City of Incompleteness

"What sort of cooperation?" Xu Longyun sat back down, her expression suddenly turning cold.

"To save All Living Beings from fire and flood, naturally," Lin Bai said.

"What do All Living Beings have to do with me?" Xu Longyun raised an eyebrow and sneered. "I'm merely a lowly city lord. Saving All Living Beings is the sovereign's business."

"..." Lin Bai said, "City Lord, you took Heaven-Sent Ones into the City Lord's Residence as Shadow Guards..."

"They came knocking on my door themselves," Xu Longyun said.

"You sent Zhou Jiang to assassinate me, to test my identity and the Heavenly Dao's reac..." Lin Bai frowned slightly.

"I sent Zhou Jiang to invite you over for a discussion. Assassinating you was his own idea. What does that have to do with me?" Xu Longyun interrupted Lin Bai with a sneer. "Even if you injured him, he had only himself to blame."

Well, damn.

She'd washed her hands of every last scrap of blame!

Lin Bai froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.

Xu Longyun's attitude was the right one.

On one side was a divine decree from heaven, which could bring disaster upon the common people at any moment; on the other was an insignificant nobody of unknown origins suddenly proposing cooperation...

Anyone with half a brain wouldn't agree rashly, much less the lord of a city. He'd been a fool to make such an elementary mistake.

Xu Longyun stood in a different position from him. He was alone, with a whole array of systems at his disposal, free to indulge his whims and stir up trouble.

But Xu Longyun was a city lord. One wrong step could bring disaster upon Jiamao City. Even if she wanted to deal with the players, she couldn't do it openly.

If the city lord had readily agreed to cooperate with him, that would have been fishy. Still, this was fine too. At least Xu Longyun had made her position clear.

At this point, their conversation had effectively reached a stalemate.

Lin Bai knew that if he kept pressing the issue, Xu Longyun might well throw him out next to draw a clear line between them.

After a moment's silence, Lin Bai suddenly smiled and pointed at the verses on the table. "If love between two hearts can endure..."

Xu Longyun jolted, then her eyes lit up. "What comes next?"

"There's nothing after that," Lin Bai said.

[Resentment from Xu Longyun: +1+1+1]

"You did that on purpose! There never was any 'Heavenly Fragment Collection.' You know all the complete poems, don't you?" Xu Longyun abruptly rose to her feet.

"No, I was just making a wild guess." Lin Bai shook his head with a smile.

"If love between two hearts can endure, if love between two hearts can endure..." Xu Longyun silently repeated the line several times. Bloodshot veins spread across her eyes at a visible speed, and she glared at Lin Bai as though possessed.

Inside Lin Bai's mind, notifications of Xu Longyun's negative emotions began flooding the screen.

Unfortunately, incompleteness points were calculated by head count.

Otherwise, perhaps that extra half-line could have made the city lord contribute a martial art...

"City Lord, have you ever considered making Jiamao City the greatest city under heaven?" Lin Bai smiled unhurriedly, as though he hadn't noticed her terrifying gaze.

"Tell me the final line." Xu Longyun's voice grew increasingly hoarse.

"City Lord, I'm good at business, not poetry." Lin Bai smiled faintly and paced a few steps around the room before continuing, "For a city to develop, its economy must come first, followed by talent. And what does a city rely on to attract talent? I believe it needs something distinctive..."

"What are you trying to do?" Xu Longyun asked, forcibly gathering the thoughts Lin Bai had scattered.

"Help you turn Jiamao City into a city with a distinctive character." Lin Bai smiled. "Everything has two sides. In your eyes, the Heaven-Sent Ones may be the roots of calamity, but seen from another angle, couldn't they be talents capable of bringing order to the world? You may dislike them, but there are always people happy to see them arrive. Whatever happens, their arrival is bound to change the course of the world. Since we cannot stop them from descending, why not seek to change ourselves?"

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Xu Longyun's voice sank.

"I want to use the 'Heavenly Fragment Collection' as a lure to turn Jiamao City into a City of Incompleteness and make your name known throughout the world," Lin Bai declared proudly. "And add a little entertainment to the Heaven-Sent Ones' lives along the way."

He paused. "City Lord, you must have heard about my Chef God Restaurant. Have you ever considered what it would be like if everything in Jiamao City were like the Chef God Restaurant? The Carpenter's Workshop could become the Wood-and-Axe Workshop, the Blacksmith Shop could become the Lostsmith Shop, the Wine Brewery could become the Spill Brewery..."

As Lin Bai described it, a new image of Jiamao City involuntarily took shape in the city lord's mind. Her face darkened. "Nonsense!"

"Why should the Heaven-Sent Ones get to make trouble while we can't?" Lin Bai smiled. "The Heavenly Dao forbids interfering with the Heaven-Sent Ones. It never said we couldn't remodel our own city, did it?

"Once incompleteness becomes the fashion in Jiamao City, the weapons workshops will produce swords and sabers with missing tips and incomplete edges, and the pill shops will sell pills that come up short in weight. In the short term, the Heaven-Sent Ones might find it amusing. But over time, the gap between Jiamao City's Heaven-Sent Ones and those in other cities will grow wider and wider. I doubt many people will choose to descend into Jiamao City then..."

Xu Longyun suddenly fell silent.

A long while passed.

She raised her head. "What about the people's livelihoods?"

"Their livelihoods will only improve." Lin Bai smiled. "A distinctive city will draw curious visitors to look around. Whether they're people of this world or Heaven-Sent Ones, if they want to experience the beauty of incompleteness in Jiamao City, charging a little admission wouldn't be unreasonable, would it? They'll have to eat and drink in the city, won't they? And surely they'll take a souvenir home when they leave? Once people start coming and going, all of that is money. The common people will only grow richer..."

"..." Xu Longyun had calmed down completely. "Why do this?"

"There's no reason." Lin Bai shook his head. "When I left the mountains, my master told me to simply roam the mortal world at play. Whatever I believe is right, I can go ahead and do."

"Where does your honored master reside?" Xu Longyun asked.

Lin Bai smiled without answering.

"If it's only about incompleteness, other cities could imitate it easily," Xu Longyun said.

If they dare imitate it, my income will be even better!

That was Lin Bai's private thought.

He smiled faintly. "They don't have the 'Heavenly Fragment Collection.' City Lord, we could hold an annual Heavenly Fragment Culture Festival and invite brilliant minds from literary circles far and wide to decipher the poems. Hold on to that advantage, and our sister cities won't be able to imitate us even if they want to."

[Resentment from Xu Longyun: +1+1+1...]

The moment he mentioned poetry, notifications of Xu Longyun's negative emotions began increasing in Lin Bai's mind.

Who would have thought such a shrewd city lord had the heart of a literary romantic?

Lin Bai smiled. "If someone solves the 'Heavenly Fragment Collection,' I still have the 'Earthly Deficiency Collection'..."

[Resentment from Xu Longyun: +1+1+1...]

As expected, the city lord's breathing quickened. She clenched her teeth. "Lin Bai, you're making fools of everyone in the world!"

"Perhaps that's my calling!" Lin Bai sighed wistfully. "Without me, what meaning would this world have? We can't just sit back and let the Heaven-Sent Ones be the only flower in bloom!"

"Tell me the complete poems, and I can agree to cooperate with you," Xu Longyun said after a moment's silence.

"I don't trust you, City Lord," Lin Bai said frankly as he looked at her. "Besides, wouldn't completing the poems yourself be more interesting?"

"One poem." Xu Longyun held up a finger.

"I'm a merchant, not versed in the art of poetry." Lin Bai bowed slightly and said apologetically, "Please don't make things difficult for me, City Lord."

Xu Longyun gave Lin Bai a long look. Without agreeing or refusing to create a City of Incompleteness, she instead asked, "What about the Shadow Guards you sent to the City Lord's Residence?"

"They've already come to your door. Just pick the good ones and take them in. It's their own choice, so no one can blame you," Lin Bai said. "But you can't keep the one called Lao Mi."

"Why?" Xu Longyun asked.

"He's the leader I've chosen for the Beggar Gang." Lin Bai smiled. "Being a Shadow Guard would hold back his future."

"All right." Xu Longyun glanced at Lin Bai. "I'll find a pretext to throw him out."

"No, don't throw him out. Order him to infiltrate the Beggar Gang instead." Lin Bai shook his head. "Then, once he leaves on his mission, revoke his status as a Shadow Guard. Even if he comes back, don't acknowledge him."

At those words,

Xu Longyun's expression shifted slightly. She gave him a displeased glare. "What Shadow Guards? Thanks to you, they've long since become Open Guards."