Cave Refuge

So wanting to change the Affiliated Space back to its common state before the Imperial Court's inspection is almost impossible. It would be cleaner and more decisive to just destroy the interior of the space directly.

But once the interior of the already remodeled space is completely destroyed, it would mean the obliteration of all their invested savings, reducing them to nothingness. Such a scenario is unacceptable to everyone involved.

Perhaps some might say that in those Affiliated Spaces remodeled according to personal preferences, entry by others is not unheard of, so why not let the personnel dispatched by the Imperial Court conduct inspections? After all, those sent by the Imperial Court only inspect the size of the Affiliated Space without needing to perform a detailed review of the interior conditions.

Anyone who thinks this way can only be described as too naive and inexperienced in the harshness of society.

If you were assigned by the authorities to inspect the size of the Affiliated Space, you enter an unofficial Affiliated Space and report back only on its size, knowing nothing about the conditions within.

Your other colleagues, however, not only report on the specific dimensions of the Affiliated Space but also include detailed accounts of the spaces they inspected, including but not limited to the identity of the actual owners, the operational status within the space, and the estimated annual output, among other details.

Moreover, even when personnel are dispatched to inspect Affiliated Spaces directly under the Imperial Court, they do more than take a brief look and leave; they expect detailed reports on the interior conditions, and although these reports are filled in according to what the person in charge reports, they are to include all necessary information, regardless of its truthfulness.

With the Imperial Court's own people reporting so much information, it would be unacceptable for private individuals to report sloppily cobbled-together information that appears careless at a glance.

Furthermore, "the local official has more authority than distant authorities." Once power is in hand, orders are to be executed, and not all dispatched personnel are impartial. No matter the era, the position of Inspector is not one that ordinary people can assume.

Whether it's through one's own capabilities, family status, or immense wealth, anyone who attains the position of Inspector is no simpleton.

Inspector. Inspectors are very clear about the purpose of their missions: aside from not compromising the bottom line of the Imperial Court, everything else is essentially at their discretion.

Even if they cannot deal with something on the spot, a simple word from them after departure would definitely throw the owner of that Affiliated Space into unforeseen trouble.

Knowing they possess such significant authority, even the most stable-minded individuals can hardly avoid getting swept into turmoil.

It is precisely because of this that owners of Affiliated Spaces go to great lengths to prevent inspection teams from entering their private spaces.

After all, some things may seem trivial and weigh just four ounces, but once scrutinized, they can become a thousand pounds, heavy and oppressive.

Once inspection personnel enter an Affiliated Space, they will undoubtedly record and archive their findings, and once conditions within an Affiliated Space are documented, it's no small matter—should there be no accidents, such archival records, akin to historical ones, will be preserved for a long time.

It is due to these circumstances that the work of inspection personnel is met with great difficulty. Although they can identify the locations of private Affiliated Spaces through various clues,

knowing the location is not very useful. They conduct smooth inspections of cooperative Affiliated Spaces, but when faced with those that are not so cooperative, they actually have no means of compulsion at the moment.

After all, their authority is limited to inspection, not suppression of rebellion, so even though they have some guards accompanying them, they lack an effective strategy against those Affiliated Spaces that are extensively secured.

If there were just one or two Affiliated Spaces resisting, they could ask for help to suppress them. However, when the vast majority are in opposition, the situation becomes troublesome.

It's not that they can't ask others for help, but if other departments were to step in on a large scale, this could lead to the authorities questioning their capability.

Just as they were hesitating and unsure whether to involve other departments, the sudden widespread rumors directly helped them out of their predicament.

Perhaps it was the indecisive actions of the Inspection Department that led some private Affiliated Space owners to feel that as long as they stood firm, the issue of inspecting private Affiliated Spaces would blow over.

It was precisely for this reason, to add fuel to the fire, that suddenly, many rumors emerged, claiming that the Imperial Court's arrangement for inspectors to examine all private Secret Realms was not to find those with extraordinarily large Affiliated Secret Realms but to nationalize all originally privately-owned Affiliated Secret Realms.

Once this rumor surfaced, some of the savvier Affiliated Space owners felt that the situation had escalated beyond control.

After all, in theory, Affiliated Spaces should not be privately owned; all Affiliated Spaces are supposed to be under the guidance of the Imperial Court to cultivate crops or breed livestock, ensuring the basic living supplies of the Chinese People.

Indeed, the majority of the Secret Realms directly under the Imperial Court are operated exactly as arranged, either as plantations or as breeding farms.

A few Secret Realms have been used by the Imperial Court as research bases for creating or experimenting with some relatively covert operations.

The reason they could privately occupy Affiliated Spaces is that the Imperial Court already directly controls a substantial number of Affiliated Spaces and continued investment of manpower and resources here has become somewhat inappropriate. Therefore, they turn a blind eye to the private occupation of Affiliated Spaces.

Originally, this matter fell under the principle that if the people do not report it, the Officials will not investigate. However, when some foolish individuals took control of Affiliated Spaces and became so arrogant that they failed to recognize their superiors, they brought out into the open the tacit agreements that should have been kept hidden in the depths.

At this point, continuing to cause a commotion is no longer just about those private Affiliated Spaces, especially now when these private Affiliated Spaces are like bases under the control of the Officials.

If the Imperial Court cannot even keep a firm grip on those Affiliated Spaces they rely on for survival, then the bases tasked with suppressing uprisings in various places may at any time slip out of their control.

That is why, just a few days after the rumor appeared, the Imperial Court immediately mobilized a large force to begin clearing out each private Affiliated Space.

It's like the joke often made about Eagle Sauce; if someone tells you that you have the strength to flip the table, you'd better genuinely have the strength to do so.

Actually, the issue with the private Affiliated Spaces was not a big deal; if it were not for the rumor, a bit of mutual compromise over time would have smoothed things over, as, to be honest, the Imperial Court did not really intend to incorporate all Affiliated Spaces under its wing.

Indeed, past experiences have shown that some things can only release unimaginable vitality when kept in individuals' hands.

But the appearance of the rumor left the Imperial Court with no choice but to act, as both the think tanks and the Staff Department had issued very serious warnings about the consequences of letting the rumors spread unchecked.

This also provided a good opportunity to verify whether that initially itching rumor was true or false.

What no one expected was that not long after the operation began, they actually found the rumored Affiliated Space with an incredibly vast interior.

What everyone thought was a wild fabrication turned out to be true.

Once this Affiliated Space was discovered by the Imperial Court, it was immediately deemed a treasure and swiftly underwent transformation with substantial manpower and resources.