Chapter 232 - 199: Overwhelmed

Chapter 232: Chapter 199: Overwhelmed

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Capital, Wu Yue was up to his neck in trouble.

His current status shielded him from ninety percent of the world’s troubles, but he was completely helpless against the most fatal one. He glanced at his wristband, where the balance displayed was particularly glaring: 28 Contribution Points.

He scoffed to himself. Twenty-eight points! Let alone a Garrison Officer, even the most ordinary citizen had more points to their name right now.

Yet, he had no one to blame for this. The person recklessly spending those points was his own mother, and the one borrowing points when she ran out was also his mother. Before life got back on track, there hadn’t been many places to spend points, so they had managed to scrape by. But ever since the country stabilized and trading markets sprang up everywhere like mushrooms after rain, his mother finally started enjoying the thrill of splurging and being flattered.

And then, her greed became a bottomless pit.

He rubbed his temples, considering whether he should take on another mission to the Wilderness. The high subsidies and bonuses from such a trip would at least be enough to sustain their livelihood.

As for stopping his mother... Wu Yue smiled bitterly.

If he could have stopped her, he would have done so long ago. However, after countless fruitless arguments and shouting matches, his mother had leveled up her tactics. Whenever he brought up the issue, she would silently weep and swear never to spend like that again. But barely two days later, she would revert to her old ways. Then she would tearfully reflect on her mistakes in front of him, following it up with tales of the hardships she endured in her youth, the struggles of raising a child, and the humiliations she faced due to poverty.

Wu Yue was completely at his wit’s end. Ultimately, the cycle just repeated itself, and the issue was always left unresolved. But if this continued, he would become a laughingstock sooner or later.

Compared to the issue of Contribution Points, the Guard Army’s internal selection of Guard Orders to serve as vice-commanders seemed hardly worth mentioning. No one knew that the man currently bearing the future of the entire Guard Army was sitting in his office, racking his brain over how to earn points.

An indeterminate amount of time passed before a gentle knock sounded at the office door. He pinched his brow in irritation, knowing exactly who it was just from the sound.

"Come in."

Sure enough, the person who appeared before him was the delicate and lively Bai Yu. She was wearing the white uniform of the Guard Army, which made her already exquisite figure look even more captivating. Her smile was as refreshing as a spring breeze. She was a young woman completely different from Huai Yu.

Unfortunately, Wu Yue was truly in no mood to appreciate any of this. Still, since she was a lady, he forced down his irritation and asked softly, "Is there something you need?"

Bai Yu smiled, looking at him with eyes full of trust. "General Wu, what do you think of my abilities?"

Wu Yue’s heart stirred. To be fair, Bai Yu’s abilities were quite impressive. As a Wood Ability User, her Superpower’s Mutant Value wasn’t outstandingly high, but she far surpassed others in her proficiency of control. From something as small as accelerating the growth of specific plants to something as massive as unleashing a sudden barrage of thorns, her performance was stellar across the board.

It was safe to say that even within the Guard Army, compared to those long-established Superpower Users, the only thing she lacked was sufficient combat experience. And despite having joined the team for only two short months, she had already gone on five field missions and completed two exploration tasks in the Wilderness.

It was just... Wu Yue smiled inwardly. She was a young girl after all; she had a sensitive heart and needed validation from others about her own capabilities. If it weren’t for the constant borrowing and returning of Contribution Points between her family and his, he would definitely appreciate her much more at this moment.

However, Aunt Wang from next door likely wanted him to look after Bai Yu at work, so she never refused his mother’s requests to borrow points. As a result, this month’s debt had steadily climbed to a level that left him breathless. But he couldn’t even bring himself to complain. Every time it came up, Aunt Wang would even say he didn’t need to pay her back; it was simply the heart of a parent trying to pave the way for their child. How could he possibly resent that?

A myriad of thoughts swirled in his mind, but Wu Yue ultimately just sighed silently and smiled at Bai Yu. "You are very outstanding. Quite outstanding even among the entire elite squad."

Bai Yu beamed. Her cheeks flushed slightly, and her eyes sparkled, seemingly overjoyed by his validation. She stood there and asked with eager anticipation, "Then, could you sign my recommendation form for the Guard Order selection?"

"Huh?" Wu Yue was taken aback.

She lowered her head shyly. "I... I’m not just obsessed with becoming an official. It’s just that there are five Guard Orders in total, and each holds a lot of authority. You don’t care about fame or fortune at all. When others take office, if you don’t even have someone who cares—I mean, if you don’t even have a trusted confidante, it will be very difficult for you to carry out your work.

"I’m different; my dreams are very ambitious," she continued softly, her cheeks turning even redder from apparent shyness as she cast a complex glance at him. "So... I want to get this chance to compete too.

"It’s just that I’m still a rookie, so I lack some of the qualifications. I heard that the Guard Army has the authority to issue recommendations, allowing someone to enter the second round of testing directly..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "May I... have it?"

Wu Yue’s expression grew complicated. He could only admit that she truly lived up to being a girl from a prominent family. Even if her heart wasn’t entirely set on power, she could instinctively navigate the vanity fair—a sharpness that someone of commoner origins like him severely lacked.

And what she said made sense. Back when Lin Xuefeng was around, he had never heard of needing Guard Orders for assistance. Now that it was his turn to lead, it was unfortunate that the whole country was in a state of post-disaster reconstruction. With mutant incidents of all sizes requiring his attention, he was stretched thin and struggling to keep up. It really was true: conquering a kingdom is easy; defending it is hard.

With that in mind, he straightforwardly took the recommendation form from Bai Yu’s hands. After briefly glancing over it, he signed his name and stamped it with his official seal. "Go on. Perform well and have some confidence in yourself. Your abilities are very strong."

The recommendation form could only push someone with insufficient qualifications directly into the second round. However, the second round involved not only combat capability assessments but also written exams and political evaluations. Since Bai Yu had a naive girl’s mindset and only saw things from her own perspective, stamping a form to help her out was no big deal. The worst-case scenario was that she would secretly cry after failing the selection, and he would just have to spend a little effort comforting her.

But... Wu Yue recalled her earlier words. Not having a trusted confidante was indeed very troublesome.

This wasn’t due to his lack of ability. Rather, the current team members were all people who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Xuefeng, and they always loved to compare him to their former leader. However, Lin Xuefeng had already calmly walked into the Wilderness to meet his death, and the living could never compete with the dead. Therefore, Wu Yue had quite a headache dealing with the current situation where his subordinates were somewhat insubordinate.

At this moment, handing over the form and saying those encouraging words, he actually secretly hoped for an upset. If a young girl with shallow qualifications like her managed to win the position, then out of the five vice-commanders, there would be at least one person completely on his side.

Bai Yu gave a soft sound of agreement and nodded heavily.

When she pushed open the office door to leave, the three people in the secretary’s room outside looked up and exchanged a tacit, knowing glance with her.