230: Chapter 28: The Establishment and Collapse of Credit 230: Chapter 28: The Establishment and Collapse of Credit After returning to China, Li Mumu enjoyed a period of leisurely days.
Not having to attend school was the main thing.
Seeing that the school year was nearly over, Mu Yuming didn’t forcibly push her to attend just to finish it; instead, he bought some domestic textbooks for her to study on her own at home.
Fortunately, Jiang Yinyin also brought her textbooks home, so she could help the two older girls, who were in the second half of ninth grade, review their lessons.
The environment in Tianmen City was much better than Saifu—no gunfire affected sleep at night, and the streets were clean during the day without homeless people relieving themselves on the sidewalks, their actions mixing with airborne particulates to create a mud as sticky as asphalt on the ground.
Nor were there any sudden falls of motor oil and feces—at least, there were no airships taking off or landing over the downtown area.
Of course, the local cuisine was truly irreplaceable.
In the future era, many immigration agencies and overseas bloggers loved to promote Western health and nutritional foods, as if drinking thin porridge, eating steamed buns with pickles was akin to slow suicide…
In reality, people who really went abroad could quickly develop excellent cooking skills, even if they had arrived knowing nothing about grains and had no real power.
And the real returnees, after coming back, would feel like diving into the leftovers in a dog’s bowl.
Of course, many people wouldn’t say this outright, to save face.
As for whether it tasted good or not, just watching Ms.
Wendy Freud’s reaction was enough.
After ordering takeout for several days and having a little maid cook meals at home again, Ms.
Wendy Freud mentioned that although the place was boring, she could reluctantly live here for a few more years.
She was now obsessed with the local braised delicacies, and she was interested in all sorts of unusual braised flavors—such as chicken heads, chicken hearts, chicken gizzards, pig’s feet, pig’s heads, pig’s tails, sheep brains, sheep kidneys, sheep tails, cow stomachs, cow penises, cow tendons.
She even learned the Eastern secret of pairing braised foods with white spirits and raw garlic.
What proper woman would eat these things every day?
Li Mumu indulged along with her, only to wake up one morning to find she had mouth ulcers.
As she was wondering whether to buy some honey to apply to the sore, a call came from the Special Service Bureau.
This time at the Special Service Bureau, the person who received Li Mumu was a big sister with her eyes covered, who introduced herself as Yaoqin.
“Commander Qiao…”
“Qiao Hongyi is on vacation.”
The big sister with covered eyes spoke much more gently than Qiao Hongyi, giving a feeling as refreshing as a spring breeze.
“Miss Li, we asked you to come here for a follow-up survey, don’t be nervous.
Can you adapt to life back home?”
“It’s alright…”
“Have you encountered any strange incidents, or people recently?”
“I shouldn’t have, I’ve mostly stayed at home.”
“Have you felt any uncontrollable urges within you, or signs of temporary amnesia?”
“Ah?”
Li Mumu was confused: “Should I have?”
“It’s best if you haven’t.”
Yaoqin smiled and picked up a mercury thermometer from the table: “According to your personal file, your contamination level is quite severe.
If you don’t mind, could you use this to check?”
“This…
how do I use it?
Stick it in my armpit?”
“Put it in your mouth, and don’t bite it.”
Seeing Li Mumu’s hesitation, Yaoqin smiled and said, “Don’t worry, this meter is disposable; nobody has used it before.
I also have some alcohol swabs here for disinfection; just keep it in your mouth for three minutes and you’ll be fine.”
“Is it that convenient and fast?
What can it measure?”
Li Mumu curiously studied it for a moment and, apart from the readings on the scale, this thing truly had no difference from the thermometers she was familiar with.
She carefully placed it in her mouth, and before she even had a chance to bite down, a red line shot up to the maximum marker.
“Okay, that’s it, give it back to me now,”
Wait, hold on, listen to my explanation…
Li Mumu took out the thermometer and said with a dry laugh, “Could I have another one, please?”
Yaoqin took the thermometer from her hand, put it back into the bag, and picked up another one that was still in its packaging, “You can, but don’t waste it.
These measuring devices are quite expensive.
If it’s just you using it, you can reuse it, but if someone else uses it, the readings won’t be accurate… Don’t test it on that young girl beside you, it’s not that she’s contaminated; she’s actually a source of contamination.”
Li Mumu, confused, asked, “Are you talking about Wendy?
Is she that dangerous?”
There was definitely a danger, but because of her inert nature, Li Mumu didn’t think she would cause any harm.
A person who wouldn’t even wash her own underwear, do you expect her to destroy the world?
Yaoqin hesitated for a moment, then asked in return, “Do you know the God of Credit, Nyarlathotep?”
I’ve heard of it…
Through the notebook, Li Mumu knew Wendy was a follower of the God of Credit, Nyarlathotep, but she didn’t know much about Nyarlathotep itself.
“The God of Credit, who holds the authority of credit.
Credit can exchange anything and also has potential destructive tendencies,”
Yaoqin spoke with great solemnity, “There are some secrets that should not be revealed to the ordinary public, but given your current state, I think a frank conversation like now is more beneficial for you.
I believe your rationality is sufficient to handle the contamination these pieces of knowledge bring.”
Anyway, it’s already off the charts, a bit more won’t matter.
“The harmless nature of Ms.
Wendy Freud hinges on your unconditional trust in her, although I don’t know how such a deep friendship was built, or why you trust her so much.
But I must remind you, once any cracks appear in this unconditional trust, even just minor frictions, it could reveal her truly terrifying side,”
“The entire process from establishing to breaking trust is Nyarlathotep’s favorite drama to witness,”
This god doesn’t seem very serious.
Luckily I’ve locked it down…
“Today besides your routine check-up, there’s another matter,”
Yaoqin didn’t linger on the topic of Nyarlathotep: “Qiao Hongyi is on leave, and he has handed over all his workload to me, including your personnel file.
According to him, you joined the Special Service Bureau voluntarily and then, you were positioned to study at Qinghe Middle School.
Is that correct?”
Voluntary?
Was it… did I volunteer, or was I volunteered?
Li Mumu thought to herself that if she hadn’t agreed, who knows how they might have handled her by now.
If you say it’s voluntary, then let’s call it voluntary.
Ah, right, right, right!
“Yes.”
“Besides these, has he assigned you any other tasks?”
“Not that I know of…”
Li Mumu wasn’t too sure.
Although Qiao Hongyi had mentioned “infiltration,” it was nothing dangerous like a dragon’s den; it was just normal schooling.
Do you guys even call that a mission?
Are you sure you’re not just humoring a child?