Chapter 478: The Ever-Changing Star Lord

Before Ye Bai could set off, he received another inspection mission.

This inspection mission was to have Ye Bai, while searching for the new Big Dipper, be responsible for inspecting whether the major cities of Yan Country showed signs of corruption or collusion with evil gods.

If so, and with conclusive evidence, he was permitted to execute first and report later to deal with the vermin.

Ye Bai felt he had been given the job of an imperial envoy.

However, this was a long-term mission; if he had not found all the members of the Big Dipper before the war at the Haoshen Abyss, he would have to return early to participate in the battle.

There were many provinces in Yan Country, and Ye Bai planned to inspect them clockwise, following the directions of east, south, west, and north.

Firstly, he could take this opportunity to let his Pet Beasts reach a higher level.

Secondly, he could collect some rare treasures.

Thirdly, he could search for the Dragon-Slaying Swords scattered across Yan Country; Ye Bai had the intention of gathering all ninety-nine Ten Thousand Dragon Slashes to let the Bronze Ancient Sword reach a higher level.

Yellow Dragon Marshal gave Ye Bai a Token, which could mobilize members of the local Pet Beast Association.

"Additionally, Ye Bai, if you encounter the Twenty-Eight Mansions in the process of executing their missions and they send out a distress signal, if you are nearby, you shall participate in the rescue."

He had received yet another task as a firefighter.

Ye Bai was speechless.

It felt like he really was a brick, moved wherever he was needed.

"I understand."

Facing Yellow Dragon Marshal, Ye Bai did not show any signs of wanting to quit, only silently complaining to himself for a while.

"By the way, Ye Bai, after you were promoted to the Big Dipper, your benefits are naturally different."

"You can go to the breeding center of Yan Country to claim powerful Pet Beasts; the resources are about three times what you had when you were one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions."

Ye Bai blinked his eyes; when he was one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, he had never received any subsidies at all—which scoundrel had embezzled his subsidies?

Jiang Dashi suddenly sneezed violently several times, and he couldn't help but sigh that he was getting old.

"I really am old and useless; just feeling a slight chill made me sneeze several big sneezes."

Jiang Dashi wiped his nose and let out a sigh, unaware that it was Ye Bai thinking of him.

"I wonder when Ye Bai will go out for inspection; Anbao Hall can be guarded by the Sunflower Immortal alone."

The Twenty-Eight Mansions were originally set up specifically to inspect various parts of Yan Country, acting as deputies to the Twelve Pillars of the Nation.

But because of the Abyss and the angel invasion, plus the instability of the plane, the Twenty-Eight Mansions had been sent to execute various difficult missions in recent years.

The work of inspecting Yan Country was naturally delayed, and after losing supervision, powerful local forces began to grow and strengthen in various places.

The Six Marshals were naturally unwilling to see local forces become too strong, so they stuffed this task to Ye Bai while he was searching for the Big Dipper.

The Big Dipper must be people of firm character who are loyal to Yan Country.

Therefore, Ye Bai was definitely trustworthy.

Coupled with the impending great war at the Haoshen Abyss, the Six Marshals intended to clear out unstable factors before then.

That was why they handed this important task to Ye Bai, to prevent some families from defecting at the last minute regarding the greater cause.

Even if a great purge were conducted later, it would be of no use.

After all, the damage would already be done.

Ye Bai planned to let his own Pet Beasts train while he conducted the inspection.

As for the first stop, it was Yandong Province, the place where Ye Bai once studied.

Ever since Ye Bai's senior fellow apprentice Zhang Jian was promoted to become the Horned Wood Dragon, the successor of the Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union had been acting very high-profile, thinking he had Zhang Jian as a backer.

He even went so far as to do things under Zhang Jian's banner.

As for Shark and Tank, they had been relegated to the sidelines.

As soon as Ye Bai arrived in Yandong Province, he sent a message to Shark and Tank, wanting to get together with them.

After Shark and Tank received the message, they naturally welcomed Ye Bai's arrival extremely warmly.

When Ye Bai met Shark and Tank, he found that they had changed quite a bit.

Shark had become more refined, and the muscles on Tank's body had become much sturdier.

"Ye Bai, welcome back to Yandong Province, but do you have Zhang Jian's contact information?"

Shark said with emotion.

Ye Bai's heart skipped a beat, but he did not reveal it on the surface, instead asking calmly: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Shark gulped down a bottle of wine and wiped the foam from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand: "The newly appointed president of the Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union has almost completely sidelined us."

"He has wantonly installed his cronies in the Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union, and he is also greedy for merit."

"Whenever there is any benefit, he takes it all for himself, but as soon as a Beast Tide occurs, he runs far away."

"And he even claims to be Zhang Jian's confidant, often doing things under Zhang Jian's banner."

"Many people buy his act; ever since Zhang Jian was promoted, neither of us has been able to contact him."

"Even if we wanted to tell Zhang Jian this information, we couldn't find him."

"If this continues, I won't be the vice president of this Beast Tamer Union anymore; I might as well be a free and easy hunter."

After hearing this, Ye Bai didn't have much expression on his face, but instead asked Shark: "Do you have evidence?"

"Yes, of course I do. You can ask others; it's not just Tank and me who have been wronged. The presidents of the Beast Tamer Unions in the major cities are also deeply wronged."

"Take Wang Dazhuang, the president of the Beast Tamer Union in your former Jiaying City, for example; he is about to be forced to resign by that person named Zhang Xiaoming."

"By the way, that turtle-grandson named Zhang Xiaoming is the current president of the Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union."

"Various unreasonable systems have made the atmosphere of the entire Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union very, very poor."

"If it weren't for the presidents of the Beast Tamer Unions in the major cities holding their ground, Yandong Province would have been in complete chaos."

Shark complained at length.

"I understand, but my senior fellow apprentice seems to be in seclusion right now, so you can't contact him for the time being. I will pass the message on for you."

After hearing these words from Ye Bai, disappointment appeared on the faces of Shark and Tank.

Zhang Jian had actually gone into seclusion; no wonder they couldn't reach him, and they had been counting on Zhang Jian to vent their frustrations for them.

Just as Shark was preparing to continue complaining, her phone rang.

"Hello, it's me. I understand."

After Shark answered the phone, her expression became quite ugly.

"An Abyss Gate has appeared on the sea surface not far from Peng City."

"A large number of demons similar to Kelusi are continuously surging out from the Abyss Gate."

"That turtle-grandson is calling us back for a meeting."

"It's not just us; the Pet Beast Union presidents of all the major cities have been summoned."

"I have to listen to that turtle-grandson spout a bunch of nonsense again, about performance, KPIs, and so on."

"Please, we are all people who live by fighting and killing; how are we supposed to understand these things?"

Shark gave Ye Bai an apologetic look, then left the place with a dark-faced Tank.

She did not notice that specks of light were landing on the tips of Shark's hair.

After Shark and the other had both left, a cold expression appeared on Ye Bai's face.

If such a phenomenon was appearing in Yandong Province alone, would other provinces be even worse off?

Yandong Province was considered the province that Yan Country paid the most attention to.

Yet the most important department in this province, the Pet Beast Union, had actually started messing around with things like KPIs and performance reviews; wasn't this a joke?

The most important task of the Pet Beast Union was to eliminate violence and bring peace, and to protect the citizens.

It was not to spout nonsense in written reports and PPTs.

This kind of formalism was unacceptable.

Ye Bai took out his laptop, tapped on it a few times, and searched for all the dirt on this Pet Beast Union president.

At first, this Pet Beast Union president had feared Zhang Jian's influence and dared not be so reckless.

As time went on, when others could no longer contact Zhang Jian, this guy started to become bold.

He planted his cronies everywhere and hid whenever he encountered a Beast Tide.

He even embezzled the pension funds of the Pet Beast Union; he was simply a massive malignant tumor.

"How could Zhang Jian let such a person occupy this position?"

"Was he deceived, or was there some other reason?"

Regardless of the reason, in any case, Ye Bai would not let this guy off.

He was collecting dirt on this guy and his cronies, intending to wipe them all out at once.

Yandong Province Beast Tamer Union.

A man with a small mustache was sitting in the main seat, having summoned the presidents of the Pet Beast Unions from other cities to discuss how to support Peng City.

"President, the opening of the Abyss Gate in Peng City this time is very suspicious."

"Moreover, the Kelusi demons emerging are very powerful; they are adept at using transformation arts, and as long as one is hit by their curse, one will instantly turn into an ugly monster."

Upon hearing the description from others, the man with the small mustache shrank his head.

He did not want to become an ugly monster.

Bang.

The conference room door was kicked open heavily, and Shark and Tank rushed in.

"Why aren't you hurrying to support Peng City? Peng City is in urgent danger now."

"If you are any later, they will invade the urban area."

Shark said very angrily.

"Mind your manners, don't be noisy," the man with the small mustache said very unhappily, as he believed this was a challenge to his authority.

"President Luo, we must hurry to reach a conclusion on how many support teams to send."

"The successive Beast Tides have affected all our major cities, and you are suppressing the loss data and not reporting it upward; is this appropriate?"

President Luo, who was the man with the small mustache, was completely enraged after hearing that; bang, he slammed his palm onto the table.

"You have so many opinions; why don't you take this president position?"

"Do you understand what strategy is? Do you understand what obedience management is?"

"A bunch of roughnecks who don't understand anything; I am doing this to make the data look better."

President Luo Roar-ed, the veins on his neck bulging, his face flushed red.

"For the sake of performance, you disregard people's property losses."

"President Luo, we cannot agree with your thinking."

"Since you think we are roughnecks, then we will withdraw from the Pet Beast Union."

The Pet Beast Union presidents of various cities made their demands.

President Luo's face turned pale in an instant.

If so many Pet Beast Union presidents resigned collectively, that would be a very serious incident.

"Sigh, I didn't expect to watch this farce."

Ye Bai walked out from the corner.

"Who are you? Get out."

President Luo was instantly enraged when he saw a stranger enter the conference room.

However, countless vines suddenly shot out, binding President Luo and his cronies.

"Luo Yi, I remember that when my martial uncle left, he recommended Shark to succeed him in his Pet Beast Union position."

"How did it end up being you?"

"You have such great audacity, to actually dare to tamper with official documents!!!"

Ye Bai found the published official document, only to find it had been altered.

"Who are you?"

Luo Yi's expression changed drastically at once.

"Special Inspection Team member, Ye Bai."

Ye Bai took out the Yellow Dragon Marshal's Token.

When Luo Yi saw the Token, his whole body collapsed onto the ground.

It was over; the matter was exposed, and what awaited him was surely the punishment of iron bars.

"Ye Bai, what exactly is going on here?"

Qiang Sha felt a bit confused: "Why am I the new president?"

"But didn't the higher-ups send someone over?"

Although Qiang Sha also felt it was very strange why the Pet Beast Guild president wasn't selected internally, but instead transferred from the outside.

"Because the people above you were all forged by him."

"Am I right, Hundred-Change Heavenly Monarch of Sakura Country? You played your role so realistically that you deceived everyone."

"You utilized information asymmetry to give these people incorrect information."

"At the same time, you and your accomplices forged official documents and hacked into the Yan Country's website."

"There must be a massive organization behind you; otherwise, how could you have been maneuvered into this position so smoothly?"

At this moment, President Luo, who was actually the Hundred-Change Star Monarch, stood up from the ground.

"Who exactly are you, and how do you know my codename?"

President Luo's gaze suddenly became much colder; he was no pushover.

The Pet Beast Guild presidents from numerous cities looked at each other in dismay; it turned out they had been deceived by someone from Sakura Country for so long.

If not for Ye Bai's arrival, they really would have been fooled by the Hundred-Change Star Monarch.

"No matter, toying with you bunch of idiots still brings me immense pleasure."

Subsequently, the Hundred-Change Star Monarch threw down a smoke bomb, wanting to leave this place.

But he suddenly discovered that the Space Transfer he usually commanded with ease had actually failed.

No matter how he tried to use Space Transfer, he still stood in place, motionless.

"Yo, yo, yo, what's wrong, Hundred-Change Star Monarch of Sakura Country? Why are you trapped here?"

Ye Bai said with a smile, his eyes full of mockery.

"Who exactly are you?"

The Hundred-Change Star Monarch asked sternly.

"Who am I?"

"I am merely an ordinary Pet Beast Master."

"What I hate most are spies like you."

The Heaven-Swallowing Pelican appeared in the conference room; it was the one that cast the Barrier to prevent the Hundred-Change Star Monarch from escaping.

Just then, the Hundred-Change Star Monarch's two confidants suddenly transformed into a Flying Head monster and a Headless Corpse.

Another confidant transformed into three large heads.

"Flying Head, Headless Corpse, and Wushou."

"Flying Head and Wushou are both monsters unique to Sakura Country."

Ye Bai laughed coldly, but at this moment, countless vines shot out, tightly binding these monsters.

A large amount of blinding, intense light appeared immediately after.

(End of chapter)