Chapter 49: Shortcut (Vote!!)

After meeting that seemingly god‑worshipping extraordinary person, Leikedun lost the mood to keep wandering outside, bought some barbecue and fruit for lunch, and returned to the Executor Squad's office with Tu Ba Ge perched on his shoulder.

"At high noon, you're only eating barbecue and fruit? Here's a rabbit for you, too!" Qiaoxi said with a somewhat pained expression, pointing at Leikedun.

"What's up?" Leikedun, who was eating barbecue, and Tu Ba Ge, gnawing fruit beside him, both looked up at Qiaoxi, who had leaned over.

"Nothing much, I'm just lamenting that my quality of life is still worse than a rabbit's," Qiaoxi said dramatically, clutching his chest.

"I know a 100% life‑quality‑boosting shortcut~ Want to hear?" Leikedun said, squinting his eyes.

"What shortcut?" Qiaoxi suddenly got interested.

It wasn't really the shortcut that intrigued him; he mainly wanted to improve his living standards urgently.

Leikedun gave a mysterious smile, leaned close to Qiaoxi's ear and whispered, "Find a middle‑aged widowed or divorced noble lady; you only need to ease her worries. I'm sure she'll gladly help you raise your quality of life."

"Hahaha~"

Qiaoxi's complexion flashed red then white in an instant.

"Is this how you give suggestions to colleagues?" Qiaoxi asked loudly.

While speaking, Qiaoxi's ears were still flushing.

"Hahaha, you're just curious! Isn't that a shortcut? Doesn't it satisfy your needs?" Leikedun said with an innocent shrug.

"Your suggestion is way too indecent!" Qiaoxi retorted.

"But it works! Don't you feel a spark of interest?" Leikedun looked at Qiaoxi's ears, which had turned red again.

"You really aren't moved? You should know that as extraordinary people keep advancing, the money needed later will multiply," Leikedun continued in a tempting tone.

At that moment Leikedun was like a devil tempting hearts, every word luring Qiaoxi toward the idea he had just mentioned.

"Dang dang, not moved. My body and heart belong to my master," Qiaoxi said seriously after controlling his expression.

"Really? I think Little Leikedun makes a lot of sense. Don't you prefer divorced ladies over those who still have families?" Xi Ya, who had appeared beside them at some point, said with a teasing smile.

"I'm not! I didn't! Stop talking nonsense!" Qiaoxi shook his head wildly, denying three times.

"Hahaha! Sister Xi Ya, when did you arrive?" Leikedun laughed as he spoke.

"When you were recommending the shortcut to our little Qiaoxi," Xi Ya replied, her face showing the 'so you're this kind of person' look.

"Um" Leikedun was stunned, suddenly feeling a bit socially dead.

But he soon brushed it off, thinking it was just a minor social death, not serious, and could be counted as humanity points for the future.

"But why are you so familiar with this kind of thing? Have you been secretly studying it?" Xi Ya mimicked Leikedun's earlier pose and squinted.

Xi Ya's words made the still‑angry and ashamed Qiaoxi also turn his melon‑eating gaze toward them.

Following the principle of not losing to others, Leikedun shrugged without fear, "Given my family background, I could never do such a thing unless the other side offered too much."

"Hmm? Are you sure you didn't misspeak?" Qiaoxi looked bewildered.

"Yo! I didn't expect our Little Leikedun to be that kind of person!" Xi Ya said meaningfully, looking at Leikedun.

"Tch tch! I'm just stating the facts; no one actually gave me that much. Don't you have a bottom line that lets you abandon principles?" Leikedun made two "tch" sounds.

Leikedun's words left Xi Ya and Qiaoxi silent for a while.

After a while Qiaoxi shook his head and said, "Leikedun! You really are the devil that bards speak of, tempting the world."

"Indeed, we're lucky you're not a cultist; otherwise I think you could even become a cult leader," Xi Ya unusually agreed with Qiaoxi's remark.

Leikedun fell silent, because in a sense he was also a cultist, bound to the knowledge wilderness and counting hidden sages as colleagues.

"Thanks for the compliment. If I ever reach that level, I'll give each of you a demigod‑level extraordinary trait," Leikedun said sincerely.

"I was just speaking off‑hand; don't take it seriously," Qiaoxi said, clearly frightened by Leikedun's earnest tone.

Xi Ya gave Leikedun a big eye roll: "You really aren't modest, you can attach a follow‑up to anything."

"Since you're both asking sincerely, I'll of course answer responsibly!" Leikedun smacked his lips and said.

Visible resentment surfaced on Qiaoxi and Xi Ya's faces, and Leikedun quickly changed the subject.

"Enough about that, let's get to business. Earlier, while I was out buying things with Tu Ba Ge, I ran into a very cult‑like extraordinary person," Leikedun described the person they had met.

"Exactly, it's dangerous!" Tu Ba Ge echoed from the side.

Xi Ya's eyebrows furrowed, and after thinking for a while she said, "From your description it sounds like a criminal‑or‑prisoner‑path extraordinary, and most of those are indeed cultists."

"Criminals and prisoners? What path is that?" Qiaoxi asked, puzzled.

"They also have a more striking name: the Demon Path and the Alien Path," Xi Ya replied without much explanation.

"Ma Dan has been chaotic lately—first blood‑clans, thieves, now suddenly unknown cultists," Xi Ya sighed, looking like a corporate slave facing overtime.

"Should we inform the squad leader?" Qiaoxi asked.

"Maybe the leader already knows, but it's still needed; I'll go tell him," Xi Ya said, then twisted her body and left the lounge.

Leikedun turned his head and asked Qiaoxi solemnly, "Aren't you going to consider it?"

Qiaoxi froze for a moment, then realized Leikedun was talking about the so‑called shortcut; his complexion turned white then red again.

He reached for the fruit he was about to give Tu Ba Ge, snatched it, and bit it angrily.

"No need!" Qiaoxi gritted his teeth and turned to leave the lounge.

Leikedun and Tu Ba Ge exchanged a glance, then returned to their rice, noting the barbecue from the shop they bought today was still good—crispy outside, tender inside.

After finishing the barbecue, he grabbed another fruit, ate it while heading back to the squad's office.

In the office, Mr. Kesi was lecturing Yuesefu and Qiaoxi on divination‑related mysticism: "In mysticism, mirrors are doors to the unknown, the uncanny, and the spiritual realm."

Mr. Kesi noticed Leikedun approaching, stopped his lecture, and gestured for Leikedun to join.

Leikedun stood still, stunned as if a truancy student caught by the teacher, awkwardly and obediently nodded and dragged a chair over to sit and listen.

Tu Ba Ge, following Leikedun, was also pulled to the lesson; the rabbit held a fruit‑filled top hat, looking skeptical about rabbit‑life while perched under Leikedun's chair.

Still, Leikedun thought the top hat, used by Tu Ba Ge to store fruit, seeds, even books, was a great magician's hat that itself doubted its own existence, since the sealed object possessed a faint living trait, though not very smart.

"I recall, Leikedun, you once used divination at the Deep Crimson Advanced Hospital, right?" Mr. Kesi asked.

"Ah? Yes." Leikedun hadn't expected to be questioned right after sitting down.

"What should one be careful about when divining, given the extraordinary nature of the Reader's Path?" Mr. Kesi continued to ask.

"What precautions? Of course, it's best not to divine if you can avoid it!" Leiketon said matter-of-factly.

Leiketon's answer left the questioner, the audience, and the melon‑eating rabbit stunned.

Mr. Kesi was the first to recover, and, somewhat helplessly, continued: "Why do you have such an idea?"

Leiketon shrugged and said: "After all, the Reader's Path isn't skilled at divination, at least at the lower levels."

"Divination is performed using the star spirit body, gaining revelations through communication with the spirit realm via one's own spirituality; the main enhancement our Reader's magic potion provides is to the mental body, and divination is not our forte." Leiketon added.

(End of chapter)