Title In Progress

Chapter 20: Genuine Luxury


Their surroundings quieted down, and there was someone already standing at the podium up front. It was that sleepy-faced, thin young man from before——not that he appeared very awake at the moment——Chuan Beixiang.

Shao Dongmi examined him carefully, feeling like he really couldn’t be blamed for not making the association with his true identity. Chuan Beixiang seemed too young to be the founder of this federal-level operation. Was he even thirty years old?

“Hello everyone, I’m the person in charge here at the Tribunal, Chuan Beixiang, and I am also responsible for the technology behind the Executioner Project.”

Chuan Beixiang’s voice was steady and mechanical, his tone stiff as if he was reciting the speech from memory.

“First of all, I would like to express my respects to everyone for your willingness to participate in this unprofitable, extremely dangerous, and unprecedented security and peacekeeping operation. Please allow me to thank you on behalf of the people deep in suffering in this land.

“Although I am the person in charge of this project, the reason I’m standing here in this moment is not to issue orders as your superior, but rather to ask for your help as your co-worker. I am only the person who provides the ‘weapons’, the future of this land and the specific direction it is heading in is in the hands of every single Adjudicator present here.

“There is no ‘justice’ in Augustus, there aren’t even any ‘rules’. The legal knowledge and foundation for judging cases you learnt in Police Academy before stopped being valid the moment you all stepped foot in this place.”

“Crime runs rampant in here, but the police force is limited, so we will delegate all power to every single person in order to maximise the efficiency of peacekeeping. You have to pick your own cases, distribute your own forces, and take part in all aspects of your own investigations, including the pursuit, the trial, the imprisonment, and even the execution.”

“You once were police, but from this moment on you are also lawyers, jailers, judges, and executioners.”

“Every single one of you is shouldering administrative, legislative, and judicial responsibilities. I hope everyone will keep in mind that absolute authority can inadvertently create a conflict of power, so make the right choice in the midst of the dense fog of confusion, and establish justice and peace within this chaotic place.”

Chuan Beixiang gave a deep bow after finishing his words, then walked off stage and sat down off to the side. Immediately afterwards, Jin Sen walked on stage with an even more imposing and cold face than usual and began speaking.

“I am Jin Sen, Chief Executive of the Tribunal. Next up I'll give you a more detailed explanation of the current situation at Augustus and the Tribunal.

“Although public security in Augustus is chaotic, there are already deeply-rooted and intertwined forces to be found all throughout the place. At present, the confirmed forces are a newly-established local police force, a private security company, a large casino, a regular business, and other large but scattered organised gangs.

“The specific circumstances of these forces still needs to be investigated further, so figuring out the current situation in Augustus is one of your upcoming important missions.

“Our Tribunal, the VIE, is an experimental peacekeeping force established alongside the police in every state of the Federation, so in addition to everyone present, there are also other members who will come here to serve in batches. Even so, the current number of people inside the organisation does not reach a hundred men. Augustus has approximately three thousand square kilometres of land, it is impossible to maintain order in such a large area with such a tiny number of people, therefore, I hope you can all be clear in your identities as commanders, and lead your subordinate Executioners to accomplish your missions.

“Previously, there were five volunteers who passed the evaluation and became Chief Adjudicators, they are the five people sitting in the front row right now. You and any other Adjudicators arriving in the future will be divided into five special operation squadrons, each commanded by one of the five Chief Adjudicators, so you can direct any work and technology related problems towards them for advice. The priority for the division of the squadrons will be based on your original stations, and every Chief Adjudicator will adjust any imbalance in the number of people on their own accord.

“It’s worth noting that the Tribunal is neither an official government organisation nor a public organisation, so there is no source of profits, all our current expenses are being borne by Mister Chuan Beixiang alone. If we fail to produce results before our current resources are exhausted, then we will not be able to become an official police organisation or to obtain funds, so the project will be declared a failure and the operation will be disbanded immediately. We expect to have around two or three years, so we hope everyone will be more aware of the pressing crisis.

“However, regardless of how this project ends, if you demonstrate an outstanding performance during this period of service, we will reward you with the corresponding achievement awards and honorary titles, similarly, any major mistakes or faults will be added to your records. This concerns all of your future careers, so please behave prudently.

“Fight for yourselves, for the Tribunal, and for the future of this place. That is all, this meeting is adjourned!”

Jin Sen shut his notebook on the podium with a ‘bang’, then quickly left the meeting room with large strides without looking back.


The Tribunal’s meeting was simple and concise, and it was over before Shao Dongmi had time to write everything down. Chuan Beixiang and Jin Sen’s speeches had a relatively bureaucratic tone, so Shao Dongmi hadn’t felt much when he first heard it, but looking back at it now, wasn’t this delegation of power too excessive?!

The most surprising thing was that the expenses for this operation were actually shouldered by Chuan Beixiang alone. Shao Dongmi had just looked into the Executioner’s operations the day before, so he knew that Shen Lu burned so much money every minute from just standing around doing nothing, and Captain Yan was really willing to spend it.

What kind of family did Chuan Beixiang come from that could afford to keep so many Executioners? I won’t make fun of you for not being able to afford green vegetables or radishes anymore, it seems that the problem is in the vegetables and radishes themselves.


After the meeting was over, the five Chief Adjudicators on the first row began reading out the list of names on their respective teams. Shao Dongmi and Yan Chenli were from the same place, so it was not surprising that he was assigned to Yan Chenli’s squad. After the people were confirmed, everyone introduced themselves, and Yan Chenli took the newcomers for some training.

Shao Dongmi listened as he followed, taking note of a few details he hadn’t noticed before, most of which were related to the work.


“If you encounter danger on a mission, you must treat your life as the highest priority and can sacrifice the Executioner if necessary. There’s no need to feel too guilty, an Executioner can be ‘recovered’ even if they experience a devastating blow. The recovery will be handled by the specialised wrap-up department, so all you have to do is inform the Command Centre.”

The squad members were still engrossed in the novelty of it all, touching the equipment and the armoured cars, each with an excitement that was difficult to conceal.

When this sentence landed on Shao Dongmi’s ears, his mood was completely different. Although he could logically understand that an Adjudicator and an Executioner’s positions were different, when he thought about Chen Xing’s frail and pitiful small frame, he really thought that he would definitely feel crushed if he ever reached that point.


After Yan Chenli explained the gist of it, he said that they could ask him in private if they still had questions, and afterwards was completely surrounded by a flood of the squad members.

Shao Dongmi and Shen Lu stood far from the pile of people, impatiently waiting for him to finish.

Shen Lu discovered that Shao Dongmi kept glancing at him from time to time, and quizzically looked down to examine his own clothes, “Excuse me, is there something the matter with me? Adjudicator.”

Shao Dongmi spoke solemnly: “No. I just had the anxious feeling of burning some time cards¹.”

Shen Lu: “?”

This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.

Over an hour later, Yan Chenli’s side finally dispersed, and he was a little surprised to see Shao Dongmi still waiting.

“Do you have a new idea?” Yan Chenli bluntly asked.

“Hey, does this count?” Shao Dongmi nodded, “I thought about it, and it was very strange when I lost contact yesterday. There was no signal on the armoured car or my cellphone, but the suspect could still call the fake Liu Hao as normal, what kind of high-end technology was that? If it was a signal jammer, how could it be so precise?”

Yan Chenli spoke: “I was just about to tell you. I examined your car early this morning and found that a connection cable in the communication interface was disconnected, actually, it was the network wire. There wasn’t anything technical, you would’ve been able to see it from looking at the row of wires inside the panel. The port itself wasn’t loose, so I think it’s very likely that someone pulled it out.”

Shao Dongmi: “?! Fuck, it turned out to be such a simple trick?”

“Yes, but this also shows that the fake Liu Hao is very clear about the structure of the armoured cars, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to find and unplug the cable in such a short amount of time. In addition, the other party also knew that you were a newcomer, so you are unfamiliar with the structure of the vehicle.” Yan Chenli dragged his fingers lightly down his chin and tapped it, “Ah, this situation is not great.”

Shao Dongmi also understood, “Captain, who knew I was coming to Augustus yesterday?”

Yan Chenli said: “The list of names of people coming to report to the Tribunal is public, anyone can see it as long as they are connected to the Tribunal’s network.”

It seemed like this was a dead end, Shao Dongmi clicked his tongue.

Yan Chenli continued speaking: “As for how the fake Liu Hao could communicate as usual, it’s because Augustus has a few private communication networks for personal use. Their carriers and networks are all self-contained, so our phones can’t get their signals.”

“Private communication networks? That sounds really expensive.”

Yan Chenli nodded: “Yes. The cost of private communications is extremely high, the people who can use this service are very wealthy and reputable people.”

“Wealthy and reputable… It’s clearly just for making phone calls.” Shao Dongmi shook his head quite regretfully, “It’s so strange, Captain, how did so many things that felt normal in Yinjiang turn into such luxuries here? I already have a whole new level of admiration for radishes and green vegetables, and now even the image of communication carriers has become elevated.”

Yan Chenli laughed softly, “That’s why I said so before. There’s nothing more valuable than peace.”


“Ah! Also!” Shao Dongmi remembered something again, “Who knew how the missing people in the list were dressed?”

“Yesterday’s search and rescue involved the entire Tribunal, so everyone should have known.”

“The fake Liu Hao actually had a pair of trousers wrapped around himself yesterday. They were also blue, so I didn’t notice in the beginning.” Shao Dongmi tightly wrinkled his brows, “I was thinking that maybe he knew how Liu Hao was dressed when he went missing, but he couldn’t find a scarf that matched the description, so he tried passing off a pair of trousers of the same colour instead… Captain, that shouldn’t have been a coincidence, right?” Shao Dongmi didn’t dare to voice his question, so he cautiously asked, “Say, it can’t be that someone leaked this information to them…”

Yan Chenli looked at him seriously, and only spoke a good while later, “This is also why I only brought you back this time when I returned to Yinjiang. I think that the Tribunal itself may not be entirely safe.”