Huo Yuhao from The Peerless Tang Sect is incredibly talented.

As someone with a sense of touch, the shop owner understands his deity better than most people.

Besides what they did in Tiandou City, they also did some things outside the heavens.

For example, he would sit cross-legged on the offering table and eat in front of the disciples in the city, and even invite people to eat with him; he would also carve his own portrait on the mountain when he had nothing to do; and he would sometimes use the sky as a screen to show cartoons to the people in the city.

There were also those who scattered treasure maps throughout the city, only to find that the treasure was nothing more than a rattle drum.

After reading the evaluation of himself by the Virtual Realm Touch, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but scratch his head awkwardly.

This silly child is spouting such obvious truths.

The shop owner came from a humble background, was quite talented, had a spiritual nature, and an exceptional learning ability. He grasped the true meaning of the text in textbooks at a young age, demonstrating some natural talent.

His extraordinary wisdom granted him a blessing, making him one of the Void Realm's senses, increasing his charm when giving speeches, and allowing him to preach in Shrek City. His main targets were people in his family whose cultivation level was around the fifth or sixth ring.

The remaining task was for the aid teams sent by Tiandou City to rescue the villages outside the city that were suffering from the invasion of soul beasts.

Shrek City is adjacent to the Star Dou Great Forest, and occasionally low-level soul beasts will wander into the village.

As for why the village wasn't relocated, the answer is that oppressive government is more ferocious than a tiger.

The team leader, a support-type Soul Master wielding a healing scepter, led the pharmacists and craftsmen to quickly set up a medical tent.

External injuries were carefully treated with medicine, while internal injuries were alleviated through soul skills, and even long-standing ailments were relieved. An old woman, struggling with coughing and wheezing, had her breathing instantly calmed as a soft green light entered her chest. The children, witnessing martial souls healing illness for the first time, were initially terrified, but their fear transformed into curiosity.

After settling the patients, the team helped resume production.

They leveled the fields, taught the methods of making new agricultural tools, and transported cold-resistant grain seeds from the city. They instructed the villagers to dig canals to draw water and used soul-guided irrigation techniques; they also taught women new methods of weaving and organized men to cultivate wasteland.

The team also distributed wheat seeds and subsidies, leaving behind Soul Masters to assist in defense.

After observing the work of the people from Tiandou City, Huo Yuhao could only say, "Not lazy at all."

Tiandou City now completely controls the production rights of agricultural products.

While things went smoothly for Beibei in Tiandou City, things weren't so easy for her.

When they first received the token, Beibei led the inspection team to raid the gate of the Awakening Point in the west of the city.

The three city management team leaders were dragged out of bed before they were even properly dressed. One of them was still dreaming about counting money. When he was pulled up, he shouted, "Don't touch my bag of gold coins!"

Next, it was the shop owner's turn to interrogate the prisoner.

The three squad leaders sat in front of him for less than half an hour, and even confessed their first time with the girls on his left and right.

The confession was filled with names, numbers, transaction methods, and profit-sharing ratios, exposing the entire business of the urban management system.

Beibei held the confession and continued to grab, unsurprisingly getting stuck.

A document arrived from the City Lord's Mansion. The document was impeccably polite, but its core message was just one sentence: "A tax archive in the north of the city caught fire last night, and some old files were destroyed. The relevant case files need to be reorganized. We request that Young Master Beibei suspend the relevant investigations until the archives are reconstructed."

Beibei just checked an account that passed through here.

"The tax office caught fire." Bei Bei repeated these four words softly, a very faint smile playing on her lips. "I just added the headquarters' name to the arrest plan last night, and the tax office caught fire this morning. Old Li, isn't that a coincidence?"

Old Li did not answer. Some things don't need an answer.

Beibei did not wait for the archives to be rebuilt.

He then went to the scene of the fire himself. The charred ruins were still smoldering, and the air was filled with the bitter smell of burnt paper. Several tax officials stood by the ruins, innocently explaining that the wind had been strong the night before, and perhaps the candle had been accidentally lit.

"Someone is helping them balance their accounts," Beibei said, staring at the tattered data sheets recovered after the fire, enunciating each word clearly.

He decided to take a different approach. Instead of starting with the accounts, he would break through through witness testimony. However, when he sent men to summon the squad leaders who had identified them, the reply he received was that the three had committed suicide the previous night out of fear of punishment.

If Beibei still doesn't realize what kind of tough opponent he's encountered by this point, then his training in Tiandou City will have been for nothing.

That evening, the lights were on in a brightly lit room in an upscale restaurant in Shrek City.

The room was decorated in an extremely luxurious manner—the walls were covered with tapestries made from the hides of thousand-year-old soul beasts, the wine vessels on the table were carved from a single piece of warm jade, and even the lighting was not provided by ordinary candles, but by special ever-burning lamps made from the oils of soul beasts, each lamp lasting for three years.

A toyed with the wine glass in his hand, turning it around four or five times before slowly speaking: "Let's all speak. There were too many people around before, so some things weren't easy to say openly. Now that it's just the three of us, let's not hold back."

Yi spoke first, the righteous air on his square face completely gone, replaced by a suppressed irritation. He tapped the table twice with his knuckles, each tap heavy and muffled: "I'll go first. That kid's investigation speed is too fast. I originally estimated that he would stop after finding out about that group of people—after all, arresting more than a dozen people would be enough for him to return to the academy in glory. But not only did he not stop, he also followed the leads upwards, and now he's even reached my people."

"Your head?" Bing pushed up his glasses, his tone indifferent. "Brother Yi, that Ma Wencai under you, his accounts are like a sieve. Who can you blame for that? Blame Bei Bei for investigating so quickly? You should blame yourself for making the wrong choice in hiring him."

"Brother Bing, what you're saying is quite something." Yi's face darkened slightly. "It's true that Ma Wencai is someone I employ, but when we were dividing the profits, everyone here took a penny less. Ma Wencai's accounts were terrible, but it was the accounts that were bad, not the money that was distributed. Besides, Brother Bing, didn't you also use people to burn down the warehouse? If Bei Bei finds out who was in charge of that warehouse fire, you'll be even more worried than I am."

Ma Wencai is currently the highest-ranking official under Bei Bei's control.

Bing's eye twitched, but he didn't respond. He took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses with his sleeve. This was an old habit of his; the more unsettled he was, the slower he would wipe his lenses.

"Alright." A put the wine glass back on the table with a soft, crisp sound. "You're in a bind, why are you fighting like this? You should use that energy to think about something important."

He paused, his tone still soft and gentle, as if chatting casually: "The current situation is clear. That kid has two things: the token of the Sea God Pavilion Master and the confessions of his subordinates. We are in a losing position."

"You have to accept a losing situation." Yi slapped his hand on the table. His palm was rough and thick, with an old scar on the web of his hand from his early years. "It's not that I haven't thought of the simplest way. Find a few unfamiliar faces and take advantage of him on his way back to the academy at night—an accident, purely an accident. You can drug his drink or ambush him in an alley. As long as you're clean, you won't even be able to find his body afterwards."

He spoke in a steady tone, as if he were reporting an account. The flame of the ever-burning lamp flickered, casting shadows on B's face in alternating light and shadow.

Bing paused in wiping his glasses. He put his glasses back on his nose and stared at Yi through the lenses for a couple of moments: "No."

"Why not?" B retorted.

"Because you didn't mess with just anyone." Bing's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clearly enunciated. "That kid's surname is Mu, his martial soul is the Holy Light Dragon, and he's the only descendant of the Sea God Pavilion Master to awaken the Holy Light Dragon. You really think he's dead? Let me tell you, if you touch a single hair on his head, a Title Douluo will come."

That wasn't an investigation; it was a massive purge. From top to bottom, every official in Shrek City would be killed at least three times over.

Yi fell silent. Of course he had heard of it.

Anyone with a bit of seniority in this city knows the illustrious reputation of the Holy Dragon of Light back then.

"What do we do then?" Yi leaned back in his chair, the back creaking under his weight. "We can't move him, we can't stop him, and we can't get rid of him. We can't fight him, we can't talk to him—that kid's impervious to reason, he's clearly not someone who can be bought off. Are we really going to let him kill us piece by piece?"

A picked up his glass, took a sip, put it down, and swirled it around. The bottom of the glass made a very faint scraping sound on the rosewood table. Everyone knew this habit—he wouldn't drink from a full glass; he would wait until it was completely cold before touching his lips.

Just like everything else, he's never in a hurry. He only sets the tone slowly after everyone else has said what they need to say.

"A person really can't be touched." He finally spoke, his tone soft, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. "Not only can't he be touched, but he can't even get close to him. Not only can he not get close to him, but he also has to hope that he is safe and sound, without a single hair missing. If he falls and scrapes his knee one day, people will think that we did it, and then we will be held responsible."

Yi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

"But," Uncle Jia changed the subject, "his staying doesn't mean we have to confront him head-on. Young people want fame, achievement, and pride. He wants to stand up for the poor, fight injustice, and create a peaceful world—just give it to him."

"Give it to him?" Yi frowned. "How? Give him the whole line? Tens of millions in annual revenue, just give it away like that? Your family is so big that you don't care about this, but I'm supporting a hundred or so people up and down this line."

"I said give it to him, not give him the whole line," A said calmly. "He wants to investigate a case, and a case requires someone to confess. The key is whether the confessions are substantial enough and numerous enough. How much did your subordinate, Ma Wencai, embezzle?"

"The amount that can be found on the books alone is at least forty million."

"Is forty million enough?" Third Master Jia turned to look at Third Master Bing.

Bing pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "Not enough. He can't handle a 40 million case by himself, and Bei Bei definitely won't be satisfied. The fact that he can investigate to this level means he already has leads from higher levels. One Ma Wencai won't satisfy his appetite."

"Then let's add more." Master Jia pushed his wine glass to the center of the table and drew a circle on the surface with his finger. "Ma Wencai is one. I've heard about Liu Dabiao, the deputy in the north of the city, for exaggerating his numbers. How much did he embezzle last year? Two thousand four? Is that enough for a sentence? Wang Shoucai, the deputy in the west of the city, has been collecting expedited fees for three years, accumulating no less than eight million gold soul coins. Is that enough for a sentence? Zhao Mazi in the east of the city is the most audacious. He sold the aptitude information of awakened children. Just the matter of that cat-like martial soul mutated girl mentioned in the confession is enough to get him into serious trouble—this one doesn't need additional charges; the existing charges alone are enough to imprison him for twenty years."

He tapped four times on the table, each tap landing precisely at the intersection of the sandalwood grain, like placing four chess pieces.

"One captain-level officer, three deputies. With the charges against those four piled up, would that be enough for him to get by?"

Shrek City's city management is divided into squad leaders, company commanders, battalion commanders, and a general commander. There is only one general commander.

Bing quickly calculated in his mind. The cases involving the four people totaled at least 70,000 to 80,000 gold soul coins, and the charges ranged from embezzlement to dereliction of duty to trafficking in human information, covering a wide range of issues and involving a large number of victims.

A case of this magnitude would be a top-tier case in any city. If it were reported to the Sea God Pavilion, it would be enough for Beibei to close three cases in a grand and glorious manner.

"That's enough." C nodded. "The amount is sufficient. But there's a condition—these four people must keep their mouths shut. If anyone opens their mouth and bites out the person above, not only will they be free, but they'll also be sending our necks to the blade."

"Then shut them up." When A said this, he still had that smiling expression on his face, as if he wasn't discussing the fate of the four people, but rather instructing the kitchen to stew the soup a little more until it was tender.

"Make it clear to them—keep your mouths shut, we'll take care of your families, they'll have everything they need, and they'll come back when things calm down. Anyone who doesn't keep their mouth shut will suffer the consequences."

He paused for a moment, then gently traced a circle with his finger along the rim of the glass.

Bing nodded: "I'll talk to them personally. I know all four of them well and I know their weaknesses. Ma Wencai dotes on his youngest son the most, Liu Dabiao has a mistress, Wang Shoucai is afraid of death, and Zhao Mazi is the most greedy—the greedy are the easiest to talk to; just dangle a carrot in front of him and that's enough."

"Zhao Mazi is no good," Yi suddenly interjected, his voice deep. "Zhao Mazi's crime is trafficking in human information, and that confession is the strongest evidence Beibei has. Even if he keeps quiet, the crime itself is enough to convict him. This kind of person isn't worth protecting; protecting him will only cause trouble. What I mean is—out of the four, Ma Wencai, Liu Dabiao, and Wang Shoucai are negotiable. As for Zhao Mazi, just wash your hands of it. Anyway, his affairs don't have much to do with us. He likes to leak information because he's bold; we haven't shared any of his money."

A glanced at B, a hint of something ambiguous in his eyes—a mixture of approval and amusement. He didn't object, simply nodding slightly. "Then let's drop Zhao Mazi. We'll talk about the other three. C, this is your job. The sooner the better. That kid's too quick; I'm afraid if we delay a couple more days, he'll find something new."

"I'll go first thing tomorrow morning," Bing agreed readily.

The room remained quiet for about half a cup of tea's time. The flame of the ever-burning lamp still flickered silently, and the three shadows on the wall swayed slightly with the flickering flame, like three enormous silhouettes whispering to each other.

"Taking a step back is to let this matter pass." A picked up his wine glass again and finally took a sip. The wine was cold, and he squinted as he swallowed. "It's not about admitting defeat to him. Throwing these four people out is enough for him to finish his job, enough for him to make a name for himself, enough for him to go back to the Sea God Pavilion to collect his reward. As long as he catches the people and closes the case, this matter will be over."

"What if he doesn't move on?" B suddenly asked.

This sentence was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake. A's hand, holding the wine glass, froze in mid-air, and C's hand, wiping the lens, also stopped.

B continued, his tone more serious than before: "I'm talking about 'what if.' What if he's not satisfied with just these four people and wants to dig deeper into the ledger, all the way up to you and me—what will we do then?"

A slowly placed the wine glass back on the table. The bottom of the glass hit the rosewood tabletop with a slightly heavier thud than before.

"Taking a step back is to let him have his way, taking two steps back is to respect the Mu family behind him." His tone finally changed, no longer the soft, casual tone of before, but with a thin, cold, hard shell. "But if he feels that taking two steps back is not enough and insists on taking us all down at once..."

He raised his eyes, which curved into two kind arcs in the warm yellow light of the ever-burning lamp, but the light shining through the arcs was as cold as ice in the twelfth lunar month.

"Then let's fight to the death and plunge the city into complete chaos."

He's not good at building things, but he's very good at causing trouble.