Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 364 Trust and Determination

Police sirens blared in front of the Sisya administration building.

Security personnel arrived at the scene immediately after the attack.

In the lobby on the first floor, the director of the Sisya Security Bureau was loudly reprimanding the building's guards.

"How can you bunch of useless idiots treat your jobs like this, allowing an attack to happen here!"

One of the guards said aggrievedly, "Director Valery, the enemy was hiding in the car the whole time. They only came out through the sunroof when they were close to the building and launched the rocket. We didn't have time to stop them at all..."

"Shut up! You dare make excuses for your dereliction of duty? Arrest him!"

Two burly men wearing sunglasses stepped forward and pinned down the guard next to Valery, just as Yelena stepped out of the elevator.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, it's Your Excellency the Consul."

Valery's expression changed instantly, his flushed cheeks plastered with a fawning smile.

“This attack was clearly targeted at you. The fact that the attackers were able to carry out the attack is a dereliction of duty on the part of the building's security guards. I will remove these incompetent individuals and replace them with elite security personnel to protect your safety.”

Yelena frowned slightly and glanced at the guard who was being held down on the ground.

"Alright. But there's no need for punishment; they didn't do it on purpose."

“Yes, Your Excellency, you are truly kind,” Valery added. “I will also take those two foolish criminals away for a thorough interrogation and make sure they confess.”

"I will hand those two criminals over to Sgorchin for trial. The Security Bureau will start by investigating the nearby surveillance footage."

"Sgorchin is in charge of the interrogation..."

"Director Valery won't forget that she came from the Criminal Division of the Public Security Bureau, right? Interrogating two criminals is a piece of cake for her."

"Ah, is that so?" Valery looked enlightened and slapped his forehead. "I had completely forgotten. I'm so ashamed. I'll go and investigate right away."

After saying that, Valery walked towards the door, but stopped after a few steps, turned around and smiled, "I heard that the two criminals who carried out the attack were caught by the Consul's guards before they could even escape the street. That's impressive. It seems that besides Stochitz, the Consul has found another capable assistant."

Yelena said indifferently, "The situation is unclear right now, so we must be careful. Go ahead."

"Yes, Your Excellency..."

Valery turned and left, the smile on his face vanishing in an instant.

On a balcony on the second floor, Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi stood watching Valery stride into a car, followed by several burly men in sunglasses who also got into the car and drove away.

"What do you think?" Guan Tong asked.

"Doesn't seem like a good person." Shangyuan Zi's opinion was simple and direct.

“Valeri, the director of the Sisya Security Bureau… there’s definitely something wrong with him. But Yelena doesn’t have any concrete evidence right now, so it’s not good to take action against him directly.”

Shangyuan Zi was puzzled: "She is clearly the governor, the person with the most power in this country, right? Can't someone else be appointed as the bureau chief?"

"The Sisya Security Bureau is a rather special department. I heard Yelena say before that this department is independent of the administrative system and has the power to supervise and enforce the law over the entire administrative system, including the governor. The selection of the director requires a multi-party vote."

"It's actually like this..."

Guan Tong explained, "From what I understand, the people of Sisia strongly support this approach. This is because the ruling position in Sisia is passed down through family succession. The previous ruler was Yelena's father, and the current ruler is a contest between Yelena and her brother Rijeka for the right to succeed him."

The Security Bureau was established with the intention of being accountable only to national security, not to the governor. Therefore, if there is evidence that the governor has done something to undermine national security, the Security Bureau has the right to hold them accountable… but this Valery doesn't seem to be such a selfless person.”

Upon hearing this, Shangyuan Zi asked, "So, Valery originally supported Rijeka, but now that Yelena has become the consul, he intends to harm her?"

"I don't know. But a fox will eventually show its tail. I think this attack was just a test, and Yelena's enemies will soon be revealed."

“…This must be very difficult for her.” Shangyuan Zi paused for a moment, recalling the nickname Ye Lianka had wanted to change before, “She clearly wanted to be the ‘sword’ protecting this country, but she also had to guard against attacks from within.”

“The position of governor is never easy to hold,” Guan Tong said. “Since she has chosen this path, difficulties will only come one after another… However, with us as her helpers, things should be a little better.”

"Ah."

"She's gone back to her office, let's go over there too." Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi returned to Ye Lianka's office. Although it had been attacked by rockets, Guan Tong used a screen wall to make the explosion occur near the window.

Apart from the broken window glass, the inside was not damaged.

More than half an hour had passed since the attack, and the broken glass had been cleaned up. Yelena sat in her chair, her face looking rather pale.

She saw Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi come in and told them about her conversation with Valery.

"Replacing the guards with people from the National Security Bureau seems to have ulterior motives," Guan Tong said.

"I think so."

"So you agreed to his request to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"Yes. With you teachers around, I'm not worried about my safety, and besides, I can fight on my own." Yelena was very confident about this.

Guan Tong knew that, judging from Ye Lianka's talent at the academy and the resources she possessed due to her status, her overall strength was definitely among the top-tier, and she might even be among the top-tier ascendants.

"but……"

Ye Lianka looked at Guan Tong.

“Teacher, I think they might be able to guess that my new bodyguard is ‘Shadow’.”

"Oh?"

"Everyone believes that I assassinated Rijeka. However, to infiltrate the heavily guarded Icefield Prison unnoticed, carry out the assassination, and then leave without leaving a trace... only an extremely powerful Ascendant could do that."

Yelena continued, "Afterwards, you disguised yourself as a soldier and entered the landing site. Everything was fine until those parasites launched a surprise attack. You were forced to take action, which led to your identity being exposed... They would naturally assume that you were able to infiltrate the landing site with my permission, otherwise you would have been discovered by the on-site commander, Skochin."

After that, I gained another mysterious and highly skilled bodyguard. Connecting the dots, they'll surely suspect my new bodyguard is 'Shadow.'

After listening, Guan Tong nodded and said, "That's right. If I were your enemy, I would make the same deduction."

"Teacher, if you were my enemy and made this deduction, what would you do next?"

"Hmm... 'Shadow' is a world-renowned expert. It's not impossible to defeat him, but we would need to send out many experts and have a meticulous plan to be safe. If you feel that using force is inappropriate, perhaps we could try to secretly contact him and bribe or turn him to defect."

Uehara Yuki: "That seems reasonable."

Yelena nodded: "The enemy does indeed have two choices: defeat or turn the teacher against us... If the enemy chooses to turn the teacher against us, I hope you can play along."

Guan Tong looked at her: "Aren't you afraid that if the other party offers a high enough price, I might actually be turned against them?"

Yelena shook her head gently, her gaze firm: "If there are a few people in this world I can absolutely trust, you, teacher, are definitely one of them."

"..."

Guan Tong was surprised that Ye Lianka, with her rather cold personality, would say such a thing, and after a moment of silence, she agreed.

“Alright, if the enemy tries to make contact with me, I will try my best to find out their secrets. However… Yelena, sometimes you can’t be too rule-abiding.”

"...I understand what you mean, teacher. At critical moments, I do not rule out using force to directly wipe out the entire Security Bureau and other enemies."

Ye Lianka's murderous intent was so palpable that even Guan Tong couldn't help but admire her determination.

That makes sense. She's not even twenty yet, and composure and restraint are things she needs to work hard to maintain. Impulsiveness and violence are the true colors of this age, especially after experiencing those cruel things.

Suddenly, Guan Tong felt sorry for those who were enemies of Ye Lianka.

They might think that Yelena's composure is feigned, that she is a weak person who wants to maintain the rules and secure her position as consul through hard work, and that she doesn't dare to overturn the table at all.

In reality, things may be completely different from what they thought.

The reality is more likely that Yelena was trying to maintain the rules and find evidence according to the rules, but she was just suppressing her anger and preventing herself from taking the initiative to overturn the table.

If one day she decides to stop suppressing others, perhaps it will be her enemies who beg to follow the rules...

(End of this chapter)