Compensation from the Cleaning Association

The voice was mechanical and eerie, sounding like a digital synthesis, yet simultaneously like the screeching of some grotesque creature in a nightmare.

It felt like fingernails scraping against an iron plate; the mere sound of it was enough to make one's skin crawl.

Li Fan sobered up in an instant, suddenly realizing who was calling.

A call from the Cleaning Association!

It was highly likely to be the mysterious President of the Cleaning Association himself!

Judging by the tone, he hadn't executed the raid on the Anomaly Bureau, but had instead accidentally dodged the Bureau's trap—and had now received praise from the Cleaning Association's top brass?

Li Fan's throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he remained silent.

At this moment, he was the Collector, a big shot!

Based on the information he had gathered, the Cuckoo Project itself had been orchestrated by the upper echelons of the Cleaning Association, and the Collector did not approve of it. Therefore, he had to maintain his composure and keep up the act.

Silence.

There was only the white noise coming from the phone and Li Fan's shallow breathing.

Finally, a voice came from the other end of the line again. This time, although the tone remained eerie and cold, it carried a hint of emotion:

"...Ssh... you still don't like to talk... ssh... this was a misjudgment by the Association... ssh... you were wronged... ssh... we will provide you with sufficient compensation... ssh..."

The other side was backing down!

The upper echelons of the Cleaning Association—likely the President himself—were backing down to the Collector!

Stay calm, stay calm. The key is the attitude. You can do this, Fan!

Li Fan steadied his emotions and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice:

"...Everything is for the arrival of the Lord of the Abyss."

Hearing Li Fan's words, the entity on the other end of the phone seemed to heave a sigh of relief, taking it as the Collector's sign of reconciliation and submission.

The voice immediately replied in kind:

"...Everything is for the arrival of the Lord of the Abyss."

The call then ended.

Li Fan couldn't help but let out a long breath.

His back was already soaked with cold sweat.

Although he had only spoken a single sentence, the feeling he had just experienced was like facing a giant beast ready to devour him.

After all, that was likely the President of the Cleaning Association, the number one figure in the global underworld!

He had bluffed his way through.

This was a good start.

He just wondered what this so-called "compensation" would actually be.

What kind of compensation would the Cleaning Association's top brass give the Collector?

Would they make him a Vice President?

That didn't mean much to Li Fan, though; he just wanted to clock in at three in the afternoon and clock out at five, working diligently until retirement.

He pocketed his phone and returned to the room, where Wu Qian and the rest of his colleagues were already thoroughly plastered, with only the Deputy Director, Liu Dalong, still somewhat sober.

Seeing Li Fan enter, Liu Dalong immediately raised his glass, wanting to go another round with him.

As they chatted and drank, Li Fan gained a deeper understanding of the Autopsy Department.

The Anomaly Bureau had been established less than a decade ago, and everyone in it was a career-changer, especially those in the Autopsy Department.

Wu Qian had been a clerk at a government office, Liu Dalong was a worker at a meat processing plant, Ma Lihua was a department store clerk, and so on.

They had all been selected for the Anomaly Bureau because they were detected to have higher mental energy than the average person.

However, while their mental energy was higher than normal, it was far from reaching the standard of an Awakened, leaving them in an awkward middle ground, which was why they were all assigned to the Support Center.

And because none of them liked to flatter their superiors, they had all been kicked into the Autopsy Department to become autopsy technicians.

They were, in a sense, physicians.

"Fan, don't let our Director fool you; he's as slippery as an eel, but they say his mental energy is almost at a hundred. A little more effort and he'll be an Awakened," Liu Dalong slurred as he chatted with Li Fan.

"In the past few years, our department was truly idle—the whole Bureau was idle. Your uncle here even started a little meat shop on the side. Let me tell you, it was so profitable! Unlike now, having to work two hours a day, and they say it's going to be extended to two and a half soon. Sigh..."

"Your uncle is a master at butchering. Ever heard of 'Cook Ding butchering an ox'? I can butcher a pig! You look a bit frail, kid. Come by my shop later, get some kidneys to build yourself up. Don't worry, they're from my own pigs—powerful stuff!"

"And how are you such a heavy drinker? You're drinking us all under the table... are you a living enzyme or something..."

Liu Dalong collapsed.

He simply couldn't outdrink Li Fan.

Straightening his clothes and looking at his colleagues sprawled across the room, Li Fan recalled the painful experience of being forced to drink by his superiors when he first started his short-lived job in the bureaucracy in his previous life. A sense of genuine pleasure welled up within him.

It seemed that his greatest ability now was his capacity to hold his liquor.

I wonder if this counts as an Awakened ability?

Once everyone had sobered up a little, Li Fan called a few cabs to send his colleagues home before returning to his own dormitory.

Looking at the dormitory that felt both familiar and strange, Li Fan decided to do only one thing tonight: conduct a thorough search of the room to see if the former Collector had left anything behind.

He was in urgent need of anything that could save his life.

Urgent!

The next day, having spent the entire night rummaging through cabinets and boxes, Li Fan didn't wake up until one in the afternoon.

He got up, ate something, and tidied up the room.

After searching all night, he had only found a black notebook and an antique bronze key.

The notebook was completely empty.

The key was also ordinary, showing no strange properties, save for a few seal-script characters carved into it.

Li Fan threaded it onto a string and wore it around his neck.

Donning a uniform that resembled a protective suit, Li Fan headed to work.

The Autopsy Division was located in a three-story building in a remote corner of the Anomaly Bureau compound, separate from the Support Center building.

Li Fan arrived at the division at three o'clock, only to find that he was actually early; several colleagues were still late.

Zhang Hongbing, who had been assigned to mentor Li Fan, was punctual. Seeing Li Fan arrive, he immediately took him to familiarize himself with the Autopsy Division's office building.

The third floor housed staff dormitories and a gym, generally used for naps and recreation. Since everyone started work at three in the afternoon, naturally no one was napping, and the rooms were covered in cobwebs.

The second floor was the office area, where the main tasks were organizing files and transmitting official documents.

The first floor contained the equipment room and various autopsy rooms, where the dissection of anomalous infected entities primarily took place.

There were also three basement levels, including the anomalous item storage room, the morgue, and the formalin tanks.

These were mainly used to store the corpses of infected entities and various anomalous items.

"For our Autopsy Division, the most important thing is actually the equipment room. Only by ensuring all equipment is complete and foolproof can we proceed with the dissection of anomalous infected entities."

Zhang Hongbing held up a heavy protective suit and spoke earnestly to Li Fan.

"Even if the infected entities sent over have already been thoroughly decontaminated by other departments and are basically fine, no one can guarantee they are completely harmless, so you must take precautions."

"You cannot enter the autopsy room without a protective suit; this is a rule set by the Division Chief. Work is secondary; safety comes first."

Li Fan nodded and took the protective suit to examine it closely. He discovered that this gear was different from standard protective suits; not only did it have radio communication equipment, but the goggles had clearly undergone special treatment.

He immediately understood that this was the "Anomalous Protective Suit" he had learned about in training, designed specifically to guard against anomalous infection.

Zhang Hongbing then tapped on a cabinet nearby and said:

"Our Autopsy Division also has weapons and equipment. This is the gun cabinet. There is another one in the duty room to ensure everything is foolproof."

"Also, although our work hours are relatively flexible, we still arrange for one person to be on duty every day, mainly to watch over the corpses in the basement and prevent any issues."

Li Fan asked curiously:

"What kind of issues could corpses have?"

Zhang Hongbing looked around and whispered:

"Actually, it's mainly to guard against the perverts from the Investigation Division. You don't know, but after working there for a long time, some of those people become psychologically twisted. Last year, someone even snuck into the morgue in the middle of the night to find a female corpse. Ugh, I can't even talk about it..."

Li Fan shuddered, feeling a chill run down his spine:

"Damn, that's so twisted!"

Zhang Hongbing nodded:

"Gaze into the abyss, and the abyss gazes back. You'll understand after you've been here a while. Since you just started today, you might as well get familiar with the process. You'll take the duty shift tonight."

"Understood, Dr. Zhang, no problem." Li Fan nodded.

He checked his watch; it was already 4:50 PM, time to get off work.

Just then, Ke Ke's voice came through:

"Engineer Zhang, the Investigation Division sent over an infected entity. They want us to check if there's any residual infection inside."

Zhang Hongbing nodded: "Alright, Little Li and I will head over now."

He then said to Li Fan: "Put on your protective suit. We're going to cut up a corpse."