192: Chapter 192: Bai Hengjun's Attitude

The night before the War Debt Bureau's monthly closing meeting, Shen Xingzhou received a message with no signature. It contained only a coordinate, pointing to an inconspicuous, nameless valley behind the Qingheng Sect.

Shen Xingzhou went to the appointment alone. There were no lights in the valley; only moonlight spilled onto the jagged, strange rocks, casting mottled shadows. Lord Bai Heng sat on a huge bluestone. He was not holding the Measuring Heaven Ruler that represented his authority, but a crudely made clay teacup.

The fragrance of tea curled upward, completely out of place with the cold, ghostly Qi surrounding them.

"You're here." Lord Bai Heng did not turn his head, merely blowing gently on the tea foam. "Sit."

Shen Xingzhou sat on another stone as instructed. A stone table separated the two, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

"Slap."

Lord Bai Heng suddenly raised his hand and tossed a thick stack of paper documents onto the stone table.

It was not a light screen, nor a Jade Slip, but the oldest, most primitive paper. Every page was yellowed, the edges worn, and it was densely filled with numbers and names written in cinnabar ink.

"This is the commotion you've stirred up over the past half month." Lord Bai Heng said indifferently. "I've seen your System version."

Shen Xingzhou reached out and opened the stack of documents.

The first page was the war damage restructuring report for Lingjian Peak. Every single data point was terrifyingly precise—even the three healing pills that Deacon Zhao had originally hidden to save Face were listed under the "Debt to be Recovered" column.

The System interface quietly unfolded before Shen Xingzhou's eyes, scanning the paper documents.

[Item Identification: War Debt Bureau Internal Original Report (Copy)]

Source: Lord Bai Heng's private database

Data Comparison:

Deviation from Heavenly Dao Public Version: Moderate (Deviation value 35%)

Deviation from Yellow Springs Real Version: Extremely low (Deviation value < 0.5%)

Analysis:

This is the true ledger that Lord Bai Heng has been "privately" recording for many years. He has always been watching, yet he never acted to change it.

"Your data is more complete than what I recorded." Lord Bai Heng set down his teacup, staring at Shen Xingzhou with eyes like torches. "Others have done this before, but they died miserably."

Shen Xingzhou did not respond, simply continuing to flip through the pages. What he felt was not the weight of the data, but the eyes of Lord Bai Heng behind these documents—one watching the Heavenly Dao, the other watching the human world.

"Shen Xingzhou."

Lord Bai Heng's voice suddenly dropped a few degrees. "You've caused such a stir this time that you've even brought down the lightning from the heavens. Are you intending to point the spearhead at the Heavenly Dao, or at that so-called 'Old God Group'?"

This was a trap question.

If he said the Heavenly Dao, that was treason and a certain death sentence.

If he said the Old Gods, that was admitting he had touched a deeper taboo, also leading to a dead end.

Shen Xingzhou closed the file, raised his head, and met Lord Bai Heng's scrutinizing gaze. There was no panic on his Face, only a near-paranoid calmness.

"I have no interest in pointing fingers at anyone."

Shen Xingzhou pointed to the stack of reports. "I am an Auditor. An Auditor only does one thing: write the report correctly. On the left is how many people died, on the right is how many people were recorded. The difference between them, whether swallowed by the Heavenly Dao or eaten by the Old Gods, is a 'wrong account' to me."

"I am going to balance these wrong accounts."

The System silently recorded this statement and immediately updated Shen Xingzhou's personality tags.

[Host Behavior Pattern Updated]

Hatred Orientation: Low

Occupational Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Extremely High

Core Logic: Ledger Accuracy > Hatred Orientation

*Note: This person is not a revolutionary; he is a pathological accountant. This makes him harder to bribe and harder to intimidate than a revolutionary.*

Lord Bai Heng stared at Shen Xingzhou for a long time, then suddenly laughed. There was a touch of helplessness in that smile, but also a touch of admiration.

"Ledger accuracy... what a fine 'ledger accuracy'."

He sighed, leaned back slightly, and looked at the moon in the sky. "Do you know how much the Heavenly Dao algorithm dislikes people like you? In the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, numbers are clay that can be molded and flattened. Only you insist on treating it like stone."

Lord Bai Heng paused, his voice becoming somewhat distant.

"Back then, there was someone just as foolish as you. He also felt that human lives could not be 'smoothed over'. He wanted to carve every bit of war damage onto stone, wanting the Heavenly Dao to give an explanation."

Shen Xingzhou's heart stirred. "And then?"

"And then?" Lord Bai Heng sneered. "Afterward, you can't even find his name anymore. He was completely erased from the history of the Heavenly Dao, as if he had never existed."

At this moment, deep within Shen Xingzhou's System Audit room, the long-silent "The Former Auditor File" flickered slightly, as if responding to these words, revealing a faint, sorrowful glimmer.

Shen Xingzhou was silent for a moment, then asked in return: "And what about you? You are the Chief Liquidator of the War Debt Bureau, holding the Measuring Heaven Ruler. For whom are you keeping these accounts?"

For the Heavenly Dao? Or for the Old Gods?

Lord Bai Heng fell silent. The crude clay cup in his hand seemed out of place under the moonlight.

After a long time, he slowly spoke: "I keep the accounts for those nameless spirit tablets on the battlefield."

"Unfortunately, although I can see, I cannot change as much as you." Lord Bai Heng's voice carried a deep exhaustion. "In this position, even if I move a single decimal point, countless eyes will be watching. I can only watch, write it down, and then pour it into the wind of this valley when the night is deep and quiet."

[System Note: Lord Bai Heng Stance Analysis]

Faction: Neutral leaning towards Chaotic (Lawful Good within a Lawful Evil System?)

True Attitude:

Regarding real war damage: Extremely sensitive; not only not repulsed, but tacitly approves.

Regarding Heavenly Dao and Old Gods: Surface absolute obedience, but deep down detests them. However, he is constrained for some reason (possibly his own "War Debt" or "Karma Lock").

Conclusion: He is not an enemy, but by no means an ally who can be fully relied upon. He is a night watchman trying to stay awake in the darkness.

"Then you called me here today just to collect my corpse?" Shen Xingzhou asked.

Lord Bai Heng stood up and brushed the dust off his hem.

"Collecting corpses is too much trouble."

He turned his back to Shen Xingzhou and walked out of the valley, leaving behind only a light sentence.

"Then you keep writing, and balance your accounts. I will be watching. Let's see how long you can live."

The mountain wind blew past, stirring up a few fallen leaves.

Lord Bai Heng's figure vanished into the night, as if he had never appeared. Only the thick stack of paper reports on the stone table remained, lying quietly in the moonlight like a heavy tombstone.

Shen Xingzhou watched the direction he left in, and the System suddenly popped up a prompt.

[External Character "Lord Bai Heng" Assessment of Host Updated]

Death Risk Prediction: High (But he seems not to mind you dying within his line of sight)

Shen Xingzhou smiled bitterly and reached out to collect the stack of reports into his System space.

"High is fine. This life was borrowed anyway."

Just as he was about to leave the valley, the System interface suddenly flashed violently. The border that had always displayed "Meeting Agenda Pending" finally turned a bright red.

[System Notification: Meeting Agenda Final Update]

Source: War Debt Liquidation Bureau / Nine Provinces Credit Review Bureau

New Agenda Item (Mandatory Execution):

"Whether to include Qingheng Sect in the War Debt Bureau Trusteeship List"

Bracket Note (Visible to high-level personnel only):

Trusteeship Explanation:

Reform terminated; revoke the "merger and restructuring" plan.

War debt indicators to be issued directly by the War Debt Bureau (resume "filling the pit" mode).

Revoke Shen Xingzhou's position as Auditor; hand over for legal processing.

Shen Xingzhou looked at that line, "Resume 'filling the pit' mode," and felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to his skull.

This was not a closing meeting at all.

This was a strangulation targeting the "Qingheng Sect Model."

They were going to officially announce at the meeting that Shen Xingzhou's efforts were invalid and throw the people he had just saved at Lingjian Peak back into the pile of the dead.

Shen Xingzhou clenched his fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.

"Want to clear my board?"

"Then we'll have to see, on the meeting table tomorrow, exactly whose accounts are calculated clearly!"