Chapter 484: Unexpected Harvest

【Due to suspected solicitation of money from a member of the opposite sex you are in a relationship with, you have successfully activated the Iron-tier badge "Scumbag"】

【Scumbag: A male human who is not faithful in relationships, simultaneously establishes intimate relationships with more than one member of the opposite sex, or tends to pursue profit and pleasure, and is of bad character,】

【Equip Effect: Your charm will receive a slight increase, but your reputation among members of the opposite sex who wish to start a family will decline; however, for some members of the opposite sex with special preferences, your attractiveness will greatly increase】

【Advancement Route: If you continuously solicit money from an ambiguously related intimate member of the opposite sex more than 10 times, this badge will automatically advance to the Bronze badge "Kept Man";

or, by relying on your outstanding charm, after establishing intimate relationships with 10 members of the opposite sex, this badge will skip the Bronze stage and directly advance to the Bai Yin badge "Player"】

【Hidden Trait (No need to equip): The mental damage you actively inflict on members of the opposite sex will be enhanced】

「……」

Mental damage... does a psychic shock driven by an anomalous object count? If it does, then this badge might actually be quite practical?

Rather speechlessly closing the badge panel, stared at by the strange gazes of the people from the Secret Investigation Bureau until he felt uncomfortable all over, Leon Then Heavy, who had happily received an "unexpected harvest," did not dare to linger. Arguing with the female police officer for a few sentences with a stiff upper lip, he obtained her promise to return the files within three days, then fled in panic under the gaze of at least a hundred-plus people.

What's wrong with that bastard rebel? Why is he acting so strange today?

Watching Leon Then Heavy leave with his neck tucked in and his back hunched, looking inexplicably somewhat disheveled, the female police officer, who had won a small victory, could not help but raise her eyebrows in surprise, then walked back into the Secret Investigation Bureau's main hall with a belly full of doubts.

「Miss Yisha……」

Seeing her walk back with light steps, seemingly in quite a good mood, the middle-aged female police officer who had been spectating for half a day could not help but sidle over, and reminded her with a worried face:

「Normally speaking, romance is your young people's own business, and I shouldn't butt in, but... you absolutely must keep your eyes open and be careful to protect yourself! 」

「……」

???

What a joke! That bastard, although there are extenuating circumstances, is still a rebel after all! How could I possibly have that kind of relationship with him?

Without revealing Leon Then Heavy's rebel identity, she just hummed and hawed in agreement a few times, managing to fob off her senior's outrageous concern, then the female police officer walked underground with a face full of speechlessness, preparing to continue with her own work.

However, she had only just entered the vacated interrogation room, adjusted the harsh lighting to be a bit softer, and was preparing to begin questioning, when she heard the door behind her creak open.

「Miss Yisha? 」

Squinting to identify the person, and confirming she had not found the wrong person, the male police officer holding a stack of files let out a slight sigh of relief, then beckoned her to come out and talk.

「What's the matter? 」

After following the person out of the interrogation room, the female police officer glanced at the files in his hand, and discovered they were actually the ones she had submitted that morning — files of the families of martyrs whose pensions had been stopped early despite clearly not meeting the deduction criteria — and she could not help but frown.

「The military sent the files and the list back? Are they refusing to reissue the pensions? Or refusing to deal with those derelict comfort officers? 」

「Both... they both refuse to reissue the pensions, and they don't plan to deal with the comfort officers either. 」

The male police officer said somewhat helplessly:

「The people over at the military say that being able to pay pensions until sixteen years of age when they come of age already meets the minimum standard; they aren't nannies, and have no obligation to take care of these people for a lifetime.

By ordinary wage standards, as long as one works diligently, getting by in the capital isn't a problem; if they can't maintain their livelihood, they'd best look for other reasons, and see if it's because these people themselves aren't working hard enough. 」

Not working hard enough?

If it were anyone else, fine, but that bastard rebel nearly worked himself to death trying to support his family, and in the end almost had his family torn apart? And you people actually have the nerve to say he didn't work hard enough?

Also, were the pensions for the past six years actually paid out in full? Putting everything else aside, fully half of the pensions that the bastard rebel's family should have received were converted into houses in Veterans' Alley at average housing prices!

Damn it! Those shoddy houses built at least sixty or seventy years ago, located far from the core district, surrounded by prisons and factories, that you couldn't even give away — and you have the nerve to offset pensions with them at average housing prices? The records even brazenly state that the person consented?

Back then they were just a few children whose parents had both died; the youngest had just been weaned, and the oldest wasn't even ten years old. Even if they knew they were getting a raw deal with this calculation, what could they do besides agree?

「I understand, thank you. 」

The female police officer who had listened to the retelling was absolutely furious, barely managing to suppress her anger. After thanking the male police officer who had come to notify her, she could not help but ask with a dark expression: 「Can you tell me who exactly said those things about not working hard enough? 」

「A supervisor at the Comfort Bureau, name seems to be Will, Will Bobby Laien. 」

「……」

From now on, the two words I hate most in my life are Bobby Laien!

……

「Bzzt……」

【Shooting Expert: Relying on sufficiently outstanding talent, as well as exceptionally arduous practice, you have successfully cultivated an excellent feel for shooting; your shooting level can already be described as consummate】

【Equip Effect: Relying on the superb technique you figured out on your own, and the outstanding feel you cultivated through diligent practice, when you consciously correct your muzzle's aim, your shooting accuracy will receive a massive boost】

【Advancement Route: After completing 30,000 rounds of live-fire shooting, this badge will automatically advance to the Gold badge "Shooting Master"; current progress 0/30000】

【Hidden Trait (No need to equip): As a firearm enthusiast, when using your familiar sidearm for shooting, your shooting stability will greatly increase】

Finally grinded it up to Bai Yin...

Opening the badge panel and looking at the 【Shooting Expert】 flashing with silver light in its slot, Leon Then Heavy first lay down on the spot and test-fired two shots, then stepped back from the shooting position, half thrilled and half frustrated.

The reason for his excitement goes without saying — of course it was that after the shooting badge upgraded to Bai Yin, its effect had once again received a leap-forward boost.

Facing humanoid targets five hundred meters away, no matter how the Bronze-tier 【Shooter】 trained and adjusted, hitting the target nine out of ten shots stably was already the limit.

But the two test shots after the badge upgraded directly shrunk the "hit zone" by nearly half; not only could he hit the target with a hundred percent success rate, he could even faintly adjust the general landing point of the bullet, choosing whether to hit the upper or lower half of the target.

This was still at five hundred meters where the shooting nails would tumble sideways; if switched to a three-hundred-meter target, he could almost guarantee point-and-shoot accuracy, and with stable wind speed and lighting, the maximum error probably wouldn't exceed two centimeters!

As for why he was frustrated despite such great progress... well, of course it was because the subsequent advancement had become even harder.

「Thirty thousand rounds in total... 」

Looking at the four glaring big zeros in the advancement route, Leon Then Heavy could not help but let out a long sigh.

Based on his average shooting speed, even if he didn't work and didn't go home every day, just soaking in the shooting range, finishing these thirty thousand rounds of shooting nails would take over a month.

Based on the normal situation where he could only come shoot for an hour or two after work every day, to continue advancing, he estimated he would need to shoot for a total of one hundred seventy or eighty days, which works out to spending over half a year in total. It seemed the shooting badge couldn't be improved further in the short term.

Hmm... but he still had to grind it.

Looking at the sky and seeing the sun had not yet fully set, Leon Then Heavy picked up the nail gun again, and under the despairing gazes of the two administrators in the distance, lay down at the shooting position once more.

Compared to the 【Demon's Friend】 which required evil souls, and the 【Devout】 which required personally killing heretics, the advancement conditions for the shooting badge were simply too easy.

Moreover, as long as he trained for a mere half a year, he could possess the level of a "Shooting Master." He was already lucky enough — what was there to complain about?

……

After shooting at the range until dark, Hearing Li Ang first returned the sniper rifle to the Cleanup Bureau, then headed toward Happy Apartment.

Because of a certain burly old man who claims to be "in poor health," he had originally planned to sleep at the Cleanup Bureau, and had even told Anna and the others in advance that he wouldn't be back for the next two days because of work.

But since he'd obtained the 【Devil's Friend】's counterpart, the 【Faithful】, he might as well go back and try it out — what if the hidden properties of these two badges cancel each other out, and Happy Apartment's doorman suddenly sees the light?

(End of chapter)