Chapter 29: Lost Joy

Inside the mana testing room, the floor was a complete mess.

“That… um… this…”

Fei Xia stood amid the sparkling crystal shards that were still refracting expensive light.

She looked at the stunned staff members outside the glass wall, her throat dry, and asked carefully.

“I probably don’t have to pay for this, right?”

Outside the glass wall, the staff stared wide-eyed, completely at a loss for how to respond.

This was the first time since the department was established that someone had blown up the testing device!

***

At the same time, in the one-way glass observation room on the second floor.

The air was so quiet it seemed frozen. 

Only the faint rustle of paper against the desk and the ticking of the wall clock could be heard.

Lei Yan, the white-haired-at-the-temples Chief of the General Bureau’s Personnel Section, sat upright behind the large desk.

His posture was straight as a pine, the buttons of his dark uniform fastened meticulously all the way to the top, his tie perfectly straight.

He looked at the exam paper on the desk with an expressionless face, extended a white-gloved finger, and gently pushed up the glasses on his nose.

“Qiong Ling.”

His voice was steady and cold, showing no emotional fluctuation.

“The review is rejected.”

The exam paper on the desk was Fei Xia’s.

In the column for “the meaning of a magical girl’s existence,” she had written that line filled with a materialistic tone.

To protect the peaceful lives of every citizen and maintain the stability of social order.

“Reason?”

Qiong Ling, sitting across from him, asked with interest while holding the paper.

“I think it’s quite well written. Clear logic, factual and realistic.”

“The reason is Article 3, Section 12 of the Magical Girl Psychological Evaluation Criteria.”

Lei Yan didn’t look up, nor did he glance at Qiong Ling. 

He simply recited the regulation mechanically.

“Qualified candidates must possess strong positive emotional drives such as love, hope, and dreams.”

He pointed at the line about “maintaining social order,” tapping it lightly with a soft sound.

“This answer is the declaration of a civil servant joining the service, not the oath of a magical girl.”

Lei Yan raised his head. 

A cold glint reflected off his lenses.

“The General Bureau needs idols, heroes—miracles who can burn themselves for their beliefs. Not a mere civil servant who only follows procedures.”

“Pfft…”

Qiong Ling nearly laughed out loud at those words.

“The civil servant who only follows procedures is sitting right in front of me.”

“In any case, it is temporarily rejected.”

With that, he picked up the red pen, preparing to draw a slash across the paper.

“Aiya, don’t be so rigid, you old fossil~”

Qiong Ling reached out and pressed down on the paper, smiling as she looked at him.

“Rules are dead, but people are alive. She just blew up that crystal that was supposed to withstand Alpha-class impacts. Isn’t it a shame to turn away someone with this level of mana power over such a rigid reason?”

“The greater the power, the greater the risk of losing control.”

Lei Yan’s hand remained steady. 

Even with the paper held down, his expression didn’t change at all, still like a precise machine.

“A magical girl without conviction will only turn that vast mana into a disaster. This is data, not prejudice.”

“Data?”

Qiong Ling’s eyes turned cold. 

She dropped her playful attitude, leaned forward slightly, and spoke in a low voice.

“Since Chief Lei loves talking about data so much, let’s talk about that set of data from more than ten years ago.”

“Codename ‘Lost Joy.’ That child was also in this room back then. Because her personality was too rational and cold, you judged her psychologically unqualified and temporarily suspended her recruitment according to the regulations.”

Lei Yan’s fingers holding the pen stiffened slightly.

“And the result?”

Qiong Ling stared at his unchanging face and spoke word by word.

“Three months later, B City sank. The child you turned away became everyone’s nightmare. Countless colleagues were lost. The damage was incalculable.”

“This is the ‘data’ you got from rigidly sticking to the rules.”

“…”

Lei Yan fell silent.

His expression still didn’t change much, but the hand holding the pen began to tremble faintly.

The look in his eyes behind the lenses shifted from cold indifference to an extreme, suppressed pain.

Seeing she had hit a sore spot, Qiong Ling softened her tone, sounding like a tempting devil.

“Haha, don’t be so tense. Think about it from another angle, Chief Lei.”

“Since she is an uncontrollable risk, do you think it’s better to throw her out to fend for herself and let her become the next ‘Lost Joy’? Or to keep her in the General Bureau’s cage under supervision?”

“At least if she blows something up inside the cage, we can put out the fire right away, right~?”

After a long while, Lei Yan slowly set down the red pen, removed his glasses, and rubbed his brow.

In that instant, the suffocating bureaucratic aura around him eased a little, revealing a trace of aged exhaustion.

“…Qiong Ling, it is precisely because of that lesson that the rules must be even stricter now.”

Lei Yan’s voice grew a bit hoarse, no longer as mechanical as before.

“We cannot bet on uncertain human nature.”

He put his glasses back on, regaining his previous rigid coldness. From the drawer he pulled out an urgent file and pushed it toward Qiong Ling.

“Whether we keep her or make other arrangements, I can give her a chance, but it goes against the rules. Therefore, she must pass an additional test.”

Supply Escort Mission: Head to H City

“H City branch has requested supplies. Qinghai Starlight will also be going.”

Lei Yan stated calmly.

“According to past records, Qinghai Starlight has repeatedly violated regulations by diverting supplies to aid refugees. Although it has not caused serious consequences, it violates the Supply Management Regulations.”

Lei Yan’s voice was hard, but there was no anger in his eyes—more like stating a difficult fact.

Qiong Ling’s brow twitched.

“So?”

“Send this newbie along.”

Lei Yan looked down at Fei Xia below, his eyes cold as ice.

“Faced with her comrade’s violation, how will this rational type who wrote ‘maintaining order’ on her paper react?”

“Will she act like a machine, strictly enforce the rules, and report her comrade…”

“Or will she act like a person, showing flexibility and compassion.”

Lei Yan picked up the pen again and signed his name in the corner of the paper, but without stamping it—half approval.

“If she can only rigidly follow the rules, then she is no different from the ‘Lost Joy’ you and I spoke of. The General Bureau does not need a second destroyer.”

Qiong Ling looked at Lei Yan’s official, businesslike demeanor and suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

“So this is what you call being rigid? Lei Yan, you really are a stubborn old man.”

***

On the other side, in a rest room.

Fei Xia clutched a disposable plastic cup filled with hot water and sat on the hard chair.

She was calculating in her mind whether she should run away, since she really didn’t have the money to pay for the crystal.

At that moment, the door was pushed open. 

A staff member jogged over and handed her a document along with a brand-new General Bureau–exclusive phone.

“After high-level review, your mana test result is provisionally rated as Beta-class. Given that the testing equipment suffered from an aging malfunction, there is no need for you to compensate for the damage this time.”

“Phew…”

Fei Xia let out a breath of relief. 

As long as she didn’t have to pay, it didn’t matter if they called her Beta, Gamma, or whatever Epsilon the others had said.

“So, congratulations on passing! This is your temporary terminal. However, the higher-ups have assigned you an urgent onboarding trial.”

“Trial?”

Fei Xia frowned warily and took the document, flipping through it.

Escort a batch of supplies to the neighboring city of H City.

“Um… because it is an urgent mission.”

The staff member seemed prepared. He lowered his voice and added,

“The base allowance is fifteen thousand. If… and I mean if you can ‘perfectly’ complete the mission, Chief Lei will personally add another five thousand.”

How much?

Twenty thousand, plus the thirty-thousand signing bonus—that was fifty thousand.

The moment she heard the reward, Fei Xia closed the file, snatched the phone, and moved so fast her hand left an afterimage.

She looked up at the staff member, back straight, eyes firm as if she were about to swear an oath.

“I understand! I guarantee I will complete the mission perfectly!”

Upstairs, Qiong Ling watched Fei Xia’s righteous, resolute expression and her face twitched violently.

Oh no… I think I overdid it…

If this kid really reported Qinghai for that extra five-thousand bonus…

The mess would be huge.