LWDC Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Bureau Inquiry

Chapter 50: Bureau Inquiry

Chapter 50: Bureau Inquiry

Just as Chonglin was about to lose his temper, Duan Yunhong summoned the guards and had him dragged out.

“You… aren’t you afraid of being punished!” Chonglin didn’t dare to say too much in front of a “native,” and even though he was filled with rage, he only dared to shout vague threats. “You dare violate our agreement, you will be punished!”

Duan Yunhong stirred the bonfire with the stick in his hand. Even though it was daytime, the flames burned fiercely and dazzlingly. Duan Yunhong stood before the flames, turned his head to look at Chonglin, and sneered, “Then go ahead and report me.”

Chonglin roared, “I will definitely report you! You will regret this!”

He was both angry and anxious and didn’t have time to think deeply. He could only remember that the Bureau was able to supervise most “extraordinary contracts” and forcibly punish violators.

After all, in this vast world, all kinds of power exist. Sometimes, when debt collectors encounter extremely powerful targets, they can apply to the Bureau to act as a third-party supervisor when drawing up a contract. Even a “verbal confirmation” agreement can be supervised by the Bureau as long as both parties acknowledge it at the time. Moreover, the stronger the contract target, the more likely the Bureau is to agree to supervision. Therefore, some ordinary people, or those with less heaven-defying abilities, find it easier to go back on their word with debt collectors. The Bureau doesn’t bother with such reneging; if the debt collectors can’t handle that, what debts are they collecting?

In addition, because the Bureau has a large number of personnel, it usually doesn’t care whether a contract violates public order and good morals when supervising it—so many worlds, legal and ethical standards may be vastly different—as long as both parties confirm the treaty to be executed, someone’s violation counts as a breach of contract.

As long as there is a breach of contract, the Bureau will ruthlessly impose punishment: forcibly deducting a large amount of luck.

Even if the contract object is a “luck bandit,” they will still be punished without exception. This title is, after all, just a nickname given by the Bureau, and the Bureau won’t bother investigating each one individually when confirming a contract—unless this person is already on the Bureau’s wanted list. Therefore, when Chonglin made an agreement with Duan Yunhong, he only said that he would “bring Duan Yunhong’s designated person,” and then he didn’t worry at all that this contract would be detrimental to him.

At this moment, Chonglin, who had been thrown out of the General’s mansion, was still thinking about seeing Duan Yunhong’s miserable situation next.

–Even a “luck bandit” will be severely affected by the penalty of deducting luck, right?

Chonglin thought that Duan Yunhong seemed to like using luck to exchange for enjoying life, and probably hadn’t accumulated too many “savings.” As long as the Bureau forcibly punishes him, and he finds a way to speak ill of him in front of the First Prince and the Prime Minister, he will definitely have a terrible time in this world! Whoever goes unlucky might even die!

With these thoughts, Chonglin returned to the Prime Minister’s residence, filled with anger. He didn’t have much ability to confront Duan Yunhong head-on, so he could only apply to the Bureau to determine that the other party had violated the contract, and exaggerate to the Prime Minister that the General was “arrogant and disrespectful to the First Prince,” and then wait for Duan Yunhong to have an accident.

However, just as he was still immersed in his fantasy of revenge, the Bureau’s mandatory order came to him first.

[Debt Collector Chonglin, you have been reported for colluding with “Luck Bandit” to intentionally harm members of this bureau. The bureau has initially verified that the reported content is true, and now initiates a mandatory summons for you.]

[Starting immediately, if you fail to complete this debt collection mission within 24 hours in the current world, it will be directly recognized as a mission failure and return to the bureau to cooperate with the investigation. Please be prepared.]

Hearing this cold broadcast, how could Chonglin not guess who had reported him?

“…Ning Fei!!!”

*

Ning Fei reported more than just Chonglin.

He first reported that Duan Yunhong was a “luck bandit” before further reporting Chonglin. As long as Duan Yunhong’s identity is confirmed, the “verbal agreement” under the Bureau’s supervision becomes evidence of Chonglin colluding with outsiders and betraying colleagues.

The logic is actually very simple, and the possibility of exposure seems not small. The reason why Chonglin dared to agree to Duan Yunhong in the first place, besides his hatred for Ning Fei, was also because he judged that Duan Yunhong would not tell Ning Fei the truth. After all, Duan Yunhong had already stated that he wanted to “avenge Ning Fei,” and the two parties had also agreed to keep the cooperation confidential. Chonglin had even repeatedly confirmed with Duan Yunhong that he hadn’t said anything. Chonglin was relying on the Bureau’s supervision being “high” above the contract, believing that Duan Yunhong wouldn’t bother saying anything.

But Duan Yunhong said it.

He was already reneging on the debt, so was he afraid of breaking the confidentiality clause?

Chonglin thought that the Bureau’s supervision was the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over Duan Yunhong’s head. It can only be said that his understanding was not wrong, but it was also not entirely right. The Bureau’s punishment is, in essence, a kind of force attacking a certain object. It’s just that this force, although powerful, has its limits. Some bandits can’t withstand it, and their own accumulation is insufficient, so once they are attacked, their luck is easily completely drained. Naturally, they avoid it; some bandits have deep accumulation and can find ways to resolve it, so they can easily recover without damaging the foundation. And a very few can even directly withstand the power of the Bureau forcibly taking away luck, just like being able to block that terrible “suction pipe” outside, so as to pass through smoothly.

In short, this punishment from the Bureau may not be as fatal as Chonglin thought, nor as “meaningless” as Duan Yunhong said. What the effect is depends on the level of the punished object. Even if they are all “luck bandits,” there are differences between them.

However, the prestige that the Bureau has established internally is too great, and examples of slapping the Bureau in the face are, of course, secrets. Chonglin only knew one thing but not the other, blindly believing in the Bureau’s deterrent power, and suffered a great loss at Duan Yunhong’s hands.

The root cause of his loss was trying to harm Ning Fei. Therefore, in the Bureau’s inquiry, even if he was hammered to the point of being unable to be hammered, Chonglin had to bite back: “Ning Fei must have colluded with Duan Yunhong too!”

Ning Fei, who was listening online as a witness, was amused as if he was hearing a joke.

He didn’t need to refute it immediately in person, because the Bureau’s main system coldly replied to Chonglin: “Please submit your evidence.”

Where did Chonglin have any evidence? He could only start imagining out of thin air: “He… he lived in Duan Yunhong’s General’s mansion for seven days, and had many opportunities to communicate with Duan Yunhong. He could completely collude with him to frame me! I met him once in the middle, and he had no injuries at all, his mental state was good, and there were guards arranged by Duan Yunhong to accompany him. Their relationship must be very good!”

The more Chonglin said, the more he felt he had found the right train of thought. By the end, he even started to believe it himself. That’s right, if Duan Yunhong wanted to avenge Ning Fei, why didn’t he torture him after he was tied back, but instead let him out to chat with colleagues and transmigrators?

However, the main system’s reply was: “Regarding the seven-day period you mentioned, Ning Fei has already submitted the ‘kidnapped period’ as evidence of being retaliated against and harmed by Duan Yunhong. This bureau believes that no abnormal fluctuations occurred in that world during that period and that the world’s operations were normal. Therefore, no additional verification will be conducted, and the evidence will not be recognized. Now, you are submitting a verification application for the same time period and the same object. According to our bureau’s relevant regulations, we respond to you with the same answer: no additional verification will be conducted, and the evidence will not be recognized.”

Yes, the Bureau simply doesn’t investigate what actually happens in the mission world. Unless abnormal fluctuations occur in the mission world, the Bureau will “access the surveillance.” Otherwise, with so many members and so many worlds, the Bureau’s operational capabilities couldn’t support checking the operational details of the worlds every day.

And Chonglin was also confused. If they “accessed the surveillance,” he would have already been hammered because of the segments of him communicating with Duan Yunhong. The evidence Ning Fei gave him was the agreement between him and Duan Yunhong, as well as the 1/3 luck “deposit” he had already received.

The luck of Bureau members belongs to the “money” under the Bureau’s supervision. The Bureau doesn’t care how it flows normally; but once they want to investigate, they can investigate accurately.

The main system asked Chonglin again: “Do you have any other evidence to submit?”

Chonglin racked his brains and came up with another trick: “Then I’ll report that Ning Fei deliberately neglected his work and didn’t cooperate with me! He didn’t actively contact me after coming to the mission world, and he didn’t tell me when he abandoned the mission after seven days. He is perfunctory in supporting the mission!”

This time, the main system was even more straightforward: “Of the content you described, the item of Ning Fei not actively contacting can be recognized, but this behavior does not violate the relevant regulations of the Bureau. Please allow me to remind you that Ning Fei was the one you specifically requested to support. Ning Fei’s entry into the mission world is considered a response, and the mission results are not used as a judging standard.”

After saying these things, the main system returned to that question: “Regarding the content you were reported for and the two items you reported against Ning Fei, do you have any other evidence to submit?”

Chonglin had completely exhausted his tricks. His mouth opened wide, but he couldn’t say anything new.

The main system waited for a while and coldly announced: “Since Debt Collector Chonglin has no other evidence to submit, it is now determined that the fact that Chonglin colluded with ‘Luck Bandit’ Duan Yunhong to harm Debt Collector Ning Fei is established, that Chonglin’s two items of reporting are invalid, and that the fact that Chonglin defamed Debt Collector Ning Fei is established. After comprehensive consideration, this bureau has now decided to implement the following punishment against Debt Collector Chonglin: directly deduct 5 million luck points, and execute five unrewarded penalty missions…”

There was still a large string of things behind, and Ning Fei didn’t listen. He directly logged off.

5 million points. Ning Fei’s own savings didn’t exceed that by much. According to Chonglin’s behavior of spending as much as he has, he’s probably going to be deducted into debt. In this situation, he still has to perform punishment missions, with no luck points to earn and high difficulty. With Chonglin’s level, it will definitely torment him to death.

Speaking of which, Duan Yunhong has been verified to be a “luck bandit” and also has the responsibility of breaching the contract, so he must have been attacked by the Bureau, but I don’t know what the result will be. Ning Fei estimated that the Bureau definitely wanted to draw more luck from Duan Yunhong than 5 million. But how many “savings” does Duan Yunhong himself have? How much will he be drawn away by the Bureau? Or can he… completely resist not being drawn?

And, as soon as I reported, Chonglin was forcibly pulled back. That guy should have taken away the bad debt luck, right…

“Tsk, why think about these things.”

Ning Fei suddenly withdrew his mind and completely turned off the light screen in front of him: “How much a bandit has earned is none of my business.”

End of Volume 2.

——————–

Volume 2 is over!