Chapter 147: 146 Numbered

Is she… afraid?

He stopped struggling, took a moment to assess the red-haired director's condition, and couldn't help but freeze for a beat. Then, enduring the crushing pressure that rivaled a hydraulic press, he leaned close to her ear and asked softly:

"Did those people start cursing you?"

"Mm…"

After a small, choked sob, the red-haired director gave a tiny nod. Then, as if desperately fleeing from something, she trembled without realizing it and burrowed hard into Li Ang's embrace.

Stop burrowing — if you keep going, I'm afraid there won't be much of me left!

Although the red-haired director's unusually meek little look was pitiful, feeling his ribs seemingly creak and his lungs instantly squeezed of thirty percent of their air, Li Ang figured he was the more pitiful one.

He folded his hands against the red-haired director's forehead, pushed outward with every ounce of strength he had, and finally rescued his lungs. Face flushed from holding his breath, Li Ang sucked in two deep breaths, then reached up to cover the red-haired director's ears.

"How about this? Can you still hear them?"

"I can hear them…"

Nodding pitifully, the red-haired director sobbed softly:

"They aren't cursing me through my ears — covering them won't help me escape…"

If not the ears, then what? The mind? The soul? But when he usually used Heishanyang and looked up at the upper floor, he couldn't see anything at all!

He pricked up his ears and strained to listen for a long while, but still couldn't catch any so-called "cursing." Li Ang could only pat the red-haired director's back hard and urge her:

"Be good… loosen up a little, you're holding me too tight…"

"I don't want to…"

After nuzzling her head against Li Ang's chest, the red-haired director seemed to turn into a five- or six-year-old little girl as she whimpered:

"If I let go, you'll run off like everyone else. I don't want that!"

You don't want it, but I can't afford it! If you keep squeezing like this, my body won't be able to run, but my soul's probably going to fly off first!

Feeling the two iron gates on his back tightening further, Li Ang couldn't help but slap her back hard, coaxing desperately:

"I won't run! Definitely won't run! And not only won't I run, I'll even help you curse them!"

"R-really?"

"Really. If you don't believe me, look into my eyes!"

"Th-then let me look…"

After rubbing hard against Li Ang's front twice, she raised her tear-reddened eyes, gave him a doubtful glance, and finally pulled her arms back. She grabbed hold of Li Ang's lapel again and said pitifully:

"Actually… you don't even have to curse them. Just don't sneak off like the others and leave me alone to take the scolding…"

"Mm, mm, I won't run."

Definitely won't run! If I get caught in another hug like that, I'm afraid I'll really be done for!

He'd only just tried to leave and had nearly had his waist snapped in two. It had taken a lot of coaxing to get her to let go, so at this moment Li Ang naturally didn't dare make any rash moves.

And to keep her from getting worked up while "being scolded" and suddenly reaching out to deliver another bear-hug killing blow on him, Li Ang thought it over, then chose to grip the red-haired director's shoulders and slowly turn her to the side.

Once they'd shifted from a face-to-face embrace to a position where she was nearly facing away from him, Li Ang gritted his teeth, summoned every ounce of strength he had, and reversed the hold — locking her in a tight embrace and firmly pinning those two lethal arms in place.

He absolutely could not let go before she sobered up! If she turned around and hugged him face-to-face again, his bones would definitely snap with a crack!

"Li Ang… you're so nice…"

Unable to see Li Ang's gritted-teeth expression as he exerted himself, she felt the "warm" and "strong" embrace from behind. With tear-tracks still on her face, the red-haired director curled up a little and finally leaned against him with relief. Then, with a touch of regret, she said softly:

"Back when Auntie Ai Ma still lived at the bureau, she would sometimes hold me like this when I slept. But once, after I'd had a bit too much to drink, I hugged her the other way and slept with her the whole night. After that, she refused to let me hold her, and the very next day she moved back to Redwood Street…"

"…"

So the previous victim was actually Senior Auntie Ai Ma?

After hearing the red-haired director's words, Li Ang — whose eyes were welling with tears from the pain — couldn't help but shudder all over and immediately hugged her even tighter.

Can't let go! Absolutely cannot let go!

Even Senior Auntie Ai Ma, with her immortal body, couldn't endure the director hugging her for a whole night. I don't have an immortal body to fall back on — if she turns around and hugs me again, I'm really done for!

And that damned Heishanyang — how dare it say my luck is fine? All I did was see the director drunk and want to take her upstairs to rest, and I nearly ran into a life-or-death crisis, almost being squeezed to death on the spot. And you call that luck being fine?

……

"Oh right, Li Ang."

Just as Li Ang was desperately praying she'd fall asleep soon and absolutely didn't have a habit of tossing and turning, the red-haired director — now wrapped in his embrace — finally stopped trembling uncontrollably and calmed down again. Leaning against him, she said softly:

"Do you want to know what's actually kept upstairs?"

Hm?

Hearing her words, Li Ang couldn't help but freeze for a beat, then reminded her:

"Director, although I don't know what's upstairs, according to the confidentiality regulations, something guarded by a Yellow Road branch director should be kept confidential from a Level-3 Incident Handler."

"It's fine."

The red-haired director shook her head at his words:

"Unlike other anomalous objects of the same level, the existence of this one isn't a secret. In fact, it's not just branch directors — many veteran employees at Levels One and Two know about it too, and even know it's in my hands."

"For information like this, even though the danger level is high, just like with the Watcher Palace, it's already been classified as public lore. Even telling you wouldn't constitute a violation — you can listen without worry."

He had a nagging feeling… the director was suddenly speaking a lot more coherently. Had she sobered up after all that thrashing about?

Sensing something was off, Li Ang thought it over for a moment and vaguely realized the red-haired director didn't really want to enlighten him — she just needed someone to listen to her pour her heart out. So he loosened his arms slightly and nodded:

"Then go ahead and tell me. I'm actually pretty curious."

"Okay, hold me tighter, and I'll tell you."

Seeming quite greedy for the warmth behind her, she squirmed harder into Li Ang's embrace. With the flush of wine already faded from her cheeks by more than half, the red-haired director closed her eyes, curled up, and said softly:

"What's kept on the top floor is a numbered anomalous object — its number is 004. As for the twelve million nine hundred and sixty thousand 'people' who keep cursing me, together they make up another numbered anomalous object, currently numbered 013. Their owner is, for now, also me."

Numbered? 004? 013?

"The numbering I mean is the manual ranking the scholars at Headquarters came up with before you proposed the Li Ang Value. They ranked anomalous objects by strength, taking into account the user, past combat records, effect intensity, effective range, price paid, impact produced, and so on."

Seeming to know that Li Ang would have questions about the numbering, the red-haired director did not continue, but closed her eyes and explained softly:

"Usually, the earlier the number an anomaly receives, the more terrifying its effect when pushed to its limit. Like your Holy Spirit Pendant—if it could be pushed to its limit, its number should rank within the top one hundred fifty.

And if you gather all seven parts of that sheep, given its extremely high affinity with you, when used by you, it should have a chance of squeezing into the top one hundred."

Heishanyang… that guy goes around bragging that he's invincible beneath a true god, and the result is only the top one hundred? And he still needs to piggyback on the enhancement effect of a Gold-tier badge before he can "have a chance" of squeezing in?