Chapter 7 : The Mission

Old Luo’s office was neither large nor small.
Besides his own desk and chair, the office also had a low sofa and a low coffee table.
The wall behind the sofa was adorned with several photo frames, all of them group photos of a younger Old Luo with other people.
On the wall behind the desk hung a huge oil painting of a bizarre, abstract figure, quite in the style of Picasso.
It was worth noting that, besides the painting and photos, two rifles were also mounted on the wall: a Winchester and a Mosin-Nagant.
It was clear that although the guns were old models, they were impeccably maintained.

Rachel walked into the room and saw that besides Old Luo sitting at the desk, there was another person.

This person looked very familiar.
Rachel studied him for a moment and realized he was the handsome man in the suit who had knocked her game console out of her hands last night.
The reason she remembered was that the man was missing half a finger on his left hand, and he wore a metal prosthetic where the finger was severed, which had left a very deep impression on her.

“Hey? You’re that handsome guy from yesterday,” Rachel said, pointing at him.

The man in the suit was currently standing by the windowsill with his arms crossed over his chest.
His coat and fedora were hanging on a coat rack, revealing the white shirt and brown vest he wore underneath.
His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his forearm was wrapped in bandages, looking as if they had just been applied.
Incongruous with his mature demeanor, he had a lollipop stick dangling from his mouth.

“Hello,” the man in the suit said, waving at Rachel, his expression also one of some surprise.
“I’m glad you remember me.”

“Close the door first,” Old Luo said to Rachel, putting down the Sinhe Morning Post he was reading.

Rachel closed the door.
The latch collided with the doorframe, making a clattering sound.
Rachel was surprised to find that the door had locked automatically.

Immediately, Rachel sensed a faint sound abruptly appear in her mind, like a drop of water falling into a pool.
It was less that she had heard the sound and more that her brain had perceived it.

A sense of confinement instantly washed over her.
This feeling originated from the room itself—the ceiling, the walls, the floor.
This sense of confinement tightly enveloped everyone present.

Rachel looked at Old Luo in surprise.
This wasn’t the first time she had encountered this feeling.

This sense of confinement originated from a magical formation that had been set up in this room many years ago.
Its name was “Quiet and Soundless,” a type of magical mechanism specially installed by higher-ups.
The switch was controlled by the director of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs and could be turned on and off at will.
Once activated, all sight and sound in this room would be cut off from the outside world.
What was said and done by the people in this room could not be known by anyone outside.

Activating this formation meant that the people in the room were about to have a very important conversation that no one else could know about.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked.
For Old Luo to be this serious, something major must have happened.

“Let me introduce you to each other first.”
Old Luo’s full name was Luo Hao.
He was a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties, with a receding hairline and a slight beer belly.

“Yuhui, this is Rachel Ronald.
Rachel, this is Yuhui.”

Rachel proactively shook Yuhui’s hand.
“Hello, you can call me Rachel or RR.”

“So you’re from the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs and on such good terms with Luo Hao,” Yuhui said.
“If I had known, I would have taken you with me yesterday. Maybe we could have arrested the ‘Arsonist’ and finished this mission early, and I might not have gotten injured.”
He waved his bandaged forearm.

‘Arsonist, arrest, injured.’
Rachel chewed over the information he was giving her.
It seemed a pursuit mission was about to be placed on her shoulders.

“Mr. Yuhui is from the Astral Academy, a teacher at the Psionics College, and has always cooperated with the Imperial military. He is my friend, and this time he’s here specifically to help,” Luo Hao said.

Someone from the Astral Academy?
Why would a big shot from the Astral Academy come to a small, remote city like Sinhe?
It seemed this major event might be even more serious than she had anticipated.

Rachel looked at Yuhui in surprise and suddenly felt that something was off.
She had gone through all the documents Rick had sold her yesterday, but she had no memory of this person at all.
Was he really from the Astral Academy?
Or had Rick not given her everyone’s files?

‘Maybe I drank too much and forgot most of it.’

Luo Hao then said to Yuhui, “Rachel is my best operative here. You’ll be working with her. I can guarantee she’ll be a great help to you.”

“Wait, I’m supposed to go on a mission with him?” Rachel asked, pointing at Yuhui.

‘What does this mean? He’s telling me to go on a mission with this stranger who’s missing half a finger?
Cancel my vacation, call me at two in the morning to disrupt my fun, give me such a heavy burden, and on top of all that, make me work with a strange man.
Old Luo, you’re a real piece of work.’

Rachel thought to herself silently.

Rachel didn’t really want to work with a stranger.
It wasn’t that she minded the act of working with someone she didn’t know; after all, everyone in the world starts as strangers and gradually becomes acquainted.
However, Rachel was very resistant to accepting new things.
Although encountering new things was unavoidable, she always chose to maintain the status quo when she had a choice, which included avoiding getting to know a stranger and working with him as much as possible.

For example, when Rachel encountered new drinks at the supermarket, she would always ignore them and choose the ones she was used to drinking.
When eating out, she would always choose a restaurant she had been to before and liked, ordering the dishes she had ordered before and enjoyed, eating them until she was sick of them, even to the point of wanting to puke, before considering whether to change restaurants or try a few different dishes.
Or how she wore the same style of black leather jacket, blue jeans, and black leather shoes all year round.
Of course, she would try wearing other types of clothes, but for the same type of clothing, she basically only wore one brand and one style.
She was just that lazy to change.
It would be more accurate to say she was a woman who liked her life to be unchanging… Ugh, Men!

Why did she like things to be unchanging?
Because Rachel was afraid that the new drink she tried this time would be horribly disgusting, worried that the new restaurant or new food wouldn’t suit her taste, and feared that a new brand or style of clothing would be uncomfortable to wear.
What she feared was the negative feedback that came with new things.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried new things, but the vast majority of her attempts had resulted in negative feedback, which had eroded her interest in accepting new things.

She was willing to work with someone she had never met before, but only on the condition that this person was a kind and friendly person.
How could she know what kind of personality this stranger she was about to work with had?
If he was a harsh and mean person, she would definitely suffer during this time.