Ark, Just Tell Me Whether the Mission Was Completed

Swire questioned him with rigid formality, making Luo Chen a little nervous, but he hadn't expected such a simple question.

"Oh... you're pretty confident, huh?" Seeing that Luo Chen wasn't troubled, Swire couldn't help tossing out a sarcastic remark.

Without a shred of modesty, Luo Chen pulled over a chair, sat across from Swire's desk, and began explaining his method for handling the case:

"Of course. Let me analyze my approach for you, Chief."

"The construction company owner withheld wages because, at its core, he lacks legal awareness and has a weak understanding of the law."

"Solving this problem is very simple. The workers just need to file a report, then we'll bring him to the Lungmen Guard Department and have the workers read relevant legal provisions to him for twenty-four hours."

"They'll keep reading until he learns the law and realizes just how stupid his actions were."

Swire interrupted Luo Chen midway. "But a single summons can't exceed eight hours. How are you going to hold him for twenty-four?"

"Isn't that easy? There are so many workers. Have them file a police report once every eight hours."

"That works too?" Swire thought about Luo Chen's method. Having workers lecture the construction company owner on the law for twenty-four hours straight sounded like brutal torture.

She didn't know how long the construction company owner could endure, but she definitely wouldn't last.

Still, Luo Chen could easily get reported for doing that.

"What if he hires a lawyer and sues you for violating regulations?"

"That makes it even easier. Bring the lawyer in too and have him educate the construction company owner about the law from inside."

"On what grounds would you bring in the lawyer?"

"The workers report that they suspect he's cooking the construction company owner's books."

"Wouldn't that be filing a false report?"

"Then that's perfect. Have the workers stay inside with the lawyer and educate the construction company owner together."

"What problem in this world can't be solved by sitting down together?"

"Huh?" Swire cried out in surprise. He'd actually managed to make that logic work.

"Well, Chief? Isn't this problem especially simple?" Luo Chen stuck both hands into his pockets and flashed the same smile as Strongman King.

"That works? You can torture people like that?" Swire's eye twitched violently.

Though she hated to admit it, Luo Chen's underhanded method of handling cases really was highly feasible.

So the right solution to this case was to stop acting like a human being?

And Swire felt that if she'd done this back then, she definitely could've vented her anger properly.

"So, Chief, can you appoint me now?"

Retaliation and torture—you're calling this a Positive Growth System?

"Your method is too idealistic. At most, I can barely count you as having some ability to handle cases."

Swire's lips trembled slightly. She didn't want to acknowledge Luo Chen's method, but she couldn't argue against him either, so that was all she could say.

"I understand." Luo Chen didn't care much about it. He shrugged, signaling that she could keep asking questions.

Tsundere, huh? He just had to give her a little more leeway.

"I..." Swire looked at the expression on Luo Chen's face that seemed to say, I understand you, and anger immediately welled up inside her.

What do you understand?

You've understood everything already!

This rookie was way too bizarre.

Was he ignorant of the world's immensity, or was he simply bold because he was skilled?

In any case, he was strange. Even Swire, with all her experience, couldn't figure out what kind of person Luo Chen really was.

It was the first time she'd felt so miserable in front of someone else, yet the misery was addictive. She wanted him to show off a little more.

Swire scratched her head in frustration for a long while before suddenly thinking of a task that would both test Luo Chen's abilities and be extremely challenging.

And it would also let her vent some of the anger from what had happened today.

She'd make Luo Chen play the mouse while she played the cat hunting him down.

After racking her brains and finally coming up with a bit of mischief, Swire bared her little tiger fangs and smiled smugly.

"I'm giving you a particularly difficult task."

"As long as you complete it, I'll appoint you acting captain of the Public Security Management Brigade and promote you two full ranks to senior officer."

"The task is to play a bandit during the Lungmen Guard Department's routine drill and cooperate with their exercise."

"Do you dare take it?"

"I guarantee mission completion." Hearing that he could get promoted and become acting brigade captain, Luo Chen agreed without hesitation.

A triumphant smile instantly appeared on Swire's face.

"Don't be so eager. I haven't explained the key points of the mission yet."

[First requirement: Leaders will be observing this exercise. You must carefully develop the script and ensure that its logic is sound. Don't let the leaders see through it at a glance. Of course, you can also do an especially terrible job. Then all of you can pack up and get out.]

"Wait, Chief? You only said we had to ensure the drill was reasonable. What if it's too realistic and we accidentally beat the Lungmen Guard Department?"

"What kind of joke are you making?"

"I'm only describing a possibility."

"If you can beat the Lungmen Guard Department, I'll give you my position."

"You're too kind, Chief. I don't ask for much—just make my acting brigade captain position permanent! But this exercise is, after all, something the Lungmen Guard Department is putting on for all of Lungmen to see. It wouldn't look good if they lost. How about this? Let all of Lungmen see the Lungmen Guard Department win the exercise."

"You say that as if you can beat the Lungmen Guard Department while playing the villain!"

Swire rolled her eyes at Luo Chen. She didn't like people who loved to brag.

"The Public Security Management Brigade has had so many problems recently. Making them play clowns again would hurt internal morale badly. So I've decided to have the personnel under review from this disciplinary incident form a villain group to play the antagonists in the exercise."

"Luo Chen will be the villain group's deputy leader, Motley will serve as leader, and its members will include former deputy captain Carter, former First Unit captain Wang Hao, former office director... former office secretary..."

Swire smiled slyly as she listed one police officer after another who had a grudge against Luo Chen.

In her view, those officers who'd been demoted or suspended because Luo Chen reported them must hate him to the bone.

Especially brigade captain Motley. He was the real unlucky one. He clearly hadn't committed any major violation himself, but because too many of his subordinates had been reported, he was implicated and demoted as punishment.

She could already imagine the absurd scene of Luo Chen working alongside those people. Maybe the bandits would even sabotage one another from within.

If Luo Chen wanted to become acting brigade captain, he had to handle those relationships properly. As long as he could resolve the conflicts perfectly and lead the team in coordinating well with the exercise, she would recognize him and make an exception by promoting him to acting brigade captain.

After all, without some real ability, how could a mere probationary officer want to become acting brigade captain?

If Luo Chen couldn't even resolve such minor conflicts, then Swire, as the overall commander, wouldn't show mercy. She'd crush the bandits they played without giving them any face and reject Luo Chen's application to become acting brigade captain.

[Second requirement: You must unite the colleagues participating in the exercise. If your internal conflict causes the acting side to make mistakes everywhere and provides no educational value whatsoever for the Lungmen Guard Department's rapid response capabilities, then I likewise won't count you as having passed.]

As Luo Chen listened to Swire's description, the corners of his mouth rose as well.

This little tiger was quite cute, but she had plenty of schemes too.

Was she throwing all the troublemakers into a comeback round?

But I haven't lost yet. Why do I have to play a comeback round too?

So the Avengers are only avenging themselves on me? I've become Thanos!

"Well? Do you still want to take it? If you think it's too difficult, you can leave now."

"Of course I'm taking it, because I want to improve myself too badly."

Rather than muddle through life as an ordinary police officer, Luo Chen would rather fight for it.

Besides, wasn't it just dealing with a group of corrupt people who'd made mistakes?

What was there to fear? They were the ones who should be afraid.

They were trying to redeem themselves after committing crimes. That fundamentally set them apart from him.

And when it came to uniting colleagues, Luo Chen had some experience. He believed that if he sat down and had a heart-to-heart talk with them, everyone would surely bury the hatchet and work toward the same goal.

"..."

Looking at Luo Chen, Swire didn't know whether it was just an illusion, but she felt like he was already impatient to meet those people.

Would the plan she'd come up with on a whim cause some huge mess?

But it was only an exercise. What could possibly go wrong?

Just as Swire was thinking that—

"Chief... when can I meet those lost lambs?"

Luo Chen had already taken the initiative to ask about the exercise date and when his future teammates would finish their review.

"Uh... don't rush. They still have four days left in their review period. Go back and keep working for now."

The sly smile vanished from Swire's face in an instant. Seeing Luo Chen so eager, she felt a little scared.

After talking for a while, Luo Chen left Swire's office.

The moment he stepped outside, a ding rang in his mind.

[Congratulations, Host, for completing the system mission and successfully entering the Lungmen Guard Department.]

[Reward obtained: Myriad Transformations.]

[New mission: Return tooth for tooth. Make the bandit side in this exercise suffer a crushing defeat and embarrass themselves, becoming the laughingstock of the Lungmen Guard Department.]

[Your enemies have formed the Avengers. Motley has sworn to make you embarrass yourself during the exercise. As a Positive Growth System, you must make their expectations fail completely, make them suffer to the fullest in this exercise, and turn them into laughingstocks.]

[If the Lungmen Guard Department's exercise mission concludes successfully, this mission will be considered failed: the system will automatically uninstall.]

[Accept new mission?]

[Completing the mission will grant the Silence skill: Silence can seal all special abilities of any one target, including Originium Arts, racial talents, and more.]

That's right, the Positive Growth System had finally spoken up.

In fact, over the past period of time, the Positive Growth System had been playing dead in the background because it was afraid of helping evil and accidentally raising a boss.

But now, it had finally found an opportunity.

Swire had given Luo Chen a chance to get promoted. To the personified Dongxi, that was undoubtedly a huge source of amusement.

So Luo Chen would definitely use every possible method to complete this mission successfully.

If it jumped out now and gave him a completely opposite mission, then if Luo Chen wanted to get promoted, he would have to uninstall it.

And if Luo Chen wanted the Silence ability, he couldn't advance any further in the Lungmen Guard Department.

He might even get fired.

Even if the Positive Growth System got the short end of the stick, it would be worth it. At least it would protect more innocent people from Luo Chen's torment.

Where's my debuff? No debuff, no mission.

Seeing the useless system again after so long, Luo Chen didn't even know where to start criticizing it.

Never mind that the reward had been delayed by several days—this was supposed to be a Positive Growth System, yet it was telling him to retaliate against others?

Was this really a Positive Growth System?

Doing this would get all your system battery drained, you know.

And besides, this system seemed not to understand who held the winning hand.