Li Ban needed waste elements.
Or any other method to rapidly increase the spiritual rhinoceros in his body.
After cleaning the floor, Li Ban told Zhao Yu, who had kept his eyes closed the entire time, and went upstairs to find Zhang Baishan.
At that moment, Zhang Baishan was speaking with Zhou Gu.
"Look at you. Were you really in that much of a hurry? You couldn't even wait a single month?"
Zhang Baishan glared at the dejected Zhou Gu standing before him, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to slap him across the face.
"Head Zhang, if you waited ten years for something, and finally managed to get your hands on it, only to be told you had to wait another month—could you wait?"
"I could wait! Why wouldn't I be able to? How do you think I survived over a decade as a prison official?"
Zhou Gu lowered his head again, speechless.
But at the very last moment, the Myriad Ancient Pagoda intervened. They recommended Du An, who was only a 3rd Tier corpse refiner general at the time, and directly installed him as the warden.
Back then, almost none of the prison guards or prison officials submitted to Du An.
Yet in the end, every single one of them was beaten into total obedience.
Once Zhang Baishan recognized Du An's true strength, he was the first to surrender.
Bowing his head meant he would likely have to wait another ten, perhaps even twenty years, for another chance at promotion.
But so what?
Without the ability to transfer out, what else could he do but wait?
Without overwhelming strength, without backing, without connections—what could people like them do besides wait?
Zhou Gu let out a bitter laugh. "Well, I don't have to wait anymore."
His chance was gone.
If there was anything left for him to wait for, it was just counting the days until his death.
Seeing Zhou Gu's utterly defeated appearance, Zhang Baishan lost the energy to scold him.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Official Zhang," Li Ban's voice called from outside. "I've finished cleaning the fourth floor."
Zhang Baishan sat back down behind his desk. "Go back for now, and let Li Ban in. Also, get some rest tonight and take over Zhao Yu's shift tomorrow, then have him come see me."
"Understood." Zhou Gu weakly cupped his fists in salute.
When Li Ban entered, he found Zhang Baishan looking at him with a smile.
He had expected Zhang Baishan to just send him back. He never thought the man would actually want to see him alone.
Was he suspecting him of being an accomplice in the Cat Girl's prison break?
Li Ban could swear he had absolutely nothing to do with the escape, but he had no idea if Zhang Baishan would believe that.
"Sir Zhang."
"Sit." Zhang Baishan gestured pleasantly for Li Ban to take a seat.
This only made Li Ban feel more on edge.
"You're hurt too?" Zhang Baishan finally noticed the small trace of blood on Li Ban's shoulder.
Li Ban rubbed his shoulder. "Just a scratch. It's nothing."
Zhang Baishan nodded. "It wasn't convenient for me to say this earlier, given the circumstances. Regardless, managing to bring back the corpse of an escapee during all that chaos is a commendable deed. When Lord Du returns, I will recommend that he promote you to a prison guard."
Li Ban's head snapped up.
It seemed Tree-Person B had truly angered Zhang Baishan this time. The man wouldn't be able to keep his status as a prison guard.
Would he be demoted to a menial servant, or stripped of his identity completely?
"But Sir Zhang, I've only been promoted to a menial servant for a few months. I haven't maxed out my spiritual rhinoceros yet."
To his surprise, Zhang Baishan dismissively waved a hand. "That doesn't matter. As long as Lord Du agrees, the position can be reserved for you. You'll act as a temporary prison guard, and once your spiritual rhinoceros is full, you'll be officially issued your Identity token."
Li Ban immediately broke into a delighted smile. "Thank you for the promotion, sir. I will definitely do my utmost to serve you."
Zhang Baishan chuckled and sighed, ignoring Li Ban's pledge of loyalty. "I am only making a recommendation. The exact arrangements will still be up to Lord Du."
As Li Ban left, he happened to see Huo Jiang escorting Tree-Person B over.
Right now, Tree-Person B still wore an expression of total indifference. Li Ban wondered what kind of face the man would make once he learned his impending fate.
Passing by Zhou Gu's room, Li Ban thought for a moment before walking over and knocking on the door.
"Enter."
Zhou Gu responded quickly.
Li Ban carefully pushed the door open and went in, noticing right away that Zhou Gu's posture was completely different from before.
His back was no longer straight; he was hunched over completely.
He looked utterly dispirited, without a trace of his former demeanor as a cold and ruthless prison official.
"Sir," Li Ban stepped forward and asked softly, "did you fail?"
The situation had been urgent earlier. Even though Li Ban had knocked softly, he still wasn't sure if he had disturbed Zhou Gu's elemental fusion.
"I failed..." Zhou Gu said weakly.
"Who would have thought someone would actually break out of prison today," Li Ban said, looking full of regret.
"I suppose it's just fate." Zhou Gu gave a miserable smile. "I held off for ten days, and they made no move. I figured Lord Du would be back in another ten days or so, so I might as well take the chance to fuse. But they took the opportunity to act as well."
It seemed Zhou Gu's failed fusion really did have a lot to do with the chaos of the prison break outside.
"Sir, perhaps you could try again. You might not be completely out of chances just yet."
Zhou Gu shook his head.
Just as Li Ban was at a loss for what to say, Zhou Gu suddenly stood up and went into the inner room.
Then came the clatter of someone rummaging through things.
Zhou Gu quickly walked back out and tossed a bundle onto the table.
A series of fragmented clinking sounds came from inside the bundle.
"Take these for me. Once the lockdown is lifted, take them outside and throw them away. I don't want to look at them anymore."
Li Ban flared his nostrils, catching the faint scent of alcohol.
"Alright." He didn't open the bundle, simply picking it up.
Zhou Gu waved his hand. Knowing this was his dismissal, Li Ban bowed and headed for the door.
Just as he reached the threshold, Zhou Gu spoke again. "I still have a good-grade mental-type element on hand—Flute Sound. If you have eight hundred taels of silver, I can sell it to you."
Only eight hundred taels? Did Zhou Gu give him a discount?
But Li Ban really didn't have eight hundred taels right now.
He barely had over thirty taels.
He turned back and asked with a sliver of hope, "Sir, could I write you an IOU?"
Zhou Gu shook his head. He didn't get angry; his whole body just radiated a sense of total exhaustion.
"It's not that I won't give you a chance, Li Ban. This is my very last asset. I'm relying on it to provide for my retirement."
Mentioning retirement meant Zhou Gu had truly given up.
Li Ban returned to his own room. Wang Hua was still busy outside and hadn't come back yet.
He entered the bedroom, closed the door, and ducked behind the privacy screen to inspect the things Zhou Gu had tossed to him.
Opening it up, he first found a few dead bugs steeped in a wine jar.
The wine was already gone, and the bugs' bodies were covered in yellow fuzz. They looked extremely disgusting.
Li Ban hurriedly jammed the stopper in tight and wrapped the jar securely in layers, not wanting to look at the repulsive things.
After that, he found some miscellaneous tools, likely used in the past for raising the bugs and extracting their eggs.
He placed all of them by the door as well.
He had no intention of keeping a single one of these items.
Although the green bug eggs could cultivate an element called "Delusion," Li Ban knew very well that the cultivation method absolutely did not rely solely on the eggs laid by a few bugs.
He even suspected that Zhou Gu himself didn't know the complete cultivation method.
This method had likely been taught to him by Wang Ying of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda. There was clearly a secret between the two of them; they held each other's weaknesses.
Besides, Li Ban had no reason to take the risk of cultivating elements.
He wasn't lacking elements in the slightest right now. Combined with the whole business of being an undercover agent for the Laboratory, he had absolutely no desire to add new suspicions to his name.
Speaking of being an undercover agent for the Laboratory, Li Ban felt a wave of helplessness.
When on earth was he going to find out what his mission was?
What were the conditions to trigger a temporary logout next time?
Although he still didn't know what his specific mission was, Li Ban had essentially ruled out Zhou Gu as a suspect.
To be honest, the Laboratory probably wouldn't think highly of a person with no potential for promotion.
He could tell the Director about this if he got the chance, just to see if they had any new requirements.
Li Ban then opened the final box.
And then, the system prompt left him completely stunned.
[Detected waste element 'Ghost-Head Saber'. Detected waste element 'Rainstorm'. Would you like to absorb them?]