Seized by the System

At the dawn of the sixth year, third month and twelfth day of Shenyuan.

At the Dragon’s Cave on the hill in Qi City.

A long line of people was passing through the Dragon’s Cave in an orderly fashion.

The people were told that they had to pay a visit to the Venerable Dragon God who had protected humans throughout the Era of Mystery’s most dangerous periods.

In reality, most people were aware that this was an inspection.

Fang Ning did not show his face publicly. He merely instructed Qiao Zishan to go through the cave.

In the System Space, he was identifying each person’s alignment excitedly with the Heavenly Book baby.

“This person’s color is yellow with a tinge of red. He must have done something bad.” The Heavenly Book baby asserted.

“Mm, and also this one, he’s all red. Back in the day, your System Daddy would have slapped this fellow to kingdom come. Now, he won’t even take a look.” Fang Ning muttered.

“That’s because this is just a small fry. Its appetite is big now and that fellow is worth nothing to it.” The Heavenly Book sighed.

“Yeah, that dog has forgotten its roots. Back in the days of Vigilante A, it wouldn’t even let a thief who stole a bicycle go.” Fang Ning continued to insult the System.

“What could I possibly do?” Sir System whined. “I used to have a bigwig to rely on. I’m the bigwig right now and I have to set my sights on the strongest enemies, so how am I going to keep track of so many people? But you’ve got a point, since he’s already here, let’s slap him to death.”

After it finished speaking, Sir System was about to make its move.

“Stop.” Fang Ning held the System back. “Times are different now. I’ll mark him down and let Qiao Zishan take care of him. You should know that we’re no longer be heroes who patrol the skies, but mighty forces who work behind the scenes to uphold justice.”

“Whatever you say.” Sir System snorted.

There were approximately 1300 individuals to be inspected and most of the harmful aspects had been covered.

In the Era of Shenyuan, there was an assortment of mysterious methods used by spies.

Walk-ins, tethering, shapeshifting, disguises, enchantments…

These types of methods could turn an ordinary worker into the enemy’s pawn.

The opponents that they faced in the past were small fries. There were inspection methods which could maintain the workers’ purity.

However, their current opponents were the forces of the Upper Realm gods. The inspection methods that were utilized earlier were already outdated.

If not, this terrible betrayal would not have occurred.

The question of how to deal with these new circumstances was a major issue that needed to be solved by the Truth Department or humans.

This was not a minor matter. In the past, the Great Purge in the Soviet Union ¹ which shocked the world was started to purge spies, traitors, and saboteurs. Countless people were affected by this activity and they were shot without trial. The Soviets were much more brutal than Vigilante A…

While they were busy defending themselves against the Upper Realm, it was equally important to maintain the loyalty of the humans, instead of being infiltrated by the Upper Realm while they were oblivious of this fact.

The entire morning went by and the screening process was completed.

Fang Ning sent a name list of 23 individuals to Qiao Zishan. Not too many and not too few, a number equal to that of a soccer team for an international tournament.

Most of the people were still reliable. Fang Ning greatly admired the organization system of the Truth Department’s employees. Having so few black sheep in such a large organization was not something that he had expected.

Especially now with the ongoing process of human integration, recruitment was no longer limited to people from China. With members from all sorts of backgrounds, it was even more incredible.

…

At the Truth Department’s headquarters in the Land of Heritage.

The interrogation room on the 121st floor.

“I won’t stand for this! Just because of one look from that Dragon God, you want to classify me as an inside man? On what grounds?” A middle-aged man, probably in his 40s, hollered in the room.

“Don’t embarrass yourself. The Dragon God didn’t accuse you. What accused you is the evidence.” An interrogator eyed the person in front of him with disgust.

“What can happen to me? I’m innocent!” The middle-aged man shrieked.

“Take a look. This is the spirit tablet that was retrieved from a flowerpot at your house. It’s really well hidden, even the Nets Above Snares Below can’t detect it.” The interrogator held up a black bag, removed an object from it and dropped the object on the table.

It was a spirit tablet carved from a precious piece of Indian sandalwood.

The words “Almighty Xuanyuan Haotian The Great” were written on it…

“You, you actually found it, impossible…” The middle-aged man was flustered and lost all of his prior haughtiness.

“We couldn’t find it at first. After all, who would have believed that a logistics worker who has served us for twenty years would worship a malevolent god of the Upper Realm? You know, about the god on this spirit tablet, we’ve confirmed with a few other Venerable Ones such as the Bodhisattva Spirit King and The River God of Sky River. They said that this malevolent god is a demon god of the Upper Realm who got demoted. He’s not even a real god.” The interrogator explained with a hint of remorse.

“Impossible, he gifted me with a cultivation base which turned me from a useless, Double Grade F piece of crap into a Double Grade B cultivation genius. To me, he’s a real god.” The middle-aged man denied vehemently.

“To obtain something, you must first give up something in return. Did you know why those three spies betrayed us suddenly? It’s because they wanted to acquire an offering for the gods. They have no qualms in killing their colleagues whom they have worked with for so many years. As for why they did that, we’re already certain. If they couldn’t please the gods regularly, they would lose their powers and their current ranks.” The interrogator replied and sighed.

No one would hand out something for free, especially not these gods. Whatever amount they give you, they expected tenfold in return.

Also, this was just the beginning.

“I confess, I surrender, I hope that the organization will handle this case leniently.” The middle-aged man realized that there was no way out and resorted to this final method of pleading.

“It would’ve been better if you cooperated with us like this sooner and help us. Since you haven’t caused any major harm, we’ll still provide you with a way out.” The interrogator nodded.

Then, the middle-aged man relayed his special encounter to the interrogator.

It was similar to the plot of a web novel. One day, when he was going about his duties outside, he received something and heard the whispers of a malevolent god.

…

“Alright, take him downstairs. Next.”

The interrogators took turns to question the man. Finally, a person-in-charge waved an arm, and someone came forward to take the malevolent god worshipper, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, away.

When he was captured, injunctions had been put into place and he was incapable of resisting.

During the short break, a few interrogators began to chat with each other.

“Unbelievable, if not for the Dragon God’s Eye of Wisdom, it’d be very difficult to weed out these secret malevolent god worshippers. They’re too discreet and the malevolent gods themselves have abilities to shield themselves from being detected. Unless they let the cat out of the bag one day, we won’t know how long they are going to stay hidden.”

“True, looks like our inspection methods and oaths during recruitment have to be revamped. Evidently, these spies have some technique of bypassing the Heavenly Oath. We must communicate with the Heavenly Axiom to make it fix these loopholes.”

“Mm, it takes constant vigilance to ward off evil. The Heavenly Axiom’s Firewall has to be constantly updated.”

“Yeah, whenever we recruited new members, we make them swear the Heavenly Oath. Also, every year, those in important positions have to swear the oath again every month but look at what has become of it. We Chinese often worship the Heavens and Earth and our ancestors. Technically speaking, we provide offerings to the Heavenly Axiom each day. That idiotic Heavenly Axiom can’t just work for free.” A dark-skinned fellow chimed in and grumbled.

“How dare you…”

Everyone was taken aback when they heard the man’s remarks and they gave that brazen fellow a wide berth.

As they talked, the next suspect was brought into the interrogation room.

…

Fang Ning did not pay any attention to the matter of the Truth Department’s traitors. He only borrowed Sir System’s powers to earn some extra cash.

Unfortunately, Earth’s economy had shifted and despite his large income, he had nowhere to spend it.

As a result, he did not care about the magical orchid for the time being. He forgot about it as soon as he stored it in the System Storage Area.

After working on this task, he immediately focused his attention on forming the Grand Secretariat.

This was a matter that determined whether he could enjoy a peaceful life in the future.

Sir System told him to name the Grand Secretariat with the Seven Lunar Mansions of the Azure Dragon. Fang Ning was too lazy to think about it and used it.

The Seven Lunar Mansions of the Azure Dragon were comprised of the horn, neck, root, room, heart, tail, and Winnowing Basket.

They represented the seven body parts of a dragon, which were the dragon’s horn, throat, front claws, dragon’s chest, dragon’s heart, dragon’s tail, respectively. As for the Winnowing Basket, Fang Ning searched through the internet for half a day before concluding that it was probably referring to the tip of the dragon’s tail. It seemed to overlap with the tail…

“Forget it, I’m not the one taking up the role anyway.” Fang Ning was pleased with his thoughts and went ahead with this decision.

“Heavenly Book baby, you’re the Horn of the Dragon. Twelve Arms will be the Claws of the Dragon, not a Secondary Grand Secretary; Old Yellow is very attentive to its work, so it’ll be the Heart of the Dragon. As for the Dragon Carp, it has quite a fat tail, so it’ll be the Tail of the Dragon. There are only four members and I’m still short of three. Who else should I pick?” Fang Ning assigned the roles.

Sir System was surprised whereas the Heavenly Book baby expressed its agreement enthusiastically.

“Very wise, Master.”

“I’m flattered.”

“Master, about the three remaining positions, Old Man Zheng can be the Throat of the Dragon, so it’ll be convenient for him to contact and coordinate with the rest of the members. There are two spots remaining now. How about we take our time and look for other members in the future?” The Heavenly Book baby proposed.

“Mm, good as well. The most important thing is to assign their duties.” Fang Ning frowned.

“Using my current Management Systems as a reference, we shall assign a section for each person to manage it.” The Heavenly Book suggested.

“Sounds good. Baby, you’ll lead the entire team. Old Man Zheng will be responsible for the Personnel Management System, Old Yellow will be in charge of the Resource Management System, Twelve Arms will work on all kinds of external matters while the Dragon Carp will take on and finalize the remaining tasks. It’s very experienced and is more familiar with this.” Fang Ning decided swiftly.

“Cronyism indeed. You’re a useless emperor.” Sir System insulted him.

“Master is right. I shall tell them to complete their current tasks and start work at the Grand Secretariat.” The Heavenly Book announced.

“Excellent.” Fang Ning ignored Sir System’s words and replied encouragingly. “Work hard and you’ll all receive enlightenment one day.”

“You’re too kind, Master.” The Heavenly Book was delighted.

“Hmph, his words don’t count.” Sir System popped out again.

“Do you have too much time on your hands?” Fang Ning was irritated. Instead of helping him, this fellow kept stirring up trouble. He chided the System. “Didn’t you say that you were going to cultivate in isolation and achieve the Ancient level? Why are you still so free?”

“Fine, I’ll keep quiet. Do as you please. If something goes wrong, don’t persuade me to clean up your mess.” Sir System sulked.

“That’ll never happen.” Fang Ning was assured of himself. His subordinates were reliable. What could go wrong?