Chapter 110: Two Kings Assemble, Sweeping the Unparalleled

Early morning, the first ray of sunlight shone over Dijing Shi.

Sanitation workers had arrived at the roadside early to begin cleaning, gathered in small groups. Although machines would be more convenient, the higher-ups had not eliminated these positions in order to leave more room for ordinary people to survive.

One could say that, as long as one was willing to work,

even an ordinary person without the strength to truss a chicken could still get by in this city.

In the courtyard of Qingyou Ju.

Jiang Qin, who had slept for only an hour, pushed open the door. He was already dressed in the Spirit Suppression Bureau's black uniform. Unlike the ordinary uniform, his was trimmed with gold thread, lending it a touch of nobility.

A car had long been waiting outside the Jiang Family residence.

Seeing Jiang Qin come out, Fang Hong and the other four bent slightly at the waist, their posture respectful.

Not one of them harbored any thought of looking down on the young man before them or putting on airs.

That was something only dead men would do.

"Commander Jiang."

"Mm."

After hearing Jiang Qin's words yesterday, not a single one of the five had withdrawn.

With a calm expression, Jiang Qin pulled open the car door and sat inside, then began resting with his eyes closed.

This vast Dijing seemed peaceful, more stable than Dongxing Jidi Shi, but the dangers of Dongxing Jidi Shi were all out in the open, whereas the dangers of Dijing lurked beneath the surface and could arrive at any moment—it was far more dangerous.

Today was his first day formally serving as General Commander; there would surely be no shortage of troublesome matters.

Fang Hong got into the driver's seat, taking on the role of chauffeur.

He drove the maglev car toward the direction of Zhenling Headquarters.

The remaining four split up separately, following the car at a distance that was neither too close nor too far. Should Jiang Qin have any need, they would appear at the first instant.

…

In a certain level of a building beneath the center of Dijing Shi.

This was also where Spirit Suppression Bureau Headquarters was located.

In the high-level conference room, the atmosphere was subtle.

The heads of the various departments, rarely seen on ordinary days, along with the only two remaining Law Enforcement Officers of Inside the Circle, were all present, sitting quietly on either side of the conference table, seemingly waiting in silence for something.

At the very front of the conference table were two seats.

One was Cao Hai's seat, the Bureau Chief of Headquarters.

The other was the seat of General Commander, which had remained vacant since the position was first established.

Presumably everyone would assume that summoning Jiang Qin to Dijing to report for duty as soon as possible was Cao Hai's plan, but in fact, the opposite was true—it was these so-called department heads who hoped Jiang Qin would hurry to Dijing.

After Yue Beishan led a portion of the combat strength to Qu Wai, many positions at Headquarters fell vacant.

Most of these vacancies had been filled by people from the various great families of Dijing. Their thinking was simple: to completely control the Spirit Suppression Bureau, they needed to "lock" this unstable element, Jiang Qin, inside Dijing.

As long as Jiang Qin had not broken through to Earth Martial, he would be unable to suppress them by force.

"Tap, tap…"

Crisp footsteps sounded outside the conference room, stirring the hearts of those present, who instinctively looked toward the door.

The conference room door was pushed open from outside.

A young man in uniform and black boots walked in calmly, his gaze sweeping over the people on both sides of the conference table.

Cao Hai was the first to stand, then the figures on both sides rose one after another.

"This one, I imagine everyone is already very familiar with—the General Commander personally appointed by Bureau Chief Yue before his departure, Jiang Qin."

"Jiang Qin, let me introduce them to you."

He pointed to a man and a woman on his left.

"These two are the only remaining Law Enforcement Officers at Headquarters, Officer Zhou and Officer Lin."

"It is precisely because of these two that Dijing remains as steady as a mountain today. Even before the catastrophe struck, these two were already the finest among Law Enforcement Officers."

Zhou Cang and Lin Xue gave Jiang Qin a slight nod, which counted as a greeting.

They were Law Enforcement Officers; in terms of rank, they were only half a step below Jiang Qin. Such an attitude was already considered very polite. After all, Law Enforcement Officers spent every day in the company of slaughter, and over time, most of them had grown eccentric in temperament.

Next, Cao Hai introduced the people seated around the table to Jiang Qin one by one; most of them behaved quite indifferently.

As Jiang Qin sat down in the vacant seat, everyone else resumed their seats.

A polite smile, the first in a long while, appeared on his face.

"I have just arrived and am not familiar with the situation. Please carry on with the meeting as usual; I'll just observe for now."

Cao Hai nodded and opened the document before him.

His voice rang out in the conference room.

"Today's meeting, besides welcoming Commander Jiang, is also to bring up an old matter again."

"Although Dijing is currently safe and food is not in short supply, the key issue remains the cultivation resources for ordinary people. The number of Martial Artists within the base city is decreasing every day, and very few new Martial Artists are joining. We need to change this unfavorable situation and devote more resources to those Martial Artists of humble origin."

The arrival of the catastrophe affected not only ordinary people, but also those Martial Artists living at the bottom.

When the realm was at peace, they could exchange various missions for cultivation resources to raise their strength.

But with the catastrophe's arrival, although it brought many cultivation resources from other realms, most places were fraught with danger, and bottom-tier Martial Artists did not dare to venture forth. Only those Martial Artists from the great families could band together, venture deep into dangerous zones, and easily obtain large quantities of resources.

Yet these family Martial Artists only needed to hand over a very small portion to Headquarters.

Hearing these words, Director Qian of the Logistics Department raised his head and responded:

"Bureau Chief Cao, we discussed this issue last time."

"Resources are limited. Currently, the base city has no surplus resources to distribute to bottom-tier Martial Artists. Don't forget that the Military Department's personnel expenses and city maintenance are also a major expenditure—unless we disband the army."

City maintenance meant sustaining Dijing Shi, this super-large spiritual artifact.

Every day, a great deal of supplies had to be consumed to maintain its power, ensuring it possessed the strength to defend itself when Fierce Beasts attacked the city.

"Disarmament is of course impossible." Cao Hai said noncommittally, his gaze deep and solemn as he looked toward Minister Qian: "So I plan to change the resource submission ratio for hunting squads. From now on, the resources obtained by those family Martial Artists on their hunts will be treated the same as ordinary Martial Artists — they must hand over forty percent of what they gain!"

Within Dijing Shi, the Martial Artists of the various great families made up the majority.

Yet those who ought to have contributed the most only had to give up one-tenth of what they obtained when they went out to search for resources, and sometimes even that one-tenth couldn't be collected.

They enjoyed the city's conveniences for free, yet contributed nothing.

Cao Hai had long wanted to make a change on this front, but in the past he didn't have the confidence to back it up — even if he proposed it, he couldn't push it through. But now things were different.

In Fight the Landlord, a single Little Joker can be beaten by any pair of bombs.

But once both Jokers come together,

then those two cards are the most powerful of all the cards.

And such a change would harm only the interests of those family Martial Artists.

The people on both sides of the table mostly had slight changes in expression; some couldn't sit still and immediately spoke out to rebut:

"No! I don't agree with this change!"

"Those family Martial Artists' talents far exceed those of the bottom-level Martial Artists. Resources only need to be given to them to rapidly raise their strength. They are also members of Dijing Shi — when they raise their strength, isn't that the same as raising Dijing Shi's combat power? Director Cao, this idea of yours is very dangerous. Think it over carefully!"