The following day at noon, at the Joint Investigation Bureau cafeteria.
Isaac spent the morning Joint Investigation Bureau past FBI files. Carlo had asked him to retrieve these from the archives; they weren't classified, but reviewing them would increase his basic understanding of investigating unusual events and how others generally handled them.
At that moment, he was recalling the contents of the case file while putting food into his mouth when he noticed Li Jiehao holding a tray, looking around not far away.
Li Jiehao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Isaac, and quickly walked over and sat down opposite Isaac: "Where's the boss?"
"He said he needed to speak with someone from the Section Two, and he's probably still out there," Isaac said.
Li Jiehao understood, picked up his fork, and said, "Sigh, this morning's training was really exhausting."
"Given your current physical condition, I doubt you'll be given high-intensity training."
Isaac was observed, and although no diagnosis was made, Li Jiehao, despite his obvious fatigue when he sat down, was in relatively good spirits.
"They didn't make me run, fight, or shoot with the other agents... they just made me do stretching exercises." Li Jiehao sighed. "But just stretching was enough to make my body suffer. I almost thought I was going to break in two. The instructor made me hold that position for twenty seconds, and it felt like an eternity."
As a person with a constitution of level 5, Li Jiehao suffered from long-term malnutrition. His strength was barely maintained due to his work of moving corpses, but his flexibility was obviously at its lowest point, and stretching would not be easy for him.
"The instructor asked me what I did before, and whether I had never trained at all. I said I used to move corpses from carriages to the morgue, or vice versa... Hey, the way he looked at me back then was so strange. Did he think I was some kind of weirdo?"
"I wouldn't say he's weird; I guess I just didn't expect you to be here. Hmm, quite a big change in his job."
"Hey... hey, what did you do this morning?"
"I looked through some old Joint Investigation Bureau files," Isaac said briefly.
The cases recorded in those files were incredibly diverse, ranging from haunted houses to cult gatherings, from curses to inhuman species, covering a wide range of topics.
"That sounds much more interesting than my stretching," Li Jiehao said enviously. "I also want to learn those things sooner."
"Take your time, things should be arranged later. By the way, nothing happened last night, right?"
"Everything's fine. After I got back, I collapsed onto the bed and slept like a log, without even dreaming..."
"It's good that you're alright." Isaac put down his fork. "The boss asked me to take you out this afternoon to get you some new clothes."
"Get some new clothes?" Li Jiehao looked down at his coarse cloth jacket. "Right, we're from the Joint Investigation Bureau, shouldn't we be wearing uniforms? I see everyone else is."
"People in the Section Nine don't usually wear uniforms; they dress casually. But the boss said your current outfit—well, it's not exactly presentable—might get you stopped by the security guard and asked a few more questions."
Isaac tried to avoid being too direct, since Carlo's original words were, "If you stood there with the Joint Investigation Bureau, you'd think you were a thief caught by the Joint Investigation Bureau."
While it's not entirely wrong in a certain sense.
"So you mean I have to wear something like this?" Li Jiehao scratched his head, looked at Isaac's hunting suit, and said uncertainly, "Can I wear that kind of formal attire? I feel like it would look weird on me..."
"Try changing into something else first. You'll probably get used to it after wearing it for a while," Isaac said.
Li Jiehao nodded. "Okay then... the boss will reimburse you, right?"
"Yes, he asked me to pay upfront and get reimbursed later. I'll go there after dinner; I know a clothing store not far from here."
Li Jiehao sped up his eating, mumbling, "Then I'll eat quickly, so as not to waste time."
Isaac had finished eating and was waiting for Li Jiehao. He thought to himself that although this guy seemed a bit unreliable, he was quite proactive in improving his own situation.
Li Jiehao also sped up his eating. After he swallowed the last bite, the two of them got up, cleared their plates, and left the cafeteria.
As Isaac walked, he tried to recall the location of Harper and Sons Clothing and Hat Shop. Grayson had led the way when he last went there, but the route wasn't complicated, and he remembered it.
As he turned the corner of the corridor, he looked up and saw two figures, one in black and one in white, facing each other at the far end of the corridor.
Fenri lay on the wall at the end of the corridor. Opposite her, a silver-white cat sat crouching, its tail swaying gently. It was Patch.
Neither the dog nor the cat moved, staring at each other, exuding a subtle tension.
Li Jiehao also witnessed this scene and stopped in his tracks. "Oh no, are they going to fight? I've heard people say that cats and dogs' body language suggests they don't like each other..."
"It can't be that bad, Fenri isn't a real dog, it's not like he'd fight a cat over that..." Isaac quickened his pace.
But as soon as he took a step, Fenri moved first, stood up, casually shook his fur, yawned, and turned to look elsewhere. Patch also lowered his head, raised his front paw, and licked it.
The two animals were busy with their own things, neither paying attention to the other, as if to say, "We're too busy to bother with each other."
Isaac slowed his pace, thinking to himself that something about this scene was... no, something was very wrong.
The dog and cat switched modes almost simultaneously upon seeing them approach, their coordination was almost too perfect. It was as if two people who were plotting something suddenly noticed a third party approaching, immediately stopped talking, and each pretended to be admiring the scenery.
Fenri, a being from the Wilderness whose power far surpasses that of the Foul Spirit, is certainly not simple, even though Isaac doesn't know its full details. So... could Patch not be an ordinary cat either?
Li Jiehao scratched his head. "What's going on with them?"
Literally, it means dogs acting furtively or cats acting furtively.
"I don't know either." Isaac suppressed his emotions. "Let's go, let's go to the clothing store first."
As they approached, Fenri came closer, while Patch flicked its tail, glanced at Isaac, and turned away.
Li Jiehao picked up Fenri's leash and followed Isaac out of the Joint Investigation Bureau.
Lake Pote, outside Vista.
This is the largest lake near Vista, surrounded by a marshland, rarely visited by people. Only a small boat floats on the lake, creating ripples.
"The weather is nice today, mostly cloudy, with neither strong direct sunlight nor a gloomy sky, perfect for a picnic."
Carlo leaned against the bow of the small boat and said leisurely.
Across from him, Section Two Chief Rano, holding an oar, was paddling steadily. Hearing this, he said, "Mr. Schuster, you didn't ask me to leave town for a picnic, did you?"
"Of course not, I'm just looking for a laborer to row a boat."
Rano gave a wry smile, didn't respond, and continued paddling.