Chapter 55: Player Constable Assessment, Cyber Brothel

Among the three ranks of constables, the head constable has the most exhausting job and the heaviest workload.

Regular constables fall into two categories: those responsible for combat and those responsible for detective work and investigations. Each has their own specific duties.

In contrast, head constables must participate in both categories. Their workload is twice that of regular constables. Much like the yamen's legal advisors, they are the pack horses of the yamen.

Naturally, their compensation and benefits are correspondingly better.

A regular constable receives a base salary of two taels of silver per month, while a head constable receives four taels per month. Other allowances and welfare benefits are also twice those of regular constables.

As for the chief constable:
The previous chief constable had an even greater workload and better benefits.
As for the current one—
Pardon me, but the current chief constable is someone who got the position through connections.

This well-connected individual is not particularly accustomed to using his brain. He delegated all duties except for martial arts to the subordinate head constables. This has resulted in the position of head constable in Wuyou County becoming one of the only two beast-of-burden jobs in the entire county.

The other beast-of-burden job belongs to the legal advisor.

...

"There is no room for negotiation on this."
"With greater power comes greater responsibility; that is the rule in our county."
"If you truly have objections, go take it up with my uncle."

Disregarding further argument, Lu Yuan took Old Sun to the yamen and informed the legal advisor of Old Sun's breakthrough in martial arts realm.

Upon hearing this, Advisor Su's eyes lit up.
"Splendid! Old Sun, your martial arts breakthrough comes at precisely the right moment."
"I happen to have ten newcomers under my command with no assigned superior yet. I am handing them over to you right now."
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his work. When we get off work, I will treat you to a meal at Cuiyuan Tower."

Advisor Su shoved the head constable's tally token into Old Sun's hand, unable to suppress the smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

"Ten newcomers?"
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Advisor, where on earth did our county get newcomers?"
"Has the county yamen started recruiting again?"
"Are there still vacant constable slots?"
"And furthermore, why are all these newcomers outlanders?"
"What is going on here?"

Old Sun opened the roster, and upon seeing the names listed, his mind spun into a daze.

What on earth had happened here?
They had only been away for two months—had the county changed this drastically in that brief time?

"Take a look at this."
"This is the imperial decree issued by the imperial court last month."
"It is written quite clearly right here."
"The Great Yong dynasty is opening up all official positions to outlanders."
"Moreover, it strictly regulates the quota of outlanders to be recruited by yamens at all levels."

"Our county's quota is one hundred people—no more, no less."
"Currently, we have already recruited eighty outlanders."
"Among them, forty are constables, twenty are administrative clerks, ten are city-guard sentries, and ten hold miscellaneous duties," Advisor Su explained.

"Why on earth did you recruit so many constables?"
"Are you out of your mind? Couldn't you have assigned them to the city guard? That side is short on manpower."

Old Sun was displeased; his workload had skyrocketed, and he would have to be a ghost to find any joy in that.

"Don't talk nonsense. The number of city guard positions is capped; squeezing ten people in there was already the absolute limit."
"Our county only has this much area. How many people could possibly stand on top of the city walls?"

The city guards originally belonged to the military registry, but aside from border regions, city guards elsewhere had become mere formalities. They were essentially filled with retiring constables at various levels who stood watch and guarded gates—functioning similarly to elderly security guards.

"What about the remaining twenty slots?" Lu Yuan asked, looking at Advisor Su in confusion.

Their county's quota was one hundred people.
Only eighty had been recruited so far; what about the remaining twenty slots?

"Those are for constables as well. Since you've returned, Chief Constable, I'll leave tomorrow's constable examinations in your hands." Advisor Su handed another task over to Lu Yuan.

"Examinations? Don't I have a street patrol assignment tomorrow?"
Conducting constable examinations was a fairly relaxed task. The problem, however, was that he was also scheduled for a street patrol tomorrow. Wasn't this work schedule a bit too tight?

"Not anymore."
"Chief Constable, you will not have any street patrol assignments for the next three months. I have transferred the patrol duties to the outlander constables."
"You only need to take charge of this round of constable examinations."
"Once the task is completed, you will have a three-month vacation with no assigned duties—you just need to check in every day."
"County Magistrate himself gave explicit instructions regarding this."
"He is already aware of what you did in Hangzhou."

Advisor Su hurriedly handed a scroll containing the duty roster to Lu Yuan.

This was the schedule for the next seven days.
Lu Yuan glanced at it; densely packed with names and dates, it was arranged quite methodically.

It seemed Advisor Su had been driven half-mad with work recently. His handwriting was much sloppier than usual.

"Chief Constable, you should head back and rest."
"I still have to go outside the city to supervise the outer-city construction project. I am truly exhausted to death."

Beaded with sweat, Advisor Su hastily gave a few final instructions before leaving the yamen accompanied by a group of administrative clerks.

"The outer city?"
"Is our county building an outer city?"
Lu Yuan grabbed an administrative clerk in the yamen and asked.

"Chief Constable, there are simply too many outlanders in our county. Housing is critically tight, so we have no choice but to build an outer city."
"Too many? Exactly how many is 'too many'?"
"Currently, nearly three hundred thousand outlanders have applied for residency in our county."

"What?"
"Three hundred thousand?"

Lu Yuan widened his eyes, finding it hard to believe his own ears. He seriously suspected he had misheard.

Three hundred thousand players, and that was merely the number of players who had applied for residency. The actual number of players in Wuyou County would only be higher.

The entire population of their county was only around one hundred thousand.
When the population suddenly multiplies severalfold, it would be a miracle if housing wasn't in critical shortage.

Lu Yuan grew even more puzzled.
Just how many people played this wretched game?

Wuyou County was a fifth- or sixth-tier backwater, yet hundreds of thousands of players had inexplicably poured in. Was this normal? Was there something about Wuyou County that attracted players? Even so, it shouldn't draw hundreds of thousands of people.

"Chief Constable, you heard correctly; it is indeed three hundred thousand."
"Over the past few days, processing these residency applications alone has forced us to work several night shifts. We are worked half to death," the administrative clerk complained to Lu Yuan.

Seeing this, Old Sun felt the depression in his heart inexplicably lighten a bit. It felt rather comforting.

"Is the neighboring county like this too?"
"No, the neighboring county only has a little over ten thousand registered outlanders—not even a fraction of ours."

"Well, there's nothing to be done about it. Thank you all for your hard work."
"By the way, how many outlanders have signed up for tomorrow's examination?"
"Roughly a thousand, split evenly between literary and martial tests. Chief Constable, just select the best among them."

"Very well."
"I'll be heading back first."
"Take care, Chief Constable."

...

"Wanchun Tower is recruiting attendants, salary negotiable."
"Wanchun Tower? What kind of establishment is that? Wait, a brothel?"
"What? Wuyou County's second brothel? Cuiyuan Tower has got a competitor."
"Where is it located?"
"One street over from Cuiyuan Tower."
"Direct competition, then."
"Rumor has it that it's run by an outlander."
"Oh ho! A brothel run by an outlander? I simply must go and test the waters."
"Hahaha."

The news of an outlander opening a brothel spread throughout Wuyou County in less than a day. Not only Wuyou County, but at that very moment, the player forums were also in an absolute uproar.

[Cyber brothel, who opened it? Won't this get flagged for pornography?]
[As expected, this is the freest game in history.]
[They really know how to play.]