Chapter 67

66 Li Ang Value

「…」

Choose whatever the hell you want! So all this time I’ve been talking to a dog, is that it?

Seeing the red-haired director’s eyebrows slowly rise and her eyes involuntarily glare at him, Li Ang quickly spoke:

「Director, please don’t rush. I chose this for a reason.」

Better have one!

After shooting Li Ang another irritated glare, the red-haired director snapped:

「Speak! If your reason’s unreasonable, you’ll take my choice—and today counts as absenteeism!」

「Uh…」

Seeing the director clearly angry and already resorting to retaliation, Li Ang didn’t speak immediately. After organizing his thoughts, he asked:

「May I ask first—if I choose the first option, roughly how long until I reach the level you mentioned?」

「That’s hard to say.」

The red-haired director frowned. 「The more and stronger the anomalies one possesses, the greater the impact on oneself, and the faster one transforms into a ‘non-human.’ Every cleaner’s situation is different.」

「Then let me rephrase.」

After thinking for a moment, Li Ang lifted the broom in his hand and asked:

「Ignoring practicality, and focusing only on impact and transformation speed, how many anomalies of this level would I need to reach that threshold?」

Measuring by the Witch’s Broom…

After hearing Li Ang’s words, the red-haired director unconsciously pondered this question she’d never considered before.

Though flight ability was extremely valuable—for survival and reconnaissance—the Witch’s Broom itself wasn’t particularly powerful.

Yet that toad’s power, though severely depleted, was a divine spirit saturated with divinity, even having preliminarily grasped concepts and rules through faith. If calculated this way…

「Roughly… sixty to seventy? To reach maximum potential, you might need close to ninety.」

After stating the required number of anomalies, the red-haired director herself felt it was too high, and added with a frown:

「But you can’t just count by the Witch’s Broom. Its strengths are stability, low consumption, and flight—it’s not fast in transformation. Most anomalies transform much faster, at least double the speed.」

「Mm, I understand.」

Almost double? I recall the Witch’s Broom’s contamination value is exactly 0.5?

After hearing the director’s words, Li Ang quickly estimated the strength of the new anomaly in his mind, then ventured:

「Let’s assume an arbitrary value to describe an anomaly’s transformation speed and the power needed to reach its maximum potential. Let’s set ‘most’ anomalies at 1, and the Witch’s Broom at 0.5.

If, as you said, you need ninety Witch’s Brooms to reach maximum effect, then the upper limit of the first option would be around 45. Is my calculation acceptable?」

Huh?

Hearing Li Ang’s measurement method, the red-haired director glanced at him in surprise.

Anomaly effects varied wildly and were influenced by the user’s own strength; quantifying power was nearly impossible, so estimations relied only on subjective feeling.

But if you abandoned calculating usage effects and focused only on transformation speed and the power needed to reach maximum potential… perhaps it could work?

…

「This way of calculating should work.」

After considering this line of thought and finding no obvious flaws, the red-haired director smiled, her eyes full of approval as she told Li Ang:

「Your method has real value. Write it up and submit it to me. I’ll recommend it. If the bureau adopts it, you might get promoted outright—or at the very least, a hefty bonus.」

「Huh? Okay! I’ll go right now…」

「Stop!」

Seeing Li Ang trying to slip away, the director’s smile vanished. She flicked a finger toward his back, using his own hair to drag him back.

「Bonus is bonus. You haven’t explained your reckless choice yet! These are two separate matters!」

「…」

「What are you staring at?」

After glaring at Li Ang, the red-haired director grumbled irritably:

「Using your method, the first option is 45 Li Ang Value, the second is 43 or 44, the third is weakest—maybe 41 or 42 at most! Why pick the low one? That’s even more infuriating! Explain yourself!」

Shouldn’t this be called Contamination Value? Li Ang Value sounds so awkward…

Watching the director’s mood shift so rapidly—smiling for two seconds, then glaring at him again—Li Ang sighed and explained:

「I think the first option, while having the highest ceiling, is far too ‘late-game.’ According to Senior Emma, the bureau averages one anomaly per three missions, and each mission lasts one to three months.

So to gather 45 Li Ang Values… if you’re unlucky, it could take twenty or thirty years. And you’d have to pray you survive those decades without encountering something like that toad… Do you think that’s possible?」

「…」

「Also, you can only buy things if others are willing to sell. Even if I survive those twenty or thirty years and complete two hundred missions without dying, many things simply aren’t available.

Even if I could buy weapons or hire mercenaries through the bureau from the Kingdom’s military, forget encountering a divine spirit—just one more Red Brick Road Hospital, and no amount of troops would be anything but cannon fodder.

Even if I set up twenty cannons in the capital and blew the whole building to rubble, how would you explain it to the Kingdom?」

「…」

「Besides, given the bureau’s relationship with the Kingdom, when you truly need artillery support, can’t you just call for it? Do I need to pay for it myself?」

「…」

「And beyond raw power, the first option has other problems.」

After glancing at the thoughtful red-haired director, Li Ang added:

「Do you understand economics? Mass ‘overissuance’ of unplanned currency will inevitably cause devaluation—could that disrupt ordinary people’s lives?

And if someone with great power seizes authority, maybe the Scale Gold Cult won’t reclaim it—but if a rookie like me seizes it, will their true god start targeting me?

Also, once I’ve used my ability enough times and it leaks out, will I have the strength to protect myself? Will I have to pay Senior Emma to guard me twenty-four hours a day?

And…」

「Enough, enough, I get it! You’ve made your point!」

The red-haired director waved her hands in exasperation, rubbing her temples as she muttered:

「Bottom line—you’re still too weak! If you were a branch director, you wouldn’t have all these problems.」