Chapter 642

Crap, this time I’m really gonna get tied up and gagged…

“Woof woof! (You’re done for!)”

Huh? You little underaged singleton puppy, what’re you butting in for? If you wanna discuss this with me, grow bigger than a slipper first!

As revenge, Leon ruffled the puppy’s forehead, messing up its small golden fur, then sighed as he opened his badge slot, switched badges, and brought out… no, not the “Poop Scooper” badge, but the upgraded “Pet Owner” badge.

[Pet Owner: A person who owns a pet that recognizes them as their master, maintaining a long-term feeding relationship.]

[Effect: After a long period of mutual companionship, you and your pet have become spiritually connected. Sometimes, even without commands, it can instantly understand your meaning.]

[Upgrade Path: If you continue raising a pet for over a year while keeping it healthy, this badge will automatically upgrade to the Silver “Breeder” badge.

If you increase the number of pets you raise until you have more than 10, and keep them all healthy for over half a year, this badge will automatically upgrade to the Silver “Menagerie Master” badge.

If you expand the scope of raising creatures beyond 10 ordinary animals, maintaining a long-term master-pet relationship, this badge will skip the Silver stage and directly upgrade to the Hidden Gold “Master” badge.

Currently raising long-term: 1 Mirror Dog, 1 Word-Eating Worm, 4 Demons. To upgrade to “Breeder,” need to maintain feeding relationship for another 182 days.

To upgrade to “Menagerie Master,” need 4 more pets and all pets must remain healthy for 362 days.

To upgrade to “Master,” need 4 more non-ordinary animals and maintain a master-pet relationship for over 30 days.]

[Hidden Feature (No Need to Wear): As an acclaimed pet owner, your affinity with animals will greatly increase.]

…

To be honest, although this badge is only Bronze level, the subsequent upgrades are pretty hard to achieve…

Patting the puppy’s butt and letting it bring him back to the bureau, Leon couldn’t help but rub his temples, feeling troubled.

This “Poop Scooper” badge was activated when he got the [Mirror Dog] two months ago. It should’ve upgraded by now since keeping a pet healthy for a month would normally make the “Poop Scooper” upgrade to “Pet Owner.”

Unfortunately, the Bureau Director went on a drunken rampage, getting the poor puppy drunk for a whole day. Drunkenness obviously isn’t healthy and counts as “poor pet care,” so the progress for upgrading the “Poop Scooper” badge was reset.

Later, the puppy caught a cold from playing too much and once ate something bad. Therefore, this badge, which should’ve upgraded long ago, had its progress reset twice until just a few days ago when it finally accumulated a full month, successfully upgrading to Bronze level.

From this, one can see there are too many unexpected events in life. Even if you’re careful, it’s hard to go a whole year without any issues. Moreover, I don’t have the energy to carefully feed pets for a year, so those first two upgrade options can be ruled out directly.

As for the third option, “Master”… If I collect all the parts of the Black Goat, I might actually be able to do it.

Feeling the “robustly growing” goat parts, Leon couldn’t help but flash a satisfied look.

After all, though they don’t verbally acknowledge it, they indeed eat my “desires” and “sins,” so they can be counted as pets being raised. Plus, I don’t have to feed them myself, making them undoubtedly the best choice to exploit loopholes.

Hmm… Seems like I can try writing her a few letters through the Bureau Director’s channels, properly strengthening our connection.

Since I did save her life and I’m not planning to directly ask for free stuff, just proposing an equivalent exchange with other anomalous items, she probably wouldn’t refuse… right?

Just as Leon was pondering how to write the letter in a way that subtly reminds Abigail of his “life-saving grace” without seeming like he’s “exploiting her gratitude,” the rapidly switching mirror worlds around him finally stabilized, and the puppy’s bark sounded in his ears.

“Woof woof woof! (We’re here!)”

“Woof~ (Thanks for the trouble~)”

Replied with some “Beginner Dog Language” learned from the puppy, Leon stepped out from the glass of his office door and stood on the corridor of the first floor of the Virgo Subdivision. However…

“Splat!”

Accompanied by a somewhat sticky sound, the corridor Leon usually walked on became unusually sticky, sticking his shoes firmly to the ground.

Just as Leon instinctively kicked off his shoes and was about to take out the [Silver Knife], a strand of red hair swept past, cutting around his shoe sole, scraping off a thin layer of the tile beneath his feet, thus “rescuing” his shoes from the corridor.

“Don’t use any anomalous items, just walk over directly.”

Not a single content within 69 Book Bar Unrestricted Reading!

A familiar voice came from the Bureau Director’s office.

“The floor of the bureau has been coated with Harry’s reverse tape. Anything ‘anomalous’ that touches it will be stuck immediately… Oh, and don’t touch the walls either!”

Before Leon could reach out to steady himself against the wall, the Red-haired Bureau Director reminded again:

“There’s Armin’s reagent on the walls, the kind that can be absorbed through skin contact. Be careful not to brush against it.”

“…”

Wait… Haven’t I just been on vacation? Why does the bureau feel different? And what is all this? Although Harry Senior and Armin Senior’s abilities aren’t bad, Aquarius would trip over these petty tricks even if they were senile. This is purely unnecessary! Slightly speechless, Leon retracted his hand that was about to touch the wall and hopped onto his shoes, which had become noticeably heavier, walking unevenly towards the Bureau Director’s office. When Leon pushed the door open, three scrutinizing and wary gazes simultaneously turned towards him.

“This is Leon, Leon Lane, the new recruit who joined our Virgo Subdivision last year.”

“Leon, these three are the sub-bureau directors coming to replace me to guard the Virgo Subdivision. From left to right, they are Misha, the Bureau Director of Lynx Subdivision, Hoffer, the Bureau Director of Whale Subdivision, and Leo, the Bureau Director of Cheetah Subdivision.”

After briefly introducing both sides, the Red-haired Bureau Director stealthily winked at Leon and smiled, saying,

“Sorry for calling you here at night, but I’ll be heading to the General Bureau at dawn. They insisted on meeting you before I leave, so I hope you don’t mind.”

(End of Chapter)