Chapter 18: Tiger Skin Is No Ordinary Strength
Li Ye’s workstation was still that spare computer. The information was shared with the people in this office. As a part-timer, he naturally couldn’t handle it independently, and no information officer could handle it independently; it was all cross-reviewed.
His main task was to check for oversights during cross-reviews and see if there were any suspicious points that information officers hadn’t discovered.
But it was basically impossible to find anything. Information officers who could make it here all had real skills.
Like last time mistaking the Five Plagues Ghost for a Filth Worm—that was exceedingly rare.
Li Ye essentially had nothing to do, so he just stared at the information, looking at examples of demonic creatures.
Unlike ordinary people who rarely encountered demonic creatures, information officers came into contact with quite a few demonic creatures.
They were basically all closely related to daily life, like whether ‘heat demons’ would appear on roads now that it was summer.
That was a derivative of a natural phenomenon, a demonic creature that lurked on asphalt roads, glass, and air conditioners, shaped like a mass of reflective objects. Once it appeared, it would cause temperatures to rise sharply.
But it was inherently low hazard, just making things hotter. However, if it lingered on a person too long, it was very likely to parasitize, causing heatstroke and heat illness.
This kind of demonic creature could be dealt with by a water truck spraying some water.
There were also ‘gnawing rats’ and ‘rift demons.’ The former caused buildings to age and metal to rust; the latter expanded cracks in old buildings. They were postnatally formed demonic creatures, judged as harmless and even having a warning function.
They were essentially born from combining with human resentment, from long-term resentment built up by people living in shoddily constructed buildings. Once they appeared, it meant the building there was about to become a dangerous ruin.
Besides clearing demonic creatures, the Disinfection Bureau would also trace the source and punish the companies that built those buildings.
They were all shoddily made—who else to go after but the construction companies?
Besides that, there were food-related ones, like ‘fluff mold demons,’ ‘mummy bugs,’ and ‘drug residue demon spirits,’ corresponding to food molding, issues with dried goods, food with drug residues, and the like, which could also breed demonic creatures.
Clothing, food, housing, and transport—people’s necessities were also the places most prone to breeding demonic creatures.
But in reality, there weren’t many demonic creatures, and they didn’t appear often under current conditions. After all, once a demonic creature appeared, after resolving it, they would trace the source and punish from the source.
In the entire Information Room One, what Li Ye experienced was discovery, suspicion, confirmation—but many stopped at the suspicion stage because they were just the most ordinary phenomena with no demonic creatures.
And once a real demonic creature was found, it couldn’t be left to grow; corresponding solutions would be issued immediately. For these low-hazard ones, disinfection officers weren’t even needed—either nearby dispatched information officers or local police officers and relevant departments would handle it on-site.
Just like last year when Li Ye killed a Snow Spirit and was immediately approached by a police officer.
This was also why ordinary people rarely encountered demonic creatures.
Shenzhou did protect people very well. Ordinary people were taught general knowledge from childhood, enabling them to prevent these lesser demons.
As for larger ones that ordinary people couldn’t handle, like the Five Plagues Ghost that was misidentified last time, since it could already cause harm, disinfection officers would be dispatched.
Actually, if it hadn’t been misidentified and was really a Filth Worm, even a One Dragon Gate could handle it. But to prevent mishaps and ensure the steadiest success rate, disinfection officers were dispatched.
Li Ye had only just learned that when he encountered the Five Plagues Ghost, Huang Qingyi happened to be on solo vacation and rushed over quickly upon hearing of the situation. Most of the time, their main battlefield as disinfection officers was still in those sparsely populated areas.
Cities had timely control, making it hard for mature demonic creatures to appear, and production bases related to people weren’t slacking either—but uncontrolled areas were another story.
In sparsely populated areas, demonic creatures appeared even less frequently, but if one really emerged, no one would know. By the time it matured and was discovered, it would be too late—that was when disinfection officers would strike hard.
This reminded Li Ye of something.
“Brother Wang, you know about that news from neighboring Jinze City last time, right? Normally, shouldn’t the Disinfection Bureau handle that? That Fu Yan—is he also from the Disinfection Bureau?”
Li Ye took a moment to ask a nearby information officer.
“Oh, that Ore Skeleton Ghost Ape, yeah, I know.”
Wang Cai shook his head and tsked. “Fu Yan isn’t from the Disinfection Bureau. We’re just an official agency, not a containment facility or prison. There are so many martial artists in the world—how could they all come here? Some ‘folk experts’ are very capable too.”
He didn’t spell it out, but Li Ye fully understood.
Martial artists breaking the law or committing crimes with martial arts couldn’t be completely eradicated; history books were full of such cases. It didn’t vanish just because Shenzhou was established.
There would always be martial artists who wanted a freer life, and there were definitely ancient existences accumulated over centuries.
It really matched what his father said last time while watching TV: ‘it’s all a capital setup.’ No wonder they kept sealing industries and grabbing heads.
Some demonic creatures were purely created by black-hearted people for profit, so not only did the demonic creatures need handling—the existences that created them did too!
At noon, information officers went to the canteen in batches for meals, and Li Ye was among them.
He took one bite and immediately pulled out the Five Flavors Chopsticks.
Stir-fried pork: the pork was Jade Marrow Profound Fur Pig, the peppers were emerald peppers—all ingredients that could enhance immunity.
Stir-fried cucumber slices used bone-tempering vine melon, which had effects of toughening bones and promoting recovery.
Even the rice was specially cooked from rice. The Food Qi Method told him it was Golden Sun Rice, cultivated the same way as the cigarette Pan Zhengyang gave him—using demonic creature blood, but this blood was different, having extremely rigid and yang attributes.
It had effects of invigorating the spirit and strengthening essence and kidneys.
There was also a moss soup. Li Ye was shocked after one taste—this was even rarer.
Netherworld moss, grown in underground caves, highly toxic but well-processed into a harmless ingredient.
Drinking this solidified the foundation and nurtured essence, most importantly strengthening qi and blood and resisting demonic creature pollution.
The Disinfection Bureau’s ingredients were all top quality!
Especially the rice cooked from Golden Sun Rice—after eating with the Food Qi Method, the qi and blood gain was twenty times that of ordinary rice!
But he didn’t eat much; these were high-quality foods, and even for Dragon Gate Realm breakers, the portions were enough to be full.
Li Ye got three plates of rice and dishes in total before stopping.
This meal gained him 2 points.
2 points!
Over a hundred jin of rice! Over three hundred jin of food!
Pure high-quality ingredients alone wouldn’t yield this much, but his Five Flavors Chopsticks boosted it greatly.
Well deserving of its magic treasure name—the enhancement limit depended only on ingredient quality.
Of course, there was also his authority; otherwise, a normal person with the Five Flavors Chopsticks wouldn’t get effects this high.
Authority plus magic treasure fully shone in enhancing qi and blood.
“The Disinfection Bureau seems to supply three meals. Eating here all day would be 6 points. If I eat three meals here and then go eat more, the time would shorten a lot.”
Li Ye pondered, then asked others, “These ingredients are too good—where do you buy them?”
“Too expensive, no point buying. They give them out during holidays, enough for the family to try fresh.” A nearby colleague said.
Li Ye nodded and headed to the section chief’s office.
Since they could be given out…
He planned to shamelessly demand some.
After arriving at the office, Sun Shun was there. Seeing Li Ye, he smiled warmly: “Li Ye, I was just about to find you.”
He beckoned Li Ye to sit and handed him a small booklet—an identification document with no words on the cover, just the Shenzhou emblem, overall black with a gold-thread emblem.
Li Ye took it and felt it, secretly amazed—the material was unusual, not thread, seemed like real gold…
Opening it, there was a xie zhi pattern on top, his photo below, identical to his school records.
“Even though it’s part-time, you’re one of us and can’t go without proof. This is the identification document made for you. The xie zhi represents discernment—it’s the symbol of us information officers.”
“Disinfection officers have the bi an pattern. Later, when your martial arts progresses and you onboard formally, you might switch.”
“We information officers are equal to police officers outside. For anything, you can coordinate with relevant departments—no one dares not give face to the Disinfection Bureau.”
Sun Shun looked at him with a smile, his expression full of appreciation.
He had to appreciate him…
Originally planned not to make one since it was just part-time, but after hearing Director Pan’s words yesterday, he pulled Li Ye’s information overnight and expedited this identification document.
Part-time?
Not on the scale is part-time; on the scale, he’s a Ningjiang City Disinfection Bureau information officer.
He was already Dragon Gate Realm, just young—fully qualified, no flaws inside or out.
Li Ye put away the identification document and said, “Section Chief, can I be dispatched? Handing some lesser demons to me would be fine too, right?”
He wasn’t really here to be an information officer; he wanted the intelligence here. Most importantly, he wanted to kill demonic creatures and find which ones were ‘gods.’
Sun Shun thought for a moment and nodded: “Want to kill demons? Mm… young people having that drive is normal. Anyway, you’re part-time and can move freely. I’ll give you access later—install the internal software. If you see a lesser demon suitable for us, go handle it if convenient.”
“Thanks, Section Chief.”
“It’s your right—what’s there to thank me for?” Sun Shun laughed.
Li Ye smiled: “Section Chief, one more thing—the food in the canteen…”
……
Li Ye left carrying a batch of food.
Twenty jin bags of Golden Sun Rice, ten jin packs of Jade Marrow Profound Fur Pig with meat and bones—after all, the bone marrow was most valuable.
He also took a bag of ten jin rift wind blue horn beef. Li Ye had eaten this at lunch too—it improved tendon and fascia toughness, and eating more enhanced strength.
He took varying amounts of other high-quality ingredients too.
If not for lack of space at home, Li Ye would’ve taken more—Sun Shun’s attitude seemed not to mind him taking extra.
But no rush; he could take more every so often.
As for why Sun Shun was so good to him…
Still that phrase: Director Pan’s great kindness was hard to repay.
This tiger skin seemed extraordinarily strong!
