Investigation Bureau

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Investigation Bureau (调查局)
Alias(es)	Special Affairs Investigation Bureau; Koi Investigation Bureau 41 397
Affiliation	Koi Nation / Koi Continent, Blue Star 41 618
Occupation/Role	Investigates supernatural incidents; tests, registers, and contains Special Items; combats illegal supernatural organizations 41 67 565
Headquarters	Koi City 363
Branches	Includes Whale City, Octopus City, and Squid City 41 223 325
Predecessor	Counterespionage Intelligence Bureau 68
Established	Five years before Captain Luo explains its history to Ke Meng 68
Status	Active; continues pursuing Shadow Stream threats in the latest documented events 635 646
First Appearance	Introduced by name in Chapter 41 41

Power Progression

The Bureau’s documented growth concerns personnel, resources, and institutional combat capability rather than a single cultivation realm.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Founding security foundation	68	A justice-minded Special Item exposes spies within the predecessor agency and becomes the cornerstone of the reorganized Bureau.
Expanded investigator force	224	Reaches 20,000 investigators, compared with slightly over 9,000 when Ke Meng joined; logistics and support personnel are excluded.
Enlarged recruitment pool	523	A spiritual-perception-enhancing fruit tree allows more people to qualify. Its full-fledged investigator force begins outnumbering those of other countries.
Rebuilt top-level combat strength	595	After losing several Zero-Level Items and senior investigators, Ke Meng’s donations and newly promoted S-Class members restore its top-level strength to scarcely below its level two months earlier.
Bureau-wide spiritual training	560	Adopts Ke Meng’s spirituality meditation method across the organization.
Elder-level combat capability	635	With a Zero-Level Item supplied by Ke Meng, a Bureau member can fight a Shadow Stream Elder, although elusive targets still require Ke Meng’s intervention.

Background / History

The Bureau originated from the Counterespionage Intelligence Bureau, a secret agency that also controlled the country’s early Special Items. Ordinary police investigating supernatural cases lacked access to those resources and often relied on personal resolve alone 68 187.

Its reorganization followed the acquisition of an item capable of identifying malicious people seeking to divide the nation and create chaos. The item exposed numerous spies and potential wrongdoers within the predecessor agency. Authorities rebuilt the organization around a screened founding group, establishing the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau 68.

Initially, the Bureau concealed its premises and suppressed public knowledge of supernatural phenomena. Koi Continent later revealed Special Items publicly, allowing investigators to identify themselves openly rather than pose as ordinary police 41 445 569.

Organization & Personnel

Authority and Structure

• Director-General: Oversees national investigations, personnel appointments, infrastructure, item testing, diplomacy, and defenses against illegal organizations 596.
• Headquarters and regional branches: Coordinate classified decisions, resource allocation, and operations across provincial boundaries 325 363.
• Numbered investigation groups: Handle field assignments with specialized combat, medical, and investigative roles 67 80.
• Think tanks and researchers: Analyze enemy methods, develop response plans, test anomalies, and assess new technology 295 326 423.
• Police and military cooperation: Uses police records and search warrants, works closely with special forces, and requests military fire support when containment fails 143 152 177 211.

Personnel Ranks

Rank	Documented meaning
S	Highest personnel rank; S-Class members participate in strategic decisions and high-risk operations 67 363 600.
A	Holds access to highly classified information, including Big-Faced Cat and Door Organization intelligence 42 389.
B, C, D	Intermediate ranks within the seven-rank system 67.
E	The established members of Investigation Team No. 49 hold this rank when Ke Meng joins 67.
F	Newcomer rank; Ke Meng initially meets its equivalent criteria despite owning a Class-One item 67.

Rank depends on physical fitness, spiritual perception, and experience handling special incidents, not merely item ownership 67.

Membership Arrangements

Arrangement	Access and conditions
External member	Can register privately owned items and view their own files in the national classified archive, but not other owners’ records 42.
Temporary personnel	Retains personal items, receives fewer benefits than permanent staff, and normally shares rewards according to contribution 66 67.
Full-fledged investigator	Undergoes regular justice screenings in the capital 68.

Key Personnel

• Director-General — National leader; directs disaster response and containment decisions. Repeatedly proposes Ke Meng as his successor, but Ke Meng refuses 411 593 595.
• Wu Hao / Director Wu — Whale City branch director; organizes reopened cases and approves sensitive investigations 187 211.
• Director Lei — Oversees testing, field response, and Ke Meng’s protection; also delivers public introductory lectures on supernatural affairs 140 152 523.
• Luo Yuan / Captain Luo — Investigation Group 49 captain and Ke Meng’s principal liaison. Later becomes an S-Class member and custodian of the Teleportation Stone 67 389 600.
• Ke Meng — Begins as an external member, becomes temporary combat personnel, and develops into a strategic investigator, item supplier, and teacher. His unofficial benefits approach S-Class standards before he holds the Director-General’s office—which he never accepts 42 66 192 596.
• Cheng Le — Group 49 attacker who assists with evidence collection and Synesthesia 80 98.
• Liang An / Doctor Liang — Group 49 doctor; explains investigative equipment and evaluates case evidence 80 211.
• Shi Jun / Bandaged Man — S-Class investigator whose faint presence causes others to overlook him; later suffers serious amnesia 254 600 609.
• Zhong Yongmao / Flaming Man — S-Class wielder of a fire-type Zero-Level Item capable of burning every tested substance 363 365.
• Di Ping — Frequent participant in item-based interrogations and dangerous field operations 143 178 191.
• Director Zhang — Octopus City branch director; repeatedly attempts to recruit Ke Meng 223 535.

Recruitment & Training

Entry Requirements

• Applicants submit applications online and must meet a minimum Spiritual Perception threshold 209.
• Screening also checks for suspicious gray or black auras above applicants’ heads 210 310.
• Photograph-based perception tests use anomalies such as the Infinite Door, whose nested layers are perceived differently by different candidates 68 210.
• Newcomers normally study foundational knowledge for roughly six months before taking missions and working toward promotion 92.

Education and Support

• University of Special Affairs: Campuses train students in the Bureau’s accumulated investigative knowledge. The documented course plan consists of one year of theory and three years of Bureau internships; fast learners may begin internships early 92 209 310.
• Recruitment transition: As university campuses expand, the Bureau expects to move away from direct public recruitment toward hiring trained students 209.
• Free team training: Provides combat assessments, instructors, pet analysis, and tactical guidance to improve team strength 67.
• Spirituality instruction: Adopts Ke Meng’s meditation method and supports his teaching of special jade production for removing mental pollution 560 596.

Security & Confidentiality

Justice Screening

• The Bureau’s barrier amplifies abnormal traces and makes suspicious auras easier to see 68 92.
• Black smoke reflects divergence from the Bureau’s concept of justice, not a universal measure of moral purity. Its practical standard centers on protecting Koi Continent 116 210 363.
• A suspicious aura prompts police investigation or monitoring; it does not automatically establish that a crime has occurred 210.
• Headquarters uses a stronger screening associated with a miniature satellite and the Bureau’s barrier 363.
• Returning personnel may be checked for replacement or ideological corruption by reciting the investigator code before a special badge 473.

Known limitations:

• Dormant influence from hidden entities can evade screening 68.
• Threats sealed inside Special Items are not detected by the barrier 160.
• Perception-blocking barriers do not prevent every form of supernatural observation 577.
• Extremely powerful personnel require extensive testing: after Ke Meng’s return from the Void, the Bureau conducts dozens of mental-state assessments rather than relying on the absence of black smoke 618.

Classified Records

• Registered items receive identification numbers, test records, and entries in the national classified archive 42 197.
• Big-Faced Cat’s existence is restricted to A-rank members; unauthorized testing staff have their memories of it erased, while Ke Meng is exempt as its owner 42.
• Lower-ranking staff normally lack access to Class-Two or lower-numbered items. Necessary mission exposure can instead be handled through confidentiality agreements 80.
• The enchanting ability behind standard-issue glasses is disclosed to users, while the source item’s identifying details remain secret 80.
• Priority protection targets are monitored through cameras by an internet-based being 211.

Operations & Methods

Special-Item Registration and Testing

• Owners may keep controllable items that do not harm society; registration does not automatically require surrendering them 41.
• Tests document composition, dimensions, force output, sensory abilities, and side effects. Owners are asked to report later effects so records remain current 42.
• The Bureau can send testers to an owner’s chosen location rather than require a visit to its premises 41.
• Contribution points can purchase items or convert a loan into permanent ownership 79 197 439.
• Testing may be stopped when additional knowledge is not worth the risk or expense. The Eerie Script Book is sealed rather than subjected to continued experimentation 142.

Field Investigation

• Investigators enter Special Fields, identify their source, and either contain the anomaly or withdraw and request higher-ranking assistance 67.
• Synesthesia is combined with physical evidence, witness interviews, laboratory analysis, surveillance, and online purchase records 98 177.
• Precise Synesthesia can expose investigators to hostile information or planted clues. Protective items may reduce that danger while also weakening the perception needed to find a target 98 142.
• Drones, concealment barriers, traps, rehearsals, and teleportation escape plans are used before entering unknown door-connected areas 600 601.
• Repetitive testing continues even for apparently ordinary objects: some anomalies manifest only once after tens of thousands of trials 632.

Containment and Interrogation

• Sealed Items restrain hostile entities, including shadows that could otherwise escape dying hosts 160 469.
• Light-based items expose, separate, and restrict Shadow Stream entities 152 224 491.
• Freedom Dance Headscarf compels suspects to reveal information through an item-based interrogation process 160 178 522.
• Separate interrogations allow investigators to cross-check accounts and identify mistakes or deception 513.
• Dangerous supernatural individuals may be contained for observation and study rather than immediately killed 295 522.

Last-Resort Destruction

• Missile bombardment is permitted when containment is impractical and a threat risks spreading beyond the Bureau’s ability to respond 67 142 143.
• Destroying a Special Field’s terrain can consign its occupants and contents to another dimension, making this an absolute last resort 67.
• Operations are recorded when bombardment will destroy evidence and prevent later reconstruction through Synesthesia 143.
• A field can also be deliberately banished into the Void by damaging its edges until it no longer aligns with the world 593.

Facilities & Resources

Major Facilities

• Whale City branch: Located in the Technology Development Zone, initially disguised as Special Affairs Responsibility Co., Ltd., with armed soldiers guarding its unmarked entrance 41.
• Headquarters: Based in Koi City. Both Headquarters and regional Bureau premises are themselves Special Fields 363 593.
• Sealing Pavilion: A vast underground library in an alternate dimension used to store sealed items. It possesses an artifact spirit and an enormous guardian; it is later judged unsafe after becoming increasingly uncontrollable 412 593.
• Warded testing rooms: Spirit-banishing talismans prevent evil entities from escaping through the walls; testers also carry restraining items 140.
• Holy Light Pool: Used in handling captured shadows and examining dangerous whispering items 160 178.
• Spatial reception points: Support rapid travel between branches using Bureau-issued teleportation stones 325.

Equipment and Strategic Assets

• Special-silk uniforms: Produced by a contained entity in sufficient quantity for investigators nationwide; unlike ordinary clothing, they can cross restrictive Special Field boundaries 67.
• Enchanted glasses: Provide Spirit Vision and help reveal supernatural traces, though removing them can cause discomfort 80.
• Rationality Items: Protect mental stability during exposure to hazardous information 143 177 344.
• Network Divine Beast: Traces online activity, penetrates proxy networks, manages information suppression, and processes dangerous footage into a form safe for human viewers 423 556 570.
• Koi Gate: Headquarters’ luck-bestowing entrance object; collapses during the Door Organization’s attack 363 574.
• Zero-Level Items: Strategic assets with exceptional effects and potentially lethal costs to their users 365 575.
• Transport: Uses charter aircraft, helicopters, military aircraft, spatial transfers, and submarine extractions according to operational need 323 325 390 465 569.

Public Service & Outreach

• Anomaly hotline: A large staff answers questions and reassures callers frightened by possible supernatural experiences 337.
• Science communication: Verifies Ke Meng as a Special Affairs Science Communicator and agrees to screen review footage for sensitive material 66.
• Public education: Releases introductory lectures on spiritual perception, item safety, and illegal supernatural organizations 523.
• Victim care: Provides psychological counseling after supernatural incidents 228.
• Disaster rescue: Uses Special Items to stabilize structures, clear earthquake rubble, control flooding, and evacuate residents 411 455 560 569.
• Medical research: Develops targeted medicine using Special Items, although Ore Disease’s ability to bypass physical quarantine presents a different containment problem 565.

Public messaging remains selective. During the Ore Disease crisis, Headquarters initially suppresses alarming reports to protect the evacuation, then instructs Ke Meng to acknowledge the disease’s properties and reassure viewers 569 570.

Relationships

• Ke Meng — Strategic partner and major supplier of otherworldly items. The Bureau protects his ownership, loans equipment, grants access to classified resources, and sometimes reduces his field assignments to safeguard him 79 152 197.
• University of Special Affairs — Trains prospective investigators and provides a growing recruitment pipeline 209 310.
• Police and special forces — Supply conventional investigative support, warrants, evacuation assistance, and armed protection 152 177 211.
• Foreign Investigation Bureaus — Separate national agencies with which Koi exchanges warnings and intelligence, conducts joint operations, and eventually joins a five-continent alliance 444 491 596.
• Overseas undercover agents — Infiltrate foreign Bureau ranks; Koi arranges submarine rescues for those who choose to return during the global flight shutdown 465.
• Shadow Stream Organization — Persistent enemy specializing in possession, infiltration, and covert communication; targets Bureau officials and contained items 98 161 412.
• Door Organization — Interworld enemy whose operations involve missing persons, dangerous knowledge, Ore Disease, and the assault on Headquarters 389 565 570.
• Frog Society — Target of an overseas mission led by an S-Class investigator, with Ke Meng appointed deputy captain 254.
• Vampires and werewolves — Subjects of investigation, controlled testing, and containment; not every transformed individual is treated as an organized enemy 254 522 535.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arc	Bureau involvement and outcome
Ke Meng’s registration	Tests Tangyuan, Mighty Gloves, and Big-Faced Cat; opens Ke Meng’s external-member account and establishes cooperation 41 42.
Investigation Group 49	Recruits Ke Meng as temporary combat personnel and assigns him to an anomalous elevator disappearance 66 67 80.
Vampire Bat incident	Group 48 suffers deaths and mental corruption. Group 41 subsequently lures out the bats under protection and coordinates missile bombardment 142 143.
Shadow Stream infiltration	Interrogation uncovers dormant decoys, Shadow Coats, and a plan to release dangerous contained items and destroy Whale City 160 161.
Reopened well case	Revisits the disappearance of 34 children nineteen years earlier, arrests Zhuang Jingyu, and dismantles remaining child- and organ-trafficking operations 187 191.
Ding-Ding Bell incident	Traces a worldwide surge in criminal confessions to Ke Meng’s video and reassesses the apparently modest Level-Six item’s mass influence 192.
Domestic Shadow Stream sweep	Coordinates a prolonged campaign using Ke Meng’s Demon Map and interprovincial travel. Shadow Stream orders evacuation, and its detectable presence on Koi Continent is largely dismantled 323 325 327.
Faith-erasure operation	Approves “Lightning Dharma King’s special operation” to attempt rehabilitation of captured deacons; gains detailed intelligence about shadow techniques 397 400.
Koi City earthquake and attack	Rescues residents while Shadow Stream launches assassinations and a raid on the Sealing Pavilion. The Pavilion’s guardian subdues its intruder 411 412.
International Shadow Stream campaign	Shares intelligence with the other four continents and helps coordinate a worldwide crackdown after the organization’s leader falls 491.
Werewolf enforcement	Finds roughly 700 werewolves without a central organization. Those violating local special laws are sentenced to service under regional investigation groups, while their worship remains monitored 535.
Starry Sky Road campaign	Supports sealing hundreds of doors, installing traps and drones, and safely processing the surveillance feed against the Door Organization 556.
Ore Disease and Headquarters assault	Organizes Shiyuan City’s spatial evacuation while the Door Organization attacks Headquarters to recover the Door of Knowledge. Most S-Class members inside the Pavilion fall 569 570 575 579.
Sealing Pavilion crisis	Maintains lockdown after the battle, then evacuates Headquarters and bombards its field’s edges in an attempt to banish the increasingly untrustworthy Pavilion 577 593.
Recovery and Gathering Corridor	Replenishes strategic items and promotes new S-Class personnel. A joint operation captures disciples and begins investigating a corridor whose 149 doors lead to different planets 595 600 601 602.
Blue Star Will intelligence	Receives locations of 42 remaining Door Organization doors and several Shadow Stream Elders from Ke Meng, opening a new phase of pursuit 618 635.
Continuing hidden threats	Supports Ke Meng’s investigation of a newly transformed Shadow Creature and takes custody of her after he traces a deeper presence to a companion realm attached to Blue Star 646.

Notable Quotes

“If you can control them and keep them from harming society, you can keep them yourself.”
— Captain Luo, on private ownership of Special Items 41

“Do a proper job. Don't wrong an innocent person, and don't let any bad ones get away.”
— Director Wu, assigning the Galixi investigation 211