Volume 3, Chapter 41 – Interlude: Recording

The conversation took place near the back door of a hotel.

The road there was narrow, and the area was piled high with miscellaneous junk, so hardly anyone ever passed by.

Heloise was the first to speak.

She wore a tight skirt and small glasses, dressed like an administrative office lady from a major corporation.

Standing opposite Heloise was Sandy, the vice captain of the guard unit who had come with her earlier.

He was also one of the people Heloise had brought down from above.

A specialist with exceptional skill in assassination and intelligence work.

With an expressionless face, Sandy replied, “It’s been cleaned up, but I haven’t found the target yet.”

“Cleaned up? What do you mean by that?” Heloise shifted her stance. Her long, straight legs looked even more striking in high heels.

“I just set a fire. Nothing major,” Sandy said.

Heloise frowned. “Tell me in detail.”

“After I split up with you, Minister, I went around the area asking questions. Then I accidentally heard something interesting. They said Colin had gone to his ex-wife’s house. I figured that girl was very likely there, so I tracked the lead over last night.”

Sandy spread his hands. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find the girl. Colin and his wife also seemed very unfriendly toward Morningstar. I got angry, so I couldn’t help setting a fire…”

Heloise nodded and folded her arms across her chest. “What else?”

Sandy laughed. “Minister, you really do know me well. I may not have found the girl, but I at least confirmed there were signs that a girl had been living in Colin’s house. It was probably her. She seemed very cautious too. I staked the place out for an hour and still didn’t find the target.”

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“Oh, right.” Sandy added, “I discovered something very interesting.”

“What was it?”

“That repair shop owner named Colin used to be a technical expert at the Twinmoon City Research Center. Back then, he was one of the lackeys specifically responsible for developing weapons for the Empire’s puppet government. It was only after I recognized who he was that I couldn’t resist teaching him a lesson. Who would’ve thought his wife would jump in and take the knife for him? Ah…” Sandy let out a long sigh. “I hadn’t meant to kill them.”

“Oh?” Heloise arched a brow.

She did not show any further emotion, making it impossible to tell whether she disapproved of Sandy’s actions or approved of them.

But Sandy did not care either way. He quickly put away his feigned sorrow. “What a great love story. A pity. The leader was right. The fate of the Empire’s dogs is death. He survived last time, but fate will eventually take him where he belongs.”

Sandy’s tone never changed. It was as if he had merely crushed two ants, without the slightest ripple in his heart.

“Forget these trivial details for now. The important business comes first. Although Twinmoon City’s mayor is dead, the effects won’t last long. Our ultimate goal is still to tie down as much of Nine Songs’ attention as possible. When facing people like them, the moment we relax, there won’t be a second chance.” A shifting gleam flickered in Heloise’s eyes.

Though she carried the title of branch head, as a “warrior” raised by the higher-ups since childhood, what she was meant to do was absolutely not sit in the rear and command the overall situation.

…

Aila’s recording had finished playing.

The room fell silent again.

Although it felt extremely eerie to have a recording played from inside Aila’s body, some of the information it revealed still made Anran fall silent.

The killer really was one of Morningstar’s people.

The killer was also a madman with an unstable mental state.

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There was one more thing Anran had always overlooked.

Who had been leaking information about her all this time?

From the night her home was invaded during the war in Twinmoon City, all the way up to last night.

Only now did Anran learn that it was the old district’s local kingpin who had been feeding her information to Morningstar.

It was that little restaurant Zhou Jieyu had delivered to when she first arrived in Twinmoon City.

The owner was a grinning gang boss with a little gold tooth set in his mouth.

The killer had let that information slip by accident while talking to Colin.

Anran was the sort of person who held grudges hard.

Back when she played games, she had once been hunted across nearly half the map over a piece of equipment she had looted.

After lying low and making a comeback, Anran killed that person so many times that they quit the game outright.

A thug with a terrible reputation, and thanks to the information he sold, she had been pushed into a passive position again and again, even dragging Colin and Eudora into it.

In Anran’s eyes, Little Gold Tooth was already a dead man.

Her rage was hidden deep in her chest, but Anran remained rational.

With her current strength, killing Little Gold Tooth would be difficult unless she sniped him from long range.

And Little Gold Tooth’s caution was famous throughout the entire old district.

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It was precisely because his name carried so much weight that Anran had immediately caught his shadow in Sandy’s words.

Right now, Anran did not have the extra time to stake out Little Gold Tooth and wait for him to reveal an opening.

Reason also told her she could not just rush at him like an idiot.

If she lost, she would be the one trapped.

And even if she managed to kill Little Gold Tooth, there was still a high chance she would not get away safely.

Once her identity was fully exposed, it would be the same as throwing herself straight into Morningstar’s line of fire.

That was not how you went courting death.

For now, Anran could only pretend she knew nothing, then wait until she was stronger before wiping out Little Gold Tooth with thunderous force.

If every witness was dead, then naturally there would be no risk of exposure.

Having made up her mind, Anran lifted her head.

By then, it was already noon.

Aila sat quietly nearby. When she saw Anran sink into thought, she propped up her chin and started spacing out.

As for the contents of the recording, Aila herself had not analyzed any useful information from it.

“Let’s eat first,” Anran said.

“Mm, okay!”

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The moment food was mentioned, the listless Aila immediately perked up.

She followed closely behind Anran and watched as Anran cleaned a piece of metal brought back from the research center. Then Aila held the metal block in both hands and gnawed through it like it was a loaf of bread.

Anran did not have time to stand around watching Aila eat.

She hurriedly filled her own stomach, told Aila not to run around, and then rushed back to the research center.

She still needed 45,000 EXP to level up to [Apprentice Mechanic Lv10].

If she really pushed herself, four days would be enough.

She had already been at the research center for nearly a week. Before entering the workshop, Anran honored their original deal and handed Gray the blueprint for the [mechanical switchblade].

Gray silently accepted the blueprint. Instead of dwelling on the matter any further, he suddenly rolled his eyes and started complaining to Anran. “Tell me, what’s wrong with young people these days? The local youngsters are like this, and even the young outlanders are the same. Not one of them knows how to respect their elders and care for the young. Ah, the world’s going downhill.”

The corner of Anran’s mouth twitched. She somehow felt that the “local youngster” Gray was talking about was a veiled jab at her.

You shameless old pervert. It’s already generous of me not to beat you up, and you still expect me to respect you?

Don’t you go getting ideas about Aila and me!

Anran turned and left. There was still endless EXP waiting for her to dig out in the workshop.

She had not been gone long when that young man she had seen several times before pushed the door open and walked in from outside.

“Director…”