Chapter 698: Chapter 698

"Don’t worry, the Bureau isn’t that ridiculous; they won’t just let go of the six kingdoms."

Glancing at Leon, who had a furrowed brow, the red-haired director waved his hand and said:

"Aside from the directors of the... hmm... eleven Zodiac Branch Offices, aren’t there still directors of the Non-Zodiac Branches?

According to the arrangement of the Sagittarius Director, before we Zodiac Directors are summoned to headquarters, among those remaining seventy-odd small branches, eighteen directors will be reassigned to temporarily replace us in guarding the six great kingdoms."

After the red-haired director’s explanation, Leon finally understood the plan of the Sagittarius Director.

In simple terms, it’s a modified ’Tian Ji’s Horse Racing.’ The Clean-up Bureau is preparing to gather the major Bureau Directors to the Headquarters to guard against the Aquarius Director, send small branch directors to guard against the Slaughter King Association, and ultimately, abandon the ’defense’ of some small branches directly.

Faced with an opponent like the Aquarius Director, who is ’half a step into the Great Perfection of the Pillar God’ level, the directors of the Non-Zodiac Branches are not quite up to the task, so they are only summoning the Zodiac Branch Directors to assist at headquarters.

As for the small branch directors, although most are only around a level of sixty points, the Slaughter King Association is hampered by the Watcher’s Palace, and even sending down a True God is quite difficult, so the overall combat level shouldn’t be too high; three directors at the True God level should suffice.

Lastly, even though the small branches are directly abandoned, the Slaughter King Association seeks to sever the twelve royal families rather than kill humans indiscriminately. The city-states and human settlements protected by the small branches weren’t in their target range anyway, so this adjustment is indeed just right.

But... if this plan is so fitting, why did the director still say the situation is not optimistic?

"Because this plan isn’t as stable as it seems, mainly because the directors of those small branches may not be able to hold the six great kingdoms..."

Seeing Leon’s confusion, the red-haired director said helplessly:

"Let me tell you this, my strength hasn’t truly reached the Pillar God level; I need the Star Palace’s blessing to temporarily surpass the Pillar God level threshold. Many small branch directors are the same; their strength heavily relies on the Star Palace’s blessing, which has a certain range.

For example, the Virgo Star Palace’s blessing only works within most of the Kingdom’s territory. I’m only at the Pillar God level within my ’jurisdiction’; outside the Star Palace’s range, the blessing’s effect diminishes greatly."

Once out of the ’jurisdiction’ range, will the Star Palace’s blessing effect decrease?

Upon hearing this, Leon couldn’t help but frown, recalling the times he encountered the Scorpio Director.

Whether facing off with the King of Nightmares or during the investigation task in the Crolock Kingdom, his impression and level seemed considerably weaker, being trapped by six Nightmare envoys and nearly failing completely in the Crolock Kingdom.

But if this is true, considering the director’s vengeful nature, he would have already been reprimanded, with no chance to argue with the director; thus, his poor performance likely relates heavily to the lack of the Star Palace’s blessing.

"Can the Star Palace’s range not be adjusted at all?"

Thinking for a moment, Leon couldn’t help but ask:

"Since the Virgo Star Palace’s blessing range is limited within the Kingdom’s territory, shouldn’t it be slightly adjustable? Perhaps reduce the intensity slightly, then expand the blessing range..."

"Basically impossible."

The red-haired director took a sip of tea, sighing:

"Little Leon~ you’ve got it mixed up; it’s not that the Virgo Star Palace’s blessing range is limited within the Kingdom’s range; it’s that the entire Kingdom is established within the Virgo Star Palace’s blessing range.

In fact, not just the Twelve Kingdoms; all major human settlements worldwide have been constructed according to each Star Palace’s coverage range, so the Star Palace’s blessing range is practically immutable. To modify it, one would need to consult the sun."

But the sun is indeed too far, definitely not in time to reach it, right?

After getting a slight understanding of the Star Palace’s mechanism, Leon couldn’t help but frown.

Despite the suppression of the Watcher’s Palace, the Slaughter King Association finds it difficult to directly bring a True God, but powerful spirits, like those peak Black Goats reaching a Contamination Value of 59.9, aren’t hard to smuggle in.

And without the Star Palace’s blessing, many of these ’substitute’ small branch directors cannot reach True God level, losing positional suppression against the Slaughter King Association, and they are at a strategic disadvantage, forced into defensive positions.

So if enough ’powerful spirits’ descend, the situation might indeed become as the director predicted, with those substitute branch directors struggling to hold the six great kingdoms.

"Can’t continue to transfer people."

Familiar with Leon, the red-haired director, upon hearing just a sound, guessed what he was about to say and shook his head in advance:

"Though in theory, we could transfer all small branch directors to the six kingdoms, utilizing twelve directors for one kingdom, doing so poses greater risks, leading to further loss of control; the current arrangement is already the limit."

If we can’t increase people, how about directly reducing the targets for protection?

His eyes flickering slightly, Leon spoke:

"I remember in the Twelve Kingdoms..."

"Can’t deliberately let go of some vile royal families, because just another one or two royal families going extinct, and the True God can descend into the mortal world; nor is it useful to select and protect one descendant from each of the six royal families, bypassing protection to curse targets is far too easy;

Feiliya isn’t worried about this because she ’was born’ not too long ago, hasn’t left too many traces in the world, and Crolock Kingdom, where she lived, has already been completely eradicated by you, making it impossible for the Slaughter King Association to find materials for curses."

"Also can’t make royal members feign death, fall asleep, be sealed, or sent to Realm of the Dead... none of these work."

Goodness, you really blocked every path, left me no option, huh?

With Leon expressing excessive frustration, the red-haired director listed and denied a dozen ’methods’, ultimately summarizing helplessly:

"In short, all feasible solutions have been discussed within the Bureau; even absurd ideas like hypnotizing all humans to forget royal identities have been proposed multiple times.

But these methods are either impractical or come with higher costs; after discussions, everyone realized that dispatching me and five other Zodiac Directors to headquarters is the most stable option relatively."

"However, that plan is also no longer stable..."

"?" Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NoveI★Fire.net

Seeing the red-haired director puzzled, Leon spoke about ’Miss Breakthrough’s’ discovery, then stated with annoyance:

"According to the conspiracy overheard by Layla, on the day Mr. Taurus ascends the palace, Aquarius won’t go to headquarters at all, but rather plans to raid our Virgin Branch."