Anomalous Creatures

"I have to go to Europe, it's a mission," Kevin tried to imagine himself as a special agent wearing a black trench coat and large sunglasses, his face so serious it didn't even look like his own. Regardless, being an employee of the Temporal Management Bureau could change a person's words and deeds. He was now particularly mindful of his image, but only in front of these two abnormal creatures at home.

Lily immediately lit up, as if there was an invisible tail wagging behind her, sweeping the air vigorously, "Going out to play?! I'm free, I'm free!" Just as Raven 12345 said, there was no need to worry about this ditzy one refusing.

Weilili's focus was elsewhere, "Huh, can I save electricity bills and cover my rent by being an air conditioner? Great, great..."

Kevin felt that this useless vampire's focus was completely off track.

"By the way, can you cool and also heat?" Lily glanced at Weilili, who was surrounded by swirling cold air that was fresher than an air conditioner's, "If we can save heating bills in winter too, it'll definitely cover your rent."

Weilili thought for a moment and looked embarrassed, "Vampires are naturally low-temperature creatures. Creating some cold air is fine..."

"Cough, let's get back to business," Kevin quickly steered the increasingly bizarre conversation back on track, "Lily, you're coming with us, right? What about you, Weilili? Do you have anything to do? If not, come with us. I'm not very familiar with Europe either."

Kevin was speaking the truth. Not only was he unfamiliar with Europe, in fact, he had hardly traveled far in his life. Besides knowing the one-acre plot in the southern suburbs, anything beyond the Third Ring Road was basically another world to him. This was the first time in his life that he planned to go abroad, and it was even a publicly funded trip "arranged by the organization." How could he not feel a little excited? I'm also a civil servant now, albeit a foreign one, Kevin thought to himself.

"Me? I don't have anything to do," Weilili lowered her head with a hint of embarrassment, "I just lost the job I found a couple of days ago. I'm idle now, heh, heh heh heh... Landlord, can I be your guide in exchange for half a month's rent?"

Kevin pursed his lips: Can you please retain some dignity as a vampire, Miss Tough Guy? Let's not even consider the noble class of the night. At least maintain the standard of a wealthy vampire at night! Now she's so down-and-out that even Lily beside her can't stand it anymore...

"Don't worry about the rent anymore," Kevin sighed loudly, "I signed a contract with Raven 12345. How could I kick you out? If you want, you can help with the housework at home, and I'll be content. As for finding a job... I suggest you not bother the struggling businesses around here. I heard that when you worked at McDonald's last time, heaven decided to keep you poor and killed hundreds of food businesses in one go..."

Weilili quickly coughed, "Cough... This has nothing to do with me!"

At this moment, Lily was still immersed in the excitement of about to go out and play. She even transformed into her werewolf form and started wagging her tail vigorously (perhaps this was the only way she could express her special mood): "Landlord, landlord, when are we leaving? Should I pack my bags now? Where are we going exactly? How many days will we stay? Is there a time limit for the mission you mentioned? And when are we eating?"

Kevin waved his hand and pushed the overly excited werewolf back, "Don't rush, don't rush. I haven't even booked the plane tickets yet. Let's wait for Raven to send over the specific information. Oh yeah, let me show you something fun. This is high-tech! Standard equipment for employees of the Temporal Management Bureau... Wow, where did I put it?!"

Kevin searched through his pockets and immediately broke out in a sweat. Even the gentle cool breeze blown by Weilili beside him no longer had any effect: He clearly remembered stuffing the awesome data terminal into his pants pocket, but now all he could pull out were two loose threads!

"This is messed up!" The first thing Kevin thought of was the consequences if this ultra-modern gadget fell into the hands of an ordinary person. It could potentially create the protagonist of a novel like "Urban Alien Superbrain," or it could spawn an entire company of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But the most likely scenario was Raven 12345 parachuting down to kill him: This was definitely a major work mistake!

However, just as Kevin was frantically searching to no avail and was about to go out and look for it along the way, he suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound beside him. Subsequently, a small vortex-shaped spatial door appeared in mid-air, and the hexagonal "data terminal" squirmed out of the vortex and landed lightly in his hand. A line of subtitles appeared in the air via holographic projection: "User attention: When carrying this device, do not casually discard it on public transportation. This device's navigation function is limited. This is not supposed to be a task for a data terminal! If you do this again next time, I will report it to higher-ups."

Kevin: "..." He now understood what Raven 12345 meant by saying, "Its intelligence is not much less than yours." This data terminal clearly had artificial intelligence! At the very least, he had never heard of another computer insulting its owner face-to-face...

Lily was immediately captivated by this novel gadget. Her tail wagged into a blur, and her eyes sparkled as she approached, "Landlord, can I play with this?"

Kevin thought for a moment and confirmed that there was no ban on this in the core brochure of the employee handbook he had read earlier. So, he handed over the data terminal, "Be careful. Although Raven 12345 said it's very sturdy, there's nowhere to repair it if it gets broken."

Lily excitedly took the data terminal and fiddled with it for a while, but it didn't respond at all. Finally, as if annoyed by Lily's persistence, a line of text reluctantly appeared above the data terminal: "Insufficient permissions. Don't bother, okay? This device has principles."

The three of them on the scene: "..."

Weilili was glad that she had restrained her curiosity earlier and didn't embarrass herself like a country bumpkin. She chuckled and headed towards the kitchen, "Big Dog, keep playing. I'm going to cook."

Lily awkwardly handed the data terminal back to Kevin and then suddenly remembered something, running after her towards the kitchen, "Hey, wait! I'm coming with you!"

"Can you cook? I thought you only know how to eat?"

"I'm just going to enjoy the air conditioning. It's so hot in here."

"..."

While Weilili and Lily were busy clanging around in the kitchen, Kevin grabbed his newly received data terminal and started studying it, mainly to find out what exactly the Temporal Management Bureau did. Then, over the next half hour or so, he became more and more alarmed as he read on.

At the beginning, it was all about normal work rules and prohibited matters, but the subsequent regulations and case references were confusing:

Notes on Observing and Guiding Type Civilizations

Registration Procedures for Six New Types of Apocalypses

Guidance Plan for Strictly Regulating the Reporting Process of Local Wars

Precautions for Census Officials Intervening in Stellar-Level Wars

Basic Knowledge of Extinction Orders and the Role of Census Officials in Corresponding Processes

Appended to those basic work rules were such astonishing things.

"I have a question," Kevin asked cautiously in his mind, knowing that his data terminal had communication capabilities, "what do all these seemingly high-energy things... actually mean?"

"Literal meaning," a line of text appeared on the data terminal, "but that's something for official censors to handle. It's not your concern for now. Censors are the agents of the Empire in local areas, equivalent to living saints or the Son of God in a religious system. Is there a problem with handling these daily tasks?"

Kevin immediately said there was no problem and went back to calm his racing heart.

By the afternoon, he had temporarily put those high-energy "employee guidelines" out of his mind. Who knows when that would be relevant? For now, it was better for him to take care of his own "mission": Raven 12345 had already sent over the mission details.

His destination for this trip was England, but not some famous place. It was a remote little town that couldn't even be found on a map. His new tenant was waiting for him there.