Chapter 67: 66 Hearing Li Ang Value

66 Hearing Li Ang Value

"……"

Pick your ass! So all my persuading just now was wasted on a dog, right?

Watching the red-haired director's eyebrows slowly rise as she unconsciously began glaring at him, Li Ang hurriedly spoke up:

"Director, please don't be hasty. I definitely have my reasons for choosing this way."

You better have them!

Unable to resist glaring at Li Ang once more, the red-haired director said irritably:

"Speak! If your reasons don't hold up, you'll go with my choice, and today counts as you skipping work!"

"Uh……"

Seeing the clearly somewhat angry director who had already started retaliating, Li Ang didn't speak immediately, but organized his words before asking:

"Can I first ask—if I choose the first option, roughly how long would it take to reach the level you mentioned?"

"That's hard to say."

The red-haired director frowned: "The more and stronger anomalies a person possesses, the greater the influence on themselves, and the faster they transform into a 'non-human.' Every Cleanser's situation in this regard is different."

"Then let me rephrase the question."

Li Ang thought for a moment, then lifted the broom in his hand and said:

"Setting aside practical considerations and only looking at influence and transformation speed, roughly how many anomalies of this level would I need to obtain to reach that level?"

Using the Witch's Broom as a measure, huh……

After hearing Li Ang's words, the red-haired director unconsciously mulled over this question she had never considered before.

Although flight ability was extremely precious, useful for both saving one's life and reconnaissance, the Witch's Broom itself wasn't actually all that powerful.

And while that toad's power had severely drained, it was a holy spirit steeped in divinity, and had even initially grasped concepts and rules through faith. Calculated that way……

"Roughly…… sixty or seventy? To perform at the limit, probably close to ninety."

After stating the required number of anomalies, the red-haired director herself seemed to feel it was a bit much, and added with a frown:

"But you can't just calculate using the Witch's Broom. Its advantages are stability, controllability, low consumption, and it provides flight ability. Transformation speed isn't its strong suit—most anomalies transform much faster, basically more than double."

"Mm, mm, got it."

Almost double, huh? I remember the Witch's Broom's contamination value seems to be exactly 0.5?

After hearing the red-haired director's words, Li Ang quickly estimated the strength of that new anomaly in his mind, then tentatively said:

"Then let's assume a non-existent value, used to describe an anomaly's transformation speed and the power needed to push its ability to the limit. Set 'most' anomalies at 1, and the Witch's Broom at 0.5.

According to what you just said, if it takes ninety Witch's Brooms to push the effect to its cap, then the first option's limit strength is roughly around 45. Is my calculation okay?"

Huh?

Hearing the measurement method Li Ang proposed, the red-haired director couldn't help but glance at him in surprise.

Because anomalies had all sorts of effects and were also influenced by the user's own strength, their power basically couldn't be quantified. There was no suitable standard, so one could only estimate approximate strength by feel after use.

But if you gave up calculating usage effects and only calculated the transformation speed on the user, plus the level needed to perform at full capacity…… it seemed like it could barely work?

……

"Calculating it that way should be fine."

Following this line of thought and not finding any obvious flaws, the red-haired director couldn't help but break into a smile, and said to Li Ang with eyes full of approval:

"Your calculation method has real value. Be sure to organize it and submit it to me. I'll report it up the chain. If the Bureau ends up adopting it, you might get promoted on the spot, and at the very worst, you'd get a hefty bonus."

"Huh? Okay! Then I'll go right—"

"Hold it!"

Seeing Li Ang actually try to slip away, the red-haired director, who had just been smiling, darkened her expression. She extended a finger and gave a small hook toward his back, using the hair on Li Ang's neck to drag him back.

"The reward is the reward, but you haven't finished explaining your reckless choice! Those are two separate matters!"

"……"

"What are you looking at?"

After glaring at Li Ang, the red-haired director said with a sour face:

"Using your method, the first option's Li Ang value is forty-five, the second's is also forty-three or forty-four, and the third is the weakest—probably capping out at forty-one or forty-two! Picking the lower one instead of the higher is even more infuriating, got it? Hurry up and give your reasons!"

Shouldn't this be called contamination value? Li Ang value sounds way too awkward……

Watching the director whose mood swung at terrifying speed—she'd just been smiling two seconds ago and was already glaring at him again—Li Ang could only explain helplessly:

"I feel that although the first option has the highest ceiling, it's really too 'late-game.' According to Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma, the Bureau only obtains one anomaly per roughly three missions on average, and each mission mostly lasts one to three months.

So if I want to gather 45 points…… Li Ang value, with bad luck it could take twenty or thirty years, and I'd have to pray I survive those twenty or thirty years safely and never run into an unexpected event like that toad…… do you think that's possible?"

"……"

"Also, the prerequisite for being able to buy things is that others are willing to sell. So even if I could endure those twenty or thirty years and come out alive after nearly two hundred missions, a lot of things simply can't be bought.

Even if I could buy weapons or even hire an army through the Cleansing Bureau from the Kingdom's Ministry of War, forget encountering something like a holy spirit—even running into another Red Brick Road Hospital would just mean sending however many troops to their deaths.

Even if I set up twenty cannons in the capital and blew the whole building to smithereens, if I did that, how would you explain it to the Kingdom?"

"……"

"Besides, given the relationship between the Cleansing Bureau and the Kingdom, when the time really comes and you need cannon support, couldn't you just call people in? Would I need to spend money to buy them?"

"……"

"And beyond direct strength, the first option has some other issues too."

Glancing at the red-haired director who had fallen into thought, Li Ang reminded her:

"Do you know much about economics? Massively 'over-issuing' this kind of unplanned currency would definitely cause devaluation—would it affect ordinary people's lives?

And when the powerful seize power, it's one thing if the Chengjin Sect can't take it back, but if a newbie like me seizes power, will that true god of the Chengjin Sect take notice of me?

Also, once enough transactions happen and my abilities leak and draw attention, do I have the strength to protect myself? Am I supposed to pay Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma to provide round-the-clock personal protection?

"And also…"

"Fine, fine, I get it! I'll admit you have a point!"

The red-haired bureau chief, whose head was aching from listening, waved her hands repeatedly and muttered with a headache as she rubbed her temples:

"In the end, you're just too green! If you were a branch bureau chief, would you still have this much trouble?"