He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

"emerald."

Tiev's arm, as thin as a pencil refill, rested on her chin. Her small face was completely expressionless as she whispered, "Are all young people's names this strange these days...?"

Cui didn't hear clearly and looked bewildered. Just as she was about to take a few steps forward quietly, she saw Tiev flapping her thin wings and flying towards her.

She was involuntarily drawn to the pair of wings.

-So beautiful.

Like beautiful horns branching out, resembling a transparent coral tree, with emerald green light particles flowing like liquid, as pure as blood vessels, weaving intricate patterns that extend to the microscopic world like a fractal structure.

—These are the characteristics of fairies: wings as light and thin as insect wings.

Fairies, an extremely rare humanoid race that numbers in the entire kingdom but not exceeding three digits, are almost entirely creatures of imagination. Most people consider them an urban legend, and they might be used in various creative spaces with concepts like "palm fairy," but very few people know that they actually exist.

They are genuine "Fantasy Species"—in fact, Ms. Meli, whom Cui just met, was also a Fantasy Species, just with a difference in rarity. Dwarves are not few in number in the hive city. Due to their superior innate abilities such as lifespan and mystical adaptability, they wield considerable influence in the upper city. The "Ansegros United Industries," or "Ansegros Heavy Industries" for short, dominated by halflings, is an absolute "giant corporation."

Even though it wasn't the first time she'd encountered this eccentric director, Cui was still a little flustered when she saw Tiev suddenly fly towards her. She hurriedly waved her hand and said, "Sir, no need to trouble yourself, I can hear you clearly."

"Hmm, that's not frank at all."

Despite its small size, Tiev's flight speed was surprisingly fast. Before Cui could even react, a emerald green shadow had already stopped right next to her. Cui immediately held her breath, afraid that if she breathed too hard, she would be blown away by the director.

At this close distance, she was finally able to see the great figure's full appearance—ignoring her size, she looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, similar to Cui's own age. However... the appearance of a fairy could not be used as a reference. As an immortal being born from fantasy, Tief's true age might exceed Cui's imagination.

It is said that fairies are the winged beings farthest from the sky and the shelled species farthest from the ground. They are neither close to birds nor belong to worms, so they can only roam in areas higher than shrubs and lower than clouds. Only moths, which are also disliked by birds and insects, are willing to accept them. Almost every fairy, once they qualify to enter the Grand Gift Pool, will eventually gravitate towards the moths.

The head of the Countermeasures Bureau, the internal manager of the entire foundation, is this "girl" who barely exceeds the height of a palm, Tiev, a fantasy fairy.

Tiev hovered in front of the girl, hands behind her back, upper body leaning forward, eyes wide as she looked her over. She circled the girl twice, then sat down with satisfaction, choosing a spot on her shoulder and smoothing out the hem of her skirt.

"Don't be nervous..." Tiev crossed her legs and whispered in Cui's ear, "I can't be bothered with all those rules and regulations, just do whatever makes you comfortable."

She flapped her wings: "Tsk... I've actually been wanting to install a speaker inside the chair, but they said it would damage the director's image. But how can a fairy like me have an image—it's too strange."

Cui didn't dare to answer, she didn't even dare to breathe. A year later, she recalled her life at school: when she couldn't answer a question during an exam, she wanted to glance at the next room—but when she looked up, she found the self-monitoring camera flashing red light right in front of her.

Politeness was out of the question for the moment, and Cui couldn't defy the physiological limits of her cervical spine to turn her head back 120 degrees to look directly at Tiev. She could only speak to the air in front of her and say directly, "Your Excellency, what are your orders?"

Master Cui, try to cut into her mid lane—strive for a quick victory and finish get off work smoothly within three minutes.

"An order? It's not that forceful. I just want to have a chat with you."

Oh no! The leader used the "chat" skill, and it worked wonders. Cui's face turned ashen instantly.

"Find a seat... This angle is too high, I'm not used to it. It'll be better if you sit down." Thief directed Cui to sit on a chair by the wall. "This is much more comfortable. Hmm, you look familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"I delivered some documents to you about two weeks ago," Cui said succinctly. In fact, she had already told Tiev her name last time, but this lady must have forgotten.

That's normal; who would remember an intern's name?

Cui Xin said she didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Ten seconds later, all was silent.

Cui began to feel uneasy, unsure of what she had said that had caused the silence, and dared not turn to look at the bureau chief's expression—until a soft clapping sound rang out:

"Oh, I remember now."

Tiev waved her hand, and a document on the table slowly floated up, its pages fluttering as it flew toward Cui and opened in front of her.

"Your Excellency?" Cui tilted her head, almost pressing down on Tiev's shoulder, but she was also drawn to the contents of the document—the main purpose of her mission, a newly occurred emergency, which recorded the recent "new file entry into the Hume Tree archive".

Do you know this person?

The document stopped at a page with a portrait. Cui squinted and felt that the person in the picture looked familiar.

Tiev murmured somewhat uncertainly, "I just remembered—Tracy, you're a graduating student at the academy, right? This person... should be in the same year as you, oh no, she seems to be only the same age as you, but she'll graduate earlier than you."

She shook her head: "You're all recent graduates who went straight to the Foundation, your personalities overlap... No wonder you seemed so familiar. The academic faction has been declining in recent years, and it seems like there are hardly any students left in the Countermeasures Bureau. I got confused..."

-Of course I know her.

Tiev's soft voice lingered in her ear, as indistinct as a whisper: "Her name is Veltin, she's a genius, she's already an executive officer at such a young age, I even awarded her a merit before—she's the one who called Hume Tree for damage assessment this time, tsk, at her rate of promotion, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the next seat on the committee will probably be taken."

Cui's gaze gradually became unfocused as she recalled the time four years ago when she had just entered the academy.

The girl was only thirteen years old at the time. As a "genius" who stood out from the "elite selection" in the upper city, Cui was selected into the list of the Nest City Elite Cultivation Program and enrolled in Trinity College, which is known as the "Foundation's talent pool".

After four years of study here, 30% of the graduates receive offers from foundations and become prestigious foundation specialists—a "big shot" whose very name is enough to make people tremble.

The girl, who had just entered the academy, was full of confidence. She was proud and arrogant. Even though the people sitting around her were all "geniuses" from various districts of the upper city, Cui firmly believed that she was special.

She is indeed very outstanding.

In her first year, Cui passed all the projects with almost perfect scores in all subjects. Because of her outstanding talent, she was selected for the academy's "special class," which allowed her to learn about the existence of "mysticism" four years ahead of her peers.

Of course, due to the instability of a child's mental world, she was deliberately guided to "refuse to awaken" during this period to prevent things from getting out of control. Although she had not yet qualified to enter the Grand Ceremony Pool, she also completed elective courses in mystical theories such as "Ritual Studies," "Identification of Mystical Objects," and "Protection of Secrets" within a semester while maintaining perfect grades.

She felt that she was very close to that destination—as long as she graduated smoothly, Cui would be able to reach that world above the mortal realm, that red pool suspended in the invisible.

Then, at the closing ceremony after the first academic year.

Cui was not chosen as the "freshman speaker"—no one expected this, including Cui herself.

This task, which was usually handled by the best student of the year, was assigned to a girl whose name no one had ever heard of.

"Cui, that guy must have gotten in through connections... Don't worry about it too much."

Hearing the comforting words from those around her, the thirteen-year-old prodigy girl was very unconvinced.

That day, Cui specially wore a purple and red graduation cap that represented her status as "college leader," pinned the medal of honor given to her by the professor in the most conspicuous position on her chest, and then arrived at the conference hall early and sat in the most central position in the entire hall.

After all the students were seated, the conference hall, filled with young men and women, became crowded.

But it doesn't matter; Cui still believes she is the supreme focus of this world.

Then, a silver-haired girl slowly walked up from backstage and stood facing the crowd. Although she looked delicate and petite, her eyes seemed to look down upon everyone—her amber pupils, like flowing gold, enveloped a youthful yet dazzling rising sun.

Cui noticed a small, inconspicuous tag hanging around her neck, much uglier than her own medal of honor.

But it had a strange tree shape drawn on it, along with two glaring ten-pointed stars—

The silver-haired girl spoke, her voice was very pleasant: "Hello everyone, my name is Virtin."

"This may be our first meeting today, and I'm very happy to be here for everyone..."

Wilting spoke slowly, but Cui couldn't hear a word he said. She only felt a constant ringing in her ears. Only at the end did she hear the silver-haired girl on the stage finish her speech, "I am now a full-fledged agent of the Countermeasures Bureau... I hope to see you all at the Foundation in the future. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors."

The girl, her feet treading on a long, blood-red carpet, left in a hurry, without ever making eye contact with Cui, who was in the very center of the audience.

She never looked anyone in the eye, not even the professors—it was arrogance flowing in her bones.

At that moment, Cui suddenly remembered this sentence.

- Genius is merely the threshold to my understanding.

Cui might not be considered a genius, so she never saw her again after that day.

I later heard that Virtue had officially graduated from the academy when she was just fourteen years old—there was nothing left for her to learn there, and the girl's file was completely transferred to the Foundation, where she quickly became the youngest chief agent in the Countermeasures Bureau.

I also heard that she was granted a spot on a grand road, personally awarded by the director of the Countermeasures Bureau.

The world revolves only around true geniuses, and the stars dim the moment the sun rises.

Cui no longer felt resentful; she just felt numb.

That's not someone I can pursue at all.

So the girl spent another three years in a daze at the academy, and finally entered the foundation directly with the highest score among the graduating students, but everything had already changed.

The foundation's staff structure changes frequently. In recent years, with the gradual decline of academic factions and the increasing influence of large corporations, as well as the rise of emerging factions such as the "Macro-Ethnic Mutual Aid Alliance" and the "Nest City Ecological Protection Organization," upward mobility channels have been frantically diverted.

Most of the colleges that originally dominated the talent market have closed down in recent years, leaving only a few training institutions directly under the foundation, which are still thriving thanks to the direct talent flow from their parent organizations.

But this is an internal channel, which is simply sending people to their own people – this kind of left-hand-to-right-hand operation ultimately doesn't bring in any fresh blood, until it evolves into a situation where everyone is just going to die from the same old tricks.

The academic school has clearly reached its end, and it's unclear how many more political cycles it will take to recover.

The class that Cui was in could be considered the last swan song of the academic school.

Actually, there were only a few small fish and shrimp left...

—And there's also a dim-witted detective who struggled for a year without getting rid of his "intern" label.

.

The girl remained silent for a long time before finally murmuring, "Vildin, she went to the lower city?"

"Yes, she went there voluntarily. Although the lower city is a terrible place, as long as she can rise to the decision-making level there, the door to the committee group will be opened for her when she returns to the upper city. She is indeed a genius, and her career plan is perfect."

Tiev seemed oblivious to Trish's somewhat downcast mood, and continued talking in her ear.

-Yeah, after all, she's a genius.

Cui thought to herself, then asked softly:

"Sir, is there any instruction you're giving me by showing me this?"

"..." Tiev did not answer immediately. She controlled the document to flip through the pages at will. Without warning, the next second, the paper was instantly burned in a burst of flames and turned into nothingness.

Cui watched this scene quietly.

Tiev flapped her wings twice on the girl's shoulder, her tone unchanged: "Emerald, do you know anything about the outskirts?"

"Only furs are there; that's the lower town's sewer, one of the passageways connecting to the bottom nest."

"I see..." Tiev's voice sounded somewhat unsteady. "And what about the lower town... do you know anything about it?"

"Sir, please tell me your orders directly."

"Hey, I already said that commands sound too harsh. We're having a chat... we're discussing things."

Tiev seemed a little guilty, though it was unclear why a bureau chief would feel guilty in front of a junior agent: "Tracy, I think your current position is a bit awkward. You shouldn't just stay here and not move... you know?"

- I don't understand.

Cui remained silent, waiting for the next response.

Tiev: "So, why don't you go down to the city and experience life there?"

"?"

Cui tilted her head and almost bumped into the bureau chief again—it's hard to say whether this was intentional.

-No wonder you feel guilty. If word gets out, it would be too disgraceful for a bureau chief to bully an intern in the workplace.

"So, has this meant I've been demoted?"

"No! What demotion? This is an opportunity—I'm giving you an unprecedented chance. In the lower city, you will have the exact same level of authority as the executive director, including the same benefits as within the system, and all your rights will be completely identical!"

- So, what's the price?

Cui knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, so she didn't rush to speak.

Tiev lifted her hand from the girl's shoulder, hovering in front of her, and smiled in a conspiratorial tone: "I want you to go to the outskirts and investigate a name, a code name, a lingering influence for me—"

-Influence?

Cui was confused. The word "influence" cannot be used casually. If something intangible can be left in the mortal world and can be called "influence", it must be at least a second-stage mysterious power.

Could a second-stage mystic exist in a place like the outskirts of the city?

Seeing Cui hesitate, Tiev added seemingly casually after a few seconds of silence:

"The outskirts... Virtue is there now too."

"..."

.

.

Three minutes later, as if some kind of consensus had been reached, Cui left the director's office with "special permission" from Tiev.

The door closed, and silence fell over the small office. The deer head statue on the wall cast an ever-present, insightful gaze.

Tiev returned to her chair, which could be used as a bed, and remained motionless as if in a daze.

After a long while, she suddenly snapped her fingers, and all the documents on the table and the floor instantly burned to nothingness.

This is how the secret scriptures are read, but Tiev prefers to use it for official business. Because the red liquid has no distance limitations, through these observations from afar, the perceptive fairies can even sense the ripples rising from the depths of the red pool.

A moment later—

"The outskirts..."

She read it softly, as if taking a deep breath.

"Sewage discharge".

"Malice, Hume's Tree, Wilting, Sherlock, Moon Bar, the Grand Road of Dogma, Raven..."

What else—

"Eileen, Lin, Nie... a genius with the potential, a corporate slave, a child whose awakening was natural..."

All of it is seemingly unrelated information...

It's a mess, but also very clear.

Tiev chuckled softly.

There's no need for overly complicated analysis.

Anyway, it's all related to you—

"Ash."

I hope you've hidden it well.