Chapter 26 - 19: Shock
The Department of Health building was massive and solemn, with a striking emblem hanging above its entrance.
Inside, the hall was bustling with people, brightly lit, and filled with a mixture of various odors.
Citizens, responding to the Rat Extermination Order, carried bags and formed a long, winding queue. Their faces showed a mix of exhaustion, anticipation, and a hint of excitement, all eager to collect their reward.
Lin Yi blended into the crowd, silently took a number, and began the long wait.
Time ticked by, and the sound of the electronic queuing system echoed through the hall.
He waited for a good forty-plus minutes.
"Now serving number 1886 at counter 3!" The mechanical voice finally called his number.
Lin Yi immediately grabbed the several unusually full and eye-catching large backpacks at his feet and strode toward counter 3.
Two staff members were seated behind counter 3.
One was a steady-looking middle-aged man in his forties, and the other was a young man in his early twenties who looked new to the job, still with a touch of greenness about him.
"Hello, I’m here to turn in my kills for the Rat Extermination Order," Lin Yi said, getting straight to the point as he placed the large backpacks on the counter.
Seeing the ridiculously large backpacks, the middle-aged clerk’s face broke into a knowing smile. He reminded Lin Yi in a gentle tone:
"Young man, we welcome your contribution to our city’s safety! Your spirit is commendable! But next time you come to turn in a task, you only need to bring the rat tails. There’s no need to go through the trouble of hauling the whole rats over. They’re too heavy."
He clearly assumed the bags were bulging because they were stuffed with whole rats.
As he spoke, the middle-aged clerk casually unzipped one of the backpacks—
His movements froze instantly. The smile on his face stiffened, his pupils dilated slightly, and he stood there dumbfounded as if petrified by a spell.
The young clerk beside him, who was busy organizing forms, noticed something was wrong. He immediately leaned over, and when his eyes landed on the contents of the backpack, they shot wide open. His mouth fell slightly agape, and he too was completely stunned.
Inside the backpack, there weren’t any whole rats.
It was clearly stuffed to the brim with dense, overlapping, tangled layers of rat tails!
The sheer quantity, like a hopelessly tangled ball of yarn, was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
’This... this is way too many!’
The Rat Extermination Order had only been issued two days ago. Among the citizens they had served, those who could turn in several dozen tails were already exceedingly rare. Most only brought in a few, or perhaps a dozen or so rats.
Filling up a single plastic bag was considered a bountiful harvest.
But this backpack before them...
No, it was four whole backpacks!
The middle-aged clerk snapped back to his senses. The relaxed, casual look on his face had vanished, replaced by utter, incredulous shock.
With slightly trembling fingers, he quickly unzipped the other three backpacks.
Sure enough, every single one was also filled to the brim, a mountain of rat tails!
He couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. The way he looked at Lin Yi had completely changed, now filled with amazement and curiosity. His tone became exceptionally solemn and respectful. "Young man... incredible! The younger generation is truly formidable! Xiaoli! Don’t just stand there gawking! Hurry! Tally the quality and quantity! Get a move on!"
The second half of his sentence was an order directed at the still-shocked young clerk.
The young clerk, as if waking from a dream, quickly suppressed the storm in his heart. Instead of counting them one by one, he took out a portable scanner that resembled a temporal thermometer.
Not daring to be careless, he aimed it at the four open backpacks and scanned them carefully, over and over, three or four times.
Finally, he stared at the confirmed number on the scanner’s screen. With a faint, almost imperceptible tremor in his voice, he reported clearly:
"Tally complete! Total count: 1,334 normal rat tails, 34 junior Martial Apprentice Level rat tails, 18 intermediate Martial Apprentice Level rat tails, and 7 Senior Martial Disciple rat tails! Total reward... 22,440 yuan!"
As he announced the number, he couldn’t help but glance at the four backpacks again.
After hearing the report, the middle-aged clerk turned to Lin Yi. He wore a professional smile, but the admiration in his eyes was impossible to hide. "Young man, that’s the total reward amount. Do you have any questions about the results?"
His tone was polite and formal.
Lin Yi calmly shook his head and replied simply, "No."
"Alright then!" The middle-aged clerk’s smile widened. He quickly pulled a form from a drawer and slid it in front of Lin Yi. "Please fill out this form with your personal information, contact details, home address, and bank account number. The reward money will be transferred to your account as soon as it’s approved."
While Lin Yi was bent over the counter filling out the form, the young clerk silently hoisted the four heavy backpacks and carried them to the disposal room in the back to be destroyed.
By the time Lin Yi had neatly completed the form and handed it back to the middle-aged clerk, the young man had returned with the four now-empty backpacks.
Lin Yi put his pen away and said to the middle-aged clerk, "Also, one more thing. My school assigned a practical studies task related to the Rat Extermination Order. I need a receipt from the Department of Health to prove my participation."
The middle-aged clerk nodded and asked, "Which high school are you from? Did you bring your student ID?"
"Yang City No. 1 High School. Here’s my student ID." Lin Yi handed his ID over.
"Yang City No. 1 High School. Yes, they did communicate with us about this." The middle-aged clerk took the student ID, opened it, and carefully checked the photo and name. After confirming everything was correct, he skillfully began working on his computer.
Soon, a practical studies receipt stamped with a bright red official seal was printed out. The middle-aged clerk carefully trimmed it and handed it back to Lin Yi along with his student ID.
"Thank you." Lin Yi took the receipt and his ID, put them away carefully, then picked up the now-empty backpacks, turned, and melted back into the crowd, his figure quickly disappearing through the entrance.
Not until Lin Yi’s figure was completely out of sight did the young clerk step forward. Lowering his voice, his face a mask of strong suspicion and caution, he whispered, "Uncle Zhao, that kid... something’s not right about him!"
The middle-aged clerk was organizing some documents. Hearing this, he turned and looked at him with a hint of confusion. "What is it, Xiaoli? Did you find something?"
Xiaoli frowned, his expression grave.
"Think about it! The Rat Extermination Order was issued just two days ago! Two days! And this kid shows up with nearly fifteen hundred rat tails to claim a reward! That’s not something a normal person can do! Even if our own bureau staff went out on a sweep, they probably couldn’t match that efficiency in two days! I strongly suspect... he’s a contact for one of those illegal underground breeding farms! He’s in charge of fencing the goods, trying to defraud the state of its reward resources! I think this is a serious matter and must be reported to the Public Security Bureau for investigation!"
The middle-aged clerk didn’t immediately refute him. Instead, a knowing expression, as if to say ’just as I expected’, appeared on his face, and he suddenly broke into a meaningful smile.
"Xiaoli," he asked slowly, "do you know who that young man was?"
"Who?" The young clerk shook his head blankly and asked eagerly, "Don’t tell me you know him, Uncle Zhao?"
"I didn’t before, but I do now, after seeing his student ID!"
The middle-aged clerk picked up his thermos and took a sip of tea.
"He’s that prodigy from Yang City No. 1 High School, Lin Yi!"
"You might not be aware, but in Yang City’s education circles, his reputation is huge. They all say he’s Yang City’s greatest hope this year for getting into one of the nation’s top ten Martial Dao academies! And the most crucial part is... do you know? To this day, he still hasn’t signed a contract with any corporation or faction!"
He watched the expression on Xiaoli’s face change instantly and added with emphasis:
"Do you think a genius like him, with a limitless future and a dazzling path ahead, would get mixed up with those crooks running illegal breeding farms in the sewers, all for a paltry twenty-two thousand yuan? Do you think he’d take the enormous risk of permanently staining his glorious future? Is that a good deal?"
He set down his teacup, his voice firm and steady.
"Xiaoli, use your head. If Lin Yi wanted money, all he’d have to do is nod his head and sign with any corporation. A signing bonus of several million, even tens of millions, would be his for the asking! Would he really risk his entire future for such a pittance?"
The young clerk, Xiaoli, was completely floored. His mouth hung open for a long moment before he finally managed to close it, blurting out, "He... he’s *that* Lin Yi from Yang City No. 1 High School?"
All his earlier suspicion and his urge to report him vanished in an instant.
The actions that had seemed so suspicious just moments ago now seemed perfectly reasonable under the halo of this new identity—
’If it’s *that* Lin Yi, someone with strength far beyond an ordinary person’s, then hunting this many rats in two days... maybe it’s not entirely impossible?’
At the very least, it was ten thousand times more plausible than him colluding with an illegal breeding farm!
No one would be stupid enough to throw away such a bright future for so little money.
"Alright, get back to work," the middle-aged clerk said.