Volume 3, Chapter 39 – About the Past

Monster Mountain Hermit!

The first player to solo clear the Nine Songs instance.

She had also become somewhat well-known on No. 1886’s dedicated forums.

She was a lone wolf.

Even on the forums, where information from all sides converged, the details about her were incomplete.

The only thing people knew for sure was that she was female.

Other than that, there was no information at all.

Even the veteran forum regulars who appeared at just the right moment could not leak her measurements.

Not to mention her six attributes and class.

And now, Anran and the others had met Monster Mountain Hermit here.

Well, yes.

That in itself was not surprising.

Monster Mountain Hermit had just passed the instance not long before they did, so it was perfectly normal for her to be here for today’s meeting.

What surprised Anran was Monster Mountain Hermit’s aura.

A literary girl.

At first, Anran had thought she had cleared the challenge by kidnapping the retired official, but now Anran felt it was more likely that she had forced him to yield through superb negotiation skills.

Hearing the commotion outside, Monster Mountain Hermit finally put down the book in her hands.

She revealed her face. It was a face in no way inferior to Zhou Jieyu’s. With the same 7 points in Charm, Monster Mountain Hermit’s appearance also carried the air of a literary girl.

It was a rather gentle and refined sort of beauty.

Monster Mountain Hermit glanced at Anran and the others.

Her gaze lingered on Anran for a moment longer before she lifted the book again and immersed herself in her own world.

“Everyone’s here now. Please have a seat and wait a moment. The deputy minister will be here soon.” After saying that, the guide NPC left.

Anran sat down on the sofa and quietly waited for Nine Songs’ deputy minister to arrive.

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Leading the Charge did the same.

Only Zhou Jieyu could not sit still. She seemed very interested in Monster Mountain Hermit.

When choosing a seat, she deliberately sat beside her and even secretly leaned her head over, trying to see what book Monster Mountain Hermit was reading.

But Monster Mountain Hermit had long since seen through Zhou Jieyu’s intentions.

She shifted her hips to the side and twisted slightly, almost turning to face Zhou Jieyu directly.

“…”

Zhou Jieyu could only give up her plan to sneak a look.

However, that very movement allowed sharp-eyed Anran to catch a glimpse of the edge of the page Monster Mountain Hermit was reading.

“Submit, conquer, little sister, beneath, love…”

Those were the words Anran saw.

Was it some kind of war novel?

“Creak…”

At that moment, the door was suddenly pushed open.

A tall, well-proportioned man walked in.

The four people in the room immediately stood up.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” The man nodded. He was dressed very formally in a uniform Anran had never seen before. “First, let me introduce myself. I am Lü Changming, deputy minister of Nine Songs.”

“Hello, Minister Lü,” Leading the Charge said.

He seemed quite used to this sort of occasion. Even now, he was behaving appropriately, without the slightest sign of stage fright.

Lü Changming got straight to the point. “I have reviewed all of your performance in the assessment. There are two reasons for meeting you today. First, I want to get to know you a little better. Second, I want to ask for your opinions.”

Now they were getting to the main issue.

Anran remained expressionless.

What Lü Changming said next would determine whether they joined Nine Songs or the Security Department.

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Compared with the Security Department, which oversaw the military, Anran’s preferred choice was of course Nine Songs.

Once she entered the military, she would lose her freedom for quite a long time.

That was not something Anran wanted to see.

Fortunately…

“Of the four of you, Anran performed the best.” That was the first thing Lü Changming said when he spoke again.

Monster Mountain Hermit looked at Anran in surprise.

“However, the other three are all Outlanders.”

That was Anran’s disadvantage.

“After internal discussion, we have decided to invite Anran and Monster Mountain Hermit to join Nine Songs. As for Leading the Charge and Leading the Escape, if the two of you are willing, I can recommend you to the Special Operations Division of the Security Department.”

That was right.

Players could join the Security Department through the normal route as well, but by going through this instance, the department they would enter was the Special Operations Division.

“No problem.” After hesitating for a moment, Leading the Charge agreed.

Zhou Jieyu still wanted to say something, but Leading the Charge tugged at her, and she agreed as well.

Next came Monster Mountain Hermit’s side. She showed no resistance at all to joining Nine Songs.

As for Anran, she was even more willing.

After breaking up her own “main quest” into stages, the first step was to join Nine Songs.

“Because your identity is rather special, Anran, we still need to conduct an internal review on our side. But you don’t need to worry. This is a routine procedure for new members joining Nine Songs. It will be completed very soon.”

Lü Changming said this and even went out of his way to explain it.

As for Anran’s strength, Lü Changming acknowledged it quite readily.

However, there had been some disagreement during the internal meeting. The main issue was still Anran’s attitude. Out of everyone who had passed the assessment, Anran had been the one with the worst attitude toward the retired official.

Anran did not show much reaction to Lü Changming’s words.

She accepted it quickly.

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There was nothing suspicious about the identity she had in this life.

And precisely because of that, in the original plot setting, “pastry-selling” girl Anran had been able to rise step by step and complete her “revenge.”

The meeting ended very quickly. After leaving Nine Songs, Anran headed straight back to the Research Center.

Monster Mountain Hermit’s gaze lingered on Anran a few more times. She always felt Anran looked a little familiar, but she could not remember where she had seen her before. Maybe it was just an illusion.

Having come to Twinmoon City by chasing after Anran’s trail, she ended up missing Anran right after finally meeting her in person.

…

“Wait!”

Anran was about to go downstairs when Gray, who had just walked out of his office, called out to stop her.

Inside Gray’s private office,

Anran and Gray sat facing each other.

“I’ve already heard about Colin.” Those were the first words Gray said, his hands folded together. “To be honest, I still haven’t quite recovered from it.”

“…”

Anran did not understand why Gray was saying these things, so she gave no response.

“Colin was a mechanical genius. What a pity.” Gray sighed. “Back then, after graduating from Twinmoon Engineering University near the top of his class, he joined the Research Center. Both his career and his love life went smoothly, and before long he married Eudora, his college classmate. After they got married…”

“Wait!” Anran suddenly cut off Gray’s nostalgia. “You’re saying Colin and Eudora were husband and wife?”

“Of course!” Gray replied.

“…”

Anran had nothing to say.

Holy crap, no wonder I always thought Colin and Eudora’s relationship felt strange. So they were a married couple who had lived apart for years but still had feelings for each other.

“Go on,” Anran said.

Gray continued, “Not long after they got married, they had a lovely daughter named Aila.”

“It was a happy and perfect family. At the time, everyone inside the Research Center agreed that Colin would become the next director. But about ten years ago, just like what happened a few days ago, the Morningstar Resistance, unable to remain quiet, launched another uprising.”

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Gray raised his head slightly. “Colin’s daughter, Aila, died in that uprising. Conflict also broke out between Eudora and Colin. Although they did not divorce, the two of them began living apart from then on. Disheartened, Colin resigned from the Research Center not long afterward and opened a repair shop in the old district.”

Anran nodded. The cause and effect of the whole matter was not actually that hard to piece together.

What she did not understand was why Gray was telling her all this.

Gray quickly gave the answer. “The reason Colin’s daughter Aila died in the uprising was because Colin had been developing new weapons for the Security Department the whole time. Back then, that made him a thorn in Morningstar’s side. But the root of it all still lies with me. If I hadn’t put Colin in charge of that project, none of this would have happened…”

He paused. “The reason I wanted to tell you all this is that I hope I can adopt the current Aila. Let it count as my atonement to Colin. Aila has just lost her parents, and you have your own things to deal with. I just so happen to have a daughter at home around Aila’s age…”

“Wait.” Anran interrupted Gray.

“If we’re talking about taking care of Aila, I believe I’m fully capable of doing that. As for your wish to adopt Aila, that’s not something I can decide. It still depends on what Aila herself wants.”

Aila’s own wishes?

With Anran’s understanding of Aila, faced with a stranger, Aila would obviously say “NO”!

At the same time, Anran instantly became wary of Gray.

Did Gray know Aila’s true identity or not?

If he did know Aila’s true identity, then he definitely had bad intentions.

And if he did not know, Anran still would not hand Aila over to him.

Aila was too special.

She could only survive by eating metal. Gray would quickly discover Aila’s secret, and then the government would very likely find out as well. When that happened…

Besides, from the sound of it, Gray wanted Aila to play with his granddaughter, but were you sure Aila would not end up breaking your granddaughter instead?

In short, Anran was politely refusing Gray.

But Gray felt there was still room to persuade her.

After a while, Anran suddenly asked, “Right, about the Morningstar Resistance. Can you tell me a little about that organization? Rather than a resistance group that rejects imperial rule, I feel like they’re more a bunch of madmen who wage war just for the sake of war.”

“Well…”

Gray said, “Actually, the Morningstar Resistance wasn’t like that in the past.”