Chapter 122: A Total Crackdown on Corruption

She trusted Fang Xia even more. Whatever decision he made, she would support him without question.

Since they would have to go sooner or later, it was only sensible to make preparations in advance. Scouting the route would be worthwhile as well.

Fang Xia nodded. With Liu Rui around, he could safely leave everything in her hands and do nothing himself.

“Since Little Rui-Rui has performed so well, I ought to put in a little effort too.”

With that, Fang Xia swept Liu Rui into his arms and carried her straight into the room.

Before long, the sounds of springtime merriment drifted out from within.

The other women had returned as well. They glanced at the room, then at the time.

The little loli and the others went straight back to their rooms, casually grumbling that the house had terrible soundproofing.

Jing Yi lowered her head shyly, desperately pretending that she could hear nothing.

Jing Ru, on the other hand, wore an expression of outrage. How could they have such fun without bringing her along?

Bai Xing remained perfectly calm. She simply pushed open the bedroom door, after which it was closed again—and locked from the inside.

In that fleeting instant before the door shut, it seemed that something had appeared in Bai Xing’s hands. Was that… a white sailor uniform?

Where had that thing come from? Surely it had been a trick of the eye.

For the past few days, Fang Xia’s territory had been shrouded in an atmosphere of tension, so strong that even passersby who were not part of the organization could sense it.

Everyone came and went in haste, afraid of inviting trouble.

The Tiger-Leopard Corps.

Guo Yu stood at the very front, while more than a dozen people stood in neat rows below him, not daring to make a sound.

The silence continued for several minutes.

“Report your results from the past few days.”

Guo Yu finally spoke, and the people below him breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since that incident a few days ago, their easygoing young commander had become an entirely different person.

When dealing with the old him, everyone had felt at ease. He was young, and there were many things he did not understand, so everyone had taught him. The atmosphere within the organization had been exceptionally harmonious.

But now, who would dare say even half a word while he remained silent?

“Commander Guo, over the past few days I’ve conducted both open and covert investigations of everyone under my command. We caught two spies. They’ve already been buried.”

“It was the same on my end. Everyone in the entire division was investigated thoroughly, and we found one spy.”

“On my end…”

One after another, they reported on the situation of the past several days.

Through direct questioning and covert investigation—and with substantial rewards offered to anyone who provided a report backed by solid evidence—they had managed to uncover quite a number of infiltrators.

Strictly speaking, they could not really be called spies. Most were simply people who wanted to draw two salaries and keep both sides happy.

Moreover, such people held low positions. They were merely ordinary members and could not cause much trouble.

Even so, Guo Yu treated the matter with great seriousness.

Once everyone had finished reporting, silence settled over the scene again.

“The purge can be put on hold for now, but no one is to let down their guard. The moment anything is discovered, deal with it immediately.”

After speaking, Guo Yu turned his gaze toward the other side.

Two young women stood there.

They belonged to Fang Xia’s organization.

At first, Fang Xia had not intended to send anyone to oversee these two corps under his command. They merely had to hand over a fixed number of enhancement crystals each day.

But Guo Yu had insisted. In the end, the little loli sent two female clerks to handle the financial records.

“Commander Guo, based on our investigation over the past few days, we have not found any evidence of embezzlement of enhancement crystals in any department under your command.”

The young woman stepped forward and reported the results of her investigation.

Of course, she had not conducted it alone. She had requested assistance from the little loli, who had then arranged for others to carry out the inquiry.

Guo Yu showed no reaction, but everyone standing below him turned pale.

They had never imagined that while they were investigating those beneath them, Guo Yu had also arranged for someone to investigate them.

Fortunately, everyone had behaved themselves. The city had only recently been established, and no one had yet had the time or energy to entertain such thoughts.

If a few more months passed and Dawn City became completely stable, Wu Qihao would certainly not be the only one.

He had merely been bolder, carrying out ahead of time what everyone else had wanted to do.

After this revelation, those who had been harboring ulterior motives abandoned the idea as well.

At least for now, no one dared touch that money.

Compared with Guo Yu’s approach, Lu Dezhi’s methods were far simpler and more brutal.

Since Fang Xia had already finished investigating the middle ranks for him, he could not be bothered with the minor figures below.

If they wanted to draw several salaries, let them. They were unlikely to obtain any useful information anyway.

But embezzlement was something Lu Dezhi absolutely would not tolerate.

Damn it, almost all of my wives had died, and I had only just managed to marry three more. Wasn’t that because there weren’t enough resources?

And now you lot were stealing my money, leaving me unable to marry more wives?

That was absolutely unacceptable.

Thus, the entire corps was thrown into chaos.

Being a spy was fine. At least they were not making extra money at his expense. But stealing from the organization while guarding it? That was definitely forbidden.

That was Lu Dezhi’s way of thinking.

After several days, he actually caught quite a few offenders.

He himself was hardly an upright man, so naturally his subordinates had inherited the same habits. They were not as outrageous as Wu Qihao, who had been skimming nearly a hundred enhancement crystals a day, but several of them had still been secretly hiding a dozen or so each day.

This sent the fat man into a fury.

He personally led people in burying every one of them.

As they buried them, he kept shouting:

“So you’re the ones keeping me from marrying more wives, are you?”

As for whether this would cause unrest within the corps, he was not worried in the slightest.

Dawn City lacked everything except people.

Even if his entire corps disappeared, as long as he had resources, he could raise another five-thousand-man army in minutes.

Besides, he had Fang Xia behind him. No one would dare do anything to him.

Both corps had made dramatic moves, yet Fang Xia’s side remained completely tranquil.

As long as one was strong enough to keep one’s subordinates well fed and clothed, women were often easier to satisfy than men.

Moreover, the treatment offered by Fang Xia’s organization was already the best in Dawn City.

Whether it was the distribution of enhancement crystals or food, they stood at the very top. The other major factions could not hope to compete.

Had anyone ever seen an organization where everyone could eat meat once every three days? Not just one person, and not based on rank—the entire organization, more than a thousand people, ate together.

To understand what that meant, consider that in every faction except Fang Xia’s, the people at the bottom still ate rice balls every day. They were provided with food and lodging, yes, but their pay amounted to only two first-tier enhancement crystals per day.

Only when they were especially lucky and had an unusually good harvest would the team receive a few better things as a reward.

That was why, whenever Fang Xia’s organization cooked meat in enormous pots, it always attracted countless onlookers.

Even if they could not eat any, catching the scent was something.

Someone shameless like Lu Dezhi often counted the days on his fingers. Whenever the time came, he would bring his five or six wives along to mooch a meal.