165: promotion

Special Administration Bureau Conference Room One.

Liu Yuanyuan sat in the Second Brigade’s information department section, and like many others, her mouth was slightly agape, her eyes unfocused as she watched Yang Dian stand up from his seat and walk over to Lei Ming.

Then they heard Lei Ming say solemnly:

“Comrade Yang Dian has repeatedly performed extraordinary feats since joining the Special Administration Bureau.”

“He participated in and resolved the ‘Fluorescent Calamity,’ attacked and apprehended foreign Awakened drug dealers, protected the people in Daya Bay, Huizhou, and bravely went to Chengdu to support the fight against Alien Planet inhabitants in the Dimensional Overlap Erosion Zone. He also ventured deep into the Alien Planet despite the danger, making indelible and outstanding contributions to Huaxia’s exploration and liberation of the Alien Planet…”

“In a short period, he transformed from a newcomer who had just joined the Special Administration Bureau into a pillar of the Bureau.”

“After careful deliberation by the organization, it has been decided to appoint Comrade Yang Dian as the Deputy Director of the Fuzhou Branch of the Huaxia Abnormal Affairs Administration.”

“He will be responsible for the management of abnormal affairs in the Fuzhou area, together with Comrade Pei Qiangxi.”

As he finished speaking, someone approached Lei Ming with a tray holding special epaulets.

Lei Ming reached out, took the epaulets, and pinned them onto Yang Dian’s shoulders:

“The appointment officially takes effect from this moment.”

With that, Lei Ming was the first to clap his hands.

As he moved, applause erupted like a tide in the conference room.

After a long while, the applause subsided, and Lei Ming looked at Yang Dian, offering an encouraging gaze:

“Care to say a few words?”

Yang Dian smiled, stepped into the space Lei Ming had vacated, and scanned the hundred-plus people in the conference room.

“I am fortunate to have the organization’s trust, willing to place this burden on my shoulders.”

“Here, I will stand firm in my post, remember my faith, and abide by the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention.”

“I will implement the organization’s beliefs and always remember the purpose of serving the people…”

Two minutes later, Yang Dian’s brief speech concluded, and another round of applause erupted in the conference room.

If Yang Dian hadn’t misheard, the applause was mixed with Uncle Xiao from Combat Team Five’s seemingly lowered voice, yet most people in the conference room could hear his muttering:

“Tsk, some people are just different.”

“How come Little Yang’s inauguration speech only took two minutes, while some people talked for over two hours and still couldn’t finish…”

Looking at Uncle Xiao with a hint of amusement, Yang Dian then subtly glanced at Pei Qiangxi, whose face was visibly darkening.

‘The world is already supernatural, yet there’s still infighting. Lao Pei is truly boring.’

He muttered to himself, then Yang Dian suddenly thought of something.

With the Director absent, the Deputy Director held the highest authority.

A lone Deputy Director was even more unsupervised.

Infighting, wasn't it also for more resources?

‘Tsk, I hope Lao Pei can be more open-minded and not look for trouble…’

As his thoughts churned, the fervent applause slowly died down.

Yang Dian nodded to Lei Ming and returned to his seat.

After Yang Dian was seated, Lei Ming spoke a bit more about the future plans of the Special Administration Bureau, then dismissed the meeting.

After everyone left, he patted Yang Dian’s shoulder again:

“How does it feel to be promoted?”

Yang Dian shook his head:

“I don’t feel anything.”

“I was very much looking forward to the promotion, but now that it’s actually happened, it feels just so-so.”

“It’s not as good as Qi and blood rising one inch higher.”

“Lao Yue said you were a Martial Artist fanatic, and he really wasn’t wrong.”

Yang Dian smiled, then asked curiously:

“Uncle Lei, why are you in Fuzhou?”

“It can’t be just for my promotion, can it?”

Lei Ming nodded:

“Your Director isn’t here, and everyone else holds deputy positions. It wouldn’t be appropriate for them to preside over your promotion ceremony, so I came.”

“Of course, promoting you is one reason. As for the second reason, would you like to guess?”

Yang Dian frowned slightly:

“The great tsunami at the end of October?”

“Yes.”

“At the end of October, the Sea King Class Creature, Fire Flame Turtle, will detonate an underwater volcano.”

“Volcanoes usually appear at the boundaries of continental plates. If a Sea King Class Creature really did detonate an underwater volcano and cause a great tsunami, it might even move continental plates.”

“A tsunami triggered under such circumstances is terrifying to imagine.”

“So the organization sent me to inspect the continental plates to see if we can find that prophesied Fire Flame Turtle in advance and nip the danger in the bud.”

Yang Dian blinked:

“Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life.”

“The turtle’s life is also a life.”

“I think that after finding the Fire Flame Turtle, we don’t necessarily have to kill it. We could completely relocate it to another place.”

“There are quite a few volcanoes in Little Japan. Since the turtle likes to stay in volcanoes, we could totally send it there, couldn’t we?”

Lei Ming was stunned for a moment, then laughed:

“You little rascal, your heart is truly dark.”

“But I like it…”

…Lei Ming didn’t stay long before leaving.

Just as he said, his most important mission now was to find the Fire Flame Turtle from the prophecy.

As for whether to kill it or relocate it to another place, that was a false premise.

The prerequisite for the premise was to find the Fire Flame Turtle.

From the rooftop, Yang Dian watched Lei Ming’s Incarnation disappear into the sky like a flash of lightning, then turned to go downstairs.

However, what he didn’t expect was that before he even left the rooftop, Pei Qiangxi had already walked up to it.

Looking at Pei Qiangxi’s somewhat complex expression, Yang Dian raised an eyebrow:

“Deputy Director Pei, is something the matter?”

Pei Qiangxi opened his mouth, but then seemed unsure of what to say.

The draft he had prepared before coming upstairs had fallen apart upon seeing Yang Dian’s incredibly young face.

Taking a deep breath, he swept away some of the unpleasantness in his heart and said seriously:

“What are your thoughts on the Bureau’s upcoming tasks?”

Yang Dian looked at Pei Qiangxi with some surprise.

He had thought Pei Qiangxi was here to cause trouble.

He didn’t expect him to be so agreeable.

‘That’s not right either. He’s a Deputy Director, and his authority is sufficient. He must have seen the videos of my fights with the Eight-Armed Lizardman and the little giant Clayton.’

‘If I didn’t have this level of strength, he might not be as agreeable as he is now.’

After his thoughts spun around a couple of times, Yang Dian pondered for a moment and then said:

“This position of Special Administration Bureau Deputy Director, I was just pushed into it.”

“I only joined the Special Administration Bureau a little over a month ago; I don’t even recognize everyone in the entire Special Administration Bureau. Is it appropriate for me to give a lengthy speech?”

“However, the Special Administration Bureau, in short, is always about the same few things.”

“Recruiting Awakened, handling abnormal incidents, and ensuring the people are not harassed by abnormal creatures.”

“In the future, when Martial Artist practice becomes widespread, there might even be additional tasks like apprehending Martial Artist criminals.”

At this point, Yang Dian changed his tone:

“It’s still the same thing I said before.”

“I don’t even recognize everyone in the Special Administration Bureau, so it’s not appropriate for me to command people.”

“Deputy Director Pei, you are an old hand at the Special Administration Bureau. How about you take on the important task of arranging the Bureau’s daily missions?”

After speaking, Yang Dian suddenly thought of something else:

“Of course, I am a Deputy Director after all, so I need to have a few capable people under me.”

“Team Five Captain Uncle Xiao is quite familiar with me, and Team Seven was my original squad.”

“How about these two teams are assigned to me for arrangement?”

Yang Dian wouldn’t forget that during the meeting just now, Uncle Xiao had even taunted Pei Qiangxi.

Uncle Xiao had looked out for him quite a few times before, so if he didn’t protect him now, Lao Pei might make things difficult for him.

Sure enough, seeing Yang Dian bluntly ask for Uncle Xiao’s team, Pei Qiangxi’s face visibly darkened.

Although it only darkened for a moment before recovering, Yang Dian still shook his head.

Working in an organization, especially a violent institution like the Special Administration Bureau.

You either have absolute strength to suppress all dissent.

Or you are exceptionally smooth, able to integrate a large amount of resources.

In Yang Dian’s opinion, Lao Pei failed at both.

‘No wonder he struggled for three years and only climbed to the position of Deputy Director after the previous Deputy Director passed away and the Director was severely injured.’

‘Now it seems the organization truly has no one else to use…’