"Who the hell had the nerve to rob my shipment?"
As he looked over the report, Chen Ming felt a rare surge of anger.
"Eight hundred pigs, five hundred sheep, three hundred cattle—all eaten by a single Spirit Beast? Even if you were cooking the books, you wouldn't cook them like this, would you?"
Chen Ming knew that someone had surely taken the opportunity to line their own pockets and quietly pursue their own interests. But as long as they did not go too far or interfere with his plans, Chen Ming pretended not to notice.
But writing off over a thousand head of livestock as Spirit Beast losses—how many entire families would that implicate?
"It was the work of a Ten-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider."
"A Ten-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider has a huge appetite and loves slaughter, but it couldn't possibly have run through several ranches and killed all the cattle, sheep, and pigs I raised in one go, could it? Was it really that bored, or did it have that much of a temper?"
Though all that livestock was only worth thirty or forty thousand Gold Soul Coins, such extensive losses would undoubtedly cause major problems for Chen Ming's plans over the coming period.
Looking at the bureaucrat before him, Chen Ming began reciting his identity, his family background, and the official posts held by his father and ancestors within the Heaven Dou Empire. The implication was obvious.
Hearing Chen Ming's words, the bureaucrat dropped to his knees with a thud. "My lord, please see clearly! I only skimmed a few hundred Gold Soul Coins in kickbacks, and I made that from the wholesale price. I absolutely didn't dare compromise on quality!"
"Even if you gave me ten times the courage, I wouldn't dare write off so