Chapter 43: The Decree

Chu Jiu followed Ah Man and hurried to the foot of the back mountain.

When they arrived at the apiary, two figures in black robes had opened the wooden barrels filled with honey, scooping out some with spoons to "inspect the goods" under the illumination of torches.

Meanwhile, another two men in black robes were even attempting to take away the movable-frame beehives used for raising the bees!

Grandpa Du, who had reluctantly handed over the honey under the pressure of the "Permit," how could he possibly agree to let them take the beehives? You must know that these beehives were currently teeming with bees, and all hopes of harvesting honey after the new year rested right here!

The old man used his body to block the beehives, Douglas stopped the black-robed men, and the elderly village chief rushed over, his face flushed with anger, arguing that it was one thing for them to take the honey according to the "Permit," but how could they possibly take the beehives as well?

The leader of the black-robed men had an elongated face, right down the middle of which sat a long, upturned nose. This long-faced man spoke in a very polite tone, but the meaning of his words was utterly unreasonable and uncompromising: "Gentlemen, the 'Permit' states that the goods we are requisitioning include 'related tools for containing, transporting, and maintaining the freshness of the goods.' Since your freshest honey is currently inside the beehives, naturally we must requisition the tools along with it."

Having said this, the long-faced man was about to take another step forward when he heard a clear and resolute adolescent voice ring out:

"You cannot take the beehives away!"

"Not only can you not take the beehives, you cannot take the honey either!"

The long-faced man turned his head to look—

A teenager who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen had zero intimidating presence, didn't look like an ability user at all, and even had a blurry ball of an animal resting on his shoulder.

The long-faced man sneered inwardly, thinking to himself that this was just another ignorant and reckless greenhorn.

He didn't bother to respond to the youth, but instead lowered his voice to tell his subordinates behind him: "We have already given a polite notice; we can proceed to take action directly."

Unexpectedly, the teenager shouted at the top of his lungs: "Do you intend to openly defy the laws of the kingdom?"

"Defying the laws of the kingdom is contempt for the royal family! If the Royal Guard is not present, in an emergency, members of the Ability Patrol Squad are authorized to escort violators to the Royal City to stand trial!"

[This event grants a reward of 500 points, and the host's unclaimed associated event grants a reward of 300 points.]

"Some clauses are not recorded in the 'Tax-Free Zone Decrees,' but are scattered across other special edicts."

"First jump, jump, jump in the mud pit, and then sit down to play with mud—and if there are friends playing along beside you, that would be even better!"

[If you continue to accumulate, the rewards will continue to double.]

The Pioneer's Cabin.

At this point, Chu Jiu thought of a scene and couldn't help but smile, his eyebrows curving: "Ah, if there's still a chance to see him in the future, I wonder if I could seat you all in a row together—that would certainly look wonderful!"

The little kitty sighed softly, shifted slightly toward Chu Jiu's cheek, closed its eyes, and fell asleep.

After a brief rest, he integrated all the information gained from this investigation, including what he had seen and heard, as well as the memories of the spiritual entity obtained after the fusion.

"Thanks to your thoughtfulness, otherwise this apiary truly wouldn't have been saved today."

Looking back, he saw it was Marco and Grandpa Du. This middle-aged man, who was usually always smiling, and the old man old enough to dare venture to cliffs alone to harvest honeycombs, were hugging each other, patting each other's backs while shedding tears.

"However, things have come to this."

Chu Jiu wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

They were both dressed entirely in black, paired with a pair of clear, ice-blue eyes! How interesting!

Marco puffed out his chest, pulled out the sheepskin parchment hidden against his chest, and shouted out the numbers on it at the top of his lungs: "150 silver coins! Far higher than 100 kingdom silver coins!"

"If you and Douglas hadn't been here, even if I slapped the decree right in their faces, they would have chosen to turn a blind eye and still carried out their arbitrary misdeeds."

[If you accept the reward now, the host can acquire a total of 1,600 pioneer points.]

"What? Surely you don't think tax-free zones are exempt from requisition?"

"Besides a house, there are many other things I want to build..."

In his mind, the image emerged of the teenager placing his hand in his palm, while he extended his arm to shield him and leaped forward, carrying him upward.

As this man spoke, his subordinates once again displayed that Permit in their hands to everyone:

He calmly recounted what had likely happened at wt0906, and what the Zerg were actually plotting.

And that former ability user who had once served as the captain of the Patrol Squad stood with arms crossed, blocking the way front throughout.

"Lord Marshal, are you saying..." He Fang organized his thoughts in his mind, expressing himself as clearly as possible, "The spiritual entities of several officers, including yourself, have all undergone juvenilization at wt0906, and are recuperating... in juvenile form?"

During this period, Little Canned goods refused to sleep alone and insisted on staying right beside him.

Chu Jiu stood beneath the torches held high by Ah Man and the others, pronouncing every word clearly:

That long-nosed man knelt on one knee on the ground, recounting his encounter in Bean Village with utter dismay and grievance.

Little Canned Goods's tail, which had been swaying just a moment ago, froze in mid-air.

One has to admit, reading through laws and regulations is truly exhausting work...

He felt a genuine sense of admiration and praised: "If it were me, I would have never thought to look up these decrees in advance."

During spiritual projection, it was impossible to carry observation bodies along.

Supported by a young shop assistant, Marco struggled to straighten his body, his voice still trembling: "Signed!"

Yet whenever he was about to put the books down, Chu Jiu would think of those hurriedly departing black-robed men, and an unsettled feeling would linger in his heart.

On the sheepskin-crafted Permit, the royal-exclusive seal was striking, proclaiming the "legitimacy" of this operation.

He took a deep breath, squeezed out a smile, and said, "So that's how it is."

"If this honey and these beehives and whatnot were accidentally destroyed, well, that would be one thing..."

Though a few pieces of the puzzle were still missing, this did not affect his ability to make a basic judgment.

Seeing the old and the young crying together in a mess, Chu Jiu let out another long sigh of relief.

After everything was arranged, Douglas looked at Chu Jiu once again, asking with evident appreciation:

A gray-haired man with a kindly expression sat in a velvet high-backed chair, listening in silence as his subordinates reported.

Just like that, he stayed up all night and finished reading two entire volumes of compilations.

"Yet that ignorant young man actually brought up the decrees of the former king, using that to pressure us."

"To my understanding, this youth is carrying out a series of 'repair work' on the premise that it does not exceed his cognition or trigger spacetime chaos."

"Isn't this act of forcibly compelling us to change the commercial use of the honey an open provocation against the authority of the former king?!"

The sharp-mouthed man immediately lowered his head in response and trotted away.

The long-nosed man's nostrils expanded and contracted, expanded and contracted.

Grandpa Du wept tears of sorrow and relief: "Our apiary—we almost didn't manage to save the apiary..."

"I heard you went to borrow books, but I never expected you were borrowing these kinds of books."

With that, he consulted with Rayger and decided to have the ability users of Emerald Town pay special attention to the Association's movements, notifying them of any disturbance so they could prepare early.

Actually, Chu Jiu could guess most of it.

The long-nosed man lowered his head abruptly: "Vice President! It was our lapse in judgment! Please punish us!"

If not for his suggestion, he wouldn't have deliberately sought out Mr. He, nor would he have been able to scare off the Association with such an irrefutable reason.

"Although I don't like eating vegetables, I love growing vegetables! Ho ho ho! Seeing little vegetables poking their heads out of the soil just makes me feel so happy!"

"Are you trying to claim that your honey belongs to any of the crops listed above?!"

The cat quietly pressed against Chu Jiu's chest, staring at the teenager's face in the morning light.

[Does the host wish to choose to accept the reward now?]

"‘In order to encourage residents of tax-free zones to actively cultivate the land, it is hereby decided: For commercially viable outputs produced in tax-free zones, if their commercial value exceeds 100 kingdom silver coins, any and all persons, whether managers of tax-free zones or members of the royal family, shall exert their utmost efforts to realize their commercial value.’"

Hoo...

Chu Jiu sat up, nodding as he said, "Yeah, it's very rare."

"Aside from you, Little Canned Goods, I've only ever seen Lu Qingyan's eyes be this color."

The long-faced man finally turned around, lifting his chin and relying on a face significantly longer than normal to achieve a strange, condescending downward look: "Young man, do you have evidence for what you're saying? If you have no evidence, slandering members of the Association will incur a hefty fine."

"Regarding special tax-free zones, the former king once signed a series of clauses."

The moment he sat up from the transfer capsule, the physician rushed over to tell him that the strain caused by this projection had exceeded the limit.

The gray-haired man let out a low sigh and spoke: "Since it was a mistake, why bother with punishment."

"Marco!"

After listening, it silently walked over to the pillow and curled itself into a furry cat ball:

Little Canned Goods woke up slightly earlier than Chu Jiu for once.

It even deliberately asked: "Chu Jiu, do you remember the sapphires with that very special color we saw in Moonsea City?"

Rayger was even more astonished: "You stayed up all night reading books, and you were reading *this*?"

Twenty days ago, he had interrupted his spiritual projection and "returned" to the planet of Alsa.

"As for the President's side, naturally I will go and explain."

Just as Chu Jiu selected "continue to accumulate," Rayger walked over, sat down beside him, and sighed: "Impressive. With just those few sentences, you scared the Association away."

He had almost fallen asleep several times, thinking maybe he should just forget it, as one night wouldn't make a difference.

Right at that moment, the blurry animal on the teenager's shoulder slowly lifted its upper body and let out a warning growl unique to beasts toward the long-nosed man.

Chu Jiu took a breath and continued with resonant force:

"Any slight carelessness will only accelerate the destruction of wt0906."

After he finished speaking, General Bai said, "My Lord, since that is the case, shouldn't we proceed directly with 'reinforcements'?"

After this group of people had walked far away, looking at the honey and beehives left in place, Chu Jiu finally let out a long breath and sat straight down on the ground.

Chu Jiu continued: "Then do you know that Bean Village, located at the very edge of the kingdom, is one of the 'special tax-free zones' designated personally by the former king?"

*

He turned his head to look at the sides once more:

Chu Jiu: "What is our price?!"

Yet he still kept his promise, starting the "bedtime chat" once the spiritual beasts had all washed up and lay down neatly.

"We... we couldn't just openly defy the former king, so we had no choice..."

Aside from fighting bugs, what else did he actually want to do?