On the 60th day of living together, Lin Xia received her first field mission since joining the organization.
This time, it wasn’t a support assignment.
She had to go out with a squad.
A little after eight in the morning, when the mission file was sent to her phone, she was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.
She hadn’t even finished her coffee yet.
Lin Xia opened the file and quickly skimmed through the key details.
The location was at the border between a suburban residential district and an abandoned factory area.
The target was a B-Class entity-type Meme.
The organization had temporarily classified it as an environment-altering Meme.
It had already been active in the target area for at least 72 hours, and the affected zone was still expanding.
Two advance squads had already arrived at the site, but neither had successfully made contact because the target showed a certain degree of active avoidance behavior.
Although there were no obvious hostile actions, all vegetation within the area was undergoing abnormal growth, and it was already affecting the nearby residents’ ability to travel normally.
Lin Xia’s role in this operation was to act as the on-site intelligence coordinator alongside the Third Squad.
Her main responsibility was real-time information collection and reporting to assist the command team in analyzing the target’s behavior patterns.
Including Lin Xia, the Third Squad consisted of five people.
The squad leader was Chen Feng.
After reading the file, Lin Xia set down her coffee cup.
When she looked up, she realized Yin Qi was already standing at the kitchen entrance holding her own breakfast.
“I have a field mission today,” Lin Xia said.
“I need to head out.”
“I already saw it,” Yin Qi said.
“What time are you leaving?”
“At nine,” Lin Xia said.
“You’ll have to stay by yourself today—”
“I know, I know,” Yin Qi interrupted.
“The surveillance is still on. I won’t go anywhere. Just go already.”
Lin Xia quickly finished breakfast and returned to the cabinet to organize her equipment.
Her tactical backpack usually sat untouched in the corner of the closet.
This was the first time she had actually taken it out for real use.
Following the mission checklist, she inspected everything one by one: communication equipment, intelligence terminal, first-aid kit, several pieces of specialized anti-Meme protective gear, and a small voice recorder she had personally added herself.
This was her first true field mission.
***
When Chen Feng came to pick her up, there were still five minutes left before nine.
He stood in the apartment lobby.
When he saw Lin Xia come out, he nodded.
“All set?”
“Yep.”
Lin Xia jogged a few steps to catch up with him.
While walking, Chen Feng gave her a more detailed explanation of the situation than what was written in the report.
“That Meme has been active in the target area for three days already,” Chen Feng said.
“Every time the advance teams tried to get close, it retreated deeper into the area. It doesn’t attack, though. Right now we’re judging it as neutral-type, but the affected zone is still expanding. If we don’t deal with it soon, it’ll start seriously affecting the surrounding residents, and then things get troublesome.”
“The abnormal vegetation growth mentioned in the report,” Lin Xia said.
“What exactly does that mean?”
“You’ll understand once you see it,” Chen Feng said.
“The photos couldn’t capture the feeling properly.”
Lin Xia now understood exactly what Chen Feng meant by “the photos couldn’t capture the feeling.”
The area before her had originally been a landscaped greenbelt beside the residential district.
According to city planning, it should have contained neatly trimmed bushes and sycamore trees.
But now, every single plant in the area was growing in a way that completely violated natural laws.
The bushes had grown over 2 meters tall.
Long vines hung down from the walls of the abandoned factory buildings.
The ground was covered in dense grass thick enough to resemble a carpet, and when someone stepped on it, their foot would sink partway in.
“All of this grew within the last three days?”
Lin Xia stood outside the caution line staring at the green jungle-like area.
“Yeah,” one of the advance team members replied.
“When we rushed over on the first day after receiving the report, the greenbelt still looked normal. By the second day, it had already turned into this.”
Lin Xia recorded the information into her terminal before raising her head again.
“Where’s the target now?”
“Deep inside the vegetation,” the team member said while pointing toward the center of the greenery.
“We scanned it with thermal imaging. There’s a heat source in there. Not very large. Roughly humanoid-shaped. It hasn’t moved much from that position.”
Lin Xia organized the gathered information and opened the communication channel to submit the first on-site assessment to command.
The response came quickly.
The command leader’s voice came through the communicator.
“Information received. Continue following B-Class procedures. Submit routine reports every fifteen minutes. Report immediately if there are any major changes. Understood?”
“Understood,” Lin Xia replied.
“Additionally, this case has already been synchronized to the branch vice director. Today’s handling results will enter the archives, so follow proper procedures carefully and make absolutely sure there are no mistakes.”
Lin Xia unconsciously tightened her grip on the communicator slightly.
“Understood.”
After the call ended, Chen Feng looked at her from beside her.
“It’s fine. Don’t be nervous. This is mostly just procedure.”
“I’m okay. I’m not that nervous.”
As Lin Xia spoke, she reopened the terminal to organize the first routine report.
For the next two full hours, the situation remained mostly unchanged.
The Third Squad attempted contact twice, but each time the B-Class Meme simply retreated further inward to avoid them.
It didn’t attack, but it also refused all contact.
Based on his experience, Chen Feng concluded that forced containment carried relatively high risk.
He suggested changing the strategy to observation and waiting for the target to display willingness for active contact.
The command team approved the proposal.
However, they added another instruction at the same time:
If the target still showed no signs of contact within the next four hours, forced containment would begin, with headquarters personally authorizing activation of B-Class suppression equipment.
Lin Xia read the order aloud to the squad members.
She noticed the nearby advance team members exchange subtle looks after hearing it.
“The activation of B-Class suppression equipment requires direct headquarters approval,” Chen Feng said.
“If they already agreed to authorize it, that means the higher-ups think today’s situation needs to be handled carefully.”
Lin Xia nodded after hearing that and lowered her head to continue organizing information.
The turning point came two hours later.
Lin Xia was organizing the ninth routine report when she suddenly felt her phone vibrate once.
A text message.
From the contact: Plastic Heart.
The message read:
‘It’s moving toward your direction now. It’s curious about you people.’
After reading the message, Lin Xia immediately looked toward the green jungle area.
The heat source on the thermal imaging display had also started moving.
Not quickly, but the direction was indeed outward.
“The target is moving!”
One of the advance team members shouted, and immediately everyone focused on its movements.
Lin Xia instantly reported to command.
“The target has begun active movement behavior. Direction is toward the squad. Speed is slow. Suspected intention for active contact. Recommend maintaining current position and waiting for the target to approach voluntarily.”
Command replied quickly.
“Received. Continue observation. Do not approach recklessly.”
Lin Xia held her breath.
At the edge of the green area, vines and branches began swaying slightly.
Not from the wind.
Something inside was pushing them aside.
It appeared.
Lin Xia’s first impression upon seeing it was that it was much smaller than she had imagined.
It was a being roughly waist-high.
Its shape resembled a humanoid, but not completely.
Its entire body was covered in dense green vegetation.
Where its face should have been, there were no distinct facial features.
Only two faintly glowing green points.
Probably eyes.
It stood quietly at the edge of the greenbelt, staring at the group of people.
No one on Lin Xia’s side moved either.
After around thirty seconds, Lin Xia turned to look at Chen Feng.
Chen Feng made a hand gesture.
Wait.
Ten more seconds passed.
Slowly, the creature raised one arm.
From where its fingers should have been, a thin branch extended outward, and at the tip bloomed a tiny white flower.
The flower slowly stretched toward the squad member standing closest to it.
The squad member froze.
He clearly didn’t know whether he should accept it or not.
Lin Xia’s phone vibrated again.
Another message from Plastic Heart:
‘It’s greeting you. Go ahead and take it.’
After Lin Xia carefully relayed the suggestion, the squad member finally accepted the flower.
Once the flower was taken away, the Meme stepped backward once.
At the spot where it had originally been standing, a circle of freshly grown grass slowly sprouted from the ground.
Several neatly arranged little flowers bloomed among the grass.
They were the exact same white color as the flower from before.
It looked almost like a tiny welcome mat spread across the ground.
Chen Feng let out a long breath before reporting to command.
“Target confirmed displaying friendly behavior. Recommend transitioning into friendly Meme registration procedures and temporarily suspending suppression protocol.”
Command remained silent for several seconds before replying:
“Received. Transitioning into registration procedure pending headquarters approval. Continue observation.”
Lin Xia organized the entire sequence into text and submitted the ninth routine report.
Then she sent a message back to Plastic Heart:
‘How did you know it was greeting us?’
Plastic Heart replied:
‘I can feel its emotions. Just curiosity and cautious probing. No hostility. Your group made too much of a scene and scared it.’
Lin Xia stared at the message.
She remembered the earlier warning Plastic Heart had sent.
Without that reminder, she probably wouldn’t have advised command to wait.
The squad might have directly entered forced suppression procedures instead.
And if that had happened…
***
By the time the mission ended, it was already afternoon.
Lin Xia sat inside the return vehicle, watching the city scenery pass by outside the window.
Chen Feng sat in the front passenger seat.
He turned around to glance at her.
“You did pretty well today.”
“Thanks,” Lin Xia said.
“What happened to that Meme in the end?”
“It got registered as B1-Class,” Chen Feng replied.
“Headquarters said they’ll send specialists later to see whether it’s willing to sign a cooperation agreement. They’ll probably have to redesign that greenbelt too. Maybe they’ll reserve an activity zone for it.”
“Come to think of it,” Lin Xia said.
“Can it actually understand what cooperation means?”
“That’ll probably need professional evaluation,” Chen Feng said.
“But from my experience, most B-Class Memes usually have at least some level of comprehension. It’s probably no exception.”
Lin Xia leaned back against the seat.
Suddenly, she remembered the small white flower that the squad member had accepted earlier.
The man had tucked it into the pocket of his tactical backpack.
And he had carried it with him the entire way back.