The Collector's Vision

The operational structure of the Cleaning Association is somewhat similar to certain nations where secular and religious powers are separated.

Or perhaps it should be said, military and political powers are separated.

The management system that maintains the Cleaning Association is divided into five tiers: the President, the Grand Patriarch, the Patriarch, the Shepherd, and the Cleaner.

There is only one President and one Grand Patriarch, so it is effectively a flattened four-tier management system.

The so-called Cleaners are the lowest-level personnel responsible for spreading the Cleaning Association's ideology, managing the ordinary staff within a specific area, handling finances, and so on.

There are no clear regulations regarding the number of Cleaners in a given area; everyone relies on their own ability, and the better one is at swindling, the larger the territory they control.

These Cleaners also have their own superiors in certain large regions, known as Shepherds.

An average Shepherd can control the Cleaning Association's forces within one or even several small countries, or a specific region of a large country.

It can be said that once one reaches the level of a Shepherd, they are a feudal lord of the Cleaning Association.

As for the Patriarchs, there are only nine in the entire world, each overseeing the Cleaning Association's forces across major continents and island chains.

Awakened ones, serving as the combat strength of the Cleaning Association, are categorized into a separate system.

This includes the Twelve Knights, the Tool Room, the Purification Legion, and so on, which are independent of one another, making the structure more cumbersome, complex, and even somewhat Ran.

This is a model specifically created by the President of the Cleaning Association to decentralize power among those below.

After all, the Cleaning Association's influence is immense, especially in the America Continent and Europa regions, where it is already a giant. The interests involved are so vast that the President fears those beneath him might lose their grip.

Of course, these are just Li Fan's guesses after understanding the structure of the Cleaning Association.

The Collector himself is one of the Twelve Knights and possesses his own combat squad, which is already considered formidable strength.

However, he does not hold "political power" within the Cleaning Association and can only be considered a high-ranking general.

But now, the Cleaning Association headquarters has suddenly appointed the Collector as the Shepherd of the Southwest region of the Central Province, which means the unification of military and political power!

Within the Cleaning Association in the Southwest region, the Collector will have the final say on everything, becoming a local emperor within the organization.

This is truly a case of sitting at home while disaster falls from the sky.

Li Fan stood where he was, expressionless, though his mind had already quickly grasped the crux of the matter, leaving him wanting to cry but having no tears.

I am clearly a subordinate whose achievements overshadow the master; logically, shouldn't the Cleaning Association be suppressing me?

How did I get promoted again?

Do these guys at the Cleaning Association headquarters even understand politics?

Is the Association President a naive fool!?

The Shell Currency I provided clearly didn't even have much spiritual radiation left; it was just a gift to handle official business. How on earth did you detect the aura of the Lord of the Abyss?

Thinking about how he would inevitably face more Cleaning Association members after becoming a Shepherd, greatly increasing the chance of exposure, Li Fan felt his anger rising.

His face was so gloomy it was almost dripping water.

Incompetent!

Useless!

What kind of trash President is this?

Is his brain broken?

I'm a traitor, can't you see that clearly!

Seeing that Lord Collector had no reaction at all after hearing this "good news" and just stood there expressionless, his family members, who had been somewhat excited, immediately became fearful.

The air instantly turned stagnant.

Auntie Zhang, the gardener Old Sun, and the driver Old Chen were filled with regret; if they had known, they would have just stuck to playing their roles as servants and drivers properly instead of coming over to celebrate.

The father immediately gave the mother a look, asking her what they should do.

The mother's face also turned gloomy at the right moment, carrying a hint of anger as she said:

"My Lord, the headquarters has truly gone too far this time. Given your status in the Association, they should at least have made you the Patriarch of the Central Province. A mere Shepherd of the Southwest region is simply..."

The others immediately understood the point as well.

Even if they felt that a combatant becoming a Shepherd—unifying military and political power to command the Cleaning Association's authority in this region—was a big deal, who were they standing in front of?

It was the famous Lord Collector!

He was the number one super-strong individual on the Awakened criminal wanted list, and there were even rumors that he was more powerful than the President.

For such a figure, giving him a Shepherd position—isn't that an insult?

This is a blatant humiliation!

The others projected themselves into Lord Collector's emotions and now felt angrier the more they thought about it.

"Everyone knows that the Anomaly Bureau has turned the Central Province into an iron bucket; the Association's influence in the Central Province is extremely weak. There isn't even a decent large pastoral district here, let alone a real Patriarch. They call it a promotion for you, but in reality, they are just using us!"

"These trash at headquarters who hold positions without doing any work, do they really think that Lord..." Auntie Zhang said angrily, then suddenly realized something and immediately looked at Li Fan cautiously.

Li Fan was indeed very angry, although his point of frustration was different from theirs.

However, he still suppressed his rage and said expressionlessly:

"Apply to headquarters for funding."

Aren't you asking me to be a Shepherd?

Fine, then give me money.

I'll demand money desperately, then embezzle, corrupt, and squander it all, so you'll thoroughly understand that I, the Collector, am simply a hopeless case who can't be propped up.

I am nothing but a pile of mud, and filthy mud at that.

Let's see if you ever promote me again!

Li Fan had already rapidly formulated a promotion-stalling plan, preparing to thoroughly muddy the waters of the so-called Southwest Pastoral District and make the Cleaning Association headquarters loathe him.

As he spoke, Li Fan had already walked up the stairs, preparing to head to the home theater.

He was so angry this time that he had almost forgotten to be afraid.

He still needed to watch more movies to temper his mindset, especially to learn the mannerisms of those big bosses, and also to research how exactly one goes about corruption and embezzlement properly.

In short, he had to take action as soon as possible to ensure the Cleaning Association headquarters would no longer value the Collector so highly.

Seeing that Lord Collector was about to leave again, Father hurriedly asked:

"My Lord, how much should we apply for? There is currently 5.23 million in our group's account."

The Cleaning Association was indeed wealthy.

Li Fan's footsteps slowed slightly.

He really didn't know how much to ask for without appearing timid or reckless.

He said immediately: "Apply for the maximum."

Mother's voice drifted over from afar:

"My Lord, although the Association's power in the Southwest region is not very strong, there are still some diligent Cleaners. Now that you are a Shepherd, would you consider arranging to meet them? The Cleaners here have organized a secret banquet to celebrate for you, tomorrow night..."

Li Fan felt a headache coming on; it was truly a case of "speak of the devil."

But such things were truly hard to refuse, or it would be too suspicious.

Thus, he nodded slightly with an expressionless face.

Then, without looking back, he entered the home theater.

He needed to hurry up and learn how to act.

Tonight's screening schedule would be tentatively set as Scarface, The Irishman, and Election.

After Li Fan left, the family members present looked at each other, and for a moment, they all looked somewhat ashamed.

Mother said with shame and admiration:

"Our perspective is truly... we've made him laugh at us..."

The gardener Old Sun, usually taciturn, drained the wine in his glass and grinned:

"This is the person closest to the Lord of the Abyss, and he's just a mere Shepherd? Heh..."

Auntie Zhang pursed her lips and chuckled:

"I was scared to death just now... sigh, he really is becoming more and more imposing."

Father nodded:

"I'll go apply for the funding now."

For a newly opened pastoral district, the maximum funding should be around 30 million.

Although he didn't know why the Lord had suddenly brought up applying for funding, it was clearly part of his plan.

They only needed to execute it.

Soon, a message encrypted through layers of security was transmitted via the network to a certain location in Central America.

Inside the magnificent underground structure beneath the Jungle Temple, a tall, upright figure stared at the incoming message for a few minutes, then chuckled:

"Does he feel that the position of a Shepherd is beneath him? Demanding money—what kind of tactic is this? It's truly impossible to guess..."

His gaze seemed to want to pierce through the rock layers before him, to look at the mysterious Collector in the East and see through his true intentions.

Every action of the Collector absolutely had deep meaning, worthy of careful study.

After a while, he shook his head, temporarily giving up on pondering the other's intentions, and muttered to himself:

"The clues to the Lord of the Abyss are indeed not something a Shepherd's position can offset... Since he wants money, then give him money... ten times over!"