A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Just as the evil cultivators were packing up, preparing to go back to their respective homes and sharpen their knives.

Only Ji Zuodao remained, leaning lazily against the door frame, not moving.

He had his head down, holding his phone, his thumb slowly swiping across the screen, occasionally making cryptic "tsk tsk" sounds.

The noise wasn't loud, but in the gradually emptying and quieting banquet hall, it seemed exceptionally clear and particularly irritating.

Several heretical cultivators who had already reached the door paused involuntarily.

As if pulled by an invisible thread, his neck twisted and his gaze drifted toward the glowing screen in Ji Zuodao's hand.

This glance—

"Holy crap?!"

A man nearby, wearing a worn-out windbreaker, nearly popped his eyes into the screen and blurted out:

"So many spirit stones!"

It became.

Ji Zuodao's lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

The bait has been cast out, and the scent has spread.

Next, we just have to wait for greed, that untamed mad dog, to pull itself up and jump into the pit.

To deal with those hotheads in the Night Raven Bar, you can just use "Ear-Piercing Demonic Sound," which is simple and brutal, focusing on getting emotionally charged and mindlessly rushing to the tower.

But the remaining forty-odd men in front of them, without exception, are all seasoned veterans who have been in the underworld for many years, with noses sharper than dogs and paranoia more severe than a consumptive ghost.

Playing that "exciting, stand-up fighting" trick again would be incredibly disrespectful.

We need to change our approach.

By offering tangible, intangible "pie" as bait, we first ignite the smoldering flames of greed in their hearts.

It was so intense that it could burn through that pitiful bit of reason and vigilance.

"What spirit stones? Where did these spirit stones come from?"

"What's going on? Let me see!"

With the first "Holy crap" at the beginning, the rest is easy.

Curiosity spreads faster than corpse poison among heretical practitioners.

Several evil cultivators who had already reached the door turned back, stood on tiptoe, and craned their necks to peer at Ji Zuodao's phone screen.

Once you take a look, you can't take your eyes off it.

My breathing stopped for at least three beats.

On the phone screen was a photograph.

In the photo, a lush green field the size of a football field is dazzlingly green under the sunlight.

The grass was covered with spirit stones.

Densely packed, layer upon layer, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Sunlight shines on those sacred stones, refracting a dazzling light that is both mesmerizing and breathtaking.

"Where the hell is this...?"

"Good heavens, how many spirit stones is that? Enough to bury me and let me swim in it!"

"The list from the Zhou family is nothing compared to this... it's not even enough to fill a tooth gap!"

Ji Zuodao glanced around, then stealthily tucked his phone into his pocket. Lowering his voice, he spoke mysteriously, his tone filled with the sincerity of "Brother, I'm speaking from the heart to you":

"Well, that day, I was thinking... 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' So I secretly went to the Zhou family to scout the place."

He pointed to the screen, his expression filled with a complex mix of emotions:

"And that's how I ended up taking this picture."

"I heard from the Zhou family servants that they had too many spirit stones stored in their warehouse, and they were afraid that they would get damp and moldy if left for too long, so they specially chose a sunny day to move them out to air them out in the sun and let them ventilate."

Ji Zuodao clicked his tongue and uttered a deep, soul-stirring exclamation:

"No wonder they say they're a thousand-year-old family. Look at their grandeur and their rich heritage!"

"A little bit slipping through their fingers is enough to appease us laborers; tens of thousands of spirit stones, they don't even blink an eye."

After he finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent instantly.

The evil cultivators, who were just moments before excited by the promised hefty reward from Zhou Qing, were now looking at the spectacular sight of spirit stones being displayed on their phone screens, and thinking about the tens of thousands of spirit stones they were about to receive...

My mental state collapsed instantly.

It shattered into pieces.

Tens of thousands of spirit stones?

Are there many?

There are many.

But compared to the sea of ​​spirit stones covered in grass in the photo...

That's just a hair on a cow's back!

It is but a drop of water in the vast ocean!

It's just a tiny fraction of the amount that might not even fill the gaps between the floor tiles in the Zhou family's toilet!

The gratitude and satisfaction that I had initially felt for the Zhou family's "generosity" and "generosity" instantly turned into resentment and anger at being treated like a beggar.

Even beggars aren't treated like this!

"R-really?"

One or two other heretical cultivators, who still retained a shred of reason, swallowed hard and managed to voice their doubts:

"This photo...it can't be fake, right? Who would show off spirit stones like that? Aren't they afraid someone will steal them?"

"Fake?"

Ji Zuodao glared at him, as if he had been greatly insulted, and pushed the phone screen forward again:

"The photos are right here! Look at the background, the architecture, the eaves and brackets... isn't it in the style of the Zhou family's old residence?"

"I've been to the outer perimeter of the Zhou family compound! I recognize this house! It's the inner courtyard of the Zhou family compound!"

Beside him, a gaunt old man suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse but firm, pointing to the blurry outline of a building in the corner of the photo:

"The auspicious beast design on these eaves is unique to Caiyun; it belongs to the Zhou family!"

Hey!

There were even people who volunteered to "testify"!

Ji Zuodao was practically bursting with laughter inside, but he had to maintain a serious expression on his face, as if to say, "See, I wasn't lying."

This photo is obviously fake.

AI-generated.

It would be difficult to even fool college students.

Can we fool this group of heretical cultivators?

More than enough.

These old fogies are constantly hiding and out of touch with modern society, more so than unearthed cultural relics.

I don't even dare to use a smartphone, for fear that 749 will use some kind of "high-tech" location tracking to monitor me.

Still AI?

They win if they can distinguish between the CPU and the GPU.

At this moment, Ji Zuodao was truly grateful to the country and the government.

We are grateful to them for bringing the internet cable and fiber optic cable to the Ailao Mountains with great difficulty.

So that he, a boy from the mountains, wouldn't end up like these pitiful fellow villagers, living in isolation from the world, easily fooled by even a fake photograph—a true "caveman."

Knowledge is indeed the primary productive force.

Information asymmetry is the sharpest sickle in the world.

He looked around at the faces that were slightly dazed from extreme shock and greed, yet quickly ignited by burning desire.

The smile that had been welling up inside finally reached his eyes.

It became.

Greed is like a mad dog; once it smells meat, it can't be restrained.

Seeing that the fire was almost ready, Ji Zuodao felt that he could add more fuel to make this greedy fire burn even brighter.

He looked around, then leaned forward even closer, lowering his voice even further, like a paparazzi sharing a shocking secret:

"What's this? Let me tell you, I saw more than just this!"

He paused deliberately, building up the tension, before slowly dropping the next bombshell in a tone that mixed jealousy, amazement, and "this world is so fucking unfair":

"You know those guard dogs the Zhou family keeps in their backyard, right?"

"Every meal! Every single meal consists of spirit fruits!"

"The kind that's a thousand years old!"

"..."

The surroundings became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

A few seconds later, it exploded.

"What the hell?!"

"Bullshit! You're kidding me!"

"Feeding dogs with thousand-year-old spiritual fruits? Even the Zhou family patriarch wouldn't dare to be so extravagant!"

"Exactly! They brag without even thinking!"

A chorus of doubts and curses erupted instantly.

Some didn't believe it, some felt angry because they were being treated like fools, but most were driven by an instinctive resistance to accept the cruel reality that "humans are worse off than dogs."

If that's true, then what are these evil cultivators who live on the edge and risk their lives for a few low-grade spirit stones?

Not even as good as the Zhou family's watchdog?!

Don't believe me?

Ji Zuodao raised an eyebrow, his face perfectly capturing the wronged expression of "You actually doubt me."

He pulled out his phone again, pretending to swipe his fingers across the screen while muttering to himself:

"Wait... I remember I took a picture... Where did I put it again...?"

As he spoke, the index finger of his other hand casually tapped lightly on the seemingly ordinary button on his chest that actually contained a miniature camera.

Once, twice.

The movement was subtle, but the meaning was clear.

In the monitoring room of the Caiyun 749 branch.

"Hurry! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Director Lin stared at Ji Zuodao's fingers "inadvertently" brushing against the button on the split screen, almost jumping out of his chair. He growled into the communication channel:

"Technical team! He wants a dog! He wants a spirit fruit! It has to be a thousand-year-old one! It has to look like the kind of food a Zhou family dog ​​would eat!"

"Use AI! Generate instantly! It needs to be fast! It needs to be realistic! It needs to be exaggerated! It needs to make people wish they could be reincarnated as a dog in the Zhou family in their next life!"

"The backdrop is right in the Zhou family's inner courtyard! The dog must be magnificent! The fruit must look tempting! The lighting must be realistic! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

He spoke so fast it was like a gunshot; the fingers of the technicians next to him were practically blurring out of the keyboard, and sweat was beading on their foreheads.

"Chief, rendering will take time..."

"I don't care! Thirty seconds! No, twenty seconds! It has to be transferred to that kid's phone!"

Director Lin looked at the main screen, where Ji Zuodao pretended to be searching through his phone's photo album, and then at the group of evil cultivators beside Ji Zuodao who were craning their necks and had green eyes...

He wiped his face with a complicated expression, and squeezed out a sigh through clenched teeth, his voice so low that only he could hear it:

"Oh shit……"

"These lawless, notorious bastards..."

"How can they be so damn easy to fool, like a three-year-old?"

He shook his head, lit another cigarette, and took a deep drag.

This world is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.