Chapter 328

"Ahahaha!"

The moment he was chased out of the cemetery, the red-haired director, his face flushed crimson, burst into loud laughter, slapping Li Ang's back with force.

"Holy shit! That's hilarious! The old third-gen guy's face when he watched you forge—like you were boiling shit in his rice pot—turned completely green!"

"..."

"Ahahaha, oh no, I can't—I really can't!"

After wrapping an arm around Li Ang's shoulder, the long-suppressed red-haired director leaned half his weight on him, forcing a grimace to mimic the square-headed old man's expression while gasping between laughs:

"The third-gen guy... ha... he's not a bad person, but his mouth is just so annoying!

Lord Golden Bull is such a good man, yet every time he sees Lord Golden Bull, his first question is always when she's going to die—I've wanted to teach him a lesson for ages! Ahahaha!"

After recounting his petty grudge against the square-headed old man, the red-haired director laughed and said:

"Li Ang! Do you know what he told me before you came back? He said he looked down on today's forgers, thought they focused too much on the process, that they were just a bunch of hopeless trash.

But when he started teaching you, he practically stood behind you, holding your hands step by step—every time your hand trembled, his face twitched right along with it...

Oh no, I'm dying of laughter!"

"..."

As a mere observer, Li Ang would probably have laughed along—but as the one who had personally "boiled shit," he simply couldn't bring himself to smile.

Watching the red-haired director, doubled over with laughter, leaning heavily against him, Li Ang sighed helplessly:

"Director, you're making it impossible for me to walk—we've been kicked out for ages, and we haven't even moved ten meters yet..."

"Mm, okay, I'll... ha... I'll hold it in!"

After tightly pressing his lips together, the red-haired director finally suppressed his laughter, then muttered through clenched teeth:

"Good. You've probably been holding it in too—go ahead, ask what you want."

"Then I'll ask... were all those things just deliberate?"

"Yes... but not entirely~"

The red-haired director smiled broadly:

"My goal in bringing you here was to get him to craft you a new main combat anomaly, and to have him guide your forging techniques, maybe even squeeze a few good materials out of him.

You saw how much he hoards—after being buried so long, many materials have lost much of their power. Better to take them now and use them for your anomalies than let him keep them buried until they rot."

"But... I didn't make anything useful..."

Recalling what he'd forged, Li Ang's lips twitched slightly, then he sighed:

"Those things are better left buried in his coffin than wasted by me."

"That's not certain."

The red-haired director shook his head, then smiled and reminded him:

"You forgot? Besides the 【Dream Invader】, the third-gen lord also forged another anomaly for you—would you like to see it before you decide?"

Another anomaly? That roll of black snake skin? Could its ability alter the anomalies I forged? But how do you even know that?

Hearing the director's reminder, Li Ang asked in surprise:

"Director, do you understand forging? Can you tell what that snake skin does?"

"I don't understand forging. But I understand luck."

The red-haired director smiled broadly:

"Today is my birthday. Every cleaner on their birthday receives a blessing from the Lord of the Starry Sky—a fortune so potent it's like wishes coming true. As long as it's not something utterly impossible, it has a chance to manifest.

So far today, I've made two wishes. The second was to secure the most suitable anomaly for you. My intuition tells me that roll of snake skin is exactly what you need."

Birthday wish?

Hearing the director's words, Li Ang froze slightly.

Last year on his birthday, he'd accidentally triggered this blessing—but according to the Black Goat, this blessing came with a curse: after great fortune came misfortune, and each fulfilled wish brought one misfortune in return.

A rare, once-a-year wish, carrying such a heavy cost—used just to help him obtain an anomaly? How could he ever repay this debt?

"Thank you..."

Looking at the smiling red-haired woman before him, Li Ang's eyes filled with emotion:

"Director, I..."

"Enough with the thanks. Just fulfill my first wish later."

After extracting a promise from Li Ang, the red-haired director smiled and urged:

"Touch that snake skin now—I'm dying to know what ability the anomaly most suited to you will have!"

"Alright!"

Li Ang nodded, then took out the roll of black snake skin and gently caressed it with deep reverence.

【Name: Unfair Snake Pact (Trade, Covenant)】

【Appearance: A roll of smooth black snake skin; when unrolled, it becomes a black covenant capable of repeated rewriting】

【Ability: Equivalence Exchange, Forced Covenant】

【Cost: Cannot be signed by ordinary means; must consume large amounts of the user's blood to leave text on the covenant】

【Archive: Forged by the Anomaly "Spirit of Forging," crafted from the black snake tail born from the Goddess of Wealth after she swallowed the Snake Spirit, imbued with the unique power known as "All Things Are Exchangeable," and part of the Goddess of Wealth's "Covenant" authority.】

【When the user, using their own blood as catalyst, writes their name and the target's name on the Unfair Snake Pact, a one-sided trade covenant is forcibly established, allowing the user to specify any item currently held by the target for a fair equivalence exchange.】

【Evaluation: Do not use your ability to obtain information about the target's anomaly; do not write such discovered information into the covenant as the target of forced exchange; do not use your own forged anomalies—those with alarmingly high contamination levels—as the exchange target for others' precious core anomalies.】

【Because such tactics are profoundly despicable; even if you win the battle, you won't be happy!】

【Contamination Level: 59 (6. )】

"Hss..."

After reading the description of the 【Unfair Snake Pact】 and understanding the effect of this "perfectly suited" anomaly, Li Ang sucked in a sharp breath.

Just touch an enemy's anomaly, write it on the 【Unfair Snake Pact】, and force an equivalence exchange?

So after losing their powerful core anomaly, the target receives an equally valuable new one—something that makes their right foot look prettier, gives them a trendy demon name, grows them a stylish wolf-fur collar, turns their voice into a sexy bass, lets them see what they ate for lunch, or even helps them relieve constipation?

Despicable! Truly, utterly despicable!