Chapter 76: Section Zero

Cold.

That was the first — and the only — sensation Lin Yu felt after regaining consciousness.

He was sitting on a hard metal chair.
Cold restraints locked his wrists to the edge of the table.

All around him lay darkness as deep as an abyss.
The sole light source came from the blinding desk lamp placed directly in front of him.

That harsh white beam was like a surgical blade, cutting him and the tiny patch of tabletop out from the surrounding void…
while also preventing him from seeing what lurked in the darkness beyond.

‘…Where… is this?’

Lin Yu forced open his eyelids, which felt as heavy as lead.

What entered his vision was nearly absolute darkness.
Only that old-style desk lamp illuminated a sharp circle of glaring white.

The brightness felt like a red-hot scalpel slicing through the room’s blackness, making his freshly awakened eyes instinctively narrow.

He realized he was strapped to a freezing metal chair.
His legs were locked to the seat, unable to move at all.

This looked like… an interrogation room.

Exactly like the ones from those old police dramas he used to watch:
airtight room, cold metal furniture, and on the wall—
those oppressive red characters painted in an old propaganda font:

“Leniency for confession. Severity for resistance.”

The classic color scheme.
The familiar slogan.

Everything looked unmistakably like a public security interrogation chamber.

‘What kind of joke is this? How did those robots bring me here? Where’s Senior Su?’

Anxiety surged through him.

He didn’t know what had happened to Su Xiaoli.
He didn’t know whether Lin Xue or Dr. Reed were safe.
He didn’t even know what he was about to face next.

Instinctively, he tried to activate the Persona Mask Protocol, to transform into that humiliating but strangely comforting magical girl.

But his chest was empty.

The irregular hexagonal Gray Crystal brooch—
was gone.

His heart tightened.
He immediately checked his wrist.

The contract bracelet Manager Qian had just issued him—
had vanished as well.

‘…The transformation gear… was confiscated?’

That realization made his skin crawl.
The metal cuffs rattled sharply with every tiny movement, the clicking echoing through the dead-silent room like needles scraping bone.

Just as his inner panic neared its peak—

A heavy sound shattered the silence.

The door lock turned.

The thick steel door pushed open from the outside.
Two tall silhouettes stepped in against the corridor’s sickly pale light.
Their presence alone felt enough to freeze the air.

They wore identical dark-gray uniforms, perfectly tailored, with not a single unnecessary decoration—
like KGB agents straight out of a Cold War thriller.

One, lean and expressionless, positioned himself by the door, arms folded, standing as still as a statue.

The other walked straight toward Lin Yu, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

In his hand was a kraft-paper document folder.
On his face, the most striking feature was his thick, heavy, brush-like black eyebrows.

Then came silence.
Long, suffocating silence.

Neither of them spoke.
They merely stared at Lin Yu with a dissecting, clinical gaze—
as though examining an object.
A specimen awaiting vivisection.

Lin Yu felt his skin crawl under that stare.
His heartbeat pounded uncontrollably.

He felt exactly like an insect pinned under a lab light—
exposed, helpless, unable to hide.

Eventually, he cracked first.
His voice trembled without him noticing.

“…Excuse me, you are…?”

A long moment passed before the thick-browed man finally responded.

His voice was low, heavy, and carried a condescending arrogance—
as though speaking to Lin Yu was an act of indulgent charity.

“Section Zero.“

“…Section Zero?”

Lin Yu blinked.
He had never heard of such a thing.

“It seems your company’s onboarding training is rather inadequate.”

The man’s lips curled into a mocking smirk.

“But I suppose that’s natural. You people are just outsourced consumables. You don’t have the qualifications to know much.”

He tossed the folder onto the table with a sharp thwap, then leaned back in his chair, speaking in a tone one used to explain basic common sense.

“Section Zero is the internal codename of the ‘Protocol Supervision Office’ under the Municipal Emergency Management Bureau.
We exist to ensure that the government remains the strongest player at the table.

Outsourced companies like yours—
exist for us to supervise, restrain,
and, when necessary… eliminate.”

“As for the robots you saw in Gamma Sector—”

He paused.
A glint of cold cruelty passed through his eyes.

“That was our Second Tactical Unit. Codename: Ironmen.
A force created specifically to deal with…
out-of-control ‘magical girls’ like you.”

Lin Yu’s heart dropped.
Hard.

“I… I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I didn’t lose control!”

“Whether you did or not isn’t for you to decide.”

The silent man by the door suddenly spoke—
his voice harsh and metallic, like grinding steel.

“We only believe in facts.”

“Enough.”

Thick-Brows raised a hand, stopping his partner.
He turned back to Lin Yu with a tone that pretended to be gentle.

“Relax. We’re only here to gather information.
Name, age, time of employment.”

“…Lin Yu.
Twenty-six.
I’ve been working… around three months.
My probation just ended…”

“Good.”

The man nodded, then shifted tone abruptly.

“Then tell me, Mr. Lin Yu—
do you know why you’re here?”

Lin Yu shook his head rapidly.
His face was full of fear and helplessness.

“I don’t know! I really don’t! My memory only goes up until that monster, the one called Myriad Transformations Demon Lord, attacked me— and then… I don’t remember anything after that!”

“Is that so?”

The man pulled out a stack of documents from the folder and tossed them in front of him.

“Open it.”

Lin Yu’s trembling hands undid the string.
The more he read, the paler he became.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Inside were interrogation transcripts—

Su Xiaoli’s.
Dr. Reed’s.
Even Lin Xue’s.

Su Xiaoli’s voice, calm and professional, described in detail how she entered Gamma Sector, saw through the Demon Lord’s disguise, and was forced to prepare a mutual-destruction contingency.

Lin Xue and Dr. Reed’s statements showed that Lin Xue had followed every step of the emergency plan that Su Xiaoli—
as a B-rank operative—
had left behind.

As he connected all the pieces, Lin Yu finally understood what deadly game had played out in that memoryless, chaotic Gamma Sector.

He lifted his head.
Shock made his lips tremble.

“Are you saying… I… was possessed by that pollutant?”

“To be precise,”
the man corrected,

“you were polluted.”

He reached into his pocket and placed an evidence bag under the lamp.

It was Lin Yu’s transformation device.

The once clear, gray crystal now contained a strange, nebula-like streak of violet—

A living violet.
Slowly flowing within the crystal.
Gleaming with a sinister, star-like radiance.

“No… this wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything! I’m innocent!”

Panic exploded out of him.

“I just wanted to pass my probation exam! I just wanted to make more money! I don’t know anything!”

“We know.”

The man’s response was unexpectedly calm.

“Based on Operative Su Xiaoli’s testimony and our analysis of the residual psionic traces, we can conclude the primary culprit was the S-Rank Pollutant Myriad Transformations Demon Lord.
In that sense, you are indeed a victim.”

Lin Yu exhaled shakily in relief.

“But,”

the man continued—
his eyes suddenly sharp as blades—

“pollution is pollution.
That is fact.

A vessel deeply eroded by an S-Rank pollutant is like a cup that once held deadly poison.
No one can guarantee it is still safe.”

“When your emotions collapse again…
or when cracks appear in your mental defenses…
the power buried in your soul will sprout, grow,
and turn you into part of it.”

He paused before delivering the verdict.

“In your Dawn Corporation’s internal terminology, this borderline state is called Corruption.

And those who fully lose reason—
whose souls catastrophically fuse with their Phase Spirit—

you call them…

Witches, correct?”

A tremor ran through Lin Yu’s entire body.

“…If someone is polluted… what happens to them?”

“That depends.”

The man raised one finger.

“In most cases, when we cannot confirm a source is clean, we choose the most thorough method:

purification.”

“Purification…”

Lin Yu felt icy dread shoot from his spine to his skull.
He could almost see the Ironmen lining up their cannons at him.

“Then… what’s the most lenient outcome?”

He asked with the desperation of someone begging for one last scrap of hope.

The man stared into him.

“You will be permanently banned from contacting anything related to psionic forces.”

“We will perform a deep memory cleanse—
you will forget everything about Dawn Corporation, magical girls, and the Subspace.”

“We will forge a new résumé for you.”

“And you will return to your old world—
to live as an ordinary man struggling with rent
and bills
and mundane life.
A perfectly normal person once again.”