ACSP: Chapter 220: Those Who Break the Rules Must Pay the Price!
Following the absolute collapse of Uchiha Obito's vanguard, the remaining mechanical routing of the instance became an effortless, straightforward stroll.
Jiang Chen and his party simply oriented themselves along the coordinate vectors mapped out by the interface. After several hours of unhindered, high-speed long-distance transit through the lush Fire Country canopy, the towering, circular wooden walls of Konoha Village smoothly materialized on the horizon.
[Quest Notification: Congratulations on successfully escorting Rin Nohara to the perimeter of Konoha Village. Current Quest Completion: +5%!]
[Secret Realm Alert: You have fulfilled the Hidden Mist Village's covert commission, successfully delivering the Three-Tails Jinchuriki deep into the heart of Konoha's structural defenses.]
[Final Instance Completion Rate: 60%]
[Global Clear Rewards Distributed:]
Party Leader (Jiang Chen): 500,000 Experience Points, 2 Silver Chests.
All Surviving Members (Ronan, Li Dala, Nangong Twins): 300,000 Experience Points, 1 Silver Chest.
Note: Casualties sustained during the mission timeline forfeit all baseline completion rewards.
The second their boots touched the outer boundary line of the Leaf's jurisdiction, the series of system pings finalized, and the instance's spatial logic began to wind down.
Just as Jiang Chen had mathematically deduced back at the crater, their final completion metric hard-stalled at exactly 60%.
For a high-tier, specialized Secret Realm, a haul like this could only be described as thoroughly mediocre. A few hundred thousand experience points was a literal drop in the bucket for Contractors of their caliber, barely moving the baseline metrics of their high-level character sheets.
"Whoa! We actually saw the entire quest procedure through to the final cinematic! That's incredible!"
"Yeah, it turns out following a genuine, top-tier powerhouse is on a completely different level of comfort. If the two of us had scraped together a random public pug from the staging area, we would've been wiped clean out at Kakashi's phase at the absolute latest."
The Nangong twins immediately erupted into joyful cheers the moment the reward containers stabilized in their inventories. The sisters hurried over to Jiang Chen, their eyes shining with deep gratitude as they bowed slightly. In all their historical attempts, their runs were forcefully aborted halfway through the jungle track; they had never once seen what the outer gates of Konoha even looked like in this instance. This time, by riding the coattails of Jiang Chen's absolute mechanical dominance, they had finally logged a complete clear.
Before they could exchange further pleasantries, the instance's exit sequence initiated. Five distinct, towering pillars of blinding white light descended from the artificial sky, wrapping around each member of the party and dissolving their physical forms out of the Secret Realm space.
Meanwhile, out in the real world...
Directly outside the massive, swirling distortion of the Secret Realm's entrance portal, a heavily armed detachment of the Zhao Family was currently gathered. They stood in a tight perimeter, their eyes flashing with a predatory, calculating light as they watched the gateway like tigers eyeing an easy meal!
However, this specific vanguard didn't bear the crest of the East Pavilion—the faction where the fallen Zhao Bin and Zhao Shui had held rank. Instead, their specialized gear marked them as elite operatives from the South Pavilion.
Standing at the absolute center of the gathering, a handsome young man with a highly unconventional, stylized haircut instantly drew the eye. He stood with his arms casually crossed over his chest, projecting an aura of supreme confidence that matched his immense regional reputation.
This was none other than the reigning record-holder of the instance: Zhao Quan.
"How long exactly has that unregistered team been inside the instance? Did your tracking array verify their entry stamps clearly?" Zhao Quan asked, his voice entirely devoid of emotion as he looked down at a middle-aged administrative official standing beside him.
"Young Master Quan, how could we possibly dare to fabricate tracking logs to you?" The middle-aged manager replied, his face contorted into a deeply flattering, sycophantic grin as he bowed repeatedly. "That rogue kid just marched right up to the main stone, bypassed the entire registration queue, and forcefully synchronized his party into the rift. He completely ignored our official management staff! If this isn't a blatant, intentional attempt to ride a free gate on our territory, I don't know what is!"
Hearing the manager's report, a sharp, dangerous flash of irritation crossed Zhao Quan's eyes.
He let out a cold, venomous snort, his tone dropping several degrees. "In the entirety of this Magic City, who doesn't know that the mining rights and spatial management of this specific Secret Realm belong exclusively to our Zhao Family's Southern Pavilion? Don't worry. Regardless of how clever they thought they were being by stealing a free ride on our gate... I will personally ensure they spit back every single point of profit they earned, ten or a hundred times over."
Technically speaking, a separate minor family was assigned to handle the day-to-day logbooks of this specific gate. However, that entire family was a thoroughly integrated, low-tier subsidiary force completely dependent on the backing of the Southern Pavilion. Now, some nameless, unbacked rogue team had dared to force their way through the zone without paying the standard corporate toll!
It would have been one thing if he hadn't been on-site to witness the breach. But since he happened to be rotating through the sector today, he absolutely had to step forward and crush the anomaly with thunderous precision. If he let a slight like this slide, the carefully cultivated, iron-fisted prestige of the Southern Pavilion within the Magic City would inevitably suffer a massive hit.
Furthermore, the timing of this disrespect couldn't be worse. There were less than two days remaining before the Zhao Family's massive, generation-defining Great Clan Competition was scheduled to commence—and he had zero intention of letting anyone disrupt his momentum.
Disciplining these rule-breaking instigators right here in the open would secure him an immense amount of reputational capital the moment word leaked back to the upper echelons. For his long-term political trajectory—specifically his ambition to ascend as the new undisputed Clan Head of the entire Zhao Family—this was an opportunity with massive strategic benefits.
Therefore, after rapidly weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Quan determined that an example must be made. This rogue team would be severely and publicly punished.
"Haha! With your backing, Young Master Quan, our administrative department can finally breathe easy," the middle-aged manager said, a deeply satisfied, vindicated smile stretching across his face.
He had sensed earlier that the energy signatures radiating from Jiang Chen's party were far from weak, and he knew his own security detachment lacked the raw stats to forcefully detain them. But with Zhao Quan stepping into the breach to resolve the structural dispute, the outcome was practically sealed.
Once those arrogant free-riders see Young Master Quan standing in their path, they'll probably instantly regret their entire existence, won't they? the manager thought smugly. After all, within the jurisdiction of the Magic City, anyone foolish enough to actively offend the Zhao Family never met a good end.
Moreover, Zhao Quan wasn't just any regular scion—he hailed from the absolute strongest, most heavily funded branch among the four major factions of the clan.
—Whoosh!
Right at that precise moment, five vibrant pillars of golden light erupted violently from the vortex of the Secret Realm, impacting the stone platform directly in front of the assembled Zhao Family vanguard.
As the residual spatial displacement particles dissipated, five spirited, strikingly sharp figures materialized before the crowd. Jiang Chen stood at the vanguard, flanked by his formidable entourage and the Nangong sisters, all of them looking completely revitalized after their run.
"Young Master Quan, look! It's them! They're the exact ones who forced their way through the gate without registering...!" The middle-aged manager's eyes locked onto Jiang Chen's face, and he immediately thrust an aggressive finger forward, yelling excitedly.
A free ride?
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed slightly as the accusation hit his ears. He couldn't recall ever intentionally skipping a dynamic toll or executing an unauthorized breach in his life. Were these local corporate enforcers simply manufacturing a pretext to look for trouble?
Sensing the sudden spike in tension, Ronan stood beside him, let out two dry, incredibly awkward coughs, and leaned over to whisper subtly into his ear.
"Uh, Boss... looking back at our entry sequence earlier, it actually seems like you completely skipped the payment kiosk before synchronizing us into the rift."
Hearing Ronan's quiet reminder, a wave of realization washed over Jiang Chen. He recalled his entry protocol from earlier and realized that, yes, he had entirely failed to transfer any currency assets to the management staff on duty.
But it truly hadn't been an intentional act of disrespect.
Back when he was operating within his primary territories of Jinghai and Kang City, the concept of an "entry fee" simply didn't exist for him. The vast majority of high-tier environmental resources and spatial rifts in those sectors were either his direct personal property, or controlled by factions who wouldn't dare dream of charging him a single copper.
Once an operational habit of that magnitude becomes deeply hardwired into your daily routine, it is incredibly difficult to break. It had reached the point where, upon arriving at this local dungeon, the fundamental concept of 'needing to pay a corporate toll' hadn't even registered as a parameter in his mind.
"Ah. My apologies," Jiang Chen said, his tone entirely calm and reasonably polite as he addressed Zhao Quan and the surrounding enforcers. "I was operating under a tight schedule earlier and the standard registration protocol slipped my mind. What exactly is the standard baseline entry tariff for this instance? I'll settle the discrepancy right now."
He paused for a fraction of a second, his eyes casually scanning the armed perimeter before adding, "Furthermore... my party intends to continuously farm this specific Secret Realm over the next two days. Let's just settle the total projected cost upfront to save everyone the administrative hassle."
Before the flabbergasted manager could even formulate a response, Jiang Chen smoothly reached into the folds of his robes, pulling a sleek, high-grade [Space Scroll] from his storage.
With a casual flick of his wrist, a soft spatial chime echoed across the platform.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
A heavy, stacked pile of 20 Silver Chests materialized out of thin air, dropping onto the stone floor with a resounding, undeniable metallic thud.
Back during his operational days in Kang City, a standard high-level dungeon entry fee typically settled around 2 Silver Chests per run. Dropping twenty premium Silver Chests onto the pavement without a single trace of hesitation was more than enough to fully cover their previous technical infraction, while simultaneously prepaying for an absolute monopoly on the gate's farming windows for the next forty-eight hours.
To Jiang Chen, this was merely loose change extracted from his massive, unindexed vault of spoils. But to the surrounding corporate guards, the casual display of liquid wealth was a jarring, unexpected variable.
As for the extra chests stacked neatly on the cold stone, Jiang Chen considered them a fair premium—a hassle tax for his earlier rudeness and oversight. To a powerhouse of his caliber, any logistical problem that could be neatly ironed out with raw capital wasn't a problem worth thinking about.
Besides, looking at the situation objectively, his party was technically the one in the wrong first. It was only natural and entirely justified for the management to come tracking them down. If the tables were turned and some random pug tried to 'dine and dash' inside an instance under his personal jurisdiction, he would have been just as deeply displeased.
"Well, well. It seems we have quite the big spender on our hands, taking out so many liquid Silver Chests at once without even blinking an eye."
Seeing how remarkably easy Jiang Chen was to talk to, and how quickly he had moved to de-escalate, the middle-aged manager entirely misread the situation. Mistaking Jiang Chen's reasonable politeness for the desperate compliance of a spineless pushover, a greedy, predatory grin spread across his face. He stepped out from behind the safety of Zhao Quan's shoulder, puffing his chest out.
"However, let's get one thing straight, kid: you've already systematically broken the established regulations of the Southern Pavilion. And in the Magic City, those who dare to break our rules must pay a far steeper price than a few shiny boxes."
The manager sneered, his eyes flicking from the chests back to Jiang Chen's calm face, entirely oblivious to the absolute monster he was attempting to extort.
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