Chapter 54: Fishing

Three days later, after passing interviews and evaluations by several leaders, Xia Mi successfully became a regular employee with the rank of Second-class Police Sergeant. This was a senior staff member position, a nominal role without administrative power, and she was appointed as the acting captain of the Supernatural Squad.

Holding a substantive leadership position required grassroots work experience. Since Xia Mi lacked this, she would have to wait two years until her promotion to First-class Police Sergeant before such a role could be considered.

After signing the “Regularization and Rank Determination Approval Form,” Xia Mi let out a long sigh of relief.

Over the past few days, she had been plagued by messy, erotic dreams every night, leaving her heart in a state of total turmoil. Fortunately, she had the “Learning Power” app¹. By studying relevant knowledge and listening to videos on it every day, she managed to find some measure of inner peace.

Everyone in the unit had study quotas on the app. Despite having only worked there for two months, Xia Mi had accumulated the most points.

“I’m finally a regular!” Xia Mi said happily. “I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

Mi Xiangyan reminded her, “You only filled out the form. You still have to wait for the leaders to sign the documents before it’s officially approved. Your recruitment and regularization are both special cases; Deputy Director Jiao can’t make the final call alone. It has to be sent to a higher level for application.”

“The higher level is the central government. The paperwork has to go through Beijing, so it will take a long time for the documents to come back.”

“Oh, and there’s the public notice period. It has to be posted for seven days. If no one reports any misconduct and you don’t break any regulations within those seven days, the political work officer will proceed with the formalities.”

“Then my salary…” What Xia Mi cared about most was, of course, getting paid as much as Liao Tianhua.

Mi Xiangyan said, “Don’t worry about that. If the documents are approved, they will specify the effective date. Your regularization is set for December 27, 2024. Even if the papers are approved three months from now, the status still counts from December 27. Your new salary starts the month after regularization, and any back pay delayed by the process will be issued in a lump sum.”

Qiu Hailan reminded Xia Mi, “So even if you’re becoming a regular, you can’t let your guard down. Don’t go thinking about dating male models, understand? Has that Xiao Feng contacted you lately?”

Liao Tianhua, who had been silent on the side, immediately pricked up his ears.

Xia Mi scratched her cheek awkwardly and said honestly, “He sends me good morning and good night messages every day, but I haven’t replied to him.”

Xia Mi felt she had done quite well.

Liao Tianhua, however, asked, “Why haven’t you blocked him?”

Xia Mi was stumped. She hesitated for a moment before saying, “I… I wanted to persuade him to go straight. Wouldn’t blocking him now be too cruel?”

Liao Tianhua said, “If you truly want to help him find the right path, you should reply. You should even meet him, take him to dinner, and learn about his family background and the reasons he felt forced into this line of work. You should help him solve his problems based on his actual difficulties. He’s still very young; you could encourage him to study. Even if he can’t get into a university, he could go to a vocational school to learn a skill and find a respectable job.”

Xia Mi gasped, startled. “Why is your thinking so thorough?”

Liao Tianhua replied, “Didn’t you say you wanted to help him? This is the proper attitude for helping someone, not just chatting and giving lip service about quitting the industry. That’s not helping; that’s just looking for an excuse to flirt.”

Xia Mi actually felt a bit guilty. She didn’t really know why she had added Xiao Feng on WeChat, but she knew she hadn’t ignored his messages because she didn’t want to reply. She was simply holding back for the sake of her regularization.

After filling out the approval form today, she had felt so happy that she originally intended to go back and share her joy with Xiao Feng. She wanted to explain that “the reason I didn’t reply these past few days was because I was preparing for my interview and stayed off my phone.”

If not for the reminders from Mi, Qiu, and Liao, Xia Mi probably would have started chatting with Xiao Feng today.

Facing Xiao Liao’s righteous gaze, Xia Mi guiltily looked away.

She suddenly felt like she was being a bit of a “scumbag” toward Xiao Feng.

True help should be like what Liao Tianhua described. She really was just craving the ambiguous feeling from that night she met Xiao Feng. Her talk of “saving a fallen soul²” was nothing more than an excuse.

“I get it!” Xia Mi slapped her thigh and said seriously to Liao Tianhua, “I’ll ask him to meet right now. I’ll have a proper talk with him just like you said.”

Liao Tianhua’s lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing. He frowned as he watched Xia Mi’s retreating back as she headed toward the dormitory.

After Xia Mi left, Liao Tianhua said to Mi Xiangyan, “I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, but I feel like Xia Mi’s state of mind isn’t right.”

Qiu Hailan added, “It’s not just you. I feel it too. The male models at that bar are all pretty mediocre. They only know how to call women ‘Big Sister’ and can’t hold a real conversation. Xia Mi doesn’t seem like the type to be attracted to someone like that.”

Liao Tianhua said, “She really likes your height and gets along well with you. She tells you everything. Based on your understanding of her, what kind of person would she be attracted to?”

Qiu Hailan gave Liao Tianhua a look of pity and said, “As of right now, the person who attracts her most is Deputy Director Jiao. In the future, if someone with an even higher position appears before her, regardless of gender, she will be attracted to them. She’s ‘power-sexual’.”

Liao Tianhua: “…”

He remembered how Xia Mi used to respect and admire him. Unfortunately, in less than a day, he had gone from “Captain Liao” to “Xiao Liao.”

Liao Tianhua sighed and asked, “Group Leader Mi, have you looked into this Xiao Feng?”

Mi Xiangyan was the head of the Logistics Group, responsible for intelligence. She said, “I checked. His name is An Mufeng. He just turned eighteen this year. He dropped out of school after finishing junior high. As for his background… an alcoholic father, a divorced mother, and a younger sister waiting for surgery money. His life story reads like one of those BL novels popular in Southeast Asia. All he’s missing is a CEO to take him in.”

Liao Tianhua said, “If it’s true, then he really is quite pitiful. Group Leader Mi, you don’t seem like the type to mock those in misery. Is there something wrong with the intelligence you gathered?”

Mi Xiangyan replied, “Over the last three days, I even sent people to his hometown for a field investigation. His family situation is exactly as described. Even the people in his village remember their circumstances. Even if someone were faking a background, it’s impossible for every neighbor in the village to remember this family’s past, right? I even tracked down his junior high school and former classmates. Because he’s so good-looking, his teachers and classmates still remember him. His teachers even expressed regret over his situation.”

“Even if his family background checks out, it doesn’t mean the person himself is clean,” Liao Tianhua said. “For all we know, he’s a Rong created by the Immortal Foundation, specifically designed to deal with a Queen Bee like Xia Mi.”

Mi Xiangyan replied, “I’ve obviously considered that, which is why I investigated the places he worked after finishing middle school. National regulations prohibit hiring child labor under sixteen, and he was only fifteen when he graduated. He spent a year herding sheep for a private owner, and after turning sixteen, he worked at a barbershop and a foot massage parlor. None of those places have any connection to Zhuo incidents.

“His former bosses said he was a hard worker, putting in over sixteen hours a day. Even if the Immortal Foundation could produce a Rong, it would take time and experimentation, wouldn’t it? Could they really transform someone in ten minutes? If they were truly capable of that, we wouldn’t just have one suspicious guy clinging to Xia Mi; we’d have hundreds or thousands of them laying siege to the Disposal Bureau.”

Qiu Hailan asked, puzzled, “If you’ve already investigated to this extent, why are you still so full of doubts about this Xiao Feng?”

Mi Xiangyan sighed. “How should I put it? It’s a mix of intuition and, perhaps, a bit of vanity.”

“What do you mean?” Liao Tianhua asked.

Mi Xiangyan explained, “The day the three of us went to the bar, I was the one ordering the drinks, I was the one paying the bill, and I was the one who mentioned owning two buildings. When Xia Mi went to dance, every male model at that table was trying to add me on WeChat. An Mufeng’s family situation is terrible; survival is a struggle for him. He shouldn’t be the type of person to get swept up in a romance. Logically, his target should have been me, not the incredibly stingy Xia Mi. It just doesn’t add up.”

Qiu Hailan suggested, “What if he’s just young and hasn’t tasted the bitterness of life yet? Maybe he just wants a real relationship?”

Mi Xiangyan countered, “Then we have to look at Xia Mi’s reaction. Her behavior isn’t normal. For the past two months, before Captain Liao’s Monday morning inspections, he’s been showing up an hour early to clean Xia Mi’s room. He treats her to dinner constantly and makes a point of lifting dumbbells shirtless in the dormitory hallway to show off his abs. We have plenty of girls from the Logistics Group living in that dorm, and they’ve already complained to me about Captain Liao’s indecent exposure.

“Despite Captain Liao going to such lengths, Xia Mi remains completely unresponsive. I suspect the only things in her head are money and power; she’s oblivious to everything else. Would someone like her really fall in love at first sight with an eighteen-year-old male model? Do you two actually believe that?”

Mi Xiangyan was talking about Xia Mi, but her words were like daggers to Liao Tianhua.

Liao Tianhua clutched his chest and asked in a low voice, “Is it really that obvious?”

Qiu Hailan gave a cold laugh. “Deputy Director Jiao pulled me aside for a chat a few days ago and told me to give you a subtle warning. He said that for young people, pursuing love is a good thing and the older generation is happy to see it happen—they might even help play matchmaker—but pursuing love shouldn’t affect the atmosphere of the workplace.

“Fang Zihan also asked me the other day when Captain Liao would help him organize his quarters. You’re all smiles and diligence when it comes to cleaning for Xia Mi, but you’re cold-blooded and impartial with Fang Zihan and the others. You’ll dock points if there’s a single water stain on their bathroom tiles, yet why don’t you ever dock Xia Mi’s points?

“I’m telling you, the members of the original First and Second Teams are planning to find an opportunity to throw a sack over your head³ and give you a beating. The only reason they haven’t acted yet is because I haven’t agreed to join them, and they’re afraid they can’t take you on their own.”

Seeing Liao Tianhua turn pale, Mi Xiangyan worried he might jump off the building in shame if they continued. She quickly steered the conversation back to An Mufeng.

“Anyway, I feel like something is wrong with him, but I can’t find any evidence.”

To ease the awkwardness, Liao Tianhua forced his focus back onto work. “But we aren’t a standard police unit. We don’t necessarily need hard evidence to act. When it comes to supernatural events involving Zhuo, suspicion alone is enough to warrant action. Should we bring An Mufeng in for interrogation?”

Mi Xiangyan shook her head. “Actually, I hope An Mufeng really is connected to the Immortal Foundation.”

Liao Tianhua understood immediately. “You want to use him as bait?”

Mi Xiangyan nodded. “All our leads on the Immortal Foundation have gone cold, and international intelligence is difficult to track. If An Mufeng really is linked to them, his entire domestic background could be a fabrication. Through him alone, we could uncover an entire intelligence network. That’s a big fish!”

Qiu Hailan smiled. “I was originally going to warn Xia Mi to keep her distance and stay alert, but if we’re fishing, it’s best not to startle the prey. It’s better to let Xia Mi stay exactly as she is.”

Liao Tianhua gritted his teeth. “Fine! I’ll endure it for a while and won’t disturb her!”

Heaven knew Liao Tianhua’s heart was bleeding as he said those words.

Ever since the day a sleepwalking Xia Mi had kissed him, Liao Tianhua had begun to suspect that he was the “completely non-existent ex-boyfriend” she had mentioned.

Xia Mi’s gaming abilities were complex, but they definitely included an element of precognition.

Comparing the way he interacted with Xia Mi to the boyfriend she described, Liao Tianhua felt more and more that she was talking about him.

He suspected that when her abilities awakened, her perception had become scrambled. She had mistaken precognitive visions for past events, confusing the version of him she would spend every day with in the future for a boyfriend from her past.

If this theory was correct, Liao Tianhua believed that he and Xia Mi might actually become a couple in the future.

After reaching this conclusion, Liao Tianhua found, to his surprise, that he didn’t dislike the possibility. In fact, he felt a secret sense of joy.

The mere thought that he might be Xia Mi’s boyfriend made the corners of his mouth curl up involuntarily.

During the month Xia Mi had been unconscious, Liao Tianhua would look at her sleeping face and find himself smiling from time to time.

After a month of such smiling, and while Xia Mi was entirely unaware, Liao Tianhua had already internally accepted the role of being her boyfriend in both the past and the future.

The only problem was that Xia Mi currently had no interest in romance; she was entirely focused on her promotion.

Once Liao Tianhua learned of Xia Mi’s desire “to be envied by others,” he decided to suppress his feelings for the time being. He would quietly guard her dreams and wait for the moment she needed a boyfriend. When she finally looked back, he would be there.

Given all that, how could Liao Tianhua not feel miserable? How could his heart not ache when he saw Xia Mi seemingly losing her soul to a male model who was practically walking red flag?

For the past few days, he had been suffering internal injuries⁴ every single day!

If Xia Mi could use An Mufeng to fish out vital intelligence regarding the Immortal Foundation, it would be another major achievement for her. Liao Tianhua knew he couldn’t let his personal feelings interfere with the mission or Xia Mi’s future prospects.

He could overcome this heartache!

Mi Xiangyan gave Liao Tianhua a sympathetic look and said, “There’s no need to feel that aggrieved. If Xia Mi really loses her head and tries to do something out of line, we will still step in to stop her.

“After that male model incident, I borrowed Xia Mi’s phone and installed surveillance software. Once she makes an appointment to meet An Mufeng, we’ll know the location immediately. I’ll arrange for people to monitor them in advance.”

“I…” Liao Tianhua started, wanting to apply to join the surveillance team.

Mi Xiangyan cut him off. “I’m worried the Immortal Foundation might have ways to detect Zhuo Energy, so none of the Rong will participate in this stakeout. The surveillance task will be handled by the original members of Team One. You stay on standby.”

Liao Tianhua accepted the order, fighting back tears.

Translator’s Notes