“You knew my grandpa?” Jin asked, and the entire group nodded their heads, and their smiles did not betray the memories they had with him.
“Not as well as our big boss here, but we also had the pleasure of being under his wings before he officially retired.” Chen Lai explained and already recall all the old times which Ming whipped him and the others up to shape.
“We knew he had a grandson, but he wasn’t one to share too much about his personal life. We never knew the whole story until Hou Fei told us about it. Looks like you did not have it easy when you are young too.” Kan Jian said, but the dungeon supplier could only smile, withholding any comments he had about his childhood.
“Still, this is quite a surprise. I never thought to see a dungeon supplier embracing those old ancient ways. Even the Royal Dungeon Suppliers are all about the latest technology and gadgets to increase the realism of dungeon instances.” Chen Lai tried to change the topic to a more positive one.
“Yet we experienced first hand how intense it can be with Jin’s. Those Royal Dungeon Suppliers could not hold a candle to him if they were to meet up in the National Dungeon Symposium.” Boon Tiong commented, and the other colonels voiced agreement.
“That is assuming we can keep the peace here by succeeding with our assignment, else you can kiss goodbye to any major conventions.” Hou Fei emphasised, and his brothers in arms turned more solemn. “Jin, I have already relayed your report to my men. Still, they would like more information if possible.”
“Heh, to think our new friend here is also a Demon Exorcist, let alone the upcoming Branch Manager of Shenzhen still continues to blow my mind. Sorry, General for not picking up this particular information. Our team should be reprimanded.” Boon Tiong who was in charge of information collecting apologised publicly to the entire group for not getting the intelligence that Jin had collected.
“It is not entirely your fault. Dongguan and Huizhou are not exactly our jurisdiction anymore, and the Border Guards like to play punk because of that, saying we have no rights to interfere with their defences anymore. The Tigers are also a rather prideful bunch of people, but hey they at least bowed their heads just enough to let us come in to assist them.” Hou Fei told Boon Tiong to hold his head up.
“I am honestly confused with all these…it’s yours and mine thing.” Jin blurted out, and the rest chuckled. For a moment they had forgotten that despite all of his accomplishments, he was technically just a civilian.
“Even though our clans hold a few territories and guard them fiercely, the government puts the Royal Clan’s Military branches in rotation to protect each and every region equally. This is to ensure fairness among the clans and also to cross audit each other in case they are doing something nefarious like corruption or planning an uprising.” Kan Jian explained.
“We rotate about every three years or so, and for our battalion, the last position we’ve been stationed in was Dongguan. From this year onwards, we will be in Shenzhen. The Tigers’ military recently moved out of here and will be going into Huizhou.” Boon Tiong added.
“You okay with me knowing all this?” Jin asked and Boon Tiong shrugged his shoulders.
“As an upcoming Branch Manager, I am sure it’s fine for you to know. It’s rather common knowledge despite it being classified to the public.” Boon Tiong exclaimed.
“So, does that mean the Border Guards are in a way blaming you guys for not taking responsibility, and that is why you got called to go into battle?” Jin asked for confirmation on what he had just learnt.
“Not quite. We know the lay of the land better compared to the Border Guards because we actually trained in the forests and mountains. They are only responsible for wall patrols to ensure no dangerous monsters emerge out of them. If one tries, they would subdue and call the military to go in and find the source of mutation.” Hou Fei explained.
“The situation was not as bad when we began moving our bases in November. We nearly lost a few troops, but they were able to locate a nest and destroy it. We thought the ruckus was over. Yet during the transition in December, we received reports that there were more of those nests.” Chen Lai revealed.
“Yeah, and because of the transition, we hired some private contractors to get the job done and informed the Border Guards to increase the security until we were done moving the bases. Only later in the middle of December, at the request of the Royal Horse Battalion, did they demand the Snake Battalion to come and finish up the job.” Kan Jian grumbled.
“They are the ones stationed in Dongguan now?”
“Mmhmm. The Royal Horse clan always used its position to exert influences on all other Royal Clans because of their economic output and overall property value. But when it comes to combat, the Royal Horse Battalion is a joke. It’s where all the softy, useless, snorty officers have assembled and their troops are such asses.” Hou Fei cursed as he munched on his food, albeit a little angrily.
“Someone offended him before?” Jin asked, and the rest nodded their heads with a sigh.
“A lance corporal had the guts to badmouth our General here in public. Instead of receiving some form of disciplinary action from their officers, the Royal Horse General concurred to his soldier and let him off. If you were to do that such a thing in any other battalion, the offending party would receive punishment immediately because we respect rank rather than clan.” Boon Tiong stated as he drank some juice to wash off the bad taste of that particular incident.
“Then why help them?” Jin asked as if he was thinking if they were giving the battalion some favour.
“We aren’t.” Hou Fei replied with a stern voice. “We are helping the Tigers instead. If the Royal Horses are so great, they can defend that place with the dirty money they have.”
“But not everyone in the Royal Horse Clan is horse shit, Uncle Hou Fei.” A female voice intervened in the current conversation when she opened the door to their private room.
“Sorry to tell you all this late, but I invited her as well since she was the one who wrote the report.” Hou Fei’s expression changed when Su Zhen came into the room while giving a quick wink at Jin. He had secretly turned to the System channel and told Jin that the System allowed him to bring her in.
The rest of the army officers casually greeted the Great White Snake Demon Exorcist, and she waved at them… except for Jin. She bowed slightly in front of the dungeon supplier before sitting right beside him.
“Heyyy… why the sudden courtesy towards me.” Jin felt very awkward, and the others laughed.
“Because you are her big boss, you idiot.” Hou Fei pointed out as he called for the waiter to bring in more pancakes.
