Jiuyue's eyes widened as she tried not to miss any detail on the notebook.
Mr. Mingyuan... actually knew so much about the evil spirits!
"When I first thought of getting into this line of work, I happened to record all the evil spirits I encountered."
Duan Mingyuan's expression remained unchanged, as the primary purpose of his records was to classify and summarize different types of evil spirits, akin to creating a question bank for similar mathematical problems. This way, he could efficiently understand the evil spirits he was dealing with at work and develop corresponding strategies.
"... Ability?"
Jiuyue looked surprised, "You mean the evil spirits can evolve further?"
The amount of information on the notebook was not something an ordinary office worker could have summarized, and those in the industry within Yunlong City had only seen those wandering individuals lacking in independent thought. However, the notebook mentioned higher-tiered beings.
But that still wasn't the limit of the evil spirits' evolution.
On one of the pages, it mentioned that Duan Mingyuan had accidentally stumbled into an abandoned construction site while tracking an evil spirit. The moment he set foot on the site, the scenery around him twisted and turned into a Purgatory-like abyss. It was as if he had stepped into the belly of an evil spirit, with everything around him under its Ability's Domination.
The notebook's description suggested that when an evil spirit's intelligence reached a certain level, it would develop the concept of "home."
The abandoned construction site had become its Nesting ground. Once the nest was established, accidental intruders would become its nourishment, and the evil spirit would enter a hibernation-like state. To the point that Duan Mingyuan believed that once the Nesting evil spirit's hibernation ended, it might even transform into a higher order of life form.
Regrettably, Duan Mingyuan had not encountered a transformed evil spirit before he decided to give up this unreliable profession to focus on his studies for exams.
This also revealed another terrifying fact.
If the contents of the notebook weren't fabricated by Duan Mingyuan, that meant Mr. Mingyuan had once encountered these dreadful beings and, after understanding their abilities, managed to retreat in one piece, later completing the aforementioned records.
A saying circulated among them: information is life.
This was the truest portrayal of their lives. The cost of a "First Encounter Kill" was often severe. Not long ago, two members had confirmed the existence of intelligent evil spirits at the price of their lives, and they hadn't touched upon the latter's Ability until their deaths.
An evil spirit with intelligence and Ability could potentially lead to the annihilation of Yunlong City's personnel.
She blurted out, "You actually managed to escape from such a terrifying creature!"
Duan Mingyuan did not know how to respond for a moment.
Escaping death was a bit of an exaggeration, but to deal with the Nesting evil spirit at the abandoned construction site, he indeed paid a heavy price.
Although the evil spirit eventually died by his hand, it dealt him a severe blow just before its death, leading to his favorite backpack being damaged and him facing his homeroom and subject teachers' severe criticism the next day.
Duan Mingyuan looked at Jiuyue's fluctuating expression, and from the moment she asked in surprise, "The evil spirits can evolve further?" he knew everything had become much more difficult.
His future colleague had not only extremely limited practical experience but also lacked basic theoretical knowledge.
Her bewildered gaze was like that of a student who had just learned linear equations encountering calculus.
"Why don't they have names?"
Jiuyue, like a curious baby, saw that Duan Mingyuan did not respond, and pointed to the blank part of the notebook, asking again, "You've categorized them but omitted the category names."
"Because I wasn't good at naming things, so I didn't write them down."
Anyway, the notebook was meant for his eyes only; having names was not important.
Some time had passed since he wrote those words, and he had transformed from a student to an adult who had experienced his first resignation.
Naming would no longer be a challenge.
He picked up the pen and explained to his potential colleague, "The evil spirits I know of can largely be divided into four stages: 'Interns,' 'Full-time Employees,' 'Intermediate Qualified Professionals,' and 'Advanced Qualified Professionals.' Among them, Interns are the most common, those that wander about lacking self-consciousness; after they obtain Ability and intelligence through prolonged feeding, they will transition to the Full-time Employee stage, which takes about three to six months; as their lives gradually stabilize, evil spirits will enter the Nesting stage, evolving towards higher levels, much like many people who seek intermediate qualifications in their field after a year or two of work; the moment the Nesting process is completed is when they fully transform, like those who have obtained advanced qualifications and carry some weight in their fields."
Perhaps there were evil spirits stronger than those with advanced qualifications in this world, but at his high school age, he had not been exposed to these powers hidden in deeper layers.
That was normal; the senior experts in any field were not so easy to come by.
Duan Mingyuan felt that such categorization was easy to understand and accurately summarized the different stages of evil spirits' conditions.
"Mr. Mingyuan, what made you become like this?"
Jiuyue gazed at Duan Mingyuan with her amber eyes, only blinking when her eyes started to feel sore,"It feels like you've completely lost the passion of youth."
She was certain that the young Duan Ming when writing these notes would never have imagined that years later, he would be using job titles to measure evil spirits.
"Passion won't help you get the job done. Those shouts of friendship and bonds defeating strong enemies are just artistic techniques in fictional works. In real life, job titles help you quickly understand yourself and your opponent. This industry should also have a corresponding evaluation system. That's the only way to properly delegate work when incidents occur, minimizing casualties to the greatest extent."
The authoritative Duan Mingyuan made Jiuyue shrink her neck. Whenever he talked about work, the man before her would exude an incomparable aura.
"Before we move on to the next plan, I have a few questions for you. First, how many active Full-time Employees are there in Yunlong City?"
"Including you, there would be three."
Jiuyue obviously lacked confidence, adding hastily after answering, "There were originally five, but two were killed."
"Second question, among these people, how many can handle a Full-time Employee level evil spirit on their own?"
"You included?"
"Not included."
"...None."
The conversation once again fell into a long silence.
Duan Mingyuan was faced with darkness, and the third question inevitably changed, becoming more direct and sharp.
——Do you even deserve to be called a company?
Even high school study interest groups have more people than you do!