Chapter 117: 116 What Are You Trying to Do???

116 What are you trying to do???

Better than failure by just a little… isn't that still success?

Even if the bureau's evaluation is low, as long as I got the Sheep Heart investigation completed, I've already earned the Demon Badge and the Holy Spirit Badge, and incidentally cleared out a whole bunch of utterly rotten scum.

So by my own standards, this mission was a success beyond measure.

Hmm… but I still need to hold back, absolutely hold back—Director is clearly furious right now; if I show too much joy now, I'll definitely get punished.

"I was reckless."

To prevent his "window to the soul" from revealing his true thoughts, Li Ang quickly lowered his head and confessed in a "dejected" tone:

"After completing the basic investigation and narrowing the target to those five people, I should've returned to the bureau immediately to request backup—I shouldn't have tried to handle Bobby Bobby Laien alone."

"I thought that even if he caught me by accident, I could escape easily with the Holy Spirit pendant and the Witch's Broom, but his compatibility with that heart was too high—it not only blocked flight, but sealed off the entire estate. I really had no choice…"

You're not out of options! You were at least 90% likely doing this on purpose!

Remembering Li Ang's habit of meddling in others' affairs, the Red-haired Director glared at him, pondering the possibility that this brat had deliberately provoked trouble.

Li Ang is usually extremely cautious—even during bureau cleanups, he'd instantly flee at the slightest sign of abnormality.

This time, instead of returning to call for help, he directly took risky action against the target; he must've uncovered a mountain of rotten deeds by the Bobby Laien family during his investigation, couldn't suppress his rage, and deliberately approached Bobby Bobby Laien early to kill him himself.

But Bobby Bobby Laien's compatibility with the Demon Heart was indeed astonishingly high; after encountering this low-probability event, Li Ang's original plan to eliminate just him collapsed, and he was trapped instead, forced to escalate the scale until the Bobby Laien Blood Night occurred.

As for the two hundred dead, their files show nearly all were criminals deserving at least the death penalty—perfectly matching the group he despised and even hated—so he probably didn't fail to save them; he never intended to save them at all!

The kid's gone bad…

Watching Li Ang, who appeared "dejected" while obediently admitting fault, yet whose posture and muscle groups were completely relaxed—with zero sincerity in his apology—the Red-haired Director gritted her teeth in fury.

This brat's been in the Cleanup Bureau for only a month, and he's already learned to dance along the edge of the rules, satisfying his excessive sense of justice without technically breaking them—he's a seasoned veteran through and through!

Really… where the hell did he learn this from?

The Red-haired Director, utterly unaware she herself was the source of corruption, after roughly deducing the "truth" of that night, glared again at Li Ang's performative remorse—but ultimately said nothing.

After all, though this brat is annoying, he's an outstanding subordinate: diligent, hardworking, talented, and conscientious… aside from his excessive sense of justice, compared to the rest of the bureau's bizarre, problem-ridden oddballs, he's already the least troublesome.

And those who died this time? Not one of them deserved mercy—they were all beyond redemption; even hanging them one by one would've been too lenient. If I'd gone myself, I might've ended up "arriving too late" too. So this time, I'll still have to cover for him—can't let the bureau dig up anything.

Sigh… there's no such thing as a perfect employee. Just endure it.

After muttering "I hired this guy" over a dozen times to comfort herself, the Red-haired Director exhaled heavily, then angrily opened her drawer, pulled out several mission slips, and slammed them on the desk, eyeing Li Ang with ill intent:

"Enough with the self-criticism. Emma covered a lot of your missed work, but some remains. Since you're out of the hospital, get to it!"

Let you act on your own initiative, start messing around without consulting me—I'll work you to death!

"Understood."

"!"

Hearing there was a new mission, Li Ang's confidence and strength surged—he perked up instantly and grabbed the mission slip to examine it.

My badge count has reached twelve, but I only have five slots—and one's locked by 【Materialism】. It's seriously not enough.

The only way to expand slot capacity now is to acquire more anomalies—these missions are perfect for me.

…

Large-scale goat disappearances in Pafu County; six shepherds went up the mountain to search and vanished for three days, later reappearing eight hundred kilometers away in a brothel, claiming they didn't know how they got there…

Master Wilde's Morning Star Troupe still performs normally, but the food delivered to the theater remains untouched—suspected unusual activity…

Arsonist spotted in Laosé Arcade; witnesses saw him carrying large quantities of incendiary tools, moving through several streets in the wealthy district at night—need to interview witnesses to trace his movements…

After flipping through the mission slips for a while, Li Ang frowned.

Why are all of these investigation tasks again? And they seem barely related to anomalies?

Especially those so-called goat shepherds—they even found receipts for the sheep sales and train tickets, yet still claimed they were kidnapped to the brothel. What's there to investigate? And the other two cases are equally absurd…

If I had to guess, the truth behind these three cases is probably this:

One group are old perverts who paid for prostitutes from afar but refuse to admit it; another is a "superior class" troupe that won't touch free food; the third is likely rebels trying to sabotage. What anomalies could possibly come from these?

He swiftly moved the three slips to the back, deciding to delay the first two—after catching the arsonist, he lowered his gaze to the last mission slip.

Rescue the only daughter of the Charles Department Store owner, kidnapped at the Maseini family's Rose Estate?

Maseini… that's the noble family colluding with Chengjin Sect, responsible for the Holy Descent incident? Wait—my 【Practitioner】 badge needs more progress, and I'd need to dig into Chengjin Sect anyway. Perfect chance to investigate them!

"I'll take this one!"

Finally finding a mission suited to him, Li Ang's furrowed brow eased slightly. He signed his name on the slip and handed it back.

Rescue at the Rose Estate… hmm… not bad.

Watching the returned mission slip, the Red-haired Director nodded in approval. Li Ang got released early thanks to the Charles Department Store owner's influence—letting him handle this was fitting.

But just as she was about to sign her name to finalize the assignment, she caught Li Ang's expression—eager, expectant.

"…"

Maseini… Bobby Laien… Maseini… Bobby Laien… Another noble family doing nothing but evil. Is this brat planning another big mess for me?

"Not so fast on the mission."

She immediately stopped signing, eyes sharp with suspicion as she fixed Li Ang:

"Tell me—how exactly do you plan to carry out this mission?"

"Huh?"

Caught off guard by her tone, Li Ang paused, then replied:

"Since it's a rescue, I'd probably sneak in at night, first investigate the Maseini family's situation, then…"

Then stage a Maseini Blood Night, right?

"Change it to daytime!"

Fearing Li Ang might get carried away halfway through and cause another scandal, the Red-haired Director hurriedly stopped him:

"And this time, no investigation needed—the hostages' location's already been found. Go to the first-floor office, find Jerry, and let his 'friends' take you there!"