Chapter 214

After hearing her best friend’s question, the red-haired Bureau Director’s smile couldn’t help but stiffen slightly, and she immediately gave her an irritated glance.

“Can’t you just not bring up such a depressing question when I’m in a good mood? Besides, did I even want to be dead last? With only two and a half people left in our bureau, we’ve already done everything we can just to clean up all the abnormalities within the kingdom every year, alright?”

Moreover, this year our bureau’s performance was actually pretty decent. In the first half of the year, we wiped out over ten nests of the Nightmare Black Cult, seizing a large number of anomalous items. In the second half, we even eliminated a Holy Spirit that descended.

With these achievements as a foundation, even if we didn’t rank at the front, it should have been a performance slightly above average. Who would have known so many things would suddenly pop up at year-end? …

“Perfunctory! Slothful! Disgraceful!”

While the red-haired Bureau Director was exchanging glances with her best friend, the illusory shadow of the Clearing Bureau Director in the center of the meeting hall continued to slap the markers of the few sub-bureaus with poor performances, bitterly criticizing:

“As the last line of defense between humans and anomalies, your shoulders bear the safety of the entire race! Look at these disgraceful review results; I feel ashamed for you! Especially the Virgo Subdivision, how dare you laugh just now?”

After heavily slapping the “dung beetle queen” emblem of the Virgo Subdivision, the Clearing Bureau Director frowned and rebuked angrily: “As for the Small Dog Bureau and Lyra Bureau, it’s understandable. The old director of the Small Dog Bureau just retired, and the new one isn’t familiar with the work yet, needing a few more years of experience. As for the Lyra Bureau, their main force got frozen in glaciers during the polar remnants’ attack last year and hasn’t been rescued yet. Those two bureaus had no choice but to perform poorly.”

“But Olivia, what about you? In the joint encirclement and annihilation operation in the first half of the year with the Serpent Bureau, you only caught five believers of the Nightmare Black Cult, but you took down eighty-some colleagues from the Serpent Bureau! What exactly is the Virgo Bureau trying to do?”

“Director, that was just an accident, and it wasn’t even a joint encirclement. It was just that both sides’ actions happened to coincide.”

Upon hearing this, the red-haired Bureau Director couldn’t help but stand up and protest:

“I took that operation against the Nightmare Black Cult very seriously. After the general bureau issued the order to encircle and annihilate, I directly sent Emma, our strongest agent, to complete the task assigned by the general bureau as quickly as possible.

At that time, Emma had already reached the gathering place of the Nightmare Black Cult and set up the [Execution Platform] to capture them. Who would have known that the agents of the Serpent Bureau were also lying in ambush nearby, and their sins were heavier than those of the cultists performing sacrifices, resulting in them being accidentally injured.”

Under the glaring eyes of the Serpent Bureau Director, the red-haired Bureau Director earnestly continued to defend herself: “You know that Emma’s Execution Platform takes effect based on the severity of ‘crimes,’ without distinguishing between friend or foe. As soon as her Execution Platform was erected, the agents of the Serpent Bureau collapsed first, screaming louder than the cultists. Emma had no choice but to stop, allowing the cultists to escape into Dreamland.”

“Director, if you ask me, instead of blaming Emma for being too harsh, you might as well investigate those cleaning agents of the Serpent Bureau and see what crimes the people they arrested committed, why they fell faster than the cultists under the [Execution Platform].”

“Alright, let’s consider this incident against the Nightmare Black Cult a misunderstanding.”

Tired of arguing with the red-haired Bureau Director, the Bureau Director of the Clearing Bureau forcefully slapped the dung beetle queen emblem and continued to angrily question: “Then what about the incidents at year-end? There were anomaly attacks right under your nose. Even though cleaning agents were present, hundreds of nobles ended up dead, causing the kingdom’s road administration and military affairs to be suspended for nearly two weeks. How do you explain that?”

“This… The Lane Family incident was purely accidental…”

After cursing Leon fiercely in her heart, the red-haired Bureau Director gritted her teeth and defended: “Leon hadn’t been officially hired back then. He was just a newbie who joined less than a month ago. The opponent was the heart of a near-god-level great demon… um… the sudden situation was really beyond control.

Besides, the estate was sealed off, and he couldn’t seek support from the bureau. But in the end, he not only ensured the safety of most people but also successfully resolved the anomaly event. I think this shouldn’t be considered dereliction of duty and should even receive commendation.”

Even failing to clear the anomaly in time, resulting in over two hundred noble casualties, you still have the audacity to call it a heroic feat that saved most people’s lives. Your face’s thickness could count as an anomalous item.

After mocking a couple of times, the expression of the Clearing Bureau Director softened somewhat, continuing:

“But since Leon is a rookie and the situation was special, this result can still be acceptable, barely passing you… But what about the royal family?

According to our agreement with the royal families of various countries, the royal families must provide funds and supplies and unconditionally support our cleaning activities. The branches stationed in each kingdom are obligated to protect the safety of the royal family, avoiding any disturbances from anomalous objects affecting the royal members and important nobles.

But in your case, the princess was attacked by an anomalous object and forgotten by everyone in the kingdom. Later, when the cleaning agents from the Virgo Bureau visited, they quarreled with the prince and fought him in the reception room for quite some time… And according to the king’s complaint, this doesn’t seem to be the first time he’s done this?”

“This… This can be explained.”

After mentally adding another black mark against Leon, the red-haired Bureau Director continued to defend awkwardly under the strange gazes of more than eighty colleagues: “Although Leon indeed had a small conflict with the prince, the princess had already promised to marry him, so besides being a cleaning agent of the Virgo Subdivision, he is also the prince consort of the kingdom.

Without using anomalous objects, lightly hitting his wife’s younger brother due to a verbal altercation should be considered an internal conflict within the royal family, outside the jurisdiction of our Clearing Bureau.

As for the princess being attacked, while there is a reason for our bureau’s negligence, the main issue is someone plotting behind the scenes, even borrowing part of the effect of the [Illusion Vase]. I suspect there might be the handiwork of a certain director involved, and I’ve already submitted a preliminary inquiry application to the bureau.”

“Oh?”

Upon hearing this, the Clearing Bureau Director couldn’t help but pause momentarily, then frowned and asked: “You’re actually preparing to launch an inquiry against a director? Olivia, why haven’t I received any reports about such an important matter?”

“This…”

The red-haired Bureau Director replied somewhat awkwardly:

“You’ve been chasing after the Old King of the First People based on the warnings from the Watchtower Palace for years. It’s almost been eight years since your last appearance, and when we submitted inquiries to the directors, we didn’t expect you to project back this year…”

“Is it because you didn’t expect me to return, or because you didn’t expect me to still be alive?”

Hearing this, the illusory shadow of the Clearing Bureau Director lowered his head, looked at a few directors sitting in the board seats with somewhat embarrassed expressions, then coldly snorted:

“Rest assured, the time flow speed of the Old Land is only one-fiftieth of yours. Even if all of you die of old age, I’ll still be fine here! Haha, originally, I contacted you during the year-end review just to check on the situation of the bureau, but I didn’t expect to catch an inquiry against a director… Olivia, which director did you catch making a mistake?”

(End of Chapter)