After I stopped trying, a rich woman trained me into a demon emperor.

The moment Lin Qingxue opened her eyes, Huan Yin's soul imprint crackled with a series of static signals.

Zhou Ran's emotions.

The intensity was even greater than when he shattered the Imperial Prince's Judgment Cross with a single strike. Huan Yin had lived for tens of thousands of years and had seen far too many men's tricks in front of women.

Pretentious, affected, deliberately controlled, forcefully flaunted.

But what Zhou Ran sent over at this moment was completely unrelated.

There was no weighing of the pros and cons.

It's an instinctive concern, a concern that runs deep to the bone.

Lin Qingxue's gaze swept vaguely across Zhou Ran's face, finally settling on his graying temples.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

Zhou Ran understood the lip movements.

Why do you look so old?

He lowered his head and pulled the cloak closer to her.

"Go to sleep, you're safe now."

Lin Qingxue's fingers slid off his wrist, and she fell into a deep sleep again.

The atmosphere inside the hall became extremely tense.

The bloodthirsty spear tip still hung in mid-air, and the deathly aura of the Nine Netherworlds had already frozen a layer of black frost around the edge of the spirit spring pool.

Huan Yin suddenly turned her gaze away and looked at the woman behind Zhou Ran who had been clutching his clothes.

Xiao Hongli.

"you."

Huanyin's voice was languid, yet each word sounded like it was scraping against a stone slab.

"When you passed the front hall through the corridor just now, you looked to the left three times and to the right twice."

"A mere mortal who can't even cultivate qi, under the oppressive force of a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator, can barely walk, yet still has the energy to look around."

"What are you looking at?"

Xiao Hongli's fingers paused slightly.

She hadn't expected this woman with dark red eyes to have such keen observation skills.

"Look at your accounts."

Xiao Hongli loosened Zhou Ran's clothes and stood up straight.

Spring water dripped from her hair, and her back was ramrod straight, just like when she was speaking at the quarterly board meeting.

"What account?" The tip of the Bloodthirsty Gun tilted slightly, his tone full of impatience.

"There are seventeen stacks of Soul Abyss stone boxes piled up on the left side of the front hall. Each stack is of different heights, and the shortest stack is only one-third of the original."

There are six wear marks on the right-hand aisle, indicating transport routes, but only four of them correspond to the unloading positions on the receiving platform.

Xiao Hongli spoke slowly and clearly, so much so that it was impossible to interrupt her.

"The two tracks don't match, which means that at least two batches of supplies were intercepted or lost during transportation."

She raised her eyes and glanced at the three empresses in the hall.

"I walked a total of forty-seven steps through that corridor."

"Within forty-seven steps, I could tell that your supply distribution loss rate was no less than thirty percent."

The bloodthirsty spear tip sank half an inch.

She put it down herself.

"What did you say?"

The bloodthirsty tone changed; the murderous intent vanished completely, replaced entirely by doubt.

A 30% loss would amount to the rations of 100,000 men in the Blood Navy.

She has fought for three thousand years, and no one has ever dared to present this number to her face when she joined the army.

"Mr. Xiao is right."

Chen Ya's voice came out muffledly from inside the cloak.

She held Lin Qingxue in her arms, huddled under Zhou Ran's Demon Emperor cloak, and her tone had regained the composure of Sister Chen from Jiangcheng.

"Your total purchase volume of Soul Stones last month was 84,300 units, but only 57,000 units were put into storage."

There's a difference of 27,300.

She held up her fingers to indicate the name, and the hand that was helping Zhou Ran support Lin Qingxue didn't let go.

"There was a line of small characters on the bottom right corner of the accounting sign that had been scratched off, but not completely. I could see the words 'collection on behalf'."

Chen Ya peeked half her head out from under her cloak, her cheeks flushed from the dampness of the spiritual spring, her eyes frighteningly clear.

"Your quartermaster is taking kickbacks."

The deathly aura of the Nine Netherworlds fluctuated slightly.

The fact that it wasn't a big deal is enough to show that Chen Ya's words touched on something she hadn't considered.

Huan Yin didn't rush to speak. Her dark red pupils darted back and forth between Chen Ya and Xiao Hongli, and the scrutiny in her eyes was gradually replaced by something else.

Zhou Ran had seen that look in his eyes far too many times.

She was weighing the person.

"Mingcang".

Zhou Ran spoke up.

There was no flattery or explanation, just a commanding tone: "Bring me last month's supply ledger."

Ming Cang responded from outside the hall, and a moment later quickly entered carrying a thick stack of military records.

Chen Ya took the military register, flipped through less than ten lines, and then pointed her finger at a certain column of numbers.

"Soul Stones are priced by weight, but the quality of Soul Abyss Stones varies greatly. Calculating by weight is equivalent to mixing top-grade ore with waste ore."

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"The same approval process is used for wounded soldiers' medical supplies and frontline supplies, with no distinction between levels or priorities. When the frontline is urging for supplies, the wounded soldiers' battalions in the rear are also stuck in the approval channel."

She closed the military register.

"The biggest loophole is in the third one."

Your supply ledger and intelligence ledger are managed separately, and there is no cross-checking between the two sets of ledgers.

Someone wants to hide a secret thread in the flow of goods, which you simply cannot detect.

The hall was quiet for three breaths.

The bloodthirsty gun was finally lowered.

Huan Yin smiled. It was a genuine, uncalculated smile, a smile that came from being truly pleased.

"interesting."

"Zhou Ran".

Huan Yin turned her head away.

"I take back the words 'burden'."

The two women you dragged back from Earth are smarter than 90% of your officers.

Lin Qingxue suddenly stirred in Zhou Ran's arms.

Her eyelids trembled slightly, and a faint, almost invisible light seeped out from her tightly closed eyes.

The deathly aura of the Nine Netherworlds suddenly contracted.

"Her eyes..."

For the first time, Jiuyou's voice had a rise and fall.

"Her source energy is almost exhausted, but her sensory structure is still intact. She just used her remaining magical eyes to scan my palace's array."

There was a two-breath pause.

"There's a blind spot in the Nine Nether City's defensive array between the seventh and thirteenth layers, where the energy channels connect. She locked onto it in less than half a breath."

Seeing the changes in the expressions of the three empresses, Zhou Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He showed no pride, nor did he offer any further explanation; he simply and naturally began to make the arrangements.

"President Xiao, starting tomorrow, you will be in charge of the logistics and scheduling of the Devouring Demon Palace."

"Mingcang will assist you; all military supplies will be handled according to your rules."

Xiao Hongli raised an eyebrow and didn't stand on ceremony.

"Can.

But I need complete access to the accounts; no one may withhold any of it.

"Sister Chen, you'll be in charge of cross-checking the intelligence and military supplies."

Chen Ya snorted.

"It should have been put under my control a long time ago."

Your military records are a complete mess, like a small workshop without an accountant.

"Qingxue's eyes need time to recover."

Before that, we'll place her near the core of the formation, so she can help Jiuyou fill in any gaps while she recuperates.

Jiuyou did not object, but only glanced at the unconscious Lin Qingxue.

Bloodlust stood still, his gun planted firmly on the ground.

His crimson pupils lingered on Xiao Hongli for a long time.

Then she did something that no one expected.

He strode up to Xiao Hongli, took a Domain Lord's Seal stained with ancestral blood from his waist, and slapped it into Xiao Hongli's palm.

The moment the seal touched his hand, a warm power spread from his palm to his arm. It was some kind of ancient token of trust, imbued with the spirit of 300,000 soldiers.

Xiao Hongli's pupils contracted slightly as she looked up at the Bloodthirsty One.

The bloodthirsty voice had lost all its murderous intent and contempt.

"Take control of my 300,000-strong army before you talk to me."

She turned and walked out of the side hall, her spear leaving a deep mark on the ground.