MCL CH92

Chapter 92: […I was wrong.]

Three days later.
Downstairs at the Hua Country United Administration Headquarters.

A motorcade waited solemnly at the entrance. In front of the lead car, a uniformed Pu Sui looked at his watch for the umpteenth time. The ability user next to him was also visibly anxious: “Why isn’t Director Lin down yet? Should we go up and rush him?”

“I’ve already rushed him.” Pu Sui’s stern face already showed clear dissatisfaction, obviously trying hard to suppress his emotions. “He said he’d be right down.”

He paused, then added: “Five minutes ago.”

The ability user next to him widened his eyes.

Five minutes ago?

According to the duties of their Third Administration, let alone five minutes, how could there be a one-minute delay during a mission!

He opened his mouth, the words on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back when he glanced at Pu Sui’s expression.

At the same time, in the office of the Director of the Third Administration, Lin Xi, who should have already left, was standing by the window, looking into the distance with a half-smile on his face: “What, are you really not going to say anything?”

There was no one else in the empty office. In the silence, a voice finally stammered out in his mind: […I was wrong.]

A sneer flashed in Lin Xi’s eyes: “You only woke up after a full ten days. It seems you’ve indeed had enough time to realize your mistake.”

A low sob came from his mind. Before he could respond, he heard Lin Xi continue unhurriedly: “Tell me, what did you do wrong?”

Calamity: [………]

As a king of contaminants with a pure lineage, it could be said that it had never suffered such a great humiliation of being pointed at and questioned. However, just a moment ago, it had just experienced a long fainting spell. This experience was enough to make it clearly realize that if it really angered Lin Xi, this madman would truly not hesitate to kill it, regardless of the consequences!

[It’s just… I shouldn’t have gotten too carried away.]

Lin Xi: “And?”

[…]

[I shouldn’t have tried to take over your body.]

Lin Xi: “What else?”

Calamity: […There’s more?]

Lin Xi sneered and guided it persuasively: “Don’t you think you missed the most important point?”

Deep in thought, Calamity fell into a short silence, finally speaking again: [So you’re most angry that I… towards Yan Xingzhou…]

“Congratulations, you’ve finally figured some things out.” Lin Xi’s half-smiling tone rose slightly, the drawn-out final syllable filled with a deepening threat. “I know that if I continue in my current state, situations like that will only happen more and more often. Of course, I also know that if we fight against each other, it won’t do either of us any good. But the lesson this time is just to make you remember one thing, and that is, no matter what happens next—”

He lazily lowered his eyelids, and all his words instantly turned cold as his eyes darkened: “Yan Xingzhou is my bottom line.”

At this point, Lin Xi’s tone subtly changed: “Of course, if you think I’m just trying to scare you, I have no objection either.”

[Of course! Understood! I get it! I have completely committed it to memory!]

Calamity’s attitude was exemplary, which finally made Lin Xi feel a trace of satisfaction.

He glanced at the time and turned to walk out the door.

On his way out of the office and into the elevator, Calamity, who had been quiet for a moment, spoke again: [Um, I actually wanted to ask just now, are we in the Hua Country United Administration building? Why are you wearing the United Administration uniform again? Was that your office just now?!]

As the elevator descended, a few more people got on. Lin Xi replied in his mind without a trace: “Yes. How about it? Don’t you think the agency’s uniform suits me as always? If I remember correctly, when we first met, this should have been the way you saw me.”

[Pah… It suits me a face full of it!] (T/N: Sarcastic expression of disgust)

Calamity quickly adjusted its disbelieving attitude. [But what on earth happened while I was out these few days? You actually came back to the United Administration to work? Are you really crazy? Do you know what you look like here right now?]

Lin Xi asked faintly: “Hm? What do I look like?”

[Like a walking, top-tier experimental subject!]

Lin Xi: “That’s not wrong.”

[…]

[………]

If it weren’t for the lack of a physical body, Calamity desperately wanted to facepalm: [You should know what the consequences will be once you show the slightest weakness.]

“Mmm, I know.” The elevator reached the first floor. Lin Xi walked out unhurriedly. “Then we’ll talk about it when I’m exposed.”

Ignoring the chattering of a certain contaminant who had just been unconscious for over ten days, he walked out of the United Administration’s main entrance and headed straight for the waiting motorcade: “Adjutant Pu, sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s set off.”

Pu Sui had already opened the car door and was waiting there: “I don’t mind. It’s mainly a question of whether the QW2456 district can wait.”

[So you’re going on a mission now?]

[Tsk, this kind of attitude when asking for a favor. Only you, back when you were that Executive Officer, would fall for this, right?]

Lin Xi smiled silently and bent down to get into the car.

With everyone on board, the motorcade sped through the city, heading straight for the nearest spatial transport station.

With the full-scale outbreak of the rift tide, the once rarely used spatial transport stations were now constantly crowded.

At present, in order to deploy personnel in a timely manner, not only within the United Administration, but almost all civilian spatial ability users had been mobilized. They stood ready in spatial transport stations all over the country, ready to receive and dispatch ability user cleanup teams at any time.

Under Pu Sui’s arrangement, the spatial passage Lin Xi needed had long been prepared. Upon their arrival, the staff led them directly through, transporting them straight to the QW2456 district station.

QW2456 District Rift Cleanup Zone.

A member of the cleanup team reported the current casualty situation with a grim face, his tone heavy: “Captain, Brother Nian’s team has been inside for a long time. According to the time flow rate inside the rift, if we don’t send people in for support soon, I’m afraid…”

“Support! I f*cking want to send support too! But we don’t have enough people!”

The captain in charge of this cleanup operation was a man in his forties. He had been steady for half his life, but now he couldn’t help but curse. “Four! A full four A-class rifts appeared in succession, and they’re all about to enter their active period at any time! I’ve already deployed all the manpower I can. I’ve sent applications to the surrounding areas too, but other places are just as short on staff as we are. They simply can’t spare anyone!”

The team member looked at him with a worried face: “Didn’t the Third Administration say they take our situation very seriously? After all, if the section of road where the rift appeared this time is lost, it could very well directly impact the safety of the urban residents. Have they, still not given any response?”

“Who the hell knows! Every time I ask, they say it’s been arranged. Arranged, arranged, I think they’ve arranged jack sh*t—!”

The team captain’s eyelid twitched fiercely. Seeing another batch of wounded retreat from the rift, he immediately called over the medical team personnel nearby and strode over to meet them.

The roar of vehicle engines mixed with the chaotic footsteps, making the scene even more chaotic.

No one noticed an unremarkable car parked on the roadside in the distance. The car door opened, and two people got out.

As he got out of the car, Pu Sui couldn’t help but give Lin Xi another look.

The Third Administration was responsible for the daily cleanup of rifts in major regions. The shortage of manpower had reached a peak in recent days. The excessively frequent appearance of rifts had almost buried the statistics department in support request forms from all over. But he never would have thought that this newly appointed director would suddenly reassign the support team he had arranged to other maps, and only bring him to the tense battlefront of the QW2456 district.

This kind of situation was not unheard of when he was with Su Qiuyin, but Director Su’s ability to go it alone was entirely due to his confidence in his own abilities. As for this Lin Xi, who had appeared out of nowhere—he could only hope that he wasn’t too conceited, lest he have to redeploy manpower to rescue him in turn.

Just in case, Pu Sui took out his phone and sent a message to the Administration. After confirming the manpower still available for mobile deployment, he looked up again, only to find that Lin Xi was completely gone: “………”

With four rifts appearing simultaneously in the same area, the scene was in chaos, and almost everyone was too busy to look after themselves.

Lin Xi sensed the surrounding contamination radiation situation, strode through the crowd, and at a glance, he saw the few figures in the coordination area. Just as he approached, he heard the team captain cursing on the spot.

His eyebrows rose silently, and he cleared his throat: “Um, excuse me.”

The team captain was fuming with anxiety and didn’t even look up: “Which team are you from? Which rift are you responsible for? Any new casualties or any emergencies? Spit it out.”

Lin Xi couldn’t help but chuckle.

This laugh made the team captain even more annoyed: “Didn’t you hear me? Spit it out! How can you still be laughing at a time like this—”

His words were cut short when he looked up and saw the uniform on Lin Xi clearly: “Ah, you… Sir, you’re from the Third Administration?”

“I guess so,” Lin Xi replied. “I just wanted to ask about the danger level of these rifts, so I can help you solve the problems one by one.”

At last, the person they were waiting for had finally arrived. The team captain’s expression softened slightly, and he answered truthfully: “Two of the rifts are basically stable now. It’s mainly the contaminant in the A3 rift that’s a bit tricky. The support personnel sent by the Third Administration earlier have already replaced the previous batch of cleanup teams. Judging from the known time flow rate of that rift, if the people inside don’t finish the cleanup quickly, the rift opening might completely open.”

Lin Xi nodded: “A3, right.”

“Yes. If possible, I hope you can lead your people in as soon as possible…” The team captain said as he looked behind Lin Xi. His gaze paused there for a long time before he asked, somewhat dazed, for confirmation, “Um, how many people did you bring this time?”

Lin Xi replied: “Two.”

The corner of the team captain’s mouth twitched fiercely, and his tone also rose a few notches: “T-two?!”

“Mmm, but the other one is a civilian officer, not very suitable for this kind of dirty work.” Lin Xi clearly did not catch the despair gradually appearing in the other’s eyes and said truthfully, “So in a moment, it should just be me going in to check the situation inside.”

Civilian officer.
Just one.
Check the situation.

These few pieces of information were like a basin of cold water poured over his head, completely extinguishing the flame of hope that had just been ignited in the team captain: “…Then you can just, fine, fine, have a, have a look.”

“Alrighty.” Lin Xi returned a very friendly smile and looked around. “So where exactly is the A3 rift?”

The team captain resisted the urge to facepalm, waved his hand, and motioned for a nearby cleanup team member to lead Lin Xi over.

It was only after watching that figure gradually disappear from sight that he finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and threw the file in his hand fiercely onto the ground: “What does the Third Administration mean by this? Are they really not going to give a damn about whether we on the front lines live or die!”

The person next to him stood there anxiously. Just as he was about to offer comfort, he caught sight of a familiar figure and immediately fell silent.

The team captain was in the heat of his anger and didn’t notice at all. After he was tired of cursing, he still had to force himself to adjust his mood. He bent down and had just picked up the file folder he had thrown away when he caught sight of a pair of black long boots in his peripheral vision. He paused slightly, and as his gaze moved upwards, he finally saw the newcomer’s face clearly: “Pu… Adjutant Pu?”

“Mmm,” Pu Sui replied, as if he hadn’t heard any of the ugly curses just now, and asked, “It seems the situation on site is not good?”

Team Captain: “It is…”

He also hadn’t expected Pu Sui to come personally. After all, judging from the attitude of that person from the Third Administration just now, he had already thought that his side had been completely abandoned.

Pu Sui, however, caught the change in the other’s expression. After a brief thought, he also reacted: “It seems you’ve already met our new director.”

“New director?” The team captain was stunned for a moment. A few seconds later, Lin Xi’s friendly and amiable smiling face appeared in his mind. “That red-hair… ahem, I mean, is it that lord with red hair?”

Pu Sui nodded: “I went to handle something just now, so he came to find you first.”

As he spoke, he looked around, trying to make his attitude of searching all the way here seem as calm as possible: “Where is the director?”

Although the surroundings were clearly in chaos, at this very moment, the air around them seemed to freeze for a moment.

The team captain’s face had completely turned bitter. After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence: “The director might have, already gone into the rift by himself.”

Pu Sui: “…?”

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