"Here, the two oranges you wanted." Chen Li tossed two oranges in front of Kaguya Houraisan.
"Huh?"
"Weren't you the one who taught Qingque to say, 'I'll just eat two, the rest is for you'? There you go, two." Chen Li shot Kaguya a look.
"Ahaha... If I said this was a misunderstanding, would you believe me?"
"What do you think?"
"Ahem, let's not talk about that. When you messaged me tonight, didn't you say you were going to raid the Minister's house, so I shouldn't include you in the takeout order? How was the haul?" Kaguya hurriedly changed the subject.
The flow of time was different between worlds. Night had already turned to the early morning hours in the world of Akame ga Kill!, but it was only 8 PM in Chen Li's home world, which was why Kaguya asked.
"Oh, that... you could say it was a major disappointment."
"Hmm?" Kaguya tilted her head in confusion.
"Because after I snuck into the Minister's mansion, walked right up to him, and had him open the secret chamber where he kept his Teigu, I found that he didn't have that many. The secret chamber next to it, however, had quite a lot of gold and treasure," Chen Li said, shaking his head with some regret.
Although the harvest wasn't as great as he had imagined, Chen Li still obtained quite a few things.
For example, forging materials and precious items like dragon claws, ivory, and Orihalcon.
"Snuck in? You know how to do that?"
"Sneaking in is simple, if you can even call it that..." Chen Li didn't have many specific memories of the infiltration of the Minister's mansion from half an hour ago.
If he had to describe the feeling, it would be... Combat, awesome!
Chen Li admitted that the defenses within the Minister's estate were indeed tight, with countless hidden sentries armed with various poisoned needles and traps. It was certainly something.
But only just something.
Don't be fooled by the fact that Chen Li often encountered difficult opponents in the Honkai-verse where a moment's carelessness could affect him. The methods of attack in the world of Akame ga Kill! were so simple they moved him to tears.
In that world of blood and blades, Chen Li, relying on the bonds between himself and his many friends, rendered his opponents unable to even break through his defenses.
So, Chen Li just let them attack him at will, relying on his Friends Circle defense. Then, using his own agility and speed, he would dart in front of them, give them a punch, and let them have a nice long sleep.
Just like that, Chen Li took care of 80% of the guard force in the entire Minister's mansion.
Of course, Chen Li wasn't without some forceful resistance.
A woman who came out of nowhere and could instantly spray a large amount of liquid—whether it was sweat or oil, he didn't know—caused him some trouble. She utterly disgusted him.
That was also the first time Chen Li had struck heavily. After kicking her unconscious, he dragged over her three companions—who were spouting nonsense about how "we, the Four Rakshasa Demons of the Imperial Fist Temple, are invincible"—smacked them a few times, used the [Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin] to make them obey his orders, and then had her three companions string her up and whip her for three hours.
By his calculations, she was probably still being whipped right now.
In the end, Chen Li used [Pale Justice] to unleash a sword aura tens of meters long that not only shattered the sturdy defenses of the Minister's mansion but also shattered the last bit of confidence of its defensive forces.
However, when Chen Li walked up to the Minister, the man was still calm and composed, stating that if Chen Li was willing to surrender, he would spare his life.
At the time, Chen Li didn't understand why the Minister, who was so ordinary, could be so confident.
That was until the Minister took out his gem-type Teigu and aimed it at Chen Li, muttering something about it being an anti-Teigu that could destroy an opponent's Teigu by shattering the gem as long as the enemy was within range...
Only then did Chen Li realize that the Minister had mistaken his Friends Circle defense for a Teigu, which was the source of his confidence.
And then?
Three punches to shatter the Minister's soul. Sir, you are my master!
"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me! I agree, I agree! I'll trade these three punches for my eternal loyalty to you!" Honest, kneeling on the ground with tears and snot streaming down his face, was moved beyond words by Chen Li's three punches.
The [Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin] in Chen Li's hand emitted a golden light, signifying the completion of the transaction.
When bullying weaklings, the Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin was just that convenient. It didn't matter what the trade was; the point was, did I or did I not give you something?
Giving you three punches also counted as giving you something.
Since I gave you something, you must use the rest of your life to repay Chen Li's kindness.
Of course, if the trading partner were an Aeon or some other strange deity, Chen Li certainly wouldn't be so reckless. The more equivalent the exchange, the stronger the enforcement of the Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin.
Fortunately, Minister Honest had once trained at the Imperial Fist Temple. Although he was portly, his constitution was good. Otherwise, he would have been knocked unconscious before he could even take three punches.
"Very good. First, go outside and calm the situation. Then come back and take me to see your Teigu collection."
"Right away!" The Minister scrambled out of the room.
Chen Li didn't know what excuse the Minister used, but the commotion outside stopped.
It was only when the Minister opened the secret chamber and gave Chen Li a tour of his treasures that Chen Li realized how wasteful this guy was.
"Why did you give all the Teigu away to others?" Looking at the mere five Teigu remaining in the vault, Chen Li was furious.
"My lord, Teigu choose their own masters. Not everyone can use them. Rather than letting them go to waste in a secret chamber, it's better to use them to win over powerful individuals," the Minister said in a small voice.
"You dare talk back?" At this moment, Chen Li completely disregarded the fact that he himself had also distributed his Curios to others.
From a certain perspective, Chen Li and Honest's philosophies were identical.
"My lord, I was wrong."
"Forget it. Your next task is to send people to search for Teigu throughout the entire Empire. I don't care if anyone can use them or not, just collect them."
"Yes, my lord."
This was why Chen Li hadn't immediately turned Honest into a slime, but had first brought him under control with the Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin. With the Minister's power in this Empire, having him collect Teigu would be far easier than Chen Li doing it himself.
As for the Teigu users who lost their Teigu? Chen Li could just forge a few weapons for them as compensation, right?
The most important thing about the Teigu for Chen Li was actually the Entries on them, which had been refined by a thousand years of time and fate, not the Teigu themselves.
---o---
"But while that Honest fellow may not have a habit of collecting Teigu, he does have a habit of collecting high-grade Danger Beast steaks. I took a whole warehouse of high-grade Danger Beast ingredients from his home," Chen Li said as he placed a steak over the flame of a gas stove to grill it.
"Um... grilling with a gas stove isn't exactly ideal, is it? At least not a household one. And the taste probably won't be very good," Kaguya gently reminded him from the side.
"It's fine. It's a good chance for me to eat more gas. If I increase my resistance to gas, I'll be invincible when I participate in the Holy Grail War," Chen Li said nonchalantly.
With [Gourmet Cells], as long as it was something that could go into his mouth, Chen Li could taste the deliciousness hidden within. Even if it was burnt to a crisp, it was still edible.
"Er, why?" Kaguya was puzzled.
"You don't know? During the Holy Grail War, the official explanation given by the Fuyuki City authorities for all sorts of disasters is a massive gas explosion. The authorities wouldn't lie, would they? So if my resistance to gas explosions is high, wouldn't I be invincible?"
"Is that how you understand it?" Kaguya was thoroughly shaken.
Kaguya felt that Chen Li had either played with the Elation Die until he went stupid, or he was just being abstract.
"But you're right, grilling Danger Beast steaks with a gas stove really isn't effective. It's about time I forged a Curio that can cook food quickly or just grill steaks," Chen Li nodded.
He looked at the steak before him, which was nowhere near cooked, and hesitated. It was a bit hard to stomach.
Although Chen Li could eat anything, that didn't mean he would eat anything. But wasting it was also bad.
"Want to try my cooking?" Chen Li, not wanting to be wasteful, invited Kaguya.
In any case, Kaguya couldn't die from eating it.
"..." Kaguya's vision went dark.
What a true brother.
He even thinks of me when something good comes along.
"I refuse. Although I won't die, I'll get a stomachache if I eat something like that. You eat it. You won't get an upset stomach," Kaguya said, shaking her head.
Kaguya couldn't die from eating it; Chen Li couldn't get sick from eating it... it was impossible to compare the merits of the two. It was like people having a hard time choosing between the Dog Talisman and the Horse Talisman.
"Speaking of which, Chen Li, didn't you forget something?"
"What is it?"
"To find me a gaming partner. You promised me two days ago."
"Huh? Has it been two days? Wait, doesn't Qingque count?"
"Of course not. I want to play online games, but Qingque only ever thinks about her Celestial Jade," Kaguya said, shaking her head.
"Oh, tomorrow for sure..."
"For sure you'll forget, right!"
"When I say I'll find you a gaming partner tomorrow, I'll find you one. I'm not lying. A good brother keeps his word," Chen Li gave a thumbs-up.
"Who's your good brother? Fine, I'll trust you one more time."
Beep beep.
Just as Chen Li had managed to bluff his way through and was breathing a sigh of relief, he received a private message from Screwllum through the Friends Circle.
"What's up?" Chen Li typed back.
"Inquiry: The Punklorde hacker, Silver Wolf, has sent you a challenge invitation. Do you wish to respond?"
"Huh? Silver Wolf? Did I do something to provoke her?"
"The reason she asked me to relay in the challenge letter is... you scammed her out of 500 credits."
"Good grief, she actually looked at the announcement you posted 10 times? But weren't you the one who scammed her?" Chen Li asked in surprise, not forgetting to retort.
"???" by Screwllum.
Perhaps... the Aeon of Elation wasn't joking.
Chen Li really was an undercover agent sent by the Masked Fools to the Genius Society.
---o---