Chapter 265: Return! Mission Complete? (III)
Seeing Cai’er’s sightless grey eyes, Ying Suifeng was enraged, ready to unleash his flaming wrath. He ordered the nearby guard, “Lead these children to the conference room. It’s an order. Bring some food and drinks for them. Haochen, wait a bit, everything will be settled today.”
Having said this, Ying Suifeng went into the Government Office.
The two guards looked at each other in dismay, filled with extreme confusion.
Long Haochen’s group headed to the Conference Room to rest, but the whole Temple Alliance Government Office was greatly alarmed.
The first person Ying Suifeng looked for was Han Qian, who was in charge of daily government affairs. As soon as he told him about this, Han Qian immediately crushed his own desk with a slap.
Demon Hunt Squads were not directly controlled by the Temple Alliance. They were organized in what could be called a very developed system. The Demon Hunt Squads were responsible for themselves, and the Alliance wasn’t supposed to rashly intervene in their daily affairs. The Mission Tower was the one directly responsible for the Demon Hunt Squad’s affairs. And the Mission Tower was led by Titled Demon Hunt Squads that would take turns in supervising it. But they were only leading it in name, after all, they also had their own missions.
Thus, the real responsibility for the Demon Hunt Squads still lied in the hands of the Temple Alliance’s officers.
After having such a furious reaction, Han Qian immediately gathered the four other Temples in the Government Office, and the six Hall Masters for a rendezvous.
“What? How could this happen?” Grandma Sanshui also slapped the desk and stood up, appearing on the verge of breaking into tears.
The expression on the face of the Mage Temple’s Auxiliary Hall Master, Lin Chen, was also quite ugly, and his eyes had an ominous glint.
The six Hall Masters were furious, this was simply too huge a mistake. And most of all, the Demon Hunt Squad that was involved was intimately related to them.
During their time of private discussion, it became clear that Long Haochen’s Demon Hunt Squad was simply the most important newbie squad in the whole history of Demon Hunt Squads.
The Auxiliary Hall Master of the Warrior Temple, Ren Wokuang, had a frightening look, “What the hell is this? If this affair was to spread out, how could the Demon Hunt Squads keep going on? It’s especially the case for those high ranked Demon Hunt Squads that old geezers like us cannot afford to offend. If this matter isn’t resolved correctly, it will cause great trouble.”
The Auxiliary Master of the Priest Temple, Ruoshui, nodded, “But even so, we have to make the culprits accountable on behalf of these children. And this is a matter we have to handle with care.”
Han Qian calmly declared, “Though Haochen is my little disciple, I should originally avoid the grievance on this matter. But Long Haochen is the future hope of our Knight Temple. If everyone agrees, we should just go to the Mission Tower together.”
Grandma Sanshui unhappily retorted, “Avoid the issue? What farts! Chen Ying’er is my grand-daughter, and I’m not about to avoid the issue. I’ll claim justice no matter what. The Mission Tower should better be prepared for a big reorganization, and the responsible person will have to be punished severely no matter what. This isn’t only a failure at doing their duty, but murder of…”
After a short discussion, those six Auxiliary Hall Masters immediately agreed on how to react to the matter. As a result, the furious group headed to the Mission Tower.
Long Haochen’s group still didn’t know about what happened. At the time they had arrived at the Alliance’s Government Office, it was noon, but they waited for a whole afternoon in the little conference room. At night, the six Auxiliary Hall Masters appeared in front of them.
Seeing those six Auxiliary Hall Masters, Long Haochen’s group immediately stood up.
Han Qian waved his hand and was the one to speak, “Okay, you can sit down. For what happened this time, the Alliance has to apologize to you. We would like to offer this apology in the name of the whole Alliance.” After this was said, the six Auxiliary Hall Masters bowed down in the direction of the thirteen youths at the same time.
Long Haochen’s group was immediately astonished, hastily offering their salute in return. The wrath in them was already greatly dissipated at this time.
Didn’t the six Auxiliary Hall Masters’ action already say a lot about the attitude of the Alliance on this matter? Since their most venerable elders took such a stance, what else could they say on the matter?
Han Qian rose again, declaring in a deep voice, “The matter has already been investigated thoroughly. The blame is on the Mission Tower’s staff members’ negligence, that hadn’t checked the mission before release. Additionally, they didn’t even report to their superiors after finding out about a mistake in the mission’s labeling, allowing you to take a mission far exceeding your ability, and causing you to be in significant danger. The Alliance presents you a sincere apology, and will guarantee you that in the future, the same kind of situation won’t happen ever again. The related culprits have already been taken into custody, and will at least be incarcerated for ten years. The person directly responsible has been condemned to execution by hanging.”
The severity of this punishment far exceeded the expectations of Long Haochen’s group. This punishment was even too extreme to be only related to the antecedents of the members of this ‘royal group’. Long Haochen’s group didn’t have a complete understanding of how Demon Hunt Squads worked. They were only a general grade Demon Hunt Squad with not much influence, but put into simple words, king grade Demon Hunt Squads’ Demon Hunters were simply above any Auxiliary Hall Master belonging to the Temple Alliance in status. If Demon Hunters from an Emperor grade Demon Hunt Squads dissolved their team, they would at least have the rank of an Auxiliary Hall Master. The captain would even possibly immediately become the Hall Master.
If this matter spread out, and the higher ranked Demon Hunt Squads learned of it, they would inevitably have no hesitation to stand on the side of Long Haochen’s group. At that time, the Alliance would be in even more disarray. Demon Hunters were after all heroes risking their lives for the sake of the Alliance.
This was also the reason why the five other Auxiliary Hall Masters immediately came to an agreement with Han Qian’s decision concerning the punishment. The reason for this was simply that they couldn’t disappoint their valiant heroes!
Long Haochen took out the Recording Gem, handing it to Han Qian with a smile, “Grandmaster, these are our results from the mission, please check them. We don’t know whether we completed this mission, but we did our utmost for that. Many thanks to the Alliance for upholding justice”
Han Qian took the gem, and said with a sigh, “Children, you had it hard this time. It’s fortunate that you came back alive, otherwise, those bastards from the Mission Tower would have been condemned to death by hundreds. I hope this matter won’t leave a shadow in your hearts. You can feel relieved, you will have the reward you deserve entirely. After checking the record, we will give you an accurate answer as soon as possible. You must be very tired after this mission, go back now and rest.”
“Yes, grandmaster.”
The two Demon Hunt Squads left satisfied. Before leaving the conference room, Han Qian warned them that he hoped this matter wouldn’t be spread. Long Haochen immediately agreed on behalf of the two Demon Hunt Squads.
The Alliance handled this matter with swift indictment because, they didn’t want its daily functions to be affected, leading to a crisis of trust between the Demon Hunt Squads’ and itself.
Having left the Government Office, the thirteen simultaneously came to a stop.
Luc Xi said with a sigh, “I really didn’t expect us to succeed so easily.”
Long Haochen replied, “What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. This wasn’t a success from our side, but a proper decision from the Alliance. Let’s go and have a good rest. For this mission, our reward of contribution points will at least be no lower than 20,000 contribution points. After we receive them, I will give you your share.”
Luc Xi gave Long Haochen a deep glance, but didn’t object this time, only nodding silently. After having interacted closely with Long Haochen during this mission, he already had a good understanding of his character. He knew that Long Haochen was an extremely sincere person.
Having finally returned to the villa after a long time, everyone retreated to their respective rooms. It could be said that in the History of the Demon Hunt Squads, never before had a first mission been completed with such great difficulty. In fact, in the process of the entire mission, they even faced enemies at the seventh step! And no one amongst them was even at the sixth step yet. The fact that they made it back alive could already only be called a miracle.
Standing on the villa’s balcony, Long Haochen made Cai’er rest against his own chest. Feeling the fresh air brought by the nearby vegetation, he finally felt a lot more calm.
They had finally come back, but Cai’er would still need six months to recover. Tightening his grip on her hand and softly grabbing it, he wrote on her palm the little message, ‘It’s so great that we made it back alive’.
On the morning of the next day, the Alliance’s Government Office dispatched a message, and Han Qian welcomed Long Haochen in his office.
“Haochen, sit down.” Han Qian looked at his own grand-disciple that gave him a respectful salute after entering the office, and exposed a tired-looking smile.
Because of yesterday’s matters, he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all last night.
“Grandmaster, is teacher okay?” Long Haochen sat on the chair in front of Han Qian’s new desk and asked.
Han Qian replied, “He’s very well. His cultivation speed is very fast, I already sent him to the Knight Temple.”
Stopping for a bit, Han Qian seriously declared, “Haochen, from the record you brought back for me to see, I have a few questions. Tell me about the details regarding that tower. They are of utter importance to the Alliance.”
Long Haochen felt shaken. He had previously guessed why Han Qian looked for him, but having to tell a lie to his own grandmaster felt really bad.
“… When I came back to my senses, that tower had already disappeared. The hissing sounds couldn’t be heard again afterwards. Grandmaster, what is it?”
Han Qian wrinkled his brows, pacing back and forth in front of his work desk, “Now is not a good time to determine it, but from the specters that appeared in your records, this is very possibly related to the necromancers that appeared ten thousand years ago. If what you saw were vestiges of the necromancers, we can definitely not let demons get them.”
Long Haochen stood up, asking earnestly, “Grandmaster, do you need me to do something?”
Han Qian shook his head, “Let’s end it here about this matter. After you head back, tell your group not to divulge anything about this mission, so as to avoid needless trouble.”
“Yes.” Long Haochen had some hesitation, but still asked, “Then grandmaster, can we be considered to have completed the mission?”
Han Qian gave him a glance and suddenly revealed a smile, “It seems that you are looking at least a little like a captain now. Be at ease. When people from the Mission Tower will look for you tomorrow, you will have to keep your mouth sealed. This reward should make up enough for your trouble.”
“Many thanks, grandmaster!” Hearing this, Long Haochen immediately felt a lot better.
Like Han Qian guaranteed, this time’s rewards wouldn’t be only 20,000 contribution points but a lot more. He estimated it to be at least 50,000 points.
People from the Mission Tower really came the day after, but what they told them was completely different from what Long Haochen had expected. This was because they brought Long Haochen the news that the mission had been completed. Therefore, they received the reward of the mission after it had been upgraded to kings grade
After getting this news, everyone from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad was elated.
“We are rich…” Lin Xin’s ghost-like voice resounded in the whole villa.
