Chapter 86: Pope Yin's Strange Reaction

Sure enough, Starlight was successfully misled as he snapped, "A quarter or a fifth? That's nothing! The test will be on the first third of the book!"

Zheng Yunqi immediately turned to the new arrivals before Starlight could change his mind, blinking furiously at them as he yelled, "You all heard the helmsmaster! The test will be on the first third of the legal code, and it'll be held tomorrow night! Anyone who scores fewer than eighty points will be kicked out of the escort agency!"

Everyone hurriedly accepted this arrangement, while Starlight continued to observe everyone with a malicious expression, seemingly still very unhappy about the current arrangement.

In the end, he harrumphed coldly, "Marks are to be docked for misspellings as well!"

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

With that, he abruptly departed, vanishing without a trace.

"Oh, thank heavens!"

Everyone was just about to erupt into relieved celebrations when Zheng Yunqi hurriedly pressed a finger to his lips, desperately urging everyone to be quiet.

Sure enough, Starlight instantly returned, then asked with a hostile expression, "What was that sound just now?"

"They're begging me to help them by legal codes, Helmsmaster," Zheng Yunqi explained.

"Is that right?"

Starlight was clearly unconvinced, kicking Zheng Yunqi in the lower abdomen as he declared, "All of you will be taking the test tomorrow night as well!"

With that, he departed once again, and only after waiting for a long while, when it was certain that he was truly gone, did everyone dare to speak.

Zhou Mei'er, Zhao Wushang, and all of the other incumbent armed escorts instantly flew into a rage.

"What the fuck are you all yelling for?! See what you did? Now we have to take the test as well!"

They were thinking that they would be able to serve as the proctors during the test, but they now had to take the test as well, all because the new arrivals couldn't keep their mouths shut!

There had been no tests at all of late, and everyone had grown so complacent that they had forgotten everything, so they would have to rememorize the legal code from scratch!

The thirty-six new arrivals could only offer their sheepish apologies.

Meanwhile, Zheng Yunqi already had his head buried in a legal code.

"You think you still have time to bicker and chat? Hurry up and start studying!"

Everyone immediately sprang into action, and they all knew that this was bound to be a sleepless night.

***

After leaving the branch helm, Fang Che walked through the night, considering the next step of his plan.

He wasn't thinking about the white-robed man at all. He wasn't even sure if they would ever meet again, so he had cast the white-robed man completely out of his mind.

At the moment, he only had himself to rely on to expand the branch helm while ensuring that it remained on the right side of the law.

The question was, how much did he want to expand the branch helm?

Was it really a good idea to just keep taking in people from the main church? Was that not going to cause problems in the long run?

He felt like it was necessary to discuss this matter with Yin Shengong.

If the branch helm became too large and powerful, even Yin Shengong wouldn't be able to control it.

Right as he was pondering this, he received a new message on his communication jade, and it was from none other than Yin Shengong.

Yin Shengong had been completely silent since their correspondence from the day before, so Fang Che wasn't expecting him to reach out at a time like this.

Upon opening the message, he was instantly met with a furious tirade.

"What are you whining to me for? You're a One Heart Church spy, of course Zhao Shanhe would target you! If you weren't useful to them, you would've already been fired from your post by now! You're complaining about the twenty merit points they gave you? If you ask me, that's already twenty too many! That's what you get for being a spy! If I were Zhao Shanhe, I would intentionally humiliate you as well! You say you're feeling lonely and depressed? How about you harden up, you little bitch! Things must've been going too smoothly for you of late! If you dare to complain to me about something like this again, I'll slap you to death! Don't even think about coming back to the One Heart Church! I sent you to White Cloud Warrior Academy precisely so that you could infiltrate the Hall of Protectionists someday! Now that you've achieved that objective, you want to come back? What the hell's wrong with you?! I must've been too tolerant of you lately, to the point that you actually think that you're some indispensable treasure..."

The tirade from Yin Shengong seemed endless, and Fang Che's head was beginning to spin from reading the lengthy diatribe.

What the hell's going on? Why is he suddenly so angry now? He didn't say anything at the time, so why is he suddenly doing this now that two days have already gone by? Has he gone senile from old age?!

The final question from him left Fang Che feeling even more perplexed: "Did An Ruoxing say anything to you about me at all?"

"He didn't, Master."

"Of course not! Are you an idiot?! Why would he mention anything about me to you?!"

Fang Che had never felt so confounded in his life.

There has to be something wrong with him! Could it be that he suffered qi deviation while cultivating, and he friend his own brain?! Or... Could it be that he really did have a fling with An Ruoxing in the past?! QWHEITQWHETOWEHTWE

"Why didn't An Ruoxing say anything about me? Is he looking down on me?!"

Fang Che wisely chose not to reply.

"Have you been cultivating the Blood Smoke Hands?"

Fang Che's face instantly puckered up at the question. Clearly, Yin Shengong was looking for a reason to throw a tantrum at him, just as he had been looking for a reason to beat up the people back at the branch helm.

However, he coudn't just not respond.

"I have, Master."

"Are you serious?! Are you a fucking idiot, or do you have a death wish?!"

Fang Che was completely flabbergasted.

If you want to throw a fit, then just do it! Why bother asking me these stupid questions to set me up?! QHWETOIHITQHIEOTHIWQEHT

"I'm sorry, Master."

"All you do is say sorry! Can you do anything else? How many times have you apologized to me since you became my disciple? Piss off! Don't message me! My blood pressure spikes whenever I get a message from you!"

After waiting for a while, there were no further messages from Yin Shengong, and Fang Che heaved a long sigh of relief. It seemed that the storm had been weathered.

However, that was still not the end.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You must be cursing me behind my back, aren't you?!"

"I wouldn't dare, Master!"

"You wouldn't dare?! Is there anything that you wouldn't dare to do? Think about all the shit that you've done lately!"

What followed was another long diatribe before Yin Shengong seemed to have finally gotten everything off his chest.

Fang Che heaved a forlorn sigh, feeling as if the entire world were against him.

It seemed that he would have to make decisions on the branch helm on his own.

At the moment, Yin Shengong was like a woman going through menopause, and by Fang Che's estimates, it would take at least a few days for him to cool down.

At the rate at which Zhao Wushang and the others were recruiting new members, the population of his branch helm was going to exceed a thousand in a few days!

***

Zhao Ying'er was growing a little agitated, waiting for Fang Che at the entrance of the administration hall, so she went to wait for him at the main entrance of the Hall of Protectionists instead.

She was wearing a flowing white dress, and a wide smie instantly appeared on her face at the sight of Fang Che.

"Why are you standing out here?" Fang Che asked.

"Have you forgotten? It's Administrator Ren's birthday today, and I want to go visit him."

Fang Che was instantly reminded of Ren Chang's signature catchphrase upon hearing this.

There goes another day.

"Let's go in the afternoon. Do you want to go first, or do you want to go together?"

"I'll go first," Zhao Ying'er replied. "There are many things that I want to say to him in private. He's really helped me out ever since I first began working at the Hall of Protectionists, and even though he treats everyone else the same, I'm still very thankful for his guidance."

"Alright. In that case, I'll patrol the southern area in the morning, then patrol the southwest in the afternoon, and it'll only be a short journey from there to the Graveyard of Heroes."

"Don't come too late! We can have dinner together after we've visited Ren Chang."

"Sure."

Zhao Ying'er was very happy that Fang Che had accepted her dinner invitation, and she decided that she had to go home and change into another pair of shoes.

On top of that, she had to do up her hair as well. She normally didn't wear any jewellery or accessories on the job for fear of damaging them during battle, but this was a special occasion.

"What do you wanna eat? I'll put in a booking for us in advance."

What do I want to eat? AQWEHTWEQITWEOHITOHWETH

Fang Che was completely stumped by this question.

He had spent both lifetimes on the front lines, and he had always simply eaten what was available. He could stuff himself full with precious delicacies, or make do with some dried rations.

Under severe food shortages, he could even get by with only some tree bark for sustenance.

He had no favorite food, nor did he dislike any foods. It was all just fuel to him, and the taste hardly mattered.

Thus, he was unable to think of anything that he wanted to eat, so he replied, "I'm fine with anything."

"Alright, I'll pick something then."

Zhao Ying'er thought of an elgant restaurant with fantastic, romantic ambience, and just the mere thought of a romantic dinner with Fang Che was enough to make her heart flutter.