Chapter 236: 235 Encounter with a Thief and Renewing Subscriptions

So it was just something being lost... You scared me!

Looking at the Director's office, which had been rummaged through by some unknown person, Li Ang, who had just had a false alarm, couldn't help but let out a long breath, then glanced somewhat speechlessly at Senior Jerry, who had "reported false intelligence."

After receiving Senior Jerry's note, Li Ang, worried that something major had really happened, directly stopped the carriage that had only traveled halfway, didn't even ask for the remaining fare, hurriedly ducked into a side alley, mounted the Witch's Broom, and flew back to the Bureau under the cover of night.

But after hurrying back, he found it was only a false alarm—apart from the Director's office apparently being robbed, nothing abnormal had occurred.

Thinking about it, that makes sense...

When he and Senior Jerry had left, there was no one else in the Bureau. The Princess and Anna, who had been temporarily staying at the Bureau, had already returned to the Happiness Apartment ahead of time. Apart from something being lost, nothing else was likely to have happened.

"Li Ang, this time it's not as simple as just losing something."

Noticing that Li Ang seemed to have relaxed, Senior Jerry couldn't help but shake his head slightly, then pointed at the pile of empty bottles in the office and said with a solemn expression:

"Look over there. The thief who snuck in while the Bureau was empty is absolutely no ordinary fellow!"

Hearing Senior Jerry's words, Li Ang couldn't help but be slightly stunned. After following Senior Jerry's guidance and discovering the "target," his expression instantly grew serious.

There was no other reason—several strands of beautiful red long hair were lying in the pile of bottles, trying hard to float up, but like a person without bones, no matter how hard they tried they could only wriggle slightly, completely unable to "stand" up from the ground...

This freaking thing is the Director's hair!

As a powerful anomalous object numbered 013, although these strands of 【Slaying Blood Hair】 were somewhat thin, unlike the enhanced type on his own body, where a single strand could hold back the God of Enlightenment who wanted to escape.

But even if it wasn't the enhanced type, it was still part of a numbered anomalous object. Putting aside how strong its power was, its standing absolutely surpassed the threshold of a true god. At the very least, a Level 2 or 3 Cleaner absolutely couldn't handle it.

Someone capable of dealing with these strands of hair was estimated to be around Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma's level—probably a Level 1 Cleaner's caliber. If they were scheming against the unsuspecting, they could just as easily take down both him and Senior Jerry!

And this also meant that if he and Senior Jerry hadn't gone to find the Freckled Prince, and then been teleported by the Star Palace to the Headquarters, they would have run smack into this shockingly powerful thief! If the enhanced hair on his own body also couldn't withstand the opponent's ability...

Then they'd be done for!

"Honestly, this time I owe you one."

Looking at the red hair fluttering on the ground, Senior Jerry couldn't help but take a deep breath and said to Li Ang with some lingering fear:

"If you hadn't suggested going to find that Prince, and insisted I come along too, I definitely would have stayed at the Bureau by myself. If this thief was the brutal type, I'd probably be cold as ice right now."

The one who almost got frozen through isn't just you...

Entering the Director's office and carefully checking, Li Ang discovered half a bloody handprint on the outer edge of the windowsill, and couldn't help but let out a long breath of relief.

If he hadn't been careful enough—when leaving the Cleanup Bureau, he'd had the Princess and Anna return to the Happiness Apartment—god knows if they would have been in danger.

And thanks to his "excessive caution," not only did no one suffer any casualties, there was even another piece of good news.

Following the direction of the bloody handprint, after finding a large amount of splattered blood on the outer wall of the office building and in the grass outside the window, Li Ang's tense expression immediately eased slightly.

Although this thief was strong enough to subdue the Director's hair, he wasn't completely unscathed either—he should have been cut several rounds by the 【Slaying Blood Hair】. Judging by the terrifying amount of blood around, he was probably more than half dead, and within a short time there shouldn't be a need to worry about his return.

As for this thief's origins and purpose...

Standing at a position two meters away, using the power of the 【Holy Spirit Pendant】 to carefully rummage through the Director's drawer, a look of realization couldn't help but appear on Li Ang's face.

Sure enough, the "fake photograph" the Director had duplicated had already been taken by someone.

It seemed that Director Aquarius, who was accustomed to multiple safeguards, after finding a way to transfer Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma away, had not only arranged Middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya as a backup, but also arranged another group of people to come take the photograph.

It was estimated that Director Aquarius's original plan might have been to have this thief temporarily deal with any backup the Director might have left, then have Middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya take the photograph, and the two would use the Other-Side Gate to quickly escape or something, completing the theft completely unscathed.

It's just that Middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya had been caught by him in advance, leaving this thief standing there. And after waiting a long time for Watching Watching Qiaoshuya without him showing up, and seeing the Cleanup Bureau unguarded, the thief had steeled himself and broken into the Director's office, found the photograph in the drawer, paid the price of nearly being hacked to death by these strands of hair, and over-completed the task Director Aquarius had assigned.

Unfortunately, what he took was only the fake photograph the Director had prepared—this thief's trip was for nothing.

??????? co

Manipulating the hand formed by the 【Holy Spirit Pendant】, he picked up the few strands of blood hair that had fallen in the grass outside the window, and after putting them together with the few strands on the bottle pile, Li Ang turned his head to look at Jerry beside him and asked tentatively:

"Senior Jerry, could your friends..."

"Can't find them."

Knowing what Li Ang wanted to say, Senior Jerry shook his head and said helplessly:

"This person probably has an anomalous object on them that can handle scents. Once anything leaves the body, it loses its smell—even this blood is the same. The ants followed the blood trail for two streets, and then could no longer find where he went."

Indeed... when I first came in, I really didn't smell anything, otherwise I wouldn't have failed to notice the hair on the ground.

Leaning toward the window and sniffing slightly, Li Ang found that even with such a terrifying amount of bleeding outside, there was still no trace of any blood smell left. He couldn't help but sigh, giving up on the plan of catching this thief while he was heavily wounded.

Since this thief had prepared so thoroughly, they could only wait for the Director to return. Hopefully these two days would be peaceful—please don't have any more hiccups... Oh right, tomorrow he still had to go to the post office opposite the Sun Newspaper to help her renew her newspaper subscription.

After shaking his head helplessly, Li Ang opened the side compartment of the Director's desk, rummaged through the document area, and took out all the newspapers and magazines inside.

"The Sun," "Daily News," "Royal Post"...

"Charming Focus," "Arms Industry," "Wine Traveler," "A Boy's Little Thoughts"...

The newspapers and magazines the Director asked me to renew subscriptions for should be these, no mistake... Hmm... wait!

After flipping through a thick stack of newspapers, he found that only a few copies of The Sun had been cut. A look of suspicion couldn't help but appear on Li Ang's face.

If I remember correctly, the cut-out positions on these few newspapers seem to be exactly where my two published photographs were?