He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Hallownest, Upper City, Trinity Foundation Headquarters.

Special Countermeasures Bureau.

.

The countermeasures bureau remained busy even in the early hours of the morning.

Regarding overtime, the lazy Lower City residents still consider it a chore, but the hardworking Upper City residents have long regarded it as a tradition—especially the Foundation's group of shrewd individuals, whose average daily working hours last month exceeded 18 hours. Within the Countermeasures Bureau alone, the daily consumption of enhancement agents could support ten giant processing workshops operating at full capacity.

A young woman in a light blue uniform, looking extremely anxious, hurriedly ran down the corridor carrying a stack of documents that was half her height.

"emerald--"

Suddenly someone called her name. Cui instinctively bowed in the direction of the voice, her steps never faltering: "Sorry, I'm very busy right now..."

"I have eyes, of course I can see it." The voice was obviously closer. Cui turned her head to the other side and was so frightened by the face that was so close that she almost fell.

"Senior Meryl, you startled me..."

Although she had gotten used to life in the Countermeasures Bureau, the strange seniors around her always brought some surprises or unexpected events to Midori's work.

Meryl—although only one level above the intern Midori in rank, she's already considered a veteran of the Countermeasures Bureau. She's said to have started working as an agent in the Execution Department right after graduation. Her age is unknown, but she's likely served the Foundation for a long time. It's unclear why she hasn't been promoted, and she always refers to herself as "senior."

As a foundation employee who rose through the ranks from the academic faction, Cui has a rather rigid concept of workplace hierarchy and belongs to the most traditional faction.

Therefore, she maintained respect for every colleague who was more senior than her.

Even if this senior is a bit of a rascal.

She grumbled inwardly, her work interrupted by the incident, so she stopped and gave a slight bow to Meryl, saying, "Good evening, Meryl-senpai."

Before her stood a short woman, perhaps less than 1.3 meters tall, who looked like a child but had a tall and sturdy build. Her shoulders and skeletal structure were those of a well-proportioned adult.

—This is the sexual characteristic of a halfling, which is what is commonly referred to as a "dwarf" or "short person".

Unlike plecos and sand cats, which are "small humanoids" whose size is limited by their sexual characteristics, their average height is indeed less than 1.6 meters. However, depending on individual differences, some foxes and cats can grow to 1.7 meters—and some may even grow to 1.8 meters.

However, halflings could never possess such height—their mature individuals, like Ms. Meryl, have a skeletal structure scaled down to that of an adult. As a rare and desirable trait, they also have a longer lifespan than other humanoid species.

Judging from her appearance, Ms. Meryl seems to be over forty years old. Her squinting expression makes her look a bit tired. Her short, curly brown hair makes her look mature and intellectual. The color of her pupils is a bright yellow, like flames, which makes her seem unconventional... She always gives people a feeling that she is not very reliable.

"It's not night yet...it'll be dawn soon." Meryl, hands behind her back, smiled and circled Cui, then frowned at the pile of documents in her hands. "Why are you still using these paper documents? What kind of confidential information are you sending?"

Oh no, this has started a conversation.

Cui was a little helpless. She didn't want to delay work, but faced with an "inconsiderate" senior colleague, she could only compromise: "Senior Meili, I need to go to the director's office now..."

"We just received an emergency report from the outskirts of the city; new classified files are ready to be added to the archives."

Cui answered seriously, without being perfunctory, but in order to get away quickly, she tried to keep it brief: "An executive in the lower city has activated the final authority and called for Hume Tree computing power support. I'm going to report this to the director now—senior, you should know about that director. She's not very good at think tank stuff, so it's more convenient to use paper documents."

"Downtown? That godforsaken place actually has such a bold executive officer... I thought it was just a bunch of idiots left there, spending their days figuring out how to drink and party."

A hint of surprise flashed across Mary's face, then she nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, at least he's brave enough to gamble his career away in the bureaucratic atmosphere of the lower city. That executive officer has some guts. I'll get to know him sometime."

The executive officer... has a higher position than you, so shouldn't they be the ones getting to know you?

Cui silently complained to herself, but she also admired the executive officer.

Although the Foundation granted the Executives the authority to call upon the Hume Tree, very few dared to do so—Merry suddenly realized that the Foundation in Downtown wasn't entirely hopeless after all…

"Senior, I'm really busy." Cui was already trying to slip away. She gradually lowered her voice, sounding somewhat guilty, but quickly regained her composure. "I still need to report to the director. If you don't need anything else, I'll be going now..."

The last sentence was just out of politeness. Cui adjusted her posture, secured the pile of documents to her chest again, and was about to take a step.

"Wait." Meryl suddenly called out to her again, noticing a flash of frustration on Cui's conflicted face. Because she "didn't want to offend her senior," she suppressed her dissatisfaction and didn't let it show.

She's still a newcomer, and her facial expressions aren't quite right yet... Although she doesn't pay attention to these things while working in the Countermeasures Bureau, she can still tell from this small detail that Cui's skills haven't been fully developed yet.

Mary smiled "accidentally," like a cunning old fox who had just pulled off a prank.

This is so funny, it feels like teasing a kid.

She quickly regained her composure, her face turning serious: "How much potentiator did you inject this week... let me see."

Ignoring the resistance on Cui's face, Mei Li forcefully pulled Cui's right sleeve up to her shoulder, revealing a dense array of needle marks on her arm. If Mei Li hadn't always trusted Cui's character, she might have mistaken her for a poison dog.

"This is really outrageous..."

As a more powerful mystic, she could see through the flow of the crimson liquid that this junior was clearly overdrawing his energy and suffering from chronic poor health. Meryl shook her head and sighed quietly: "Young people these days are all so stubborn, acting like they can save the world just by working hard..."

"The Countermeasures Bureau is a large and well-established organization, and it doesn't need a newcomer to devote all their energy to it. Cui... you should also take care of your health."

"You're right, senior."

Seeing Cui's sullen expression, Meili couldn't help but sigh. She chuckled and flicked the girl's forehead with her fingernail, saying irritably, "On the surface, she's all respectful to her seniors, but she can't be bothered to listen to what I say... These kids these days are all so arrogant, the world is going to the dogs..."

"You're right, senior."

Cui pouted and repeated what she had just said, her tone stiff, as if she were a little angry.

Meili was also quite helpless: her junior was as sensitive as a little hedgehog... If she was even slightly touched, all her quills would pop out, which was really difficult to handle.

Who does he look like...?

Looking into the girl's emerald green eyes, Mary didn't know whose reflection she saw in them.

She always felt that Cui, at certain times, resembled someone she once knew. That arrogance hidden deep in her soul, and that undeniable sense of cowardice, were like a small animal that had been hurt by humans, building a nest with red liquid to protect itself deep within a vessel.

Do people start reminiscing about the past as they get older? This is a kind of inescapable law.

Unconsciously, a pair of hands, already showing wrinkles and looking small yet old, gently stroked the girl's head, lightly playing with her long, straight, black hair that was as smooth and beautiful as lead.

"Close your eyes." Ignoring the fleeting surprise in her emerald eyes, Mary repeated, "Close your eyes and listen to me—I can't let you call me 'senior' for nothing. I have something to give you."

Cui thought about it for a moment, then did as instructed.

The gentle, steady guidance in my ear: "Come on, place your hands on your chest, one on top of the other, stay still, don't move."

In the darkness with eyes closed, a fire seemed to be burning.

"Now, imagine yourself as kindling waiting to be lit—you are withered, fragile, dry, and cracked."

—You wait patiently for it to burn.

I wait patiently for the fire to burn...

Cui felt her blood flowing like a burning fire, like a shimmering flame rising and swaying towards the sky.

Meryl's voice, calm and slow, enveloped her: "We cannot know whether the liquid flows upwards, but apprentices who study fire know that the flames rise upwards. Just as the sun once promised—a radiance that cannot be hidden even by blinding the eyes, or the furnace's flames, still burning yet beautifully cold..."

The girl felt a burning sensation that spread from the back of her head to her entire body—her skin curled and wrinkled in the high temperature, and her red fluid began to boil.

"senior……"

Cui felt pain and instinctively wanted to struggle; she tried to open her eyes.

Those beautiful, emerald-green eyes could not see anything even through the covered palms. She felt the heat and glare in front of her growing stronger until two bright flames ignited from the gaps in her pupils.

Meryl's voice rose and fell, like leaping flames, gradually aligning with the fire in Emerald's eyes—

"In the season after the dawn has faded, we wander in the red pool, walk in the darkness, and pray for a path as bright as day to escape the slumber of the night… but that is a color that only the sun's light possesses, a color that has already vanished. And what does the furnace think? I think it is now up to 'fire' to decide, and so it forges the secret of illumination with the ritual of burning and rebirth."

The reshaping after melting is a new life.

"At this moment, I think the living are the hearth fire, and the dead are the sun."

"Forging Science"

Mary's body temperature had risen to its limit, and her blood truly began to boil—a physical boiling. The substance surging in her bright yellow pupils was red fluid, the fluid within her eyes—

She roared in a voice as heavy as steel: "Your heart is like fire, your weapon like forged steel."

"Ping—" The heavy sound of the forging hammer falling.

"Sizzle—" Then came the sharp whistling sound of quenching.

Finally, all sound stopped.

The scalding, hard material left behind in the extinguished embers, the reshaped vessel shimmering with a glassy hue in the crimson flames, translucent and crystalline, exquisitely beautiful.

.

That's so true to me!

Mary secretly breathed a sigh of relief:

It's done, and it's a success.

The forging technique... although it has been a very long time since I've used it on a living person, I'm not completely rusty yet.

Meili removed her hand from Cui's head, revealing a rare and obvious sign of exhaustion. There wasn't a trace of sweat on her body; all her bodily fluids had long been evaporated by the almost insane heat.

At that moment, Cui also opened her eyes—

"Senior?" She seemed confused about what had just happened, only feeling a burning sensation in front of her eyes, and her whole body felt like she was sick with a fever, sometimes cold and sometimes burning hot.

But soon, the unusual sensations dissipated like a dream. In their place came an unprecedented sense of "relaxation".

As if she had unloaded a burden she had carried for more than a decade, a clear and bright sense took over her mind. Her body had never felt so light and strong. She looked at her arms. The girl's body, which had seemed to melt like molten iron just moments before, was now as tender and white as a newborn baby whose amniotic fluid had just broken. Slightly bluish, transparent veins spread and grew along that thin membrane of water, with bright red, healthy blood flowing within them.

She felt her back straighten up, every inch of her body brimming with vibrant life force, and all her previous minor ailments vanished completely—she had transformed from an overworked young woman into an invincible, youthful beauty in an instant.

She realized what had happened and quickly bowed to express her gratitude, "Thank you, Senior Meryl..."

"Hey, I still prefer your rebellious side from earlier." Mary shook her head, tiptoed, and patted Cui's head. "Can you come back to normal?"

"Senior..." Cui said helplessly and sadly, but she couldn't do anything about Meryl, so she could only protest in a low voice, "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Alright, alright, you look pretty good now." Meryl covered her mouth and chuckled mischievously. "You're such a cute little girl... how come you look so mature for your age? You've been hanging out with those old guys too much, picked up all those bad habits."

"From now on, I'll listen to my seniors, work less overtime and less overtime—when are you going to treat me to dinner?"

The conversation was quite disjointed, but Cui still understood what Meili meant as if by telepathy.

The girl lowered her head and whispered, "Tomorrow night, nine... no, five o'clock to get off work?"

"At least you know a thing or two about social etiquette... Since you're treating me to dinner, go to bed early tonight—finish this job and get some rest. Tomorrow, I'll take you to do something fun, something you've never even seen before..."

"Okay... um... I will."

Finally, after coaxing the troublesome senior away, Cui breathed a sigh of relief.

It feels like I've found myself a mother figure at work.

Ms. Meryl has always taken good care of Cui, often making sure she eats on time. Sometimes she would pretend to be angry when she saw Cui overusing energy drinks, though she might actually be angry.

But the seemingly obedient but actually rebellious girl basically ignores all such warnings—however… after what just happened, things might change.

Since someone really cares about me, I should try a little harder... at least to consider her feelings.

Next time, I'll inject the synergist into my leg.

Then, Cui thought of the work she hadn't finished.

To be honest... there's not much of a rush. The manual review of files entering the database is just a formality. If there's anything of great importance affecting the entire Nest City, the Hume Tree System itself has the highest decision-making authority and will find a way to handle it as soon as possible.

Moreover, the director of the countermeasures bureau is a very strange person—she has no concept of time, whether it is delivered ten minutes earlier or ten hours earlier, it makes no difference to that big shot.

Shaking her head vigorously to clear her racing thoughts, Cui quickly arrived at the director's office.

No need to knock, just go in. That person doesn't care about etiquette.

"Excuse me, sir."

Although it wasn't her first time here, Cui was still a little nervous, her steps slightly unsteady. She carefully surveyed her surroundings as she dodged the piles of discarded manuscripts on the ground.

Hanging on the wall opposite the office door is a white clay sculpture of a deer's head. Its two bright black eyes seem to sparkle under the light, as if filled with profound wisdom, casting an enlightening and penetrating gaze into the room.

Cui's breathing became a little heavy.

As one of the three pillars of the Foundation, the Countermeasures Bureau oversees all internal affairs of Hallownest. Compared to the Inquisition's madmen who only know how to enjoy fighting, and those eccentric psychopaths—the Countermeasures Bureau is the theoretically responsible party, the power holder, and the ruler of the Foundation.

The committee seats have always been occupied by the Countermeasures Bureau, which holds about 70% of the seats, leaving the remaining 30% for the other two organizations.

The head of the Countermeasures Bureau, the person I am about to visit, is in a sense the apparent pinnacle of power in Hallownest, the "Supreme Governor".

"Your Excellency Thief, there is a new file entry application from Hume Tree Damage Assessment. It has a very high priority and requires your personal review."

The office was surprisingly small. Following the black carpet under her feet, Cui slowly walked to the desk and piled the documents in her arms onto it, instantly making the originally empty desk feel crowded.

"Also... these are the official matters that you've been accumulating and haven't been able to handle, so I brought them along for you."

After doing all this, Cui bowed to the leather chair with its back facing her, then tiptoed back to the door, nodded and said softly, "Your Excellency, I'll be leaving now."

.

"etc."

"……yes."

This scene looks familiar; it seems like this is the second time today that I've been stopped while trying to retreat.

Cui quickly adjusted her mindset, stopped in her tracks, stood in front of the chair, and quietly swallowed.

I'm so nervous...

She watched as the chair slowly turned around.

.

A petite figure sat in the middle of a leather chair, wearing a bright green short skirt that just reached her knees, her bare legs crossed, her posture casual and languid.

"Hmm, you're new here... What's your name again?"

The director's voice sounded soft and thin, unusually low; you felt like you had to get very close to hear him.

This is consistent with physics.

Because Director Thiev is only twenty centimeters tall from head to toe.

Looking at the "Hall of Nest's Archon" slumped in the dent of the chair like he was lying on a large bed, Cui suppressed her urge to complain, forced herself to be serious, and answered solemnly:

"I'm Cui, a trainee detective in the Execution Department."

.

.