"Selena, how does the new mechanized body feel?"
The middle-aged man seemed to realize that the phone was connected. He put down the newspaper in his hand, picked up the coffee beside him, and looked at Selena.
"Not bad, thank you."
Selena moved her hands and responded with a smile.
This middle-aged man was Selena's immediate superior, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Smith.
Her previous mechanized body had been at risk of contamination from the gaze of the God of Knowledge and had been destroyed. Smith had applied for a newer model of the mechanized body for her and even used federal funds to reimburse her for it.
"After all, you are now a hero of Dawn City," Smith said as he took a sip of his coffee, "There is good news and bad news now, which do you want to hear first?"
"The bad news."
Selena didn't hesitate.
"Okay, the good news is that you've been promoted. Due to your destruction of the Evil God Priest's Nest and the killing of an intelligent Evil God Priest along with the destruction of his summoned Evil God's Offspring, you are now an Assistant Inspector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Congratulations,"
Smith picked up an appointment letter from the desk beside him, showed it in front of the camera, and then continued with a smile, "However, your duties have been adjusted. From now on, you no longer need to carry out field missions in the wilderness. You just need to be responsible for federal criminal investigations within Dawn City.
The Bureau has specifically established a Criminal Investigation Second Team for you, which you will lead, of course, still under my jurisdiction."
Selena knew her superior's sense of humor; if she said she wanted to hear the bad news first, then Smith would definitely start with the good news.
And this job adjustment was actually removing her from the front lines, making her responsible for criminal cases unrelated to the consortium to prevent her from provoking the consortium again.
It was protection for her, but she couldn't be happy about it. She sighed, "Okay, that is indeed bad news. So what's the other bad news?"
Smith knew the personality of his capable subordinate. He smiled, did not ask further, and continued to explain, "The bad news is that it's just you in this team right now, but in a couple of days, a freshly graduated trainee investigator will be assigned under you."
"A hot-blooded young whippersnapper?" Selena leaned back on the bed, "That's not too bad, I hope he can be a bit tame."
"How tame?" Smith joked, "A law-abiding good kid?"
At the mention of the words 'law-abiding,' Selena was taken aback. For some reason, she thought of that grim and terrifying skull, the tentacles flying all over the sky, and the Evil God Priest who had tied himself together with the Evil God's Offspring to die with it.
At the first moment she regained her senses, she had rushed back, only to see debris everywhere and the contamination twisting through the space.
"Smith," she asked hesitantly, as if compelled by some force, "do you think the Evil God Priests might still retain their humanity?"
"Selena," Smith's smile gradually faded, and his expression grew serious, "You should know that for the half year you are discharged, you will be under protective surveillance by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dawn City Police Department to ensure that you have not been contaminated by the Evil God. I think they would be very interested to hear you ask this question?"
"It just suddenly crossed my mind."
Selena shook her head.
The contamination of the Evil God is subtle and insidious; it twists one's thinking and logic little by little. Any sympathy for the Evil God or its priests would be suspected of contamination because such sentiment might not stem from one's own free will but as a result of a twisted mindset.
"I've seen the video records of your mechanized body," Smith placed his coffee on the desk, looking at Selena calmly through the screen, "We still don't know what the deal is with that Evil God Priest called Yezola. But if you want me to give you an answer to your question,"
His demeanor was stern, his voice cold, "They don't and can't possibly have any humanity. Selena, remember, you are human."
"I understand."
Selena nodded silently.
----
[Game Start]
[In this game, you will play the role of a game character. Please carefully read the following instructions]
[1. Please note, once the role-play starts, the player is the character. Being exposed means game over]
[2. Please note, all real objects involved in the role-play cannot be taken away after the game ends]
[3. Please note, in the game, life only comes once. Treasure it, and improper gameplay brings two lines of tears to your loved ones]
[Your identity is: Trainee Investigator Ande]
Up to this point, it was still the familiar system prompt, but the subtitles that followed showed changes.
[Age 0: You were born, a boy, and your parents named you Ande.]
[Age 1: You live in the middle-class district.]
[Age 2: A happy family life, living blissfully.]
[Age 3: Your family really enjoyed playing with you.]
[Age 4: Playing with your teacher.]
[Age 5: Chased down the street by a robotic dog.]
[Age 6: Entered a private primary school.]
[Age 7: You scored a hundred percent.]
[Age 8: You fought with an older student.]
[Age 9: Continued to fight with older students.]
[Age 10: Under the pressure of school, you transferred schools.]
[Age 11: At your new school, you continued to fight with older students.]
[Age 12: Admitted to a private junior high.]
[Age 13: You learned to play cards.]
[Age 14: Playing cards.]
[Age 15: Playing cards, directly promoted to high school.]
[Age 16: You began to reflect on yourself and resolved to get into a good university.]
[Age 17: Playing cards.]
[Age 18: Your parents died in an accident while working in the wilderness, and the company gave you a sum of compensation money. However, after paying off your parents' debts, the remaining funds weren't enough to cover the expensive tuition fees for a private university, so you were admitted to Kaya City Municipal University.]
[Age 19: The university waived part of your tuition and helped you apply for a student loan, but you still needed to work part-time to make ends meet.]
[Age 20: Because you couldn't afford the rent for your original house, you moved.]
[Age 21: Interned at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.]
[Age 22: Graduated and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a trainee investigator. You were deployed to the newly established Criminal Investigation Team 2 in Dawn City. The floating airship you took to Dawn City was attacked by an exotic beast in the wilderness, and you 'miraculously survived'.]
[Your mission is: Investigate the reason why the Priest of the God of Chaos, Mu Xiu, came to Dawn City.]
[Have a great game]
The system's subtitles were quick, with most of them having just a short line of text for each year, but He Ao felt as if he could see through those brief lines to the true flow of a whole year's time.
Afterward, He Ao's vision gradually returned, and what came into view was pure white light and a nurse with long brown hair and a voluptuous figure, "Mr. Ande? You're awake. You're really lucky; that steel rod only pierced through your body and perfectly passed through the gaps in your internal organs."
"Awake now?"
A somewhat icy, mature female voice came from beside the nurse.
He Ao turned his head to look, and what first caught his eye was a waterfall of smooth, blond hair, followed by a beautiful, spirited face, and a curvaceous, exquisite figure.
Standing next to this person, the voluptuous and pretty nurse was like a wildflower by the side of the road that complemented the peony.
He Ao recognized this person,
Selena.