Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 94: New Recruits

"Begin the test!"

Starlight stormed into the branch helm, practically radiating anger and hostility, and everyone could clearly sense that he was a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Zhao Wushang and the others were immediately on high alert, and they began giving the thirty-six new recruits subtle looks, warning them to be on their guard.

Wu Lianlian and Zhou Mei'er made a thoughtful gesture of carrying Starlight's throne out of the hall before gently setting it down at the entrance.

"Please take a seat, Helmsmaster."

Starlight sat down with a cold harrumph, then reached out with one hand in silence, and Zhao Wushang immediately rushed to his side before placing a copy of the legal code into his grasp.

Starlight wrenched the legal code viciously out of Zhao Wushang's grasp, and it was clear that he wanted to use this as an excuse to throw a fit, but his plans had been foiled, leaving him a little frustrated.

Zhao Wushang gave a fawning smile as he bowed down and backed away, while Starlight began flipping through the pages of the legal code. He was just about to erupt into a fit when he discovered that the corner of the page at the one-third mark of the legal code had already been folded for him by Zhao Wushang.

He could only slam the book down as he turned to Zhao Wushang with a frustrated expression, and the latter looked directly back at him.

Meanwhile, everyone else was thanking Zhao Wushang internally for brilliant foresight.

"Everyone, sit down according to the seating arrangement that I laid out last time! I'll give you three seconds! Three... Two..."

Starlight raised a hand and quickly began a countdown, but by the second count, everyone had already taken their seats.

They were divided into neat rows, and each person was holding a stool, paper, and writing utensils. It was like they had rehearsed this exact sequence hundreds of times!

Once again, Starlight's plan of finding an excuse to throw a tantrum was foiled, and he could only spit through gritted teeth, "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Fine! The test begins now!"

Everyone knew that he was going to try and screw them over, so they immediately sat down and raised their writing brushes, ready for him to read out the questions.

Sure enough, Starlight acted extremely swiftly, slamming the book before quickly reading out one question after another.

Everyone was writing in a hectic frenzy to keep up with the unreasonable pace at which the questions were being read out.

At the moment, they were only transcribing the questions, so their handwriting didn't have to be particularly neat, and given that they were all Lords, their memory and speed were more than up to par.

Thus, all of Starlight's plans fell through, and he was left to stew in his rage with no outlet to vent his frustrations.

After reading out all one hundred questions, he threw the legal code down onto the ground, then leaned back to recline against his throne as he closed his eyes to rest.

He felt completely safe and secure, and before long, he fell asleep.

He knew that Xue Fuxiao had to have been still around and observing him from the shadows, so he had nothing to worry about, even if Duan Xiyang were to come after him in person.

Xue Fuxiao was already aware of his identity anyway, so Fang Che made no attempt to hide anything from him, blatantly visiting the branch helm as Starlight under his watch.

He wanted to show him just how much of a big shot he was in the demonic churches, and he also wanted Xue Fuxiao to report everything that he saw here back to Dongfang Sansan.

Everyone in the branch helm was focused fully on answering the questions, and they were all writing very quickly, but they were also taking extra care to ensure that their handwriting was clear and impeccable.

No one wanted to have to face Starlight's wrath over bad handwriting.

Even though Starlight had fallen asleep, no one dared to look around, and they certainly didn't dare to communicate with one another.

They were all completing the test by themselves like a bunch of obedient students.

Two hours quickly passed by, and Starlight sprang up from his throne without any warning as he declared, "Time's up!"

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and sat at their tables in a rigid and formal posture.

The one at the end of each line of tables began collecting the test papers to be handed up to Starlight, and they did so with such speed and efficiency that Starlight was left momentarily flabbergasted.

He called the girls forward to mark the tests, and the eight girls immediately stepped forward, led by Zhou Mei'er, marking the tests while referencing the legal code before assigning scores.

Everyone else remained seated at their tables, their rigid postures unwavering and their eyes looking directly forward.

Starlight's malicious gaze roamed back and forth over them, but he wasn't able to find a single thing to nitpick.

Shortly thereafter, he was informed by Zhou Mei'er that all of the tests had been marked and scored.

"Read out the names of all those who scored below eighty points and kick them out of our branch helm!" Starlight ordered in a vicious manner.

A collective chill ran down everyone's spines, but much to their relief, Zhou Mei'er reported in a respectful voice, "No one has scored below eighty points, Helmsmaster."

"What? Not even a single one?" Starlight exclaimed.

"No."

"Let me take a look! You must've gone easy on them with your marking!"

Starlight strode over the stack of test papers like a prowling wolf, then checked through them one by one, and in the end, he discovered that there really wasn't a single person that had scored below eighty points!

Furthermore, the vast majority had scored above ninety-five, and there were even thirty-six that had scored full marks!

There were only two people that had scored less than ninety, and both of them had scored eighty-nine.

Those two were Zhao Wubai and Jiang Bin.

All of the new recruits had scored over ninety.

Starlight was left scratching his head with a dumbfounded look on his face, but his eyes then abruptly lit up as he finally found a reason to throw a fit.

He slammed the table as he yelled, "Zhao Wubai! Jiang Bin! Stand up! You two are an embarrassment! You've scored the lowest marks out of everyone! Even all of the new recruits did better than you!"

The two of them stood up from their stools, their faces deathly pale and their bodies trembling from fear.

"The two of them only just returned from an escort assignment," Zhou Mei'er reported in a low voice, but that wasn't going to stop Starlight from having his fun.

"So what? The fact that they've scored even lower than all of the new recruits clearly shows that they haven't been keeping up with their studies! Hang them up! Zheng Yunqi, where's the whip?"

"Here!"

"You go administer the punishment!"

After a brutal whipping, Zhao Wubai and Jiang Bin were left barely hanging on for dear life.

Zheng Yunqi didn't dare to hold back at all. Starlight had been watching him this entire time, and if he had dared to hold back even in the slightest, then he would've been hung up alongside his two victims.

After the two were let down from the tree, their bodies were completely drenched with blood, but they still resiliently remained on their feet, not giving Starlight the chance to throw another tantrum.

Thankfully, Starlight was already satisfied, and he instructed, "Tell the new guys the rules, then get them to swear the vows. Get identities sorted out for them in the next two days, then send them out escort missions so they can start earning money!"

With that, everyone erupted into thunderous applause.

The ordeal had been survived with minimal casualties, and it was now time for all of the new recruits to swear their vows.

The thirty-six new recruits were gathered together, standing ramrod-straight with their heads held high as they collectively recited: "From this day forth, we pledge ourselves to the Unmatched Escort Agency, and we swear to be absolutely loyal and obedient to the head escort.

“We will abide by the law and stick to the straight and narrow. We will diligently perform our duties as escorts, carry out the agency's policies, abide by the agency's rules, keep the agency's secrets strictly confidential, and give the agency our unconditional loyalty!"

All of a sudden, a strange sound rang out from nearby.

It was a very faint sound, like an expulsion of air through pursed lips from someone unable to hold in their laughter.

"Who's there?" Starlight yelled as he drew his broadsword and sprang up into the sky, glowering at his surroundings with menacing hostility in his eyes.

"Who dares to laugh? Come out and face me!"

With his broadsword raised before him, Starlight felt more courageous and heroic than ever.

Surely, he was only going to be among a handful of people in history to openly provoke the mighty Xue Fuxiao like this and live to tell the tale.

Having failed to find anything, Starlight descended back down into the branch helm, then asked, "Did someone fart just now?"

Everyone looked back and forth at one another with bemused expressions. The sound from just now had been very faint, so not very many people had heard it, and they were all wondering if it had been the sound of laughter or a fart.

"Smell everyone around you!" Starlight ordered. "Whoever stinks was the one that farted!"

Everyone immediately began sniffing around, and before long, someone yelled, "It was Zhao Wubai, Helmsmaster!"

Zhao Wubai's face was flushed with embarrassment as he explained, "I couldn't hold it in as I was being whipped..."

Starlight immediately rushed over to him and sent him flying back through the air with a forceful kick.

"Why didn't you tell me you farted? You got me all worked up for nothing!"

He then turned to all of the new recruits as he warned, "You're all officially members of this branch helm now, but let me reiterate: anyone who dares to step out of line and implicate everyone else will be severely punished. We're trying to go undercover, not expose ourselves and get killed.

“If there are any of you using strange cultivation arts that require you to drink human blood or something like that, then hurry up and leave. You're not welcome here! If you know of anyone like that, then report them to me right away. Otherwise, one bad egg could bring down this entire branch helm!"

No one stepped forward, nor was anyone reported.

"Zhao Wushang, Zheng Yunqi, assign work to the new recruits as soon as possible, and if anyone refuses to follow your orders, come and tell me. I expect service with a smile from everyone, do you all hear me? I want to see our Unmatched Escort Agency truly live up to its name and become the top escort agency in the White Cloud Prefecture as soon as possible!

“From this day forth, forget your past identities and embrace your new identities as armed escorts! That reminds me. With our numbers constantly expanding, we need logistical staff as well, so not everyone can become escorts. Zhao Wushang, Zheng Wuqi, I'll leave it to the two of you to assign duties to everyone."

"You can count on us, Helmsmaster!"

"I knew I assigned the right people to the job!" Fang Che praised. "Tomorrow, you are all to resume reporting demonic church members and carrying out armed escort assignments. Meeting adjourned!"

An immense wave of relief instantly washed over everyone at the adjournment of the meeting, but no one dared to move.

Only after Starlight was well and truly gone did Zheng Yunqi heave a sigh of relief and call for everyone to disperse.

His sigh of relief was instantly echoed by everyone else.

It felt as if this were the first time that they had been able to breathe all night!