Case

After paying a deposit of 5,000 credits, Yvette and Cartes completed the commission transaction, arranging to meet the client—a female journalist—at the bar the following afternoon to discuss the details of the operation.

Unlike the notorious, ruthless broker demons of the rumors, Cartes seemed to retain a sliver of residual humanity, continually hinting that Yvette should drop the matter if it proved too much, arguing that forfeiting the deposit was far better than losing her life.

Clearly, in his view, the madness of this anonymous young lady was on par with that of the client journalist when it came to tangling with a serial killer.

Yvette naturally understood his perspective. She only dared to take this on because she had her dark-eye ability as a trump card; had it been during her previous dream-entry, even as a mercenary, she would never have considered high-risk commissions.

Leaving the bar, she used the intermediary platform to rent an apartment in the Bayard District and began reviewing the files regarding the Werewolf Killer.

This was a super-criminal who had committed a murder as recently as last month. Starting from his initial activity half a year ago, he had killed at least eight people in total, including a formidable rune compiler. He earned the moniker "Werewolf Killer" because witnesses reported seeing him possess the ability to shift between a giant wolf and a human form.

According to data released by the police, the origin of the Werewolf Killer's abilities remained unknown. None of the major corporations had disclosed similar technologies, and even if such tech existed, it would undoubtedly be heavily regulated military technology, making it exceedingly difficult to leak into the civilian sector.

Coupled with the Werewolf Killer's erratic and indiscriminate killings, many speculated that his origins stemmed from some mad scientist—a trope common enough in urban legends.

...

The next afternoon, the sky over Agartha was thick with heavy clouds yet refused to rain, merely casting an oppressive grayish-white pall over the city.

Pushing open the doors of the Gleaming Light Bar, Yvette spotted her client under Cartes's gesture: a young female journalist who looked as though she had just graduated from university.

She wore standard professional attire, carried a small handbag, and sat in a corner booth, slowly sipping a cup of hot coffee.

When Yvette walked over and sat down before her, the journalist stared blankly for a moment before snapping out of it and saying, "Little girl, don't tell me you're the 'Anonymous' miss who accepted the commission."

Yvette emitted an "mm" sound and nodded slightly.

"Seriously??" The female journalist's expression instantly stiffened. She had imagined all sorts of possibilities for the female mercenary taking the job—picturing someone broad-shouldered with a scarred face, looking more like a brute than a woman, or perhaps a veteran cyber-mage covered in glowing magical-guide machinery.

Yet she had definitely never expected to face an aesthetically stunning, utterly non-threatening sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school girl.

She certainly was pretty, though—clad in a dashing black coat and skirt, like an unbloomed little black rose, and completely natural...

She secretly admired the sight for a moment before turning a dark look toward the bar counter.

"Don't look at me, Miss Erin. Aside from this young lady, nobody else is going to take your job," Cartes said from behind the bar, polishing a glass with an innocent expression. "At least Miss Anonymous is a genuine mage."

Hearing the teasing undertone in Cartes's words, the female journalist pouted childishly, withdrew her gaze, turned back to Yvette, and introduced herself: "Hello, my name is Erin Park, a reporter for *Bird News*. Nice to meet you, Miss Anonymous."

"Hello," Yvette said.

Such a succinct response left the air somewhat heavy with silence.

Not knowing how to make small talk, Miss Erin cut straight to the chase. "I hope you can protect me while I investigate the identity of the Werewolf Killer, at least until the AJSP arrives... Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Uhm, let me ask first—you do know about the Werewolf Killer, right?" Erin emphasized. "He's not just some killer preying on ordinary people; he once murdered a fairly formidable mage. That mage worked for Black Tower Pharmaceuticals and had injected high-grade 'active rune clusters.' From a mercenary's perspective, he supposedly belonged to the upper tier of experts... You know all this, right?"

"I know."

"And you still feel capable of taking on this job?" Erin raised her pitch slightly at the end.

"Yes."

...

Facing the silver-haired girl's calm and concise replies, Erin fell silent.

Fine, she wasn't someone who judged a book by its cover. Since Miss Anonymous insisted she was up to the task and remained the only mercenary willing to take the order, there was no point in displaying further distrust.

Hesitating for a moment, she decided to lay her cards on the table, lowering her voice. "Well, during the investigation, we might not necessarily be attacked by the Werewolf Killer—it's merely a possibility. If you encounter him while you're alone, tell him my name. Tell him that Erin Park from White Sand High School is investigating, and perhaps... perhaps he'll spare you."

Yvette raised an eyebrow slightly. She figured this Miss Erin wasn't someone who rushed into dangerous situations purely on a whim; by the sound of it, she seemed to have some personal connection to the Werewolf Killer.

Before Yvette could speak, Erin added, "This place isn't suitable for details. Let's talk elsewhere."

Ten minutes later, the two stood in a deserted corner by the Lorn River, facing turbid water choked with floating garbage. Shuttles of various shapes flew back and forth across the sky, many carrying courier packages like a swarm of busy bees.

"I have a rough idea of who the Werewolf Killer might be," Erin said.

Yvette gave an affirmative hum, signaling her to continue. As a bodyguard, she didn't actually need to participate in the investigation; her only job was to guard against danger. But if the client was willing to share confidential details, she didn't mind listening.

"He might be my high school classmate, Tennyson Norton, a boy from a somewhat impoverished family who used to have... a pretty good relationship with me."

A reminiscent look crossed Erin's eyes, but noticing Yvette's shifting gaze, she quickly added, "We weren't in *that* kind of relationship, though. He just had a secret crush on me. He never confessed in the end, and I never accepted him."

Yvette nodded and kept listening.

"After graduation, he didn't go to university; he went straight to manual labor. My contact with him was completely cut off during that period."

"Six months ago, during the Werewolf Killer's very first crime, the police captured a blurry footage showing part of the killer's human-form profile. Even though he wore a mask, I still felt that this guy's profile, hair color, and eyes were far too similar to Tennyson's."

"Out of curiosity, I tried contacting Tennyson, but got no response for a long time. Feeling strange, I eventually went to Tennyson's house, only to find out he had gone missing last year. The police investigation concluded that he had fallen victim to a cyber-scam, believed a lucrative job offer, and was sold to the Rusty Bones Free State. Either he was still alive living a life worse than death, or he was already dead, his soul and body separated to serve as experimental materials for cultists."

Hearing this, a thought stirred in Yvette's heart, bringing up information regarding the Rusty Bones Free State in her mind.

In the Black Tide Continent, while there were several tiny micro-states, three primary powers mattered.

First was the United States of New Eden, one of the world's top two superpowers and the birthplace of "Black Tower Pharmaceuticals" and "Scale-Shedding Biology."

Second was the Black Tide Federation, a small nation located on the northeastern coast of the continent, relying primarily on the "Black Tide Corporation" as its national economic pillar, somewhat akin to South Korea and Samsung.

Third was the Rusty Bones Free State, a nation even smaller than the Black Tide Federation. Socially chaotic and devoid of mega-corporations, it was nonetheless the birthplace of the notorious cult "Holy Spirit Sect." Because its taboo necromantic magic research was excessively evil and dangerous, requiring vast amounts of human experimentation, the Rusty Bones Free State was denounced as the "Nation of Human Traffickers" or the "Nation of Scams."

Yet, because the necromantic magic championed by the Holy Spirit Sect possessed genuinely alluring prospects—such as the resurrection of the dead, undying bodies, and skeletal laborers—it retained numerous followers worldwide despite being built on PowerPoint pipe dreams and violating basic human ethics, rendering it a persistent headache for governments globally.

Erin continued, "...but I suspect the story about being sold to Rusty Bones is false. If someone is sold there, standard procedure dictates they are forced to call home to extort money from relatives. Tennyson's family never experienced that."

"My guess is that the real truth is Tennyson underwent some agonizing experience, followed by certain fortuitous encounters, which transformed him and granted him immense power. The reason he is killing so frantically is perhaps to exact revenge on those who once wronged him, or perhaps to convey a certain message to the outside world."

Finally, Erin's gaze turned resolute, and she said seriously, "I want to decipher these clues, find the underlying motives behind the Werewolf Killer's actions, and bring the truth to light... I hope you can help me, Miss Anonymous."

...

As an impatient young woman, once she secured a bodyguard, Erin Park wasted no time taking Yvette to a community park in the Bayard District that very evening.

That was the site of the Werewolf Killer's first crime, where the victim had been a homeless man camping in the park.

According to an elderly woman living nearby, she had been sleeping that night when she awoke to bizarre, terrifying noises. Opening her window and peering out, she spotted a giant wolf in the park tearing apart the corpse of the already-deceased victim, its eyes glowing an alarming shade of red. However, the moment she let out a terrified scream, the giant wolf bolted in fright and subsequently vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea.

These were details the police had already investigated, and returning to the scene yielded no new discoveries for Erin. Besides, half a year had passed; asking again would likely prove less accurate than the public police records.

Over the next few days, accompanying Erin, Yvette traversed Agartha, visiting the areas where the rest of the Werewolf Killer's crimes had taken place.

During the process, Erin even paid to pull surveillance footage from areas with better security, but she failed to spot any trace of Tennyson in the video records surrounding the times of the incidents.

Erin's investigation instantly hit a dead end.

She realized that the results of her solo investigation were no better than the police's, and the information related to Tennyson that she had anticipated finding never materialized.

The only silver lining was that she hadn't become the Werewolf Killer's next target, though in a sense, this merely demonstrated that Erin's investigation was utterly ineffective.

Five days slipped away in the blink of an eye. By the evening of the final day of the commission, returning empty-handed to Bayard as the two walked down a path by the Lorn River, Erin heard Yvette ask, "Will the commission continue tomorrow?"

This was clearly a prompt asking if she wanted to double the rate to 20,000 credits per day.

Erin shook her head dejectedly. As a novice journalist, she discovered she apparently lacked detective talent; if the AJSP couldn't uncover anything, neither could she. Continuing would merely be a waste of money—her savings amounted to just over 50,000, and though her parents were wealthy, she felt too embarrassed to ask them for more.

Seeing her first employer looking so distressed, and noting that there had truly been no room for her to flex her skills these past few days, Yvette thought for a moment and decided to offer a bit of extra care. "I have a suggestion."

"Uhm... what is it?"

Yvette said, "Since you believe your former classmate Tennyson Norton is the Werewolf Killer, why don't you directly investigate Tennyson's disappearance case?"

Erin froze, her first reaction being that it made complete sense, but she quickly remembered something and said, "No... that doesn't seem feasible."

Noticing Yvette's incomprehension, she explained, "Tennyson's disappearance case involves the Holy Spirit Sect cult, and the relevant files are classified as forbidden reading... Even the victim's relatives can only receive the AJSP's investigation notifications unilaterally; they can't access further details. The apparent reason is to prevent people from making contact with the cult and turning into believers."

"Alright." Yvette said nothing more. She could actually have used hacker methods to acquire some internal intelligence, but that fell outside the scope of the commission.

Thus, after five uneventful days, Yvette's first mercenary commission concluded with results that were difficult to classify as either good or bad.

Although she secured her standard payment—effectively earning 50,000 credits for doing almost nothing—she couldn't claim to have proven her capability. In the eyes of the broker Cartes, she would likely still carry the rookie label, albeit as a remarkably lucky one.

It seemed she still needed to take on another high-difficulty commission...

Should she just go hunt down a wanted criminal? For instance, track down clues on the Werewolf Killer and eliminate him, which would not only net the 1,000,000 credit bounty from the AJSP but also instantly prove her competence...

Viewed that way, the clues provided by Miss Erin Park were actually quite useful, and bounty hunters weren't all that different from mercenaries—both offered ways to make fast money...

Yvette pondered silently in her heart.

Over the past two days, to conserve her energy, she had purchased gray-market intelligence from Cartes and discovered that acquiring military-grade equipment was far harder than she had imagined.

For instance, a military-grade casting unit capable of releasing a 100,000-specification spell officially cost 250,000, but on the black market, the price skyrocketed past 800,000. The markup was absurdly steep, and while her current 50,000 credits were substantial, she still couldn't afford it.

Consequently, three days after the commission ended, just as she was fretting over saving up for gear, a sudden message from her former employer, Miss Erin, caused Yvette's pupils to contract slightly.

It was a voice message recorded with a stifled, lowered tone, carrying unmasked terror and panic. Speaking with a crying tremble in her voice, she said, "Miss Anonymous... I... I think I saw Tennyson... He's in... the house across from mine... looking right at me..."