Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Acting White Robe (Part 2)

Still no illusion, Ding He Ran thought, palm pressed to his cheek.

Song Wei Chen jolted at the slap and finally recovered enough to speak. She looked between his face and his hand, then lifted her own fingers in a small imitation. “Um… is that how you greet each other here?”

“It’s a bit… unique.”

“No, no, Venerable, you misunderstand.” Ding He Ran’s ears warmed. “I just—cough—my face itched.”

“Don’t call me Venerable,” Song Wei Chen said. “It sounds weird. Let’s use something else. I’ll call you He Ran, and you call me Wei Wei.”

“Wei Wei?” Ding He Ran frowned, genuinely confused. “Why would Venerable use a Miss’s courtesy name?”

“…You really are obsessed with ‘Miss,’ aren’t you?” Song Wei Chen sighed. “It’s Wei as in breeze. Wei Wei.”

As she said it, she remembered Mo Ting Feng’s earlier warning.

Dust Warden Manor had women handling internal affairs, but grievance-breakers had always been men. As a woman, moving among the stewards would be inconvenient. So he had placed an illusion-veil restriction on the White Robe. As long as she wore it, even though her face and voice didn’t truly change, others would perceive her as a man. Once she took it off, she would be herself again.

Back then, she’d grinned and said, “Didn’t expect Boss to care about me. Thanks.”

Mo Ting Feng had avoided her smile as if it burned. He hated his heart stirring—hated even the faintest flicker.

“We only just met,” he had said. “I don’t need to care about you. But since you’re working at Dust Warden Manor, I have a responsibility.”

“Until you fully clear your suspicion, I don’t want your gender exposed too early. It’ll only bring me unnecessary trouble.”

It had sounded like the sort of lie a person told themselves to keep their face.

An arm dropped onto Song Wei Chen’s shoulder, snapping her back to the present. Ding He Ran grinned, bright and earnest. “Brother Wei, if you need anything in the future, just say the word. I’ll give it my all.”

“Don’t wait for the future,” Song Wei Chen said. “I have a lot of questions right now.”

She slid his arm off her shoulder and grabbed his sleeve. “Come on. Let’s talk in the courtyard.”

After a few steps, she felt his arm go rigid.

Realization hit her like a bucket of cold water.

What kind of normal man dragged another man around like this?

Mortified, she released him at once and laughed awkwardly, hurrying ahead as if nothing had happened.

Behind her, Ding He Ran stared at the arm she’d grabbed, shock blooming into a strange, creeping embarrassment.

Don’t tell me…?

The thought made him recoil so hard he nearly gagged. He shook his head violently and rushed after her.

They reached the garden outside the hall, empty and quiet. Ding He Ran cleared his throat and looked at her. “Since Lord gave special instructions, ask whatever you want, Brother Wei.”

“Why did Dust Warden Official say White Robe chose me,” Song Wei Chen asked, “and why is everyone not surprised that White Robe changed hands?”

“Let me put it this way.” Ding He Ran spoke as they walked. “You can think of White Robe as an ancient artifact. It has its own will—it decides who can wear it, gain its power, and carry its identity.”

“In the Dream Realm, aside from the chosen ones—like the Realm Lord, Minister of Works, Dust Warden, and the Nether Warden, who are appointed by the Upper Realm—everyone else, the duty officers, are identified by the artifacts belonging to their bureaus and manors.”

Song Wei Chen stopped and pointed at the robe on her body, eyes wide. “So whoever can wear this robe becomes White Robe Venerable in everyone’s eyes?”

“Yes,” Ding He Ran said, solemn as a priest. “White Robe Venerable.”

“That is so ridiculous…” Song Wei Chen muttered. Then she sighed and waved a hand, as if giving up on sanity. “So I didn’t even change jobs. White Robe is basically a virtual idol, and I’m just its avatar operator. An unchanging virtual skin, a revolving avatar operator. No wonder it chose me—I’ve got experience.”

Ding He Ran looked more confused by the second. He chose his words carefully. “Brother Wei… what you said is too profound. I heard every word, but somehow I didn’t understand any of them.”

Song Wei Chen flicked her hand. “Forget it. Pretend I ‘whoosh’ unsent a message. I’m just saying your company’s hiring process is wild.”

Then she remembered something. “Can an artifact be used by two people at once?”

Ding He Ran shook his head. “Artifacts are one-to-one. Even if the original White Robe Venerable returns, he won’t be able to wear this robe again.”

“That’s exactly what makes this whole situation strange,” he added, expression tightening. “Unless the chosen person dies, an artifact won’t change masters. But the previous White Robe didn’t fall. He simply vanished. Something like that has never happened before.”

As Ding He Ran spoke, he found himself watching Song Wei Chen too closely, unsettled by an odd blankness in his mind. Her face was vivid right in front of him, but he had the eerie sense that if he looked away, it would dissolve—leaving him unable to recall a single feature.

He kept the thought to himself.

Song Wei Chen noticed his stare and felt a prickling discomfort. She quickly changed the subject, asking him to show her around the manor so she could understand how things worked.

Ding He Ran led her through the grounds, explaining as they walked.

Grievance-breakers were divided into four ranks: black, white, green, and grey. There was one Black Robe and one White Robe. Black Robe held the highest authority; White Robe came next—meaning Mo Ting Feng and Song Wei Chen.

Below that, the Green Robes were led by Ding He Ran. Heaven Net was divided into thirty-six teams, a total of 1,296 people.

The Grey Robes were led by Ye Wu Jiu. Earth Net had seventy-two teams, a total of 7,200 people.

There were also more than a dozen duty officers in the manor, responsible for clerical work, archives, and other administrative matters.

Grievance-breakers mainly handled chaos wraith incidents. Grey Robes dealt with routine patrols and ordinary cases. Green Robes handled major cases; if Earth Net couldn’t resolve an incident, it was escalated to Heaven Net. As for the Black-and-White Twin Robes, they took the hardest cases—events so tangled they often required the Three Bureaus of Void, Dust, and Nether to cooperate.

They circled back toward the hall. Just as they were about to go inside, another green-robed grievance-breaker hurried out and intercepted Ding He Ran, eyebrows dancing as he winked furiously.

“Commander, don’t go in!” he whispered. “She’s here again, pestering Lord until his head hurts. If you go in now, you won’t get out for a while.”

Ding He Ran made a face like he’d narrowly escaped disaster and grabbed Song Wei Chen, dragging her away. She stumbled after him, completely lost.

“Who came?” she demanded. “Why are you this nervous?”