Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 60: Bound By Duty

Outside of his four weapons, the development of his branch helm had also taken a rather unexpected turn. Initially, his intention had been to wipe out Zhao Wushang and the others, but in a bizarre twist of events, he had become a head escort, and he was beginning to waver in his resolve, unable to decide whether it was better to kill these people or develop some connections to the main church through them.

Then there were the four Warlords that had attacked him. He had been meaning to hunt them down, but four days had already passed, and no suitable opportunity had arisen.

I thought Zuo Guanglie was recruiting helpers for us! Can he be any slower?

Unbeknownst to him, Zuo Guanglie had been going insane trying to find him over the past couple of days.

The day immediately after Fang Che revealed that he had another lead, the missions released by Dongfang Sansan were conveyed to everyone.

Zuo Guanglie was dying to capitalize on the opportunity, and that was even more so the case for the powerful helpers that he had recruited.

What if Fang Che had found another branch helm, and it just so happened to be a Night Demon Church branch helm?

That could earn their Hall of Protectionists a Guardian promotion opportunity!

Even if it wasn't a Night Demon Church branch helm, it was still an extremely tantalizing prospect.

Hence, they were constantly hoping for Fang Che to show up, but he had been too busy the past couple of days and had been absent from the Hall of Protectionists as a result.

Over these past few days, Zuo Guanglie had been spending far more time waiting for Fang Che at the entrance of the Hall of Protectionists than at his desk in the administration hall, and that was why he had bumped into Starlight and Zhao Wushang the other day.

***

The next day, Fang Che arrived for work very early.

Upon his arrival, he felt a rather heavy atmosphere in the air, and his curiosity was piqued.

"Apparently, Lead Supervisor Zhao Shanhe of the southeastern headquarters received heavy criticism from Master Nine, and the Hall of Protectionists is being made to undergo a process of overhaul," Jing Xiuyun explained.

"What happened?"

"In the wake of the recent snow disasters, the economy has taken a heavy hit. In order to encourage people to start businesses to boost the struggling economy, a policy of service with a smile was implemented in our southeastern Hall of Protectionists.

“Once Master Nine learned about this, he was furious, saying that the Hall of Protectionists is a violent organization, and that service with a smile will only undermine our authority. Master Zhao had good intentions at heart, but clearly, Master Nine didn't agree with his policy."

A look of realization instantly appeared on Fang Che's face.

Could it be that the service with a smile policy had been scrapped because it no longer served a purpose now that his armed escort agency had been successfully registered?

Fang Che feigned an expression of schadenfreude as he scoffed, "Ha! A crooked official like Zhao Shanhe should've been taught a lesson by Master Nine long ago!"

Jing Xiuyun hurriedly raised a finger to her lips in a quieting gesture, then returned to her desk.

Zhao Ying'er immediately took her place by Fang Che's side, asking, "What did Jing Xiuyun say to you just now?"

"Nothing much," Fang Che replied, rather perplexed by the question.

"Administrator Jing has a family, so don't get any funny ideas about her!" Zhao Ying'er warned. "Her husband is a very capable man. You know the fat guy that embarrassed her a few days ago? Fatso Hong? Her husband has beaten him into Cripple Hong!"

Fang Che was astonished to hear this.

"In any case, just keep your distance from her," Zhao Ying'er warned before departing.

As soon as she left, Jing Xiuyun took her place.

"What did Zhao Ying'er say about me just now?"

"......"

Fang Che was left feeling completely flabbergasted and exasperated.

Thankfully, he was saved from this petty loop when someone called him to the merits department.

"Your total comes to 7,910 merit points. Congratulations, Administrator Fang. You're only a little over two thousand points away from becoming a second-rank administrator."

"Wasn't my total previously at 7,800? Where did the extra 110 points come from?"

"You receive one merit point per day of work, and those attendance merit points are all given at the end of the month, which is today. Furthemore, you also receive merit points for being attacked by those four Warlords. Even though we haven't caught them yet, you lured them out of hiding, so that counts as a contribution."

"I see. In that case, wouldn't someone be able to earn promotions through centuries worth of attendance merit points alone without even doing anything?"

"Attendance merit points can only take one to the level of first-rank administrator. If they don't have any merit points from killing demonic church members, then they'll remain an administrator no matter how many attendance merit points they accumulate."

"That's quite fair."

"Indeed."

As soon as Fang Che left the merits department, he ran straight into Zuo Guanglie, who immediately grabbed onto him as if he were a precious treasure. "Wait here, Administrator Fang! I'll be out in a second! Don't go anywhere!"

He then all but sprinted into the merits department without waiting for a response from Fang Che.

Fang Che could only heave a resigned sigh and wait for him as requested.

"Hurry up!" Zuo Guanglie bellowed from inside the merits department. "Just tell me the numbers! Quick... Alright, I'm going now!"

Immediately thereafter, Zuo Guanglie rushed out of the merits department in record time, then grabbed onto Fang Che once again as he eagerly asked, "Have you managed to verify that lead of yours, Administrator Fang?"

"I have."

"Then let's go!"

"We need help! It'd be suicide for us to go in on our own!"

"I've got a King on our side. Is that gonna be enough?"

"No."

"No? Really?" Zuo Guanglie exclaimed.

"We're going to need at least three ninth-rank Kings to ensure that everything goes without a hitch."

Zuo Guanglie's eyes immediately began glowing with excitement.

Just how big a fish are we dealing with here?!

At the moment, he had only recruited a sixth-rank King, and he had no idea where he was supposed to find three ninth-rank Kings from.

Would he have to turn to the hall master? But if he were to do that, would he still get a share of the merit points at all?

"Don't be blinded by your desire for merit points, Administrator Zuo," Fang Che said. "Don't forget that our top priority is to eliminate threats to the people."

"You're right, Brother Fang. I became too fixated on self-interest for a second there. I'll go find a few enforcers from the battle hall and get the chief administrator to come with us as well."

"There's no shame in being motivated by self-interest. In fact, I'm going to be a bit selfish here and ask for 20% of the merit points that we receive from this operation."

"That's not a problem at all! You were the one who secured the lead, so you're definitely entitled to 20%!"

Under normal circumstances, one could only expect to receive a 10% or 15% cut for doing nothing other than providing a lead, but Fang Che's request for 20% had been approved right away by Zuo Guanglie as everyone had gone a little insane with the opportunity of Guardian promotion on the line.

Big fish were very difficult to come by, and every opportunity had to be capitalized on, particularly at this sensitive time.

That night, the Golden Horn Flood Dragon led from the front, followed by Fang Che, Zuo Guanglie, and seven other people.

There were three Kings, four high-rank Warlords, and Zuo Guanglie was a third-rank Lord, while Fang Che was a second-rank Lord.

This was already a very formidable lineup, and they were racing silently through the darkness.

It was a very long journey to the northern area of the city, and on the way there, everyone couldn't help but take pity on Zuo Guanglie, who had to complete this journey every single day for patrol duty.

However, Zuo Guanglie didn't care. He was willing to travel to hell and back as long as there were enough merit points waiting at the end!

The drum tower was in sight, and Fang Che drew to a halt.

"Is this the place?" Zuo Guanglie asked in an anxious manner.

"It is. There are close to thirty people in that drum tower over there," Fang Che replied.

There were twenty-seven people in there, to be precise. Their numbers had been ascertained by the Golden Horn Flood Dragon, and at the moment, all twenty-seven of them were inside.

The four Warlords that had attacked Fang Che were also among them, and it was the perfect opportunity to take them all out in one fell swoop.

"There's a system of underground tunnels beneath this drum tower, and there are also many windows facing all directions. On top of that, the surrounding environment is very complex, so if they manage to escape, then it'll be very difficult to track them down," Fang Che cautioned.

"We'll be careful," an eighth-rank King assured. "Your information is reliable, right?"

"As reliable as reliable can be."

"Alright, then let's go in right away. Don't give them any chance to get away."

Fang Che wasn't going to take part in the operation, instead choosing to remain outside on lookout duty, but Zuo Guanglie insisted on coming along in order to earn some merit points.

"Go!"

The eight figures split off into four different directions before gliding discreetly through the night sky.

All of a sudden, an earth-shattering explosion rang out, and one of the drum tower's windows was completely obliterated, following which a string of agonized howls rang out.

The eight Protectionists had struck without any warning and were going all-out from the get-go!

All of a sudden, a figure flew out a window with blood spewing out of his mouth, clearly having just used the Blood Incineration Technique, and he was too fast to be intercepted.

Fang Che couldn't help but heave an exasperated sigh.

I warned all of you not to let anyone get away!

Two figures flew out of the drum tower in hot pursuit, but they were clearly being outsped.

To Fang Che's bewilderment, the fleeing figure was coming directly toward him!

He took a glance behind himself to discover a residential area, interspersed throughout which was a complex system of alleys.

"Shit!"

The fleeing figure was about to fly over Fang Che's head, and Fang Che could clearly see blood was flowing incessantly out of his mouth, indicating severe internal injuries.

However, he was still a King, someone far too powerful for Fang Che to oppose, so his first instinct was to get out of the way.

However, as he looked back at the residential area behind him, he suddenly thought of Ren Chang.

A sense of duty and courage was instantly ignited in his chest, and he let loose a thunderous roar as he sprang up into the heavens, his saber glowing like a radiant beacon in the night.