Chapter 326: Yang Scheme

After the Great Merciful Tree King left.

Luo De then took over her work.

In short, the Academy side needs to coordinate arrangements, and this side of Hope City also needs to have patrols covering every corner.

It's fine when I'm not handling things myself.

But once I get involved.

Luo De deeply realized just how busy the Great Merciful Tree King usually is.

However, what's outrageous is.

Despite being so busy, she actually still has time in the evening to go home and cook, while also tutoring Ke Lai and Ta De La on their homework! Luo De, who only worked two days before succumbing to laziness.

I can't help but sigh inside that this work really isn't something ordinary people can do.

"She never told me there was this much work to do."

As night fell, Luo De rubbed his temples in a headache while looking at the pile of reports before him.

He roughly skimmed through them once.

Most of them were trivial little matters.

For example, some desert folk communities wanted more welfare, some merchants complained about unreasonable prices, and there were also many complaints directed at the Duo Li Chamber of Commerce.

Luo De basically just tosses these aside after a glance.

They are all such rude demands.

Moreover, each demand is sent over repeatedly, several times over.

It's really annoying.

"Throw all of these into the stove to burn."

Luo De threw out the useless documents he had sorted out, and had Ke Lai take them to burn.

"Ah."

"Teacher, are they all burned?"

Although Ke Lai has never dealt with these governmental affairs, she also knows that anything submitted to the Academy is important, so why was it taken to burn?

Looking at the clueless student.

Luo De's impatient expression eased a little, and he patiently said, "You're still young; you haven't been exposed to these matters yet, so naturally you don't understand the ins and outs."

Actually, Luo De himself is only half-understanding.

It's just that these things are so absurd that even a layperson can see they're unreasonable; only someone like Ke Lai, who truly doesn't understand, would raise a question.

Luo De thought it over and chose an explanation he deemed appropriate: "These things are like when you're clearly studying hard at school, yet someone insists on telling the teacher you're not paying attention and skipping class all day. If I didn't know about this, I'd surely investigate the matter thoroughly. But since I already know you wouldn't do such things, having you keep coming to me with complaints, again and again, do you think these things are still useful?"

Saying that.

Luo De then tossed out several more duplicate documents; the stack, as high as a forearm, instantly dwindled to a thin layer.

"Oh, I understand, Teacher."

Ke Lai stuck out her tongue, glanced at the document pile in front of Luo De, then looked down at the thick stack of kindling paper in her hands, and couldn't help but ask again, "Are these all the useless stuff you said, Teacher?"

"Hmm."

Luo De grunted irritably.

He wasn't targeting Ke Lai; he was just extremely impatient with those unreasonable troublemakers.

But he couldn't do anything about it.

Just as the Great Merciful Tree King obviously knew some people were just stirring up trouble for no reason, but her handling was merely to coldly dismiss or directly reject them.

This is the legal procedure.

There's no way around it.

"No matter how you handle it, there are drawbacks."

Luo De rubbed his head again.

If the deities personally handle matters, we end up with the current situation: few speak sense, many spout nonsense, all making unreasonable demands that don't affect their own interests; since they conform to procedural norms, the worst that happens is a scolding from the deities, which doesn't really matter much.

If we don't let the deities handle things, we instead pass all incoming documents and requests down to the lower-level people, have them carefully screen them, and then submit them upward.

But the drawbacks of that approach are even greater.

A positive example is Liyue, a negative example is Inazuma.

Once the people below have ulterior motives, choosing to conceal useful information or not report it, or outright attack political rivals, it becomes hard to guarantee the authenticity of the information we receive.

Unless the deities of Sumeru possess the overwhelming divine authority of Zhongli, capable of suppressing everything, and the leisurely elegance to wander the mortal world all day.

Otherwise.

This Liyue model is hard to replicate.

Moreover, Zhongli himself once hesitated over this model, and only later decided to return power to the people, letting humanity determine its own fate.

"When exactly will the Void Network be built?"

Luo De shook his head and muttered a complaint.

Given Sumeru's current state, entrusting this to anyone would be unreliable; only a mechanically operated Void can be trusted.

Once the Great Merciful Tree King finishes building the desert's Void Network, it will solve many problems, including this highly repetitive reporting issue.

"Forget it, I'm not looking anymore."

The increasingly annoyed Luo De pushed the remaining few documents to one side.

He had originally hoped to find some clues about Duotuolei slices from these reports, but ended up finding nothing and only made himself furious.

"How's your recent homework?"

"Is there still that situation where the teacher favored the rainforest students?"

Luo De, who barely counted as having finished his official duties, then began asking about Ke Lai's studies.

Actually he had already learned about that from Dixiya.

Ke Lai's foundation laid when he was in A Ru Cun was very good, so he entered the new school in Hope City very quickly; his grades in every subject were at the top of his grade, second only to a child from an Academy scholar's family.

Ke Lai was not very satisfied with this, feeling that he, after all, was taught jointly by two Heshan Tu-level scholars.

In Hope City, where the education industry had just begun, he should have been able to come first in every subject.

"Teacher, sorry."

"This time it's second place again."

Ke Lai murmured an apology with his head bowed.

"It's fine."

"You've only been studying systematically for a short while; it's normal that you can't compare to a child from a scholar's family who has been taught by parents since childhood."

Luo De chuckled and said: "Just ask Ka Wei; you'll know. He comes from a scholar's family, has had parental guidance since childhood, and his grades are far better than yours of the same cohort. We shouldn't compare ourselves to students with superior innate conditions; as long as you put in the effort, that's enough—don't worry too much about the rest."

Luo De isn't very good at comforting people.

The words he said actually weren't very pleasant to Ke Lai's ears.

But for Ke Lai,

Luo De's saying "As long as you put in the effort, that's enough" was sufficient.

"Hmm, teacher, I will continue to work hard."

Ke Lai regained his spirits and answered another of Luo De's questions: "After the previous teacher and principal were replaced, the new teacher no longer showed favoritism as before; however, the average academic performance of the desert people here is still too poor. The teachers initially wanted to devise a special remedial program, but due to protests from the adults, it ultimately came to nothing."

"Protest?"

That word looked somewhat familiar; Luo De flipped through the documents he had just left behind.

"Indeed."

In an inconspicuous document, he found a line of small print that read: "Desert people protested the school's new regulations; the items meant to benefit students were forced to be abandoned," signed by the name of the new school's principal. "Hmph—"

Upon seeing this, Luo De's brows, which had just relaxed, immediately furrowed again.

At first glance, this seemingly incomplete remark appears to deliberately conceal the truth about the remedial system, specifically to put an unfounded big hat on the desert people's heads.

However, in Luo De's view,

Through this statement that dare not be spoken outright, he instead thought of Dixiya and the trouble‑making troublemaker she mentioned who runs around Hope City causing chaos.

It's unclear where to begin talking about this matter.

Even Dixiya couldn't say exactly when this wind started blowing.

Since Nadixa has always been seeking welfare for the desert people, it's unclear when, but in Hope City—where the desert‑people proportion is extremely high—rumors spread that the Dendro Archon's favors are due to the rainforest people owing the desert people, and that the Dendro Archon owes the Scarlet King, so the rainforest system ought naturally to favor the desert people.

Previously, when Luo De was around, this wind didn't dare to blow much.

Nominally the Scarlet King's divine envoy, Luo De truly dared to kill his own people.

Those desert people with all sorts of ideas in their heads simply dared not utter such remarks.

And once Luo De left,

the sword hanging over the desert people's heads was gone, and they gradually grew bolder.

Especially, the Great Merciful Tree King's fondness for fishing further indulged many reckless desert people who dared to say anything.

"You really dare to fish for any kind of fish."

Just thinking of the bizarre things Dixiya said the desert people had stirred up, Luo De couldn't help but complain.

But complaining is just complaining.

The Great Merciful Tree King's fishing practice still hooked many desert people harboring such ideas, and it actually pointed to a hidden organization lurking in the shadows.

"Desert people's lives are precious."

"Tsk."

This is a newly formed organization in Hope City, composed entirely of the desert people with the highest level of knowledge in Hope City, and it only takes on lawsuits from desert people, having won many cases of disputes between rainforest people and desert people.

In the memorandum left by the Great Merciful Tree King,

It clearly stated that this organization might be related to Duotuo Lei's slices, and the mysterious boss behind it—such a deity—has nowhere to be found despite searching the city all day.

"Hard to say."

Precisely because of this organization, Luo De had no intention whatsoever of doubting the principal's report on moral character.

"No way."

This organization's ability to manipulate public opinion and its discourse power are formidable; for those rainforest people who don't want to cause trouble, they try to avoid provoking it as much as possible.

The principal's report wrote like this:

Even if it were leaked, it would not provoke a fierce backlash from that organization.

"Tomorrow I'll go say something about this."

Luo De rubbed his nose and said: "Making up lessons to reduce the gap still needs to be scheduled; if those desert people have opinions, let them come find me."

In dealing with the desert people,

Luo De's experience is still quite rich.

Giving a stick and then a date is definitely useful; hitting them dead with a single stick is also possible.

"Hehe—"

Upon hearing that Luo De would personally handle this matter, Ke Lai broke into a happy smile.

Next.

The master and disciple then chatted for a good while about Ke Lai's recent night and studies, only departing when the night had grown deep.

Only Ke Lai did not go to sleep.

Luo De, however, had no intention of resting at all.

The listless appearance he had while reading the report earlier had completely vanished, replaced by a state of vibrant energy.

By their side.

Ying, Dixiya, and Youla are also there.

The three of them looked identical, dressed head to toe in pure black, with black masks and gloves already on their faces and hands; against the pitch‑black night, once the streetlights go out, it will be hard to tell them apart.

"Are you really going to do this?"

Standing on the roof of the Pure Goodness Palace at the highest point of Xu Mi Cheng, Dixiya asked anxiously.

Compared to her.

Youla and Ying were both full of eager excitement.

Especially Youla.

This former Wave Knight, who had been law‑abiding since arriving in Xu Mi Cheng, could not contain the excitement on their face upon hearing there was a chance to cause a big commotion.

Luo De said what they had to do was very simple.

That is to set a few fires in Hope City.

Of course.

They weren't trying to destroy Hope City or cause major destruction.

They simply wanted to provoke a sizable disturbance.

Among the four, the only one not wearing night‑clothes, Luo De looked down calmly and said: "Duotuo Lei wants to play a game with us, applying pressure so we dare not act recklessly; then we might as well overturn this board, cause a small disturbance, and thoroughly pluck their pieces."

"Didn't you say that person is very clever and skilled at scheming?"

"Then isn't what you're doing just scaring the snake by beating the grass?"

Dixiya has also been studying diligently, and her use of Liyue's idioms is quite good.

Looking at her worried expression.

Luo De chuckled and said: "When have I ever not scared the snake by beating the grass?"

After saying that,

They crossed their arms and snorted coldly: "From the moment they played me a trick and sent me to Inazuma, we've been openly facing each other."

"What I'm doing now is simply to remove their pieces right in front of them."

"If they still don't show up, we can take this opportunity to eliminate the pieces under their command that have been causing destruction everywhere."

"If they do appear, even better—I can directly lock onto their position, and while we have someone present, we can look for a chance to eliminate a hidden slice."

"Hehe, this is an open ploy; now we just wait to see how they respond."

Luo De gave a hehe laugh, turned to Dixiya and the others, and said: "Just follow the locations I marked for you to stand guard against fire; when the time comes, use the firelight as the signal—remember to keep the timing exact, because a mistake will be troublesome, and if you get caught, I'll come rescue you."

"Okay."

"I understand."

"Hmph, who do you think you're looking down on? Who could possibly catch me?"

The three responded with different voices.

Soon.

The bright torch‑like streetlights suddenly went out under the moonlight.

Dixiya, who fully understood Luo De's intent, was the first to jump down from the high building, using the darkness to head toward the designated spot, with Ying and Youla closely following.

It didn't take long.

The three, with everything proceeding smoothly, successfully lit three fires in Hope City; the fierce flames instantly stirred the previously quiet Hope City into bustling activity.

(End of chapter)