“Yeah, that’s definitely a possibility.”
After hearing the guess that Hu Yao’er had come up with, Bai Yuling, who felt that the possibility she mentioned did indeed exist, nodded and then said to her.
“If that’s the case, then regarding the matter of the man in the suit, our Supernatural Affairs Bureau’s investigation will have to change direction.”
“Director Bai, if you change direction, how long will it take for you to reach a preliminary conclusion?”
“Not too long. We should be able to get some conclusions by around noon. After all, only a handful of people died in this supernatural incident. Once we figure out their exact identities, we probably won’t be far from the truth.”
“Is that so? Well then, it looks like us members of the Free Life Association will be bothering your Supernatural Affairs Bureau quite a bit today.”
“It’s no bother. Do you need me to have someone prepare some drinks and snacks for you?”
“Since it’s your kind offer, Director Bai, we’ll take you up on it. Thank you.”
“No problem. But, may I ask first what kind of drinks and snacks you like?”
Not really sure what Daoyan and the other clones of Yan Qi liked to drink and eat, Bai Yuling asked them this.
Hearing this, Hu Yao’er, who was sitting next to Daoyan, was the first to answer.
“I like drinking cola. As for snacks, I’m not too picky.”
Si Yexing followed up on Hu Yao’er’s words.
“This Death God likes drinking orange juice. For snacks, just regular cake is fine.”
After Si Yexing finished stating her preferences, Ji Zige thought for a moment and then also stated her own.
“If possible, Director Bai, just giving me a cup of yogurt would be great. As for a snack, any type of cookie is fine.”
Zhao Mei’er glanced at the others and said.
“For me personally, as long as it’s not tea, I’m fine with any kind of drink and snack.”
After the other four selves present had spoken one after another, Daoyan then unhurriedly looked at Bai Yuling and answered.
“I don’t have any big demands for drinks or snacks. Just a glass of ice water is enough.”
“Besides these things, you don’t have any other requirements, right?”
Jotting down the requests of each of Yan Qi’s clones, including Daoyan, and wanting to make sure she didn’t miss anything that might slight them, Bai Yuling looked at them and asked this.
“No, that’s all.”
The five clones of Yan Qi answered in unison.
Getting their response, Bai Yuling said, “Okay, got it. I’ll have someone bring over the drinks and snacks you requested right now.”
After speaking, Bai Yuling quickly used the internal phone at the Supernatural Affairs Bureau to call a colleague. She repeated all the things requested by Yan Qi’s five clones that she had noted down earlier. After making sure her colleague remembered everything, she quickly had her prepare those items to be brought back later.
…
While Yan Qi’s several clones were staying at the Supernatural Affairs Bureau waiting for the investigation results,
Yan Qi had already teamed up with Zhao Liang, a member of her own squad, and was riding in a car heading to some unknown residential community to investigate a haunting incident – whether it was actually related to supernatural powers or not.
“Brother Zhao Liang, do you think the haunting incident we’re going to investigate today in that community will be related to supernatural powers?”
Securely fastened into the driver’s seat by her seatbelt, and not focusing her attention on her own clones who were busy drinking various beverages and stuffing various snacks into their mouths, Yan Qi looked at the street scenes rapidly receding past the car window and asked Zhao Liang, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.
Hearing Yan Qi’s question, Zhao Liang, who had partnered with her several times over the past few days and had become quite familiar with her, recalled their cooperation experiences. He quickly answered her, “It’s probably still going to be like the things we investigated before, just a simple misunderstanding.”
“Just a simple misunderstanding? Ah, man.”
“Xiao Qi, why are you sighing so much today?”
Hearing Yan Qi’s sighs, and not understanding why her mood wasn’t as high today as it used to be, Zhao Liang couldn’t help but ask with a confused tone.
“It’s because I’m stuck doing these totally unexciting investigation tasks every single day.”
Hearing Zhao Liang’s question, Yan Qi directly told him her most honest thoughts.
“What’s wrong with doing these kinds of investigation tasks every day? They’re not very exciting, sure, but they’re safe.”
Zhao Liang didn’t look at Yan Qi, keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead, and asked her this as he drove.
Hearing this, Yan Qi quickly turned her head to look at him and said in a complaining tone, “Of course it’s bad. Brother Zhao Liang, you know my strength. What’s the difference between making me do this kind of work all the time and wasting my talent?”
Hearing Yan Qi’s answer, Zhao Liang immediately understood why she had been sighing all this time. He quickly said to her, “I do know your strength, Xiao Qi, but I also know that you’re still a kid who hasn’t fully grown up yet. If our Bureau really arranged for you to do dangerous tasks and others found out, they’d definitely badmouth us behind our backs.
Besides, our director promised your mom before that he wouldn’t let you do dangerous tasks. So, Xiao Qi, don’t complain here. Isn’t it good to just do safe, low-risk tasks every day and then peacefully collect your salary?”
“Having easy work every month and peacefully waiting to get paid – there’s nothing really wrong with that. But, Brother Zhao Liang, I’m a three-star supernatural being. I want to be like the other members of our squad, going after supernatural criminals, making contributions, and being praised by others.”
“Catching supernatural criminals isn’t as simple as you imagine. Even if you are a three-star supernatural being, let’s wait until you’re old enough before we talk about that kind of dangerous stuff.”
“Ah, man. Why does everyone treat me like a little kid who hasn’t grown up yet? I’m about to be a college freshman, you know.”
Hearing Zhao Liang’s words, knowing it was useless to say anything more to him, Yan Qi lowered her head, secretly muttered this to herself, and then turned her gaze back to the receding street scenes outside the car window, not looking at Zhao Liang anymore.
Noticing that Yan Qi had shifted her attention away from him, Zhao Liang pinched his nose but didn’t say anything else. He just drove all the way to the Happiness Community, the place where residents had reported a recent haunting.
“This is the haunted community?”
Looking at the Happiness Community, which definitely hadn’t been built more than two years ago, Yan Qi, who had expected some old, rundown neighborhood when she heard about a haunting incident, subconsciously asked Zhao Liang beside her.