Chapter 15 – Reporting for Duty

“What! The Records Department?” Wu Ailang nearly yelled, “I won’t accept it, I absolutely won’t accept it!”

Wu Ailang shook with anger as he stared at Yun Xiguang’s transfer letter. Snow Wolf, having received this terrible news, also paced anxiously in place and bit its own tail in frustration.

Yun Xiguang, the subject of all this, was the calmest among them. Each of the three positions he had applied for was carefully considered, and no matter where he ended up interning, it would suit him just fine.

“Why won’t you accept it?” Yun Xiguang asked indifferently.

“I applied for the field operations team to be with you. Without you on the field operations team, what’s the point of me staying?” Wu Ailang sat on the floor with his knees hugged to his chest, looking utterly dejected.

Next door, Snow Wolf looked at Chi Qiong, who was elegantly sipping tea, with its large, silly eyes, its face expressing the pain of not being able to serve the Phoenix Venerable.

“Snow Wolf’s abilities are suitable for field operations,” said Yun Xiguang. “If you master the skills of ‘Blizzard Confusion’ and ‘Ice Escape,’ you can ensure your safety and don’t need to worry too much.”

The skills of ‘Blizzard Confusion’ and ‘Ice Escape’ were not something Yun Xiguang told Wu Ailang about. They were passed on to Wu Ailang through the power contained within the word ‘Yuan’ after Snow Wolf revealed its name to him.

‘Blizzard Confusion’ was the ability to stir up a blizzard, using the flying snow to confuse the enemy’s vision, hearing, and sense of smell, effectively hiding one’s location. With a bit of luck, it could even cause temporary snow blindness. The range of ‘Blizzard Confusion’ was related to the level of compatibility between the Spiritbond Master and the spirit beast. The more in sync they were, the wider the range of the blizzard.

Currently, Wu Ailang could create a blizzard with a radius of thirty centimeters. If he could expand the radius to three or even five meters, he would become a Spiritbond Master capable of standing on his own.

‘Ice Escape’ was a skill used in conjunction with ‘Blizzard Confusion,’ requiring Snow Wolf’s body to merge with Wu Ailang’s to be utilized.

Within the range of ‘Blizzard Confusion,’ a Spiritbond Master using ‘Ice Escape’ could transform their body into wind and snow, blending into the blizzard, a concealment technique that could maximize the preservation of the Spiritbond Master’s life.

The most powerful aspect was that while using ‘Ice Escape,’ the Spiritbond Master could simultaneously employ the skills of ‘Sharp Teeth’ and ‘Ice Claw.’

Snow Wolf’s abilities weren’t particularly unique, but it was a first-rate assassin.

When combined with these four abilities, enemies trapped within the ‘Blizzard Confusion’ were almost certain to perish.

If the weather was winter and it was snowing at the time, Wu Ailang wouldn’t even need to use ‘Blizzard Confusion’ to utilize ‘Ice Escape.’ Anywhere there was wind and snow was Snow Wolf’s domain.

A Spiritbond Master bonded with Snow Wolf was a killer in the ice and snow.

“You’re currently lacking in maintaining combat energy and experience against enemies. Energy is related to your own spirit root. The deeper your bond with Snow Wolf, the stronger your spirit root becomes, and thus the stronger your energy. Going on field operations with spirit beasts, leading them to interact with the world and adapt to the laws of heaven, can enhance your rapport. Joining the field operations team has many benefits for you.” said Yun Xiguang.

Of course, the field operations team did have a certain level of danger.

Fortunately, Snow Wolf’s abilities were special. As long as Wu Ailang could merge with Snow Wolf and enter the ‘Ice Escape’ state, even if he were severely injured by a powerful enemy, beaten to the point of broken limbs, as long as his head and heart were intact, his body could reassemble itself in the snowstorm.

As an intern, if Wu Ailang couldn’t use ‘Ice Escape,’ the Special Affairs Bureau wouldn’t send him on too dangerous missions.

Putting Snow Wolf’s Spiritbond Master in the Records Department would be wasting Wu Ailang’s talents.

Yun Xiguang patiently explained to Wu Ailang, but Wu Ailang put on an “I’m not listening” attitude, behaving much like a melodrama heroine, though he was far from pleasant to look at.

Wu Ailang had thick eyebrows and big eyes, with a square face. He was chubby as a child but slimmed down as he grew up, making him a handsome young man. But the hair Snow Wolf had ruined hadn’t grown back yet, and no matter how upright a person might look, a bald head made them seem less so.

In contrast, Snow Wolf began to grow its fur proudly on the day of the competition when Yun Xiguang placed the little spirit bird on it.

Especially when it realized that the Phoenix Venerable seemed to enjoy nesting in its head, it grew thicker fur than in winter during the increasingly warm spring, shedding all over the villa, forcing Wu Ailang to pick out fur from his food every day.

Not only did Wu Ailang refuse to accept it, but Snow Wolf didn’t either.

That day, it had basked in the glory of the Phoenix Venerable, gazing down on a host of spirit beasts and even summoning heavenly fire to inflict serious damage on its opponent. Snow Wolf tasted the joy of wolf riding the bird’s prestige. It was now the Phoenix Venerable’s loyal steed, and no one could drive it away.

Hearing Yun Xiguang’s explanation, Snow Wolf let go of its tail, its limbs pressed to the ground, emitting pitiful whimpers at Chi Qiong, its voice tugging at heartstrings.

Chi Qiong, however, elegantly ate all the afternoon cookies Yun Xiguang had prepared for him, raising his mouth still speckled with crumbs and staring at Yun Xiguang with his small black eyes.

Yun Xiguang skillfully pulled a napkin from the dining table and wiped Chi Qiong’s mouth.

Chi Qiong nodded in satisfaction, jumping onto Yun Xiguang’s hand as a favor and chirping at Snow Wolf on the ground.

Neither Wu Ailang nor Yun Xiguang understood Chi Qiong’s words, but Snow Wolf heard the voice of the Phoenix Venerable, childish yet full of majesty: “Go and become stronger, quickly adapt to the new laws of heaven. This Exalted One does not want a weak steed.”

Upon receiving the Phoenix Venerable’s command, Snow Wolf immediately sprang up, its limbs straight on the ground, howling at Chi Qiong as if a soldier listening to a speech from a leader.

After Snow Wolf promised the Phoenix Venerable that it would become stronger, it howled at Wu Ailang as well.

“You, this Spiritbond Master, how can you be so unambitious? If you don’t get stronger soon, how will you assist me in exerting my power in this world and become the strongest under ‘beep beep beep’?” Wu Ailang heard Snow Wolf’s voice in his mind.

His expression suddenly became strange.

“What’s wrong?” asked Yun Xiguang.

Wu Ailang asked in confusion, “Did we ever learn anything in Grade About spirit beasts and censorship?”

Yun Xiguang: “What kind of censorship?”

Wu Ailang: “Censorship within the contract space, things like bleeping out dialogue. When you were talking to the little bird, did you hear any ‘beep beep beep’ sounds?”

“Why is there so much censorship in your contract?” asked Yun Xiguang, equally puzzled.

Wu Ailang scratched his head. “I don’t know either.”

Yun Xiguang tried hard to search his knowledge and the rumors he had heard before, thinking of a reason. He said to Wu Ailang, “Your situation, I’ve heard that President Qin Shu of the Zhuzhao Academy once encountered it. The White Tiger is a divine beast that knows everything from the past five thousand years. The amount of information it possesses is too vast to transmit all of it to the Spiritbond Master, which would cause brain death. To protect President Qin, the White Tiger actively blocked some knowledge. Although I don’t know how the White Tiger did it, perhaps… it was also in the form of censorship and sound blocking.”

“So Little Yuan was protecting me.” Wu Ailang nodded, moved.

But Yun Xiguang shook his head. “But the White Tiger is a wise divine beast, while the Snowfield Silver Wolf is purely a combat spirit beast. It doesn’t have the ability to protect someone’s brain.”

“Well…” Wu Ailang was thoroughly confused.

Yun Xiguang thought for a moment and guessed, “There’s another possibility, which is that Snow Wolf learned a secret related to the laws of the world. Whenever it displays or speaks about information related to the laws, it gets censored.

“But Snow Wolf appears to be just an ordinary spirit beast. How could it have the opportunity to come across information related to the laws? The laws are absolute. Even the White Tiger would make mistakes when encountering matters related to the laws. How could Snow Wolf know such secrets?”

“How do you make mistakes?” Wu Ailang, a curious baby, gradually strayed from his original question, shifting his focus from Snow Wolf’s ‘beep beep beep’ to knowledge about the laws of the world.

Yun Xiguang said, “It’s a very subtle influence, implanted in the subconscious, an effect that no living creature can be aware of. For example, if the laws of the world stipulate that a certain house will catch fire due to a cigarette butt that day, then that day, almost everyone will forget that a cigarette butt could start a fire, forgetting such common sense. Even if someone sees a cigarette butt already igniting something flammable, they’ll turn a blind eye to it.”

“I didn’t quite understand that,” said Wu Ailang.

Yun Xiguang thought for a moment and picked up the little spirit bird. “For instance, let’s assume that the little spirit bird is indeed an ancient divine beast, but this is something the laws of the world want to hide. Therefore, even if the anomalies on the competition field that day were really caused by the little spirit bird, the big shots in the spirit beast world, such as the White Tiger, wouldn’t guess in that direction.

“They could come up with absurd explanations, like a small planet colliding with Earth, but they wouldn’t believe that the little spirit bird is an ancient divine beast. That’s the influence of the laws of the world on the subconscious.

“But I think that Snow Wolf’s censorship is probably not that situation. Maybe it’s just that there’s something it doesn’t want to tell you.”

“Chirp!” The little spirit bird puffed up its chest proudly and chirped.

Yun Xiguang casually stroked its head.

“But your little spirit bird is an ancient divine beast that causes anomalies!” Wu Ailang said firmly.

“Chirp!” The little spirit bird nodded at Wu Ailang.

Yun Xiguang pursed his lips, feeling that explaining these things to Wu Ailang was too complicated. So he nodded and said, “As long as you’re happy.”

Although Wu Ailang was unwilling to part from Yun Xiguang, under Snow Wolf’s encouragement (or rather, scorn), when the seven-day holiday was over, Wu Ailang reluctantly reported to the field operations team.

Yun Xiguang also took the transfer letter and brought the little spirit bird to the Records Department.

Most of the staff in the Records Department were former field operations team members who had retired due to injuries. They were older, and some of them typed with only one finger, hunting for each letter individually.

Every year, the Records Department of the Special Affairs Bureau would recruit several interns from the Spiritbond Academy to help run errands for the department.

The work in the Records Department was a waste of life for interns who had access to knowledge about spirit beasts, but for ordinary students admitted to the Spiritbond Academy based on talent, luck, and other factors, it was the best channel for learning extracurricular life-saving knowledge.

Aside from confidential files, interns could borrow all public materials to further their studies.

Moreover, the employees of the Records Department were experienced old soldiers who had unique insights into spirit beast cases. If one developed good relationships with them, they might entrust interns to write some autobiographical summary materials, which was also a good opportunity to learn combat experience.

When Yun Xiguang went to report for duty, the seniors who had interned in the Records Department the previous year had already prepared the handover materials and were reluctantly taking off the deep blue uniforms of the Special Affairs Bureau. Clearly, they hadn’t learned enough.

Through this year of internship, these Spiritbond Masters without backgrounds had learned too much knowledge that textbooks wouldn’t teach them.

Reporting for duty on the same day as Yun Xiguang were two interns from the Youying Spiritbond Academy and two interns from two unknown minor Spiritbond academies, each a boy and a girl, totaling five interns.

None of the four interns had a spirit beast visible beside them. They seemed to have opened the contract space, allowing the spirit beast to hide within it, indicating they were Grade B Spiritbond Masters.

But if they could reach that level, these interns wouldn’t have been sent to the Records Department to learn new knowledge. Instead, they would have been assigned to other positions related to spirit beast cases.

If they weren’t Grade B Spiritbond Masters, then their spirit beasts must be very special or very small, temporarily escaping notice.

Thinking of this, Yun Xiguang secretly touched his pocket, where the little spirit bird was sleeping.

He didn’t want anyone to notice the little spirit bird, which was still growing, so he wore a coat with a large pocket, padding it with lots of clean cotton to make a cozy nest for the little spirit bird.

The little spirit bird should still be in its infancy and need sleep. Aside from eating, it slept for about twenty hours a day, currently sleeping peacefully, occasionally rubbing its little claws. One could only wonder what dreams it was having.

Yun Xiguang casually rested his hand on the outside of the pocket while he secretly observed the other four interns.

Soon, he noticed that the butterfly hair clip on the ear of a female intern from the Youying Spiritbond Academy seemed to move. After sensing Yun Xiguang’s gaze, the butterfly hair clip became still again, looking like a real hair clip.

This was the Phantom Butterfly, a spirit beast with extremely strong concealment abilities and terrifying hallucinogenic powers.

Soon, Yun Xiguang identified the types of spirit beasts belonging to the other two interns from minor Spiritbond academies.

One of the boys was carrying a travel bag, which seemed to contain luggage. But through the weight, size, and shape of the items inside the bag, Yun Xiguang deduced that it was a turtle, likely a type of defensive spirit beast, similar to the Black Tortoise.

The female intern from a minor Spiritbond Academy revealed some golden scales behind her ear when she lowered her head. Her spirit beast must be a fish.

Marine spirit beasts differed from terrestrial ones. They couldn’t survive for too long on land. During the contract formation, they would proactively gift the Spiritbond Master a medium, using it to hide within the Spiritbond Master’s body.

This girl must have received a scale from a marine spirit beast. She embedded the scale behind her ear, and the spirit beast integrated into her earlobe through that scale.

Among the four interns, only the clean-cut boy from the Youying Spiritbond Academy remained a mystery to Yun Xiguang regarding the type of spirit beast he possessed.

However, Yun Xiguang speculated that his spirit beast was also likely an insect or a smaller creature hidden somewhere inside his clothes.

After completing the handover, the five of them went to report to the head of the Records Department.

The head of the Records Department was a middle-aged man in a wheelchair. His hair was gray, making him look over sixty, but the name tag on his chest stated that he was only thirty-nine years old.

Premature aging and early death were fates that most Spiritbond Masters couldn’t escape.

The director named Zhao Yu swept his gaze over the five of them, noticing that none of them had their spirit beasts visible. He was slightly taken aback and said, “The Records Department has received some impressive interns this year.”