WEF - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Does What You Say Count?

"We..." One staff member had started to answer instinctively, but a coworker elbowed her after only two syllables.

"Why talk to her? Hurry, let's go."

They were leaving already?

If they left, would they come back? If they did not, who would hear her story?

Ning Dali spoke urgently. "Wait. Are you Federation personnel? I have something very important to tell you."

The operating room was small, and one of them had already reached for the door handle.

Ning Dali's words reached every ear.

"What I'm about to tell you may sound unbelievable, but every word is true."

"My name is Ning Dali, and I'm from Star Harbor. On July 5, I inexplicably transmigrated to a godforsaken place where there was nothing to eat. Everyone there had an ability, and I awakened one too."

As she spoke, Ning Dali raised a hand and ripped the operating table in half before them. "Look, this is my ability. I'm not lying."

The four staff members: "..."

"Then, by using a few techniques, I returned to the Federation late on the night of July 9, a little after eleven. I appeared in this operating room. I thought I had made it home and was safe, but only a few minutes later, I found myself inexplicably back in that godforsaken place." Ning Dali pronounced every word clearly and spoke rapidly, her expression and tone utterly sincere.

"I don't know what is going on, and I don't know how long I can stay here this time... I don't expect you to believe every word I say, but please tell the police what I just said. I'm begging you!"

"If the police don't believe me, have them check the hospital's surveillance footage from the night of the ninth. It's proof!"

The four staff members: "..."

The four exchanged panicked looks. In the end, none of them dared say a word. They threw open the door and fled.

Ning Dali stood there, her face tight with anxiety, and involuntarily moved toward the operating room door.

She had taken no more than two steps when she ran into an invisible barrier. She froze, seeming to become aware of it only at that moment.

"What is this? Is this another ability? Has an ability invaded the Federation?" Ning Dali touched the barrier, her face displaying a convincing mix of shock, despair, and rage.

She performed with all her might for the empty air. "Who is manipulating all this behind the scenes? What do you want by trapping me here?"

The operating room was silent. No one answered. Only the newly installed hidden camera in the corner continued recording in silence.

Ning Dali paced back and forth across the operating room.

A moment ago, she had nearly told the whole story of what she had been through, leaving out only her suspicions of the Federation.

This was reasonable.

Before today, before she had experienced the rewind of time, Ning Dali's suspicions of the Federation had been nothing more than suspicions. She had no evidence.

The only proof that the Federation and the Famine World were connected was the zombies.

But the Federation still had room to explain the zombies.

If the Federation had an explanation, Ning Dali had room to play dumb. As a native-born citizen of the Federation, it was only natural for her to trust it.

Ning Dali told herself to hold steady.

She had done everything she could. Now all that was left was to wait, to wait for the Federation to react, for clever people to come out and play along, or for fools to take the bait.

They might trust her, suspect her, or ignore her.

Some of them might even see through her clumsy performance and pierce her disguise.

None of that mattered. The most important thing was for someone to come and give her a chance to act.

Ning Dali waited patiently.

The camera faithfully recorded everything and transmitted it to the Federation World Bureau.

"Her reaction..." A woman watching the surveillance feed on her smart device frowned.

Her instincts told her that Ning Dali's reaction was not quite right, but she could not identify anything specific.

"Her reaction doesn't match her intelligence." The secretary, who was also watching the surveillance, spoke calmly.

"Based on her performance in prison and her actions in the Famine World, she shouldn't seem this... naive."

The secretary had chosen a rather diplomatic word.

"Then why is she pretending to be like this? Is she so confident in her acting that she thinks she can fool everyone?" The woman asked hesitantly.

"She has no other choice." The secretary said. "She can use her own naivety to send one signal: that she is someone we can use."

"You mean she is deliberately acting so foolish in order to be used by us?" The woman sounded surprised. "Put plainly, Ning Dali wants to join us of her own accord?"

The words made the corners of her mouth rise unbidden, as if she could already see a bright future.

"Because she has no other choice." The secretary repeated. "Ning Dali does not know that in two weeks she will lose all her abilities, but she knows the situation is not optimistic. She is a pragmatic person. It is perfectly reasonable for her to make this choice."

"Then why are we waiting? Let's leave immediately." The woman rose from her seat as she spoke.

This was a chance that came once in a thousand years. She wanted to see Ning Dali before anyone else could.

"I do not recommend it. This is not the kind of thing that can be solved by arriving early." The secretary shook her head. "The safest course is to stick to the original plan: imprison her for two weeks, safely get through the most dangerous period, preserve the status quo, and avoid unnecessary complications."

The woman's eyes flickered, revealing a naked streak of greed.

"But if we could cooperate with her and get our hands on that ability... we could cultivate three new Ability Users every seven days. From then on, every Ability User would belong to us."

"Exactly. The Federation's power structure could be reshuffled. You could rule unchecked and do as you pleased." The secretary offered expressionless flattery while puncturing her superior's pleasant fantasy.

"The condition is that she listens to you. Ning Dali controls the whole world; you control Ning Dali."

"Do you think that is possible?" The secretary asked the fatal question. "Will those above us really sit by and watch you do this? Do you have any way to keep her in check? Have you thought about the consequences of making contact with her?"

Of course, she had no such means.

"Fine." The woman sighed and forced herself to calm down before sitting back down.

She stared glumly at Ning Dali on the surveillance feed, her eyes full of reluctance to let go of power and abilities.

What they failed to notice was that, while they were speaking, several hovercars had left the World Bureau building in a rush, one after another.

Clever and restrained people have always been few.

At that very moment, outside an operating room at the Federal Benevolence Hospital, a huge crowd had gathered. Every one of them was a fool.

Even through the thick operating room door, Ning Dali could smell the acrid scent of gunpowder in the air.

She had originally worried that she did not carry enough weight to attract the Federation's attention. Now it seemed she had greatly underestimated her own value.

This was excessive. This was no supermarket scramble for free eggs. Why had so many people come?

Ning Dali tugged at the corner of her mouth, nearly failing to maintain her persona.

The sounds outside grew louder as time passed. Ning Dali could vaguely make out the sounds of argument and people shoving one another.

Finally, three loud gunshots rang out.

"Bang, bang, bang."

The world fell silent.

Five minutes later, armed bodyguards pushed open the operating room door. A woman in a uniform, around forty years old, walked in.

Ning Dali had seen her many times on the news.

Zhong Wentao was one of the Federation News Department's spokespeople.

Zhong stopped outside the operating room's protective barrier, a trace of a friendly smile appearing on her stern, rigid face. "Hello, I'm Zhong Wentao, one of the News Department's spokespeople. I also serve as deputy director of the Second Bureau of the World Management Bureau."

"I'm sorry we had to meet this way."

"What do you mean?" Ning Dali asked, taking two steps backward.

Zhong raised one hand and waved behind her. The guards and secretary following her retreated in silence like a receding tide, shutting the operating room door behind them.

Zhong drew a pistol, fired at the operating room ceiling, and shot down the hidden camera.

Then she casually pulled a chair into the operating room, sat down, and came straight to the point. "Are you interested in joining our World Management Bureau and helping us resist an invasion by Ability Users from outside this world?"

"Huh?" Ning Dali said.

Already recruiting? I thought I was supposed to go to prison.

"I know you have many questions at the moment. Explaining everything from the beginning would be very complicated." Zhong said calmly. "To put it simply, the Ability Users who live in the world you crossed into have no food. To survive, they want to invade the Federation and seize our world. To resist them, the Federation established the World Management Bureau."

Ning Dali: "..."

So the Federation had made up this script.

Between the two worlds, they were not guards and prisoners but defenders and invaders.

"Ability Users are invading the Federation?" Ning Dali struggled to look uneasy and frightened. "Wait, I'm an Ability User too, but I grew up in the Federation..."

"Yes, you are an Ability User too." Zhong's tone was gentle, with a trace of apology.

"That is exactly why, when you appeared out of nowhere at the Benevolence Hospital, we mistook you for an invader and sent you straight back to that dangerous world. We are very sorry for what happened."

"After confirming your identity, we brought you back here as soon as possible, hoping to make up for the mistake we made days ago and to invite you to join the World Bureau and help us protect the Federation."

"Wait a moment. My mind is a little confused." Ning Dali held her head. "Please give me a little time to process. Can you tell me why I have an ability? I can't have mutated, can I?"

Zhong cleared her throat and said, "In fact, people have always been awakening abilities in the Federation, but the number has been too small, and it has never been made public."

Ning Dali fell silent.

After a few minutes, she asked softly, "I have a rather presumptuous question. That is... why do you call it the World Management Bureau, instead of the Federation Defense Bureau?"

Something twisted across Zhong's face for an instant, but she quickly recovered her calm expression and made a small joke.

"The World Bureau was established thirty years ago. There may well be some story behind the name that people do not know. I was too young to know what really happened."

"I see." Ning Dali said.

She and Zhong looked into each other's eyes, unable to ignore the question in her mind.

Why were the languages of the two worlds the same?

If one world were invading another, there would be no reason for both to use the same language. They were obviously family.

The Federation's lie was far too sloppy.

Ning Dali said, sounding reflective, "So the Ability Users from that world aren't Federation people at all."

This was a lie.

A lie Ning Dali had spoken with her own lips, a lie many people would believe.

Therefore, when her voice fell, Old Liar's Passing Lies as Truth became ready to be triggered.

Ning Dali narrowed her eyes. For a moment, she wanted to activate Passing Lies as Truth and see what would happen.

But she did not act on impulse. Instead, she brought the conversation back to where it had begun.

"You invited me to join the World Bureau. What will I have to do after I join?" Ning Dali asked about her duties like an honest, dutiful job applicant. At the same time, she gave Zhong a puzzled look and asked, "And you're only the deputy director of the Second Bureau. Does what you say count?"

Does what you say count?

For a moment, Zhong nearly lost control of her expression. She looked deeply at Ning Dali and raised one hand.

Time across the world began flowing backward once more.

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