### Chapter 6: Modern Small World (7)
==============================
“You lose!”
“You lose!”
…
Lin Nan supported her chin with both hands, staring at the pop-up message on the screen, utterly lost in thought.
Was this small world on a revenge mission against her?
After a whole night of playing League of Legends, she had been dragged from Gold rank all the way down to Bronze—she hadn’t won a single match!
The fact that she hadn’t exploded in a fit of rage was already a testament to the past six months she had spent honing her skills in the Asking Dao Continent. In the old days, she would’ve chucked her keyboard on the floor and stomped on it to vent her fury!
Talk about a streak of bad luck—it was really a tough year!
“Knock, knock, knock!”
Deputy Bureau Director Nie Zhengchu cautiously tapped on the door.
“Come in!”
“Yes, Director.”
At forty years old, Nie Zhengchu had managed to secure the position of deputy director in Ocean City—a rare feat for someone his age.
When he first got assigned to the confidential unit of the Special Operations Bureau, he was fired up, ready to make his mark on the world.
He had thought the Bureau Director would be a venerable elder with significant experience.
However, he hadn’t expected to find a girl barely older than his daughter, looking like she’d just graduated from college, as his boss.
At first, Nie Zhengchu was taken aback.
His gut instinct told him that she had to be some ‘second-generation’ kid placed in that key position to get some tough love from above.
Suddenly, everything clicked into place for him—he understood why the higher-ups sent him to the Special Operations Bureau.
If anything went wrong, the success would be credited to her, but if there was a snafu, he’d be the one left holding the bag!
This simply wouldn’t do! He prided himself on his integrity and was determined to fight against any shady activities, hoping to secure his place in the Bureau by relying on his own strengths!
Before joining the Bureau, he had barely an inkling of what this mysterious department was about—just that they handled cases too weird for the regular police.
He thought it was just an upgraded version of the police’s major case unit, sprinkled with a dose of mystique.
He expected to be swamped with work, but instead, he spent a whole week sipping tea in the office without a thing to do.
It suddenly dawned on him—he was being sidelined by the Director.
Don’t let her youthful appearance fool you; that girl was a pro at office politics, skillfully minimizing his influence within the Bureau without breaking a sweat.
This uncle could tolerate a lot, but this auntie was not having it!
So, he simmered with barely concealed anger and marched straight to that girl’s office, ready to get some answers from the Bureau Director herself.
Regardless of the circumstances, he needed to dive into the core affairs of the Bureau and not just twiddle his thumbs enforcing office discipline.
He might be holding the title of deputy director, but right now his work was little more than that of a group leader!
He expected her to hesitate and make excuses, but to his surprise, Lin Nan readily agreed.
Nie Zhengchu thought she must have felt his pressure and had no choice but to give in. He rubbed his hands together, eager to shine while directing the resolution of some big case.
After all, he used to be a detective; even though he’d spent years in bureaucratic work, his foundational skills were still intact.
A day later, the Bureau received a report from the police and began tackling the case.
As the director’s right-hand man, Nie Zhengchu officially stepped into the investigation.
This experience was one he would never forget.
He never imagined that d*ath could be so close.
The scene of the incident was in the sewer of a village in the city. The moment he stepped into the sewer, he almost passed out from the stench. Something—was it animal or human?—was floating in the filth, and he was retching after just a few steps; meanwhile, the Bureau Director remained expressionless, even kneeling down to closely inspect those grotesque floaters.
And just like that, the unimaginable happened.
Countless rotten hands suddenly emerged from beneath the murky water, grabbing at his ankles and pulling him down.
Everything happened so fast, he barely had time to react before his neck slipped below the foul surface, almost swallowing the disgusting mix of innards, bl**d, and excrement.
Not just him—his fellow field agents were also caught, helplessly watching as they were dragged underwater, unable to move.
Just when Nie Zhengchu felt all hope was lost and fear clawed at him, the Bureau Director, that woman, unexpectedly plunged into the murky depths, where it looked like even corpses would dread to go.
In what felt like both a split second and an eternity later, a deafening explosion echoed from the dark depths of the sewer, and the hands clinging to his feet suddenly withered away, turning into a pile of dry bones.
When Lin Nan resurfaced, she was a mess—covered in mud and filth—but her eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky.
In her grip, she held a dying little person, resembling a tattered doll with limbs drooping.
The freed agents rushed to take the little person and imprisoned him in a specially designed cage.
Having narrowly escaped d*ath, Nie Zhengchu stood frozen in place, suddenly realizing that this Special Operations Bureau was nothing like what he had imagined, and Lin Nan was more like a heroic figure battling against the odds, changing his perception of that young woman entirely.
Youth was merely a facade; her inner strength, her responsibility, and her unparalleled status as the anchor of the Special Operations Bureau shone through.
As time went on, he felt more and more that the Director’s position in the hearts of the agents was irreplaceable. It was as if as long as she was around, there was no problem the Bureau couldn’t solve.
Gradually, Nie Zhengchu transitioned from suspicion and discontent to respect and admiration, completely captivated by Lin Nan’s charisma.
Even though she was nearly twenty years younger than him, he felt like a little schoolboy in her presence.
Because he knew, if he wanted to establish himself in the Bureau without any extraordinary abilities, the only way to do so was by earning the Director’s support and making strides in command decisions. This would allow him to solidify his position as her true deputy.
During the recent exploration of the factory, the Director entrusted him with full authority for the first time.
Nie Zhengchu felt like he was walking on thin ice, yet was immensely grateful for the Director’s trust. Once he gathered valuable information, he gathered the team for an all-night sorting session, and after getting everything in order, he rushed straight to the Director’s office to report.
Sure enough, the Director hadn’t slept a wink.
Nie Zhengchu couldn’t help but marvel; she delegated the matter to him, undoubtedly bearing a significant load of pressure herself.
As the most stunning beauty in the world, the Bureau Director even sacrificed her beauty sleep to dive deep into research on the enemy, pondering over countermeasures in the office.
He couldn’t help but squeeze the thick report in his hands, his respect for her rising even higher.
After receiving her approval, with a nervous heart, he approached the Director’s desk.
He found her resting her chin on her delicate hands, an expression of seriousness on her young face, though a hint of fatigue was visible.
In an instant, Nie Zhengchu felt a pang in his heart. While girls his age frolicked, enjoying their prime, here the Director bore an unimaginable weight of responsibility far too heavy for her years.
As her subordinate, he wished he could help lighten her load just a little.
