"What is this?!"
An earthquake? No, it didn't feel quite right. The tremors were too brief, more like the aftershocks of a distant explosion.
But the next moment, Cheng Hui, sitting across from Robin, looked panicked. "It's a Dimensional Rift!"
"Huh?" Robin jerked her head up and peered out the window. In the twilight sky, she could vaguely make out a dark silhouette suspended in the air, having appeared unnoticed.
The dim light made it hard to see clearly. It wasn't until a black veil unfurled from the silhouette, spreading outward like a massive sheet of darkness that blotted out the entire sky, that Robin realized it was indeed a Dimensional Rift.
The extent of its reach was still unclear, but the hotpot restaurant they were in was undoubtedly within its expanding range.
"What's happening?! Why did a Dimensional Rift suddenly appear?! Are we all going to die?!"
"No, I don't want to die yet!"
"Save me! Someone call the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations!"
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Don't block me!"
Some people were screaming in desperate helplessness, others were frantically trying to call for help, and still others were fleeing wildly, as if hoping to escape the enveloping range of the Dimensional Rift.
At that moment, Robin looked at Cheng Hui, the girl across from her. Cheng Hui wasn't screaming, but her face was visibly paling, and her entire body was trembling slightly, clearly terrified.
Yet, compared to everyone else around her, Robin—though also a victim of the Dimensional Rift—felt remarkably little fear.
The others' overwhelming terror stemmed from decades of daily news reports about Dimensional Rift Incidents, detailing countless casualties. Fear had long been ingrained in their hearts, and now, with the rift upon them, they were naturally overwhelmed by a sense of fatalism, thinking, "So, it's finally happening to me." Of course they were terrified.
But Robin was different. She had only recently arrived in this world.
Surveying the chaotic scene, she took a deep breath, stood up, and shouted loudly, "Everyone, don't panic! I'm an agent from the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations. I'll do everything I can to protect you all!"
As she spoke, Robin produced her Bureau of Anomalous Investigations badge and activated her Ability. An invisible force radiated outward, extinguishing the fear in everyone's hearts and restoring calm to the crowd.
After all, she was now undeniably a member of the Bureau. She felt it was her duty to step forward when the moment demanded it.
Though she was just an ordinary person, weren't firefighters who rushed into burning buildings to rescue people, and narcotics officers who battled drug dealers, ordinary people too?
The moment Robin spoke, all eyes in the hotpot restaurant turned to her. They stared at the badge in her hand as if it were a beacon of hope.
"It's a real Bureau badge! I've seen one before—it looks exactly like this!"
"You're... Robin!? The Robin from the internet?!"
"Thank goodness! We're saved!"
"Please remain calm and don't crowd around," Robin shouted, summoning all her strength. "Return to your seats for now, okay?"
Influenced by her Ability and reassured by her Bureau credentials, the patrons rationally followed her instructions, returning to their tables.
The chaotic scene had abruptly stabilized.
"Robin, you're actually a member of the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations?!" Cheng Hui exclaimed, sitting across from Robin. Her face was still slightly pale, but her trembling had stopped, and she looked much better than before.
"Yeah, though I'm not stationed here," Robin nodded lightly. She carried her Bureau ID for a surprisingly simple reason: she thought it might come in handy for showing off!
She imagined scenarios where someone tried to take advantage of her kind demeanor—a taxi driver overcharging her, a shopkeeper inflating prices, or even an elderly man faking a fall to scam her. Simply flashing her ID would be the perfect way to flaunt her authority.
Unfortunately, none of those scenarios had materialized. Instead, she found herself facing a Dimensional Rift.
Though everyone had returned to their seats, their gazes occasionally drifted toward her. The weight of their collective hope didn't bring the satisfaction of a power move; instead, it felt like an immense pressure.
Cheng Hui leaned forward, gripping Robin's right hand. "So, what do we do now?"
Robin replied bluntly, "I don't know."
Cheng Hui gaped. "Huh?"
But the truth was, Robin genuinely didn't know. She had only joined the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations a few days prior and was theoretically still a non-field operative who shouldn't be assigned to missions. She had no idea how the Bureau handled Dimensional Rift Incidents.
Robin asked, "This doesn't look like a benign Dimensional Rift. But according to the news, most of them just spawn monsters out of thin air. What's with this black veil?"
Cheng Hui blinked. "Huh?"
Wait a minute, aren't you the Bureau employee here? Why are you asking me? And what's with the 'according to the news' thing?!
Though itching to retort, Cheng Hui paused to think before replying, "I don't know, but the Dimensional Rift Incident in Qingcheng last time was similar."
"So, this veil is impenetrable?"
"Probably... otherwise, there wouldn't have been only one survivor last time."
"So, it seems we're mostly on our own..." Robin frowned, her delicate eyebrows furrowing. She glanced out the window again. Though she still couldn't fully grasp the situation, determining the extent of the veil and gathering all the civilians seemed like the most prudent first step.
Gathering everyone carried the risk of being wiped out in one fell swoop, but dispersing them could leave them vulnerable to being picked off one by one. For Robin, every option came with significant dangers. She could only choose the relatively less perilous course.
"Everyone, please help me!" Robin shouted. "Find the others and bring as many people as possible here!"
Under normal circumstances, even the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations would struggle to command civilians at the scene of an incident. This wasn't due to disobedience, but sheer terror.
But Robin was different. She could quell their fears, and her identity as a Bureau agent meant that anyone who wanted to survive would naturally heed her instructions.
"Understood!"
"Right away!"
In an instant, the ordinary customers who had been enjoying hotpot moments before transformed into disciplined soldiers, orderly evacuating the restaurant.
Robin rose from her seat and began investigating the boundaries of the veil.