Chapter 79: Department Gathering

A few days later, the private room of a charcoal-grill restaurant in District C—styled in vintage industrial décor—was filled with the rich aroma of sizzling fat and secret sauces.

“Come on, come on! To celebrate our District C, Group One’s super rookie Gray Crystal, who survived by the skin of his teeth—bah! I mean, who successfully passed probation! Cheers—!”

Li Qing raised her oversized beer mug high, cheeks flushed with excitement, her bright voice setting a lively tone for the evening.

“Cheers!”

Lin Yu lifted his own cup, somewhat embarrassed.
It contained only a mild oolong tea.

He looked at the people seated around the table:

Chen Bing.

Chen Bing, who was silently flipping premium wagyu slices on the grill with tongs.

Su Xiaoli.

Su Xiaoli, sipping orange juice with her usual languid, sleepy-eyed look.

Ye Ye.

Ye Ye, seated beside him, quietly placing pieces of perfectly grilled meat into his plate.

And lastly, his gaze fell upon the man at the main seat, smiling contentedly at the scene.

Manager Qian.

(…It still feels… unreal.)

A sense of surreal emotion washed over Lin Yu.

Just days ago, he’d been sitting in that freezing interrogation chamber, convinced his life was about to end—“purified” as nothing more than a dangerous piece of biological waste.

And now, he was here, eating high-end grilled beef he previously never dared even glance at, celebrating his “permanent employment” with a forty-thousand-yuan salary alongside these so-called “elite colleagues.”

The absurdity of the happiness left him momentarily overwhelmed.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Lin? Doesn’t suit your taste?”

Sensing his distraction, Manager Qian picked up a piece of sizzling beef tongue and placed it onto his plate, speaking with the warmth of an elder.

“Don’t just sit there stunned. Eat more. Young people who just went through something like that need protein and energy. The wagyu here—I had to pull strings to get the reservation. Eat as much as you want, today is my treat!”

“Th-thank you, Manager Qian…”

Feeling both flattered and grateful, Lin Yu stole another look at the manager’s kind smile—then finally gathered his courage.
He raised his tea cup.

“Um… Manager Qian.”

His voice carried a sincerity and gravity he’d never expressed before.

“About the hearing… thank you.”

The private room instantly fell silent.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward Manager Qian.

His smile never wavered.
He simply waved a hand and answered casually:

“Thank me for what? I just did what a manager should do.”

He filled a glass to the brim with strong baijiu, lifted it toward Lin Yu from across the table—

“In the end, you’re the one who really made me proud. Our Dawn Labor Services has existed for so many years, and you’re the first D-rank Executor who made those high-and-mighty officials personally call the evaluation committee to pull someone out. Just for that alone, this drink should be from me to you!”

And with that—

He downed the glass of liquor strong enough to fell an ordinary person in one shot.

Li Qing immediately perked up like a fox catching a whiff of gossip.

“Director Bai?”

Manager Qian paused in the motion of pouring himself another drink.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he lifted the glass under the light.
The clear liquor shimmered with a complicated glow.

A moment later, he gave a meaningful smile.

There was respect in that smile.
But far more… resignation—like someone who had glimpsed the true player behind the cards.

“…No. Quite the opposite.”

He spoke slowly, voice lowered.

“Before the hearing began, Director Bai called me personally. On the phone, he said only one thing—”

Manager Qian swept a sharp gaze across the room, ensuring every set of ears was paying attention.

He said, “‘Old Qian, let things take their natural course.’”

“Let things take their natural course?”

Li Qing blinked, baffled.

“What does that even mean? Like… just let us fend for ourselves?”

“Heh…”

Manager Qian chuckled softly, full of pity for workplace innocence.

“Child, remember this: in the world of someone like Director Bai, the words ‘let things take their natural course’ are the clearest statement possible.”

“It doesn’t mean do whatever you want.”
“It means the situation has already exceeded the level that you and I can influence.”

He drained another cup of strong liquor.
The sharp burn seemed to sharpen his gaze even further.

“He was telling me that someone we absolutely cannot afford to cross had already taken a seat at the table. And he—chose to leave early.”

Manager Qian set down the glass and concluded for his own people:

“So the one who saved Xiao Lin this time wasn’t Director Bai. It was someone else. A big shot none of us can afford to provoke, who personally passed a message to those bureaucrats.”

“But don’t go poking at the details. The less you know, the longer you live.”

He paused.

“But on the bright side, Xiao Lin—you could say you’ve benefitted from disaster. You got a preview of the monsters running above us.”

He pointed at himself, then at the other magical girls at the table.

“We are the company’s tools. And Division Zero are the warehouse managers who oversee us tools. Except their authority is far, far greater.”

“They have multiple task forces. The one we deal with most often is Task Force One, the ‘Watchers.’ They’re the government’s own batch of ‘magical muscle-men.’ Different system from us—less potential, more side effects—but obedient.”

“And the ones you encountered this time, the Ironmen Unit, are the dirtiest, most unreasonable hammer under their command.”

The corner of his mouth curled into a mocking smirk.

“Their tin-can equipment was developed by the old fossils at Huaxia Heavy Industries. And you know Skyvault Group—constant rivals. So of course those guys in armor hate seeing people using Skyvault-based tech. They’ll never pass up a chance to pick a fight.”

This entire lecture full of “workplace politics” gave Lin Yu an even deeper understanding of how complicated this world truly was.

“Then… Manager Qian…”

Lin Yu asked cautiously,

“This collar on my neck…”

“Oh, that? Just think of it as a new company-issued ‘health monitor.’”

Manager Qian waved it off carelessly.

“You’re banned from transforming anyway. Treat it like paid leave. As for your probation—don’t worry, I processed the paperwork ages ago.”

“After all, a rookie who fought an S-rank pollutant and lived? That’s an impressive résumé. Your forty-thousand salary won’t be touched. Of course…”

His expression shifted into that familiar capitalist fox-grin.

“…your bonuses are definitely gone. From the accounting perspective, you did blow up half of District D’s lab complex. The fact the company didn’t make you pay damages already took a lot of effort on my part.”

“Y-yes yes yes! Thank you, Manager!”

The moment he heard his salary was safe, Lin Yu nodded like a pecking chick, the last weight in his heart dropping away.

His admiration for Manager Qian rose yet another level.

This man—though often a skin-flaying capitalist—always showed a surprising reliability where it mattered.

“Alright, alright, enough depressing talk!”

Manager Qian clapped his hands, steering the mood back to celebration.

“Life has to go on! That’s how it is—no matter how bad things get, eat some barbecue, drink some booze, sleep it off, and everything passes! Hardships or not, we move on! Come on, eat! Eat!”

The atmosphere in the room was rekindled.

“Senpai～”

At some point, Li Qing had scooted right up next to Lin Yu, pushing a tall glass of fizzy orange juice toward him.
Her trademark energetic smile was now tinged with a rosy drunken glow.

“This one’s for you! Congrats on passing probation! From now on, we’re real comrades-in-arms!”

She raised her own glass, voice bright and clear.

“A-ah… thank you…”

Lin Yu picked up his cup awkwardly, just about to clink it—

When a pale, slender hand suddenly appeared from the other side.

It gently placed another full glass of elegantly fragrant oolong tea right between Lin Yu’s cup and the orange juice.

It was Su Xiaoli.

“Gray Crystal,”

She spoke in her languid fox-eyed drawl, soft and melty like fresh cotton candy,

“Orange juice is too sweet. All sugar and coloring. Not good for your body. Have some tea instead—good for digestion and health.”

Good for digestion and health.

The seemingly gentle concern was like a needle, instantly popping Li Qing’s energetic aura.

“Ehh——? Su Xiaoli, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

Li Qing puffed her cheeks like a cat whose territory had been invaded.
Her watery eyes burned with open hostility.

“I’m helping senpai get vitamins! What do you know?! And anyway, today is District C, Group One’s probation celebration for our newbie! You’re not even from our district—why are you, a whole Group Leader, crashing our group’s dinner?!”

Hearing the rising tension, even Chen Bing paused mid-flip, quietly observing the incoming explosion.

And yet—

Faced with Li Qing’s provocation, Su Xiaoli didn’t show a hint of anger.

“Aiyaa, Red Fox-senpai, that really hurts my feelings~”

She covered her chest dramatically, feigning heartbreak.

“Of course I’m here to congratulate our dear Gray Crystal-chan. He and I survived life-and-death together, after all.”

“And besides—I was the examiner for his probation test. An outsider, yes… but the one overseeing the whole thing.”

“And during the test, you family members from District C weren’t really… present, were you?”

“You—!”

Li Qing’s face turned scarlet.

Because she knew.
When Lin Yu was taking his probation mission, she and Chen Bing had been stuck cleaning up a mess at Ruikang Biotech, and Ye Ye was undergoing mandatory psychological intervention due to unstable mental condition.

They had indeed… perfectly missed their junior’s most critical battle.

“Hehe, so…”

Completely ignoring the about-to-explode Li Qing, Su Xiaoli turned to Lin Yu.

“You should drink my cup first, right?”

“I…”

Lin Yu stared at the two sets of expectant—and threatening—eyes closing in on him.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.

He felt like a piece of grilled meat caught between two small animals fighting over food.

(Help…)
(Why is this suddenly a romance-death match?!)

Ultimately, survival instinct forced him into the “fairest” choice.

Hands trembling, he picked up his empty cup.
He poured half of Li Qing’s orange juice into it.
Then, under Su Xiaoli’s approving “good boy” smile, he added her oolong tea on top.

“…I… I like drinking… mixed fruit tea.”

Across the table, Chen Bing stared at the bizarrely bubbling concoction, then at Lin Yu’s expression of utter despair.
For once, her lips curled into a faint, schadenfreude-filled smile.

Ye Ye remained focused on grilling.
After a moment, she picked up a perfectly roasted tenderloin and placed it gently into Lin Yu’s plate.

Just as he started thanking her, Ye Ye finally couldn’t hold back and muttered at the two still bickering girls:

“You two… you’re so childish…”