Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 255 (Patreon)

Chapter 255 – Consul

Arranging to meet the Monkey King was going to be far more challenging than arranging my meeting with Susanoo. And I didn’t have any high hopes that the ‘Great Sage Equaling Heaven’ would be as reasonable as God of Storms was. After all, no one does half the things that Sun Wukong did in the myths if they had any shred of reasonableness about them.

The first problem with arranging a meeting was that I did not have much access to China. There was the single portal in the Beijing Adventurer’s Guild hall, but that was it. I did not have a lot of followers in the country, and there were no friendly dungeons that I could trade with, to get further penetration into the country.

Oh, China did have its dungeons, of course, and one of the dungeons was a reincarnated human, but they had not yet been connected to the Global DEN. China was controlling access to their territory just as much as they had always done. Which is to say that they’ve been doing a good job of keeping people out, or at least concentrated in the major cities with international ties.

That, of course, meant that the first step to intervening with the Monkey King, and keeping him from being a superpowered pain in the ass was to make contact with the politicians. Which is why I had called the Chinese consulate in Miami, to arrange an appointment to speak with someone. Hopefully, someone who could arrange for me to have a spaceship fly into Chinese airspace without getting shot down, so that my minions could bring me to the Monkey King.

If that didn’t work, I was prepared to use other means of persuasion, but I at least wanted to give the diplomatic approach a try, first. The other methods I could use would burn bridges, after all. People tend to get so touchy when you kidnap their families and hold them hostage.

Fortunately, I had a good enough relationship with the Chinese government that I was able to get that appointment, without too much arm twisting or double-talk. All it took was me mentioning that I had received word of some issues that had come up, due to the System, and that it would be beneficial for the Chinese government to hear me out. Since people all knew that I had become a literal god under the System, that carried some weight.

Consul Xie Chan was the one in charge of the Miami Consulate, though she reported to the Consulate-General in Houston. At 29, she was rather young for such a position, but she was well-educated, having graduated from Princeton, and quite attractive, which I’m sure had no bearing on why they chose her for this post, especially since the Consulate had been hastily opened after I started making deals. Either way, she was the highest-ranked official in Miami that I could talk to.

Because I was being friendly, I manifested outside the public entrance to the consulate, and walked up to the gate to announce myself. There were the usual security checks, which meant nothing, because of what I was, but had to be done, regardless. At the very least, they were proving to be efficient at their jobs.

An orderly escorted me to the consul’s outer office, making sure that I didn’t get lost along the way. A secretary beamed at me from her desk with the perfect customer service smile, and paged me into the office proper. So far, I’d noticed that only four in ten people in the consulate were men, which made this consulate very different from many. If I had to guess, I’d say that China was trying for the ‘soft touch’ here, trying to get people to lower their guards.

Of course, that was a stupid thing to do, because pretty women could slip a knife between your ribs just as easily as a man could. Easier, in fact, if you were being stupid enough to not look past her… assets. As someone who routinely used women as my most powerful fighters, I was not about to take anyone lightly based on their gender.

Consul Xie stood to greet me as I entered the office. We’d met before, briefly, when she was setting up the consulate, and when finalizing the sale of the warships I’d taken from the Pofmisians. She was an attractive woman, as I’d said, but she had a core of iron underneath the pretty wrapping.

As we took our seats, she looked at me, appraisingly. “I must say, Lord Kuronoth, that I was quite surprised to hear that you wanted to meet with me so suddenly. I understand you have been very busy, of late. Is it true that the System recognizes you as a god?”

I smiled at her, and said, “Consul Xie, that is most certainly correct. Under the System, I am now the god of pleasure, domination, and dungeons. Of course, that last bit is due to my growing influence with dungeons outside the Sol system, and the various issues I’ve come across. But, yes, the System recognizes me as a god.”

“I see,” she nodded coolly. “And what is it that brings you here today? I know it is not due to the American President’s push for the ‘Vertitas’ bill, since that is a purely American matter. So, it must be something else, yes?”

“Yes, indeed. Simply put, I wished to ask permission to send a spaceship crewed by forces loyal to me into Chinese airspace. Since this ship is the same one you no doubt witnessed helping me to secure the dragon that rose from the waters near Miami, I didn’t want there to be any unpleasantness when they arrived.”

Xie frowned slightly. I didn’t doubt that she knew of the Bloodhawk. She probably had an intelligence report, telling her what kinds of weapons that the different governments thought it had. I knew that she knew it was a gunship in all but name.

“That is… most unusual, you understand. If it were a shuttle, like the ones you got the Americans to provide to the international community, then that might be a different story. After all, while they do possess some armaments, they are not purpose-built attack vessels. That is not something that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force would be willing to overlook. Not without some truly impressive reasoning.”

I nodded. “And, if it weren’t necessary to get to China’s interior, and have the mobility that the ship would give me, then I wouldn’t have made this request. There is a situation brewing, due to people finally adjusting to the System, and it would be best to handle things, before they get out of control. The sooner I can handle these problems, the less dangerous the end result will be.”

“You are saying that there is a threat, inside China?”

“I am saying that there is a potential threat brewing inside of China, and it will be China that is the one who bears the brunt of the danger to this threat. Since no good will come of ignoring this threat, I have come to you, seeking permission to fly to China, and contain it, as best I can.”

A calculating look crossed Xie’s face, as she tried to figure out just what I was talking about. “And what is this mysterious threat? What is so powerful that it would require your ship-killer to handle it?”

I took a breath. This would be the hardest part of the conversation, by my reckoning. “Before I say that, I want to say that I acknowledge that China, in its current form, is, for lack of a better word, an atheist state. I make no judgement here, as, before the System, the idea of gods being real, and not just the opiate of the masses, was something I would be hard pressed to believe, as well. But the System has made gods real, and, with them, the myths of eld are coming to life, and becoming true. Do you agree with me on this point?”

The consul nodded, slowly. “It is true that, during the time the Party reforged China as a stronger entity than it had been during the colonial era, spirituality was cast aside in favor of science. We turned to embrace the future, rather than lingering on the past. What are you getting at?”

“Well, once upon a time, China was just as spiritual as any other land, with tales to equal those of Athena, Thor, Mars, or Susanoo. In this time of myth and legend, one story, in particular, rose to prominence. Perhaps you know it?

“From a stone atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, a monkey was born, already able to crawl and walk, despite just being born. This stone monkey would join a troupe of wild monkeys, and eventually be named the Handsome Monkey King. But the death of an old friend set this Handsome Monkey King on a quest to conquer death itself.

“Through Taoist training, he achieved immortality. From the Dragon King, he obtained the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a staff of formidable magic that only the Monkey King could wield. When Hell came to claim his soul for extorting the Dragon Kings, he wiped his name from the Book of Life and Death, adding another layer to his immortality. Even the forces of the Jade Emperor could not slay him, though they tried.”

“And then the Monkey King was made Protector of the Horses for the Jade Emperor’s palace, but he set them free, and proclaims himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. He ate the peaches from the Heavenly Peach Garden, devoured the food and drink of the gods, consumed the pills of immortality, and then was finally purified by the flames of samadhi. Then, he journeyed into the west, and obtained the ginseng fruit and other foods granting immortality, furthering his immortality even more, right?” Xie asked, frowning as she did so. “It is the story of Sun Wukong, from Journey to the West. The story is still known to us in the modern world, but only as a story.”

“Unfortunately, the story is no longer just a story.” I took a breath, and said, “By the by, I’m sure you heard about the sudden thunderstorm that happened near Swamptown, where the whole thing was incredibly localized, and could not have been in any way natural? That is because I had a pleasant chat with Susanoo, the Shinto God of Storms and the Sea. I mention this because the same source that informed me of Susanoo being sighted in Japan also told me of sightings of the Monkey King, in China.”

“And you need to meet with the Monkey King, I take it? Why? And why not just summon him, like you claim to have done with Susanoo?”

“In both cases, it is to complete their ‘registration’ with the System. It is another effect of the System having been offline for so long, you understand. In a normal world, gods and other divine entities are approached soon after their divinity forms, and so these kinds of problems are not encountered.

“However, with Earth being without the System for so long, this has allowed many different divinities to spring up, and the System hasn’t fully recognized them all. This is fine, for most of them, and integrating them can be done on a more casual pace, but both Susanoo and the Monkey King are renowned for causing trouble. To stop potential with the deity, Susanoo, I arranged the meeting, and now I must do the same for the divine being, the Monkey King.”

“What is the difference between a deity and a divine being?”

“Simply put, a deity is a true god, while a divine being can be anything from a demigod to, say, a monkey who has achieved many forms of immortality, and has crossed weapons with actual gods. Regardless, getting them fully into the System will allow the System to regulate them, to some degree. It will also ‘lock in’ their powers, which is especially important for the Monkey King.”

“Why?”

“Because another name for the Monkey King is Son Goku. A divinity’s power is fueled and enhanced by belief. And, personally, I do not wish to see what the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, who already knows the 72 Transformations and possesses multiple layers of immortality, is augmented by belief to become Super Saiyan God, while still having the temperament of the Guardian of the Heavenly Stables. So, if you would like to keep that from happening, I need permission to have my servants bring me to Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, where Mount Huaguo, the real-life equivalent of the Mountain of Fruits and Flowers, lies.”

Xie’s expression paled so much she almost turned Caucasian. “Please wait while I make some calls.”