“Can I actually choose?”

Lin Baici was surprised.

“The Security Bureau won’t let anyone down. The greater your contribution, the better the rewards you’ll receive!” Xia Hongmian sat on the sofa opposite Lin Baici, sizing up the young man.

She had just received a report from her subordinates and knew that Lin Baici had captured a special ‘Divine Taboo.’ Although she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she knew what it was!

So she was very curious.

Why does this young man always encounter such special rule contaminations?

The last time with the stray dog, this time with the human model, and strictly speaking, the God’s Ruins in the provincial museum, because a deity appeared, were also special.

Ordinary deity hunters might not survive even one encounter, but Lin Baici, well, he survived three times, completely intact.

Could it be that he has a physique that attracts deities? “What rewards are there?”

Lin Baici took a sip of coffee, the bitter taste swirling on the tip of his tongue before turning into a mouthful of fragrance.

Delicious!

【Made from coffee beans from a decade-old God’s Ruins, hand-ground, drinking a cup can replenish some divine power and keep you energized.】

【After three cups, you won’t feel tired even if you stay up all night!】

“People usually choose meteor coins, which can be given immediately based on the amount of contribution!”

Xia Hongmian introduced: “Then there are Divine Taboos and Divine Grace, which must be accumulated through contributions to obtain. However, Divine Grace is inconvenient to preserve and rare, so it’s quite expensive!”

“Divine Taboos are more dangerous. If not contained properly, they can cause contamination and harm the holder, but Divine Taboos, whether sold on the black market for money or for personal use, are quite flexible!

Divine Grace is good, but for some deity hunters, its value may not be as high as Divine Taboos.

For example, Lin Baici’s ‘Overlord’s Unloading Armor,’ a powerful armor-breaking skill, but some deity hunters, they hardly ever enter God’s Ruins and do clerical work, so this Divine Grace is not very valuable to them. Just like Hua Yueyu, who has absorbed Divine Grace and is already a deity hunter, if she doesn’t work as a live streamer and applies for a job at the Security Bureau, there’s a high chance she’ll be hired, but the work would also be clerical or logistics.

The Jiuzhou Security Bureau won’t force staff to enter God’s Ruins.

“I want Divine Grace!” Lin Baici said succinctly.

He had many Divine Taboos, some of which he wanted to sell because they were completely useless to him. He felt that Divine Grace was the real deal, something he could use for a lifetime.

“With your current contributions, you can get a non-combat Divine Grace!”

Xia Hongmian stood up, returned to her desk, took out a file from the drawer, and tossed it. The file floated towards Lin Baici as if in a space station, clearly the power of some Divine Grace.

Lin Baici caught it and flipped through it.

The file listed various Divine Graces and their effects.

Frogman’s Gland: After absorption, although you can’t breathe underwater, your swimming speed will greatly increase, and your skin will become frog-like, no longer worrying about skin erosion from soaking in water for too long.

Rosemary: Once activated, your body will emit an enchanting fragrance that can attract bees and butterflies, so you won’t have to worry about being stung by bees when stealing nectar.

This Divine Grace greatly benefits florists and beekeepers.

Natural Illumination: Once activated, your eyes will emit a warm glow, and when these eyes gaze directly at plants, the plants’ growth rate will accelerate.

Lin Baici quickly browsed through the file, which recorded some rare and strange Divine Graces. “See anything you like?”

Xia Hongmian asked with a smile. “No!”

Lin Baici shook his head; he wanted a combat Divine Grace.

“Your performance has been very good recently, especially this time, capturing a very rare creature. I’ll take the initiative and reward you with a combat Divine Grace!”

Xia Hongmian stood up: “Let’s go!”

Listening to her tone, “I’ll take the initiative,” it seemed as if she was saying the Security Bureau was her one-person show.

Lin Baici didn’t know that in the Haijing branch, despite Xia Hongmian being only the deputy director, she was actually the first in real power.

Anyone who disagreed, Xia Hongmian could beat them into submission.

Lin Baici followed Xia Hongmian, through the corridor, into the elevator, and then all the way down to the eighteenth floor underground. The elevator doors opened to a corridor with marble walls all around, and thirty meters straight ahead, a moss-covered stone door.

There was a horizontal crack on the stone door.

Gurgle!

As Lin Baici looked at the stone door, his stomach growled, and a sense of hunger emerged. Xia Hongmian walked forward.

Lin Baici followed.

Just as the two stepped out of the elevator and onto the corridor, the crack, like a giant awakening, opened its eyes, revealing a pitch-black eyeball.

Swipe!

The eyeball irregularly rotated, surveyed the surroundings, and then fixed its gaze on Xia Hongmian.

“Gender!” “Age!”

“Name!”

A sharp voice echoed in the corridor, as if the Grim Reaper had placed his scythe on Xia Hongmian’s neck, ready to chop off her head if she answered incorrectly.

Lin Baici looked at the eye, and for some reason, it felt like staring into a black hole, unable to look away.

Gurgle!

Lin Baici grew hungrier.

He didn’t see the cool arms stretching out from the ground, grabbing Xia Hongmian’s feet, ready to drag her into hell if she answered incorrectly.

“Male!”

“62!”

“Mian Hongxia!”

Xia Hongmian answered, her voice steady, without any fluctuation.

The stone door’s eye turned towards Lin Baici, and black mist spilled from the ground, some of it morphing into claws that brushed against Lin Baici’s legs.

“Gender!”

The voice in the corridor sounded again, but it only asked one question and then got stuck, silent for dozens of seconds.

Lin Baici looked at Xia Hongmian questioningly, wondering if he should answer now or wait for it to ask all three questions?

The stone door was clearly a Divine Taboo, similar to a guardian of a vault. If you answered incorrectly, you would definitely be attacked.

As for how to answer, Lin Baici was confident because, according to Xia Hongmian’s response, it was clear that you just had to say the opposite of the correct answer.

Xia Hongmian frowned, not answering Lin Baici, because she didn’t know what was going on either?

According to past practice, the stone door would ask three questions, but why did it only ask one this time? Xia Hongmian turned back, looking at Lin Baici.

Could it be that rule contamination could change because of one person?

Incomprehensible! But interesting!

【A pervert who likes to pry into others’ privacy, but its cognition is the opposite of human common sense, meaning everything in the human realm is reversed in its cognition!】

【For example, if humans feel hot, translated, it should be cold!】

【If you answer incorrectly, you won’t die, but whatever you answer, you will become that!】 “What does that mean? If I answer male, will I become female?”

Lin Baici couldn’t help but chuckle.

This Divine Taboo was interesting. If someone wanted to change their gender, they wouldn’t need surgery; they could just come here, answer a question incorrectly, and experience it.

Just as Lin Baici was about to answer, the eye suddenly closed, and the stone door rose. The door opened!

A sense of deathly stillness suddenly hit.

Although it was quiet before, it was like a deserted alley late at night or an empty abandoned construction site, but now, it was as if all humans in the world had suddenly died, the sound of the wind blowing over the grass, the movement of ants… all disappeared.

Lin Baici’s brows furrowed, feeling uncomfortable in an instant.

Ugh!

He quickly covered his mouth because he felt like vomiting. “If you can’t hold on, you can leave!”

Xia Hongmian looked deeply at Lin Baici, appearing very concerned, but she didn’t say the second half of her sentence. If Lin Baici left, then the reward of Divine Grace would also be off the table.

Because whether or not one could enter the Black Coffin Vault, which stored Divine Taboos, was also a test. Lin Baici shrugged his shoulders and continued forward with Xia Hongmian.

After entering the door, gurgle, Lin Baici felt even hungrier, starting to salivate as if there was a feast laid out in front of him, waiting for him to indulge.

【Buffet, start up!】【Eat! Eat! Eat!】

“The God of Feasts urged.

“This is the headquarters of the Haijing Security Bureau. I don’t know how many deity hunters are stationed here. Are you wishing for my swift death?”

Lin Baici was speechless; he was genuinely hungry, but he dared not eat.

Not to mention the one in front of him, Xia Hongmian, Lin Baici felt he probably couldn’t handle her.

Xia Hongmian kept walking forward, passing several doors without stopping, and finally, after turning a corner, stopped in front of an iron door.

“Open the door!”

After Xia Hongmian spoke, the iron door trembled and spat out a rust-covered bubble, the size of a basketball, floating lightly in the air.

Inside the bubble was a key.

Xia Hongmian reached into the bubble, took out the key, then turned around, backed up to the iron door, stood against the wall, and inserted the key into the wall. She then turned it counterclockwise three times.

Click!

The iron door behind her opened. “.”

Lin Baici found this way of opening the door quite interesting.

【If you insert the key into the keyhole of the iron door, what opens is not a treasure vault but the stomach of a monster!】

“Go in and choose your Divine Grace!”

Xia Hongmian stood aside, not intending to go in with him. “Okay!”

Lin Baici walked into the room.

What appeared before him was a space of over a hundred square meters, devoid of any furniture or decorations, with only thirty or so rusty bubbles floating in the air.

Inside these bubbles were golden orbs. These were Divine Graces!

【Start your meal, eat them all!】

The God of Feasts urged.

“Don’t dream, unless I don’t want to work at the Security Bureau anymore!”

Lin Baici retorted: “Hurry up, help me pick the most powerful Divine Grace!” The God of Feasts didn’t help choose but introduced each Divine Grace.

Grip of the Reaper! The Power of Shaping!

Spirit Pill!

After listening, Lin Baici wanted half of them, but now, he had to make a choice. He finally set his sights on two Divine Graces.

Iron Skin, Bronze Bones, and Grip of the Reaper.

The former, as the name suggests, means that after activation, the deity hunter’s body defense will greatly strengthen, comparable to iron skin and bronze bones, and within one meter, even being hit directly by bullets won’t cause injury.

Although it doesn’t reach the level of resisting tank shells with the flesh, after absorption, you won’t have to fear cold weapons and most firearms.

Of course, if the weapon is a Divine Taboo, Lin Baici will still be injured, but definitely less than without this defensive Divine Grace.

Grip of the Reaper allows Lin Baici to extend a deathly claw tens of meters long, grabbing anything he sees in his field of vision.

Anything caught will be eroded by the power of the Reaper, causing dizziness, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and other negative effects. “Which one to choose?”

Logically, Iron Skin, Bronze Bones should be chosen because as long as you don’t die, there’s a chance to turn the tables, but Lin Baici now had Lightning Reflexes, which could dodge most attacks.

Grip of the Reaper, at first glance, seems useless, but Lin Baici felt it had a wide range of applications, equivalent to an extension of the arms.

“Actually, that Divine Power Wave isn’t bad either.

Lin Baici weighed it; this Divine Grace could condense the divine power in the body into a ball and then shoot it out, a finishing move with high damage.

Of course, if it misses, it’s wasted.

Lin Baici glanced at his watch. Although Xia Hongmian outside didn’t urge him, he guessed she was testing whether he could resist the temptation of so many Divine Graces and quickly pick the most suitable one. Lin Baici no longer hesitated and looked at a rusty bubble.

You’re the one!

Lin Baici walked over, and this time, the two slender transparent arms didn’t appear on his shoulders, obviously, the deity didn’t intend to take action.

So Lin Baici did it himself, leaping up to grab the bubble, then reaching in to take out the golden orb.

“Thanks for the divine gift!”

After Lin Baici finished, he swallowed

the golden orb.

Soon, intense pain struck his brain, and mysterious knowledge was imprinted on his neurons, becoming an innate instinct of Lin Baici.

Lin Baici walked out.

“What did you choose?”

Xia Hongmian asked while locking the iron door.

“Grip of the Reaper.”There’s no need to hide such things, and they can’t be hidden anyway. This place is like Xia Hongyao’s own home. She can come down anytime to check which Divine Grace is missing and know which one she has absorbed!

“A wise choice!”

Xia Hongyao praised.

The two left the underground vault, took the elevator, and returned to the surface. However, as Lin Baici stepped into the elevator car, a respectful voice suddenly came from inside the vault.

“Respectfully sending off the deity!”

Lin Baici was startled, turned his head, and looked at Xia Hongyao.

Deity?

Who?

Xia Hongyao?

“There are no tasks for the time being. If you have nothing else to do, go back and enjoy your college life. When winter break comes, you should head to Goryeo for a trip to Busan!”

Xia Hongyao picked up her coffee, took a sip, and started working at her desk.

“Then I’ll take my leave!”

Lin Baici left, closed the door behind him, and then asked a couple of people, finding Xia Hongyao who was distributing milk tea to everyone.

“Your reward this time must be pretty good, right?”

Xia Hongyao was curious. After all, Lin Baici had captured a living ‘Divine Taboo.’

Although Lin Baici didn’t face much danger during the entire operation, the value of this thing was extremely high. “Yes, Director Xia gave me a Divine Grace!”

After Lin Baici finished speaking, Xia Hongyao exclaimed in awe, “You’ve been to the underground vault?”