Chapter 340

Leon looked at the bustling street ahead, and after noticing the curious glances from passersby, couldn’t help but ask… or rather, remind: “We’ve already left the Deathscape. Do you feel better now?”

“Hmm.”

Emma gave a slight nod, then upon seeing Leon’s slightly red ears, she couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle before releasing her arms that had been around Leon’s neck.

“I’m feeling much better now. You can put me down.”

“Alright.”

After hearing Emma’s words, Leon, who had been feeling somewhat embarrassed by the astonished looks from onlookers, quickly squatted slightly and gently set Emma down. He then took the initiative to ask:

“Senior Emma, would you like to come back to the Bureau with me first, or…?”

“I think I’ll just go home first.”

Gently smoothing out the wrinkles in Leon’s clothes caused by her weight, Emma tenderly adjusted his crooked collar while her eyes softened as she softly said: “Elie must miss me a lot, and I want to go home to check up on her too, so I won’t accompany you back to the Bureau… Oh, Leon, will your younger siblings be free the day after tomorrow?”

Are Anna and the others free?

Upon hearing Emma’s words, Leon was momentarily taken aback, then nodded: “Anna still has a few months until she comes of age, so she hasn’t started looking for work yet. She usually just helps manage the apartment, so she should be free. William and Melanie are in school, but the day after tomorrow is a public holiday, so they’ll also be free.”

“Since they’re all free, could we do something together the day after tomorrow?”

After carefully examining Leon’s eyes and not detecting any reluctance, Emma hesitantly asked softly: “Elie…her situation is a bit special, so she’s never gone to school and doesn’t get to interact with kids her own age, meaning she doesn’t have many friends. So if possible, could you bring your younger siblings along the day after tomorrow?”

Ah, I see.

After imagining a gentle girl similar to Senior Emma who couldn’t attend school due to family reasons, staying alone in an empty house, waiting patiently for her mother to return, Leon couldn’t help but feel a surge of pity.

“No problem!”

Determined to give some stern warnings to the two troublemakers at home about not bullying the little girl once he returned, Leon confidently promised: “As long as nothing unexpected happens, we’ll definitely be there at eight o’clock in the morning the day after tomorrow!”

“Thank you, then I’ll take my leave.”

After smiling and bidding farewell to Leon, Emma hailed a Steam Carriage, opened the door, and got inside. Once Leon turned away, she couldn’t resist taking another look through the carriage window at Leon’s not-so-broad but exceptionally reliable back.

Recalling the time when Leon got drunk at the Bureau and she sent him home, and how he pulled a bunch of celery from the balcony, handing it to her like a bouquet, declaring with conviction that age wasn’t an issue, nor was having a daughter…

Were those words sincere?

Who would’ve thought there’d be such an unexpected bonus!

Unaware that someone was watching his back, after sending Emma off in the carriage, Leon eagerly opened his badge interface to check the new badge that popped up after leaving the Deathscape.

[By being led to the Deathscape by Anpu, the Mud Crocodile of Sin-Eating, embarking on the No Return Road as a living person, and personally escorted back by Angesi, the Hound of Death, you successfully activated the hidden Gold Badge “Back From The Brink”]

[Wearing Effect: As someone who has personally witnessed the world after death, you will become extremely sensitive to the existence of death, able to faintly perceive impending death.]

[Advancement Path: None]

[Hidden Traits (No need to wear): As a living person who has left the Deathscape, your scent has been firmly remembered by Angesi, the Hound of Death. Once it smells you, the hound that sleeps outside the Deathscape Gate year-round will wake up immediately.

Therefore, when you don’t have sufficiently powerful companions nearby, you’d best not approach the Deathscape Gate, otherwise, it will surely bite you hard, and each of its three heads will take a bite!]

This is just a death alarm!

Compared to the ability to vaguely predict death, getting bitten by a dog when passing through the Deathscape Gate is utterly irrelevant! He didn’t even know how to get to the Deathscape, let alone pass through the gate alone unless someone eliminated him. And if someone did eliminate him, well, since he’d already be dead, getting bitten would be beside the point—death matters can be dealt with after death! After reviewing the effects of [Back From The Brink], Leon immediately adjusted his badge interface and hung the newly acquired badge.

Currently, he had seven slots on his badge interface.

Among them, [Materialist] stably occupied one slot, and [Drunkard Sage], which required heavy drinking to activate, didn’t need to be worn normally; switching it on only when invincibility was needed was fine.

Of the remaining gold badges, [Travel Thrush Prince], which reliably made people bow, occupied one slot, as did [I Am the Devil] from the sheep series and [Agent] from the Holy Spirit series, bringing the total to four slots.

And to be able to retrieve items from the Mirror World promptly and communicate with puppies, [Poop Scooper], though merely an Iron badge, also needed to be worn frequently, totaling five slots.

As for badges like [What A Shame], which hits like cracking eggs, [Master Performer], [Secret Art Inheritor (Aquarius)], and [Sharpshooter], they could only share the last two slots and be swapped according to needs.

Now that the [Back From The Brink], which could forecast death, had arrived, it occupied another long-term slot, leaving the remaining dozen or so badges to rotate in the last slot.

With the acquisition of a decent new badge, the slots became tighter.

After sensing the faint aura of death around the surrounding pedestrians via [Back From The Brink]’s effect, Leon couldn’t help but sigh regretfully.

Unfortunately, the slot judgment of [Materialist] didn’t apply to anomalous items he forged himself. Otherwise, he could have just created more junk to reach the standard of obtaining 16 anomalous items and unlock the eighth badge slot. For now, he could only make do.

Carrying this regret of not being able to exploit loopholes, Leon identified the street he was on and realized he wasn’t far from the City Administration District. He decided not to hire a carriage and instead walked toward the Clearing Bureau.

He had just returned from the Boarding Tower and found out something happened to Senior Emma. Following Senior Tom, he hurriedly infiltrated the Scale Gold Religion gathering without delay. He wondered how the rebel members and Senior Pione were doing.

Although Middle-aged Joshua hadn’t lied and the door he opened for them was safe, and with Senior Pione protecting them, they probably wouldn’t be in danger, it was still hard to relax until he saw them.

Oh, speaking of Senior Pione…

At this thought, Leon couldn’t help but touch his cufflink, his face showing deep remorse.

Sorry, Senior, although I didn’t lose your “brother,” your butt is probably gone now, and it fell into the hands of the Goddess of Wealth. We don’t even know how to reclaim it…

(The chapter ends here)