I Dare Curse the Mayor, Do You Dare Curse Your Clan Head?

May 30th, 9:30 PM. As it was the evening rush hour, an endless stream of traffic flowed through Mengfeila, which was lit as bright as day. Sangjierte, Captain of the Mengfeila Red Hats and an orc sorcerer, was rubbing his face. This was a bad habit of his; whenever he got nervous, he would rub his face until his features were completely contorted. Perhaps he had picked it up from his family's calico cat as a child, for the dead skin rolled up by his palms against his cheeks seemed to rub away his inner unease. He glanced at his Book of Gospel. The third Gospel list had yet to update, and he didn't know whether it would update today or tomorrow—since May had thirty-one days, it was possible for the Future Board to update on either day. If the Future Board wanted to drag its feet, it might even delay until 11:59 PM on the 31st. "Captain," a Red Hat behind him warned in a low voice. Sangjierte looked up to see an elven Red Hat, whose height rivaled his own, stride to the front. "Follow my lead, and you'll get a share of the credit when it's over; act on your own, and you'll get a coffin when it's over." For the local rulers of Mengfeila, the Red Hats, to be threatened like this was outrageous, yet the orc merely rubbed his nose and nodded repeatedly. "Captain Sennheiser is the supreme commander of this operation. If Captain Sennheiser doesn't feel at ease, you may assign someone to supervise my unit." "Fine." Qinna showed no hesitation. She sent a Fanmula Red Hat over and demanded that the Mengfeila Red Hats surrender control permissions for their aerial balance boots. Seeing his subordinates looking at him, Sangjierte nodded, signaling them to cave without resistance. Aerial balance boots were standard-issue gear for Red Hats to fly and maneuver. A Red Hat had to train for at least a year to master them, and since these gadgets were far more practical than void wings, nearly every Red Hat was an aerial combat powerhouse as swift as a swift. If their aerial balance boots were forcefully shut down, at best a Red Hat would lose seventy percent of their combat capability; at worst, they would plummet to the ground, reduced to meat paste while awaiting rescue. With control permissions over their aerial balance boots, Qinna could reduce them at any moment back to primitive creatures who could only travel on two legs. Yet none of them felt aggrieved by this, not even Sangjierte. After all, he was merely performing official duties, whereas the group before him was here for blood vengeance. Sennheiser, Vastino, Mercury, Roland, Kasri... Even if they couldn't match Burdette's meticulous and absolute control over Mengfeila, in their own respective cities they held undisputed authority, spanning politics, commerce, and the military—Gospel families who shared the world with the Isu royal family! Yet such formidable families would in the future be turned into walking corpses by a necromancer. They had every reason to rip out the weed by its roots. Sangjierte was just an alchemist living off taxpayer money; there was no need to cross them. Though Sangjierte was a Two-Winged sorcerer, he hailed from an assetless family—or rather, all of Mengfeila had only three social classes: negative-asset, assetless, and total bust. His orc father and goblin mother hadn't left him a single copper of inheritance; once they hit their forties and were too tired to work, they simply went off traveling. After fooling around until he was twenty, Sangjierte successfully strove his way from penniless to deep in debt, proudly joining the negative-asset class, doomed to work like a beast of burden for Burdette for the next forty years. That's right: having zero assets counted as middle class in Mengfeila, putting one ahead of ninety-nine percent of the citizenry. Generally speaking, only retirees in their fifties or sixties who had paid off all their debts were qualified to squeeze into this tier. As for who belonged to the "total bust" class, that went without saying—saying it out loud would violate employment contracts and incur a fine for emotional distress. Although Sangjierte lived in a house built by Burdette, ate food produced by Burdette, used machines manufactured by Burdette, and even bought sorcery spirits on Burdette's platform, that didn't stop him from cursing Burdette in his mind. Every day before heading to work, he had to curse them furiously to psych himself up. Thinking of this, Sangjierte looked at the Fanmula Red Hats with a touch of pity: *I dare to curse Mayor Burdette in my mind, but do you dare to curse your clan leader in yours?* And all those other sorcerers who had rushed over so eagerly, forced to travel through the night to Mengfeila for the sake of some so-called family future—they were nothing more than puppets manipulated by their clans. Looking at them, the sense of superiority unique to Mengfeila's people surged within him— Freedom! If the keyword for Fanmula was happiness, then the keyword for Mengfeila was freedom. It wasn't as if they didn't know the consequences of taking out loans, nor did they not know their cognitive capacity would be shared. But based on surveys and observations, they all felt that compared to a life of suffering first and enjoying later, enjoying first and suffering later was vastly more gratifying. More importantly, all of this was their own choice; no one forced them. If you didn't like it, you could run to another city and start over. In fact, as long as you could resist the temptation of spending ahead of your means, you could live a normal life in Mengfeila without ever working overtime. Compared to these outsiders whose lives were dictated from birth by the Gospel, their families, and their environment, the people of Mengfeila believed that they were the ones who possessed true freedom. Sangjierte had only joined this operation because he received word of the wanted criminals, purely out of professional dedication. He had no interest in leaderboard points, nor did he care about the future of the Gospel—fifty years from now, he would be long dead. Even if Gospel Country were overrun by Fishcleaver Dragons, what business was it of his? It made far more sense to ponder which restaurant to visit for lunch tomorrow. Clearly, the others did not share his sentiment; they had already begun arguing over the distribution of spoils. Sangjierte rubbed his nose. As a Two-Winged sorcerer, he had no voice here at all—there were already five Sanctuary Sorcerers present, two of whom were Red Hat captains: "Weeping Red Hat" Cleios and "Evil Spirit Red Hat" Qinna. As for why a mere Two-Winged sorcerer like him could serve as captain of the Red Hats in a tier-one city, that was naturally because Mengfeila completely lacked high-tier combat power. Moreover... Unlike all other cities, Mengfeila's true defense mechanisms had nothing to do with the Red Hats—whether facing threats from without or within. Before long, the outsiders finally settled on a distribution strategy. Simply put: everyone relies on their own abilities, but no killing blows allowed. It seemed that aside from Cleios's Red Hats, everyone else wanted to capture them alive. When their gazes turned toward him, Sangjierte knew it was time to work. He rubbed his cheeks and drew a deep breath. "Please follow me to Freight Elevator 23." Aside from providing the location of Yaxiu and the others, the informant who sent the intelligence had noted a crucial point: Burdette was bound by contract to protect the Funeral Agency. Therefore, if the pursuers exposed themselves to Burdette's line of sight, Burdette would be forced—willing or not—to employ every means to relocate them. If they wanted to apprehend Yaxiu and Harvey, they had to act covertly and strike like lightning. To slip into the Burdette estate undetected, the only route was Freight Elevator 23 leading up to the second-tier city, where the surveillance equipment happened to be temporarily out of order—the Book of Gospel had provided them with a top-secret operational map. Using an employee card, dozens of elite sorcerers took the freight elevator to a warehouse on the mezzanine level. According to the informant, both Yaxiu and Harvey were working overtime cleaning the Hell section tonight, so their plan was simple: raid Burdette, seize them, and bring them home to be broken in. As for the authenticity of the intel, there was no need to question it at all: the Book of Gospel judged on their behalf, and they only needed to listen to the Gospel. The path was eerily quiet. The servants seemed to have retired for the night, leaving the warehouse entirely deserted. Walking at the head of the group, Sangjierte carefully steered clear of the crates labeled "Valuables," the faint sense of dissonance in his heart growing stronger by the second. When he received the tip yesterday, Sangjierte had already suspected that the informant might be someone from Burdette. Even though the leaked intelligence stated that Burdette was barred from revealing any secrets regarding the Funeral Agency through any means, there were bound to be loopholes in the contract that could be exploited. But that raised a glaring question: Why would Burdette do this? Could they not afford to maintain the Funeral Agency? Impossible. The food wasted every day in Mengfeila could feed ten thousand Funeral Agencies. Had the Funeral Agency offended Burdette, prompting them to borrow someone else's knife to kill? While that was possible, could Burdette really not crush a handful of outsider sorcerers under their own thumb? Had Burdette planned to betray the Funeral Agency from the start? Impossible. If betrayal was their primary choice, why would Burdette sign a protection contract with the Funeral Agency in the first place? Most importantly... Sangjierte glanced back at the joint strike team. Every sorcerer was an elite among elites, and they were even led by Sanctuary Sorcerers. There were far too many outsiders. Burdette had countless channels through which they could betray the Funeral Agency, so why choose the most perilous one? Did they not realize that leaking the secret to the various major families would draw them all into Mengfeila? Did they not know that Harvey was a universally condemned harbinger of calamity? Did they not know that their family's angel heritage— *Ding-dong!* Everyone who had set a notification alert immediately opened their Books of Gospel, receiving an updated message from the informant: "Members of the Funeral Agency, having consulted the Book of Gospel, have learned that intruders have breached the Burdette estate and are preparing to flee." After verifying the intel to be accurate, Qinna immediately barked, "We're out of time. Move now!" Sangjierte nodded. "Then let's pick up the pace—" "Stop walking!" A sorcerer from Kasri shook his head and flew straight upward— *Boom!* The ceiling was instantly punctured by a barrage of miracles. Dozens of sorcerers blasted straight through the second-floor ceiling of the warehouse, and then through the first floor, until the night sky of Mengfeila came into view! The ceiling here was reinforced by miracles, designed to disperse external force across its entire expanse; an ordinary miracle could barely pierce a hole in it, but once it broke, the entire floor shattered! Countless crates plummeted onto the second floor of the warehouse, bursting and shattering. Sangjierte and the others stared blankly as these outsiders destroyed Burdette's private property. What was more, from their appearance, these goods were unmistakably sealed, rare sorcery spirits—hard currency with rock-solid value in Gospel Country, utterly priceless! How dare they... Did they not know... At that moment, Sangjierte rubbed his nose furiously. He finally understood. Burdette's target had never been the Funeral Agency at all. It was— ...... ... "Red Hats from two cities, three agencies, eight great families—all present and accounted for." Igola closed his Book of Gospel. "Congratulations, Yifalin. From this moment on, you are the most powerful family head in Burdette history." The blue-haired girl stood on a footstool, staring out at the outsiders flitting about midair in the distance like swarming flies. She retorted, "And what makes you so sure?" "Your family's faction of monetary domination severely stunts a sorcerer's potential," Igola said. "Though sorcerers come in all shapes, sizes, and varieties, a powerful sorcerer invariably possesses an unshakeable conviction. But in Mengfeila's extreme hedonism, there is simply no soil for conviction to take root, because all conviction demands delayed gratification, whereas Mengfeila preaches instant gratification. "Even Fanmula is anchored by the conviction of 'family,' but what does Mengfeila have? Those who don't need a future won't have one. "As for winning over high-tier sorcerers... Just as you couldn't even recruit Harvey, other Sanctuary Sorcerers would never be swayed by Burdette. Any Sanctuary Sorcerer possesses ideals and pursuits of their own; they cannot be bound by the drunken stupor of Burdette's indulgence. "If you wanted to rapidly expand your own family's power, your only option was to... forcibly dominate the powerhouses of other families!" The swindler couldn't help but chuckle. "A painfully crude scam. Back in Blood Moon, even children wouldn't bother with it." "Yet it worked, didn't it?" Yifalin shrugged. "Scheming to make them destroy a massive amount of Burdette property, prompting the Gospel to rule that they are indebted to Burdette, thereby triggering your domination miracle... With the dual backing of the Void Realm and the Gospel, this is an outrageously effective tactic," Igola noted. "Still, I'm curious: why didn't Burdette ever use this method before?" "Why would we have needed it before?" Yifalin countered. "If we could have continued living in peaceful tranquility in the future, I never would have resorted to such a despicable method. Come to think of it, it's all your fault." "You fear the future catastrophe of the Gospel... No." Igola shook his head. "Is it because of your family's angel heritage?" "A bit of both. But no matter what, in the future Burdette is just an insect casually crushed to death by Harvey," Yifalin said. "The other families have gone mad. To prolong their lineages and secure their futures, they won't let go of a single lifeline... If Harvey can become master of the Blood Moon Corpse Kings, why can't they? "Burdette lacks high-tier combat strength yet possesses a legacy like an angel's heritage... From the day the Family Leaderboard was released, I knew my true enemies were the other factions. "To protect myself, I had to chop off their hands before they could reach out." Igola couldn't help nodding repeatedly. "The very day we showed up before you, you had already envisioned tonight's scene... Precisely because Yaxiu and Harvey were such enticing bait, they didn't hesitate to invade Burdette and trespass into your backyard! "You even prepared your retreat. The entire time, you 'protected' us without supposedly knowing anything, while they invaded the Burdette estate and vandalized your private property. Even taking ten thousand steps back, you were only acting in self-defense, and even the Gospel would judge you in the right. As long as the other families have no intention of openly rebelling against the Gospel right now, they cannot penalize you—in fact, the very sorcerers they sent to penalize you have been brought under your domination. "As for harboring wanted criminals... the Gospel has never recognized Yaxiu as a fugitive. That's merely an internal matter of the empire, easily settled by paying a small fine. But trespassing on private property and destroying personal belongings—those are crimes explicitly recognized by the Gospel. "Still, I have one question—what if they pay off the debt?" "They can't," Yifalin replied. "Everything lost was sorcery spirits. Unless they return the exact same sorcery spirits, they will forever be indebted to Burdette—not even offering higher-tier spirits would suffice... That is the Gospel's greatest trap when it comes to debtor relationships." Igola couldn't help applauding. For a sorcerer, higher-tier and rarer sorcery spirits weren't necessarily better. For example, giving a Two-Winged sorcerer a three-winged sorcery spirit was utterly useless, and handing a fire sorcerer a water sorcery spirit was practically asking for trouble. It was with this in mind that the Gospel established the rule of 'returning the exact original property' in debtor relationships. Yet here, it had become Burdette's most terrifying trump card. The God's Gospel, a domination miracle, a Void Realm contract... In his eyes, Yifalin's scheme was almost child's play, yet by capitalizing flawlessly on her own resources, she had actually succeeded in dominating dozens of elite sorcerers! Even Igola had to admire Yifalin's audacity—she had plotted against the Red Hats and the great families! Even with Burdette backing her, if a single detail went awry, she would have needlessly made enemies of more than half of Gospel Country. And unlike Annan, who could just pack up and vanish, Yifalin would have had to bear the fury of countless people alongside Burdette! And now, five Sanctuary Sorcerers and dozens of elite sorcerers didn't even realize that half of their minds had already been signed away. Even if Yifalin didn't control them directly, subtle psychic suggestions alone would build an impenetrable moat of protection for Burdette! "Still, for the plan to go this smoothly, it was all thanks to you." Yifalin glanced back at Igola. "Annan and the others were the baseboard of the puzzle, but you were the final piece." "Such a masterclass in deception would be rare even in Blood Moon during its peak industry days," Igola said. "I'm curious—where on earth did you learn such a trick?" "...This wasn't my idea," Yifalin admitted. "More to the point, has Annan really not reached out to you?" "Not once." Yifalin summoned her Book of Gospel, checked it, and nodded slightly. "Strange. She's not the quiet type..." "Isn't it about time you went to clean up the mess?" Igola said. "This show still needs Burdette to bring down the curtain. By the way, do you plan to pretend nothing happened and conceal your control over them, or lay your cards on the table to intimidate the major families?" "No need to overthink it," Yifalin replied. "All I need to do is go down and give them a fierce dressing-down. They'll retreat on their own, taking Yaxiu and the others with them, and tomorrow they will publicly apologize to Burdette, present restitution, and form an alliance. "That said, I do have to 'protect' Annan in accordance with the contract right now—at least enough to drive back most of them, or the Void Realm will rule that I failed to act." Yifalin hopped onto the balcony railing. "Thank you, Igola. Without an expert like you, I really couldn't have lured the other families into this trap." "I never deceived anyone; what deceived them was the Gospel," Igola said. "Trust should never be entrusted to an unfeeling divine miracle." Yifalin gave neither assent nor dissent and leapt down from the balcony. The swindler walked back and sat in Yifalin's seat, summoning his own Book of Gospel. "Trust can only be entrusted to those who deserve it."