I write obituaries for the gods

"Um..."

Lin Chen didn't know how to answer the girl for a moment.

He knew that the reason he could not predict the future was definitely the existence of the "Mirage City".

But the "Mirage City" is his trump card, and he doesn't plan to reveal it so soon.

"..."

Seeing that Lin Chen was somewhat embarrassed, Li Zhanyi stared at him for a while, and then the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

“Okay,” she patted Lin Chen on the shoulder, “I know you don’t want to talk about it right now, I understand.”

"It's not directed at you," Lin Chen said, "it's just..."

“I understand, I felt the same way at first.”

After saying that, the girl quietly ate her wontons and didn't ask any more questions.

Lin Chen raised his head, looked at the soft profile of the girl's face, and said softly:

"Miss Zhanyi, you..."

"Take off the 'Miss' title, why are you so reserved?"

"Okay," Lin Chen nodded slightly, "Zhanyi, why did you join the Investigation Bureau?"

"Well... there's nothing to hide from you."

Li Zhanyi put down the spoon and stretched.

"I was rescued from the subspace ruins by Section Chief Jiang. The first thing I remember is an explosion... an explosion... an explosion, and then I was thrown into a car..."

"I don't even know why I was in that ruin. If I hadn't had a medical check-up later, I wouldn't even know my age. I remember being... 12 years old?"

Li Zhanyi smiled at Lin Chen. When she was reminiscing, she was no longer as cheerful as usual and became much quieter.

"I grew up eating food from all the families at the Investigation Bureau, lived in the Bureau's affiliated community, and attended the Bureau's affiliated junior high and high school... I got into university on my own merit, Yu Da!"

"So amazing..." Lin Chen shrank his neck.

Rain Capital University... those are truly outstanding students.

Lin Chen's gaze toward Li Zhanyi was immediately imbued with the radiance of "academic superstar worship" that nine years of compulsory education had bestowed upon him.

Li Zhanyi, whose vanity had been satisfied, winked mischievously.

"Actually, I've been able to 'predict' things since I can remember, but I've never told anyone. After all, I come from the ruins of the warp, and what if I'm thrown back as a monster?"

"But later... there was really no other way."

"Why?" Lin Chen asked softly.

He hadn't expected the girl in front of him to have such a dark past, and for a moment he was at a loss for words.

"It was just a small thing. That day, when Lao Jiang picked me up from school, someone staged a car accident to assassinate him."

“I was waiting for him by the roadside, and I foresaw that he would be hit and thrown into the air in front of me, so I called him to warn him.”

"Sigh, she sacrificed her future for an old man. Luckily, Old Jiang promised back then that I wouldn't be thrown back into the ruins..."

After saying that, the girl smiled understandingly:

“It’s normal to be afraid of being seen as an outsider, but I think you’re the kind of person who will step up when others need you.”

"After all, you've done all this for Huihui, haven't you?"

Li Zhanyi patted Lin Chen on the shoulder and turned to deal with the remaining wontons.

"Eat up, after you finish you have to go to the Investigation Bureau for your onboarding training! Once you put on the uniform, you'll be one of us!"

Watching the girl happily eating, Lin Chen opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately said nothing.

He lowered his head and started eating the wontons in his own bowl.

......

Chapter 27 F Council

Half an hour later, at my doorstep.

Lin Chen looked at Li Zhanyi, who was wearing a school uniform and a beige overcoat, and couldn't help but complain:

"Is an overcoat standard issue for your department?"

"Hmm? Yeah, doesn't it look good?" Li Zhanyi lowered his head and shook his trench coat. "This trench coat has a bulletproof lining. It can withstand two 7.62 rounds without any problem. Any larger caliber and I might get hurt."

So authoritative?

Lin Chen looked at the stylishly tailored trench coat in disbelief and said:

"This trench coat... is it issued to everyone upon joining the company?"

"There will be one or two easy-to-change clothes, and you can choose the color yourself. This beige one is for when I'm not on field duty, and the other one is black for field duty, which is more resistant to dirt."

As the girl spoke, she lifted her foot back and tugged at the heel of her loafers.

“Let’s go,” she said. “Old Jiang is waiting for us downstairs.”

The two took the elevator downstairs together, and sure enough, Jiang Zhengge's car was already waiting at the door.

The section chief was leaning against the car, smoking with one hand and scrolling through his phone with the other.

The weather was quite nice today. Pale golden sunlight shone on the puddles by the roadside, and the dampness after the rain, along with the scent of grass, gave Lin Chen a sense of vitality.

"Good morning, Lao Jiang!" Li Zhanyi waved and immediately ran to the back door. "Lin Chen, you sit in the front!"

"How did you sleep?" Jiang Zhengge glanced at Lin Chen.

"generally..."

Lin Chen opened the passenger door and got in.

Jiang Zhengge got into the driver's seat, glanced at Lin Chen who was fastening his seatbelt, and chuckled:

"It's normal not to adapt to an unfamiliar environment so quickly. Zhan Yi must have given you quite a bit of trouble, right?"

"Old Jiang! What nonsense are you spouting!" Li Zhanyi exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I'm very quiet at home!"

“It’s not because of the stains on my clothes,” Lin Chen chuckled, “I was just thinking about something.”

He couldn't very well say that he hadn't slept because he had been watching Qingtian's dating memories all night, could he?

"..."

Jiang Zhengge didn't say anything more. He started the engine, and the sports car drove out of the residential area and headed towards the Investigation Bureau building two streets away.

The district where the Investigation Bureau is located is Xiwang District, west of Yudu. It is situated on the edge of Yudu, and the traffic is not too congested in the morning.

During the drive, Jiang Zhengge turned on the car radio:

"...The foundation's official response to the Optimus Prime rampage incident: It was an accident..."

Upon hearing the broadcast about Qingtian, the three of them immediately focused their attention and listened to the entire broadcast.

"This is terrifying... to think they could even come up with this PR angle..." Li Zhanyi muttered, "They actually packaged Qingtian's death as a sacrifice, and even gave this 'British Captain' a boost in the process..."

"Hmph, they even responded to the public opinion about Huihui during the bridge incident," Jiang Zhengge chuckled, "portraying Qingtian as a down-on-his-luck hero 'feeling guilty for failing to save someone'..."

"But wasn't the recording played yesterday?" Lin Chen felt a little uncomfortable.

An incident of this magnitude was handled with remarkable ease by the foundation, and almost every point of contention was addressed.

“The video footage is long gone online,” Jiang Zhengge said. “The foundation’s public relations capabilities are outrageous. To put it bluntly, mainstream social media has long been controlled by the F Council behind the foundation. The bosses behind those media outlets are basically all people cultivated by the council and are very obedient.”

"The F Council?" Lin Chen caught the key phrase.

“It’s normal not to know. The F Council is the shadow government of Yudu, and also the high-level body of the Foundation,” Jiang Zhengge explained. “There are six members in total, all of whom are demigods.”

Shadow government... Demigod council... These keywords immediately reminded Lin Chen of the shadow he had seen through Qingtian's memories last night:

"Is there a demigod in the F Council named 'Eldest Brother'?"

Jiang Zhengge turned his head and looked at Lin Chen with some surprise.

“That’s right,” he said, scrutinizing Lin Chen. “How did you know?”

"My hearing is pretty good..." Lin Chen laughed it off.

“He has a secret, a big secret,” Li Zhanyi said from the back row. “He’s actually an agent planted in the Investigation Bureau by the Foundation…”

“‘Eldest brother’ can be said to be the main executor of the F Council,” Jiang Zhengge said, turning off the radio. “He is the center of power, second only to the leader. Basically, the entire council listens to him, and he is responsible for overseeing the major daily decisions of the foundation.”

"Under one person?" Lin Chen noticed Jiang Zhengge's words.

“My elder brother claims to be the agent of the ‘benevolent father’,” Jiang Zhengge said, “but so many years have passed and that ‘benevolent father’ has hardly ever shown his face in reality.”

"Kind Father..." Lin Chen sensed a hint of authority and ominousness in this title.

"The foundation's public relations skills are terrifying," Lin Chen said in a low voice.

“I’m used to it, it’s basically the same every time,” Jiang Zhengge smiled. “But this time, we’ve caught a big fish, and they won’t be able to do whatever they want anymore soon.”

"This big fish probably doesn't refer to Qingtian, does it?" Lin Chen said.

"Of course not, Qingtian is just one link in the chain," Li Zhanyi interrupted from the back row, "I'll introduce you to him after you join the company!"

“We don’t need to rush to introduce such a big case to him,” Jiang Zhengge glanced at the rearview mirror. “He needs to slowly get to know our world.”

Our world.

Lin Chen looked out the car window at the street scene: the Xiwang District, which had been cleared of rain, was bustling with life. Homeless people came out of the awnings and alleys, picking up colorful leaves scattered on the street; commuters on their way to work flowed into the subway station; children jumped and skipped in the dirty water by the roadside, picking up fallen leaves floating on the surface and holding them up in the sunlight.

That ordinary yet busy world seemed to have vanished from Lin Chen in the span of a single day.

A bizarre and fantastical world gradually unfolded before him, like a distorted reflection of a city in a puddle.

"..."

Soon, the car stopped in front of the Investigation Bureau building.

"Zhanyi, take him to report for duty, get his equipment, and do his onboarding training," Jiang Zhengge said. "I'm going to park the car. Then the director needs to see me, so I won't be coming to the office this morning."

"Okay," Li Zhanyi said cheerfully, "Shall we have lunch?"

"No need to wait for me. Take Xiaolin to check out the cafeteria. Remember to get along well with your colleagues."

"it is good!"

Li Zhanyi got out of the car, then took small steps to the passenger side and opened the car door for Lin Chen:

"Come on, newbie, today is your first day at work, let me give you an onboarding ceremony!"

"You're clearly younger than me..." Lin Chen smiled, got out of the car with Li Zhanyi, and walked into the Investigation Bureau together.

"..."

After registering at the front desk in the lobby and receiving his ID card, Lin Chen hadn't even had a chance to read the words on it when Li Zhanyi pulled him towards the door:

"Come on, let's go to the shooting range to get a gun, and then fire a few shots."

"Are you just going to get a gun? Aren't you going to your workstation first?"

"Why are you reporting in? Our department has flexible working hours. Let's get our guns first! I promised to teach you how to shoot. Let's go!"

......

Chapter 28 Onboarding Training

Led by Li Zhanyi, Lin Chen arrived at the shooting range located on the 27th floor.

Along the way, Li Zhanyi introduced Lin Chen to the various departments of the Investigation Bureau: there was the "Operations and Containment Department," which combined intelligence gathering and on-site operations; the "Logistics and Research and Development Department," responsible for equipment support and medical rescue; the "Anomaly Department," responsible for managing anomalous entities; and so on...

Lin Chen's unit is the "Rapid Response Section" under the "Action and Containment Department".

"Our department is the most free, responsible for handling all sorts of difficult and complicated cases, such as some warp ruins that are always difficult to break through, elusive special anomalies, and some rather covert operations... you know what I mean."

Li Zhanyi gave Lin Chen a wink: This clearly refers to the investigation and exposure mission of the Foundation and Qingtian.

"The Second Section is the outpost for all kinds of common abnormal events, while the Third Section is responsible for the cleanup and logistical support."

"Are there many cases in general?" Lin Chen asked.

"To put it simply, except for one subject which is relatively flexible, the other subjects basically require clocking in and out, and there's a lot of overtime," Li Zhanyi blinked.

Wow, it seems like Department One has pretty good benefits.

At this moment, the two walked to the counter on one side of the shooting range.