Endless Debt-Chapter 865 - 15: Regulation 1

The next day, Order Bureau.

Bologue returned to the Order Bureau after a long absence, but in the office, he didn’t see Lebius. Instead, it was Geoffrey sitting behind the desk, his eyes ringed with shadows and a cup of coffee beside him.

"Oh," Geoffrey’s eyes flickered slightly, looking disheveled, "Long time no see, Bologue."

"You..."

Bologue frowned slightly, and Palmer behind him suddenly spoke out, "Do... do you need a doctor?"

Geoffrey glared at Palmer with sinister eyes, and for a moment, Palmer felt a chill down his back. Normally, Geoffrey was quite amiable, which made him forget that Geoffrey could be as fierce as Lebius.

Palmer wore an awkward smile and silently sat back down on the sofa, while Bologue pulled up a chair to sit across from Geoffrey.

"Where’s the team leader?"

"Lebius? He’s been busy lately."

"Not convenient to disclose?"

Bologue pressed on. A while ago, he knew Lebius was busy, but he didn’t expect that after all this time, not only had Lebius not gotten any free time, but he had also handed the Special Operations Group’s work to Geoffrey and disappeared himself.

"Not convenient." Geoffrey shook his head.

"Alright."

Seeing this, Bologue wisely changed the subject, opened his briefcase, and laid a stack of reports in front of Geoffrey.

Each time a report was taken out, Geoffrey’s expression grew more serious, and by the time the reports Bologue brought formed several piles in front of him, Geoffrey’s expression turned completely numb.

An eerie silence descended between the two until Bologue spoke, "Tough work, isn’t it?"

Geoffrey rubbed his eyes vigorously, pulled a bottle of eye drops from his pocket, dripped them in, and blinked until his vision cleared again.

"What are these?"

"Some reports about the Great Rift."

"Are they important?"

Bologue thought for a moment, "Not too important, mostly death lists and the distribution of destroyed forces..."

The only things worth noting in the reports were a few Condenser Demons, but for an enormous entity like the Order Bureau, such details were trivial.

Before Bologue could finish speaking, Geoffrey took the reports, stamped them without even looking at them, with astonishing efficiency.

"Alright, is there anything else?"

Geoffrey pushed the reports aside. Yuriel would come by to file them in the archives soon.

In the time spent filling in for Lebius, Geoffrey had gained a deep understanding of what his partner went through daily. More frighteningly, this guy seemed tireless, working constantly for so long.

If not for Yuriel’s help and the lifeline of coffee, Geoffrey truly felt he might drop dead on the job. He couldn’t understand how Lebius managed it.

"I’ve recently noticed some strange phenomena: the demons in the Great Rift are rapidly decreasing; it’s as if someone else is hunting them."

Bologue took out another report filled with his speculations about the "other Evil Spirit," including mentions of man-eaters and the King’s Shield Guards.

Geoffrey leafed through briefly, his gaze at Bologue turning strange.

"Just from this information, you imagined all this?"

Bologue trusted his intuition, "Yes, I think it’s within the reasonable scope of speculation."

"Do you suspect the King’s Shield Guards are up to something?"

Geoffrey nodded as he read, his look at Bologue growing increasingly peculiar, "Have you heard the recent rumors?"

"You mean about the negotiations with the King’s Secret Sword?"

"Yes."

"I’ve heard, there are lots of employee speculations," Bologue continued, "Seems like it’s not a rumor, but something about to happen, right?"

Geoffrey casually dropped a bombshell, "In a week, we’ll be having the first negotiation with the King’s Secret Sword."

"What?"

Palmer jumped up from the sofa, doubting his ears and repeating, "Negotiation? With the King’s Secret Sword?"

Bologue ignored Palmer’s astonishment and continued questioning, "What’s the King’s Secret Sword’s goal?"

"Overlord Xilin’s corpse."

Hearing Geoffrey’s answer, Bologue remained impassive, but Palmer’s face turned pale. Bologue assumed Palmer was simply too shocked, but what Palmer did next was unexpected for everyone.

"Stop, stop, don’t say anymore. We’ve handed in the reports, can we leave now?"

Palmer grabbed Bologue, trying to pull him away.

Bologue asked, "What are you doing?"

"Don’t you realize?"

Palmer whispered in a shrill voice, "He just casually told us this huge news; he’s definitely trying to drag us into it!"

Setting aside the negotiations with the King’s Secret Sword, the fact that this matter involved Overlord Xilin’s corpse was shocking enough.

Palmer had heard of Xilin’s legend since he joined, and knew well his strength and significance to both sides. It can be said that anything concerning Xilin is definitely no trivial matter, even if he is now just a corpse.

Bologue looked at Palmer in disbelief. Time was so short, even Bologue himself hadn’t anticipated that point, yet Palmer had already guessed the subsequent developments.

"It’s too late, the list has already been submitted."

Geoffrey smiled, but in his current dispirited state, his smile looked terribly unpleasant.

Palmer asked alertly, "What list?"

"The safeguard duty for the first negotiation."

Geoffrey raised an eyebrow at the two of them, "Other action groups are stationed outside Oubos and near the Narrow Countries, wary of the King’s Secret Sword’s extensive actions. Inside Oubos, the Special Operations Group will join the Sixth and Tenth Groups for safeguard duty, to avoid any accidents at the negotiation site."

After months of rest, Gold and the Tenth Group he led had regained their vitality.

"Ah... ah!"

Palmer’s expression twisted, "With so many people, surely a few of us wouldn’t make much difference?"

Usually, two action groups acting together is already considered a major operation. As a result, for this negotiation, virtually the entire Field Operations Department had been mobilized.

"What are you afraid of?" Geoffrey couldn’t understand, "Like you said, we have so many people."

In the past, they often fell into situations of fighting alone, but now they moved in groups, Palmer should be happy about it.

Palmer hesitated, "I just don’t quite trust my luck."

Geoffrey picked up a pen and precisely smashed it on Palmer’s head.

"You can check the documents for detailed information. The specifics of the security deployment are still under discussion."

Geoffrey and Bologue began to converse, ignoring Palmer, "Regarding your suspicions, there is indeed some possibility, no... there must be such a possibility.

After the temporal axis fell into disorder, we lost track of the King’s Shield Guard. Now that the negotiation is imminent, they will surely come to interfere with us."

Bologue asked the question he most wanted to ask, "What does the Decision Room think?"

"I don’t know."

Geoffrey also wasn’t clear on the specifics, "As usual, just follow orders."

"Are you not afraid?"

"Afraid of what?"

"What if one day the Decision Room makes a mistake?"

Geoffrey paused in his tone, stubbornly saying, "The Decision Room won’t make mistakes."

Bologue didn’t delve into this topic further, just whispered, "I hope so."

"Have you started to doubt?" Geoffrey asked.

"A little, after all... this is too bizarre."

Bologue didn’t hide his thoughts, "We’re like another form of religious group, the Decision Room is our god, as long as we blindly worship, don’t you think?"

"Geoffrey, have you ever met the Director?"

"I have."

"Really? Are they male or female?"

Bologue stumped Geoffrey, as he carefully recalled, the images of the Director in Geoffrey’s memory were all vague, indistinct figures, gender unidentifiable, voice unremembered...

Bologue thought this was a good opportunity, he pursued by asking, "What’s the name of the current Director of the Order Bureau."

This question stumped everyone, no one could provide a clear answer.

Geoffrey remained silent, while Bologue continued, "On the train, when Duwa talked about King Solomon, it was the same, we suddenly couldn’t remember what Solomon’s name was. Duwa said this is a technique called true name sealing, completely isolating one’s information to prevent external probing."

"Very fitting to the style of the Order Bureau."

Geoffrey said nonchalantly, but his mind was already stirred with waves, realizing only now that he hadn’t noticed this over the years.

Bologue then asked, "Where are the people of the King’s Secret Sword now?"

"Outside Oubos, we won’t allow them directly into the urban area."

"Alright, I understand."

Bologue said this, stood up, and picked up the documents delivered by Geoffrey, gesturing Palmer to leave with him, but just before pushing open the door, Geoffrey stopped Bologue.

"Does Bologue still remember our ordinance first article?"

"I remember."

"Recite it."

Bologue sighed, and repeated it.

"Trust binds us together." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Geoffrey nodded, and continued approving the documents, "Alright, you may go now."