Perhaps the blows from the past two days had been too heavy, for Lin Ling had completely quieted down.
He no longer persisted in probing into Shui Hua’s mysterious identity, but instead spent his days clutching a digital tablet, pouring all his pent-up frustrations into his art.
Since he still had to work overtime on Saturday to make up his hours, before heading out, Yuhua deliberately glanced at Lin Ling’s seat to make sure he wasn’t going to follow him around like a shadow as he had yesterday.
Only after confirming this did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Transforming into Shui Hua and rushing to the Magical Girl Division, she found that the pile of accumulated official duties had grown into a mountain after dragging the entire department into yesterday’s drama.
Even Xing Li, the usually laid-back department head who would slack off at any chance, had uncharacteristically arrived early and was buried in documents in front of the bright screen, looking utterly frazzled.
Shui Hua logged into her computer and opened the department’s Shared To-Do List.
Skimming through from start to end, her gaze was drawn to a Special Task scheduled for the evening.
“Xing Li,” she asked, pointing at the task, “why is Liu Jin’s Elite Squad participating in this joint meeting, while from our department… only I’m required to attend?”
Without even looking up, Xing Li kept tapping away at the keyboard as she replied, “Oh, that? Isn’t it about that vampire Anomalous Entity you brought in before? For some reason, he actually managed to break out. Since you were the one who personally caught him, of course you have to go explain the situation.”
“That guy? The one who fought me to a standstill and was sweating buckets? He actually managed to escape from the Ability Bureau’s Containment Facility?”
Shui Hua looked incredulous.
“Exactly, that’s why the higher-ups are paying special attention. Who knows… maybe there’s some big-time accomplice stirring up trouble behind the scenes.”
“You think this is something I can handle? And now I have to go to a meeting…”
After burying her head in handling the afternoon’s tedious official work, it was soon time for the meeting.
Following the notice, Shui Hua arrived at the high-level area of the Ability Bureau’s building.
She found the designated conference room, pushed the door open, and saw Liu Jin and his Elite Squad members had already arrived.
Liu Jin’s eyes visibly lit up when he saw Shui Hua, but given the serious setting, he couldn’t show it too much and only gave her a small wave.
From Shui Hua’s perspective, she and Liu Jin had not experienced the recent farcical identity crisis.
So she simply put on her usual expression toward Liu Jin, smiled and nodded, then found a seat near the corner and sat down, doing her best to minimize her presence.
Gradually, the other attendees filed in—every one of them true power-players in the Ability Bureau: the stern-faced Vice Director, several influential non-Hero executives, and the Containment Facility Director, who oversaw Anomalous Entity custody.
Shui Hua, a humble C-class Hero, felt more insignificant and pressured than ever amidst this group.
“Looks like everyone’s here. Let’s get started early.”
The Vice Director, sitting at the head of the table, swept his gaze around and raised his hand to signal the Secretary to begin the briefing.
This Vice Director was quite young, slim, and sharp-eyed.
He wasn’t just an administrator; he himself was a Hero with strength reaching A+-class.
It was said that his original Meme was a weaker version of “Magneto,” rated only B-class, but after some epiphany, he optimized his ability and upgraded it to the more versatile “Telekinetic Manipulation,” his strength leaping to A+, making him widely regarded as the most promising candidate to be promoted to S-rank next.
The Secretary operated the screen and brought up some Surveillance Footage.
The video showed that it wasn’t the vampire Anomalous Entity who had escaped on his own, but rather a blonde woman in a black and red dress who had silently turned into a bat and slipped into the containment room.
However, instead of rescuing him, she directly pressed her hand against the Anomalous Entity, and in an instant, he melted into a thick pool of Blood, which she then absorbed.
“My preliminary suspicion is that this woman is a Disseminator. What do you all think?”
The Vice Director clasped his hands on the table, his gaze sweeping across those present.
Shui Hua had learned about this concept in her training.
A “Disseminator” refers to those who plant similar Memes into other individuals, guide them to grow into the desired specific Meme, and finally absorb them to change or strengthen their own Meme—a category of extremely dangerous individuals.
The woman in the surveillance, clearly a vampire Anomalous Entity herself, spread the vampire Meme, cultivated it, then harvested it to strengthen herself.
“My assessment matches the Vice Director’s.”
Liu Jin was the first to voice agreement, and the others soon nodded as well.
“It seems we’re all on the same page about the classification.”
The Vice Director nodded.
“So next, we need to focus on evaluating her threat level and formulating a response strategy.”
“It’s hard to accurately assess her combat strength just from this video.”
The Containment Facility Director stroked his chin.
“The fact that she could avoid our Ability Sensing alarms only shows her adaptability is extremely high, and her control over her power is exquisite. As for dissolving the target into Blood, it’s possible she’d already planted a specific ‘harvest’ Meme earlier. But, considering she dared to infiltrate the Containment Facility directly, I suggest an initial classification as A-class.”
“A-class is a reasonable assessment,” the Vice Director responded, his tone heavier.
“But given that her actions are an open challenge to the Ability Bureau itself, and considering the inherently high growth and social threat potential of Disseminators, I think it’s necessary and reasonable to raise her threat level to A+.”
After all, letting an Anomalous Entity be harvested under the Bureau’s very nose was a slap in the face that could not be ignored.
“Comrade Shui Hua,” the Vice Director shifted focus, turning his gaze to Shui Hua, “since you personally captured the Anomalous Entity who was harvested, you’ve had direct contact with the target. Do you have any additional comments on this classification?”
Suddenly called upon, Shui Hua tensed up.
She quickly sat up straight, thinking, At my level I have no right to offer you advice, then decided to play it safe, “Uh… I completely agree with you, Vice Director. Classifying her as A+ is absolutely appropriate.”
Shui Hua finally understood what it meant to “sit in the corner at twenty-one, like a little minion.”
“Good. Does anyone else have any objections?”
After receiving majority agreement, the Vice Director continued, “Then, the tracking and elimination of this new A+-class Disseminator threat will be fully led by Magical Girl Liu Jin’s Elite Squad, with full support from the Containment Facility. Any objections to this arrangement?”
“I have no objections.”
Liu Jin nodded, then her gaze swept toward the corner of the room, landing precisely on Shui Hua, who was desperately trying to lower her presence.
“However, I will need some support.”
Oh no…
Shui Hua felt a bad premonition rising in her heart.
Fortunately, Liu Jin was only joking.
Seeing Shui Hua’s nervous expression, she let the corners of her mouth lift slightly before quickly turning back to the Vice Director and getting to business.
“Our squad members’ abilities are more suited to direct combat. To improve investigation efficiency, I’d like to request cooperation from Heroes skilled in tracking or reconnaissance.”
Shui Hua let out a sigh of relief—thank goodness she wasn’t involved—but for some reason, she felt like Liu Jin was picking up some bad habits.