A moment later, Li Jing left the market with Stinky Tofu.

Yu Hai was straightforward.

The final selling price for the Monster Fish was settled at two hundred and thirty thousand.

After the transaction was completed, he cut ten jin of the freshest fish meat from the fish’s belly and gave it to Li Jing.

Li Jing naturally wouldn’t mind the extra thirty thousand.

Yu Hai was a businessman.

He must give some respects, right?

Before leaving, Li Jing made a point to ask for Yu Hai’s number.

The importance of connections need not be reiterated.

Everyone has their specialty.

Liu Sisi sells chickens.

And Yu Hai sells fish.

Leader of the chicken people, master of the fishes.

Encompassing both the poultry and seafood industries.

There wasn’t any conflict between the two.

If he ran into a "monsterized" poultry in the future, he could find Liu Sisi.

If he ran into a "monsterized" seafood, he could ask Yu Hai to handle it.

On the way back to the villa, Li Jing glanced at Stinky Tofu, who was still tucking its tail in.

"Seriously, a monster fish was only at an intermediate phase in the One Realm. You, as a Three Realm spiritual beast, could probably have clawed it to death. Was there any need to be so wimpy?"

Upon hearing this, Stinky Tofu turned its head and whimpered, lowering its head a bit.

Weak and helpless.

Seeing this, Li Jing grinned.

This Stinky Tofu was genuinely wimpy.

He had observed carefully just now.

Stinky Tofu was barking eagerly before the fish transformed.

It was eager to rush up at the smallest provocation.

But as soon as the transformation began, it immediately wimped out and backed off.

Being honest.

Li Jing was embarrassed for Stinky Tofu.

If Chen Yuran were there, she would have been mortified.

Considering that huskies have the reputation of "never winning a fight, but never losing an argument," Stinky Tofu’s behavior wasn’t too surprising, Li Jing shook his head.

"Alright, alright, I won’t say any more. Since we didn’t get to do the grocery shopping, we have to stop by the supermarket on our way back. Pick what you want to eat."

Speaking of which, Li Jing continued.

"This time, you noticed the fish was about to transform. If it wasn’t for your sensitivity, I might not have been able to save Yu Hai in time. Because of your help, I was also able to eliminate the monster fish on the spot. From both a logical and emotional standpoint, you deserve a reward."

Hearing that he was about to be rewarded, Stinky Tofu immediately perked up.

It let out a "wow" sound, and the tail tucked behind its buttocks stood upright and began to rotate in a 360-degree propeller-like spin.

As it returned to its joyful state, the footsteps beneath it began to carelessly wander off.

Seeing that Stinky Tofu was about to wander towards the roadside ditch while looking at him, Li Jing tugged on the leash to pull it back.

Raising such a naive dog to this size was hard on Chen Yuran.

...

Li Jing took Stinky Tofu to a large supermarket on their way back to purchase necessities, picked up a dozen of Stinky Tofu’s favorite ham, and brought it straight back to the villa.

He took a bit of time in the kitchen to prepare himself some food while conveniently helping Stinky Tofu thaw out the frozen ham. Then, the man and dog had their lunch.

After filling his belly, Li Jing let Stinky Tofu roam free in the courtyard, returned to the villa’s living room, and turned on the computer.

He logged on a news website.

Reports on the consecutive monsterization incidents in North City were swamping the headlines and all sections of the media.

Each story had at least tens of thousands of comments, with a wide range of reactions.

There were those scared witless.

Those who enjoyed stirring up trouble.

Those who made wild speculations and conspiracy theories.

There were even people who seized the opportunity to blacken the Inspection Department, claiming that today’s inspectors were incompetent.

Faced with all of this, Li Jing chooses to ignore it.

The internet, huh!

It’s always like this.

Back before he crossed dimensions, weren’t there all kinds of "I can do it too", "With the keyboard in my hand, I possess the world" sort of declarations on the internet?

After perusing, Li Jing found no news reports of any new monster transformations cropping up.

The fish monster he had killed in the market, however, had made headlines.

Even a video interview of Yu Hai on the scene was included in the front-page news.

Li Jing guessed it must’ve been some curious bystanders who had notified the media after he left.

After watching the video in the news, Li Jing closed the entire news site.

Yu Hai is a decent man.

Even when the journalist tried in various ways to probe who killed the fish monster, Yu Hai didn’t mention him, simply stating it was a handsome young man.

Touching his handsome face, Li Jing then decided to visit the Assistant Inspector Department’s website, to learn about the various basic laws that an inspector assistant needs to know.

As for why the North City experiences frequent monster incidents, he doesn’t intend to bother figuring that out.

When Chen Yuran comes back at night, he can just ask her.

Compared to that, it’s more important to swiftly do his "homework" and get interviewed as soon as possible to become an inspector assistant.

Before the Patrol Bureau findings on the cause of the monster transformations and sorting it out, there will surely be follow-ups.

To him, this is an opportunity.

Passing the interview as soon as possible to become an inspector assistant is the only way to have a chance to arrive on the scene first.

The market incident was, after all, a coincidence.

If he could casually run into monster transformation incidents by just wandering around, the entire North City would probably fall into ruin.

...

Unknowingly, it was already evening.

Watching as the world outside the window turned dark, Li Jing instantly stopped his "addicted" studying.

The various basic laws that assistant inspectors need to know don’t have much variety. They’re just things that should be memorized by rigid rote.

But memorization, in truth, was a grind.

Particularly as the different segments in the law have extremely high similarity, yet the corresponding coping and handling methods are drastically different, it can easily cause confusion.

Not only do you have to memorize it, you also have to differentiate clearly.

After a whole afternoon of agonizing, Li Jing felt a dull headache.

Thankfully, after gaining spiritual power, his physical strength had significantly improved, as did his memory.

Otherwise, he probably would have just wasted an entire afternoon doing pointless work, and might even have ended up with a headache.

Walking out of the guest room, and outside the villa.

Just as Li Jing wanted to breathe in some fresh air, he looked up to see Stinky Tofu munching at the trunk of the grape tree that had fallen in the yard.

"..."

Li Jing.

Dumbfounded for a full three seconds, a vein began to throb on his forehead.

"Stinky Tofu!"

"Arf?"

Stinky Tofu raised its head, seeing that Li Jing had entered the yard, it happily bounded up, wagging its tail with joy as it ran over.

Seeing the silly dog running over with its tail wagging, Li Jing just wanted to smack it.

He’d only been off-guard for an afternoon, and Stinky Tofu had dug up the only grape tree in the yard, and even chewed on its roots...

What was he going to tell Chen Yuran when she came back later?

But when confronted with Stinky Tofu’s foolish expression, he somehow couldn’t get angry.

It’s a husky after all!

Tearing things up, it’s inherent to its nature, a "talent" of sorts.

If it doesn’t destroy, can it be called a DD ("digging dog", a nickname for Huskies because of their knack for destruction)?

While he was vexed, a streak of light fell from the sky, landing in the courtyard.

As the brilliant light dissipated, Chen Yuran appeared standing on a flying sword, her face looking utterly exhausted. Her gaze naturally landed on the grape tree that was lying in the courtyard with its gnawed-off root.

What could she do?

The lone tree in the entire courtyard was so glaring while it lay there, it was impossible not to notice it.