Chapter 4433 — So It Was Spirit Jade
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At first glance, this third round seemed far less brutal than the previous two, which had demanded lives at every turn. In truth, it was the opposite. This one hundred points would be anything but easy to claim. After all, the human heart is the hardest thing of all to grasp. A single misstep, and the hundred points you thought were already in your hand might slip away between your fingers.
And since this was a trial of hearts, anyone hoping to take the full hundred had to do his homework in picking his men. Threats were out of the question, so the only way was to carefully select the ten most trustworthy men and promise them lavish rewards, thus ensuring nothing went wrong.
Yet before they could even set about it, two men had appeared at the side of every escort agency chief—no one knew when. One was a staff member of the assembly; the other had nothing to do with the assembly at all, being an overseer from one of the merchant guilds.
"To ensure fairness, before the contest officially begins, no escort agency may use threats or promised bounties to exert psychological influence on its own escorts. They must face this trial with their own ordinary hearts and minds," the pair of overseers said in unison.
Qi Wenmo started at the words, then turned and looked around. Every other escort agency chief now had an identical pair of overseers standing beside him as well. The assembly had clearly prepared for this long in advance.
"Very well," Qi Wenmo could only nod to the two men, swallowing the bounty that had been on the tip of his tongue. He would have to rely solely on his own knowledge of his people to pick out the ten most dependable escorts. Fortunately, he spent his days among them and knew his men fairly well; if it came down to selecting ten from their number, he was still reasonably confident.
But before Qi Wenmo could begin his selection, the pair of overseers spoke again. "In order to truly reflect the circumstances of each escort agency, all participants in this round must be chosen at random."
"Ha? And how exactly does this random selection work?" Qi Wenmo was dumbfounded.
"Simple. You provide a list of escorts, from which all head escorts, deputy head escorts, and relatives connected to the head escorts are struck out. Then the two of us will randomly select ten from among the remaining escorts," the pair explained.
Head escorts, deputy head escorts, and relatives—these people were bound to the agency by a thousand threads. There was no chance they would yield to temptation on the field. If they were sent up, a contest meant specifically to test loyalty would be utterly meaningless. It could not reflect the true condition of an agency at all.
After all, in ordinary escort runs, how often was it the head escort himself who took the field?
The rank-and-file escorts were the mainstay of any escort job. Only if they could withstand the test could an agency be said to withstand the test. Anyone else appearing in their place would only rob the trial of its meaning.
"This..." Qi Wenmo smiled bitterly. This method of random selection truly left him not a single opening. Though he had faith in his escorts, there were so many of them up and down the agency, and even their skills were uneven. How much less could one count on the human heart, the hardest thing of all to grasp?
"Please, Young Master Qi, give us the list as soon as possible. Do not put us in a difficult position," the pair of overseers urged.
"Fine, I will give it to you now." Qi Wenmo nodded helplessly and, under the watchful eyes of the two, filled in the names of his escorts one by one on a form.
This so-called escort loyalty trial was the first of its kind in history. He had never encountered a contest like it, and its rules were so tightly drawn that for the moment he could think of no loophole to exploit. He could only honestly follow the rules.