Yaxiu Will Definitely Be on My Household Register

Fanmula, Sennheiser Building, 72nd floor. The Red Hats were already covered in wounds. Wright the "Deadshot Red Hat" and Cleios the "Weeping Red Hat" were panting heavily, struggling even to manifest their Sanctuaries—a sign that their sorcery power was nearing exhaustion. In truth, the battle had ended long ago. Under the crushing suppression of absolute points, Sanctuary Sorcerers simply could not breach the defensive line held by the patriarchs of the Six Emblems. Even if the Six Emblem patriarchs could borrow only a fraction of the Omniscient Weaver's might, it was not something mere mortals could break through. It was precisely because of the immense utility of Gospel points that successive heads of the Six Emblems had spared no effort to expand and perpetuate their clans. Sanctuary Sorcerers were even willing to split their souls as insurance for the family, and Legendary Sorcerers went to great lengths to design the Mermaid Fish-Mint Farm—not merely out of clan cohesion, but because the family's prosperity provided a tremendous boost to the patriarch's personal strength. The entire clan's points could be directly converted into individual combat power for its leader. Never mind other countries—even in another city, such a clan system would never work. How could ordinary clansmen voluntarily surrender their Gospel points? Only clansmen whose wits were dulled by Beauty Mist would offer themselves up to the family without reservation. It was evident from this that the founding sorcerers of the Six Emblems certainly harbored sinister motives when they established the mermaid fish-mint industry. One could say they were "so selfish they wished everyone else to be selfless." Yet with the passage of time and the expansion of the dreamscape, the patriarchs, while steering their families, were inevitably swept along by them as well. The dreamscape coalesced the clansmen's cohesion, but it also supplanted the leader's personal will. Every Six Emblem patriarch had been immersed in the benevolence of their clansmen since childhood. Combined with the subtle influence of the family reincarnation dreamscape, no matter whether they grew up sullen, indolent, diligent, or playful, the thing they valued most in their hearts was bound to be the family. They were, in effect, rendered by their clansmen "so selfless that they could no longer be selfish." Bizarre though it was, and despite how riddled with loopholes and flaws it clearly appeared, the presence of these selfless leaders and selfless clansmen had genuinely allowed Fanmula's grotesque system to maintain a virtuous cycle—even representing the cutting-edge productivity of the Gospel Country. The Six Emblem patriarchs had barely exerted themselves. They merely had this colossus of Fanmula lift a finger, and its oppressive aura was already enough to crush the breath out of the Red Hats. Yet precisely because the family heads put clan interests before all else, no matter how angry they became, they would not kill a Red Hat. As an official imperial agency, the Red Hats represented the dignity of Yisu and the Gospel. Even Qinna, enraged by the slaughter of her clansmen, only gravely wounded Wright without delivering a killing blow, while the other Red Hats suffered mere flesh wounds—after all, killing a Red Hat with one's own hands meant forfeiting any chance of ever appearing on a leaderboard again. The Six Emblem patriarchs merely wanted to stall until the Red Hats were thoroughly exhausted. As it happened, Wright and his comrades were thinking the exact same thing. The moment Wright saw Yaxiu leave, he knew it was impossible to catch this prime doomsday fugitive. Yet he still had to lead the Red Hats in tangling with the Six Emblem patriarchs. Because Deadshot also wanted to hold back these masters of Fanmula. With his identity exposed, Yaxiu could not possibly remain in Fanmula. Otherwise, once the Isu royal family's orders arrived, Sennheiser would never be able to protect him. Qinna's boldness was merely capitalizing on a window of time. Once Yaxiu attempted to flee by car, the Family Harmony Agency stationed on the outskirts of Fanmula would come into play. At that point, it would be necessary to prevent these patriarchs from snatching him back. Therefore, even if he stood no chance of winning, Wright had to hold them here. However... "Haah." Wright plopped down onto the ground, setting aside his sniper rifle that weighed several kilograms. "I'm done fighting." "Fine," Qinna said coldly. "I'll lock you up right away and bring you to justice—" "You can't do that," Wright said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs and cuffing himself to Cleios. "I've already been arrested by Red Hat Cleios. If you want to transfer custody of a prisoner, please submit an application to the Azula Red Hats." "She can't protect you either," Qinna said. "You murdered two civilians right in front of us. Even if we let you leave, the Gospel will condemn you as a criminal—and that's not merely being wanted by the royal family, but incurring the Gospel's hatred. From now on, you'll be severed from society, hunted by Red Hats, and abhorred by the Gospel. You won't have a patch of ground to call your own, and you'll never be able to listen to the Gospel again." Cleios looked at Wright, hesitating to speak. She couldn't understand why Wright had cuffed himself to her. The Six Emblem patriarchs assumed Cleios would let him off in secret, but the two of them had actually met for the very first time today! Letting a criminal go in secret would lower one's Gospel rating; how could Cleios possibly do such a thing? In fact, Cleios had been filled with doubts for more than two hours now. Why would Wright rather shoot innocent civilians just to hunt down Yaxiu? Didn't he know that doing so would cost him his Red Hat and even cause him to be loathed by the Gospel? Did you come here to hunt Yaxiu, or to commit suicide? Cleios had no idea what was going on. She hunted Yaxiu for Gospel points, for leaderboard ranks, and for imperial rewards. But Wright's actions yielded no benefit whatsoever, only pulling him deeper into the mire. Compared to Yaxiu, Wright actually frightened Cleios more—she could not comprehend the reason behind his actions at all, and in her mind, the image of Wright suddenly turned incomprehensible and bizarre. "It's not that dire," Wright said mildly. "As a Sanctuary Sorcerer, I still have a few ways to survive." "But why?" Qinna voiced the question Cleios also wanted to ask. "I truly cannot understand why you would go to such lengths." "Didn't I just say so? For the Gospel." "Isn't that just a slogan?" "To people like you whose brains are wired only for family, it really is just a slogan," Wright said. "However, I'd also like to ask you, Matriarch Qinna: why are you protecting Yaxiu?" At this, the other five clan heads looked toward Qinna as well. Although they trusted that everything an emblem patriarch did was for the benefit of the family, they couldn't fathom why Qinna would protect a criminal wanted by royal decree. Going against the empire was undeniably the worst possible course of action. Qinna said, "It all begins twenty years ago, with my daughter, Annan..." The man with glasses said, "Fast-forward to the present, please, Sennheiser." "Simply put, Annan possesses the heritage of the Doran family, giving her the ability to influence the Weaving Ceremony. At the same time, she knew the second leaderboard was heavily tied to families. To get her companions onto the ranking, she decided to use Sennheiser's family reincarnation dreamscape to help them deceive and sway the Gospel's judgment." Qinna continued, "Barring any accidents, Yaxiu and his companions will appear on the second leaderboard. But appearing alongside them in the Weaving Ceremony will be our Six Emblems—because Yaxiu and the others will become part of Sennheiser." Wright said, "Are you so certain Yaxiu Heath will join Sennheiser?" "Of course. Yaxiu's fiancée is my daughter, Annan." Qinna arched an eyebrow. "And even if something goes wrong, I have a backup plan. In short, Yaxiu will definitely be on Sennheiser's household register." Now everyone understood Qinna's objective—perpetuating the family! In the past, the Six Emblem families would not have paid much heed to the Weaving Ceremony. After all, to the Six Emblems with their thousand years of accumulation, whatever rewards the Weaving Ceremony offered were merely icing on the cake. Having them was nice, of course, but lacking them wouldn't affect their lives in the slightest. But now things were different. The Art Board had foretold that the future would plunge into an apocalyptic age of chaos. Faced with a catastrophe that even the Gospel Country could not withstand, Fanmula could only wait for death. How on earth could they protect their families? Ever since the Art Board emerged, that question had haunted the minds of the patriarchs. And now, Qinna had provided an answer: she didn't know how to ensure their survival, nor did she need to know—wouldn't it suffice to have the Weaving Ceremony state it outright? The Gospel was an omniscient, omnipotent wishing machine, and the Weaving Ceremony foretold an inevitable future. As long as the Sennheiser family appeared on the future leaderboard, it meant Sennheiser would safely weather the doomsday catastrophe and endure intact fifty years into the future. Thus, Qinna had to protect Yaxiu and his companions. These outlanders were the ticket to the future; binding them to the family was boarding an ark to escape the apocalypse! The other emblem patriarchs nodded one after another in strong approval of Qinna's plan. If Sennheiser truly made it onto the future leaderboard because of this, recognized by the Gospel as surviving fifty years into the future, then tomorrow the Six Emblems would become one emblem, and the only surname remaining in Fanmula would be Sennheiser. "Don't you think it would be better to kill Yaxiu right now?" Wright said. "Perhaps that could avert the future catastrophe..." "How could that be possible!" the man in the trench coat immediately retorted. "That is the future foretold by the Weaving Ceremony—how could it possibly be changed? Besides, a single sorcerer couldn't possibly unleash a terrifying catastrophe capable of destroying the Gospel Country. Not even a Legendary Sorcerer could do that!" "Rather than harm Yaxiu Heath, it is far better to make him our beacon to the future," the man with glasses agreed, nodding. "Sennheiser has done the right thing." Wright lowered his eyelids and let out a soft sneer, though what he was mocking remained unspoken. At the very moment the Fanmula clock tower chimed, the Book of Gospel popped up before everyone, with a glowing bookmark slipped between its pages. They realized what had happened at once—the Weaving Ceremony had updated right on time! The man with glasses opened his book, his deadpan face breaking into an uncontrollable grin: "It really is the Family Leaderboard!" The man in the trench coat took a look and couldn't help sighing: "Looks like we really will have to change our surnames to Sennheiser this time..." Family Leaderboard [Family Leaderboard No. 10: Mist Spirit Clan · Sennheiser]