Aftereffects

"Please sit down. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Tian Sheng's arrival did not elicit much of a reaction from the man. He did not even show any courtesy, merely leaving a shallow crease on the document in his hand before raising his head and calmly asking Tian Sheng a question.

This style of behavior is quite different from the "leader" that Tian Sheng remembers.

Even someone as unconcerned with Ornate Script as the director of the welfare home, Liu Wenqin, always had to show basic friendliness and concern to the staff.

The middle-aged man in front of him seemed quite indifferent, even showing a kind of... dissatisfaction? This dissatisfaction wasn't directed at Tian Sheng, but rather seemed to stem from his own dissatisfaction with his position.

"Hello, Chief, this is Tian Sheng from the Third Squad of the Special Operations Department. This is our squad's combat log for this month..."

Tian Sheng subconsciously scratched his head and handed over the documents. He tried his best to avoid any slips in his words, lest he be reprimanded by the new director who seemed to be in a bad mood.

The middle-aged man took the report and began to read it immediately. He scanned the contents expressionlessly, and after about a minute, closed the report and asked:

"This week's crackdown only resulted in the capture of ordinary Mage? No Beast Shifter?"

"Beast Shifter" is the official term used by the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to refer to people who use the Beast Viscera" to transform themselves. Tian Sheng was naturally aware of the existence of such a group of people.

So he immediately replied, "Yes, we have cleared out several small settlements, but so far we have not encountered any Beast Shifter."

"This isn't normal," the middle-aged man said, tapping the table.

"Yes."

The other person didn't reveal any emotion, but there was an inexplicable pressure in their words, causing Tian Sheng to subconsciously swallow. "You're right, our captain thinks so too."

Under pressure, he decisively betrayed Li Yingwei.

"It's not just your squad; the reports I saw today indicate that none of your squads have encountered Beast Shifter so far."

The middle-aged man behind the desk repeated, "This is definitely not an ordinary coincidence."

Perhaps it was because the mastermind had been executed, leaving the remaining group leaderless. Tian Sheng thought to himself. But he didn't dare say it aloud; he didn't want to be criticized for expressing an immature opinion at this time.

"Tian Sheng."

However, his silence did not mean the new director would remain silent. "You only recently joined the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, are you a newcomer?"

"Ah... yes."

Tian Sheng stammered, "To be precise, I only started working last week, because when I first came to the bureau, we happened to encounter the attack by the Aberrant Beast..."

"There were ten people recruited at the same time as you, and your magic level was the lowest during the test."

The new director asked expressionlessly, "But your performance in the combat log is the most outstanding, even comparable to other team members who have reached the Controller Stage level. What's the reason for this?"

"Ah, this..." Tian Sheng didn't expect to be asked such a pointed question so soon.

He initially wanted to make up an excuse, such as hiding his strength, but his intuition told him that his answer here was extremely important. If he just gave a random excuse, there might be an outcome he didn't want to see.

After hesitating for a moment, he truthfully explained his situation.

From joining the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to being attacked by Aberrant Beast, from the strange moth in his dream to the subsequent abnormalities in his body, he told the other party everything clearly and without missing a single detail.

Of course, this also includes the magical girl who controlled the blue threads that he caught a glimpse of.

After saying all this, he noticed that the new director's expression was slightly strange, but this odd look only flashed by. It was as if it were all his imagination, leaving only that expressionless face.

"You mean, you dreamed that you turned into a moth?"

Taking a stack of personnel files from the drawer, the new director unabashedly picked out Tian Sheng's page and began browsing through it in front of him. "After that dream, you woke up and found that your magic had improved by leaps and bounds."

"Yes." Tian Sheng nodded.

"It sounds like a made-up story," the new director said, reading through his file. "But if I were you, I certainly wouldn't come up with such a flimsy excuse in front of my superiors, so it actually has a bit of credibility."

Tian Sheng could only remain awkwardly silent.

"Your previous work experience... Fangting City First Social Welfare Institute?"

After quickly scanning Tian Sheng's personnel file, the new director behind the desk raised an eyebrow slightly. "You worked as a caregiver there?"

Yes, that's right.

"So, based on the timeline, you should have experienced the Black Ash Dawn's terrifying attack four months ago?"

"Four months ago... ah, yes."

"What happened to you during that attack?" The new director put down the documents in his hand, pointed at the table, and looked at him.

"The terrorist attack on the welfare home..."

Tian Sheng frowned and thought for a while, but could only shake his head helplessly. "I'm sorry, Director, I don't know why, but I can't quite remember what happened back then."

"Can't remember?" The new director raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, because I've been troubled by this for a long time. I always feel like I've forgotten some unusual experience." Tian Sheng nodded.

His answer clearly surprised the new director, but the director didn't question him too much. Instead, the director subtly raised some questions about his file.

The two continued their question-and-answer session, with the new director constantly posing new questions while seemingly pondering something; Tian Sheng, on the other hand, diligently searched his brain for the limited information he had and provided his answers in detail.

As the questioning progressed, Tian Sheng was somewhat surprised to find that the course of events seemed to become clearer with each answer he gave, and even some of his remaining memories became clearer.

If things had continued like this, perhaps the new bureau chief could have recounted the events. However, this question-and-answer session did not last until the end.

Just as Tian Sheng was still pondering and digging deeper into his memories, the new director, who had been calmly and meticulously listing the questions, suddenly stopped.

As if some unexpected event had occurred, accompanied by immense difficulties, the other party frowned deeply, even showing a hint of distress on their face. After a brief silence, the new director spoke again, but this time it was no longer the interrogation as before:

"Excuse me, I need to take this call."

"Ah... yes." Although he didn't hear the phone ring, Tian Sheng nodded without suspicion. In his mind, whether he set the phone to weak vibration or used a wireless built-in earphone, it would prevent others from hearing the ringtone.

He didn't seem to care much about the situation. In his experience, it was common for a leader to need to answer their phone during a conversation, and he figured he should just wait for them to finish. So he stood there, intending to wait until the call ended.

However, the new director did not take out his mobile phone or make any phone calls.

He seemed to be waiting for Tian Sheng to leave, but seeing that Tian Sheng was still standing there, he glanced at him and waved his hand, saying, "You go back first, we'll talk about your business next time."

Is that all?

Tian Sheng felt somewhat taken aback.

Based on the pace and demeanor just now, he thought this question-and-answer session would continue for at least another ten minutes. But now, the conversation was clearly not over, the questions were unresolved, and the other party had decisively given him the order to leave.

What kind of phone call is that confidential?

The question arose in his mind, but before Tian Sheng could think about it, he suddenly felt something tugging at his body.

Before he could even take a step away, in that instant, he felt as if he had become a puppet on strings, suddenly flying backward under the drive of some force.

The swing door behind him inexplicably opened automatically without any wind, precisely the moment Tian Sheng to the doorway. Everything proceeded as if a precise instrument was running, and then Tian Sheng was thrown outside.

After being pulled outside by an unknown force, Tian Sheng staggered several steps before barely managing to stand still. He subconsciously looked at the door in front of him, but could only see the swing door gradually closing, and a faint blue flash through the crack of the door, as if it were an illusion.

Bang!

The door to the director's office closed right in front of him.

Tian Sheng was left standing blankly at the door, still unable to figure out what had happened.

He waited there for half a minute before realizing he should probably leave. But he didn't hear any phone calls coming from the director's office until he left, so he could only walk into the elevator deep in the corridor, full of questions.

Meanwhile, in the director's office, which he couldn't see, a petite blue-haired girl in a navy blue dress was sitting behind a desk, frowning and holding her forehead.

"This is absolutely terrible..."

The Larkspur couldn't help but mutter to itself.

Without a doubt, the new director of the Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is Lin Yun, and it was he who questioned Tian Sheng just now.

The reason why Lin Yun suddenly kicked Tian Sheng out of the office halfway through the conversation, and then inexplicably turned into a magical girl in the office, was not Lin Yun's original intention.

It wasn't that he wanted to transform, but rather that this transformation was beyond his control.

This is one of the aftereffects of Larkspur overusing the power of his Magic Armament in the battle two weeks ago, resulting in damage to the Magic Armament and the complete shattering of its scissor form.

This aftereffect could be considered minor or major, but its impact on her was far less severe than the decline in her strength. If she were still in her previous state of resignation and spending most of her time operating as Larkspur, this wouldn't even be considered an aftereffect.

But now, for her as the director of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, this aftereffect has become a huge problem—her Heart Gem occasionally goes out of control, causing her to uncontrollably transform from Lin Yun into Larkspur.

In the first few days after the war, these aftereffects were particularly noticeable: almost every few hours, this change would occur uncontrollably. Under such circumstances, Lin Yun naturally could not immediately take up his post at the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau and could only recuperate while waiting.

The only saving grace is that this out-of-control change is one-way; there hasn't been a sudden reversal of the transformation, with the Larkspur turning back into Lin Yun. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't dare go to the Secret Base too often, for fear of causing a dramatic transformation in front of her daughter.

After two weeks of buffer and recuperation, Tang's mutation frequency gradually stabilized—it became roughly once a day. This absurd aftereffect seemed to have settled into this state, and even if there might be further changes, Lin Yun didn't have time to wait any longer.

He had too many things to do and couldn't let this hold him back. So, once his injuries had healed slightly and the aftereffects had eased a bit, he stopped recuperating, took up his post, and assumed the position of Director of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

This is his first day in office.

To prevent unauthorized entry in case of emergencies, Lin Yun had specially left a magic thread of Larkspur at the entrance to monitor the situation. He just hadn't expected the accident to happen so quickly; he hadn't even met with a few employees before this blunder occurred.

If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, finding an excuse and sending the other person away in time, his identity would likely have been exposed on his very first day in office. That's why, after finally managing to smooth things over, she blurted out the conclusion, "This is terrible."

However, despite the misunderstanding, the work still needs to be done. As the newly appointed director, Lin Yun still has many things to do.

Lin Yun sealed the office door with Spell Formula, waited a short while, and then deactivated the transformation after the magical fluctuations subsided. He breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the documents on the table again.

The large stack of documents on the table were all ones he had already read.

After spending a morning studying various files and reports from the past two weeks, Lin Yun gained a preliminary understanding of the current state of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

In short: like a headless fly.

Although Moss is an undercover agent and a traitor, as well as an out-and-out thug and villain, she is still the director of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Fangting City. In order to maintain the appearance of normal operation of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, she usually puts in a lot of superficial work.

With her defeat and death, the Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, without its director, was essentially without a leader. Even the superficial formalities disappeared, and it immediately entered a state of chaos without a leader.

In addition, the previous attack caused some staff losses; the surviving employees were a mixed bag; and the office building had only been rebuilt recently. The Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau was now a complete mess and a disorganized mess.

It was under these circumstances that Lin Yun arrived. He accepted Chrysoberyl Cat's Eye's proposal and took over the position of Director of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

The reason is simple: after the Moss incident, he finds it very difficult to trust any other newly appointed personnel to be the director of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in the short term.

This position would have been more suitable for Hong Siyu, but she has indeed suffered many aftereffects from the previous incident and is currently receiving treatment and recuperation.

Left with no other choice, Lin Yun decided to take on the task herself.

Now is the time for him to make his first appearance in front of the employees of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau and to deliver a speech at the meeting.

Thank you to the reader "The Clown Who Can't Cry" for being the Alliance Leader, to the reader "Tiger Feather Nine Little Leaf Sky" for being the Helmsman, and to all the readers for their generous donations. Thank you!