Federal Secret-Keeping Bureau, Headquarters.
Inside a weight training room.
"1000."
"1001."
"1002..."
A thick male voice, slightly out of breath, counted aloud while pressing the barbell upward with both arms.
"Hey, big guy, why aren't you going into the virtual space to spar against the AI? Instead you come here to train?"
Zi Chen stood in a traditional martial arts stance, dressed in loose training clothes, making her crane-like tall figure as steady and compact as an iron barrel. Yet her entire aura was faint and elusive, like a transcendent master.
"1007... what do you know, lifting iron is a man's romance."
"1008... besides, although the virtual space can also train the physical body, my goal is to vent emotions. The AI in there—those stronger than me I can't beat, those weaker than me pose no challenge. Better to return to weights. It fits my style more."
"1009... anyway, don't you also dislike going to the virtual space, preferring to run off to deserted places to practice your stances and your traditional martial arts?" Might King panted heavily, talking while lifting.
Zi Chen smiled faintly. "Venting emotions? Ever since that day at the university's rear mountain, you've spoken very little. You really have been bottling it up, haven't you? What, feeling very defeated?"
Might King took a deep breath. "1012... defeated? A little, I suppose. But more than that, I think it's fear. Some... fear I can't quite articulate. I even often dream of... ah, never mind."
"1013... What about you, Zi Chen? No thoughts on it after that day?"
"It's alright. Although everything we experienced that day was unbelievable, like a dream, the traditional martial arts path I cultivate allows me to quickly settle my mind." Memories flickered through Zi Chen's eyes.
"1016... that makes sense." Might King said. "No wonder, after we received the disciplinary punishment of reduced merits, you acted like nothing had happened."
The Federal Secret-Keeping Bureau, after their mission failure, had given them corresponding penalties and transferred them back to headquarters.
"Oh, you're here." A cold yet magnetic male voice drifted into the training room.
"1019... Gui Yu?" Might King glanced at the newcomer.
"Where's Jian Xin?"
Gui Yu was dressed in a purple formal suit with a black inner shirt, debonair and graceful. He swept his gaze around the weight training room.
"He went to the virtual space for combat practice." Zi Chen dropped her stance and said.
"1021... what do you want with us?" Might King asked, puzzled.
Gui Yu looked at the muscular man who was in the middle of lifting iron and asked without warning: "What's 1000 minus 7?"
Might King froze. "Uh... nine hundred ninety... three. What's up?"
Gui Yu's lips curved slightly. He asked again: "What's 993 minus 7?"
This time Might King reacted a bit faster, answering directly: "986. What's this supposed to mean?"
Gui Yu walked between Might King and Zi Chen and said: "What's 16 minus 9?"
Might King had had enough. Even the barbell in his hands came to a halt as his voice rose: "Still roasting me with math problems! You think that after seeing Bai Zhi's true form and getting punished, I can't even do basic arithmetic anymore?"
"Gui Yu, you brat, what the hell are you playing at?"
Gui Yu smiled. "What number had you just reached on your bench press?"
"One thousand..."
Might King's expression went into an immediate crash state.
"..."
Zi Chen wore a helpless expression... this guy, probably here just to mess with people's heads.
With a single hand, Gui Yu grabbed the barbell from Might King's grip and set it aside, explaining: "I came to sync you all on the latest progress in the Yongan City anomaly investigation."
"I'd rather not have someone beside me lifting iron and counting numbers while I'm talking."
Hearing this, Zi Chen's brows furrowed slightly as she said seriously: "Have they found Bai Zhi's whereabouts?"
Might King straightened up in an instant as well.
Unfortunately, Gui Yu shook his head. "No, not that..."
"Seems I've arrived at just the right moment."
At this moment, a sudden voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of metal footsteps on the carpet. Jian Xin walked in, dissatisfied: "Gui Yu, how dare you talk about these things behind my back? I want to hear too."
"I thought you were off in the virtual space being depressed." Gui Yu cast a glance at Jian Xin, then continued:
"Ever since Bai Zhi disappeared with Wang Miaoyin and that girl named Yang Shining, the trail has gone cold."
"According to information provided by Long Bingheng, that Yang Shining is the Saintess of a civilian transcendent organization called 'Jiuli Religion.' The Secret-Keeping Bureau has investigated from multiple angles but hasn't yet found any information useful for locating Bai Zhi."
"Also, that mysterious man who previously participated in rescuing Wang Miaoyin, could use spider silk, and addressed Bai Zhi as 'Lord'—he hasn't appeared again either."
"Although we can't find the people..."
"But, the scientific research department discovered a mysterious type of radiation in the spider nest. This radiation comes from some form of dark matter, and it can also be detected at the sites of other anomalous incidents in Yongan City. They simultaneously speculate that the radiation may be connected to the meteorite..."
"Because later, based on detecting this mysterious radiation, the Secret-Keeping Bureau also found a fragment of a meteorite in a river in Yongan City..."
"The anomalies in Yongan truly are inseparably linked to the mysterious meteorite." Zi Chen said thoughtfully.
"Then back when the authorities still had the meteorite, didn't they detect this radiation?" Might King, no longer bothered about Gui Yu having interrupted him, grew interested.
"No, because by terrible coincidence, before the capital's scientific research team could reach Yongan City, the intact meteorite body had already disappeared." Gui Yu said.
"Right now, the Federal government's scientific research team, along with relevant personnel from the Secret-Keeping Bureau, have all stationed themselves in Yongan City. They're collaborating with enterprises like Gaia Technology, hoping to use the clues from this radiation to detect humans contaminated by anomalies."
"Even... to find clues to Bai Zhi."
At this point, Jian Xin crossed his arms and shook his head: "Finding Bai Zhi again will likely be very difficult."
"First, it has most likely already left Yongan City. Second, since it possesses that kind of terrifying power—enough to intercept a heavenly... ahem, to perform miraculous feats akin to 'teleportation'—it's naturally impossible for it to be exposed the way it was before."
Among insiders in the Secret-Keeping Bureau and the military districts, the matter of Bai Zhi intercepting a space-based weapon with its bare... limbs and then vanishing into thin air had already become a certain kind of taboo.
Not to be spread, not to be recklessly discussed, not to be inquired about.
This had also caused the human authorities to reassess Bai Zhi's threat level as an anomaly.
Originally, Bai Zhi was classified as a Quasi-Calamity-class anomaly, but now, many believed its threat had already surpassed Nether-Calamity-class.