Early the next morning, after Lin Ling finished the white porridge and salted duck eggs prepared by the temple warden, she hurriedly took her letters and headed for the local office in Yueshan County.
After passing through a noisy marketplace, she found a dilapidated government office that looked even more unstable than the butcher shop next door.
It sat crookedly on a street corner, with a weathered plaque hanging over the door that bore five large characters: Sky-Patrol Exorcism Division.
Lin Ling stood at the entrance, a line of frustration crossing her brow as she stared at the battered wooden door, hesitating over whether she should actually go inside.
Due to the unique location of the Exorcism Division, people passed by from time to time.
Passersby couldn’t help but cast curious glances at the fox-kin girl dressed in elegant clothing, wondering why she was standing in a daze in front of the office.
Lin Ling lowered her head to check her map, then looked up at the run-down office again, feeling conflicted.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from out of nowhere, and the plaque bearing the name of the Sky-Patrol Exorcism Division fell with a loud clatter.
Startled, Lin Ling quickly jumped back a few paces.
The sound of the plaque hitting the ground seemed to attract someone inside.
Soon, a young woman with disheveled clothes poked her head out of the office.
She looked at the plaque on the ground and sighed helplessly.
“Boss, I told you those nails you bought were unreliable. They didn’t even last that long.”
Rubbing her eyes, she finally noticed Lin Ling standing at the door.
She froze for a moment before quickly ducking her head back inside.
In less than five seconds, she emerged again, now neatly dressed in a standard officer’s uniform.
She walked over to Lin Ling’s side and looked at the fox-kin girl, who was slightly shorter than herself.
“Do you need something, Miss?”
Lin Ling looked at the girl—who was a completely different person than she had been moments ago—and remained silent.
At that moment, her only thought was to turn and run; she had no desire to start this job at all.
However, the overly familiar girl didn’t give her the chance.
She immediately snatched the letter from Lin Ling’s hand, scanned it carefully, and then went stiff.
It took a good while before she snapped out of it.
She looked down at Lin Ling and said, “Ah… a boss just got dropped in on us out of nowhere?”
Lin Ling tilted her head in confusion.
“Hmm?”
“Oh, looking at you, it seems you have no idea what’s going on.”
The girl nodded while stroking her chin, a beaming smile on her face.
Lin Ling caught a scent from her that felt similar to Lin Kejing’s aura, and she immediately became wary.
The girl straightened up instantly.
“Talisman Apprentice Bai Junjun, reporting to the Baozhang Official.”
“Uh… Hmm! Ah?”
Lin Ling still didn’t quite understand the situation, but it seemed the rank she had been given was higher than this girl’s.
Lin Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
She had been terrified of another situation like the one with Lin Kejing, where she couldn’t win a fight and couldn’t resist.
After a moment of thought, she pulled a stack of paper slips from her pocket, picked one out, and handed it to Bai Junjun.
A bit confused, Bai Junjun looked down at the slip.
It read: “Introduce yourselves.”
Only then did she realize—was her new boss a mute?
“You?”
Bai Junjun pointed to her own throat.
Lin Ling frowned.
“No.”
She didn’t say more; explaining was simply too much trouble.
Bai Junjun shrugged, assuming this was just a personal quirk of her new superior.
***
Bai Junjun led the way, pushing open the main doors of the Exorcism Division.
The decaying wooden doors let out a series of piercing creaks that made Lin Ling’s eyes twitch.
Noticing Lin Ling’s look of disgust, Bai Junjun scratched her head.
“Well, our branch doesn’t have much of a budget right now. It is what it is. Please, come in.”
Lin Ling sighed and stepped into the office.
As they walked, Bai Junjun explained, “Our division is an organization independent of the local government. The job of high-level personnel is to monitor the world’s cultivators, eliminate evil spirits, and protect the peace of the nation. Of course, in a small place like this, there isn’t much to do. At most, we perform a few minor exorcisms, or check on someone who thinks a headache or a fever is actually a demonic possession.”
At this point, Bai Junjun hesitated before continuing.
“But since I started, the thing we do most is mediate disputes—you know, people acting crazy and thinking they’ve been invaded by demons and whatnot.”
…
[Sounds like a neighborhood committee auntie.]
Lin Ling rolled her eyes.
However, she had a rough idea of what to expect.
From the moment she saw the state of the front door, she knew this office wouldn’t be doing much actual work.
But since she was only here to coast through her time anyway, it didn’t really matter.
Besides, the recent meteorite incident in Yunzhou had drawn all the high-level figures away.
Since there had been no reaction here, there probably weren’t any powerful experts around.
The interior of the office wasn’t quite as dilapidated as the exterior, though everything was quite old.
Lin Ling looked around and poked Bai Junjun’s waist, asking, “Is there no one else?”
Bai Junjun blinked, then looked a bit embarrassed.
“Well, we’re short-staffed. Including you, there are only five people so far.”
[…That’s a bit too much like small fry, isn’t it? Even the mountain fortress I used to be at had more than five gatekeepers!]
“The highest-ranking officer is a Grade 7 Sky-Patrol Guard, Uncle Xiu Jiming. I think he’s in his thirties,” Bai Junjun said after thinking for a moment.
“You are a Baozhang Official, equivalent to Grade 8, so you’re a few ranks below him.”
Lin Ling was a bit puzzled.
Could a small place like Yueshan County actually have a Grade 7 official stationed there?
However, she soon realized it made sense.
In the main hall, a man was holding a wine gourd, drinking to himself as if he didn’t care about anyone else in the room.
Lin Ling recognized him; he was the cultivator who had visited the Fox Immortal Temple to pay his respects yesterday.
“Chief, she’s the new Baozhang Official. Apparently, she was sent over by the Yunzhou Provincial Governor.”
Bai Junjun waved the introductory letter in her hand.
Xiu Jiming took the letter and glanced up at Lin Ling.
He pondered for a moment and muttered, “Another fox?”
Staring closely at Xiu Jiming’s face, Lin Ling could tell that he was definitely in the “handsome” category.
However, he was currently so disheveled that he looked like a beggar who had been living on the streets.
She immediately felt a bit of disgust and reflexively started to speak. “You… Uh.”
[You should go shave, you’re really ugly.]
The words were caught in her throat by the curse.
Lin Ling froze on the spot, staring blankly at Xiu Jiming.
Xiu Jiming scanned Lin Ling, narrowing his eyes slightly as if he had sensed something.
He gave a light chuckle and shook his head.
“You girls take her and show her the ropes. She’s only just reached the stage of touching spiritual energy; she probably doesn’t know anything else.”
Lin Ling’s eyes widened.
How did he know?
Xiu Jiming said nothing more and went back to his drinking.
Lin Ling didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.
With an attitude like that, it was no wonder a Grade 7 official had been exiled to a tiny county like this.
Seeing the tension, Bai Junjun quickly led Lin Ling out of the main hall and toward the work area.
As soon as they entered, they were met with the scent of old wood.
Lin Ling blinked and took in the two people in the room.
They were both women, no less beautiful than Bai Junjun, but like the version of Bai Junjun she had first seen, they were both disheveled and looked as though they had just woken up.
Lin Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
How should she put it?
she felt a sense of relief that her future days would be very comfortable and she could slack off as much as she wanted.
“Yuyu, Xiaoxiao, this is the new Baozhang Official. This is Lin Ling—as you can probably tell, she’s a young lady of the fox-kin.”
Bai Junjun led Lin Ling into the room and introduced her to the two women.
Lin Ling blinked and forced a smile.
Working alongside three beauties wasn’t bad at all.
The two women gathered around.
One girl with a spirited look sized up Lin Ling, who was much shorter than her, and extended her hand with friendly confidence.
“Hello, I’m Zhao Yuyu.”