"Are you coming with me? It might be a busy day today."
Seeing Dreaming Dragon Baby wanted to follow him out, Feng Yuan patted its head and thought about how ever since Feng Yuan joined the special task force, Ye Hanlei always invited him out for lunch. Dreaming Dragon Baby resolutely nodded and, without waiting for Feng Yuan to say anything, coiled itself onto Feng Yuan’s shoulder.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
As soon as Feng Yuan arrived at the temporary office, he saw Liao Yu standing up, putting away his phone and walking over with a puzzled scratch of his head, and swatted away Liao Yu’s hand that was reaching for his shoulder, saying
"You’re so free today?"
"Free? I was busy all night last night. Those people were brought back by you leading Captain Yang and the others to E Hua Temple, right?"
Leaning close to Feng Yuan’s ear, Liao Yu whispered. Feng Yuan glanced at Liao Yu with annoyance and said
"What do you mean ’led by me’? I just followed to take a look."
"Come on, when Agunas returned with those people on chains, I wasn’t blind. The whole special task force was busy with it all night, and you had a comfortable sleep."
"Tch, expecting a high school student to stay up all night and help out? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?"
"Now you remember you’re a high school student? I sure don’t feel it when you go out on missions..."
As they chatted, they headed to the special task force. At the entrance, Feng Yuan noticed the guards had been changed to security personnel, and he could sense hidden posts in secluded spots. After carefully verifying Liao Yu’s credentials and Feng Yuan’s identity, the guard let the two of them pass. After moving forward a bit, Feng Yuan whispered
"Why has the security level been raised again?"
"No helping it, the follow-up problems brought by E Hua Temple are quite serious, after all, that bunch of people killed inside. Although they were eventually rescued, there are still many issues that need resolving, like how to account for the killings inside E Hua Temple, how to judge the killing of Spirit Beasts, and it’s said some people actually died without being rescued. Overall, the higher-ups have directly sent a team to solve these problems."
After saying a long piece, Liao Yu paused and said
"Those people sent here are pretty important, which is why the security level has been increased. If Elder Li hadn’t specifically instructed, you probably wouldn’t be able to get in even with me accompanying you."
"Moreover, the researchers found something special in the ruins of E Hua Temple, not sure exactly what, but they seemed very surprised."
"Something special was found in the ruins?"
Scratching his head, Feng Yuan felt puzzled and thought before asking
"Didn’t they say what it was?"
"I don’t know, apparently it’s related to time. They’re keeping it confidential, so I can’t find out either."
"Time... never mind, he’s already witnessed the consequences. If he messes around again, there’s nothing I can do."
"I understand, I’ll keep an eye on them."
"Uh, Captain Yang, why are you here?"
Seeing Captain Yang suddenly appearing before him, Feng Yuan scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly, as Captain Yang glanced at Feng Yuan and let out a sigh, saying
"There are some things I want to discuss with you in private."
Feng Yuan looked at Liao Yu and saw that he had already consciously distanced himself, standing aside. With curiosity, he followed Captain Yang into a nearby small office, closed the door, and Captain Yang said, looking at Feng Yuan
"Could you let Agunas for a while?"
"No, yesterday was a special situation, and it’s okay for a short period. But I can’t let it follow you."
"We will assign protection for your safety."
"It’s not needed, and more importantly, it’s not my safety that matters, but its."
Seeing Feng Yuan staring back calmly at him as he spoke, Captain Yang looked at Feng Yuan somewhat oddly and said
"Isn’t it supposed to protect you?"
"No! Who are you, really?"
Captain Yang squinted and looked intently at Feng Yuan as he said in a low voice
"Your attitude is strange, but there are all kinds of people in the world—I don’t care about that. But the way those Divine Beasts respond to you, especially what Yimu Qingling said, and that strange book of yours..."
With Xiao Ji excitedly at his side, Feng Yuan looked at Captain Yang and calmly said
"I’m just an ordinary person."
"Is that so? Are you really not some kind of Divine Beast or something?"
Captain Yang stared at Feng Yuan and asked. Feng Yuan looked back at Captain Yang with some surprise and said
"How could that be, I am human, how could I be a Divine Beast."
"Just be careful. Although we don’t mind whether you’re a human or a beast, those researchers out there might think otherwise."
"Alright, since Agunas can’t come with us, you take it away. It’s resting in Ye Hanlei and their office now."
Watching Feng Yuan leave, Captain Yang sighed and muttered,
"I hope you really are human..."
"Agunas is resting in the office?"
After leaving the small office, Feng Yuan looked at Liao Yu with some curiosity and nodded, talking as they walked,
"Last night, Agunas was busy writing up everything those people did at E Hua Temple, busy all night, and only just fell asleep there not long ago."
"We’re not going on a mission today, right? Time Phantoms need power from Agunas, don’t they?"
"We can’t handle cases without Time Phantoms?"
Seeing Feng Yuan look at himself with amusement, Liao Yu scratched his head and said,
"It’s not exactly like that; it’s just that we usually don’t deal with this kind of thing. Captain Chen’s idea was to have us follow and learn for another two years before taking on big cases independently. Previously, because of the existence of Time Phantom, Captain Chen didn’t stop us from doing so, but now..."
"Isn’t it good to try anyway?"
Seeing the mysterious smile on Feng Yuan’s face, Liao Yu was somewhat puzzled, feeling that Feng Yuan seemed to be up to something strange again.
"Continue handling cases? That’s not possible, we’re not capable of handling cases independently yet, and everyone else is busy with the E Hua Temple affair."
In the office, seeing Agunas asleep on the table with a book wrapped in its arms, Feng Yuan whispered a proposal to Ye Hanlei. Hearing Feng Yuan’s suggestion, Ye Hanlei rejected it without a second thought. Seeing that Feng Yuan seemed unconvinced, Ye Hanlei put down her work, swiveled her chair to face him, and said,
"I know you want to help us lighten the work burden, but this isn’t child’s play. We’ve had too many things to do recently, the Special Operations Team no longer has those lighter cases like when you first arrived, and even the ones the police can barely handle have all been pushed onto the police."
Seeing Feng Yuan look somewhat disappointed, Ye Hanlei twirled her pen, thought for a moment, and said,
"Never mind, let’s consider it a holiday, then. Let’s go out for a bit."
Liao Yu looked at Ye Hanlei in surprise, while Feng Yuan sat down in a chair nearby, saying,
"If it’s not possible, then forget it, no need to force it. I could use the rest~"
"If we don’t go out, we have to deal with some paperwork and such."
Liao Yu pointed to the mountain of files nearby and said,
"That’s probably the amount for today."
Looking at the pile of files taller than himself, Feng Yuan smiled and said,
"I think field missions suit me best~ Don’t you think, Xiao Ji~"
Xiao Ji, lying lazily on Feng Yuan’s head, yawned, and Feng Yuan poked Xiao Ji with a finger in dissatisfaction and said,
"What kind of attitude is that, really."
Glancing at Feng Yuan, Ye Hanlei said,
"Decide quickly whether you want to go out or handle paperwork."
"Outside, for sure! Definitely going out!"
"Okay, let me see which cases aren’t too urgent."
Ye Hanlei said while pulling up the registered case directory and carefully searched through it, saying,
"This one will do. If we can resolve it today, that would be nice."
Looking at the case Ye Hanlei had chosen, Feng Yuan pondered for a moment and said,
"For this case... is there detailed information available?"
"Why? We are just going to do a survey. The detailed case information shouldn’t be needed, right?"
Liao Yu looked at Feng Yuan strangely, and although Ye Hanlei was a bit puzzled, she still pulled up the case information.