Internal Affairs Bureau

Biodata

Organization and Authority

• Military, not police: The Bureau is distinct from an ordinary police station. During Lu Yuan's first visit, Zhang Baocheng explains that personnel cannot deploy at will without orders 15.
• Regional chain of command: Zuo Ling is Ji Yin's immediate superior. Their positions carry both administrative and military forms of address 31.
• Interbranch mobilization: Regional leadership can assemble elite forces from nearby prefecture-level cities for a joint operation 39.
• Examination-site access: Bureau personnel are legally permitted to enter and leave examination venues, including classrooms, at any time 41.
• Internal accountability: Zuo Ling threatens to report Ji Yin to headquarters for assigning a civilian to a deadly military mission without authorization 31.

Known Personnel

Cultivator Insignia

Facilities and Resources

• Ning City compound: A heavily guarded entrance, reception hall, and director's office 15 25.
• Underground war room: Reached through several access-controlled doors; contains uniformed operations staff and computer systems used for mission briefings 26.
• Operational transport: Special operations vehicles support raids across Jiangzhou and surrounding areas 43.
• Internal information network: A detailed report of Lu Yuan's mission circulates through the Bureau's intranet, making his actions known to personnel elsewhere 44.
• Designated accommodation: A luxury garden hotel houses Lu Yuan's family in four suites at Bureau expense after the operation 42.
• Headquarters support: Local personnel forward difficult cases and captured suspects to headquarters when the required investigation exceeds their capabilities 39 43.

Operational Capabilities

Intelligence and Undercover Work

• Interrogates captured cultists to trace connections between local cells and regional leadership 26.
• Supplies infiltrators with contact procedures, cult slogans, tenets, and prayer methods 27.
• Uses civilian cover when a trained operative would be conspicuous: Lu Yuan replaces a high-school recruit because the cult does not know that recruit's identity 26.
• Possesses considerable intelligence influence beyond the local branches 44.

Armed Intervention and Civilian Protection

• Deploys cultivators for coordinated raids, arrests, and close-quarters assaults 17 39.
• Uses disguises and traffic checkpoints to approach targets without revealing an ambush 39.
• Employs an Azure Guardian Pearl, which creates a barrier shielding nearby civilians from Xu Wenbin's suicide bombing 39 40.
• Collects documents and physical evidence while interrogating survivors after raids 18 42.

Mental Techniques and Limitations

• Cultists are difficult to distinguish from ordinary people. Close-range mental detection can identify them, but Ji Yin cannot perform the required technique 17.
• Headquarters discovers that the Holy Descent Ceremony can rapidly turn people—including some low-level cultivators—into fanatical believers 31.
• Zuo Ling uses the Spiral Illusion Realm to incapacitate Li Tailai without alerting him, attempting to prevent his suicide 39.
• Hidden restrictions obstruct live capture and interrogation: Li Tailai survives Zuo Ling's intervention, but his brain is severely damaged 39.

History

Ning City Cult Investigation

Ji Yin publicly warned Ning City No. 1 High School that cultists were active nearby and instructed teachers and students to report suspicious activity to the Bureau. Behind the scenes, repeated failed raids led him to suspect that someone inside the Ning City branch was leaking information 1 17.

When Lu Yuan reported Xiao Bing's kidnapping, Ji Yin covertly warned him that a mole might be present. Lu Yuan understood and invented a claim that his sister carried something trackable. Ji Yin then staged his angry expulsion from the building, encouraging Zhang Baocheng to approach and abduct him 15 16 18.

Ji Yin followed Zhang to an abandoned factory, where Bureau personnel surrounded the cult's hideout and rescued the siblings. Zhang killed himself before revealing his protector. The Bureau subdued the surviving cultists, seized documents, and dismantled the Ning City cell 17 18 26.

Jiangzhou Infiltration

Prisoner interrogations revealed that the Ning City cell answered to a protector in Jiangzhou, where a larger operation was being prepared. The Bureau secretly arrested a newly recruited high-school student and arranged for Lu Yuan to enter the cult in his place. His objectives were to uncover the planned operation and, if possible, locate the headquarters and identify its leader 26.

Ji Yin warned that the classified assignment offered no operational support and awarded military merit only upon success. After Lu Yuan had departed, Zuo Ling learned of the mission and condemned Ji Yin's unauthorized use of a civilian. Headquarters had already circulated intelligence about the Holy Descent Ceremony, a danger Ji Yin had missed while watching cartoons during a meeting 26 31.

College Entrance Examination Attacks

Lu Yuan discovered plans to bomb Jiangzhou No. 2 High School and Guanghua School while other cultists attacked waiting parents. He passed Xiao Bing a written report identifying Dr. Li Tailai as the suspected protector. After receiving it, Ji Yin contacted Zuo Ling, who gathered elite forces from surrounding branches 35 37 39.

Zuo Ling targeted Li Tailai while disguised Bureau cultivators intercepted Lu Yuan's escort on Linchun Road. Xu Wenbin detonated his explosives during the ambush; an Azure Guardian Pearl protected nearby civilians. Ji Yin subsequently killed Guo Huai and stabilized the gravely wounded Lu Yuan with an Essence Restoration Pill. The planned attacks were thwarted, although the Bureau suffered casualties 39 40.

Cleanup and Aftermath

The Bureau searched Jiangzhou City Psychiatric Hospital, collected evidence, interrogated survivors, and launched further overnight operations against Li Tailai's network. Zuo Ling and Ji Yin reviewed Lu Yuan's account of the Holy Descent Ceremony and suspected that its dream-based mental influence depended on a mysterious bird. They referred the matter to headquarters 42 43.

The Jiangzhou victory had wider repercussions: cults across the Divine Land went into hiding, reducing pressure on the Bureau 48.

Relationship with Lu Yuan

• Recognition: Ji Yin secured a special commendation worth 10 additional written-examination points after the Ning City operation. Lu Yuan later earned military merit worth 200 points through the Jiangzhou mission 19 25 44.
• Emergency assistance: Agents accompanied the wounded Lu Yuan into the examination venue and carried him out afterward. Zuo Ling then insisted that he undergo immediate surgery 41 42.
• Family support: The Bureau paid for his family's hotel accommodation, and Ji Yin's assistant assured him that the Internal Affairs system would arrange protection against cult retaliation 42.
• Institutional favor: Zuo Ling personally promised that Lu Yuan could call upon the Bureau for a favor, acknowledging that the mission's danger had far exceeded expectations 44.
• Informal codename: Personnel dubbed him “Fucking Daredevil” after learning that he took the college entrance examination with a knife still lodged in his chest. Many believed he should join the Bureau after graduation 44.

Mission Terms Offered to Lu Yuan