The smile on Zhao Gongming's face was gentle, standard, like a mask he had worn for countless Yuanhuì.
The golden scroll in his hand shimmered with the light of Merit, stabbing pain into Ao Guang's eyes and making even his primordial spirit hum.
Service Fee Settlement List.
One hundred thousand Merit.
Card payment, or cash?
"Ghk..."
A broken sound came from Ao Guang's throat, like rusted gears being forcibly turned.
His massive dragon body swayed violently, nearly slipping from the throne carved from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade.
He raised a trembling finger and pointed at Zhao Gongming. His lips moved for a long time, yet he could not utter a single word.
He wanted to roar.
He wanted to curse.
He wanted to ask them whether the Interception Sect had any shame left at all!
They had investigated his household registration, stripped bare his family assets, dug up his ancestors' graves, and now they wanted him to pay them?!
But he could not say anything.
Because behind Zhao Gongming, the three hundred Interception Sect disciples clad in gray Daoist robes had uniformly taken out strange-looking magical artifacts from their sleeves.
The artifacts resembled jade discs, with runes flowing across their surfaces and small slots at their centers.
One disciple stepped forward and respectfully bowed to Ao Guang.
"Your Majesty the Dragon King, if you choose 'card payment,' simply place a spiritual treasure containing Merit, or your personal Dragon Clan Gold Card, into the card slot of this Heavenly Dao Merit Card Machine."
"If you choose 'cash,' our office can also provide on-site counting and transfer services for large amounts of Merit."
"All transactions are witnessed by the Heavenly Dao, and we will issue you an official... invoice."
As he spoke, the disciple actually took out a stack of blank jade receipts bearing the words "For Exclusive Use by the Three Realms Population Census Office."
"Thud!"
Third Prince Ao Bing could no longer hold himself up and collapsed onto the floor, his eyes vacant.
Beside him, a white-haired Whale Elder clutched his chest and gasped for breath, as though his soul might depart for the heavens at any moment.
The entire Crystal Palace fell into an absurd silence more terrifying than death itself.
Ao Guang stared at those three hundred faintly glowing damned "card machines," then at the so-called "invoices" waiting to be issued.
He felt the understanding he had built over tens of millions of years being ground into the most insignificant dust.
He wanted to resist.
But every word on that Notice of Consequences had turned into chains of the Heavenly Dao, tightly binding his primordial spirit.
He wanted to compromise.
But the sky-high service fee of one hundred thousand Merit, along with that humiliating Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire, weighed on him like two divine mountains, leaving him unable to breathe.
Forward lay a bottomless abyss.
Backward lay an endless hell.
Ao Guang's dragon body trembled violently, and his immense pressure spilled out uncontrollably, making the entire Crystal Palace shake and rattle.
He glared at Zhao Gongming. A resolve to perish together first flashed through his dragon eyes, but when his gaze swept over all the trembling dragon descendants and Aquatic Clan officials present, that resolve turned into endless sorrow and helplessness.
He could not drag the entire Dragon Clan down into the grave with him.
Finally.
The string called reason, stretched to its limit, snapped with a crisp sound that only he could hear.
It broke.
"Waaah—"
A miserable howl, utterly unbefitting the dignity of a Dragon King, echoed through the entire Crystal Palace!
Ao Guang, this ancient great being who ruled the Four Seas and had existed since the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation, actually collapsed on his throne like a mortal child who had suffered an unbearable grievance and burst into loud sobs.
"Wuwuwu... You're bullying dragons!"
"You... you Interception Sect people aren't human!"
"You investigate my family assets, ask about my wife, and still make me pay... wuwuwu... Life can't go on like this!"
As he cried, he pounded the throne beneath him with his enormous dragon claws. Snot and tears ran freely down his face, his dragon whiskers trembling wildly, without the slightest trace of a powerful being's dignity.
His cries were filled with endless grievance, endless despair, and endless sorrow.
Those who heard them were heartbroken; those who listened shed tears.
The Aquatic Clan of the Crystal Palace watched their king in such a state, their hearts twisting like knives. One after another, their eyes reddened as they began to sob along with him.
For a moment, the grand Crystal Palace became the stage for a massive tragedy.
Faced with this sudden scene.
The three hundred Interception Sect disciples behind Zhao Gongming still wore the same procedural calm expressions.
The lead registration disciple even took a pristine white handkerchief from his sleeve, stepped forward, and offered it to him.
"Your Majesty, please restrain your grief."
His tone was sincere, yet carried a professional detachment.
"Under Clause Three of the Census Work Humanitarian Care Regulations, we may provide you with a quarter-hour of emotional adjustment time."
"Do you... need it?"
"Waaah—"
Ao Guang cried even harder.
Zhao Gongming looked at the absurd scene before him and sighed softly.
He stepped forward. His voice was gentle, yet carried an unquestionable decisiveness.
"Your Majesty the Dragon King."
"Crying will not solve the problem."
"These one hundred thousand Merit are not a fine. They are an investment."
He unfolded the golden list once more.
"Completing household registration means that the Dragon Clan will formally connect to our Three Realms Affairs system. In the future, whether it is Official Business dealings with the Heavenly Court or karmic disputes with other great powers, everything can be handled through our office's Process, sparing you countless conflicts and battles."
"Is that not worth one hundred thousand Merit?"
Ao Guang's crying faltered slightly.
"Besides..."
Zhao Gongming changed the subject, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
"The Immortal Official said that the first unit to cooperate with our work receives a discount."
"As long as you check 'Very Satisfied' on the Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire and write us a three-hundred-word positive review."
"This service fee can be... discounted by two percent."
Ao Guang's crying stopped abruptly.
He lifted his tear-streaked dragon face and stared blankly at Zhao Gongming.
After a long while.
He asked in a voice hoarse beyond measure.
"...Really?"
"Really."
Zhao Gongming nodded.
Another long silence followed.
In the end, Ao Guang slowly and unsteadily rose from his throne.
He looked as though every last bit of his spirit had been drained away. He weakly waved a hand at Turtle Prime Minister behind him.
"Prime Minister."
"Go... go to the treasury and take out one hundred thousand Merit."
"No, take out ninety-eight thousand Merit."
He then looked at the registration disciple, his eyes bloodshot.
"The questionnaire... bring it here."
Half an hour later.
The three hundred Interception Sect disciples marched out of the Crystal Palace in neat formation.
Behind them lay the deathly silent hall and the East Sea Dragon King, slumped upon his throne as though he had already become a stone statue.
Zhao Gongming held the paid settlement list in one hand, along with the satisfaction questionnaire that the Dragon King had filled with the words "Good! Very good! Extremely good!" in blood and tears.
He stopped and looked back at that magnificent yet decaying palace.
Facing the palace gates from afar, he cupped his hands in salute and called out brightly.
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Dragon King, for your cooperation and support!"
"Your 'Very Satisfied' is our greatest motivation to move forward!"
"The Three Realms Population Census Office looks forward to our next cooperation!"
With that, he led the Working Group away in a streak of light, vanishing into the depths of the East Sea.
Only that blessing filled with "humanitarian care" remained, echoing before the Crystal Palace for a long time.
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