Entering the study, Little Devil appeared and opened its mouth. Lin Hao stepped inside.
This space was quite miraculous. When he had first entered it years ago, only an area of less than ten square meters had been illuminated, while everything else had been shrouded in absolute darkness. As Little Devil traveled more often, the area covered by light continued to expand.
This was not inside Little Devil's body. It was more like an independent dimensional space, and Little Devil was merely the key that opened it.
Lin Hao had once taught Little Devil to stuff things into its mouth when traveling to other worlds, so it could bring back some local specialties each time. The result had nearly scared Little Devil into shutting down.
This space did not travel to other worlds along with Little Devil, ruining Lin Hao's plan to hide here and cross into other worlds.
After entering, Lin Hao first checked the Essence of Grievance Little Devil had absorbed recently and found that it was enough for a hundred trips.
Living beings died every moment of every day. Some were angry, sorrowful, fearful, resentful... but none of those negative emotions had anything to do with Lin Hao.
Little Devil could only absorb the Essence of Grievance from living beings that had "karma" with Lin Hao. Simply put, Lin Hao had to be involved, and the amount collected depended on his degree of involvement.
Killing someone personally or insulting someone face-to-face naturally counted as one hundred percent. Releasing viruses, using items to wipe out worlds, and so on also counted as personally doing it. Next came the Essence of Grievance created by the destruction caused by beings who had signed contracts with Little Devil. The greater the karma, the higher the involvement, and the more he received.
The "black-and-white war" on the streets of San Francisco had caused the deaths of many bystanders, producing the largest wave of Essence of Grievance.
Meanwhile, the nationwide protests triggered by racial discrimination continued to provide Lin Hao with energy. Although his involvement was indirect, so his share from each individual was small, the sheer scale was enormous.
Judging by this trend, it would probably continue for a while. It was a steady, long-term income.
That was why America was Lin Hao's blessed land.
Back in China, he could work himself half to death for half a year and still might not gather enough energy for a hundred consecutive draws. He also had to rack his brains for new ways to insult people. Otherwise, his colleagues, whose nerves had long gone numb, would not react at all. They were utterly unfriendly.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Lin Hao silently recited a calming mantra before ordering Little Devil, "Begin."
Little Devil vanished with a whoosh. In the blink of an eye, it whooshed back, its two little hands hugging a chunk of nugget gold, which it tossed onto the ground.
Lin Hao reached out and touched it, immediately receiving the information in his mind: a gold nugget from Journey to the Center of the Earth.
He felt no particular emotion. At least it could be used as money.
Next came an endless series of clattering sounds. A huge pile of items appeared before Lin Hao: Hu Yifei's leather jacket, Little Swallow's homework notebook, Qi Tongwei's sniper rifle, Gao Qiqiang's The Art of War, Xu Hongdou's black stockings...
Lin Hao silently set the leather jacket and stockings aside. Don't misunderstand; he only wanted them to reminisce about his lost youth.
He casually tossed the sniper rifle onto the trash heap. It might have been somewhat useful if he were in the Great Qing Dynasty, but this was free America. What weapon could he not buy here?
Suddenly, Little Devil flung out an old cassock.
Lin Hao reached out to pick it up, his expression turning strange.
He flipped over the cassock and saw eight glowing characters embroidered on the lining: "To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself."
It was the Evil-Warding Sword Manual from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
When Little Devil returned again carrying a piece of jade, Lin Hao stopped it and asked, "Where did this come from?"
"Ying ying ying ying..."
"You mean there was a middle-aged man in a cave, naked from the waist down and holding a dagger as he hesitated, then you brought this back?"
"Hee hee hee hee..."
"Headmaster Yue, it seems you should thank me!"
Lin Hao laughed wickedly. "Lady Ning should thank me even more. Too bad I can't go over there, or I'd definitely have Lady Ning reward me properly."
"Cut cut cut cut cut... chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp..." Little Devil made cheerful noises.
"Yours doesn't work. Listen to me sing." Lin Hao grinned and began singing, "Snip chirp, snip chirp, snip chirp, snip chirp, snip chirp, auntie sucks little chicks."
"Hee hee hee hee... heh heh heh heh..."
After laughing, Little Devil continued traveling and scavenging, while another huge heap of bizarre objects appeared before Lin Hao.
Suddenly, Little Devil returned clutching a small porcelain bottle, its little face full of grievance.
The moment it saw Lin Hao, it began crying, "Wuwuwuwu..."
"There was a man wearing a cloth tiger hat who refused to let go, so you only managed to snatch this one bottle?"
"Wuwu..."
"Don't be sad. If you see him again next time, stab him with a fork." Lin Hao comforted it and took the little porcelain bottle.
"Holy shit!"
It was One-Stick Wonder from The Deer and the Cauldron.
A line of dialogue inexplicably appeared in Lin Hao's mind: Don't even mention touching it. You can't stand even smelling it. So first place has to go to him!
"Interesting. As expected, Stephen Chow is still the best!"
Waving Little Devil off to continue traveling, Lin Hao suddenly noticed the Evil-Warding Sword Manual on his left and One-Stick Wonder in his right hand. He abruptly fell silent.
What did this mean?
Was this testing Director Lin?
What kind of cadre couldn't withstand such a test?
With a solemn expression, Lin Hao threw away the cassock and tucked the little porcelain bottle into his pocket.
The following items brought no surprises at all. They were all mediocre junk without the slightest highlight.
Still, that was normal. Lin Hao had long grown accustomed to it. Otherwise, he would not have only fished up three useful items over so many years.
Capsule Corp Capsule: Yeah, yeah, you're so noble, you're so amazing! Got the guts to throw away the panties too!
The hundred consecutive draws ended quickly. Lin Hao put away the few items he liked, while all the other "trash" was sorted by the cleaning androids and sent together to the warehouse area.
"Ying ying ying..." But Little Devil grabbed Lin Hao.
"Not done playing?"
Lin Hao glanced at the remaining energy. It was probably enough for Little Devil to make another dozen or so trips.
"Fine, use it all up."
If he were still in China, Lin Hao would definitely have calculated every bit carefully. But now, the steady stream of numbers in the background was still constantly rising, so he no longer cared about these scraps.
After waiting a little longer, Little Devil eagerly traveled again and brought back more than a dozen unremarkable items.
Just as Lin Hao was about to end things, Little Devil returned from its final trip carrying half of a scorching-hot face, with magma still clinging to the edges.
Half of a crescent-shaped mustache was attached to the face, and a charred eyeball remained embedded in its socket.
"This..." Lin Hao immediately stepped forward and took it.
It was Whitebeard's face from One Piece.
"As expected."
The instant Lin Hao touched it, a stream of energy and a mass of chaotic memories rapidly flooded into his body. Having copied the Brain-Brain Fruit, Lin Hao quickly digested Whitebeard's memories, then sensed three distinct powers within that energy.
They were Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror's Haki. Though there was very little of each, their quality was extremely high.
Years ago, Lin Hao had received Vegapunk's memories. He had found the training methods for the Six Powers and Life Return within them, and after arduous practice, he had finally mastered them.
Although the Six Powers were supposedly a secret internal training method of the World Government, a secret known by only one person was a true secret. Over the years, countless people had trained in the Six Powers. Some were inevitably captured, interrogated, or even betrayed.
Besides, pirates had infiltrated the Marines as undercover agents and even risen to the rank of vice admiral.
In the One Piece World, the Six Powers were like the three types of Haki. Once one reached a certain level, they were no longer secrets.
Although Lin Hao had mastered the Six Powers, he had never awakened the three types of Haki. He had not expected to obtain half of Whitebeard's face today and directly absorb these three powers from it.
A small amount was nothing to fear. As long as he solved the issue of having versus not having, he could increase them through training, just like ki in the Dragon Ball World.
Whitebeard's half-face offered far more than that.
"Copy its traits?" A choice appeared in Lin Hao's mind.
"Traits?" Lin Hao froze, then realized. "There are remnants of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power too?"
"Copy!" Lin Hao did not hesitate.
After all, copying an item's traits preserved only its characteristics and did not copy its negative effects. For example, after gaining the Brain-Brain Fruit's ability, Lin Hao's head had not kept growing. Nor had he lost the ability to swim or become afraid of seawater.
That was also why he had not eaten the artificial Azure Dragon Fruit. He was already traveling through countless worlds—how could he lack such foresight?
In an instant, Lin Hao gained the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, though like the three types of Haki, the amount was very small.
He extended one finger and watched it vibrate continuously. Lin Hao fell silent.
"What the hell can this do?"
As he spoke, his gaze moved downward.
"Damn it, I'm not even the one enjoying this!"
Feeling a little depressed, Lin Hao walked over to the lab bench and began extracting Whitebeard's lineage factor while it was still fresh.
This was another useful lackey worth cloning.
He would make Whitebeard continue taking in sons in the Marvel world!
Before you continue