

"What are you going for? Isn't it chaotic enough already?"

Gu Yuan leaned in a little closer.

"After all, this happened at my school. As a student of First High School, it's only right that I care about the safety of my classmates."

He lowered his voice.

"Besides, if you don't let me go, then about Uncle..."

Shen Tingxue stood up abruptly, her finger jabbing directly at the tip of Gu Yuan's nose.

"Stop."

"I'm warning you, this is the last time."

"If you ever use that to threaten me again, see if I don't crack your skull open."

She picked up the teacup on the table and took a deep gulp.

She couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on this rascal of a cousin.

She turned her head and shot a look at Sun Miaomiao.

Sun Miaomiao caught the hint immediately and grabbed the backpack off the table.

"Well then, let's get going..."

She clutched the backpack straps and scratched her head in embarrassment.

She stared at Gu Yuan for a full five seconds.

"Um... what was your name again?"

Gu Yuan took the initiative and reached out his hand.

"Hello, Sister Miaomiao, my name is Gu Yuan."

Sun Miaomiao reached out to shake his hand, then quickly pulled hers back.

"Right, let's go!"

Outside the Destiny Bureau building.

Gu Yuan stood by the roadside, watching Sun Miaomiao pull out her phone to scan the QR code on a small blue bike parked on the curb.

"Wait, no? Sister Miaomiao, we're going there on these?"

Gu Yuan pointed at the row of dilapidated shared bikes by the road.

Sun Miaomiao patted her chest.

"You don't understand."

"That school of yours is quite far away; riding bikes saves a lot of money, and every little bit helps."

Gu Yuan shoved his hands into his pockets and countered.

"Doesn't the Destiny Bureau reimburse you for field missions?"

Sun Miaomiao's hand froze mid-scan.

She stood there stunned.

She quickly exited the scanning app and opened the Destiny Bureau's internal communication app.

Her fingers swiped rapidly across the screen, searching for the regulations on field mission reimbursements.

A minute later.

Sun Miaomiao jerked her head up.

There was actually a three-thousand-yuan allowance for a single day of official duty, and she had been paying out of her own pocket for every field mission she'd ever done!

What a massive loss.

She shoved her phone back into her pocket and waved her hand grandly.

"Let's go!"

"Taxi! We're taking a premium express ride, no exceptions!"

30 minutes later.

A black private car pulled up in front of the gates of Haicheng No. 1 High School.

The two of them pushed the doors open and stepped out.

Sun Miaomiao carried her bulging backpack, her arms cradling a massive bag of snacks she had just raided from a convenience store.

Adhering to the principle that "if you don't use up the reimbursement quota, you're losing money," she had tossed anything that looked good into her basket at the store, determined to earn back the money she had previously lost.

The two walked all the way to the training hall in the center of the school.

Sun Miaomiao shoved a cup of milk tea with double pearls into Gu Yuan's hands.

"Hold this for me."

She walked to an empty space in the center of the training hall and set down her bag of snacks.

She unzipped her backpack, rummaged through it for a long time, and finally pulled out a bright yellow talisman.

The talisman was covered in dense, intricate red patterns.

She laid the talisman flat on the ground.

Her fingers traced rapidly through the air as she muttered an incantation.

The patterns on the talisman flickered slightly, emitting a faint blue glow.

Then, the blue light extinguished completely.

There was not a single reaction.

Sun Miaomiao squatted on the ground and poked at the talisman.

"That's strange, why isn't the Tracking Talisman doing anything?"

Gu Yuan bit down on his straw, taking a large gulp of boba.

"Is this expired?"

Sun Miaomiao ignored him.

She stood up, reached for her waist, and unhooked the compass that had been hanging there all along.

The surface of the compass was engraved with intricate markings and runes.

Supporting the compass with one hand, she pressed the index and middle fingers of her other hand together and tapped the needle at the center.

A stream of blue light flowed from her fingertips into the compass.

The compass emitted a muffled "hum."

The central needle began to spin frantically.

It accelerated until it blurred into a hazy phantom.

Immediately after, a blinding blue light erupted from the surface of the compass.

The blue light spread rapidly, sweeping across the floor and walls of the entire training hall.

The air, previously empty, began to twist violently.

Translucent phantoms began to spread across every corner of the training hall.