Why Does It Sound Like a Pig Being Slaughtered?

Zhang Lexuan sat on a low stool beside the bed.

As the senior sister of the Shrek Inner Court, she had been taught from childhood that "Shrek's glory comes above all else" and to "maintain absolute neutrality and protect the continent."

But Su Xian's analysis of the Spirit Pagoda's system had shattered her established worldview.

She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and continued in her deliberately assumed, simple country accent. "Teacher Su, since you said Shrek's approach couldn't manage the Spirit Pagoda properly, how would you manage it if it were up to you, so it wouldn't become a malignant cancer bringing disaster upon the world ten thousand years later?"

Sitting cross-legged, Su Xian shifted into a more comfortable position and struck just the right pose. "That's easy! There are just two key points: break the master-disciple monopoly and introduce modern performance evaluations!"

Outside the door, Yan Shaozhe and the others instantly pricked up their ears, as did Mu En inside. They hardly dared breathe.

Mu En even silently picked up his charcoal pencil and battered notebook, ready to record this method of "governing a nation and administering its affairs."

"Look at Shrek today. Its management model is like a backward, closed-off feudal clan."

Su Xian launched into a merciless critique. "The elders of the Sea God Pavilion spend every day in seclusion like clay idols, while middle management monopolizes all the power. What do they base promotions on? Seniority! Master-disciple connections! Take that Yan Shaozhe, for instance. Isn't the only reason his position as dean of the Martial Soul Department is so secure that he's Pavilion Master Mu En's direct disciple?"

Outside the door, the corner of Yan Shaozhe's mouth twitched.

Much as he hated to admit it, in outsiders' eyes, his deanship did carry a strong whiff of nepotism.

"To properly manage an institution like the Spirit Pagoda, which controls the entire continent's lifeblood, the first thing you need is competitive recruitment and a system that weeds out the lowest performers!"

Su Xian swept his hand through the air, his words ringing with conviction. "Martial Soul Department or Soul Tool Department, Shrek background or Star Luo Empire background-none of that matters! Whoever has the ability gets the job! Three-year terms, and if you do a poor job, pack your bags and get out!"

"Second, and most importantly-introduce KPI-based performance evaluations!"

"What's KPI?" Zhang Lexuan asked instinctively. The charcoal pencil in Mu En's hand also stopped in midair.

"Key performance indicators. You can't just look at how much soul power a pagoda master has or how fierce they are in a fight. Fighting is an enforcer's job. Managers need to look at the big picture!"

Su Xian's tone grew increasingly impassioned. "The adoption rate of artificial soul spirits among commoners, the rate of improvement in the living conditions of bottom-rung soul masters, and the percentage reduction in soul spirit production costs must all be included directly in the pagoda master's KPI evaluation!"

"If artificial soul spirit prices remain sky-high during a pagoda master's tenure, leaving commoner soul masters unable to afford them and intensifying class conflict... no more talk. They resign and take responsibility! Or even get sent before a tribunal!"

Su Xian unleashed his final, ultimate killing blow. "Think about it. If you forcibly tie the immediate interests of the lowest-ranking soul masters to the promotions and salaries of the pagoda's top brass, will they still secretly collude with evil soul masters to rake in money? They'll rack their brains, working day and night on research and development and cutting costs so more commoners can afford soul spirits! Because the better commoners live, the stronger their record in office!"

Those words were like parting the clouds to reveal the sun!

As Zhang Lexuan listened, her beautiful eyes shone again and again, and she clasped her hands tightly together.

The idea of forcibly linking the interests of those at the bottom to the promotions of those at the top was nothing short of a god-tier strategy for breaking down the class barriers that had stood in the Soul Master World for ten thousand years!

If Shrek had possessed an evaluation mechanism like this earlier, the Inspection Corps' efficiency and the circumstances of commoner soul masters across the continent would absolutely have undergone earth-shaking changes!

Mu En was even more shaken, the hand holding his charcoal pencil trembling.

For ten thousand years, Shrek's tail had grown too large to wag, its departments had fought over power and profit, and even the Inspection Corps had repeatedly run into problems. Wasn't the fundamental reason precisely the lack of this sort of oversight and evaluation mechanism that struck straight at human nature?!

This Teacher Su was not merely a great master of physics, but also a reformer of exceptional vision!

Just as Zhang Lexuan and Mu En were gazing at Su Xian with the reverence one felt looking up at a towering mountain.

Su Xian, who had been passionately holding forth on affairs of state, suddenly stopped.

He licked his dry lips, his imposing expression collapsing into a fawning smile. "Um... Uncle Mu En, little sister A-Xuan, I've been talking so long my throat's practically smoking. Could you pour me some water? If the village shop has cola, that'd be even better. If not, plain boiled water is fine."

His sudden display of fawning as he begged for water instantly shattered the reformer's halo he had just worn.

Zhang Lexuan's mouth twitched violently, and Mu En jolted too.

One second he had been a peerless expert boldly directing the course of events. How had he turned into a drifter begging for water at the village entrance the next?!

Mu En took a deep breath and silently passed him a bowl of warm water, secretly swearing to himself: When this brat regains his sight and learns the truth, I'll give his backside a good beating!

How could Shrek's honored guest be so spineless over a mouthful of water!

Su Xian had no idea what they were thinking.

He was living under someone else's roof, and he was blind. Of course he had to be polite to the old village chief looking after him.

He gulped down the water, wiped his mouth, and sighed. "Still, there's no point telling you all this. It's a world inside a novel, after all. If anyone actually tried reforming it, the resistance would be enormous."

"Honestly, the main reason Shrek became so rotten later on was that those old men in the Sea God Pavilion were too cowardly. They shouted about neutrality every day, but in reality, they were afraid of this and that and never dared follow anything through. And the people under them? Even more useless!"

Su Xian curled his lip and delivered this chapter's ultimate corpse-flogging finishing blow. "Especially that Yan Shaozhe! Do you know why he can sit so securely in the Martial Soul Department dean's seat, and why he's the pavilion master's favorite good little boy?"

"Why?" Zhang Lexuan responded instinctively. The three outside the door instantly pricked up their ears too.

"Because he accomplishes absolutely nothing on important matters!"

Su Xian spread his hands and mocked him mercilessly. "He doesn't forge ahead like other geniuses, and he doesn't innovate like the Soul Tool Department. A slacker like him, who does nothing and just muddles through every day, only papers over conflicts when something happens. That makes him the easiest puppet for those old men to control."

"To put it bluntly, Yan Shaozhe is a heap of rotten mud that won't stick to a wall! With him running the whole Shrek Martial Soul Department, it's doomed sooner or later!"

Crack!

Outside the door.

The jade sound-transmission soul tool clenched in Yan Shaozhe's hand was crushed to powder by sheer force.

Does nothing? A slacker? Rotten mud that won't stick to a wall?!

That was fucking more lethal than accusing him of pimping!

This denied his dignity as a Super Douluo and his decades of painstaking effort at their very roots!

He, Yan Shaozhe, the mighty Bright Phoenix-since when had he become a puppet muddling through life?!

"I'm burning him to death today!!! Nobody stop me!!!"

Terrifying flames shot half a foot from Yan Shaozhe's eyes, and his reason vanished in that instant.

He let out a strange, beastlike cry. Magnificent phoenix wings burst open behind him, carrying heat that could scorch the heavens and boil the seas, and he charged toward the flimsy wooden door!

"Yan Shaozhe, have you gone mad?!"

At that hairbreadth moment, Xuan Zi, who had been concealed nearby, reacted swiftly. Lunging like a vicious dog pouncing on food, he seized Yan Shaozhe's thigh in a death grip and unleashed his full level 98 soul power, forcibly yanking Yan Shaozhe into a stumble.

"Don't be rash! He's Elder Mu's most honored guest!"

Qian Duoduo lunged at him from behind, locking his thick arms around Yan Shaozhe's neck and wrapping his legs around his waist in a textbook rear naked choke.

"Let go of me! I'm going to roast him!!" Yan Shaozhe struggled wildly, sparks spraying from his mouth.

Xian Lin'er was even less polite, immediately unleashing her Azure Flame Dragon martial soul.

A massive dragon claw slapped down on Yan Shaozhe's phoenix wings, pinning him hard into the mud as she snarled under her breath, "Yan Shaozhe! Do you want to destroy Shrek's future?! Hold that fire in!"

The three Titled Douluo abandoned all concern for appearances. Like people subduing a wild bull rampaging in the mud, they pinned down the violently struggling, profanity-spewing Yan Shaozhe with a tangle of hands and feet, desperately dragging him toward the far side of the barrier deep in the back mountain.

Inside the wooden cabin.

Just as Su Xian was preparing to deliver another scathing critique, this time of the Shrek Inner Court's uniform design, he suddenly heard a series of strange, muffled thuds outside, mixed with roars that sounded as though someone was being strangled.

"Uncle Mu En, what's happening outside?" Su Xian tilted his head in puzzlement. "Why does it sound... like a pig being slaughtered?"

Mu En sat on his little folding stool, listening to his proudest disciple's anguished cries a hundred meters away, the corners of his mouth twitching furiously.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and forced his voice to remain steady. "N-nothing... perhaps that wild boar in heat from yesterday accidentally fell into a hunter's trap."