Lie Huo Jiao Chou Volume 1 Chapter 2

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...collecting corpses, refuting rumors, paying for damages, and disseminating the values of science.

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　　Yong An suburbs, Xi Shan Nature Reserve.

　　After some autumn rain, the red leaves on the hillside have nearly fallen and there were few visitors in the evening. Except for a lonesome evening drum on the small hilltop temple, only the sound of the wind remained nearby.

　　It was awfully cold, but on the way up the hill, Xuan Ji's whole body was soaked in hot sweat — Old Xiao was quickly walking ahead, seeming as if there were two flaming wheels underneath his feet.

　　"Say, Director Xiao... can we pretend to be elegant? Let me also enjoy the beautiful scenery of the mountain top!" Xuan Ji took out an e-cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, vaguely saying, "I'm afraid that you would take a wrong step and do splits on the spot."

　　"Cut the c.r.a.p. After settling you down, I still have to go to Huangju for a meeting. You think everyone is the same with you, no s.h.i.+t. You just know how to idle all day long, hurry up!"

　　Director Xiao, whose full name is Xiao Zheng — dressed meticulously in his uniform, with sharp features, cold and clean facial lines, showing a hint of an exquisite sense of rigour — regarded his comrade coldly with a glance, then walked slowly up the flight of steps. He took the scenic area's staff pa.s.sage, and entered the "no visitors allowed" backyard of the small hilltop temple.

　　There was a well in the backyard. Turn the well-mouth in an anticlockwise rotation for three times and the turquoise floor tile would slowly separate to the sides, revealing a tunnel for a single person to pa.s.s through. The steps were clean and dustless, lanterns were hanging on the walls on both sides providing a sufficient light that didn't harm the eyes.

　　After walking in it for about five hundred meters, the two men returned on the ground and entered into a thick forest.

　　Xuan Ji's feet barely stepped into the forest, when suddenly, a heavy fog rose up in the surroundings and the visibility rapidly dropped to less than a meter. Then, a white ray of light came out of the forest, swept across the two men, and a gentle echo came through from the woods. A mechanical voice said: "Ident.i.ty authentication pa.s.sed, please be careful under your feet. "

　　As soon as the voice fell, there was a rumbling sound, and the ground suddenly moved.

　　Xuan Ji was unprepared and couldn't help but admire it before standing firm. He whistled: "What if the authentication failed ?"

　　Xiao Zheng did not reply in words: "Then you'll never be able to get out of the fog."

　　The ground of the forest resembled a huge conveyor belt, carrying the two men through a labyrinth of thick fog, brus.h.i.+ng past countless plants, and sent them to the unknown world. Just when Xuan Ji's eyes were dazzled by the moving plants, the ground stopped and Xiao Zheng said: "Here we are."

　　When the thick fog cleared, Xuan Ji narrowed his eyes, looked up at the grand building in front of them, slowly exhaling the mint flavored white smoke for a while. Then, he exclaimed in admiration: "It's packed! "

　　The building towered into the clouds and two rows of guards were evenly standing outside. The sign "National Anomaly Prevention and Control and Special Species Management Office" was hanging under the national emblem on the doorway. The floor was covered with white marble tile with a realistic painting of a golden dragon on it. The two men went in and the golden dragon on the tiles sprang up, the stone tile vibrating. Then, the distant and serene groaning voice of the dragon was heard. The scales on the dragon's body flickered, majestically and gracefully swimming under their feet to make its way out.

　　The entrance door of the hall resembled an airport and there were 10 part.i.tions of "A" to "J" from left to right. No idea what the business was, but in any case, there were queues in all of them. There was a dead tree in the middle of the hall and the diameter of the trunk was about over a hundred meter. It was surrounded by withered vines and it directly penetrated the roof. Because of the excessively shocking sight, it seemed to bring almost a touch of divinity.

　　This is the legendary "Deviant Control Office", one of the mysterious "Relevant Departments", which was responsible for identifying, monitoring and handling all kinds of unnatural events. Among those are "vampire immigration ", "unknown whirlpool appearing in the town's inland river", "three-headed water monster incident" and so on, it's all in their hands.

　　Xuan Ji clicked his tongue: "With this kind of office environment, I would have been happily recruited by the organization for a long time, why didn't you say it earlier!"

　　"Who said his whole life was unrestrained and loves freedom?" Xiao Zheng turned around and threw him a work card. "996th floor. Go up by yourself."

　　"Loves freedom, but loves Yong An's population and arrangement more."

　　Xuan Ji folded his arms and caught the work card, his name and position were written under the picture of his new work permit — "Xuan Ji, Reparations Department, Head of Operations"— he kissed his work permit, then said "Hey! I may or may not be regarded as an officer yet, but can I buy a house in Yong An?"

　　"Don't worry. You won't have to sleep in the bridge ca.n.a.l." Xiao Zheng said and took out his incessantly vibrating cell phone. "Ministry of Security's Lao Song — chasing me to make 800 calls. Are you sure that you want to go to the Reparations Department? Do you know what the Reparations Department does?"

　　"Yes, the field personnel of the Ministry Of Security is responsible in fighting off various kinds of demons. Our Reparations Department, on the other hand, is responsible for cheering them on and handling every kind of aftermath matters including collecting corpses, refuting rumors, paying for damages, and disseminating the values of science."

　　"Know that you are still..."

　　"Director Xiao, your thought and consciousness still needs to be improved. Revolutionary work doesn't distinguish the n.o.ble from the lowly. Without the hard work of our logistics department, can you all be out there to stir up troubles ?" Xuan Ji interrupted him, "Besides, in the field personnel of your Ministry of Security, eight out of ten have problems with me. If I go in, wouldn't I be a lamb in the tiger's den?"

　　"A weasel going into the chicken's nest," Xiao Zheng sneered, and then his sternness went down. He asked once again, "Why did you relent all of a sudden and accepted to go to the Deviant Control Office?"

　　Xuan Ji : "I observed the astronomical phenomenon ..."

　　"Say something reasonable."

　　"Oh, my mother said that without an organization, it's difficult to look for a partner."

　　Xiao Zheng was seething with so much anger that he turned around and walked away.

　　"Wait a minute! You haven't told me where the elevator is... Hey!" Xuan Ji, with the e-cigarette in his mouth, watched the back of Director Xiao who was walking like a tornado and helplessly sighed. "This small bad temper."

　　According to the results of the 6th Population Census in 2010(internal data of Deviant Control Office), approximately one in two hundred thousand humans belonged to the "Special Abilities". Some were innate, some were acquired development.

　　Why would there be such a person? According to the official data of the head office, h.o.m.o sapiens of the present have evolved over mixing blood with non-humans during the process of evolution, and some special genes were retained. However, this theory could not be verified because the properties of their abilities were different from each other. Almost everyone was a solitary example and it was quite difficult to obtain sufficient sample data.

　　As for the folklores, it was much more interesting. Legend has it, that in the ancient times, the human race and devil race's Hundred Year War bound the bloodlines together with hatred. At that time, the half-devil left behind by the mixed race of devils and humans were not allowed by both races. Their father didn't love them, and their mother wasn't fond of them. To survive in the crevice, some of the half-devils who were at an impa.s.se sought shelter from Emperor Qi Wu's troops. Emperor Wu, using their powers, beheaded and killed the queen of the devils. According to the promise, he established the "Qing Ping Division" to provide them a place to make their home, which was the predecessor of the Deviant Control Office.

　　Of course, this was purely drawing far-fetched a.n.a.logies of unfounded folklore, because "Qing Ping Division" vanished without a trace as early as the Mongol dynasty*. The Deviant Control Office was set up after the foundation of PRC for the purpose of public security and the two matters were completely unrelated.

*also called Yuan dynasty, started year 1271

　　The vast majority of Special Abilities were not trained, and in fact, they were almost the same as ordinary people. At most, they were a bit keen and alert, with a bit of a sharp intuition, and would set up a booth to read Feng Shui and so on.

　　Also, there were a minority of prominent innate skills, and preventing them from becoming an instability factor is one of the duties of the Deviant Control Office.

　　Xuan Ji was a part of ...ah, no, he used to be a part of this 'instability factor'.

　　In those days, Director Xiao was an intern in a small field. He once went out with the team to arrest a group of vampires who had entered the country illegally. He was inexperienced then, and got trapped by a vampire inside a cold warehouse, almost freezing into a popsicle.

　　Just after strolling through the night market, Xuan Ji walked by with slippers, sat down and watched for a while, ate two pounds of crayfish with great gusto, then afterwards, set off a fire and cooked simmer-fried bats ... also, he had singed half of the eyebrow of the team leader, and since then, he had been tied down in an indissoluble ill-fated relations.h.i.+p with the Deviant Control Office.

　　Xuan Ji's CV gave the impression of being awfully clean — born in a small town named San Xian, came from a moderately affluent family, took a university exam in Yong An, graduated and stayed to work, not motivated at work, dest.i.tute but generous, have a bunch of friends, single, and lived from paycheck to paycheck..

　　Nothing more could be found out.

　　This mysterious folk expert was disorganized, undisciplined, but behaving with integrity have not slipped away. Sometimes he would lend help, sometimes more of hindrance than help. The entire Ministry of Security of the Deviant Control Office loved him and hated him.

　　Finally in this year, the old director retired to leave the office and held a farewell dinner party. The director stepped forth and invited him to come and drink. Then, joined together by the successors of Director Huang, they laid down a trap for him and Xuan Ji lost the bet. He had 'no choice' but accept the Deviant Control Office's 'recruitment' ...although Xiao Zheng always thought he lost deliberately.

　　The new Director Xuan tried to ask someone about where the elevator was, alone on the 996th floor.

　　The corridor of the 996th floor was awfully quiet — there was a meeting room and an activity area at the end, on the other end was the office area.

　　It's nearly six kilometers above the ground, approximately below 20 degrees outside, and the windows were rigidly welded. Xuan Ji extended his head out to glance, and the clouds and the mist were curling up outside of the window. The building's protective tactics were brilliant and clever, indiscernible in the middle of clouds and mist, not resembling the human world.

　　He lightly touched his left index finger. There was unexpectedly an invisible ring on that finger and it would only appear when being touched. The ring was a blood-red stone without even a bit of a speckle. It's a pity that there was a crack in the middle and the gem looked dull and lifeless.

　　"Humans ...they are truly amazing, aren't they?" Xuan Ji gently rubbed the ring with his fingertips, his eyes swept to the crack and frowned again. "But what the h.e.l.l are you trying to tell me?"

　　The ring, which was said to be a sacred object of their family, had been pa.s.sed to his hand for ten years. It was safe and sound since the beginning, but not too long ago, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the ring for no reason.

　　At this moment, he received a message from Xiao Zheng on his phone, buzzing for three time continuously.

[Did you find the room?]

[Get acquainted with your co-workers in your department quickly, there will be an urgent task!]

[Speed!!]

　　Xuan Ji : "..."

　　Old Xiao is not only a person like a tornado, his Wechat could also make a person breathless. Such a talent.

　　"Before I came, you deceived me by saying that the Reparations Department was a fringe group, has a small presence, with light meals, without work until the result comes out of a prior mission." Xuan Ji dragged his legs, turned lazily towards the office area, and readied himself to meet his future little brothers. Without much effort, he turned around and sent Director Xiao a voice message, "Big pig's foot!*"

*Internet slang uses for cheaters/men who do
not know how to treat women well( mostly... girls use this )

　　"Here we go!"

　　Before he could knock on the door, he heard a beep inside the office and suddenly, the office doors pulled apart to both sides. A  group of all kinds of people dressed like they were members of an organized crime syndicate stood evenly by the doorway, all smiling widely. There was a thundering round of applause, then a middle-aged big sister in the small packed group said "one,two" and they all shouted in unison: "Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome! Welcome to our new leader, join our big family!"

　　Xuan Ji raised his hand stiffly hanging on his chest, shocked by this grand welcoming scene.

　　"I'm sorry for disturbing you, I knocked on the wrong door." He then turned around, intending to go downstairs to ask the Ministry of Security whether they were still recruiting or not.