Love, Gun, Cupid

Every month, the Special Statistics Bureau's review department uses the Class A magic "Heavenly Eye" to review all registrants. Therefore, I can determine that the person working overtime is an unregistered magic researcher.

His method of using the overtime magic was ingenious. First, he used avatar magic to create an avatar of himself, and then used the avatar to cast the overtime magic. In other words, he made the avatar bear the excessively heavy cost of the overtime magic for him.

Considering the qualities of the "Overtime Worker" avatar, the Overtime Worker can use a cumulative three minutes of Overtime Magic per day. Beyond this time, even if the avatar exists, the cost of the Overtime Magic will be reflected back to the original body.

For this type of time-related magic, you either patiently wait for the spell's duration to pass, or you use time-related magic to counter time-related magic.

Kapok trees lack time-related magic, making it somewhat difficult to combat the avatars of those casting overtime spells.

“Wait, if the enemy in front of us is an avatar, then where is the real person who works overtime?” Lin Jiade asked.

Du Juan replied matter-of-factly, "Of course he's working overtime. His overtime magic is very selective about the tasks he takes on; he might not get many shady jobs in a year. And since people who work overtime seem to need money, they can only do legal jobs to make money."

Lin Jiade nodded as if he understood: "It seems like I can accept this setting: the main body is working overtime at the company, and the avatar is sent out to take on extra work to supplement the family income."

So, how can this magic be neutralized? Senior Kapok has no way to break through his defenses, but if he were to land a single hit on Senior Kapok, then Senior Kapok's fighting power would be severely diminished.

"Besides the two methods I mentioned above, there is another way: find his true form and kill him. His avatar will then be dispelled."

Alternatively, one could try to find the mercenary's family. These mercenaries work so hard; they must have family members and financial needs. Controlling the mercenary's family is equivalent to controlling the mercenary.

“That’s too despicable,” Lin Jiade said.

“Yes, it’s really not suitable for you to do this,” Du Juan said.

"It seems that the only viable option right now is to stall until the overtime magic ends," Lin Jiade said.

The young man immediately began to loudly explain the overtime magic to Kapok, slowing the battle by two beats. Both sides were surprised by the young man's performance: given Lin Jiade's level, he shouldn't have such detailed knowledge of a second-level magic.

Kapok originally intended to kill time, and Lin Jiade's words strengthened the tight-fitting monster's resolve. Overtime Man tried to bypass Kapok to deal with Lin Jiade, but he was entangled by Kapok, allowing Lin Jiade to move to a safer location.

Seeing this, the overtime worker feinted an attack and then chose to run away. His agility was already a major strength, and even with invincibility, he couldn't be stopped from escaping. His avatar vanished into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.

Kapok looked at Lin Jiade, who scratched his head and said, "It's passable, but knowing his abilities allows us to devise tactics to limit him."

"How do you know the details of the overtime magic?" Kapok asked.

Lin Jiade's eyes darted around uncertainly: "I have a friend..."

“I understand, you have a very capable ‘friend’,” Kapok said.

That friend isn't me at all!

Lin Jiade was on the verge of tears. It felt good to be looked up to, but he really did have a friend giving him pointers behind his back. However, Du Juan had asked him to keep her existence a secret, so he could only acquiesce.

Kapok called Hehuan to report the situation, then drove Lin Jiade back to the community. Jasmine slept on the sofa with a pillow in her arms, while Lin Jiade tiptoed through the living room and sat opposite Azalea.

Du Juan said, "Sending you back means that Mu Mian acknowledges you and believes you can serve as bait in battle, instead of being instantly killed."

Even with the combined advantages of my divine guidance and Jasmine Blood, achieving this level of skill in just three days must have involved considerable hardship.

"Well, but strangely enough, once you have a goal in mind, you can grit your teeth and persevere even if it seems impossible." Lin Jiade looked a little dazed. "When I came to my senses, Senior Mu Mian thought I was capable."

Cupid's gaze softened: "This is love, it's indescribable."

"How's it going on your side?" Lin Jiade glanced at Jasmine and whispered, "Is the enemy Jasmine is facing formidable?"

"Jasmine wanted to take down the psionicist outright. She was stronger than any enemy in one-on-one combat, and she was confident she could do it. But the psionicist had a disgusting accomplice who always managed to guide Jasmine to escape before she could catch him."

The blitzkrieg has turned into a war of attrition, and for Jasmine now, the physical burden of such a war is simply too great. Of course, when she tells you, she'll only say, "It's okay, don't worry."

“I understand. This conversation is only between you and me,” Lin Jiade replied.

“They’ve become more reliable than before,” Cupid said meaningfully. “Don’t worry, the enemy isn’t a monolithic entity either. After these three days of setbacks, their contradictions are probably starting to surface.”

Meanwhile, an incredibly ugly middle-aged man finished his overtime work for the night, picked up his briefcase, and went downstairs to enjoy the quiet city alone.

As he returned to his residence, a new figure appeared behind him.

"Working overtime?" The newcomer reached up and pulled off her hat, revealing messy hair. "I'm the Barbary Witch, shall we talk?"

“You’ve broken the rules,” the overtime worker turned around. “We’re just people who came together temporarily. You shouldn’t have tried to find out my real identity.”

The Barbary Witch scoffed, "Come on, we in this line of work have a flexible moral bottom line. The rules only apply when they are in our favor."

"I don't want to talk to you. Working overtime is tiring, and I just want to go home and rest," said the person working overtime.

The Barbary Witch looked up at the marks left by time on the six-story apartment building and said, "I can understand why you work so hard to make money."

Although your wife was bought and is only slightly better looking than you, she loves you very much. Your son, on the contrary, has not inherited any of the shortcomings of either of you. He is handsome and has excellent grades.

Your son is about to start high school, so a house in a good school district is essential to give him a head start and prevent him from falling behind his peers.

You two have pinned all your hopes on him, haven't you? The wife forces the child to study hard, while the husband voluntarily works overtime, and at the same time uses the magic of overtime to take on shady jobs.

All these efforts are for the sake of sending your child to an excellent university, so that they can find a good job after graduation. Your child is also very sensible; they know how difficult it is for you, so they are both well-behaved and hardworking.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Curse Killing (Part 2)

At this point, the Barbary witch licked her lips: "Your family is filled with tears amidst laughter, and heartache amidst warmth. As someone with no ties to the family, I would like to sponsor you with some money."

The man who worked overtime was already intimidating-looking, but after hearing the woman's insincere words, his appearance became even more terrifying, to the point that it could frighten a timid person to tears and make an ordinary person feel uncomfortable.

"Is this a threat?" he asked.

“This is a gesture of goodwill,” the Barbary witch replied. “If it were a threat, then when you come home after a long day, you will find me sitting in your house, holding your most beloved son, leading him up the steps to adulthood.”

I've traveled the world and slept with a dozen handsome young men, but your son is my favorite. He's well-behaved, good-looking, and ambitious. How about we talk? Can I be his godmother?

The aura of those who work overtime is low-key, depressed, greasy, and even humble. They have become the greasy middle-aged people in society who are full of bad intentions but pose little threat in reality.

However, he still had an untouchable sore spot in his heart. The moment the Barbary witch casually mentioned his son, he pulled a kitchen knife out of his briefcase.

"This is an old residential area, and the surveillance isn't very comprehensive. Are you sure you want to continue with this dangerous topic?" the person working overtime asked.

"Come on," the Barbary witch sneered. "You're an unregistered magic researcher, which makes it easier for you to take on shady businesses and make a living."

You probably really want to get rid of that boss who's bossing you around, but you don't dare reveal that you can use magic, just like you haven't made a move against me right now.

You know the Empire's attitude towards unregistered magic researchers. The outstanding ones are absorbed into the ruling class and become tools for maintaining order, while the inferior ones, like you and me, are only regarded as destabilizing elements and are imprisoned and eliminated.

This is undeniably a form of dark humor: magic makes us stronger than ordinary people, but ironically, it lowers our social status.

The Barbary witch paused, then continued, "What I'm trying to say is that I hope people like us can stick together and weather the risks. After all, you can only make money if you're alive, right?"

"People with similar abilities can only stick together and support each other when they come together," the overtime worker said coldly. "I can't trust a teammate who sleeps with men all day, does nothing, and only drags us down."

The Barbary Witch smiled: "Is that so? I'm quite good at saving my life and running away. Don't you want to find me a way out?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have a magic that allows me to intercept information from gold-digging sows, and sleeping with men is both a hobby and a cover."

The old man (Tuna) seems to have a grudge against the mission target (Jasmine). He is determined to become a vengeful god. This person will be omitted.

Our captain, Mr. Drinkwater (Drinkwater Guy), and the pay-to-win pig have formed an alliance... or perhaps he's used mind magic to control the pay-to-win pig.

That's not important; what's important is that they worked together to investigate the backgrounds of their other teammates.

Clearly, they've joined forces to better execute their plan, and because they don't trust us to succeed. So, in their plan, are we teammates, cannon fodder, or the price to pay?

"To those working overtime: Your true situation is also known to our team leader. Do you think I could find this place while they couldn't?"

All of the above are lies told by the Barbary witch.

In the movie theater, she wasn't injured after being shot by Du Juan, but a more horrific consequence occurred in the area where she was shot—

A pink oracle appeared on her skin, and the will of the useless necromancer was instantly crushed by Cupid. She knelt on the ground, trembling as she looked at her new master.

The silhouette of the cuckoo bloomed in her pupils, creating an arc-shaped crack in her eyes—Cupid's signature sweet smile. But to the Barbary witch, it was the smile of a demon.

"Do you know why I let you go?" Cuckoo's voice pierced the Barbary witch's ears. "You're a coward, an opportunist, a complete egoist. And I just happen to need a traitorous pawn to break the deadlock."

"You... sir, what do you want me to do?"

To survive, the Barbary witch didn't hesitate to betray her companions' information. She felt she had no choice; in her eyes, the cuckoo was stronger than all five of her own people combined, and with no chance of winning, she had no choice but to "join if you can't beat them."

Dujuan let her go. Following Cupid's instructions, the Barbary witch remained anxiously hidden within her own ranks, summoning male servants while awaiting Cupid's next command.

Drinking Water Bro's hunch was right, but because of his underestimation, he failed to eradicate this cancer in the team in time.

In the early hours of October 1st, as Lin Jiade used himself as bait to lure the overtime workers into a trap, the order from Du Juan was also relayed to the Barbary Witch.

Barbari didn't know how Cuckoo got the overtime worker's real name and family situation, but she knew that she had to complete the task beautifully in order to survive.

“Now, can we talk?” said the Barbary witch.

The overtime worker hesitated for a moment before agreeing. Next to the old residential area, a ghost-like urban village stood there. The villagers who refused to relocate persisted to the end, and thus they were isolated by civilization.

Once they realized this, they rushed to leave, and the developers, believing the small area lacked development value, abandoned it, leaving it a rare desolate place in the city.

"I believe that in the current situation, forming an alliance is the best course of action. You have the fighting power, and I have the means to protect myself."

The Barbary witch who came to negotiate said, "However, I need your son to be a witness to our covenant. Don't worry, I'm just helping him climb the ladder to adulthood."

"Don't touch my son!"

The woman smiled and said, "But I really want to sleep with him, and part of the alliance is for your son."

School district housing, endless overtime, dissatisfaction with the workplace, and the physical and mental decline that middle-aged people can feel all push those who work overtime to the brink of collapse. That's why Mu Mian's seemingly ordinary sarcasm an hour ago caused him to break down.

His wife and children have become his obsession with living, so he can compromise himself, but he cannot tolerate outsiders disrupting his life.

The moment the Barbary witch confessed her wish, the enraged overtime worker tackled her to the ground, grabbed her by the neck, and glared at her with murderous intent.

"You're dead!" he said viciously.

The Barbary Witch couldn't speak, but she could feel that the potion bottle hidden under her collar had shattered, the glass piercing her skin. The energy in her blood would activate the potion, giving the overtime worker an uncontrollable desire.

At 3:4 AM on April 24th, in the 33rd round of the Premier League, Arsenal will face Everton. Vote for the home team, and a bonus episode will be added if the team wins.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Curse Killing (Part Two)

Sure enough, before the Barbary Witch could suffocate, the grip on her neck began to loosen, and instead of murderous intent, a hint of panic appeared on the overtime worker's face. His appearance was already unsettling, but now it made him seem even more repulsive.

"What...did you do?" he asked.

"A little tool to solidify our alliance."

Barbary Witch sat up and put her hands on the overtime worker's shoulders. Even though she knew this was a pledge of loyalty, her tastes had become too discerning after countless encounters with men, and she couldn't force herself to like the overtime worker.

So she tried to imagine the son of the man who was working overtime, and imagined herself hugging the handsome young man. She whispered in the middle-aged man's ear, "It must be hard work. You work hard every day, and you're fighting alone."

In the quiet of the night, will anyone listen to your troubles? No, even if the two people you love most are already asleep, you can only confide your sorrows to yourself.

On your precious days off, you vent in all sorts of online circles. You can't see other people's strengths, but once you find their weaknesses, you get excited and can't wait to point them out... Even if you yourself are seriously praising Maupassant in O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," you make such a ridiculous mistake.

There, you encounter people with similar anxieties, finding validation and pleasure in extreme rhetoric. However, as the new generation of young people floods the internet, they are more confident, more optimistic, and more combative, possessing a completely different set of values ​​from yours.