Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Acting White Robe (Part 1)

The moment Mo Ting Feng entered the Dust Division Hall, a young man in a green robe stepped forward and saluted. “Dust Warden Official, you’re back.”

Inside, several more green-robed grievance-breakers and Grey Robes stopped what they were doing and followed with their own salutes.

Song Wei Chen lingered at the doorway, peeking in like a nervous stray, unsure whether she should cross the threshold.

The green-robed man reported, “We still haven’t found any trace of the chaos wraith. I’ve sent people to widen the search range. The Three Bureaus of Void, Dust, and Nether are coordinating on the case.”

Mo Ting Feng nodded. “Move faster.”

“If we give it time to absorb more resentful wraiths, it’ll become harder to handle.”

“Yes!”

The man hesitated, then forced the question out. “Dust Warden Official… do we have any news of White Robe Venerable…?”

Mo Ting Feng didn’t answer. Instead, he turned slightly toward the door where Song Wei Chen hovered and motioned once. “Come in.”

Song Wei Chen stepped into the hall, timid and tight-shouldered.

The room stilled. Then, as if on cue, everyone saluted.

“Greetings, White Robe Venerable!”

Song Wei Chen’s mind went blank. Why were they bowing to her like that?

Instinct kicked in. She slipped through the crowd and ducked behind Mo Ting Feng, whispering, “I’m not—You’ve got the wrong person…”

The hall was so quiet she could hear crickets in the garden outside.

“They did not mistake you,” Mo Ting Feng said.

He shifted, guiding her out from behind him. “White Robe Venerable has vanished, fate unknown. This matter is extremely important. Until the case is resolved, Song Wei Chen will temporarily assume the position of White Robe and handle the related duties.”

“To untangle the world’s troubles—the duty of a grievance-breaker.”

“To untangle the world’s troubles—the duty of a grievance-breaker!”

The hall echoed with their unified response.

Song Wei Chen nearly turned to stone.

What was this—this sudden, casual promotion?

A moment ago she’d been the prime suspect. Now she was a cadre at Dust Warden Manor.

Sure, it was acting, and a probation period still hung over her head like a blade… but even so, the treatment flipped from hell to heaven so fast her brain couldn’t keep up.

Her thoughts ran off in entirely the wrong direction.

Benefits? Work hours? Five days on, two days off?

How big was her team? Health insurance? Retirement? Vacation days? Year-end bonuses?

What were the KPI and OKR? Were they pushing cost reduction? Was there overtime?

Dust Division had to count as a major company in the Dream Realm, right? If she became White Robe, did that mean she’d stumbled into an iron rice bowl job?

No civil service exam, and still an iron rice bowl—was the sky really dropping free meals like this?

In her head, she wore the same stunned expression as Chen Luyu and told herself, Really?

I don’t believe it.

No one knew Song Wei Chen was firing off a frantic internal monologue. If the Dust Division Hall had a live-comment wall, she could have dominated it all by herself.

“Enough,” Mo Ting Feng said. “Back to work.”

Everyone scattered.

Before the green-robed man could leave, Mo Ting Feng called him back. “He Ran. Stay.”

He Ran hurried over.

“I know you have questions,” Mo Ting Feng said, “but I have urgent matters to handle. I don’t have time to explain everything.”

He looked at the young man in green. “This is Heaven Net Commander Ding He Ran. If you have any needs or questions, you can go to him.”

Without waiting for Song Wei Chen to respond, Mo Ting Feng crossed the hall and disappeared into the Council Hall.

Song Wei Chen was still stunned.

So was Ding He Ran.

Since Dust Warden Manor had been established, there had always been a tradition: newcomers were never explained things. A new grievance-breaker had to figure it out alone—an unspoken self-study course.

For Dust Warden Official to be this considerate, breaking precedent so openly… it wasn’t normal.

This had to be an illusion.

With that thought, Ding He Ran slapped himself hard.

Ow.

No illusion.