Antique Shop Zero: Disfigured School Beauty Becomes a Succubus to Pay Off Debts

Everyone was stunned.

A showdown at dusk?

Cao Ye's gaze swept across every face present:

"If he dies at dusk, there will be no obstacle to his becoming a Buddha."

Of course, he couldn't be the supreme god for long.

Because if humans remain asleep without eating or drinking, they will perish in just a few days.

Prince Qilin isn't a fool; if he dared to challenge Twilight, he must be confident.

He paused, then tapped his knuckles on the table:

"And the facts have proven this."

Investigators who returned from Dream Island all said that the situation after the Twilight Battle was very bad.

Now I want to ask you, what if we don't have Dusk, what if Dusk dies, can you resolve this abnormal event?

"Is all the money the government pays you going to waste?"

Cao Ye tapped the table, which was also a way of reprimanding them.

The investigators need to be pushed hard to get them to commit to the fight and have the courage to risk their lives.

The air in the conference room grew even colder.

The faces of the crowd turned grim.

Prince Qilin... wounded the twilight?

An administrator suddenly sneered and glanced sideways at the investigators opposite him:

"Our administrative department manages the relationship between the Bureau of Anomalies and the outside world very well."

In terms of funding, in addition to seeking funding from higher authorities, we also launched many money-making projects.

Our administration department is fine.

He paused, his tone becoming increasingly harsh:

"But it's your investigation department that makes Twilight fight and get hurt for you?"

To put it bluntly, Huang Hun is suspected to be the Human Emperor.

What is the Human Emperor? He is the guardian deity of the human world! The protector of the Xia Kingdom's destiny!

Instead of protecting the Emperor, you expect him to risk his life for you?

He crossed his arms, a mocking smile playing on his lips:

"How about you cut your salaries in half and hire more capable investigators, or just give them to Twilight?"

Cao Ye frowned, a hint of displeasure flashing in his eyes.

The conflict between criminal investigators and detectives has a long history, and this is a result he is happy to see.

Administrative officers have the authority to communicate with all levels of society, while investigators have extremely high case-handling authority. If the two departments are too close, it may not be a good thing for society.

Restraint is the key to balance.

However… this administrator, who was extremely obsessed with twilight, spoke a bit too harshly.

It is possible for administrators and investigators to have conflicts, but if these conflicts escalate from a dispute over positions to a personal feud, it will be difficult for the two departments to cooperate.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

Cao Ye looked over in astonishment.

One investigator slapped himself, leaving a red mark on his face.

He gritted his teeth, forcing out the words through clenched teeth:

"Since the appearance of twilight and the existence of that wall, the pressure on us to deal with anomalies has been greatly reduced."

I admit that I became complacent because the pressure was less.

Starting tonight, I will intensify the training of myself and my subordinates, and I will never be a scoundrel!

Other investigators followed suit and expressed their opinions.

"Starting tonight, we'll definitely intensify our training!"

"I will lead my men to dig three feet into the ground to find the Prince of Qilin!"

"Search for and annihilate all of Taiping Dao's henchmen!"

The administrator who had previously made sarcastic remarks paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up:

"Since we're all so interested in this, I'll grit my teeth and say something."

Starting next month, the budget for all investigators will increase by another five percent!

Cao Ye blinked, somewhat incredulous.

An increase of five points in mission funding is not a big deal in itself.

The Bureau of Abnormal Affairs has too many places where it spends money, so the administrators have ways to find money on their own.

The money is vetted at every level, and no one can spend it; it can only be used for research and development, mission investigation, and salary payments.

To make it easier for them to find money, Cao Ye had given them permission to misappropriate a portion of the money as a slush fund for their own use.

The money to increase the investigators' funding came from this slush fund.

Normally, the two departments would have already been arguing fiercely because of those embarrassing remarks.

But today... why is everything so unusually harmonious?

Oh... it's because of the worship of twilight.

The veneration of twilight is quite reasonable, whether placed within administrative or investigative departments.

The administrators held themselves in high esteem, valuing their authority and status, which surpassed that of ordinary government departments, much like the arrogant scholars of ancient times.

What about the twilight? The one who is suspected to be the Human Emperor is not a barbarian like Lucifer, but the true extraordinary world leader of the Xia Kingdom—the word "Human Emperor" struck a chord with their inner yearning.

The investigators were all warriors who worshipped the god of war.

Twilight is precisely such a powerful savior from suffering.

Cao Ye never expected that the internal strife within the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs would become so bizarre because of the twilight.

This... should be considered a good thing, right?

His gaze shifted to a middle-aged man in a white coat:

"Doctor, is there anything you'd like to say?"

The middle-aged man in the white coat stood up, his face full of shame:

"I really... don't know what to say. The research has hit a bottleneck."

Cao Ye's pupils contracted:

Currently reading: Chapter 207, Pseudo-Forbidden Objects, latest chapters available here.

"Bottleneck? That's a good thing."

Please, Dr. [Name], explain your bottleneck in detail; this will reassure everyone.

Everyone was taken aback.

A reassurance? What reassurance?

This doctor was the director of the Institute of Anomalies. The administrators suddenly widened their eyes—could it be because…there was progress on that matter?

There's something we all know but don't say.

No matter how agile the investigators are, or how shrewd the administrators are, they all have to admit that they are just ordinary people.

Can ordinary people use their money to fight abnormal creatures?

Can a mortal's social status command supernatural beings?

Can ordinary people kill supernatural creatures with firearms and hand-to-hand combat?

No.

There is a chasm between them.

Faced with extraordinary events, they can only gamble their lives and luck for a glimmer of hope.

Over the past year, especially in the six months since Cao Ye took office, the administrators have been spending astronomical sums of money on the Institute of Abnormalities, like water flowing away.

From these clues, they speculated and suspected...

Is the Anomaly Research Institute brewing a powerful new method that will allow humanity to deal with anomalous creatures?

The middle-aged man in the white coat glanced at Cao Ye, somewhat hesitant:

"May I speak?"

Cao Ye nodded:

"I told you, you need to feel reassured tonight."

The middle-aged man in the white coat organized his thoughts:

"Over the years, the Institute of Abnormalities has been replicating forbidden objects."

"We want to create a forbidden substance that has absolutely no side effects and can be perfectly controlled by us."

Upon hearing this, the investigators' eyes widened in surprise.

Perfect control over forbidden objects?

The administrators exchanged glances—just as they had suspected.

The middle-aged man in the white coat sighed:

"Unfortunately, it's very difficult."

But we've made some progress.

Let me first tell you about four differences between forbidden items and ordinary items.

He raised the first finger:

"First, the forbidden items are extremely durable."

Whether the temperature is minus two hundred degrees or four trillion degrees Celsius, it cannot be harmed in the slightest.

This is something we can emulate.

We use a "particle exchanger" to arrange carbon atoms into a perfect three-dimensional network structure with the strongest chemical bonds—without crystal planes or seams. This allows countless carbon nanotubes to be directly welded together at the atomic level during growth, like a single "supermolecule"...

Cao Ye frowned.

What are you talking about? I don't understand.

"Get to the point."

The middle-aged man in the white coat said awkwardly:

"In short, we can create a substance harder than diamonds, which I call 'spirit stone'."

Hmm... I haven't tested it.

While spirit stones may not be as durable as forbidden items, they are certainly the closest thing to such a substance in the world at present.

He raised his second finger:

"Secondly, forbidden objects possess magical powers."

By learning from the Lord of the Bright Lantern, we can imprint runes onto spirit stones.

If infused with spiritual energy, this spirit stone weapon will possess supernatural powers.

Cao Ye raised an eyebrow:

"You've developed to this point? What's your bottleneck?"

The middle-aged man in the white coat smiled wryly:

"The bottlenecks are the last two characteristics I'll discuss below."

He raised his third finger:

"The third characteristic of forbidden objects is that they possess magical spiritual energy and obsession."

Our pseudo-forbidden object lacks spiritual energy, so the rune array inscribed on it is completely unusable.

He raised his fourth finger:

"The fourth characteristic is that there is a strange energy on the forbidden object. Prince Mingdeng said that it is the obsession of the gods and demons who use it."

Give me another twenty years, and maybe I can find a substitute for spiritual energy.

But something like obsession is something we can never replicate.

Cao Ye frowned in thought.

The middle-aged man in the white coat added:

"Compared to the forbidden, our pseudo-forbidden things are too crude."

They couldn't make things with terrifying power like the Five Emperors Poison Coins, the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse, or the Mother-and-Child Black Coffin.

But as long as there is spiritual energy to support it, summoning flames and releasing lightning is not a big problem.

Furthermore, to fully utilize the hardness of spirit stones, pseudo-forbidden items are best crafted into the shape of swords or knives.

He suddenly thought of something and waved his hands repeatedly:

"Please don't make me make things like handguns."

Firstly, it's too difficult; secondly, spirit stone bullets are too extravagant and ultimately pointless.

A small dagger can cost close to ten million.

Cao Ye frowned as he listened:

"So, is this considered a forbidden item?"

The middle-aged man in the white coat honestly shook his head:

"No, that doesn't count. I call this kind of weapon a 'spiritual weapon,' which is why I call the materials used to make spiritual weapons 'spiritual stones.'"

Cao Ye's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

The middle-aged man in the white coat quickly said:

"Fortunately, our magical artifacts can be mass-produced!"

Furthermore... those runic arrays can harm extraordinary beings.