Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 69: Ironclad Reasoning

Fang Che's arrival instantly created a massive stir in the restaurant.

Many of the patrons inside had heard of or even personally witnessed his feats, and they had nothing but respect for him.

The shopkeeper personally came out to greet Fang Che with a warm smile, clearing the path for him before leading him and Tang Zheng to one of the restaurant's finest booths.

"I'll pay for your meal, Administrator Fang!"

"Who offered to pay just now?" Fang Che asked as he immediately swung around.

Two men rose to their feet in the restaurant, and they were none other than Zhao Wushang and Zheng Yunqi.

"Thank you for doing so much for the people, Administrator Fang. Our Unmatched Escort Agency would like to express our gratitude to you by treating you to a meal. Please allow us this privilege."

"I do not deserve your gratitude. The people of our White Cloud Prefecture are so simple and kind. All we want is to be able to live safe and stable lives without having to constantly worry about our safety, yet the existence of the demonic churches has made even such a simple wish impossible to fulfill. As an administrator of the Hall of Protectionists, all I've done is perform my rightful duty, and I feel undeserving of such high praise."

He extended a deep bow as he spoke.

Everyone in the restaurant rose to their feet to return his bow.

"You're a good man, Administrator Fang!"

"Regardless of whether I'm a good man or not, I still have to eat," Fang Che chuckled. "You should all return to your meals as well, everyone. I'll share a meal and have a chat with these two deputy head escorts from the Unmatched Escort Agency.

“Speaking of which, the Unmatched Escort Agency is an escort agency that's only just opened up, and they offer a very powerful lineup of escorts, as well as a 100% compensation policy for all goods damaged or lost on their watch. If any of you require armed escort services, you can give them a try."

Zhao Wushang and Zheng Yunqi were ecstatic at this piece of free advertising.

Sure enough, with Fang Che expressing his support of the Unmatched Escort Agency, many of the wealthy merchants in the restaurant immediately began clamoring to acquaint themselves with Zhao Wushang and Zheng Yunqi.

"Your escort agency should start handing out dividends to me from now on for sending so much business your way," Fang Che chuckled.

"That can definitely be arranged!" Zhao Wushang declared with a wide smile.

Fang Che cupped his fist in a salute to everyone as he said, "Please return to your meals, I'll be seeing all of you again on the way out!"

"Have a good meal, Administrator Fang!"

Only after Fang Che had entered the upstairs booth did the commotion finally die down, but there were still many people discussing his feats in hushed tones, praising him for his exceptional work and envisioning a perfect world in which all officials could be like him.

***

After entering the booth, the four men sat down, and with the exception of Fang Che, the other three were all looking a little anxious.

Zhao Wushang ordered an entire table full of the most expensive dishes on the menu, then asked, "Would you care for a drink, Administrator Fang?"

"I'll have to pass. I still have to go on patrol in the afternoon."

"You truly are a diligent man, Administrator Fang."

"I'm wearing this uniform, so I have to live up to the expectations that come with it. I'm sure the two of you are just as diligent when it comes to your job as armed escorts."

Fang Che took a glance at Tang Zheng, who had stood up to pour tea for everyone, and he smiled as he asked, "Would I be correct in saying that it's not a coincidence that we met here today?"

"What makes you say that, Administrator Fang?" Zhao Wushang asked.

"I've received several tips from the crowd today, all from a very familiar voice. I've been blessed with a pair of very sharp ears, and as soon as I heard you speak just now, I felt like I'd heard your voice somewhere before. That's why I immediately took you up on your offer."

Zhao Wushang and Zheng Yunqi's expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, following which the latter praised, "Your attention to detail is truly unmatched, Administrator Fang."

"Recently, it's the people from the Unmatched Escort Agency who've been frequently reported from the crowd, yet today, the roles have been reversed, and every single report has been uncannily accurate! Would you care to offer an explanation for all of this?"

"Of course," Zheng Yunqi replied with a composed smile. "The malicious false reports aimed at our Unmatched Escort Agency have clearly been made with the intention of killing us, so we decided that we had to retaliate. As for why we've been targeted of late, it's a bit of a long story, but I'm happy to tell it if you have the patience to listen, Administrator Fang."

"Sure, go ahead," Fang Che prompted.

Clearly, Zheng Yunqi had already made up an alibi prior to this "chance meeting" with Fang Che.

"As you're already aware, we're all disciples from the Mountain Moving Sect, and we've come here to establish a business. This was approved by our sect's patriarch, and it's also a form of training and experience accumulation for us.

“We're the first batch of disciples to be sent out of our sect, so Uncle-master Yin Xiu proposed that we all stick together for safety, while he traveled to the White Cloud Prefecture ahead of all of us to establish a foothold here first."

"Ah, so Head Escort Yin Xiu is your uncle-master," Fang Che remarked with an enlightened expression.

"Correct," Zheng Yunqi confirmed with a smile. "It didn't take long for Uncle-master Yin to establish a foothold here, but he was completely on his own, so he sent a letter back to our sect, asking us to come and join him.

“However, the journey back to our sect is a long and arduous one, and he had to send the letter four separate times before we finally received it. We immediately set off for the White Cloud Prefecture upon receiving the letter, but quite some time had already passed since the initial letter was sent out."

According to Yin Xiu's file, he had already been in the White Cloud Prefecture for a very long time, so this part of Zheng Yunqi's story had been fabricated to explain why Yin Xiu had been here for far longer than them.

Furthermore, he had intentionally kept the story ambiguous, using "quite some time" as opposed to mentioning a specific length of time, and Fang Che was very pleased with his meticulous thinking and foresight.

"We had already been waiting for a very long time, and we immediately set off right after we received the letter. However, right as we were about to reach the White Cloud Prefecture, we were attacked by a group of people who tried to rob us, presumably because they had spotted us carrying some valuable weapons and accessories.

“At the time, we had no idea that these people were from the demonic churches. Thankfully, we were able to overcome them and arrive safely in the White Cloud Prefecture, but we had naturally made some enemies in the process.”

This was quite a convincing story, one that would've been enough to fool anyone else from the Hall of Protectionists.

"Ah, it's no wonder that they've been reporting you then," Fang Che said as he put on a sympathetic expression. "But how do they know your names?"

"After our conflict, we both went our separate ways, only to discover that we were actually going in the same direction. They had quite a few people on their side, and several of them came up to us to strike up a conversation. We thought they were extending us an olive branch, and we gladly accepted it. After all, an opportunity to convert enemies into friends is always a welcome one.

“Throughout the course of our conversations, we naturally exchanged names, thinking nothing of it, but we completely failed to anticipate that they would begin maliciously reporting us right after we had secured official identities! Thank heavens we encountered someone as responsible and diligent as you, Administrator Fang.

“Otherwise, we would've truly been at a complete loss for what to do. We have a few younger junior brothers and sisters who are easily spooked, and if they try to impulsively run away, then they would've surely been cut down on the spot! Hence, please allow us to offer you our utmost gratitude."

Zhao Wushang and Zheng Yunqi both rose to their feet to offer a toast to Fang Che using tea as opposed to wine.

Fang Che accepted their toast, downing his cup of his tea before replying, "If you're not guilty, then you have nothing to fear. Our Hall of Protectionists acts on hard evidence, and we wouldn't just go around killing people without doing our due diligence."

"Of course," the two men replied, but internally, they were far from convinced.

Earlier, Fang Che had cut down those nine demonic church members so swiftly that due diligence appeared to have been that last thing on his mind! 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"After those reports, we gathered together to figure out who could've possibly been reporting us, and only then did we realize that it had to have been those people! It also occurred to us that those people had to have been demonic church members! Otherwise, they wouldn't have stooped so low!

“Besides, even if they weren't demonic church members, that was the accusation that they made against us, so we had to retaliate in kind! Honestly, even we were quite surprised that all of those people truly were demonic church members, so we were actually quite fortunate. Having said that, if those people hadn't been demonic church members, then we would've completely wasted your time, so please forgive us, Administrator Fang."