Chapter 135 - Inside and Outside the Wall, Eternally Separated Between Mortals and Celestials (End of Volume One)

Chapter 135: Chapter 98: Inside and Outside the Wall, Eternally Separated Between Mortals and Celestials (End of Volume One)"The moon rises above the willow tree, and people meet after dusk."

This was the first time Xu Shu walked under the moonlight since the integration of his wisdom from two lifetimes.

The moon appeared the same as it had been in his teens and his twenties, sometimes waxing or waning, but never incomplete—a dazzling, large orb suspended in the sky like a huge light bulb.

He was now in the central area of the Safe Zone within the city, where he could clearly see the Astronomy Association circling the base of the Star Tower.

It was an immense architectural structure like a circular star dome railroad—"◎"—

Exuding a sense of science fiction from a future world while also heavily steeped in the aura of scholarship, as if it had fused together the best aspects of the ancient and the modern.

Aside from the Astronomy Association, there were the Judgement Department, Defense Army Command Center, and many other authoritative government offices, forming the ruling institution of human society today: the Supervision Bureau.

In fact, "Supervision Bureau" was just a general code name, used for internal coordination; the truly largest, of course, belonged to the Astronomy Association it housed.

There was a speed limit of 20 miles within the city. Gu Pan was driving very slowly, as if she intended to drive straight into the "◎."

Xu Shu observed the grand gate of the Supervision Bureau, which he had only entered when taking the entrance test, and raised an eyebrow, saying,

"You live inside the Supervision Bureau? Please don’t tell me you’re the daughter of some big shot?"

"Oh, you were quite capable outside, so why are you scared now?" Gu Pan looked at Xu Shu with amusement, thinking to herself that besides being a bit of a perverted weirdo, he was surprisingly cute for being so adaptable.

Xu Shu politely said, "Please stop the car, I need to get out."

"Ha, what are you thinking? If I really were the daughter of some leader, would you have met me in the Wasteland? My place is over in the northwest corner, see that building?" Gu Pan pointed towards a similarly grand structure.

Xu Shu suddenly realized, "Isn’t that the Judgement Department? Oh, I get it, there’s a Prosecutor in your family, right?"

The Judgement Department was an institution primarily made up of Prosecutors and Judges; the former were akin to police officers, while the latter were similar to traditional judges.

Every Prosecutor was a Transcendent.

Gu Pan responded, "Hey, of course not..."

Xu Shu’s pupils constricted, "Fine, fine, fine. So it turns out you come from a Judge’s family, even more impressive. You promised to be my teacher, you can’t go back on your word now."

To become a Judge, mere strength and combat capability were not enough.

One also needed background and influence!

"Pff. Alright, I’ll tell you. The Gu Family is affiliated with the Hunter Association; we mainly serve the Judgement Department by handling outlaws who live outside the law. Think of it as a job like bounty hunting—a normal temp job."

"Is there a formal appointment?"

"No, why?"

"No formal appointment, so that means a temp job, right?"

Gu Pan covered her mouth and chuckled, "Temp job? You could call it that. So I told you there’s no need to be nervous; we all are ordinary people, hehe."

"Who’s ordinary like you? I’m a Transcendent."

Xu Shu suddenly turned cold, "Alright, stop talking, Gu Pan. Keep both hands on the wheel and stop with the dangerous maneuvers."

Huh?

The f*ck, aren’t you...

Your face changes too fast!

Gu Pan’s expression stiffened.

Soon they arrived at the Gu Family’s district.

Located behind the Judgement Department in a secluded area, spanning about twenty acres, a cluster of buildings stood with a ten-story high building at the very front marked "Hunter Association."

Being employed officially by the government meant even as temps, their imposing presence could only be looked up to by the ordinary citizens.

The only downside was the inauspicious feng shui, as the Judgement Bureau Prison was not far behind.

And right next to the prison, across a street, stood a Moon Church, and across another street in opposite direction there was the bright and noisy night market.

"The Moon Church... isn’t that the Life Mother Goddess Church?"

Xu Shu got out of the car, glanced at Gu Pan, and then at the row of bright and colorful lights in the distance. He couldn’t help but curl his lips, saying, "You should’ve told me there was such a bustling and exciting night market near your home, why did we even bother eating roujiamo, really."

"That place isn’t good, I don’t recommend going."

After parking the car, Gu Pan pondered, then said, "I’ll need some time to gather the 2 million for you, I can give it to you by tomorrow night at the earliest, is that okay?"

Xu Shu naturally had no objection to the matter of debt repayment, not minding a day or two’s delay.

He then asked, "When can you sign the identification clearance for me?"

Xu Shu hadn’t forgotten that his Promotion Drive was presently "unregistered"; he needed to get it cleared before he could make official contact aboveboard.

Otherwise, he’d end up like Lu Bingwei, who was wanted by the Astronomy Association, only able to use an alias like ’Overlord Gun’ and afraid to show his true identity.

In fact, Xu Shu had brought many "Promotion Drives" with him from the Wasteland: one from Lu Bingwei and five from the members of the White Emperor’s son he had killed, of which four were lost.

However, only Lu Bingwei was a fugitive eligible for a nice reward from the Astronomy Association for his capture.

The other Promotion Drives could only be considered for official recovery and registration.

This was a rule applied equally to everyone; if you were to lose your Promotion Drive and had to reapply, you could use these as part of the required materials.

You’d still need to provide evidence proving that these items were not obtained through illegal killings, typically showing a record of battle achievements from the Promotion Network.

Of course, the Astronomy Association would keep that information strictly confidential, not disclosing whom you had killed—this was in line with the will of Lie Zhenzi.

Lie Zhenzi, being great and fair, treated everyone without distinction.

Whether it was self-defense resulting in killing, or if you actively killed someone, it didn’t matter to Them; They were too apathetic to judge right from wrong.

In the eyes of Lie Zhenzi, when you hunted monsters, you contributed to humanity, earning Contribution Points;

If you fought bravely and aspired for greatness, it was seen as a desire to contribute more to humanity and was encouraged, deserving of being brought to attention; but because you killed another striving Transcendent, your merits and demerits offset each other, thus no Contribution Points were awarded;