Chapter 28: Bad Luck Baton.

As the officers tried to calm the crowd which was demanding accountability, a shadow fell across the square. A figure cloaked in white robes appeared, riding on a sword. “You want the Bureau here?” he asked, his voice echoing unnaturally across the skies. “Then you will all pay the price.”

The crowd gasped and scattered like pigeons.

Before panic could take root, Liwu decided to prove further, the need for the bureau. In her bag were many weapons to stop rogue cultivation system hosts. But, she had something else in mind. With her points, she could redeem a weapon from her own system.

“System, redeem a weapon for me.”

[Congratulations Host. You have redeemed the Ultimate Bad Luck Baton. Warning: Suspects may be hit by unexpected things out of the blue, like falling stones and buckets.]

Liwu reached into her bag and retrieved the sleek black baton. It looked unimpressive–like something a traffic officer might wave at jaywalkers.

Weijun was confused. Did she plan to fight a cultivator that was summoning lightning with a baton!? He shook his head and ordered in a deep voice, “Mo Xia, get my wife out of here.”

“I thought the Bureau was impressive as it turns out, they fight lightning with sticks.” One of the officers scoffed.

The other officers prepared their weapons, specially provided by Hale to deal with such problems.

As Liwu flung the baton skyward, the cultivator’s lightning bolt arced down. But suddenly, it bounced off the baton, ricocheted, zig-zagged and slammed straight into the cultivator. His sword fell to the ground, his robe smoked, and he tumbled to the ground in a most undignified heap.

“What just happened?” Hale asked. “Who repelled the lightning?”

All around, everyone was shaking their heads. “We have not made a move yet.”

“It was her.” One of the officers pointed to Liwu. “The lightning changed direction when it met her baton.”

Liwu did not wait for praise, she joined Majesty who was pissing on the cultivator’s feet. She cuffed him with bureau-issued handcuffs, and announced, “By the authority of the SOB, you are under arrest for reckless cultivation. An unwarranted attack on ordinary humans and the use of your system for intimidation.”

The crowd, returning slowly to the scene, cheered loudly. A child was even waving a long soft marshmallow like the baton, tossing it in the air slowly.

One old man in a wheelchair wheezed, “Finally. Those cultivators think they own the sky. Maybe now we will be compensated for everything they have ruined with their flying swords.”

Voices rose louder, more insistent. “We need the bureau!”

“We need protection from rogue system hosts.”

“No more favoritism from officers.”

The square became a chorus of grievances and demands, each story more ridiculous than the last. On the ground, the cultivator groaned, but nobody paid him attention. The people had finally found an opportunity to get their true opinions and voice out, and it was unstoppable.

Liwu smiled at Weijun, smugness showing on her face.

Weijun raised his hands, asking the crowd to quieten down for a moment. As they did so, slowly, the distant sound of sirens became clearer. “I would like to apologize to you all. These issues have never reached the desk of the city master. If they had, he would have addressed them before they escalated to this point.”

“He is just one man, this is a city with twelve districts.” Liwu cut him off. “The Bureau is an organization that runs on the support of the government–a mostly ordinary human government at that. We have over fifteen thousand trained officers. This city is drowning and we can help.”

Weijun reached for her arm, and squeezed it. His angry glare was screaming for her to shut up immediately.

Liwu smiled through the pain and only increased her voice. “The negotiations are a stalling tactic. More than a marriage between my husband and I, what the people need from the alliance is a marriage of the organizations. A branch of the bureau here, where we can be most helpful. If anyone is worried about the intentions of the Bureau, then we can start with a single precinct in one district. If it is successful, we can expand to other districts. You can create a poll online to vote on which district needs our protection the most.”

“Start right here.” A man screamed. “No more mazes in our shops.”

From there, voices just became louder.

“No recipe thefts.”

“No more disappearing candy.”

“No street fights that force us to close our shops as early as 7. p.m.”

More officers poured in, worried that a riot was on the brink of breaking out. Liwu was whisked away by Weijun, quickly before she could do more damage. But it was too late. Her speech was already replaying online and the poll had been started by an eager shop keeper, who wanted justice.

Moments later, Liwu found herself in another helicopter that touched down on the grounds of the Shen manor without any incident.

Weijun, sparking with fury, hardly waited for her feet to touch the ground when he started the blame game. “What were you thinking?” he barked, “this is why I told you to stay put and stay out of the affairs of this city. Is this why you were sent here, to undermine my authority as the city master?”

Liwu smiled innocently. “What city master? Aren’t you his younger brother?”

Weijun took a step back and drew in a shallow breath. He needed to be more careful with his wording or he would give himself away. “My brother is not here so I am the new city master. And my position does not matter, what matters is that what you are doing is a threat to the peace of this city which was carefully crafted.”

“Peace!”Liwu scoffed. “You mean fear? Take a look around and you will see the discomfort in the eyes of the residents. The atmosphere your idiot brother is breeding will become a strong backing for OHM. What the Bureau aims for is equality, genuine peace and love between ordinary humans and system hosts.

Where I come from, that thief would be registered, marked and assigned a specific area where he can steal in order to satisfy the missions assigned by his system. He would be given a list of specific fences to sell the stolen property to. These fences work for the bureau. We make sure that the stolen property is returned to the owners with an apology and a compensation.

We also make sure that people are aware of thefts in the area and encourage them to find the nearest police station or Bureau precinct instead of chasing thieves blindly. If the thief is a system host, we make sure the victim is aware of this within minutes of it happening and reduce panic.

This is how the Bureau handles thieves with systems. We don’t catch and release randomly like you, without a plan. Our protocols have worked for a decade. Where are your protocols, beside babysitting system hosts?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep