The autumn sky was always unpredictable, bright with the sun shining high, yet the earth beneath carried a faint chill.
In a small town’s teahouse, a man wearing rimless glasses and a gray suit sat across from a poised older woman, both sipping tea.
Behind the woman stood an assistant.
“The situation is roughly as I described. Thanks to our concerted efforts, the impact of this serious leak will be minimized,” said the man in the gray suit. “At most, only one or two hundred casualties—unavoidable under the circumstances.”
He spoke of hundreds of lives lost as if it were nothing.
“Besides that, regarding the fugitive I mentioned last time—she’s an extremely dangerous individual. Compared to her, the mutants are insignificant. If she went on a rampage in the city, casualties would be in the thousands, not just hundreds.”
He took a sip of tea and continued, “So, Mayor Chen, we sincerely hope you take our request to help locate her seriously.”
The older woman opposite nodded calmly, never uttering a word.
If Bai Xiaonuo had been there, she would have recognized her instantly as the frequently seen mayor of Yecheng City on television.
The man in gray couldn’t hold back, “So, Mayor Chen, no news at all from the surveillance footage or hotel registration information?”
In modern society, tracking someone in the city shouldn’t be this difficult.
His tone was a bit presumptuous, but Mayor Chen remained composed: “She didn’t stay in any hotel, so there’s no registration information. Perhaps someone is sheltering her, or she found a place on her own.”
After a brief pause, she added, “More than that, we hope your actions and arrangements can be more open and transparent, rather than like they are now.”
You say it’s an accident, then say it’s normal; you say that if you don’t act, thousands will die; and yet a death toll of one or two hundred is already your best effort.
Without you, it would have been ten times worse, so we should be grateful.
Perhaps without you, only a little over a hundred would have died at most.
But you just move your lips and turn fault into merit.
The man suppressed a smile: “Mayor Chen, you jest. Our operation involves many internal secrets, so it’s inconvenient to disclose them.
Does Mayor Chen not trust us?
Not trust our fellow humans who wield power, and instead prefer to believe in those non-human entities?”
A direct moral trap was laid.
Mayor Chen still didn’t get angry: “Of course, I trust humans more.”
“Then there’s no need to ask more. Our difficulties make it impossible to be fully transparent. More importantly, Zero’s whereabouts are what truly matter. I hope Mayor Chen will take this more seriously.”
The conversation ended abruptly, and the man in gray left first, the atmosphere sour.
“That attitude’s terrible, always ordering people around!”
The assistant muttered, then worried, “But Chen, won’t we get blamed for hiding important information?”
They had always known Zero’s whereabouts—hotel registration data, surveillance footage when she escaped, even IP addresses from networks and SIM cards.
After all, Zero grew up in the base.
Nobody anticipated this situation.
Her modest self-taught anti-surveillance skills had too many flaws against modern technology.
“He calls her Zero, but she is a genuine human. Their conflicts are internal disputes,” Mayor Chen said calmly. “We neither need nor have reason to side with either.”
The assistant suddenly understood and nodded vigorously.
Such a terrible attitude—it would be good if that Zero sister wins.
…………
Bai Xiaonuo quietly exhaled.
What a relief. While Yulinglong was rapidly pushing through Inazuma, the underworld’s world quest finally activated—the invincible Enkanomiya made its move!
“Sorry, Xiaonuo, I might need a few more days,” Yulinglong sighed. “These quest lines are too long; I’m a bit stuck on the progress.”
Bai Xiaonuo was ecstatic but comforted her, “It’s okay, take your time. I have school military training anyway, no rush.”
If you finished it in just a few days, I’d be embarrassed.
Of course, Bai Xiaonuo wasn’t unwilling to play with the Administrator Miss; she just wanted her to first feel the depth of Teyvat.
“You take your time. I’m going back to my room,” the girl raised her small fist, “Good luck.”
“Alright!”
Watching Yulinglong dive back into battle, Bai Xiaonuo couldn’t help but sigh, youth really is wonderful, then headed back to her room.
The military training had only lasted two days and hadn’t even reached full intensity, but it was already exhausting for a beautiful girl like her.
She had no desire to get out of bed for the weekend.
During the day, she played games; at night before sleep, she sent photos. When the older sister asked why there were only two photos last night, Bai Xiaonuo replied confidently that rare critical hits are just hard to get.
Two photos were already lucky.
The truth was she was just too tired yesterday and gave up.
The two-day weekend passed quickly, and Monday returned to school.
The instructor still couldn’t deliver the desired intensity of training because the mandated psychologist was also present, and students kept being called for psychological assessments.
The fragmented schedule made it impossible to push the training’s intensity.
“Bai Xiaonuo from Chinese Department Class 3, it’s your turn. Please go to Room 36 in Building G… Oh, and your animal friend can’t come.”
“Oh.”
Bai Xiaonuo arrived at the designated room to find two young women complaining about how tired they were.
They didn’t look like licensed psychologists but more like psychology undergraduates or graduate students.
In fact, that was exactly the case.
The whole city’s schools and institutions were undergoing psychological assessments with insufficient staff.
“Bai Xiaonuo from Chinese Department?”
“Yes, Class 3.”
She helpfully added her class.
One young woman behind the desk waved her hand, “Whatever. Look at these. What do you see?”
The other handed over a stack of stiff cards.
On the cards were chaotic inkblot patterns resembling traditional brush paintings.
Bai Xiaonuo laughed: “I know this. It’s a Rorschach test, right? I’ve seen it in movies.”
“Yes, yes, Bai Danuo, you really are knowledgeable,” the young woman nearly yawned, “So take a look and tell us what images you see.”
She was genuinely exhausted, having been sitting there since morning doing nonstop assessments for first-year students without even a chance to drink water.
“Alright, let me see… Cheese squirrel. Also, my name is Bai Xiaonuo, not Bai Danuo.”
“That one is a butterfly.”
“It looks like a little round hat.”
“This one looks like a magic wand… Wait, can I say that?”
Bai Xiaonuo saw many of her animal friends in the Rorschach test, as well as some other strange things.
Within ten minutes, the psychological assessment was successfully completed.
“Alright, your mental state is very good. No issues,” the young woman checked several boxes on the form, then whispered, “At most, your thoughts are a bit… colorful…”