Chapter 28 The Ageless Witch

Yan Shi walked up to Wu Ming's desk and placed his hands on it.

"Why does the spell named after me sometimes work and sometimes not?" she asked coldly.

Only when they got closer did they realize that Wuming was sitting at the table looking at a work notebook. The notebook contained dates and records, and the handwriting was elegant and flowing.

【Sunny on April 4th】

I visited the Elf race today and met a very cute Light Elf.

He is a prince of the Light Elf race and a candidate for the next High Priest.

He's not that old, but he always has a serious face. I tugged at his braid, and he actually blushed! Hahahaha.

...

Before Yan Shi could finish reading, Wu Ming slammed the work notes shut.

“Indeed,” he chuckled, as if remembering something, “you can go wherever you want.”

Yan Shi: "Answer my question. Why does the spell named after me sometimes work and sometimes not?"

“That has nothing to do with me,” Kirina shrugged. “I’m only responsible for depicting the abilities of the past directors of the Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities as curses.”

"Then whose ability is this?" Yan Shi pressed.

Wuming: "Do you think Yan Qing would recommend just anyone?"

Yan Shi was taken aback.

"This is your ability."

"My... ability?" Yan Shi's eyes widened in surprise.

She quickly realized the problem. Abilities are an innate talent of humans, so if she possessed such powerful abilities, why didn't Zhan Zhou send her an admission invitation to university?

Yan Shi: "Were your abilities blocked before?"

Was Kirina joking with her? The surface world only has a scarcity of spirits, but that doesn't affect the normal use of abilities.

“Asking me questions comes with a price,” Kirina shrugged. “What kind of reward are you offering me for knowing the details?”

Yan Shi sneered, "Speaking of compensation, I haven't even asked you for the appearance fee for drawing me into the comic without my permission."

Kirina: "Appearance fee? You should thank me for being included in the manga. If you hadn't received some faith from being drawn into the manga, your abilities wouldn't be able to function normally."

"Faith?" Yan Shi grasped the key point, his doubts deepening. "Shouldn't abilities be an innate talent of the human race? Why do they need external things to realize them?"

"There are indeed not many books on the subject of research on abilities," Wuming said. "Eastern magic practices essentially involve storing spiritual energy within the body for easy use. Western magic practices involve using ancient language to command the spirits in the air."

"So what do you think ability comes from?"

Yan Shi frowned. "Isn't ability a talent?"

“No,” Wuming said with a hint of helplessness, “Nothing in this world appears out of nowhere. The God of War exists because of his powerful fighting spirit, and the God of Light exists because of faith. Even the powers of gods need something to rely on, let alone those of humans.”

"Ability essentially depends on faith or an anchor. This is the first step for man toward God."

Yan Shi pondered, "But non-human races in the inner world also have abilities."

“The abilities of non-human races are very similar across different races; this is a variant of the curse.” Wuming didn’t explain much, but continued talking about Yan Shi, “Your ability is the law. To invoke the power of the law, your anchor point is determined by yourself, absolutely fair. If you cannot stay at your anchor point forever, faith will serve as the fuel for your next ability.”

"How could anyone possibly represent absolute fairness forever?" Yan Shi asked incredulously.

"This is the price to pay for great power. Everything in this world is an exchange of equal value." Kirina's words were tinged with a sigh.

"So, without faith or an anchor, even if the ability exists, it cannot be used?" Yan Shi asked.

“Your situation is a bit special,” Wuming shook his head and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window.

Yan Shi followed his gaze and realized that, without realizing it, the sea of ​​rain clouds outside the French windows had transformed into a vast starry sky.

Looking at the starry sky, Wuming seemed to see an old friend again. "I promised someone that I would keep quiet about this matter forever."

"Besides your ability, do you have any other questions?" After giving Yan Shi some time to absorb the information, he turned to look at Yan Shi after a while.

Yan Shi had countless questions in her mind. She knew Wu Ming wouldn't answer them all, so she finally asked, "What is the authority of a spirit?"

Kirina: "The authority of spirits is merely a tool that humans once used to control spirits."

"Since the authority belongs to the human race, why is it being lost everywhere?" Yan Shi pressed.

“This is also part of my decision to remain silent.” Wuming’s eyes held a hint of helplessness. “Lanlan, there are many things you need to explore on your own. I’ve said enough today. Leave.”

As soon as Kirina finished speaking, Hikoshi felt a blur before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was back in the second-floor corridor of the Weil Hub Branch.

In front of her were two sides locked in a fierce battle.

One side consisted of people wearing mechanical masks and night-clothes. The other side consisted of only a little girl.

The girl looked to be only ten years old, with fluffy, curly hair, wearing a puffy dress and adorned with many jingling metal ornaments.

Yan Shi: ?

She instinctively took a step back.

I dislike riddle-makers who only say half of what they mean.

She dislikes even more those riddle-makers who can throw her back into the battlefield at any moment.

"Good evening," Yan Shi said calmly. "You guys continue, I'm just passing by."

One of the men in black saw Yan Shi and, taking advantage of the girl's momentary daze, threw something at her.

Yan Shi instinctively took it; it was a spatial bracelet.

Before she could say anything, the man in black had already torn open several spatial scrolls and quickly left the scene.

The second-floor corridor was instantly empty, leaving only Yan Shi and the girl staring at each other.

Yan Shi: ...

She looked up and met the girl's gaze.

The girl introduced herself, "Yanlan, hello. I am Duan Yunchen, the head of the branch office of the Weier Hub Management Bureau."

Yan Lan? Yan Shi remained expressionless, only looking at Duan Yunchen.

"Give me the spatial bracelet," Duan Yunchen said, extending his hand. "Thank you."

Yan Shi didn't move, and instead stuffed the space bracelet into his pocket.

“What space bracelet?” she said innocently. “I didn’t do anything.”

Duan Yunchen: "Even if you are Director Yan's sister, you can't leave with so many contraband items from our bureau."

Contraband?

Yan Shi grasped the key words.

The space bracelet was filled with contraband, so why did the man in black throw it all at her?

The Bureau of Foreign Affairs is a contraband item that many people covet.

But now, it all belongs to her.

Rather than letting criminals have their eyes on it, it's better for her, as the bureau chief, to keep it herself.

Because of Yan Shi's long silence, Duan Yunchen continued, "You can leave once you put down the spatial bracelet."

She chuckled and dropped another bombshell, "As for blowing up the black market, that was absolutely awesome! Don't worry, I won't tell the chief."

Yan Shi: ...

Threatening her with black market bombings was a mistake; they picked the wrong person.

After all, the bureau chief was her. Yan Shi silently complained to himself.

She did not place the bracelet on Duan Yunchen's outstretched hand.

Yan Shi raised an eyebrow: "I have no reason to take back what I've already got."

Duan Yunchen shrugged helplessly. "Sigh, then let's discuss the collapse." She was still smiling, but there was a hint of danger in her smile.

Suddenly, the transparent pipes embedded in the wall lit up, and countless mechanical arms stretched out from the wall to grab Yan Shi.

Duan Yunchen still held out his hand, "Give me the space bracelet now, and I'll pretend nothing happened. Don't force me to use force to cooperate."

She frowned in distress. "After all, if I really hurt you, according to Lin Cai, the director might be angry."

Duan Yunchen shook his head. "But I don't think they'll really do anything to me. This director is committed to maintaining absolute fairness."

How does everyone know her anchor point?

This shouldn't be within the scope of the search for these large families in the underworld.

Yan Shi's heart sank.

They have no sense of boundaries.

As she thought this, she dodged the mechanical arm that reached out to grab her from the wall.

More and more robotic arms are protruding from the walls.

Yan Shi tentatively spoke, "God said, 'Crack.'"

The mechanical arms closest to her snapped off and fell to the ground with a crash.

Duan Yunchen's smile faded, and he looked at Yan Shi with a hint of wariness in his eyes.

“Your words are law; you’re using the bureau chief’s spell.”

"Does the director know that you were planning to leave the branch office of the Special Management Bureau with contraband?" Duan Yunchen's voice turned cold.

“She won’t care about me,” Yan Shi said.

She secretly tried to use a spell to tear open space and leave.

Yan Shi quickly realized that she could sense that the spell to tear open space could not be completed.

It's estimated that tearing open space is a spell that consumes a lot of power, and given her current state of openly carrying contraband, it's hard to associate it with fairness.

Yan Shi pondered to himself.

The only thing that can ignite power is faith.

She pondered silently, what kind of faith had she collected from the comics...?

Yan Shi didn't have a specific estimate of the amount. She could only sense that helping her avoid the metal arms on the wall was a very easy task.

"Even if the director is lenient, there should be a limit to how much you can tolerate him," Duan Yunchen stared at her, his gaze sharp as a knife.

“I’m really sorry,” Yan Shi laughed, “that’s probably not possible.”

After all, she herself doesn't seem to have any issues with limiting herself.

Yan Shi was pondering whether it would be inappropriate for her, as the director, to forcibly dismantle a branch of the bureau that was not in a good position.

However, many things in the inner world are not her responsibility. They are handled by the branch office heads individually, unless they affect the outer world.

The fact that the headquarters of the Bureau of Alien Affairs is located in the surface world already speaks volumes.

If someone brings contraband into the surface world or if a major anomaly occurs in the surface world, that would have a huge impact on her work.

So Yan Shi made a last-minute decision: she was determined to take the contraband with her today.

At the same time, Yan Shi is now very eager to know why Duan Yunchen, her anchor point as the bureau chief, knows this.

She easily severed several mechanical arms with a spell and asked, "What kind of person is Director Yan?"

To be honest, Yan Shi was really curious about what the outside world thought of her.

"As the younger sister, you don't know what kind of person your older sister is?" Duan Yunchen was somewhat surprised, then looked at the corridor that Yan Shi had half-demolished.

"That's true, you and the bureau chief don't seem like twins at all. How could the bureau chief have a sister like you?"

Yan Shi: ...

Is it possible that she is actually herself?

“How could you possibly know what kind of person she is?” Yan Shi said.

“It sounds like you, as the younger sister, don’t like this older sister. That’s strange, but the director seems quite tolerant of you.” Duan Yunchen jumped down from the railing.

Yan Shi has a headache. Is that what she meant? How come she herself doesn't know?

Moreover, the Bureau of Alien Management actually employs child laborers, and the person in charge of the Weir Hub looks like just a little girl.

Duan Yunchen: "All the heads of the branch offices of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs know about Director Yan's anchor point."

Yan Shi was shocked; what kind of fairness was she upholding?

It's worth noting that during the six months she was in office, the curses were always usable normally, but the manga wasn't released at the beginning, which means that during those six months her actions were actually judged to be strictly following the anchor point.

But she just goes to work and goes to get off work normally.

What exactly is the definition of fairness? Yan Shi was internally devastated.

With Duan Yunchen taking the matter seriously, the entire branch office came alive.

Countless gears and chains were turning, and as the number of robotic arms increased, transparent walls began to appear.

Duan Yunchen was stalling for time, and Yan Shi's heart sank.

We need to leave here as soon as possible.

"God said, 'The chain breaks and the gears go out of control.'"

In fact, the entire interior of the Bureau of Transmission is like a tightly rotating clock face. As several small parts fall off, cracks begin to appear in the newly formed transparent wall.

Yan Shi seized the opportunity and kicked the crack, shouting, "God said, break!"

The wall opened with a thud, and she jumped into the lobby on the first floor, intending to leave directly through the front door.

"Don't leave!" Countless mechanical arms also stretched out from the wall near the door and grabbed at her.

Strangely, Duan Yunchen, as a witch, did not use magic, but instead relied on the ingenious setup within the branch office to hinder her.

This time, the mechanical arm didn't care whether it would hurt Yan Shi; instead, it did everything it could to snatch the space bracelet from her.

Yan Shi could sense that the power she could draw upon through her spell was dwindling.

She severed several mechanical arms in front of her and rushed directly into the night outside the Bureau of Extraterritorial Affairs.

Not long after Yan Shi left, Duan Yunchen coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Yanlan herself wasn't particularly powerful, but she borrowed her sister's curse.

Yanju's curse, every stroke is a law at work. The internal division within the branch is fundamental.

To maintain the massive operations of the branch office of the Bureau of Alien Management, the branch office and Duan Yunchen were integrated. To be precise, the entire Ver Hub was built on the foundation of Duan Yunchen's life force as the Ageless Witch.

This was an agreement she made fifty years ago with the then-serving director of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.

"I thought immortal beings were so powerful," Duan Yunchen murmured to herself. She looked at the mechanical arm on the ground, her brows furrowing slightly. "I almost forgot that you were also an immortal being, and you've been dead for over ten years."

Her gaze shifted to the direction Yan Lan had just left. "Speaking of which, where did this Director Yan come from? With the power of laws, is she really not some god's illegitimate daughter?"

She angrily kicked the mechanical arm that had fallen to the ground, making a crisp sound.

"How annoying, why are so many people eyeing the branch office lately?" Duan Yunchen took out his phone from his pocket and started sending messages to the enforcement team to hunt down the two groups of people who had come to the branch office that night.

Especially Yanlan.

After all, the stolen goods ended up in her hands.

"The news of the contraband being confiscated shouldn't have spread yet," Duan Yunchen said, still somewhat puzzled. "So why did they all agree to come to the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs tonight?"

"They're so approachable!! I hate working overtime!!"

Meanwhile, Yan Shi stood on the dimly lit street corner, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to sit.

It seems she's gotten herself into trouble.

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your blessings and encouragement!!! I'll start daily updates after graduation season ends (bows)

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-06-01 22:26:28 and 2024-06-05 23:58:50!

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