Shen Zhizhou, who deceives wherever he goes

Shu Yitian had just begun to feel light when she slung her bag over her shoulder and went out to find He Yong. She didn't do it for any other reason than that she felt He Yong had many connections and might be able to help her out.

After Shu Yi poured out all her ideas to He Yong, He Yong thought about it for a while and slapped his thigh, indicating that he wanted to work with Shu Yi.

After all, every extra penny earned means a more comfortable path for Luo Yingcao when she goes to university.

"Do you know any other monsters? Could you introduce me to them so we can discuss the feasibility of this plan together?" Shuyi clenched its claws with a determined look in its eyes, as if a bright red scarf should be fluttering around its neck at this moment.

He Yong led the people to his base and struck a gong. The sound of the gong, mixed with demonic power, echoed within the base, and soon some monsters of all sizes appeared.

After introducing Shuyi to the front, he began to passionately explain the grand plan, and the monsters below started to gather in twos and threes to ask questions.

The first monster said, "But what can we do in the human world? Besides, our demonic power is weak; we probably can't even maintain human form for long..."

"Yeah, yeah, what if humans find out and call the Oddity Clearance Master to capture us and make us into soup? I've actually had some pretty good nourishment from eating it." Yokai 2 said, sounding quite pleased with himself.

"I really want to live with humans. It feels so novel and interesting, but I'm a little... what's it called again? Right, social anxiety. I'm a little socially anxious." The somewhat socially anxious monster 3 talked non-stop with the monster next to him about the wonders of the human world, his spittle flying and his spirits soaring.

Hearing the cacophony of chatter below, Shu Yi felt utterly overwhelmed. He roared, and all the surrounding monsters stopped and stared at him. Shu Yi glanced around and looked at the shrewish rat spirit curled up in a ball in the corner. Overjoyed, he ran over, grabbed the rat spirit's hand, and said, "What do you say?"

The lucky rat spirit, whose name was chosen, was so frightened that tears streamed down its face. It stammered, "T-what should I say?"

"Tell me your thoughts on integrating into the human world, working, earning money, and living a good life." Shu Yi blinked her bright black eyes, looking at the flowery rat spirit with hope.

Mentioning this, the little rat spirit burst into tears, wiping away her sobs with her paws, saying, "I don't have any particular thoughts, but the developers demolished my nest, and I can't find my way home..."

"Uh..." Shu Yi was a little at a loss as she tried to coax the flowery rat spirit. She originally thought that as a fellow rat, her kind would support her, but she didn't expect that it would bring up her kind's sad past.

The monsters below seemed to be infected and began to shed tears as well. Some even started cursing humans for not giving them a way to live. As human society continued to develop and large amounts of barren spiritual land were opened up, the habitable places suitable for monsters to cultivate and live became fewer and fewer. The number of monsters who could cultivate into spirits and transform into humans decreased sharply. Many great monsters who had cultivated for many years even perished. As for these monsters who had barely gained intelligence or transformed into human form, they could only carefully eke out a living in the reinforced concrete world of humans.

“There are good people! Why can’t humans and demons live in harmony? Demons can understand humans, and humans can understand demons. We just want to live a peaceful life!” Shuyi shouted at the demons. She had seen demons with feelings and righteousness, as well as humans with sincerity and kindness. She felt that things shouldn’t be like this.

Suddenly, someone noticed the Heart-to-Heart Spell on Shuyi's body, pointed at her and shouted, "She's a lackey of humans, a traitor of the demon race! She's formed a Heart-to-Heart Spell with the Mystery Eliminator!"

Shuyi looked helplessly at the chaos before her. Some people even threw an aluminum can at her while cursing. Just as the can was about to hit her head, someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a warm and reassuring embrace.

The familiar scent of sage mixed with a faint fragrance of fabric freshener wafted from Shen Zhizhou's body. It was a fresh and crisp scent unique to him. Because he had to eliminate and purify the strange magnetic field all year round, Shen Zhizhou always had a faint sage scent on him. But now, because of Shu Yi, he had a slightly sweet and rotten smell of drinks on him.

Shuyi didn't know how Shen Zhizhou found her, but she felt safe in his arms. She looked up at Shen Zhizhou, who was much taller than her. Even though the sun wasn't out, her eyes were sore. So she hugged Shen Zhizhou's waist and started to sob, "Shen Zhizhou, I think I messed up again, what should I do..."

Shen Zhizhou gently patted Shuyi's head to comfort her. He had guessed that Shuyi must have come to find He Yong when he saw that she was not there in the morning. After confirming the location on his phone, he rushed over without stopping.

In this noisy environment, Shen Zhizhou suddenly heard the thoughts of many monsters. He couldn't quite adapt and rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache from the noise.

Almost instantly, Shu Yi noticed Shen Zhizhou's pale face. Remembering Shen Zhizhou's ability to hear the thoughts of demons, she realized that the quiet Shen Zhizhou must be having a headache from all the noise. She took off the jade ring from her right ear, placed it in Shen Zhizhou's palm, and gave him some instructions.

"Holding my jade ring tightly can calm my mind. If you don't want to hear it, just hold it tightly to block it."

Shen Zhizhou looked down at the jade ring in his palm. So, the superpower that had forced him to listen to the thoughts of monsters for so many years could be solved by simply holding this jade ring? He suddenly wondered how he had encountered this dull-witted rat so by chance. Although Sister Ji said that the mountain spider had disguised its demonic aura with human skin, so it had not been detected, Shen Zhizhou's sixth sense told him that something was amiss.

However, Shen Zhizhou didn't investigate further, believing that Sister Ji wouldn't harm him.

Returning the jade ring from his palm to Shuyi, Shen Zhizhou put his hands in his pockets and looked at the monsters scurrying around and huddled in the corner. He casually pulled over a chair and leaned against it.

"Now can we talk about your thoughts?"

The monsters, terrified, transformed into their original forms and huddled together, hiding behind cover and peeking out with their eyes fixed on the two people at the center of the vortex.

Shen Zhizhou noticed the flirtatious rat spirit's hesitant expression, so he dragged his chair forward, trying to show his friendliness. But the next second, the chair's legs gave way and with a thud, Shen Zhizhou fell flat on his back to the ground.

"What I actually wanted to say was... I haven't fixed that chair yet, you might fall if you sit on it." The frilly rat spirit glanced quickly at Shen Zhizhou while pointing at his finger, its ears perked up so it could run away at any moment if things went wrong.

Shuyi looked at Shen Zhizhou, who was covering his face, and worried that he would take his anger out on the frivolous rat spirit, so she stood in front of him, wanting to say a few kind words. But unexpectedly, Shen Zhizhou suddenly asked, "Can you pick locks?"

The Flowery Rat Spirit looked at Shu Yi and nodded somewhat blankly, indicating that it also knew a little. Shen Zhizhou suddenly became curious about these little monsters and asked the monsters around him what abilities they had.

Perhaps it was the first time that the Oddity Clearer had seen a monster greet with a smile, asking it what abilities it had and what it could do, instead of shouting for its life. This prompted the monsters to curiously pop up and chatter amongst themselves.

"Does being able to sing count? My singing is really good, and it even helps me sleep." A little sparrow with flapping wings hopped onto the wall and began to show off her singing voice.

Not to be outdone, Aunt Goat next to her started spinning yarn while pulling at her own wool. "I can knit sweaters, they're so warm! The white floral sweater that Brother He Yong's daughter is wearing was knitted by me!"

Shen Zhizhou raised an eyebrow at the chattering group of monsters in front of him, thinking to himself that they were quite versatile and that he had discovered a new way to use monsters.

After thinking about it, I realized that the non-profit monster hospital in Sheyang was indeed operating at a loss, and then I had a brilliant idea.

"Although I, Shen Zhizhou, am called a monster exterminator, I have never harmed any monsters other than man-eating evil demons. If you don't believe me, you can ask Uncle He Yong. I recently sponsored his daughter's schooling." Shen Zhizhou looked up at He Yong and gave him a look. He Yong immediately took over the conversation.

“That’s right, that’s right, I also work under Boss Shen, he’s very reliable!” He Yong nodded vigorously, after all, he had never seen a human so generous as to give five thousand yuan to a strange monster.

"I'll go with you. I love to sing! I want more people, whether human or demon, to hear my songs." The little sparrow fluttered its wings and flew to Shen Zhizhou's shoulder, nuzzling him affectionately.

Looking at such an innocent-looking monster, Shen Zhizhou felt a little embarrassed, which was uncharacteristic of him.

The timid little rat spirit raised its hand and asked, "Can I help you with chores in exchange for you helping me find my way home?"

"I can try to help you find the location of your old home, but I can't guarantee it will still be there."

Shen Zhizhou knew that the expansion of land in recent years had seriously affected the cultivation and living conditions of the monsters. Otherwise, there would be no strange occurrences in the city that required them to eliminate. Shen Zhizhou would not easily make promises about things he was not confident about.

The other monsters were still hesitant and reluctant to step forward. Aunt Goat finished crocheting the last thread, shook the wool sweater in her hand and admired it. She turned to Shen Zhizhou and shouted, "Can you help me sell this wool sweater? If you sell it, I can split the profits with you 50/50."

Shen Zhizhou walked over and touched the wool sweater in Aunt Goat's hand. It felt soft and delicate, like the cream in a cream puff—light yet warm. Knowing its value, Shen Zhizhou immediately took out his money to buy it and said that he wouldn't charge an agency fee this time, just to make friends with Aunt Goat.

Aunt Goat kept praising Shen Zhizhou as a good child while touching his hand, and promised to knit him a scarf next time she came.

Before bringing the little sparrow and the fancy rat spirit back to the company, Shen Zhizhou made a three-point agreement with them. Fortunately, the two demons were easy to talk to, and they would do anything to fulfill their wishes.

Watching the two demons leave, the monsters all came out and gathered around He Yong to discuss their plans.

"Brother He, is it really okay to trust humans like this? Say something, please..."