Bureau of Demon Affairs CH1
Chapter 1: The Case of the Abandoned Building
Early that morning, a bulletin came through from the Bureau: a highly decomposed male corpse had been found in an abandoned resort up on Mount He.
It had poured the night before. As Zhou Xun drove along the winding mountain road, the air had that clean, post-rain scent of damp earth. It was the season of Jingzhe—"the Awakening of Insects"—and the wind was finally starting to feel a bit more like spring.
When she pulled over, she caught a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror. Between the tired eyes and the bird’s-nest hair, she looked exactly like a woman who had just been robbed of her only chance to sleep in. She was technically still on medical leave for an injury, but as soon as the ping hit her phone, she’d forgotten all about resting. Before hopping out of the car, she quickly tucked a stray bit of her purple pajama bottoms back into her boots.
The skeletal remains of the resort were tucked away in the mountain greenery. It had been sitting there, unfinished and ignored, for over six years. That changed yesterday, when two streamers with a thing for "haunted" ruins decided to set up camp. By midnight, they’d caught a whiff of something foul and by dawn, they’d found a body shoved under a bedroom bed. They had scrambled out in a total panic to call the police, though they somehow managed to keep the cameras rolling the whole time, really milking the "viewer engagement."
Local police arrived first, but after a quick look at the body, they put in an urgent call to the Bureau of Demon Affairs.
The reason? The victim wasn't human.
Zhou Xun sighed as her boots sank into the muddy soil. The rain had been heavy enough to wash away a good chunk of the evidence. She wasn't the first one on-site, the yellow tape was already flapping in the breeze around a two-story villa.
"BLARGGHH!"
A stocky, dark-skinned man suddenly bolted out the front door. He ripped off his mask and started heaving under a bare tree, his emotions running high enough that a pair of chocolate-colored, pointy canine ears popped out of his head. Hearing Zhou Xun’s footsteps, his ears twitched toward her.
"What are you doing here?" he wheezed, coughing. "Aren't you supposed to be home in bed?"
Zhou Xun patted her pockets for a minute before finding a few crumpled tissues to hand over. "Captain Du, have you been inside yet?"
"Zheng-jie is in there," Du Xingwang replied.
Zhou Xun raised an eyebrow. "She’s back from maternity leave already?"
Du Xingwang finally caught his breath, his ears vanishing as he shifted back to his human form. He gave a heavy sigh. "You people... don't any of you know how to actually take a vacation?"
Zhou Xun ignored the grumbling and headed into the villa. What used to be a fancy Western-style house was now just a shell of crumbling walls and dead vines. A gust of cold, stale air hit her as she walked in, so she zipped up her jacket and pulled on her mask and gloves. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and a mess of overlapping footprints—killer, witnesses, and cops all scrambled together.
Over in the western bedroom, the forensics team was busy, but Zheng Huiyu, the medical examiner, looked like she was hitting a wall. With her round cheeks and short bob, she looked like she’d been plucked right off her couch on a Sunday morning.
The second Zhou Xun stepped into the room, the smell hit her like a physical wall. The rot was thick enough to push right through the mask. It was no wonder Du Xingwang had lost his breakfast. Afterall, a dog’s nose is over a thousand times more sensitive than a human's. She didn't even want to imagine what he’d smelled.
Zheng Huiyu was leaning over a tatami-style bed by the window, pointing her flashlight into the storage space underneath. Flies were already buzzing out of the gap.
"Is he stuck?" Zhou Xun asked.
"Yeah. Post-mortem bloat. He’s swollen up like a ball," Zheng Huiyu said with professional detachment. She tilted the light, catching a glimpse of a bloated, greenish face and a pair of dull, horizontal yellow pupils. "Looks like a sheep-demon. Maybe a goat."
Trying to drag him out would probably tear the skin, so once Captain Du finished his business outside, he came in to help. He saw the two women looking stumped and, with a bit of a "watch this" look on his face, he started stripping off his jacket.
Without the clothes in his way, Du Xingwang leaned down and let his body shift. His torso bulged, his ears grew long and sharp, and a coat of fine fur spread over his skin.
"Let me get the frame," Du Xingwang said confidently. With the extra muscle, the fangs, and the dark fur, he looked like a Doberman that spent too much time at the gym. Zhou Xun glanced down at his legs, which hadn't changed at all. Typical, she thought. All upper body, no leg day.
Even though showing off your "True Form" like this was considered pretty rude in public, Zheng Huiyu watched with genuine interest. As a pathologist, seeing bones shift like that was fascinating.
With a loud crack, Du Xingwang ripped the bedboard off. A cloud of black flies went everywhere, followed by a sight and smell that was hard to stomach. The victim was naked, a half-man, half-goat mess bloated to nearly three hundred pounds. Maggots were busy in the fluid pooling around him. His head was tilted and the left horn was snapped, and the human side of his face had been beaten to a pulp.
Zhou Xun felt her stomach turn, and Du Xingwang pinned his ears back in disgust. They’d seen their share of bodies, but this one was particularly rough. Zheng Huiyu was the only one who stayed unfazed, getting right to work.
A bit later, Zhou Xun was squatting by the front door, finally getting some fresh air. Between the early start and the lack of breakfast, she was feeling a bit dizzy. Du Xingwang, back to normal and dressed again, walked out to join her.
"Rough way to go," he said, tapping his chest. "The demon core is definitely shattered."
The Core is what lets a demon stay human-shaped. Once that’s gone, they end up in this half-and-half state.
Zhou Xun nodded. "Even with the bloat, you can see the trauma. Broken arms, defensive wounds. No clean cuts, so it was probably something blunt."
"Maybe the Core broke during the fight?" Du Xingwang wondered. "Goat-demons aren't exactly fighters. Could’ve been a human killer."
"Maybe." Zhou Xun looked out at the quiet mountain. If it wasn't for those streamers, this body would’ve stayed hidden for years. "He’s naked, the face is gone, and he’s back to hooves. The killer wanted to make sure we didn't know who he was. Without an ID, we’re stuck."
"So, someone he knew?" Du Xingwang guessed.
"Probably. And he wasn't killed here. Even a strong demon couldn't carry this much weight through the city without being spotted. They used a car. There’s only one road up this side of Mount He. Once Zheng Huiyu gives the timeline, check the cameras at the foot of the mountain."
"Ahem." Du Xingwang gave a fake little cough, cutting her off. "Look, you’ve seen the scene. It’s not the one you're looking for, Xiao Zhou. This is my case."
Since joining the Bureau, Zhou Xun had a habit of looking for links to an old case in every murder. She just couldn't let it go.
"Right. Sorry. I'll get out of your way. I need breakfast anyway." She shrugged it off.
As she turned to leave, Du Xingwang called after her, "Xiao Zhou, it’s been a decade. That killer might never strike again."
Maybe, she thought. But she wasn't ready to bet on it.
* * *
By the time she finished breakfast and made it back to the city, it was 9:00 AM. She was too awake for a nap, so she headed into the office. The streets were packed with people—though "people" was a loose term these days. Human-demon coexistence was common knowledge now.
When she got to the Bureau, the courtyard smelled like burnt fireworks. Scraps of red paper were everywhere, and a giant banner hung over the door:
A WARM WELCOME TO THE GENERAL OF THE EAST SEA FOR HIS VISIT AND GUIDANCE!!!
Right. The 'Immortals' exist too, she remembered.
She’d been on leave when the group chats were blowing up with files about some high-ranking deity coming to "experience life" at their Bureau. She’d just sent a "thumbs up" without reading the attachments.
The air inside felt heavy. The goldfish-demon at the desk looked like she’d been through a dehydrator. Every supernatural staff member she passed was slumped over, looking totally drained.
"Captain... Zhou... Good..morning," the girl stammered, her eyes glazed over.
"What's with you?"
The girl pointed a trembling finger upstairs. "The Venerable Lord... he's..." She didn't finish, just face-planted onto the desk to save power.
Being human, Zhou Xun couldn't feel whatever spiritual pressure was crushing the others. She headed up to the second floor, only to see a dark figure flailing around in the hallway. Several demon colleagues were already down on the floor. With a wave of a long sleeve, the shadow sent a few human cops stumbling back.
A resisting suspect, Zhou Xun thought. In the Bureau? Heh. Not on my watch.
The shadow spun around and saw her.
It happened in a flash.
The figure charged like a giant moth. Zhou Xun didn't hesitate. She stepped in, met the momentum, and launched.
She brought him down with a textbook flying armbar, pinning him to the floor in seconds.
Over in the corner, the Director of the Bureau of Demon Affairs just stood there, his jaw dropping. His thermos hit the floor, splashing goji-berry tea everywhere. Beside him, a tall guy in a grey suit and gold glasses—someone Zhou Xun recognized—lost his smile instantly.
The Director’s voice went up about three octaves in a pure panic:
"VENERABLE LORD!!!!"
Early that morning, a bulletin came through from the Bureau: a highly decomposed male corpse had been found in an abandoned resort up on Mount He.
It had poured the night before. As Zhou Xun drove along the winding mountain road, the air had that clean, post-rain scent of damp earth. It was the season of Jingzhe—"the Awakening of Insects"—and the wind was finally starting to feel a bit more like spring.
When she pulled over, she caught a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror. Between the tired eyes and the bird’s-nest hair, she looked exactly like a woman who had just been robbed of her only chance to sleep in. She was technically still on medical leave for an injury, but as soon as the ping hit her phone, she’d forgotten all about resting. Before hopping out of the car, she quickly tucked a stray bit of her purple pajama bottoms back into her boots.
The skeletal remains of the resort were tucked away in the mountain greenery. It had been sitting there, unfinished and ignored, for over six years. That changed yesterday, when two streamers with a thing for "haunted" ruins decided to set up camp. By midnight, they’d caught a whiff of something foul and by dawn, they’d found a body shoved under a bedroom bed. They had scrambled out in a total panic to call the police, though they somehow managed to keep the cameras rolling the whole time, really milking the "viewer engagement."
Local police arrived first, but after a quick look at the body, they put in an urgent call to the Bureau of Demon Affairs.
The reason? The victim wasn't human.
Zhou Xun sighed as her boots sank into the muddy soil. The rain had been heavy enough to wash away a good chunk of the evidence. She wasn't the first one on-site, the yellow tape was already flapping in the breeze around a two-story villa.
"BLARGGHH!"
A stocky, dark-skinned man suddenly bolted out the front door. He ripped off his mask and started heaving under a bare tree, his emotions running high enough that a pair of chocolate-colored, pointy canine ears popped out of his head. Hearing Zhou Xun’s footsteps, his ears twitched toward her.
"What are you doing here?" he wheezed, coughing. "Aren't you supposed to be home in bed?"
Zhou Xun patted her pockets for a minute before finding a few crumpled tissues to hand over. "Captain Du, have you been inside yet?"
"Zheng-jie is in there," Du Xingwang replied.
Zhou Xun raised an eyebrow. "She’s back from maternity leave already?"
Du Xingwang finally caught his breath, his ears vanishing as he shifted back to his human form. He gave a heavy sigh. "You people... don't any of you know how to actually take a vacation?"
Zhou Xun ignored the grumbling and headed into the villa. What used to be a fancy Western-style house was now just a shell of crumbling walls and dead vines. A gust of cold, stale air hit her as she walked in, so she zipped up her jacket and pulled on her mask and gloves. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and a mess of overlapping footprints—killer, witnesses, and cops all scrambled together.
Over in the western bedroom, the forensics team was busy, but Zheng Huiyu, the medical examiner, looked like she was hitting a wall. With her round cheeks and short bob, she looked like she’d been plucked right off her couch on a Sunday morning.
The second Zhou Xun stepped into the room, the smell hit her like a physical wall. The rot was thick enough to push right through the mask. It was no wonder Du Xingwang had lost his breakfast. Afterall, a dog’s nose is over a thousand times more sensitive than a human's. She didn't even want to imagine what he’d smelled.
Zheng Huiyu was leaning over a tatami-style bed by the window, pointing her flashlight into the storage space underneath. Flies were already buzzing out of the gap.
"Is he stuck?" Zhou Xun asked.
"Yeah. Post-mortem bloat. He’s swollen up like a ball," Zheng Huiyu said with professional detachment. She tilted the light, catching a glimpse of a bloated, greenish face and a pair of dull, horizontal yellow pupils. "Looks like a sheep-demon. Maybe a goat."
Trying to drag him out would probably tear the skin, so once Captain Du finished his business outside, he came in to help. He saw the two women looking stumped and, with a bit of a "watch this" look on his face, he started stripping off his jacket.
Without the clothes in his way, Du Xingwang leaned down and let his body shift. His torso bulged, his ears grew long and sharp, and a coat of fine fur spread over his skin.
"Let me get the frame," Du Xingwang said confidently. With the extra muscle, the fangs, and the dark fur, he looked like a Doberman that spent too much time at the gym. Zhou Xun glanced down at his legs, which hadn't changed at all. Typical, she thought. All upper body, no leg day.
Even though showing off your "True Form" like this was considered pretty rude in public, Zheng Huiyu watched with genuine interest. As a pathologist, seeing bones shift like that was fascinating.
With a loud crack, Du Xingwang ripped the bedboard off. A cloud of black flies went everywhere, followed by a sight and smell that was hard to stomach. The victim was naked, a half-man, half-goat mess bloated to nearly three hundred pounds. Maggots were busy in the fluid pooling around him. His head was tilted and the left horn was snapped, and the human side of his face had been beaten to a pulp.
Zhou Xun felt her stomach turn, and Du Xingwang pinned his ears back in disgust. They’d seen their share of bodies, but this one was particularly rough. Zheng Huiyu was the only one who stayed unfazed, getting right to work.
A bit later, Zhou Xun was squatting by the front door, finally getting some fresh air. Between the early start and the lack of breakfast, she was feeling a bit dizzy. Du Xingwang, back to normal and dressed again, walked out to join her.
"Rough way to go," he said, tapping his chest. "The demon core is definitely shattered."
The Core is what lets a demon stay human-shaped. Once that’s gone, they end up in this half-and-half state.
Zhou Xun nodded. "Even with the bloat, you can see the trauma. Broken arms, defensive wounds. No clean cuts, so it was probably something blunt."
"Maybe the Core broke during the fight?" Du Xingwang wondered. "Goat-demons aren't exactly fighters. Could’ve been a human killer."
"Maybe." Zhou Xun looked out at the quiet mountain. If it wasn't for those streamers, this body would’ve stayed hidden for years. "He’s naked, the face is gone, and he’s back to hooves. The killer wanted to make sure we didn't know who he was. Without an ID, we’re stuck."
"So, someone he knew?" Du Xingwang guessed.
"Probably. And he wasn't killed here. Even a strong demon couldn't carry this much weight through the city without being spotted. They used a car. There’s only one road up this side of Mount He. Once Zheng Huiyu gives the timeline, check the cameras at the foot of the mountain."
"Ahem." Du Xingwang gave a fake little cough, cutting her off. "Look, you’ve seen the scene. It’s not the one you're looking for, Xiao Zhou. This is my case."
Since joining the Bureau, Zhou Xun had a habit of looking for links to an old case in every murder. She just couldn't let it go.
"Right. Sorry. I'll get out of your way. I need breakfast anyway." She shrugged it off.
As she turned to leave, Du Xingwang called after her, "Xiao Zhou, it’s been a decade. That killer might never strike again."
Maybe, she thought. But she wasn't ready to bet on it.
* * *
By the time she finished breakfast and made it back to the city, it was 9:00 AM. She was too awake for a nap, so she headed into the office. The streets were packed with people—though "people" was a loose term these days. Human-demon coexistence was common knowledge now.
When she got to the Bureau, the courtyard smelled like burnt fireworks. Scraps of red paper were everywhere, and a giant banner hung over the door:
A WARM WELCOME TO THE GENERAL OF THE EAST SEA FOR HIS VISIT AND GUIDANCE!!!
Right. The 'Immortals' exist too, she remembered.
She’d been on leave when the group chats were blowing up with files about some high-ranking deity coming to "experience life" at their Bureau. She’d just sent a "thumbs up" without reading the attachments.
The air inside felt heavy. The goldfish-demon at the desk looked like she’d been through a dehydrator. Every supernatural staff member she passed was slumped over, looking totally drained.
"Captain... Zhou... Good..morning," the girl stammered, her eyes glazed over.
"What's with you?"
The girl pointed a trembling finger upstairs. "The Venerable Lord... he's..." She didn't finish, just face-planted onto the desk to save power.
Being human, Zhou Xun couldn't feel whatever spiritual pressure was crushing the others. She headed up to the second floor, only to see a dark figure flailing around in the hallway. Several demon colleagues were already down on the floor. With a wave of a long sleeve, the shadow sent a few human cops stumbling back.
A resisting suspect, Zhou Xun thought. In the Bureau? Heh. Not on my watch.
The shadow spun around and saw her.
It happened in a flash.
The figure charged like a giant moth. Zhou Xun didn't hesitate. She stepped in, met the momentum, and launched.
She brought him down with a textbook flying armbar, pinning him to the floor in seconds.
Over in the corner, the Director of the Bureau of Demon Affairs just stood there, his jaw dropping. His thermos hit the floor, splashing goji-berry tea everywhere. Beside him, a tall guy in a grey suit and gold glasses—someone Zhou Xun recognized—lost his smile instantly.
The Director’s voice went up about three octaves in a pure panic:
"VENERABLE LORD!!!!"
Translator's Note:
- Mount He (鹤山): Literal translation "Crane Mountain."
- The Chinese solar term Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects) signifies the return of spring and the revival of life. As the temperature rises, the air gets warmer and more humid, and people begin to change from their thick coats to light clothes."Zhe" means to hibernate, and "Jing" means to awaken. Ancient Chinese believed that the first spring thunder would crack through the sky, startling hibernating insects out of their slumber and signaling that the earth is fully coming back to life.
(Hi! I read the first few chapters on Douban and I really liked it so I'll be sharing it here with you guys. This is actually my first time translating a Fantasy novel with Xianxia themes so there might be some translation errors. If you found a mistranslation, feel free to let me know! As for the update schedule, I'll drop the first 3 chapters today then it'll be updated every Wednesdays & Sundays. Thanks for reading!)
Previous Chapter TOC Next Chapter
Comments
Post a Comment