Joining the Squad

Xingjing, West District, Inspection Department headquarters.

Xu Wuyi stood across the street, looking at the inconspicuous building with a strange expression in his eyes.

It was an old-fashioned building, its exterior walls covered in dingy gray cement. Years of wind and rain had left large patches peeling away and cracks spreading across it.

The windows were old sliding ones, their glass coated in dust, making it impossible to see inside. Several rusted communications antennas stood on the roof, swaying faintly in the cold wind.

A faded sign hung above the entrance, bearing the words "Federal General Affairs Administration, Ninth Office." In the lower-right corner was a smaller label identifying it as a "Petition Reception Point."

If Feng Zhuohua had not told him personally, Xu Wuyi would never have imagined that the headquarters of the Federation's immensely powerful internal Inspection Department was hidden in a place like this.

He stood by the street for about five minutes, carefully observing the surroundings.

The street was perfectly ordinary, with all kinds of small shops on both sides—breakfast vendors, appliance repair shops, barbershops, and more.

Pedestrians came and went, most of them local residents. Occasionally, electric scooters whizzed past him, stirring up gusts of cold air.

This sort of environment truly was the best cover.

No one would notice this decrepit building, much less suspect that those utterly ordinary people entering and leaving it were actually the Federation's most dangerous field agents.

Xu Wuyi withdrew his gaze, crossed the street, and walked toward the building.

He pushed open the glass door and found himself in a cramped entrance hall.

To the left was a reception window, with a note pasted to the glass that read, "Please ring the bell." Several plastic chairs stood on the right, occupied by two middle-aged men looking down at