I Have Activated

"You're lying on my hair."

Half-awake, Ye Qing heard those words and sat up from the bed in slight confusion.

Looking down at the floor beside the bed, he saw Ye Yuyan mumbling unconsciously, her beautiful loose hair pinned beneath one of his furry anime plushies.

"Heh, looks like my sleeping posture isn't so great either," Ye Qing muttered awkwardly.

Perhaps too many major things had happened lately; he had had a long-lost dream that felt unusually real.

And accidentally elbowed the plushie off the bed and onto the floor mattress.

Last night, he had banished Ye Yuyan to sleep on the floor precisely because her sleeping posture was too terrible.

Ever since he had gotten his own room as a child, barring special circumstances, Ye Qing would absolutely never sleep in the same bed as Ye Yuyan.

Otherwise, he would inevitably wake up freezing in the middle of the night, open his bleary eyes to find the blanket completely gone, and discover a smelly foot or thigh shoved into his face.

He had no desire to suffer that again.

Ye Qing yawned lightly, turned on his phone, and glanced at the time. There were only ten minutes left before his set alarm would ring.

Looks like his body clock had kicked in.

After manually turning off the alarm before it rang, Ye Qing quietly left the room without disturbing the still-sleeping Ye Yuyan.

The moment he entered the bathroom, Ye Qing looked at the basin piled with dirty clothes.

Colorful women's intimate clothing lay right on top, firmly capturing his attention.

He fell into brief thought...

As a homebody living alone, he usually waited until he had accumulated two or three days' worth of clothes, depending on the weather forecast, before doing laundry.

But now Ye Yuyan's clothes had been added to the mix.

Forget it. He would save them until tomorrow and wash them all together.

Having settled on that plan, Ye Qing quickly washed up and headed out for Abyss Return to complete today's check-in.

Working at Abyss Return was like logging into a mobile game every day. Ye Qing did not want to miss a single check-in.

What if the BOSS happened to realize one day that Abyss Return functioned exactly the same with or without him? How was he supposed to keep getting by then?

The only downside was that he still could not avoid rush hour on his commute. He had to play bumper cars in a packed subway car, swaying like seaweed and bumping into everyone around him.

What was more, there were plenty of nonhuman races.

Sandwiched between two broad-backed, burly male beastmen, Ye Qing wore a blank expression and lifeless eyes, looking remarkably like Qingyin.

The subway car was filled with the pungent odor unique to male beastmen, particularly nose-stinging.

There was ample reason to suspect that if those two beastmen raised their arms, they could squeeze coconut juice straight through their clothes.

"What are you looking at?"

"What if I am?"

On top of that, he was forced to listen to the hostile arguing between the beastmen.

Fortunately, they got off at the next stop quickly, giving Ye Qing some room to breathe.

He took the subway to the outskirts.

He entered Abyss Return through a hidden passage and passed layer after layer of inspections by precision instruments. Once his identity was confirmed, he was smoothly admitted inside.

The most tedious part of going to work was the inspection process, which reminded Ye Qing of the procedures from the first time he had gone to the Otherworld as a magical girl.

The same steps, the same hassle.

He had thought that, as usual, checking in at Abyss Return would mean running into an agent or intern and exchanging polite greetings to begin the day.

Instead, he ran into Zhao Xueshan, who was brimming with energy. Even her heavy dark circles and bloodshot eyes could not conceal the excitement in her expression.

If she kept this up, Ye Qing felt she was not far from sudden death.

The fact that she had survived until now truly spoke to the unimaginable resilience of life, didn't it?

"Ye! Come to the lab and look at the new device I made!" Zhao Xueshan exclaimed excitedly, grabbing Ye Qing by the wrist.

Like a child impatient to show a new toy to a friend, she headed straight for the laboratory.

Giving the higher-ups enough emotional validation was Ye Qing's primary job at Abyss Return.

He knew quite a bit about the specific work of the other higher-ups and often offered them advice.

As this happened more often, the way they got along became no different from friends.

This kind of physical contact was naturally common and perfectly normal.

Zhao Xueshan's laboratory.

Inside stood the Super-Electromagnetic Trap Prototype Type II Mecha, its exterior not yet modified. With a new device installed, it should count as a Type III Mecha now.

"I took your suggestion and combined it with my own thoughts. A grandly launched Lightning Net makes it difficult to capture magical girls alive. The best chance to catch a magical girl is when she lets her guard down.

"So I developed a progressive current device. Each release makes the current rise exponentially, allowing it to launch a surprise attack the instant a magical girl relaxes!"

After saying that, Zhao Xueshan pressed the activation button.

Ye Qing had initially been rather confused, but the actual demonstration made him understand at once.

Electricity.

Current.

Current Resonance.

Current Resonance, Current Resonance.

Current Resonance, Current Resonance. I said, don't rush. I have activated.

After around five stages of current escalation, the electricity spraying from the Type III Mecha's chest slammed into the insulated glass, and the tangible current scattered and faded away.

Judging by its power alone, it really was enough to paralyze a magical girl.

After all, it took so long to activate. If its power was inadequate and it could not even compare with the quick-starting Lightning Net, that would be far too pathetic.

"What do you think of this idea?" Zhao Xueshan asked excitedly, as though she could already see the future where she captured magical girls.

"Although people say things never happen past the third time, after three times, magical girls will relax.

"And once my new mecha finishes charging, it will strike those magical girls after they have lowered their guard!"

"Heh... as long as you're happy." Ye Qing still thought it was pretty pathetic.

It could probably only catch idiot magical girls.

But on second thought, there really did seem to be quite a few idiot magical girls.

Hopefully, it would actually work.

"How about calling this move Current Resonance?" Ye Qing suggested.

"Mm, not a bad name. Straightforward and pleasant," Zhao Xueshan said with a satisfied nod.

"Then you should get back to finishing your work."

"See you!"

"I'm looking forward to the day you finish it and capture magical girls."

"Don't worry. I'll make the world remember my new mecha forever!"

After bidding farewell to Zhao Xueshan, who was immersed in development.

Just as Ye Qing returned to his private office, Ratman rubbed its little hands together and sidled over with a shifty expression.

Ye Qing had thought it had found some top-tier loot on a knife run in Real-Life Online. It looked that happy.

"You came so early again today. Good work," Ye Qing said, patting its shoulder with the bearing of a superior.

"Not hard at all, not hard at all." Ratman immediately felt honored and nodded repeatedly.

It silently decided to wear these clothes for two more days.

Although it really wanted to chat with the boss a little longer, reporting important matters was more important.

"Boss, I've successfully arranged the task you assigned," Ratman reported.

"Oh?" Ye Qing was slightly surprised.

Had he assigned any task?

Could it be the miscellaneous Abyss Return chores he had told it to have the members complete two weeks ago?

Not bad, not bad. Moving some things and mopping the floor—simple chores were closely tied to work too. This would help improve the Hypnosis Department's reputation within the organization.

"Not bad! The Hypnosis Department needs capable people like you." Ye Qing promptly encouraged it.

"For now, take a break. When there's something new, I'll let you know."

Meaning, once the floor got dirty from people walking all over it again, or the equipment needed maintenance again, they could talk after those miscellaneous chores came up.

As a slacker department, they needed to conduct a fairly large cleaning every so often to keep things hygienic.

Was the boss saying they should wait for matters to ferment, obtain new intelligence, adapt flexibly, and then carry out the new plan?

As expected of the boss!

"Boss, understood!"

"Don't copy the way I talk."