Chapter 582: Why Is My Career Panel in a 2D Art Style? Chapter 273

As for that gem dragon.

Not suitable for children, impossible to describe.

Only the "demon" he saw nothing at all; now its reflection in the mirror was merely an empty shell.

Looking at the five people before the mirror whose expressions had turned utterly serious, Luonan spoke to reassure them: "Relax—I can only perceive surface thoughts, otherwise people wouldn't come to me selling intelligence."

Despite hearing him say this, Wu Lao and the others did not lower their guard; instead, they added several more layers of protection to themselves.

Not paying attention to the group's subtle movements, Luonan continued along the previous topic: "Though I don't know who those people are or where they've gone, I know who might know about this."

"Who?"

"Heh. Since you came to me, you should know my rules."

Watching the anxious Wu Lao, the figure in the mirror let out a laugh: "So before I give you the intelligence, you must first complete a task for me."

Upon hearing this, the five people exchanged glances.

As elites from two interstellar megacorporations, unless they faced a sixth-tier adversary, they could never fail.

Thus, to Wu Lao and the others, this intelligence was practically free money.

Thinking thus, the bearded middle-aged man gave a slight nod: "Fine. What do you need us to do?"

Seeing the group before the mirror accept the commission, Luonan's eyes flickered with a deep gleam, then he issued a task: "【Mingjin Society】 will send a debt collector to the Grand Casino in the next two days. Kill him."

"?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Lao and Pan Mingrui immediately furrowed their brows.

After a moment of silence, Pan Mingrui spoke calmly: "These two things are not of equal value—after all, all you've provided is merely someone who might have information."

Meanwhile, Wu Lao took the opportunity to explain to Li Ang and the others what a debt collector was.

As the name implies, they are personnel within 【Mingjin Society】 specifically tasked with collecting massive gambling debts.

Yet gamblers who can rack up massive debts in the main universe are invariably powerful professionals.

After all, casinos must assess borrowers' qualifications—high-tier professionals clearly have far greater spending and repayment capacity than common riffraff.

Of course, their probability of defaulting is also very high.

Thus, the sole requirement to become a 【Mingjin Society】 debt collector is sufficient strength to handle those desperate, bloodshot-eyed gamblers.

After hearing Wu Lao's explanation, Li Ang gained a basic understanding of the Grand Casino.

At this moment, facing Pan Mingrui's skepticism, Luonan merely shrugged and said indifferently: "You may refuse. I'm not forcing you to take this task."

Though he could sense these people's identities were likely not ordinary, so what?

He could always just walk away from this deal.

At these words, the small room fell silent.

Just as Wu Lao and Pan Mingrui were considering whether to reject the deal, Li Ang suddenly spoke: "Fine. We accept this commission."

"Wise decision."

The five figures in the mirror simultaneously grinned, revealing chilling smiles, then a contract burning with black flames slowly drifted out from the mirror.

Li Ang took the contract and examined it closely, quickly noticing numerous vague clauses—clearly left by the 【Man in the Mirror】 as loopholes.

As a demon himself, he was not so easily tricked by such things.

Thinking thus, Li Ang flicked the contract in his hand: "You lack sincerity. If this is the only contract you offer, our deal is off."

"Tsk. I'm starting to believe you really are a demon." Luonan smirked, then reformed a new contract: "Take a look. If there's no problem, sign it."

Ignoring the 【Man in the Mirror】's attitude, Li Ang examined the contract again.

After confirming the contract held no issues, he summoned Kai'aus and had him sign his name.

Li Ang wasn't foolish—he wouldn't be so naive as to sign his own name while ignoring his 【Simulated Servant】.

Seeing this, Luonan's eye twitched, then he sighed: "You're awfully cautious. But you're overthinking—I wouldn't ruin my reputation over one deal."

"Hard to say."

Li Ang never hesitated to assume the worst in others, let alone such dangerous entities.

Though the 【Man in the Mirror】 had behaved amicably since appearing, anyone who thought him a good person would only end up devoured whole.

As the contract burned fiercely in black flames, Luonan gave Li Ang a long look, then dropped a line: "When it's done, I'll come find you."

With that, the five figures in the mirror vanished.

Seeing this, Li Ang immediately shattered the mirror and led the group into 【Heavenly Dominion】.

Looking at the bird-song-and-flower-scented surroundings, Wu Lao and Pan Mingrui froze in place: "This is…?"

"My ability," Li Ang replied casually, then asked, "What do you think of that 【Man in the Mirror】?"

Hearing this, the two senior engineers from 【Giant God's Gravity】 snapped back to attention, then furrowed their brows: "He seems unproblematic on the surface, but according to his words, it appears many others besides us are searching for those bandits."

"Are they trying to steal the stolen goods?"

This was the only plausible explanation Wu Lao and Pan Mingrui could conceive.

But have space pirates grown so bold lately? Do they really think 【Giant God's Gravity】 is some kind of gentle gentleman?

'Looks like this star region needs a good cleaning. Once the mission's done, notify the corporation.'

As the two were thinking this, Li Ang seemed to remember something and asked curiously: "By the way, what exactly was the cargo you lost? Mind telling us?"

"Don't know."

"Don't know?"

Seeing Wu Lao wasn't brushing him off, Li Ang's eyes flickered with surprise.

He had assumed 【Aio Logistics】 withheld the cargo details to protect client privacy, but he hadn't expected these two senior engineers from 【Giant God's Gravity】 also didn't know what had been lost.

This was clearly abnormal.

Seeing Li Ang seemed puzzled, Wu Lao scratched his head helplessly: "So neither I nor Xiao Pan know where to start—but at least we've found some leads now."

Hearing this, Li Ang couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

Intuition told him this matter was probably not that simple; after all, the Sixth-Energy-Level 【Mirror Person】 could not possibly have failed to sense their strength, so the 【Mingjin Society】 debt collector was likely problematic.

But thinking too much now was useless—only when they actually encountered the opponent could they make a proper judgment.

…

Two days passed like this.

At this moment, Li Ang and the other four were inside a certain asteroid belt, silently waiting for their target to appear.

Since the 【Demon Desire Grand Casino】 housed Sixth-Energy-Level practitioners, they naturally could not act on that planet.

Unobtrusive Vessel.

A middle-aged man with a scruffy beard operated the starship's observation instruments and asked casually, "Director Xiao Pan, isn't the intelligence you gathered supposed to be for today?"

"The casino system records it as today."

Hearing this, Pan Mingrui replied in a perfectly calm tone.

Since the debt collector was not a secret existence, he had easily found relevant records within the casino system.

Unfortunately, the man's detailed information would not appear in the casino—otherwise he could have uncovered it all at once.

"Then good—once that guy shows up, I'll activate Super Transformation Mode to intercept him."

After receiving the affirmative reply, Old Wu chuckled.

The Unobtrusive Vessel might look like junk, but every necessary function was intact; after all, unlike the others here, he suffered a severe drop in combat power without external mechanical aid.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from beside them: "No need for all that trouble—I can intercept him myself."

It was Li Ang.

He flipped through the book he had received from Old Wu over the past two days, not looking up as he said, "It's just a starship—no matter how fast, it can't go far."

"Uh…"

Old Wu scratched his head, looking as if he wanted to say something but held back.

Yet in the end, he abandoned his attempt to persuade and asked instead with mild curiosity, "By the way, Li Ang, you said you're an Alchemist—why suddenly interested in mechanical knowledge?"

"Is your recent research related to this?"

After two days of companionship, Old Wu and Pan Mingrui had learned Li Ang was an Alchemist.

Though not a Mechanical practitioner like them, both still felt a sense of kinship between technicians.

In response, Li Ang shook his head slightly: "Just curious—I recently acquired several giant robots, so I wanted to see if I could get them moving again."

The giant robots he referred to were naturally the three mechanical deities from the EXE world.

Hearing this, Old Wu's eyes lit up instantly: "Giant robots? I'm good at those! Let me take a look for you?"

"No need to trouble you."

Li Ang politely declined his offer.

Regarding secrets from another world, he would not expose them to a practitioner he'd known for only a few days—until he fully controlled them.

Even if, by his judgment, the man was most likely a good person by standard definitions.

"Alright," Old Wu muttered, disappointedly clicking his tongue, "but if you run into any problems, let me know—I'll help."

As a senior engineer, Old Wu knew well how difficult it was to study technologies from different systems simultaneously.

For example, if he wanted to learn Alchemy, it would take months just to get started.

And becoming a Gao Jie Alchemist? He'd probably never have the chance in his lifetime.

In Old Wu's view, Li Ang—who could no longer take up a Mechanical career—was just like himself.

Giant robots, in Mechanical careers, were technology accessible only at Second or even Third Energy Level—this young man hoping to revive them on his own would likely need a very long time.

Hearing this, Li Ang nodded: "Then thank you."

He could roughly guess what the man was thinking—but the problem was, he could still take up a new career.

【Key career item acquired. Gunner triggered special reclassification: Iron Dome Sovereign】

—

【Career: Iron Dome Sovereign】

【Requirements:】

1. Pre-requisite career 【Gunner】 reached max level (√)

2. Master over fifty methods of manufacturing firearms and robots (×)

3. Build a factory capable of producing Second-Energy-Level or higher mechanical soldiers (×)

4. Control a heavy robot battalion (over one thousand units) (×)

【After reclassification:】

1. Attribute increase

2. Acquire career skill—Rapid Deployment

3. Acquire career specialty—Iron Curtain, Firepower Resonance, Armory Synchronization Core, Mech Soldier Deployment Protocol

4. Acquire special bonus:

Slight speed bonus when learning mechanical technologies.

—

This was the reclassification Li Ang triggered after obtaining some notes from Old Wu over the past two days; judging by the difficulty, it was a Third-Energy-Level career.

'I wonder if I can get Leigaelzeva and the others moving again.'

But getting them moving was one thing—truly controlling them was another.

If he wanted these three mechanical deities to obey him willingly, he'd likely need further reclassification.

As Li Ang pondered his next steps, a sudden roar echoed from afar.

Hearing the sound, he immediately snapped his scattered thoughts back.