Working Records in a Weird World - 110

 

| WRIAWW | Congratulations | 110

To say it was no exaggeration would be an understatement, this situation made even the naturally cold-blooded weirds break out in a cold sweat.

Zong Le came silently. Despite the fact that every weird present was of no low rank, with some even being experts in concealing their presence, not a single one had detected his arrival before he spoke.

Fortunately, Zong Le didn’t dwell on such trivial matters, so the weirds quickly seized the opportunity to save face.

"Not at all, Boss! We were just helping the butler with some cleaning."

"Yeah, who knew you’d be back so early?"

When bullying, one must pick the weak. The butler wasn’t even a weird, he was a convict serving his sentence. It was right to push the pot to him.

But since everyone was just trying to survive under the Great Devil King’s rule, no one was nobler than anyone else.

The butler was no pushover either. He smiled and said, "Today, I was busy preparing for the party and forgot to clean your room. Coincidentally, a new batch of maintenance tools just arrived. Although this was my job, everyone here was so kind as to volunteer to help..."

Zong Le nodded approvingly. "It seems you’re all getting along well. That puts my mind at ease."

With that, he brushed aside the frustrations from his journey and the awkward incident he’d encountered earlier. Holding up a plastic bag, he said cheerfully, "I’ve got the drinks. Let’s go."

Since he hadn’t entered the room, Zong Le didn’t look closely and simply ushered everyone downstairs.

Behind him, the weirds exchanged uneasy glances, unsure how to broach the subject.

Originally, they had planned to keep the incident under wraps. But while tidying up, they discovered that the thief had stolen quite a few items. Although most of the missing items had been replaced, there was no telling if anything else had been missing.

If something important or personal had been stolen... After all, the truth will come out sooner or later. It's better to confess now and get leniency than face the boss’s wrath later.

Fortunately, the Judge saw through their predicament and spoke up. "Actually, after you left, a group of outsiders sneaked into the neighborhood. One of them was a middle-aged man in a black trench coat, he was the one that entered your room. We came to investigate and assist the butler in restoring the mess."

"Is that so?" Zong Le was both surprised and enlightened. "No wonder, I suddenly received a notice from the Central Court revoking the survivors city pass. So this was the reason."

Then, he frowned slightly. "A middle-aged man in a black trench coat... That’s a bit too vague. But why would anyone break into my room? It’s not like I have anything worth coveting."

All of Zong Le’s money was stored in the main system, and he will only redeem it when he needed it. 

He lived a simple, frugal life, never indulging in luxuries. The most valuable items in his room were probably the recently purchased LCD TV and a set of high-end kitchenware certified by the Butcher.

"We’re not entirely sure what’s missing. You can check more thoroughly after the gathering. But if you say there’s nothing worth coveting, that’s a relief."

"Alright, sounds good."

Barefoot men fear no thieves, Zong Le was utterly confident in his level of poverty. Even if a burglar did break into his home, it would cause him absolutely no financial loss.

During the conversation between the two, the other weirds and humans didn’t dare make a sound.

They stood stiffly, eyes downcast, like schoolchildren waiting to be scolded by their headmaster.

As the underlings of their boss, they had failed in such a small task. While they were filled with shame, they also feared punishment.

The high-ranking weirds of Guiyi City had all sorts of bizarre methods for tormenting their subordinates. Some liked to turn their underlings into specimens, while others stuffed them into picture frames. The Night Owl Group, on the other hand, preferred to chop off fingers on the spot and boil them in a pot.

Yet Zong Le didn’t pursue the matter at all, he simply let it slide. For a moment, the weirds felt both grateful and resentful. Grateful for their boss’s mercy, and resentful toward those outsiders who had the audacity to steal from him.

"Boss, I swear," Number Two said with tears in his eyes, "next time, not a single rat will slip in!"

"If we see those outsiders again, we won’t hold back!"

"That’s right. At the very least, we’ll beat them half to death! We must defend the honor of Ankang Prison!"

Relieved, the weirds clenched their fists, their eyes burning with fighting spirit.

Zong Le slowly typed a question mark in his mind.

Why were they suddenly getting fired up? Whatever, to fit in, he gave a round of enthusiastic applause.

The group marched back to the open square in the community.

There were guests from other leaders sitting. It was unclear what they had seen or experienced while the weirds were toying with the survivors, but they all looked uneasy, their expressions a mix of fear and nervousness.

Spotting Zong Le leading the group from afar, they immediately shot to their feet, standing straight. "Hello, Warden!"

"Hello, everyone." Zong Le waved his hand. "No need to be so formal, we are all neighbors. This is just a simple meal, nothing more. From now on, Ankang Prison will take care of you."

For some reason, although these words were obviously said from the heart, but after he finished speaking, the group of power leaders in front of him trembled violently. 

One of them was so timid that he even started to hiccup, which looked particularly funny.

Xiao Fu quietly whispered to Number Two, "What’s wrong with them?"

"It's not a big deal. We just didn’t bother hiding our actions from these people earlier."

Xiao Fu suddenly understood.

This time, in their crackdown on the outsiders, Ankang Community had gone all out.

The moment the six-layered overlapping domain was unleashed, even the guests themselves felt their scalps tingle as they reassess Ankang Prison’s true strength.

Just as Zong Le was pondering how to ease the tension, Bluebeard and Jiang Chou slowly shuffled in through the gate.

After being brainwashed by Number Five, these two survivors were now more docile than quails, obeying Zong Le’s every word and rising to become some of his most loyal subordinates.

At the moment, they were dragging two large, indistinct objects behind them, one was motionless, the other was ashen-faced, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy the whole way.

"Please, spare me! I was just momentarily blinded by greed, I never meant to cause any harm to Ankang Community!"

The faction leaders took a closer look.

The one wailing and kowtowing for forgiveness, wasn’t that the factory owner from the Ansheng Factory next door?

Not long ago, this factory owner had been making waves in the East District, strutting about arrogantly by clinging to Morris "Blood Scythe," the overlord of the East District, and hosting lavish banquets to expand his influence.

Yet now, he looked as wretched as a stray dog, and barely recognizable.

When the gazes shifted to the blood-soaked figure standing two meters tall beside him, the faction leaders nearly jumped out of their skins in fright.

Although this mountain of flesh was unconscious and covered in blood, the iconic scythe-arm dragging on the ground unmistakably revealed his identity.

—It was none other than the infamous lord of the East District, Morris "Blood Scythe."

In an instant, shock, disbelief, and astonishment surged through the faction leaders' nerves.

They stared dumbfounded at the scene before them, realizing they had just witnessed a power shift in the East District of Guiyi City.

The owner of Parkson Supermarket was the first to snap out of it, loudly flattering, "Congratulations to the Warden for taking over the East District of Guiyi City!"

The others quickly followed suit, as if waking from a dream.

"Yes, yes, congratulations to you on being crowned the Lord of the East District!"

"Ah, so the purpose of this gathering was to celebrate such a momentous occasion! Clearly, our gifts were far too modest. If I recall correctly, the Warden didn’t even need to lift a finger, did he? He is really good at controlling his subordinates!"

"Indeed! And you look so young, it was only a matter of time before you become the lord of Guiyi City!"

Amidst the endless stream of flattery, the faction leaders bowed lower and lower, and the smiles on their faces were so flattering that wrinkles could be squeezed out.

They were eager to curry favor with the newly crowned lord of the East District right away.

Zong Le: ?

Since when did he become the lord of Guiyi City’s East District? Seriously? How come he doesn't know?

"Ahem, Boss, here’s what happened."

Seeing his boss's bewildered expression, Number Five quickly lowered his voice to explain: "Shortly after you left the community, the owner of Ansheng Factory brought Blood Scythe to our turf to cause trouble. And then... well, let’s just say those two had terrible luck. They ran straight into that group of outsiders before even stepping foot into our community and got taken care of right then and there. The funny part is that both sides thought it was our people who dealt with them."

Zong Le: ???

Wait, he was only gone for two hours, and yet so much drama had unfolded?

What the hell did he miss?!

Helplessly, Zong Le sighed. He was all too familiar with being caught in these misunderstandings where both sides pinned the blame on him.

After all, Taikang Yongle Hospital still circulated wild rumors about him, and how he’d effortlessly summoned an army of subordinates without lifting a finger, crushed the old dean, and seized control of the medical department through sheer intimidation.

In short, to the weirds, he was an unfathomable, omnipotent force. To the survivors, he was a scheming NPC with deep connections and vicious. Both sides kept piling on exaggerated rumors about him, inevitably concluding that he was someone they could not mess with.

He was used to it by now.

Zong Le rubbed his nose resignedly.

Well, if he was already the hospital dean, adding "Lord of East District" to his titles... wouldn’t be too bad, right?

Little did he know, his calm look only reinforced the others’ belief that he was utterly unfazed, and proof that everything had unfolded exactly as he’d planned.

"Oh... Ansheng Factory." With a sudden realization, Zong Le finally remembered why the name sounded familiar. "I happened to pass by your factory earlier and took some pictures as evidence... I discovered your factory not only has serious food safety violations but also breached Guiyi City's labor laws, and exploiting workers."

His tone was calm yet brooked no argument: "After this gathering, you'll accompany me. Coincidentally, the Chief Justice of the Central Court is also here, we can convict you today, I will try to wrap it up fast, you will be fined with a ticket and then I will send you to prison in one go."

The surrounding faction leaders collectively gasped.

They couldn't help swallowing their saliva, they silently reached the same conclusion: even if they couldn't curry favor, they must absolutely avoid making enemies with the newly appointed Lord of the Eastern District.

This man truly delivered the most ruthless threats with the most innocent expression.

Just look at the fate of Ansheng Factory's owner, he faced total annihilated for choosing the wrong side. His tactics were ruthless.

For him to deliberately say such words in front of them, isn't this a warning?

Most importantly, the Warden's words also subtly revealed earth-shattering news: even the Central Court's Chief Justice was on his side, available at his beck and call.

How could these leaders not carefully consider who they should work for?

Several shrewd faction leaders broke out in cold sweat. This was no ordinary gathering, it was clearly a Hongmen Banquet!

Now was the moment to pick an allegiance. They dared not hesitate, fearing even a moment's delay might cost them their heads or land them in the same predicament as that unfortunate Ansheng Factory owner. Their survival instincts immediately kicked in.

Thud!

A series of kneeling sounds followed as the faction leaders kowtowed, their voices trembling yet resounding:

"We pledge undying loyalty to the Warden!"

"From this day forth, we follow your lead! Through fire and water, we'll never waver!"

"We swear allegiance! Your commands shall be our absolute orders!"

Zong Le, who did nothing from beginning to end but was bowed to by a group of people: ?

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