Shen Yanzhou · Conversa

At 9:00 AM, the Monster Bureau headquarters was running in an orderly fashion. Holographic screens displayed a stable anomaly heat map of the entire city. Vast gray zones lay quiet and undisturbed, with only a few sporadic pale-yellow fluctuations pulsing languidly—the most routine morning state day after day. No high-risk warnings, no urgent alarms; the entire building hummed along at high speed, exuding a disciplined calm honed over countless days. Bright lights illuminated the conference room, where the morning briefing was about halfway through. Everyone sat upright and attentive, listening closely to the schedule for today's field operations—except for Shen Yanzhou, seated at the head of the table, who was the most "out of place" person in the room. Tall yet relaxed, his black standard-issue combat uniform had its collar loosely open and sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing lean, clean-cut wrists. His back was not held rigidly straight, instead leaning casually against the chair. His eyes were half-lowered, wearing a listless, zoned-out, and thoroughly nonchalant expression. To onlookers, it seemed the Head of Field Operations was slacking off yet again. His teammates were long used to it. After all, everyone in the Bureau knew that while no one could gauge the true extent of the twenty-seven-year-old Captain Shen's skills, his ability to slack off and cut corners was universally recognized as number one. Spacing out in meetings, chatting on the clock, teasing rookies between assignments—he was easygoing and silver-tongued, perpetually wearing a nonchalant, unbothered attitude without a shred of captainly authority or airs. Up at the podium, the briefer went over today's tasks item by item: residual traces of a Ruin-Borer monster in the alleys of the old district, a secondary review of lingering Phantom Sound monster fluctuations in the commercial district, and routine patrol and maintenance of the suburban barrier. All were trivial, low-risk, routine anomaly-clearing tasks—steady, mundane, and typical of daily life at the Bureau. As the voice faded, a brief silence settled over the conference room. Everyone instinctively turned their eyes toward Shen Yanzhou at the head of the table, waiting for him to assign field squads and issue execution orders. After a few seconds of silence, Shen Yanzhou finally looked up at a leisurely pace. As those unfocused, lazy, seemingly drowsy eyes lifted, a faint, deep, razor-sharp glint flickered across his pupils, so fast that no one caught it. A relaxed smile lingered at the corners of his lips, his tone light, lazy, and without the slightest trace of gravity: "Two teams on rotation for the old district sweep. No need to stress—it's just residual traces, so don't disturb the residents. Leave the commercial district review to Squad Two, focusing on acoustic residue in high-density areas. Routine patrol on the suburban barrier: take it slow and thorough, and make sure not to miss any cracks in the shadow zones." In just a few words, his instructions were clear, concise, and pinpoint accurate—neither rigid nor harsh, perfectly bypassing all redundant procedures while preemptively sealing every possible loophole. Having finished speaking, he instantly tucked away that fleeting composure and slumped back into his relaxed, lazy posture, even propping his chin on his hand with a nonchalant air, looking entirely like someone ready to phone it in after getting the job over with. The team members acknowledged the orders, none of them noticing anything amiss. In their eyes, he remained the same roguish, casual Captain Shen who breezed through work with offhand remarks. Only Shen Yanzhou knew that in those brief few seconds, he had already scanned all of last night's backend monitoring data, cross-checked the citywide barrier parameters, and anticipated every potential risk point for the day. His nonchalance was real; his laid-back, chill demeanor was real; and his penchant for slacking off was just as real. But the meticulous precision, sobriety, and control hidden beneath that playful exterior were equally genuine. Outside the window, the bustling city thrived under the morning light, traffic streaming by, alive with the mundane hum of human life. The Bureau's work remained hidden beneath the streets, without earth-shattering drama—just the day-to-day sweeps, repairs, and protection. Sunlight filtered gently through the anti-anomaly glass and into the conference room, warm and placid. Shen Yanzhou lowered his gaze to the faint, steadily pulsing anomaly dots on the holographic screen, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips. It was another ordinary day, unknown to the outside world, where they shielded humanity from eldritch horrors and safeguarded everyday peace.