Li Ye's workstation was still that spare computer. The files were shared with everyone in this office. As a part-timer, he naturally could not be independently responsible for anything. In fact, no data clerk could work independently; everything went through cross-review.
His main task was to look for omissions and fill in gaps during those cross-reviews, checking whether there were any suspicious points the other data clerks had missed.
But he basically could not find anything. Every data clerk who had tested their way into this place had a couple of tricks up their sleeve.
Like mistaking the Five Plagues Ghost for a Filth Worm last time—that was rare among rarities.
Li Ye was practically left with nothing to do, so he simply stared at the files and read through examples of demons.
Unlike ordinary people, who rarely came into contact with demons, data clerks encountered quite a few of them.
They were mostly closely intertwined with daily life. For example, since it was summer, Heat Demons might appear on the roads.
They were demons derived from natural phenomena, lurking on asphalt, glass, and air conditioners. Their forms resembled clusters of reflected light, and once they appeared, temperatures would rise sharply.
They were low-risk by nature, doing little more than making things hotter. But if someone remained in their vicinity for too long, they might latch onto them and cause heatstroke or heat sickness.
For this sort of demon, all it took was a water truck spraying some water.
There were also Gnawing Rats and Crevice Demons. The former caused buildings to age and metal to rust, while the latter widened cracks in old buildings. They were demons formed after the fact and were classified as harmless demons; they even served as warnings.
At their core, they were born from human resentment. People living in shoddily built structures accumulated grievances over long periods, and those grievances gave rise to them. Once they appeared, it meant the building there was about to become a dangerous structure.
Besides clearing demons, the Pest Control Bureau also traced them back to their source and punished the companies that had built those structures.
If they had cut corners and used shoddy materials, then who else would they go after if not the construction companies?
Then there was food: Mold Demons, Corpse Worms, Drug Residue Spirits, and the like. Food going moldy, dried goods having problems, food containing drug residues—such things could all breed demons.
Food, clothing, housing, and travel—the necessities of human life were also where demons most easily flourished.
But in truth, there were not that many demons. Under modern conditions, they did not appear often. After all, once a demon emerged and was dealt with, the source would be found and punished from the root up.
In the entire First Data Office, what Li Ye experienced was discovery, suspicion, and confirmation. Yet many cases stopped at the suspicion stage, because they were merely perfectly ordinary phenomena, with no demon involved.
And once a real demon was found, no one would let it grow. A solution would immediately be put in place. For these low-risk cases, there was not even any need for Pest Control agents to handle them. Either nearby dispatched data clerks, neighboring police officers, or other relevant departments would take charge and resolve them on the spot.
Just like when Li Ye had killed a Snow Spirit last year and was immediately approached by a police officer.
That was also why ordinary people found it so difficult to encounter demons.
Divine Land truly protected its people well. Ordinary people were taught General Knowledge from childhood, allowing them to prevent such minor demons.
As for slightly more serious demons that ordinary people could not handle, like the Five Plagues Ghost that had been misidentified last time, Pest Control agents would be dispatched once they were capable of causing harm.
Actually, if it had not been a misidentification and it truly had been a Filth Worm, someone at the First Dragon Gate could have handled it. But to guard against every possibility and ensure the steadiest success rate, Pest Control agents were always sent out.
Li Ye had only just learned that when he encountered the Five Plagues Ghost, Huang Qingyi had happened to be on vacation alone and had rushed over as soon as he learned of the situation. Most of the time, the true battlefield for Pest Control agents like them was in sparsely populated places.
Because cities were managed in a timely fashion, mature demons rarely appeared there. The management of production bases related to people was not bad either, but uninhabited areas were another matter entirely.
In sparsely populated places, demons appeared even less frequently. But if one truly emerged, no one would know. By the time it took shape and was discovered, it would already be too late. That was when Pest Control agents brought down the heavy fist.
That reminded Li Ye of something.
"Brother Wang, you know about that news from neighboring Jinze City last time, right? Shouldn't that sort of thing normally have been handled by the Pest Control Bureau? Was that Fu Yan also from the Pest Control Bureau?"
Li Ye took a moment to ask a nearby data clerk.
"Oh, that Ore Skeleton Ape? I know about it."
Wang Cai shook his head, then clicked his tongue. "Fu Yan isn't with the Pest Control Bureau. We're only an official agency, not a shelter or a prison. There are so many martial artists under heaven—how could they all come here? Some people in the private sector are very formidable too."
He did not spell it out, but Li Ye understood perfectly.
There was no way to completely eradicate cases of using martial power to disrupt the law or violate prohibitions. The history books were covered in such marks. They had not simply vanished the moment Divine Land was established.
There would always be martial artists who wanted to live more freely, and there would certainly be existences that had accumulated over hundreds or thousands of years.
It really matched that line his father had said while watching television last time: "It's all a scheme cooked up by capital." No wonder entire industries were shut down and people were arrested at the drop of a hat.
Some demons were born purely because black-hearted people had created them for profit. So the demons had to be dealt with, and so did the beings that had brought those demons into existence!
At noon, the data clerks went to the cafeteria in batches. Li Ye was among them.
He had taken only one bite before immediately pulling out the Five Flavors Chopsticks.
The stir-fried pork used Jade Marrow Black Fur Pig, and the peppers were Jade Peppers. Both were ingredients that could strengthen immunity.
The lightly stir-fried melon slices used Bone Tempering Vine Melon, which could toughen the bones and promote recovery.
Even the rice was cooked from a special variety. The Qi Devourer told him it was Golden Sun Rice. Its cultivation method was like the cigarette Pan Zhengyang had given him: both used demon blood. But this blood was different, possessing an attribute of uttermost hardness and utmost yang.
It could invigorate the spirit and strengthen one's essence and kidneys.
There was also a moss soup. Li Ye was shocked the moment he tasted it. This thing was even rarer.
Nether Moss, grown in underground caverns, was highly toxic. But it had been processed extremely well, turning it into a harmless ingredient.
Drinking it strengthened the foundation and replenished vitality. Most importantly, it could reinforce one's qi and blood and better resist demonic contamination.
Every ingredient at the Pest Control Bureau was top quality!
Especially the rice cooked from Golden Sun Rice—after eating it through the Qi Devourer, the amount of qi and blood it increased was twenty times that of ordinary rice!
But he did not eat too much. These foods were all high quality, and the portions served to martial artists breaking through the Dragon Gate were enough to fill one up.
Li Ye took a total of three trays of food before stopping.
This meal had increased him by 2 points.
2 points!
More than a hundred jin of rice! More than three hundred jin of cooked rice!
Pure high-quality ingredients alone would not have produced such a high increase, but the Five Flavors Chopsticks in his hand had elevated them greatly.
They truly deserved the name Magic Treasure. The upper limit of their enhancement depended only on the quality of the ingredients.
Of course, there was also his authority. Otherwise, if an ordinary person obtained the Five Flavors Chopsticks, their effects would not be nearly as great as his.
Authority plus a Magic Treasure had fully displayed their power in the matter of increasing qi and blood.
"It seems the Pest Control Bureau provides all three meals. If I eat here all day, that's 6 points. If I eat all three meals here, then go stuff myself elsewhere, the time will be shortened by a lot."
Li Ye pondered this, then asked someone else, "These ingredients are too good. Where can I buy them?"
"They're too expensive, so forget about buying them. They hand out this stuff during holidays, and that's enough for the family to try something fresh," a colleague beside him said.
Li Ye nodded and headed straight for the section chief's office.
Since they could be handed out...
He was planning to put on a miserable face and forcefully ask for some.
When he arrived at the office, Sun Shun happened to be there. Seeing Li Ye, he said with a chuckle, "Li Ye, I was just about to look for you."
He invited Li Ye to sit down and handed him a small booklet. It was an identification document. There were no words on its cover, only the emblem representing Divine Land. The booklet was black overall, while the emblem was stitched in gold thread.
Li Ye accepted it and touched it, clicking his tongue inwardly. The material felt different. It was not thread—it seemed to be real gold.
When he opened it, there was an image of Xiezhi inside. Beneath it was his photograph, identical to the one in his school records.
"Even if you're only part-time, you're still one of us. You can't go without proof of identity. This is the ID we made for you. Xiezhi represents discernment and is the symbol of us data clerks."
"The emblem for Pest Control agents is Bi'an. Once your martial path bears fruit and you officially join us in the future, it may be changed."
"Out in the world, us data clerks are of the same rank as police officers. If anything comes up, you can coordinate with the relevant departments. No one would refuse to give our Pest Control Bureau face."
Sun Shun looked at him with a smile, his expression full of appreciation.
He had no choice but to appreciate him.
Originally, he had not planned to arrange one, since Li Ye was only a part-timer. But after hearing what Director Pan said yesterday, he had pulled up Li Ye's records overnight and rushed this ID through.
A part-timer?
When he was not on the scales, he was a part-timer. Once he was on the scales, he was a data clerk of the Ningjiang City Pest Control Bureau.
The kid was already in the Dragon Gate Realm, only a little young. He completely met their requirements, and no one could find a single flaw inside or out.
Li Ye put away the ID and said, "Section Chief, can I be dispatched? It should be fine to let me deal with some minor demons, right?"
He had not truly come here to be a data clerk. What he wanted was the intelligence here. More importantly, he wanted to find a way to kill demons and determine which demons were "gods."
Sun Shun thought for a moment, then nodded. "Want to kill demons? Mm. It's normal for young people to have such thoughts. Since you're part-time anyway, you were free to act as you pleased to begin with. I'll give you access later. Install an internal app, and if you come across minor demons suitable for us to handle, go deal with them if it's convenient."
"Thank you, Section Chief."
"That's your right. What are you thanking me for?" Sun Shun said with a smile.
Li Ye smiled. "Section Chief, there's one more matter—the food in the cafeteria."
Li Ye left carrying a batch of food.
There was a twenty-jin bag of Golden Sun Rice, a ten-jin package of Jade Marrow Black Fur Pig with both meat and bone included, since the marrow was the most valuable part.
He also took a ten-jin package of Wind-Splitting Green Horn Beef. Li Ye had eaten that ingredient at noon too. It could improve the toughness of tendons and fascia, and eating more of it would also increase one's strength.
He took a little of every other high-quality ingredient as well.
If there had been more space at home, Li Ye would have taken more, because judging from Sun Shun's attitude, he did not seem to mind Li Ye taking extra.
But there was no need to rush it. He could take some every so often.
As for why Sun Shun treated him so well—
It was still the same saying: Director Pan's great kindness could never be repaid.
This tiger's skin seemed to be no ordinary powerful!
Before you continue