“Rebels? The academy recognized them? But rebels need to have weapons first!”
“Of course they have weapons. They have guns and cannons—enough to take down a small mortal city without any problem.”
Lingxin looked at Bai Xiaodu in disbelief.
“Did you design it so they would get their hands on them?”
Bai Xiaodu shook his head immediately.
“Of course not. They stole them themselves, hehehe.”
Bai Xiaodu's sinister grin made Lingxin chuckle along.
“Xiaobai, how can you be so bad!”
“But are there many casualties? Of course, I mean on our side.”
Since they were dealing with rebels, Lingxin no longer worried about casualties on the enemy's side.
Bai Xiaodu wagged his finger smugly.
“A deathless speedrun. They only took the guns, but no bullets.”
“The only injured person on our side was someone who chased too fast and fought too hard. He swung his club for so long that he dislocated his arm.”
After hearing Bai Xiaodu's explanation of the entire process, Lingxin's breathing quickened slightly.
Slumping back into her seat, she murmured, “Xiaobai... you're simply... I don't even know how to praise you anymore.”
She was from the military transition office, so acting as a martial arts training instructor was fine.
But having to handle these miscellaneous, trivial territorial affairs every day would make her head explode.
Bai Xiaodu only managed one, but she had to oversee more than ten territories.
They said it was only busy during the initial phase of taking over, but right now was exactly that phase!
This was no simple desk job. Not everyone could handle a major incident like a protest as effortlessly as Bai Xiaodu.
Most of it involved endless bickering, arguments, and even brawls and bloody conflicts.
If too many people died, not only would the student who just became the new lord face severe punishment, but she wouldn't be able to escape responsibility either.
Watching Bai Xiaodu's fox tail wagging happily, a brilliant light flickered in Lingxin's wine-red eyes.
Bai Xiaodu's territorial dispute had been the most severe, yet he had resolved it the fastest and most perfectly, eliminating a major headache in one fell swoop.
It was truly...
...wonderful!
She let out a long breath, her mood instantly brightening.
Looking at Bai Xiaodu's face, Lingxin couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Was Xiaobai really just a child from a run-down district?
This level of composure and insight made her feel somewhat inferior.
If she hadn't known for certain that Bai Xiaodu belonged to the 【Mage Emperor】, she would have suspected he had stepped onto the 【Trickery】 Pathway and was using those subjects to farm Origin!
“You did a great job, Xiaobai,” Lingxin said with a smile.
“Things won't be as chaotic now. You should modify the decrees to maintain order. Based on past patterns, it should take about half a month to resume normal production.”
Bai Xiaodu shook his head.
“I came here precisely for that.”
The academy had monthly evaluations, and an important part of the evaluation criteria was production.
This month's production would be compared with the same period from last year and the year before.
Based on the evaluation results, the academy would distribute cultivation resources and points.
If a protest caused a drop in production, it would be deemed poor management on your part, and you would just have to suck it up.
But Bai Xiaodu had no intention of swallowing this bitter pill!
Having just ascended to the Transcendent rank, he needed quite a few Circle-tier spell pages to fill his spell list.
He also needed some Transcendent-tier weapons; he hadn't even touched a staff or anything similar yet.
Since 【Mechanical Heart】 already allowed him to cast quickly, with the assistance of a staff, he could probably achieve near-instant casting!
Thus, Bai Xiaodu was currently very short on resources.
Whatever those lizardmen owed him, they would have to pay it back in full!
Lingxin couldn't help but feel curious and pressed further.
“Then what do you plan to do?”
“Xiaobai, you can't use weapons to force them to work. After all, these lizardmen are still citizens of the United Federation. You can't cross the line.”
Bai Xiaodu looked completely unperturbed.
“When did I say I would use force? Why do you always think so badly of me, Sister Lingxin!”
Lingxin laughed in spite of herself.
“Yes, yes, yes. It was my misunderstanding.”
Bai Xiaodu continued, “It's too embarrassing to get my own hands dirty, right?”
“It's much better to let heroes investigate heroes, and let outlaws investigate outlaws!”
“Sister Lingxin, you should have learned invisibility, right? Take me on a trip!”
...
The rebellion in Gaoxi Ravine had been incredibly fierce, which was why Bai Xiaodu had quickly rooted out the mastermind behind the scenes and executed a precision strike.
But a dying centipede dies hard.
Although the big players had been taken down, leaving the middle management would still cause trouble.
Bai Xiaodu never believed he possessed the kind of charm that could instantly make people bow down in submission.
Human hearts were complex, and everyone had their own hidden agendas. Caution was always the best policy.
Regarding the previous granary incident, except for those few apprentices whom Bai Xiaodu had secretly ordered to be executed, most of the others had only received a few symbolic blows from clubs before being released.
There was really no need to kill them; they were merely being used.
As for why he specifically killed the apprentices, possessing transcendent power made one superior to ordinary mortals, even if they were only apprentices.
Before he arrived, the family backgrounds of these Transcendent Apprentices must have been quite decent.
Many of them likely held certain positions.
After a brief review, this indeed proved to be the case.
He had commissioned Xin Hai'an to help keep an eye on the movements of the families of those deceased apprentices.
Sure enough, with Xian Ling, the source of the rebellion, dead, and the pillars of their households also having perished at the granary, these people could no longer sit still.
They gathered privately to hold a small meeting.
After casting invisibility on herself and Bai Xiaodu, Lingxin patiently listened to his analysis.
“Do you want to arrest them all? We can record it as evidence.”
Bai Xiaodu shook his head.
“If we arrest all the educated people, who will be responsible for production? It's not like you and I can go operate the machines and mine ourselves.”
“Besides, everything has two sides.”
“You might think that my forceful intervention and killing of so many people from Gaoxi Ravine makes me a complete demon in their eyes.”
Bai Xiaodu changed the subject and sneered, “But in reality, some of them might actually be deeply grateful to me in secret!”
“Those Transcendent Apprentices were used to throwing their weight around. Who knows how many people despised them.”
“My action essentially shattered that balance. The original system of interests can no longer be maintained, so things must be redistributed.”
Lingxin nodded repeatedly.
“People desire change. When the time comes, they will start fighting among themselves!”
“So this is what you meant by letting heroes investigate heroes, and letting outlaws investigate outlaws!”
Bai Xiaodu and Lingxin silently slipped through a window and entered the hall of a grand mansion.
Lizardmen dressed in luxurious clothing sat on the floor, seemingly arguing about something.
Bai Xiaodu rubbed his fingers together in delight. A trace of secret, dark-gold energy seeped out and shot toward one of them.
“Spirit Seed!”
Rate on N.U.
