Afternoon of April 24, 2018

When Wang Jiu arrived at the reception area of the City Lord’s Mansion in Golden Jade City, a serpentine line had already formed at the entrance. Compared to the three open windows and the busy clerks behind them, the three long and winding queues seemed particularly cold and ruthless, like icy assassins grinning menacingly and eyeing the clerks’ closing time.

On a normal day, the reception area of the City Lord’s Mansion could be said to be the most leisurely department among all the offices in Golden Jade City. With Zhao Chenlu’s years of authority, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to visit the City Lord’s Mansion lightly.

In theory, any resident of Golden Jade City, if faced with a difficult problem in life, experiencing unfair treatment, or having opinions on the policies of the City Lord’s Mansion, could come to the reception area to register without obstruction from anyone. However, on the other hand, coming here to register meant harboring dissatisfaction with Zhao Chenlu’s management of Golden Jade City, implying that there were imperfections in Golden Jade City’s seemingly perfect era of peace.

Such thinking is obviously highly dangerous—of course, with the openness and freedom of Golden Jade City and the magnanimity of the City Lord’s Mansion, they would never suppress someone for having unorthodox thoughts. But perhaps due to the unique feng shui pattern caused by Golden Jade City’s geographic movements, or maybe some cunning evil cultivators and demons infiltrated Golden Jade City to cause destruction—residents with unorthodox thoughts often experience mysterious disappearances. According to investigations, over a hundred people go missing every year, and the team that investigated this unfortunately disappeared a decade ago.

Although these are just rumors from the martial world without any solid evidence, considering Zhao Chenlu’s consistent style, few in Golden Jade City dared to disregard such rumors. So over the years, the reception area’s work has always been leisurely.

It wasn’t until Zhao Hongwu and others launched a coup and announced a public trial at the end of the month to judge Zhao Chenlu’s crimes that people gradually realized that this coup might be different from past games; this time, Golden Jade City was indeed about to change.

As a result, people came to the City Lord’s Mansion in droves to complain.

Some were dissatisfied with Zhao Chenlu’s past policies, others had old grievances with Zhao Chenlu, and still others seized the great opportunity of this coup to try their luck... Of course, there were also many supporters of Zhao Chenlu who came to protest against the temporary government’s coup, demanding the prompt restoration of Zhao Chenlu’s legitimate rule. Faced with these messy demands, the reception area accepted them all, making the workload as heavy as Mount Tai.

Wang Jiu stood at the end of the line, watching for a moment, and judged that if he queued obediently, it would probably take until late at night for his turn to come. Obviously, he didn’t have so much time to waste, so after a brief contemplation, Wang Jiu decided to use a little queuing trick he had seen before.

"Zhao, Zhao Chenlu... oh no, City Lord Zhao, why are you here!?"

Wang Jiu’s voice perfectly imitated the complex emotions of human terror, astonishment, and helplessness, and these emotions instantly infected everyone nearby.

Like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, ripples spread out, and the Golden Jade residents, who were neatly lined up in three columns, scattered like birds and beasts at lightning speed. They dispersed while muttering to themselves.

"Oh, I suddenly remembered I have to buy groceries and make dinner."

"My kid’s tutoring class is over, I need to pick them up immediately."

"What, this is the reception area of the City Lord’s Mansion in Golden Jade City? I thought we were lining up to buy collections of the City Lord’s quotes, what a disappointment."

Zhao Chenlu’s reputation was deeply ingrained in the souls of the Golden Jade residents. Despite hundreds of people present not seeing even a shadow of Zhao Chenlu, a single sentence from Wang Jiu plunged them into uncontrollable instinctive fear.

Half a minute later, the small square in front of the City Lord’s Mansion was already empty, leaving only a mess of discarded shoes, broken glasses, and other debris.

As for the three clerks behind the reception windows, they squirmed desperately in their seats, appearing as if they were making a last-ditch struggle.

Hearing Wang Jiu’s words, they were just as scared, perhaps even more frightened than those outside. After all, they were currently serving the temporary government, the opponents of Zhao Chenlu, which was an act of great rebellion worthy of death. Thus, they were even more eager to run away than ordinary people.

However, in Zhao Chenlu’s first year in charge of Golden Jade City, she launched a campaign to improve work efficiency and designed a new type of office chair for all of Golden Jade City’s departments. It offered numerous humane functions, such as an automatic feeding function: when staff reached meal time without finishing their tasks, a puppet arm would extend from the back of the chair, stuffing military dry rations mixed with stimulants into their mouths to replenish their energy. There’s also a drainage function to absorb the waste water produced by the staff’s metabolism, saving bathroom time...

With this work chair, the efficiency of Golden Jade City’s workforce increased significantly. Moreover, the chair came with a mandatory fixing function: to prevent malicious absenteeism, the chair would automatically attach with strong adhesive properties during work hours, making it impossible to escape unless it was the end of the workday—or unless there was no work left to process, or if the staff lost vital signs, in which case the adhesion would surely not disappear. After all, with its numerous humane functions, the chair enabled survival even if one couldn’t leave it.

Therefore, when Wang Jiu shouted out Zhao Chenlu’s name, although all the clerks wished they could immediately deliver themselves to Feiyan Mountain, they could only futilely rub themselves heatedly against their chairs.

The riot only subsided several minutes later when a team of guards arrived nervously.

By that time, nothing stood between Wang Jiu and the window.

The clerk behind the window, while nervously popping a rapid-acting life-saving pill, still trembling with fear, asked, "Sir, how may we assist you?"

Wang Jiu said, "Here’s the thing, I am Zhao Xinyu, the ex-husband of the former City Lord Zhao Chenlu. I heard Zhao Chenlu is about to be publicly tried and sentenced to death, so I’m here to claim my inheritance rights."

As soon as the other party heard the first half of this statement, they felt like the pill in their mouth was about to be spat out.

"What did you say?!"

Wang Jiu reiterated, "I am Zhao Xinyu, the ex-husband of Zhao Chenlu. Yes, the kind of ex-husband who had intimate physical relations and engaged in reproductive activities multiple times. Considering that I had repeatedly brought Zhao Chenlu to the peak of pleasure with my excellent physique and exquisite skills, I believe I have the right to claim part of her inheritance."

According to Golden Jade City’s relevant work regulations, the staff should have diligently recorded Wang Jiu’s demands at this moment, but no matter how hard he tried to steady his mind, his arm kept trembling uncontrollably, and the ink on the brush splattered in little dots.

"You, what did you say?!"

Wang Jiu then repeated his statement again solemnly. This time, the staff’s body trembled even more violently, but the expression on his face was not fear but anger.

Bam!

With a dull thud, the entire desk was smashed into pieces.

"Nonsense!"

Before the words had finished, the backrest of the chair behind him issued a warning alarm, "Please note, your speech violates the Golden Jade City Civilized Workplace Code. Please apologize immediately and submit a written review..."

However, the staff entirely ignored the warning and continued to wave his fists angrily, "Even if City Lord Zhao Chenlu has countless faults, she shouldn’t be smeared with such filth! Before I truly lose my temper, get out quickly. Golden Jade City will never welcome a despicable opportunist like you!"

As he spoke, the staff struggled with all his might to overcome the inertia and rise from the chair. In a moment, there was a horrifying ripping sound of fabric tearing, and the entire pair of pants was ripped into two halves. The staff took advantage of the momentum to stand up, and at the same time, the mandatory restraint device on the chair activated. A heavy hammer fell from the ceiling, striking the furious staff into unconsciousness, bloodied and senseless, while a clear stream of water sprayed out, washing the staff and the bloodstains on the ground clean.

The entire process left Wang Jiu clicking his tongue in wonder. This standardized workflow was designed and invented by Shang Lanfei in the past to regulate enterprise operations. Under the influence of this process, Shang Lanfei amassed astonishing wealth at a young age. At that time, Zhao Chenlu, who was also wealthy enough to rival a country but far inferior to Shang Lanfei, often mocked her as a black-hearted merchant, more ruthless than the Demon Race. She claimed that golden and silver mountains must have been irrigated with sweat and blood, and were not at all worthy of praise.

However, when Zhao Chenlu became the City Lord of Golden Jade, she faithfully copied Shang Lanfei’s design, which shows that their relationship was actually very good, and their daily quarrels were just superficial.

After a while, a substitute staff member who looked seven or eight parts similar to the previous one came over with an apologetic smile, "Sorry to keep you waiting, how can I help you?"

Wang Jiu said, "I am Zhao Xinyu, the ex-husband of the former City Lord Zhao Chenlu, here to apply to inherit part of her estate."

"What did you say?!"

The almost identical farce played out again, and a moment later, after clear water washed away the human and blood stains on the ground, a middle-aged man who looked like he was in charge finally came over.

"Sir, please speak inside."

——

And that evening, news spread throughout Golden Jade City about a shameless opportunist named Zhao Xinyu, claiming to be Zhao Chenlu’s ex-husband, coming to profit from the situation.

As expected, this news successfully incited the anger of millions of people.

For the vast majority of ordinary people in Golden Jade City, no matter how much they might disagree with Zhao Chenlu’s actions as a City Lord, they absolutely acknowledged her personal charisma and her contributions to Golden Jade City.

And this ex-husband who suddenly jumped out was using the lowest means to tarnish their great leader. Such a person deserves a thousand cuts, and death is not pity enough.