Chapter 1, Section 1: The Curse of the Laws
When Yanshi got off work and came home, he found a new cat in the neighborhood. It was a small orange cat with yellow fur and white stripes, and it looked very much like a tiger cub.
Yan Shi bit the last bite of popsicle in his mouth, threw the popsicle stick into the trash can, walked closer to examine it carefully, and then laughed.
You know what, it really does look like a tiger cub.
Because the cat looked just like a tiger cub, and it was lying on the roadside with its soft belly turned up, it was so cute that several young women who had just finished get off work gathered around, feeding it milk cat treats.
"Yanlan!" Lin Cai, who was also watching the cats, waved with surprise when she saw her coming over. "You got off work so early today."
"It's rare that nothing's happening." Yan Shi walked over and squatted down to watch the cat with Lin Cai.
"It looks familiar, but I've never seen it in the neighborhood before." She examined the cat's markings more closely.
It has three black stripes on its forehead that look like a 'king', and it's not a common orange tabby, but it has a very good temperament and lets you touch it everywhere.
"Eh? You've seen Yanlan before?" Lin Cai didn't even look at the cat, her gaze fixed intently on Yanshi's profile. "I feed stray cats here every day, but this is the first time I've seen this one. It has such a good temper. It's the first time I've seen such a friendly little one."
“It looks like a pet that ran away,” another little girl next to her said. “Its fur is very clean; it doesn’t look like a stray cat.”
“Who knows,” Yan Shi shrugged and stood up. “It seems pretty happy.”
Lin Cai looked up at her: "Yanlan, are you leaving?"
Yan Shi raised his eyelids slightly: "Mm."
She walked straight into the residential area, cheering inwardly as she went.
Yay! The last thing that would have affected the weekend is done!
After sending a message to his colleague on duty to come and take the lost tiger cub, Yan Shi quickly put his phone on Do Not Disturb mode.
She's here for a wonderful weekend.
Finishing all your work and going home is absolutely the happiest thing in the world, bar none.
Yan Shi went home, turned on the air conditioner, washed himself, changed into his pajamas, wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, and thought happily.
She opened her favorite comic app, ready to enjoy her private time.
No, it looks somewhat familiar. Yan Shi stared at the sealed painting in deep thought.
She then casually opened the comic. Qiman is a leading comic app, and a comic featured on the homepage indicates that the editors consider it to be of high quality.
The first episode quickly unfolds an overview of a fantastical world filled with magic and superpowers, where advanced martial arts are intertwined with cutting-edge technology. Various races develop in unison, creating a vibrant and diverse world.
The scene then shifts to show the tiger clan's territory.
A yellow-and-white-striped cub secretly slipped away from its elders' care. It ran and jumped happily in the fields, its whole body exuding an air of finally being free.
Then suddenly, with a thud, it tripped and fell, the whole tiger rolling down the hillside like an orange pom-pom, then plopping down the hillside with a thud.
He fell on the roadside.
The background changed to something familiar to Yan Shi: the area downstairs in her apartment complex.
Yes, right where I just ran into that orange cat.
And somehow, the tiger cub shrank into a familiar-looking cat.
Yes, that one from just now, even the pattern is exactly the same.
Yan Shi: ...This comic is quite realistic.
She now knows how the tiger cubs that were lost traveled from the inner world to the outer world.
We can skip one meeting next week and send a letter first to inquire about the major mistakes made by the Cross-border Affairs Department.
Wait.
Yan Shi suddenly remembered why the building in the cover photo looked familiar.
This isn't her workplace, but is it the branch office version of the Otherworld?
---
Yan Shi, a worker who successfully landed a job within the system, though the company he landed with was somewhat unusual.
Abnormal Management Bureau.
To be honest, at first Yan Shi even thought it was a scam. After graduating from university, she repeatedly failed to find a job, and between desperate ambition and taking the civil service exam, she chose to seek help from the government.
Yanqing Temple is a small temple next to Yanshi High School, usually sparsely populated. Her high school also has a strange admissions process; although it is listed as a provincial key high school, the admission requirements are not made public, and it seems to send out admission notices randomly.
Yan Shi was having trouble finding a job, so he temporarily returned to his hometown to live and apply for jobs elsewhere.
Her high school was located in the old town of Tonghai City, nestled in the center of a cluster of historical buildings from the previous dynasty. The temple next door was said to have some significance, being the hermitage of the former dynasty's imperial advisor.
Yan Shi didn't know if it was true, but she would come here to burn incense before every exam in high school.
"May I find a job soon," Yan Shi muttered to himself as he stood in the main hall. "Any job is fine, I'll do anything. I'm very ambitious, and I'll definitely work hard!"
The deity enshrined in Yanqing Temple was an unknown figure, a composed woman with her hair tied high in a ponytail, sharp features, and an air of authority. Yan Shi had never seen such an image before. She placed incense sticks in the incense burner and prayed devoutly once more, "Yan Shi, ID number 32xxxxxxxxxx, please give me a job, anything is fine."
Whether it was due to excessive anxiety during the job search or because he was thinking about it during the day and dreaming about it at night, the night he returned from Yanqing Temple, Yan Shi dreamed that he was standing in the center of a very large room.
The room was surrounded by towering bookshelves, so high that you couldn't see the top when you looked up. The bookshelves were filled with books, so tightly packed that some books even seemed to float in mid-air, as if they were queuing up next to the shelves.
In front of Yanshi was a large floor-to-ceiling window, outside which stretched a dazzling starry sky. Next to the window was a large desk, which was currently empty.
The whole scene is like a traditional Chinese ink painting.
"Hello?" Yan Shi greeted him somewhat blankly from the middle.
"Candidate No. 067, Yan Shi, recommended by Yan Qing." The voice came from the side, and a figure walked out from behind the bookshelf.
The newcomer was a man with white hair and phoenix eyes, wearing a long red robe with delicate gold embroidery on the sleeves and hem, subtly revealing a mysterious twist. His hair was a bob, and it wasn't until he reached the window and saw Mitsuhiko that it became apparent that the man's eyes were golden.
"Hello." He walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "I was so engrossed in reading that I almost forgot I had an interview tonight."
He was flipping through the papers that had appeared on the table at some unknown time.
Yan Shi looked closely and discovered that the first page was actually his own resume.
"Yan Qing wrote a letter of recommendation for you," the man said, looking up at Yan Shi with his golden eyes meeting hers. "I can't refuse you. What is your purpose in taking power?"
What do you mean by "in power"? What kind of nonsense is this?
Yan Shi didn't quite understand. Anyway, it was just a dream. She recalled the protagonists of the novels and anime she had read and casually replied in a childish tone, "For fairness, absolute fairness."
"Absolute fairness?" the man repeated slowly, letting out a soft sigh.
He seemed to recall some old friend, his golden eyes momentarily glazed over. Then he snapped back to reality and continued, "So this is the anchor point you've chosen."
After saying that, he pulled out a piece of paper from the side and pushed it on the table. "Sign it."
Appointment letter
Yan Shi is hereby appointed as the Director of the Bureau of Abnormalities, with an indefinite term.
Recommended by: Yan Qing
Appointer: Ishmael
The nominator and appointer have already signed the letter of appointment, leaving a blank space after the confirmation section.
Even after waking up from the dream, Yan Shi still vividly remembered its details. "What a strange dream," she said, twirling her hair with her fingers.
Considering that dreams are so varied and unpredictable, Yan Shi put the matter out of his mind as soon as he got up.
Then I received a large package that same day, delivered by SF Express, 24-hour express service.
The package contained the appointment letter she had signed in her dream, her pay card, her employee card, and a bunch of onboarding instructions.
Yan Shi: ...?!
She opened the package, stared at Yan Qing, the recommender on the appointment letter, and thought about it carefully again.
Could this recommender be Yan Qing from Yan Qing Temple?
Is this Bureau of Anomalies an organization of the living world or the dead world?
It's likely that many new employees have this question, as the onboarding instructions include a company introduction.
The world she has always lived in is the surface world. The inner world, the other side of the world, is where cultivation, magic, and various fantastical races live and multiply. A world barrier separates the two worlds.
Because the difference in combat power between the inner world and the outer world is too great, the Anomaly Management Bureau was established to protect ordinary people in the outer world and to maintain order and stability in the inner world.
Yan Shi felt that his materialistic worldview of more than 20 years had been impacted.
After reading carefully, she even discovered that this administration bureau was actually a legitimate public institution. Employees could log in to the national unified civil service website to check their housing provident fund accounts.
In a state of utter shock, Yan Shi entered his ID number onto the official website and discovered that he had been confirmed as the Director of the Anomaly Management Bureau, with a golden asterisk under his name.
He achieved this in one step, directly becoming a political figure.
My workplace, the General Administration of Foreign Exchange, is even located next to the Summer Palace in the capital. On the map, it's a core address that needs to be blocked.
this...
It's hard not to be tempted.
The day after receiving his appointment letter, Yan Shi packed his bags and flew from his hometown to the capital.
Then, after struggling through layers of security checkpoints, and feeling completely disoriented, I was respectfully invited to the director's office on the top floor of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs.
Yan Shi: ...
It's actually true.
This world is far too hasty.
---
"So why is the Otherworld depicted in comics?" Yan Shi didn't understand, but he was greatly shocked.
This announcement is absolutely grounds for immediate classification by the regulatory authorities as an exceptionally serious incident and brought under their supervision.
She sat up in bed, no longer slacking off. She was just about to forward the comic to Sheng Chunqiu so that the diligent head of the executive department could check it out when she suddenly stopped just before forwarding it.
Yan Shi slowly swiped the screen back to the homepage, staring at the Qiman app icon in deep thought.
How should she tell Sheng Chunqiu that she had just gotten off work less than an hour ago, and the first thing she did when she got home was to read comics?
Yan Shi withdrew his hand from forwarding the message, and thought sadly.
After all, in Sheng Chunqiu's eyes, she was a mysterious big shot who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
It comes with the ability to make one's words law.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Yan Shi only discovered after joining the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs that her name had become a "curse".
"Curses" are a very special existence in the inner world. Knowing the name and origin of a curse allows one to communicate with it through chanting and to draw upon its power.
After Yan Shi was confirmed as the director of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, her name was recorded by the law and imbued with the power of words.
As the name, that is, the owner of the spell, Yan Shi cannot casually tell others the name of the spell.
The final result was that she had to give herself a new name to live a normal life, which became Yanlan. She started working, successfully losing her original name.
It was so moving that it brought tears to the eyes of anyone who heard it.
The current situation is that Yan Shi has to keep a straight face as much as possible every day to maintain his identity as a mysterious big shot.
"Let's forget about it." Yan Shi lay back down in bed and wrapped himself in his blanket.
It's just a comic strip; let her see what it's about first.
If it's just simple recording, then it doesn't affect real life at all.
Unless they see it with their own eyes, ordinary people in the outer world will not easily believe in the existence of the inner world.
Even in rare exceptional cases, the Information Office will promptly process the memories of those involved and stop the spread of public opinion.
Yan Shi felt perfectly justified and continued reading the comic.
The tiger cub seemed stunned by the fall, lying on the spot, turning its head around blankly.
She ran quickly out of the residential complex, bathed in sunlight. Sunlight danced in her orange hair, reflecting in her bright amber eyes. Because it wasn't yet time to leave work or school, she was the only one running along the path near the entrance.
It's like running down from the sun.
Qiman has a bullet screen feature, and since it's a new comic, only a few bullet screen comments are currently floating by.
Is this the protagonist of a manga? He seems like a typical, lively, sunny, and quintessential protagonist.
The problem is, this doesn't feel like an adventure anime; it feels more like a slice-of-life anime set within an adventure anime context.
[Just kidding!!! Who makes a protagonist's first close-up appearance wearing pajamas?! That's so casual!]
After running to the entrance of the residential area, Lin Cai slowed down and went from sprinting to walking. When she reached the roadside near the entrance, she spotted the tiger cubs.
She crouched down and pulled a cat treat from her pajama pocket: "Mimi?"
"Meow?" Hello? Out of politeness, the tiger cub responded, then covered its mouth with its two paws in terror.
"Meow meow meow meow?" Where am I? How did I become a cat? Elder, save me! Waaaaaah...
It's hilarious.
Hahahaha, absolutely no sympathy!
This is the karmic retribution for running away from home.
[Tiger cub: Meow meow meow meow?]
Lin Cai tore open the cat treat and tentatively waved it in front of the tiger cub's nose.
The tiger cub's eyes lit up immediately. It retracted its wildly waving paws, stopped struggling, and hugged the cat treat to lick it.
Lin Cai loosened her grip on the tiger cub's neck, squeezed out some more cat treats, and then stroked the cub's back. Finding that the cub didn't resist, she rolled it over and patted its belly.
Throughout the entire process, the tiger cub did not struggle at all, attracting a large number of curious little girls passing by.
Eventually, it developed into what Yan saw when he passed by on his way home from get off work: anyone could touch the tiger cubs as long as they were given food.
If a tiger doesn't work hard, it will eventually become a woman's plaything.
[Is this a tiger cub? Strategic leaning back.jpg]
Yan Shi: ...
This tiger cub has no backbone at all.
She felt the elders' worries were somewhat unnecessary; their cubs were adapting quite well to the surface world, really.
In the comic, Lin Cai suddenly saw someone, let go of the cat tag, stood up from the spot, and stretched out a big smile on her face.
She happily raised her right hand and waved it vigorously, "Yanlan!! You got off work so early today."
The camera panned to follow Lin Cai's gaze.
A woman turned the corner and walked in Lin Cai's direction.
Her hair, just reaching her shoulders, was half-tied into a bun with a hairpin. She wore a well-made suit jacket, with a long shawl draped over her arm. The fabric of the jacket subtly revealed an indistinct dark pattern in the sunlight.
Because of the wall beside her, only half of her face was in the sunlight, while the other half was obscured by shadows. Her eyes were extremely captivating peach blossom eyes, which were casually sweeping over Lin Cai and the cat on the ground, revealing a hint of interest.
Only after stepping out of the shadows and getting closer could one see the delicate silver chain and pendant on the woman's coat.
However, this solemn design could not suppress the subtle sense of oppression emanating from the woman.
"It's rare that nothing's happening." She squatted down next to Lin Cai, her expression lazy.
【Who?! Who is this?!】
[Oh my god, this is my destined new wife!!!]
What a special person! Is this someone I could ever have?
Yan Shi slowly covered his face with his hands.
What kind of weird filter is this! Her ears turned red.
I don't usually feel this way when I read other comics, but being called "wife" by someone is so embarrassing!
And was that the expression she just had?
No, she really likes herself this way!
The comic artist is truly skilled; she meticulously depicted the texture of the hairpin in Yan Shi's hair, the subtle patterns reflected on her coat, and Yan Shi's ambiguous smile.
After squatting down, Yanlan casually examined the cat from head to toe, then raised an eyebrow and said, "It looks familiar."
Lin Cai: "Eh? You've met Yanlan before?"
“Who knows,” Yanlan stood up, a slight smile playing on her lips. She paused, as if thinking of something amusing. “It seems quite happy.”
Lin Cai had stopped petting the cat. Yan Lan ignored her and walked straight into the residential area.
The figure disappeared behind the wall.
Putting everything else aside, I have only one question right now. That scoundrel painted my wife so extravagantly, yet she lives in this old neighborhood?? Does that make sense? Where are my wife's mansion, luxury cars, and chauffeured assistant?
[Great, now I have the same question. Did Yanlan really not wander onto the wrong set?]
Yan Shi: ...
It's really disappointing for comic book readers. Not only does she not have a big villa, luxury cars, or chauffeured assistants, but even the house she lives in now is rented.
The first chapter of the comic is very short, ending abruptly after Yanlan enters the residential area.
Yan Shi looked at himself again in the comic, who was portrayed as an extremely mysterious big shot, silently took a screenshot and saved it, and began to think about what he should do now.
Why not treat the comic like a documentary first? After reading the first chapter, she casually saved the comic and pondered it.
Anyway, it's not harmful to reality right now, we'll talk about it when it actually becomes harmful.
Keeping it will add some fun to her life.
That's settled! Yan Shi finally concluded.
But Lin Cai, is she actually the protagonist of a comic book?
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
