Chapter 157 Talking About the Details

“Oh.” Xiao Tan responded, returning once again to the main topic. “That…” He quickly recalled where he had left off and continued, “I followed Agent Zhang through a seemingly ordinary door and then through a corridor that was probably a security checkpoint, before finally reaching the ‘real door.’ The real warehouse door looked no different from an ordinary anti-theft door at first glance; it had a keyhole and a numeric keypad, but in reality… this door…”

“Hey~ hey~ what are you doing?” Bao Qing interjected again when he heard this, “Why are you being so detailed?”

“Huh?” Xiao Tan was taken aback and replied, “Didn’t you tell me to ‘be specific’?”

“You don’t need to be that specific.” Bao Qing drawled.

“Why not?” Xiao Tan asked doubtfully.

Before Bao Qing could answer, Feng Bujue preemptively gave the answer: “Because the level of detail in your current narrative… is enough for me to grasp some substantive intelligence through deduction.” He paused, then chuckled. “Heh… if I later ascertain the address of the warehouse, I could very well pose a certain threat to that warehouse based on the information I’ve obtained today.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Bao Qing added.

“Oh…” Xiao Tan thought for a moment. “Okay… then I’ll skip similar ‘details’.” He paused for a second, then continued, “Anyway… I followed Agent Zhang into the interior of the warehouse; as soon as I went in, I was shocked. The space inside was super huge, obviously exceeding the volume exhibited by the exterior of the building. Although seeing this in games isn’t strange, it was my first time seeing a facility that utilized hyperspace technology in reality, so I was quite excited at the time. Little did I know… that was just the beginning. In the next half hour, I saw a bunch of things that overturned my worldview…”

At this point, Xiao Tan looked at Bao Qing: “By the way, is it okay for me to talk about the things in the warehouse?”

“Yes.” Bao Qing replied. “There’s no problem with you talking like this now, just don’t describe the situation at the entrance and exit as meticulously as you did just now.”

“Oh, oh.” Xiao Tan nodded, took a sip of his drink, and continued, “For example, I discovered that the entire warehouse’s power supply relied on a human-powered generator…”

“Are you sure that the generator is still human?” Feng Bujue couldn’t help but interrupt with a retort as soon as he heard the first example.

“Of course, I’m sure.” Xiao Tan replied, “The person in charge of generating electricity was an agent who looked about the same age as me… oh, that’s right, the one called Li Leyi. I even chatted with him for a couple of sentences. He said he was a newbie and had just graduated from police academy this year.”

“Your Ninth Division really recruits people from all over the place, huh?” Jue Ge immediately looked at Bao Qing and said.

“Personnel matters… are basically all handled by the Division Chief.” Bao Qing also shrugged and responded, “His standards remain a mystery to this day.”

“Hmm…” Feng Bujue pondered for a moment, then looked at Xiao Tan and said, “Okay, if it’s not a problem with the person… then the generator itself is extraordinary, right?”

“That’s for sure.” Xiao Tan replied, “But naturally, they wouldn’t tell me the principles of that machine, they just told me… that letting a person with slightly above-average physical fitness pedal on that machine for eight hours would generate enough electricity to power the entire east coast of the United States for five minutes.”

“Why are these guys doing this? It would be fine to directly use our country’s power supply to illustrate.” Feng Bujue said, “Why bring up that damned American empire.”

“We generally don’t use domestic data of this kind to illustrate, because our power supply data for each province and city has been ‘modified,’ and even people within our organization may not be able to get accurate figures.” In the next second, Bao Qing explained on Xiao Tan’s behalf, “If the real figures were to be released… it might allow the public to deduce some intelligence that they shouldn’t know.”

“Huh?” Feng Bujue said casually, “What does that mean? Could it be that our cities are all designed like ‘Third Neo Tokyo,’ which can sink into the ground when necessary?”

Jue Ge didn’t expect that Bao Qing would be stunned after hearing this.

After two seconds, Bao Da Ren clicked his tongue and said, “Tch… I seem to have said the wrong thing…”

“Hey! Guessed right?” Feng Bujue widened his eyes in surprise. “Really possible?”

“Ah…” Bao Qing felt that there was nothing to hide at this point, so he replied, “It is indeed possible, but not all buildings and facilities can ‘sink’ or ‘flip,’ after all… the cost and construction difficulty are there; therefore, at this stage, we will first ensure that landmark and functional buildings in some strategically important cities can be given priority for renovation. And the main purpose of the renovation is nuclear defense, as for other methods of attack… those are easy to handle.”

“Other methods are easy to handle?” Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes. “Then what about the apostle attack?”

“Attack if they attack.” Bao Qing said, “As far as I know, before Gu Division Chief took over the Ninth Division, he had already participated in resolving several crises caused by sub-god level targets. Even if something like an apostle attacks, he can take care of it.”

“Phew…” Feng Bujue breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. “The more I know, the more I feel that the world I live in is dangerous…”

“Yeah.” Xiao Tan added at this time, “I had a similar feeling when I was in the warehouse.”

“I guessed as much…” Jue Ge followed up. “That warehouse is full of things like ‘pedal-powered nuclear generators,’ right?”

“Yes, the ‘warehouse’ is used to ‘contain’ those things.” Xiao Tan replied, “By the way, the official name of that generator when it was contained in the warehouse was ‘Tesla’s Afternoon Fitness Partner’.”

“Still ‘contain’?” Feng Bujue turned to look at Bao Qing again. “So your Ninth Division even does the work of ‘Warehouse 13’ (a US series about containing special items) and ******?”

“That’s right… if we don’t do it, who will?” Bao Qing replied, “You have to know… half a century ago, when there were no organizations to contain these things, all these things that were enough to cause chaos in the world were directly circulating in the ‘underground world’ through currency; people in those years were truly living in danger where they ‘died without knowing how they died’.”

“Hehe…” Jue Ge chuckled twice, reciting in a complex tone, “It’s a pity, I didn’t catch up with that good old time…”

“What’s so good about it?” Xiao Tan interjected, “Not to mention those years, even now… even though most of those things are already in the warehouse, I still deeply feel… that the world hasn’t been destroyed to this day is simply a miracle.”

“What else is in there?” Feng Bujue raised his eyebrows and asked, “Newton’s leftover apple? Archimedes’ lever?”

“Whether there are those you mentioned… I don’t know.” Xiao Tan replied, “I just went to visit a part of the ‘safe items’ that have already been applied to the warehouse’s own operating procedures, like the ‘Mo Family Divine Urn,’ ‘Tian Dong Yi’ (a kind of seismometer), ‘Hubble Microscope,’ and so on; as for ‘dangerous goods’… during the process of walking through the ‘dangerous goods area,’ I did see many signs with the names of the contained items… I can’t remember too much, but the most impressive ones were—‘Orion Alpha Crown’, ‘Tui Bei Tu’ (a Chinese divination text), and something called ‘Sulfur-Based Organism’… which seemed to be alive.”

“Hmm… you’ve made me want to visit…” As he said this, a glimmer of unease flashed in Feng Bujue’s eyes.

“Fine… just because of this sentence of yours, I still have to go back to the office in sleet today and write a report.” Now that Bao Qing’s “undercover” identity has been made public, he is always very arrogant and outspoken in front of Jue Ge.

“Report it, report it, I don’t care anymore.” Feng Bujue really didn’t care, and immediately said to Xiao Tan, “Continue, what did you go to the ‘dangerous goods area’ of the warehouse for?”

“This is where I need to talk about why Division Chief Gu was looking for me…” Xiao Tan’s expression suddenly became serious as he said this. “He told me on the phone… that the warehouse recently contained an item that had ‘quite a history’ with our Wang family, and he needed me to help ‘test’ it.”

“Oh?” Feng Bujue asked suspiciously, “What thing?”

“A Siren’s Scale.” Xiao Tan replied with five words.

And Feng Bujue spent five seconds wandering around the memory attic, which was full of various myths, urban legends, and supernatural stories, to find a series of knowledge related to it.

“It’s the scale of a siren, right?” Five seconds later, Jue Ge asked very pointedly.

“I didn’t see a siren, I only saw the scale.” Xiao Tan replied, “But I think it should be.”

“Heh…” Feng Bujue chuckled. “What’s wrong? Your family has a history with the Siren? Could it be that you have siren blood?”

“I don’t think so.” Bao Qing also took the opportunity to tease him, “He’s not good at music (one of the characteristics of a siren is that it has a song that ordinary people cannot resist).”

“Can we not mention that?” Xiao Tan quickly stopped this topic and continued, “Let’s talk about the ‘test’… it’s not complicated, it’s just letting me cut a slit in my hand, drip a few drops of blood on that scale, and stimulate its special effect.”

In the next second, Feng Bujue and Bao Qing asked in unison: “What effect?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jue Ge looked at Bao Qing and said, “Hey? Didn’t you read the report? Why are you joining in the fun?”

“I did read it…” Bao Qing nodded. “The report said—‘Wang Tanzhi went to the warehouse to help with an experiment, which later caused a commotion, and then the commotion was resolved.’ As for the specific content of the experiment and the process of the commotion… none of it was stated; on the other hand, the warehouse’s loss list was listed in great detail…”

“Damn!” Feng Bujue immediately responded, “What’s the point of that kind of report?”

“Ha!” Bao Qing laughed. “Don’t understand?” In this field, he can well teach Jue Ge, “Writing a report is different from writing a novel, especially a report from our special agency. The most standard way to write it is: explain the cause, the effect, and finally make the accounts clear… and that’s all it needs. As for the intermediate process, it should be as simple as possible and as vague as possible… By doing this, you can effectively prevent—these things from becoming unfavorable evidence against you on a certain day in the future.”

At this point, Bao Qing took a sip of tea and said again: “Let me give you an example… For example, you are the leader of our Ninth Division, and you have always had a good relationship with the superior departments; but one day, those departments suddenly had personnel changes and were replaced by people who didn’t get along with you… Politicians, you know, even if they can’t directly interfere with you with their positions, they still have ways to find fault with you through various means. What those people do is no different from the practices of the sixties and seventies. They will dig out all the old accounts of your department and try their best to find fault with you… and then impeach you with some ‘mishandling’ that is decades late.”

“And at that time, you will find… that a ‘meaningless report’ is simply like a card printed with the words ‘impeccable’.”

Listening to Bao Qing’s words, Jue Ge had an “I see” expression, as if he had benefited a lot; but Xiao Tan had a completely unconcerned look, as if he had just listened to it and forgotten it.

“Hmm… as expected of someone within the system.” After Bao Qing finished speaking, Jue Ge said, “Your experience in struggle is really rich.”

“Don’t praise me.” Bao Qing waved his hand. “I’m still young, all of this was taught by our Division Chief, he is really ‘a person with a story’.”

“Him…” Feng Bujue sneered, “Hmph… I would believe you if you said he assassinated the President of the United States.”

“That’s not true, but there is indeed a joke circulating in our unit about his business trip to the United States.” Bao Qing continued, “The general plot is… During one US congressional meeting, Division Chief Gu used a fake identity to take the stage to speak, and his opening remarks were—‘Good afternoon, everyone, before I start talking about the substance, I have to say a few words… Presumably, you all know very well in your hearts that at this moment, this room is filled with a group of conservative, fat pigs, and when their weight reaches a certain level, they are promoted to congressmen, and the role of these people continuing to sit here is only to reduce the air quality and lower the average IQ here. Here, I don’t want to target anyone, I just hope that the kind of person I mentioned… will leave on their own.’”

“Damn…” Even Feng Bujue felt that this joke was a bit exaggerated. “Then what was the result? Did everyone leave?”

“No, he was escorted out by security.” Bao Qing spread his hands, smiled, “Okay, let’s not talk about him…” He paused for half a second, and then said, “In short, what I saw in the report was just that little bit, let’s still let Xiao Tan talk about the effect of the scales.”

At this time, Xiao Tan was still reminiscing about the joke just now, and was giggling foolishly. After a few seconds, he replied, “Oh… that… effect, right…” He also chuckled dryly, “Ha… to be honest, it’s really a pit… Before I dripped blood, they were all evasive and didn’t tell me what the effect was, and later I found out… that the ‘Siren’s Scale’ has the effect of ‘guiding mortals to establish communication with the underworld’.”