Star Gate

“Everything might seem calm and tranquil, but that’s hardly the case. All eyes are probably on you. Danger lurks in the shadows so long as you remain in Silver City. It’s not out in the open for now because of Elder Yuan. Once he leaves, we will certainly become the most chaotic place in all of Silver Moon!”

Chaos! It was inevitable!

Liu Yan was no fool and had drawn her theories long ago. All was quiet now due to the presence of an expert who could kill Solars. But once said expert departed, the city would promptly dissolve into utter pandemonium.

Just you wait.

“Sis, why don’t you guys leave since you know that troubled times are coming?” Li Hao asked after a long period of silence.

“Leave?” Liu Yan chuckled. “Where to? And why? Trouble is good! From danger comes opportunity! As a martial master yet to make the crossover, I crave large amounts of mysterious power! Once the Night Watcher branch is formed, we’ll be rewarded for killing enemy supernaturals. My monthly salary and additional power from killing enemies is where my opportunity lies.

“Otherwise, having just set foot into Sunderer of Hundreds, I’ll never be able to ascend.”

She knew how dangerous the city might be in the near future, but so what? She wasn’t afraid! This was precisely her gamble, that Silver City would be treacherous. Without the chances to be had from these circumstances, how eternally long might it take for her to make the crossover as a Sunderer?

“I owe you thanks for my breakthrough,” she suddenly said. It was a meaningful statement as one couldn’t make out if she was happy or resigned. Indeed, Li Hao was the primary reason why she’d advanced to Sunderer. After the large quantity of special energy he sent into her, she returned home to discover that her physique had grown stronger and her supernatural locks even more secure. It was why she’d broken through.

She didn’t speak of it to anyone.

Li Hao paused. Me? Ah, sword energy!

“I just wanted to heal your wounds,” he said with embarrassment.

“It’s alright.” Liu Yan continued driving with a smile. “Sunderer is just as well, this means I have some ability to protect myself now. Otherwise, Slayer is completely insufficient if I’m still stuck on the martial master path.”

Li Hao didn’t respond as he was busy thinking of things. So the eight families were catching attention, were they?

He knew this would happen, but since everyone had avoided the subject before, he thought no one cared. Looks like they did care. Despite the eight families being an old legend, post the awakening of the supernatural, the sword of the Lis being presented to the Night Watchers, and Red Moon losing a Solar in Silver City, perhaps powerhouses of other provinces were also paying attention to them now.

Nothing resulted from their scrutiny so long as Yuan Shuo was in residence, but the storm might descend as soon as his teacher left.

That’s fine! Like Liu Yan said, this was an opportunity. Li Hao had just set foot into Sunderer, but his strength continued to improve. His teacher had withdrawn his share of mysterious power from the treasury and mentioned that he would obtain some of the five elements for his student.

Yuan Shuo’s loot of mysterious power focused on metal energy as the Solar had been a metal supernatural. The Sunflare was a thunder supernatural. While they could help Li Hao, they weren’t as useful as the balanced nature of the five elements. The professor needed time to trade his cubes with others.

These days, I can sense that I’m on the verge of succeeding with Thrice Forced. It’s a small improvement, in a way. The young man saw Qiao Peng’s figure slowly disappear in the rearview mirror.

Qiao Mining Industries! Potentially a fringe Yama organization. Li Hao committed it to memory.

……

The Inspectorate.

Li Hao and Liu Yan returned like nothing had happened.

The large conference room.

Mu Sen was also present; Li Hao was surprised by some familiar faces when he entered the room. Wang Ming didn’t say a word when he met Li Hao’s eyes. He’d told the latter to leave for White Moon as soon as possible, that Silver City was too small. Yet here he was, back before long. How mortifying!

“We’re all here, good!” Mu Sen smiled when he saw Liu Yan and Li Hao return. “The documents and people from the Night Watchers have arrived. Everyone take a seat, I’ll announce the appointments!”

The group sat down where they would. Wang Ming didn’t greet or talk to Li Hao as he found the situation too humiliating. Could everyone just pretend that he didn’t exist?

“After careful study, the senior council has decided to formally establish a Night Watcher branch in Silver City! Liu Long, formerly captain of the Silver City law enforcement team, is promoted to chief commissioner and will serve as the branch director!”

Liu Long rose, walked up to accept his letter of commission, and snapped a salute. Everyone applauded their new director. There weren’t that many present, just the Demon Hunters and a few outside Night Watchers. It was a secret agency, after all. Although quite a few knew about it, they should keep it confidential where they could and avoid the public eye.

“Wang Ming, formerly commissioner inspector of the White Moon Night Watchers, will serve as deputy director!”

Wang Ming walked up and accepted his letter without a smile on his face. He’d come all the way from White Moon to be the new branch’s deputy director, but he was still an outsider to these people. What was the point of this? He was a commissioner inspector to begin with and wasn’t promoted for his new title, making it all the more pointless.

“Li Hao, formerly first rank inspector of the Silver City law enforcement team, is promoted to commissioner inspector and will serve as deputy director!”

Wang Ming stared at Li Hao, beside himself with humiliation. The kid was the other deputy director? He really hadn’t known about this. Holy fuck, I’ve done poorly for myself in life. I’m the same rank as Li Hao?!

Li Meng and Hu Hao looked at each other, finding the situation too awkward for words. So Li Hao was to be their superior? My word, if they’d known that Li Hao would be the deputy director, they would’ve resisted this transfer with every fiber of their being. They thought it would be Liu Yan!

The vice captain was older than them and with a longer tenure. Other than not being a supernatural, she was an acceptable deputy director. But Li Hao??

“Director Liu, this… uh… Li Hao…” Wang Ming couldn’t resist muttering. “Hasn’t it only been a while since he joined the Inspectorate? And he’s not a supernatural…”

How is this reasonable?

“No worries, Li Hao is primarily in charge of back office support,” Liu Long replied evenly. “We look to Director Wang when real battle is upon us. Director Hao is a Fullmoon supernatural and the strongest in Silver City…”

Wang Ming flushed beet red. This was stark humiliation! What do you mean by this, Liu Long?! Everyone knew what’d happened in the previous battle. Liu Long could take on three by himself, whereas Wang Ming couldn’t handle solo combat. There was also Yuan Shuo within the city walls, so what was this talk of the strongest in the city, if not degradation of the worst kind?

“Director Liu!”

“Oh, I mean first among supernaturals!” Liu Long corrected calmly.

Wang Ming blinked, then quieted down. That was accurate enough. Forget it, he wasn’t going to argue with a blockhead.

“Liu Yan, formerly captain of the Silver City field mission team…”

The appointments continued. There were nine altogether for the new branch—four were executives, if they counted Liu Yan. Yun Yao, Wu Chao, and Chen Jian didn’t mind the new hierarchy. Hu Hao and Li Meng looked around them, suddenly feeling very alone. They were two Darkmoons reporting for work in the minor Silver City, yet at the end of the day… they were just more substantial soldiers.

They hadn’t even finagled a position of team captain!

The two almost broke out in sobs. If they’d known this would be the case, they should’ve requested a transfer to Flare City. Even if they weren’t part of the leadership team there, there would still be some Starlight who could be their minions. Look at the situation they were in now! Other than the two of them, only Wu Chao and Chen Jian were weaker than them. And the key thing was, they were of a completely different path as they were martial masters. They were also directly from Liu Long’s faction!

The two of them were the lowest on the totem pole!

“Congratulations, everyone!” Mu Sen smiled as he finished announcing the appointments. “Particularly Li Hao, congratulations! I said so before that a student from the Veteris Institute would stand out from his fellows sooner or later! I hadn’t thought that you’d make a commissioner inspector so quickly.”

He was both surprised, yet not so surprised. It made sense that those upstairs had agreed—they needed to show Yuan Shuo\'s face.

“The formation of a Night Watcher branch is a wonderful occasion for both the Inspectorate and me!” said the merry inspector general. “You will be in charge of all cases involving the supernatural and martial masters in the future. The Inspectorate will handle only the mundane cases. Of course, feel free to temporarily commandeer anyone from the Inspectorate whenever you need help.”

There were too few Night Watchers and there would undoubtedly be many supernatural cases to come. Mu Sen granted them leniency in permitting them to bolster their ranks whenever needed.

Liu Long didn’t care about that. He thought for a bit before saying, “According to my knowledge, the Inspectorate has the most detailed files on all supernaturals and martial masters in the city. Just give me a copy of that, including a listing of all supernaturals and martial masters in the various corporations, Veteris Institute, and agencies.”

Mu Sen looked at him without saying a word.

“What, can you not do that?” Liu Long asked placidly. “Inspector General Mu, you and I are of the same rank now! The Night Watchers have the right to request these files. Please hand them over.”

“I don’t mean that!” Mu Sen frowned. “Liu Long, what do you intend to do?”

“A new official wants to make a strong showing. I’m going to light a fire with my showing, is there a problem with that?”

Mu Sen opened and closed his mouth. He was the only one who could read those files because they involved all of the superhuman existences within Silver City. Slayers, Starlight, Sunderer, Darkmoon…

Did Silver City have those?

Yes, but very few and concentrated within a few corporations and powerful organizations—such as the Veteris Institute. There was a martial master in residence there, and it wasn’t Yuan Shuo.