Fang Wen had no idea how he got home. In any case, after taking a shower, the moment he touched the bed, he was out cold.
A flawless display of the excellent sleep quality possessed by the young.
When he woke up, he felt utterly refreshed.
While eating breakfast, Fang Wen checked today's commissions.
[Today's commissions have refreshed.]
[New Neighbor: Morning Star's financial situation turns out to be even worse than you imagined. Today, she turned down two part-time jobs and set aside an entire morning to go apartment hunting with you.]
[Mission: You must make her stay.]
[Reward: Skill draw, Denny x2000, Morning Star Affection +?]
Fang Wen remembered that she worked four jobs a day…
What an exhausting life for a girl to live.
Fang Wen called the landlord next door and, without wasting any time, directly rented the apartment beside his own.
[Monthly Denny auto-deduction activated. This month's rent deducted: 450,000 Denny.]
No problem. That amount wasn't much to him. New Eridu's housing prices were outrageous, sure, but Fang Wen's monthly salary was still over 2 million Denny.
Special assignments and extra tasks paid even more.
Up to now, the one thing he had never had to worry about was buying things. Since he lived alone, his own monthly expenses were actually still lower than just one month's rent for the apartment next door.
After handing the landlord an extra 50,000 Denny as a little "thank-you fee," the landlady was more than happy to help Fang Wen act out a small performance.
At first she had refused. After all, wasn't this basically fraud?
Only after Fang Wen showed her his police credentials did she finally nod.
"Young people these days really know how to play…"
Although this landlady in her forties had clearly misunderstood something, Fang Wen didn't bother explaining.
[Qingyi's Special Training (Long-Term Mission; will permanently occupy one daily mission slot until completed): Qingyi has agreed to teach you the use of the spear every day. At this very moment, she is studying all spear techniques at the rate of one video per second. Current skill rank — Spear Proficiency (Green+1).]
[Mission: Learn spear techniques under Qingyi.]
[Reward: Skill draw, Denny x3000, Qingyi Affection +?]
So this was the power of Grandmaster-tier superintelligence?
Learning an entire skill in mere seconds. Terrifying.
As one half of the Public Security Bureau's strongest duo, Qingyi possessed quite a few special skills, likely because she was a construct. Fang Wen had already looked through them before.
And among them, Superintelligence was by far the most overpowered one. Fang Wen dreamed of having it.
Unfortunately, Grandmaster-tier skills couldn't be directly drawn…
Which made sense. That skill was way too broken. Qingyi happened to be fairly laid-back, but if Fang Wen had gotten it instead, and spent every day furiously cramming new knowledge into himself, he might rapidly surpass both Qingyi and Zhu Yuan.
Reaching the level of the Void Hunters standing at the top of New Eridu wouldn't even be impossible.
And this mission looked completely harmless, like one of those fixed daily quests in a game.
So far, the panel's missions hadn't been very difficult anyway, but even saving him a few brain cells was worth something.
No matter how he thought about it, this was pure profit.
The only problem was probably the affection points…
Fang Wen had a strange premonition. Perhaps the first person to unlock affection missions wouldn't be Zhu Yuan, nor Morning Star…
It might actually be this twin-tailed, flat-chested legal loli?
Surely he wasn't about to end up in some kind of human-machine romance, right?
Did Qingyi even have that kind of hardware?
No, wait—even if she did…
The moment Fang Wen remembered that throw Qingyi had hit him with yesterday, he suddenly felt a chill around his little brother.
If that happened, wouldn't it snap clean off?!
[The Strange Letter: It seems there may still be more to the matter at Pioneer Memorial Square? Perhaps you should make a trip to see Zhe and Belle.]
[Mission: You're not going to refuse.]
[Reward: Skill draw, Denny x30000, Belle Affection +?]
Oh? Mysterious, huh. But if it involved that incident, then Fang Wen had no choice but to go.
Oh, right. He still hadn't returned the old playback device he borrowed, or Qingyi's videotape.
Yesterday had been such a mess that he had completely forgotten.
One thing at a time.
He called Morning Star.
"So…" Fang Wen's expression turned a little odd. "You're planning to look at a few other places first?"
"It's fine. My whole morning is free today. I'll go with you."
A quiet competitive spirit ignited inside Fang Wen.
I already paid the money. I already hired the actress. Like hell I'm letting someone else swoop in and steal this out from under me.
I want to see what kind of demons or monsters I'm up against!
Before long, Fang Wen arrived at the agreed meeting place.
Morning Star was still wearing that oversized knitted dress, with a small shoulder bag slung across her back.
At the moment, she was chatting with a man who was slightly shorter than Fang Wen.
So you're the bastard trying to steal my deal?!
"Ah, you're here, Fuxing."
"Mm. And this is…?"
Fang Wen turned his head with a smiling face.
"Wen-ge?"
?
"Zhe? What are you doing here?" Fang Wen froze too.
Morning Star, meanwhile, looked between the two of them in confusion.
"Wait… you two… know each other?"
After spending a few minutes explaining to Morning Star that their relationship was practically like blood brothers, Fang Wen also figured out one more thing in the process.
It turned out that Morning Star had also been helping take care of Zhe and Belle's alt account.
Wait a second. Why had the two of them suddenly made a new alt account again?
"Actually, the day the sudden Hollow disaster struck Fourteenth Street, we ran into some trouble too."
"Sorry. We just never had a chance to tell you before."
Fang Wen nodded. While Morning Star and Zhe were speaking with the landlord about rent and the apartment conditions, Fang Wen finally learned what had happened that day from Zhe's side of things—everything outside the Public Security Bureau's field of view.
That day, after taking on a rescue commission inside a Hollow, the Phaethon siblings encountered a mysterious individual. That person used the safety of the client as leverage and demanded that the siblings hand over a "key." Although the mysterious figure ultimately failed, they still managed to completely format Phaethon's account.
"That's what happened. So Belle and I made this little alt account."
Along the way, Zhe also explained to Fang Wen where Fairy had come from, and how it was connected to the key.
No wonder…
Fang Wen pinched his chin.
It was definitely unusual, but to be honest, Fang Wen felt he had already become almost immune to strange things.
After all, if they were measuring "unusual," then his own transmigration and the existence of the panel were the two most abnormal things of all.
"I'll help you keep an eye out for that guy too."
Fang Wen patted Zhe on the shoulder.
"If he can silently hack into your HDD, then he also has the capability to break into the Public Security Bureau's network."
A security risk like that had to be eliminated whether anyone said it or not—especially if he was an enemy.
To borrow a phrase Fang Wen had heard in his previous life—
This guy already has the path to death laid out before him.
"Wen-ge, why did you become a Proxy anyway? Is working for the Public Security Bureau just too exhausting?"
Fang Wen immediately turned his head and saw that Morning Star was still nearby, haggling over the rent. Only then did he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"For now, keep my real identity a secret from Morning Star. She's been good to me, and I'm not going to drag her in just to pad my work record. You can relax about that."
"Zhe, you know why the three of us are doing all this, right?" Fang Wen continued.
"…To clear Teacher's name. And then get revenge."
"That's right. And for that, I also need an identity that lets me investigate inside Hollows—just like you two."
"Then why not join the Hollow Investigation Association?" Zhe thought for a moment, then asked.
Compared to illegal Proxies and Hollow Raiders, becoming an official investigator or agent seemed like the more natural choice for someone as capable as Fang Wen.
But Fang Wen had already thought this through.
"When HIA investigators enter a Hollow, they basically always have to file reports first. They also have to wear HIA tracking devices." Fang Wen's smile turned a little cold.
"On the surface, those are there to protect investigators. In reality, they're probably just another form of surveillance."
Fang Wen shrugged.
What they were seeking was a forbidden topic to certain people.
Which meant he could never afford to put himself completely out in the open.
He had to keep one final trump card for himself.
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