Chapter 146
Chapter 146: Vigilante A Rates Everyone
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Outside the Truth Department’s headquarters in the Land of Heritage, there was a lawn not covered with cement. The whole base was only marked by a wooden fence with an antique rosewood door. The whole establishment looked like an ancient stockaded village instead of a modern military base.
Vigilante A stood outside, alone, posed like a peerless swordsman casually standing in front of the door.
However, the hidden scouts posted nearby were all stunned as they observed him.
The legendary Vigilante A was really different. His demeanor, his appearance, his presence, even tiny gestures he did casually look heroic.
Soon after, the rosewood door started opening up.
A group of people strode out led by a stately old man. On his left cheek was a scar which he wore with pride. His disposition had an air of strictness, and it was evident in his paces that he had years of military background, as well as being the oldest of the bunch.
Fang Ning recalled the information Zheng Dao had sorted out for him, ‘This man must be Elder Hai of the six powerhouses of the Truth Department, the head of House Hai, the leader of the Truth Department’s Combat Group. He’s proficient in conducting large-scale combat situations, can mobilize almost all of the Truth Department’s combat resources in emergencies, and played a big part of the Truth Department’s influence.’
On Elder Hai’s left was another elderly man, but still much younger than Elder Hai, his face was relatively smooth. He wore a pair of glasses, exuding a sense of bookish elegance like a professor of sorts.
Fang Ning recognized him, that was Elder Xu, the principal of the Truth Department’s Institute for Special Training. He was experienced in teaching. Many of the talented people working for the Truth Department had learned from him, so his influence was strong.
On Elder Hai’s right was someone Fang Ning was familiar with. Qiao Anping was outstanding due to his imposing frame, rugged looks, and unshaven chin.
Fang Ning looked further, there were two other people he knew, Qiao Zishan’s sister and a middle-aged man. They had met just before the new year’s celebration, the Public Relations team’s Xie Dong.
Fang Ning was relieved when he saw the guy, ‘Fortunately, I have listed down everything to note when I made the workflow document. I’ll just have the System handle the talking. If I improvise, people might realize something was off.’
‘Xie Dong can probably identify if people were telling the truth, but everything a non-human like the System was saying would be assumed to be the truth…’
Sure enough, they welcomed Vigilante A’s sudden appearance, but they were ultimately not in the same organization, a certain distance was required between the two parties. That was the rule between parties, it was not something that can change due to other reasons.
Fang Ning said, “Lil’ System, when they ask questions, just answer according to what I wrote in the document, don’t expose us. You knew all the information about the Indians, so just answer from there.”
The System’s reply was pretty straightforward. “I know.”
Elder Hai approached with a grin as he shook hands with Vigilante A.
Vigilante A returned the greeting, of course. He still needed them to farm the creatures…
“I regret the circumstance of our meeting as I had been too busy with official matters. I have heard your name for many a time. You have saved the citizens of China more than a few times, but I could never find time to pay you a visit to thank you, please allow me to express my regret on that…”
Elder Hai sounded truthful.
Vigilante A said, “No problem. I’m very thankful for the gratitude you showed. If there is anything like that in the future, just contact my butler.”
Qiao Zijiang sneaked a glance at Xie Dong, who winked subtly. She understood, ‘He’s telling the truth.’
Elder Hai continued, “Meeting you today, I have to say, you look as charming as you were described. The otherworldly air of true dragon, China was fortunate to have you on our side.”
Vigilante A responded, “You have good taste. I was born with the decree of heavens, of course I would be born with an extraordinary appearance.”
Xie Dong signaled, ‘Truth.’
Qiao Zijiang was caught by surprise, ‘It’s not just boasting? If Vigilante A was born with the decree of heavens, some things have to be reconsidered.’
After the pleasantries, Elder Hai quickly introduced everyone on his side and said, “There’s something urgent we need to discuss. Let’s keep the conversation for a future meeting and adjourn to the command center to discuss the upcoming battle.”
Fang Ning thought, ‘The System had been waiting for a long time…’
Vigilante A’s gaze lit up, “I have the same idea, please, lead the way.”
As people returned to the command center, Elder Hai summarized the current situation, “The Indians just acted as they liked and commanded the demons to swarm the bases that the Truth Department had poured blood and sweat building.”
Qiao Zijiang signaled to speak. She waited for Elder Hai’s permission before asking, “We’re tracking those Indians at the moment, would you know where they are, Venerable One?”
Vigilante A said, “Of course, they are all in hell.”
Qiao Zijiang was surprised by the answer and blurted out, “How did you know?”
Vigilante A said, “I went out of the country to participate in the Dark Tournament. I noticed strange things in the match, as if someone was intending to plot against me.”
“When I was investigating, I saw the trails those Indians left behind, so I followed them into here. I found out they were conspiring with an evil demon to bring chaos onto the living, so I killed them at once…”
His voice was calm, as if killing the whole Indian advance team was comparable to killing an ant or two.
Xie Dong was at a corner of the command center, Qiao Zijiang turned to him slightly and saw the signal, ‘Everything he said was true.’
Qiao Zijiang was impressed by Elder Xu’s intuition, ‘I spent so much time overthinking it, but Elder Xu could guess the truth just by knowing Vigilante A’s personality. He did follow the Indians to this hidden place. Nothing to do with Long Fan, looks like I misunderstood him.’
Elder Xu seemed hesitant as he heard the confession, but he held his question back.
Qiao Anping laughed and said, “That’s more like it! The Venerable One was the same as I am, those bastards should all be killed! We didn’t have the chance to drink together, but we have to have a drink after the battle is over this time…”
Elder Hai asked, “I’m fine with killing the people who were eyeing our land. However, if they were already dead, why do the demons still looked like they were controlled by someone? Do you have any information about that?”
Fang Ning thought, ‘Finally.’
Vigilante A said, “The demon they conspired with is a king cobra demon, it’s the incarnate of the God of Destruction, one of the three main gods of the Indians. It had been here for a long time and developed the ability to command beasts.”
Elder Hai nodded, saying, “So that’s why. Thank you for coming all the way to inform us, we will send someone to formally deliver our thanks to you later.”
Most people in the Truth Department knew this — as long as there are rewards, Vigilante A would be easy to talk to, just be straightforward about the rewards.
Vigilante A said, “Let’s talk about the rewards later. I’m here not only to inform you that. I have yet to regain my full strength, so I can’t take it down alone, I need help from you.”
Elder Hai immediately said, “You’re too humble. We should be the one borrowing your strength. It is our job to handle that king cobra, but since it would even make you feel troublesome, we’ll need to tread carefully. I rather delay a little and give up some land than to attack recklessly and risk our men’s safety.”
“However, we don’t know how strong the king cobra is, and what its abilities are. Can you tell us?”
Fang Ning did not even know the true strength of the king cobra, so he left it to the System to improvise.
Vigilante A looked around, scanning through everyone, and spoke.
As he opened his mouth, everyone started focusing. A true dragon rating a demon, every word that he said must be of importance.
Vigilante A said, “That of course, I will tell you about the king cobra demon. However, there’s something I have to clarify. I have my own rating system that’s different than yours.”
Elder Hai nodded, “Naturally. You knew more than us, so you would be more accurate in your ratings. We are ready to learn.”
At this point, Fang Ning knew it would go horribly wrong and yelled, “Stop! Shut up! Don’t say it-”
Not even saying it three times would stop the System from ignoring Fang Ning.
Vigilante A nodded and pointed at Xie Dong.
“I’ve seen this Xie Dong, he’s the weakest among all of us here, so I’ll start from him. In my rating system, he’s a Cutlery-level, that’s about the size of a bowl. The amount of water it could hold is not significant enough. On the battlefield, he would be basically a cannon fodder…”
Everyone’s eyes snapped onto Xie Dong, with pity in their gaze. At the same time, Xie Dong looked helpless as he thought, ‘I didn’t think my life was so terrible…’
‘After entering the Truth Department, my life had been the best it could be. My wife had a job that the department introduced, medical expenses were covered by the government, my children’s futures are all planned. My whole family lives in the Truth Department’s family member residence area, it’s safe and I don’t have to worry about them.’
‘But Vigilante A is telling the truth! With my cannon fodder power level, would anyone be able to save me?’
Xie Dong looked at everyone, trying to find help. The battle was imminent, even though he was from the Public Relations team, there was no guarantee that he would not need to fight.
Fang Ning was spacing out, ‘I should have known this would happen, that idiot System. I shouldn’t have been so cocky earlier on and called it puny System, it must be taking its revenge on me now…’
Vigilante A turned to Qiao Zijiang, and she froze up, ‘Is he going to rate me now? Am I worse than a bowl?’
She immediately hid behind her uncle.
However, everyone was already focusing on her.
As expected, Vigilante A started talking about her, “I’m familiar with Qiao Zijiang, so I’ll talk about her. She’s young, but she’s far stronger than Xie Dong. In my ratings, she’s a Bucket-level. How much water could a bucket hold? More than a bowl, naturally. Everyone can see that. However, her bucket might leak, it probably is because her cultivation method doesn’t suit her talent.”
Qiao Zijiang was stunned. Even though she was rated a bucket, but she did not feel like it was hard to accept. She did not even need to ask Xie Dong, she knew that about herself.
Her cultivation affinity was unique. If it was compared to a game, she would be a summoner who can cultivate demons’ souls as pets for her to command. She would not need to fight directly, so she was relatively safe. However, if her pets’ power was stronger than her own, she would run a risk of it consuming her. That was why she did not let Long Fan have a better cultivation method.
However, she could not find a cultivation method that was more suitable for her. Fortunately, her cultivation speed was fast enough inside the Land of Heritage, so it did not show.