Shackles (Medium)

This was the first time Shi Youchen had stepped into the cemetery since the Mo family incident.

Lin Zhouze led him around the outer area with ease, heading towards a corner deep inside. Shi Youchen followed him, not knowing if it was an illusion, but he felt that the tombstones in the cemetery had become more crowded than before.

Finally, the two of them stopped in a somewhat desolate corner. Before them was a tombstone that was clearly quite old and uncarved. "A tombstone without words?" Shi Youchen had a vague guess in his mind. After all, he had already seen other tombstones without words.

"Well, the data shows this place is occupied, but nothing has been engraved on it." Lin Zhouze took out the wet wipes he brought with him and carefully wiped the surface of the stele. He said, "Do you remember what I told you before, that Yan Zhiyuan never participated in the funeral ceremonies hosted by the association?"

"Remember, you said that." Shi Youchen watched the movements of his hands, gentle, slow but firm, and then heard, "It's because he has a particularly strong stress disorder towards all places like mourning halls, cemeteries and graveyards." Lin Zhouze stood up, slowly folded the dirty wet wipes, put them in the garbage bag, and turned back.

"Buried beneath this monument are his former comrades, whom he killed with his own hands."

——

In the spring of the 167th year of the new calendar, Lin Zhouze was 23 years old. He had just graduated from the Center for the Study of People with Special Abilities and successfully obtained an internal recommendation certificate. He immediately rushed to the Association Base in District 8 to report for work.

The person who guided him was an elderly employee. His eyes were not very clear and his speech was vague. Not only did he speak very slowly, but he also had to take a long break after every two sentences. Lin Zhouze thought that he had some opinion about him and did it on purpose.

"Senior, why don't you give me the manual or something so I can read it myself." More than half an hour had passed, and Lin Zhouze's initial excitement had almost worn out. He was really tired of waiting, so he said tentatively.

Unexpectedly, his words touched a sore spot in the old man. He glared at him and lectured him, "Those who join the association must not leave any written clues. Instead, they must remember them forever and never forget them until they die!" "You've committed a serious crime! Is this what your mentor taught you?"

The two were in the administration building, the hall bustling with people, mostly busy association staff. The old man's loud questioning drew several glances, all fixed on the young Lin Zhouze.

Lin Zhouze naturally didn't know why he suddenly acted like this, and he couldn't help feeling a little aggrieved. Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, the old man suddenly started coughing violently, and after a few coughs, his face turned noticeably pale. The cough was accompanied by a harsh wheeze, as if a bellows was rapidly pushing and pulling in his throat.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?" The inexperienced Lin Zhouze became visibly flustered. He raised his hand awkwardly to touch the other person's shoulder, but was shaken off by the skinny hand in the next moment.

The old man's lips began to turn blue, his palms clasped in front of his chest, his face filled with pain. Lin Zhouze looked around in confusion and fear, wanting to ask for help, but the gazes that had been focused on them just now had long since disappeared. The hall was still full of people, but no one stopped for them.

"Bang" - the old man who was standing unsteadily was grabbed by a pair of hands at the moment of falling.

Lin Zhouze, sweat dripping from his forehead, turned around blankly, just in time to see the old man being caught. The person who caught him was half-kneeling, looking down, so Lin Zhouze couldn't see his face, only a head of shiny black hair, and could smell a faint scent of bitter orange coming from him.

Then he saw the man stretched out his free hand, spread out his five fingers, and covered the old man's mouth and nose.

"What are you doing!" Lin Zhouze was so scared that he screamed and was about to raise his hand to stop it, but his wrist was intercepted by another person who was approaching. "Don't move, look carefully." said the person who grabbed his wrist.

A mist-like substance floated in front of the old man's mouth and nose. After a few breaths, his pale face regained its color, the blue color of his lips quickly faded, his facial features were no longer distorted, and the tremors of his body caused by coughing also stopped.

"Take this old man to the medical room for a checkup."

Gentle, yet powerful. This was Lin Zhouze's first reaction upon hearing the voice. His wrist had already been loosened, yet he remained frozen in place, unaware of the situation. "Okay, Minister," he heard the person beside him respond, then he helped the old man, who was half lying on the ground, up and left.

"You..." Lin Zhouze met a pair of bright eyes. The corners of his eyes were slightly tilted upward, making his eyes look longer and slender. The whites of his eyes were clear, without a trace of red bloodshot. When he realized this, he woke up and found that the distance between them was a little too close.

Lin Zhouze hurriedly took a few steps back, his head feeling hot. He heard a chuckle: "Are you Xiaolin who came to report for work today?" The corners of the man's eyes curved downwards when he smiled, like a moon boat. Coupled with his gentle voice, Lin Zhouze had the illusion that he was wandering on a lake in spring.

"Ah, yes, my name is Lin Zhouze, and I came to the Renguan Department today to start my new job." He came back to his senses from his refreshing smile and answered with a stammer.

"Hello, I'm Yan Zhiyuan, welcome to the District 8 Association Base." Yan Zhiyuan extended his hand, a faint smile still on his lips. "Your guide seems to have a respiratory disease. If he has made you unhappy, I apologize on his behalf."

"As an apology, let me take you to complete the onboarding procedures." Lin Zhouze was easily taken away. He was a little drowsy along the way. Fortunately, Yan Zhiyuan was there to supervise and correct the errors in the information. In the end, he successfully completed the reporting and onboarding.

Along the way, there were plenty of surprised and envious glances, but Lin Zhouze, lost in thought, didn't notice until one day at noon, after nearly a week of working in the Task Management Department and becoming somewhat familiar with his colleagues, he was sharing a table with several colleagues for lunch. While listening to their gossip, an older male colleague suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Xiao Lin, were you brought in by Director Yan?"

Lin Zhouze hadn't even swallowed the broccoli in his mouth, which tasted like wax, when he choked at the sudden question. "Huh?" His chubby cheeks, still chubby from his lingering baby fat, looked even rounder, like a little hamster. The female colleague across from him smiled and said, "That's the one who came with you when you reported to the office that day."

"Oh...oh." Lin Zhouze then realized that "Minister Yan" was referring to Yan Zhiyuan. He swallowed the vegetables he hated the most, and said in a daze: "No...we don't know each other. There was an accident that day." So he roughly described what happened in the hall that day.

"So that's what's happening. I was wondering why someone who knows Minister Yan would come here." The male colleague who spoke first sounded much more relaxed. He picked up his plate and stood up. "I'm done eating. I'm leaving first." Ignoring the different expressions of the people around him, he left first.

Immediately afterwards, people left one after another. The long table, which had seemed a bit crowded due to the large number of people, suddenly became much emptier. In the end, only Lin Zhouze and a gentle boy of similar age were left.

"You shouldn't have said that." The boy propped up his glasses with his fingertips, put down his chopsticks, and said to the confused Lin Zhouze, "I suggest you go out more and stay in the office less starting tomorrow." Without waiting for Lin Zhouze to ask why, he packed up his tableware and left.

Lin Zhouze didn't understand what he meant until three days later. "Xiao Lin, help me check last month's mission data." The senior male colleague approached Lin Zhouze with a smile and handed him a red data card. "Hurry up, it needs to be submitted before the end of tomorrow's work."

Lin Zhouze put down his water cup, unable to bear it any longer, and turned around to ask doubtfully, "Brother Chen, you said a few days ago that you had to go out on field work, and I helped you with the work you didn't have time to complete, but I don't see your name on the field work schedule for the next two days."

"Besides, I've only been working here for less than a week. They've given me such an important job. I'm really scared..."

The man's face darkened and he whispered, "It's precisely because you're new here that I'm helping you get familiar with your position quickly. How can you let me down?" He slammed the data card onto Lin Zhouze's desk in a domineering manner. "Tomorrow, remember."

"Brother Chen!" Lin Zhouze stood up suddenly, and the chair was knocked to the ground with a loud noise, attracting the attention of several other colleagues around him, "This is considered dereliction of duty." He, who could never hide his emotions, had a face full of resentment, and his teeth were clenched so tightly that the originally soft lines on both sides of his cheeks seemed a little stiff.

"What are you talking about?" The man surnamed Chen's face froze, then he looked at the expressions of the people around him and said loudly, "This is the rule here! If you don't believe me, ask them if this is how they got here!" Then he leaned against the table proudly, with an attitude of "Ask whatever you want."

Lin Zhouze turned around with his almond-shaped eyes wide open, only to see faces that were either indifferent or gloating.

“…”

"See, everyone went through this, so don't try to get any special treatment." Brother Chen curled his lips smugly, turned around and left the office in a cool manner.

It was time for the shift change. People around him left, chatting and laughing, and the next shift came in, chatting and laughing. Lin Zhouze sat alone at his workstation, typing on the old, somewhat clumsy keyboard with anger and grievance.

"Here you go." There was a cup of hot milk tea in his hand. Lin Zhouze looked up and saw the gentle boy wearing black-framed glasses standing behind him with a stern face, holding a transparent bag in his hand, which seemed to contain a lunch box.

"Give it to me? Why?" His emotions were surging, and his words trembled slightly. The boy, who looked not much older than him, pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and said, "Consider it a favor I'm doing for my sister. I hope she can find a colleague like me when she joins the company."

Lin Zhouze: "Oh...thank you." He didn't feel disgusted by the boy's frankness. Instead, it was like clearing the clouds and bringing light to the world.

So, Lin Zhouze worked overtime out of a small amount of goodwill, and completed the task originally assigned to Brother Chen before the field mission application opened on the third day. He locked the red data card in a small sealed box with a three-layer password, placed it on Brother Chen's workstation, and taped a note to it -

“Association workers must not leave written clues, but must keep them in mind.

So I didn't dare to leave such important information in the office area without permission.

Please, Brother Chen, take it yourself and remember to destroy this written clue."

After finishing all this under the complicated gazes of a group of people, Lin Zhouze breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and went to the task application office next door to apply for two full days of field work.

For non-psychic workers in the association, field missions, while rewarding with points, are incredibly arduous. Typically, they require two to three days' notice to apply for them, followed by immediate confirmation and preparation. The time and effort required far exceeds what's recorded in the mission files.

And the most important point is that field missions inevitably involve risks, so most non-superpower workers prefer to follow routines within the base. Therefore, Lin Zhouze's crazy field schedule is seen by them as "pleasing the upper echelons", and Lin Zhouze himself has become an "outlier" in the department.

Perhaps because the field missions were too energy-consuming, Lin Zhouze began to like sweets. He often stockpiled some ready-to-eat foods such as candy and bread, and his figure gradually became thinner, but the baby fat on his face remained stubborn.

The crazy schedule lasted for more than a month. Lin Zhouze's personal points increased rapidly. In addition, he had not appeared in the office area for a long time, which finally attracted the attention of the leaders of the Renguan Department. So he met Yan Zhiyuan for the second time.

"Knock, knock!" Two crisp knocks sounded on the door. "Come in," the Deputy Director of the Ren Management Department said with a gloomy face. He then turned to Lin Zhouze, who stood with his head bowed before him. "It's a good thing you're willing to endure hardships, but after all, field missions don't contribute much to our department. Points and experience are all yours."

Yan Zhiyuan heard these words as soon as he entered the door.

"Deputy Minister Du, I'm sorry to bother you. This is... a reprimand?" Yan Zhiyuan observed for a moment and realized he knew the person being reprimanded. "Then I'll have to ask Deputy Minister to do me a favor and let him go for now. I have an urgent matter."

Deputy Minister Du's scowl faded, and he beamed, "Minister Yan, what are you talking about? If you have anything to say, just tell me. Why are you coming here in person?" He waved Lin Zhouze away and was about to pour tea for Yan Zhiyuan when he heard, "Let him stay. He might be able to help me out."

Lin Zhouze took back the step he had just taken. With mixed feelings, he stood obediently where he was.

Deputy Minister Du was stunned. "Huh? Oh!" Then he waved to Lin Zhouze and said, "Come on, Xiaolin, come and sit over here." Then he turned to Yan Zhiyuan and whispered, "What's going on, Minister Yan?"

Yan Zhiyuan smiled. "My original assistant had some family problems and urgently returned home. I don't want to give up my mission, but I don't want to affect the normal operation of our Information Department. So I wanted to ask Deputy Minister Du, considering my friendship with your Minister, if you can lend me some manpower?"

As Yan Zhiyuan spoke these words, his eyes remained fixed on Deputy Minister Du, making him break into a cold sweat. "I heard one of your new colleagues is very hardworking and has been working in the field for almost a full month."

Deputy Minister Du glanced hesitantly at the silent Lin Zhouze beside him and wiped his sweat. "Well, there is such a colleague. Minister Yan, what do you mean..."

"I'd like to ask if you could lend me this colleague for a while to help me out with my current predicament." Yan Zhiyuan's smile widened, his eyes gleaming. "Or, on some terms, sell him to our Information Department."

Deputy Minister Du waved his hands repeatedly, a little flustered, "You're too kind! Why would you bother with such a trivial matter? Uh, it's him!" He patted Lin Zhouze's stiff shoulder and said, "I just happened to be talking to him. You can take him away now. I'll go and complete the paperwork right away!"

Lin Zhouze stared in amazement at Deputy Minister Du, who had just been so unfriendly to him. "I..." Before he could express his opinion, he was suddenly pushed next to Yan Zhiyuan. "Thank you very much, Deputy Minister Du. I'll treat you to dinner another day." Yan Zhiyuan was not polite. He stood up and said to his new subordinate, "Go pack your things and follow me."

“…”

"Oh." Lin Zhouze responded in a daze.