The First Directive from the Director's Office, the Special Inspector

When Thomas entered the room, the silver balance plaque on his uniform collar was crooked by half an inch.

Lynn glanced around, but didn't speak immediately. She pushed the cold cup of tea on the corner of the table to the side. Thomas stood by the sofa in the reception area, not sitting down, but loosening his collar as if he had just run a long way.

"Sit."

Thomas sat down, placed his briefcase on his lap, and pressed the clasp twice before opening it.

"Minister Maximoff refused to accept the inspection order and wouldn't even let me through the third airtight door." He pulled out an inspection report filled with annotations and placed it on the table with both hands. "This is the on-site record. She blocked the door with Article 12 of the 'Supplementary Rules for Safety Management of High-Risk Laboratories' and also had her secretary hand me a ' Casualty Disclaimer '."

Lynn picked up the inspection report and flipped through it. Thomas's handwriting was messy, and in several places he had written too heavily, leaving marks on the paper.

"You signed the waiver?"

"Not signed."

"It's good that you didn't sign it." Lynn placed the inspection form flat on the table, pressing the paper down as she pushed it back. "She tries to stop you with the supplementary provisions, you try to stop her with the verification order. Both sides are operating within the rules, so neither owes the other anything. But if you're really willing to risk your life in the Chaos radiation, she won't stop you. She'd love for you to sign it."

Thomas clenched his teeth.

"Director, that's not how it works. The seal damage in Zero Storage Room is a case registered with the Joint Conference. I went there with the official seal, but I was kicked out before I could even open the sample box. How am I supposed to write a report? Write 'The special envoy was scared off by a disclaimer'?"

Lynn pulled a pen from the pen holder, uncapped it, and paused at the annotation column at the bottom of the inspection form.

"Write the report truthfully. She refused the inspection order, and you were obstructed from performing your duties; include these two points without embellishment."

With a swift stroke of the pen, he signed his name and added a small line of text.

"I approve the following: Inspection of Zero Storage Room is temporarily suspended. Reason: The Core Zone of the Ministry of Science and Department of Technology is currently undergoing a 'Magic Zeroing' test, and the high-risk environment is unsuitable for non-professionals to enter. The subsequent inspection time will be notified separately after consultation between the Director's Office and the Department of Technology."

Thomas took the annotations, read them twice, his lips twitched, and he finally couldn't resist.

"Director, what's the difference between your annotation and not approving it at all? 'Postponing, with further notice'—isn't that just helping her stall?"

"Whether it's delayed or not depends on how it's used." Lynn put down her pen and leaned back. "Thomas, how many years have you been an inspector?"

Nine years.

"Nine years, how many inspection reports have you handled?"

"I can't remember exactly. There must have been at least a few hundred."

"Of the hundreds of reports, how many can be implemented immediately after receiving approval?"

Thomas did not answer.

"Not even a fraction," Lynn said for him. "The rest depends entirely on connections. Take this annotation back, and when Director Hela asks, just say the Director's Office was ambiguous, neither saying they wouldn't investigate nor that they would investigate immediately. She'll naturally find another way. Then attach this inspection report verbatim to the end of the report. When she checks the file, she'll see the same thing."

Thomas tasted it, and his expression softened somewhat.

"You mean, let the Stability Maintenance Office run into the Department of Technology's wall on its own?"

"That's not what I meant." Lynn's tone was completely flat. "I'm only in charge of approving reports. How you write the report, and how Director Hela reads it, is your business."

He placed the inspection report and a newly issued note side by side and pushed them over.

"Take this note. The wording is vague, but the meaning is clear: the Seventh Laboratory must submit a self-inspection receipt first before the Director's Office will handle subsequent verification and coordination. Without the receipt, the Stability Maintenance Office's verification order is just a piece of paper."

Thomas picked up the note and glanced at it. It was addressed to the Department of Technology, and contained only one sentence. "The Seventh Laboratory is required to submit an internal self-inspection report and receipt by a specified deadline. Until then, all external verifications will not be accepted." It was signed by the Director's Office, with Lynn's name on it. The date was blank.

"You didn't fill in the date?"

"Take this and fill it out. Fill it out whenever you hand the slip to Wanda."

Thomas folded the strip, but instead of stuffing it into his bag, he ran his finger along the crease.

"Director, given Minister Wanda's temper, she might not even accept a note you approve."

"If she doesn't accept it, then you should go through the official document processing procedure. Once the document enters the Department of Technology's mailroom and is signed for, whether she accepts it or not is her business. Your job is to deliver the document, not to beg her to accept it."

Thomas stood up, straightened his uniform collar, and this time the scale insignia was in place.

"I see."

He stopped at the doorway.

"Director, after seeing the line of comments you just made, will Director Hela think you're favoring the Department of Technology?"

Lynn didn't even look up.

"Whatever Director Hela thinks, tell her to come and talk to me herself."

Thomas closed the door behind him when he left. Lynn heard footsteps walking down the corridor toward the elevator before picking up the internal phone to call the secretary's office.

"Xiao Zhou, keep an eye on things at the Ministry of Department of Technology's mailroom. After Thomas hands over the note, call Wanda's ministerial office and tell her you're relaying a verbal message—return the receipt to the Director's Office before 8 a. m. tomorrow. After you make the call, write it down: the time, the person on the other end, what was said—make sure you remember everything."

After Xiao Zhou finished taking notes, he asked one more question, "Director, why was it a verbal notification?"

"A written notice goes through official channels, which is too formal; she'd feel awkward about it. A verbal notification leaves her some leeway; whether she submits it or not is up to her."

"What if she really doesn't pay?"

"If she doesn't pay, we'll proceed with the process. But—" Lynn paused, "She will pay."

After hanging up the phone, he opened the defense briefing sent by the Stability Maintenance Office on the table and reread the line that Hela had marked in red pen.

"It is recommended that the Director's Office take the lead in verifying the damage to the lead seals in Zero Storage Room; the Stability Maintenance Office can provide technical support."

He wrote two words on the edge of the briefing, "Read." There was no date or signature, just those two bare words. When the briefing was filed, no one could find fault with it. "Read" meant that the reader was aware of it, but it didn't mention when the reader had read it or what the plan was to do after reading it.

Xiao Zhou saw it when he came in to deliver the coffee, but didn't say anything.

Lynn pulled out a routine document from the Department of Technology at the bottom of the briefing, which contained the monthly consumables list for the Seventh Laboratory. He flipped to the special paper section and his finger hovered over the number.

"Xiao Zhou, once the self-inspection report from Seventh Laboratory arrives, please take it out and place it on my desk. Process the other materials according to the normal procedure."

"Just take the receipt?"

"Just take the receipts. The rest should be sent to the Stability Maintenance Office as usual."

Xiao Zhou opened his mouth, but couldn't hold back in the end. "Director, what if the Department of Technology finds out you transferred the materials to the Stability Maintenance Office..."

"The materials were originally jointly managed by both parties. Transferring them to the Stability Maintenance Office was following the rules. Taking the receipt was following my rules." Lynn closed the list. "Wanda submitted the receipt of her own volition, not because I forced her. She understands the difference."

Xiao Zhou went out.

Lynn lowered his head and continued reviewing the routine materials. Next to the consumables list for the Seventh Laboratory, he lightly touched the special paper column with the tip of his pen and then drew a checkmark.

When the third document was being processed, an encrypted text message appeared on the terminal. The sender's code was "G".

The content consists of only one sentence: Long list, names of the dead, S-004, number seventeen, sixteen minutes.

Lynn glanced at the message for three seconds, then deleted it.

He picked up a pen, wrote four characters on a sticky note, and placed it next to the keyboard. When Xiao Zhou came in again, he saw it and asked what it meant.

"It's nothing. Gwen Stacy has finished checking the administrative department's accounts; the next step is to check the people."

Who are you investigating?

Lynn flipped the sticky note over and placed it face down on the table.