Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 49: Duty
The conference room was pitch black, but the 120 investigators sat under bright lights, their eyes faintly glowing blue.

They are looking at meeting materials.

The footage shows empty prison cells, files of escaped demons and monsters inside, and all the surveillance footage from the vicinity on the day the security bureau was hacked...

Two days have passed since the escape of the group of demons and monsters. The investigators present have access to the Security Bureau's advanced weapons. If any investigator were to be taken into custody, it could lead to a terrorist attack. For the past two days, they were the first to be investigated and only resumed work today.

In the center of the conference room, the feather emblem on Yu Yi's sleeve flashed red light. With the help of the superconductor inside the floor, he sat cross-legged in mid-air, like a deity descending.

The Feathered Envoy, expressionless, transmitted the information to everyone's brains.

Yu Yi can utilize Li Lou's computing power, and has already acquired "divinity". His way of communicating with people has also broken with tradition. Instead of using inefficient language and writing, he directly inputs all the key information into the other party's brain.

Investigators like Bai Miao, who have already replaced thinking with brain-computer interfaces, directly understood the Feathered Envoy's intentions through image-based thinking—primitive humans also thought in this way. In the past few thousand years of civilization, symbols, writing, and language once became important tools for thought, but now digital life has abandoned those tools, returned to its original simplicity, and even their thinking is no longer linear.

Even Yang Guan, who was very restrained in using brain-computer interfaces, had to hand over the data to the brain-computer interface to understand the Feathered Envoy's intentions.

The case of the escaped ghosts has many unanswered questions, but the main focus is on three points: First, the identity of the digital lifeform that infiltrated the security system; second, the breach of the security bureau's internal network indicates that the intruder entered the communication range of the security bureau's internal network; and third, what was the intruder's purpose?

For these three focal points, the Feathered Envoy presented dozens of possible logical lines of reasoning, calculated the probability of each line of reasoning being true, and made personnel scheduling arrangements.

Almost all the investigators in the bureau were involved in the investigation of this major case, with only a handful not participating.

Yang Guan was one of them.

He was not involved in the investigation, nor was he assigned any other tasks.

The meeting materials provided by the Feathered Envoy revealed the reason.

Yingchuan City is a religiously autonomous city-state, where the government's control is already very weak. Investigators often need the cooperation of various temples to conduct their investigations.

This case is extremely serious in nature, tantamount to a direct declaration of the National Security Bureau's incompetence. Only after several rounds of negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the abbot of Huagu Monastery was the shutdown of all government agencies in Yingchuan City prevented. However, the government's power in the city has been severely restricted. As the first government agency to be affected, the National Security Bureau has undergone further staff reductions and elitism.

In this case, the investigators were not capable of resisting, but the main reason for this diplomatic failure was the investigators' long-standing inefficiency. The crime rate in Yingchuan City has far exceeded the average, and the investigators who failed to meet the performance evaluation standards should be held responsible.

All the information could be summarized in one simple sentence for Yang Guan: He was fired.

……

Yang Guan was the first to leave the conference room. As he walked out of that door, the gazes behind him seemed like laser beams from a scope. He wanted to quicken his pace, but couldn't help turning back.

Nobody paid any attention to him. The investigators filed out and passed by him, but he stood there stiffly.

He quickly turned around, left the front porch of the conference hall, and walked into the courtyard connecting the office building.

The courtyard dome is simulating heavy dark clouds, pressing the sky extremely low.

Holographic rain approached from afar, and the figures of investigators moved through the pattering rain. In a city where the sky was obscured by skyscrapers and skyrails, this rain was one of the privileges enjoyed by investigators. Yang Guan looked up; the raindrops were icy cold, like a school of squid pecking at his face. From tomorrow onward, he too would be unable to enjoy this insignificant privilege.

Footsteps approached from behind. Yang Guan turned around and saw Bai Miao, who had just left the conference hall, pursing her lips and shaking her head at him.

“I just tried to appeal to the Feathered Envoy, but it was no use. You've been used as an example this time.”

Bai Miao's pronunciation was a little awkward. She didn't send her thoughts directly to Yang Guan, but communicated with him using her vocal cords, as if for the sake of the farewell ritual, this way of communicating could make the conversation last a little longer.

"I know," Yang Guan laughed nonchalantly. "Now I can relax."

"So carefree?" Bai Miao smiled slightly. "Then why are your eyes wet?"

"Really?" Yang Guan was stunned for a moment, then touched the corner of his eye before realizing that he had been tricked.

Bai Miao smiled. She sighed, "You're really unlucky. If this hadn't happened, you wouldn't have had to leave."

"Yeah, I don't know where that guy came from, but he dared to openly infiltrate the Security Bureau and still manage to get away unscathed."

Yang Guan muttered to himself.

"Could this be some powerful figure orchestrating this whole thing to squeeze the Security Bureau out of Yingchuan City?"

"The Feathered Envoy didn't offer that possibility," Bai Miao shook his head.

“This is a taboo,” Yang Guan said mysteriously. “The Feathered Envoy didn’t give it to us, but he definitely knows.”

Bai Miao frowned suspiciously.

The other investigators had all disappeared, and the holographic rainwater had formed puddles on the ground, but it hadn't soaked the two men's clothes.

“Actually, I’ve always felt that you’re not suited for this job,” Bai Miao said.

"How so?" Yang Guan raised an eyebrow.

“Being an investigator requires sacrificing a lot. We are vulnerable to contamination and cannot freely enter or leave the Spirit Realm.” Bai Miao glanced at the dark clouds rising from the eaves of the courtyard. “All we get is one opportunity: from investigator to Feathered Envoy, and then to ascension. This opportunity is rare and difficult to achieve, so we must seize it firmly. What do you think?”

Yang Guan gave a noncommittal "hmm".

“But sometimes you can be influenced by inexplicable obsessions in your choices,” Bai Miao said. “You trust your intuition a lot, even though it’s sometimes accurate. But your competitiveness and vanity often make you ignore Li Lou’s judgment and always want to find some ‘overlooked major case.’ This is the negative impact that your biological brain has on you.”

“We’ve worked together for two years, so I thought you should know me pretty well.”

Yang Guan shook his head, but had no desire to refute. Bai Miao believed that the investigator's duty was to follow Li Lou's arrangements and handle the case step by step. In his eyes, the investigator's duty was to find out the truth. They couldn't change each other's views.

"Perhaps I understand you better than you understand yourself. There's a saying that bystanders see things more clearly," Bai Miao said with a smile. Yang Guan may have already realized the problem, but his pride prevented him from admitting it, so she didn't point it out.

"By the way, how's the investigation into that hibernator case going?" she changed the subject.

“A missing hibernator has been found, but I haven’t made contact with them yet.” Yang Guan pondered for a moment. “Could you do me a favor?”

"You don't mean you want me to find some clues from him, do you?" Bai Miao politely declined.

“No.” Yang Guan shook his head. “Arrange for Su Ge to meet with him.”

"Su Ge?" Bai Miao asked疑惑地, "Is it related to the case?"

"No, I promised him."

This may be the last thing I can do.

Yang Guan took off the investigator's helmet, tucked it under his arm, and walked into the rain in the courtyard.

I caught a cold yesterday and felt very groggy after taking medicine, so the update is a bit late. Sorry.

The editor notified me that *The Chronicles of One Hundred Ghosts* will be available for purchase on Wednesday. I haven't saved any chapters yet, so I need to work on it tonight. I type very slowly, so I should be able to update twice tomorrow.

Also, I recommend a book: it features elements of superpowers, apocalypse, and ancient heroic spirits. It's by an experienced author and you can trust it!

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(End of this chapter)