They only exchanged greetings. Nothing more came of it, as if it were a truly chance encounter.

Lin Qi left the company, took the public rail transit for the night, and returned to the employee apartments.

’The number of people secretly protecting me has increased, but I haven’t detected any malicious gazes yet.’

Using his Spiritual Vision, Lin Qi knew that Liu’s Heavy Industries had increased his security level.

This meant the news Si Ying had spread to the Big Business Alliance was out. He just didn’t know when those with designs on the Liu Clan would make their move.

Time was tight. Lin Qi needed to prepare more trump cards for himself.

He returned to the room where his former bodyguard had lived and entered the bathroom.

After a quick check, he confirmed there were no strange new devices in the room.

Greenfield City’s infringement on personal space wasn’t as severe as Red Fruit City’s. For now, the environment could be considered safe.

The weapon compartment of his Short-Handled Tang Blade opened, and Lin Qi took out the bracelet-like Quantum-Locked Text Interaction Device.

This was a device that could not connect to the network; it used quantum entanglement for two-way communication.

The two devices were locked to each other. If either one was lost, both devices would be rendered useless and could not be re-paired.

The bracelet’s interior only contained simple transcoding and storage chips.

On the bracelet’s screen, Lin Qi saw a series of messages.

The messages had to be from King Arthur.

[Wizard?]

[Wizard?]

[Where are you? Why aren’t you replying? Did you fail?]

The timestamps on the three messages showed they were from 9:30 AM.

An hour had passed.

[Hello??]

[Answer me?]

[Hey, lady, you’re the one who suggested we connect, so why aren’t you answering me?]

[Answer me!]

It was clear King Arthur was anxious, but since he had only sent these few messages, perhaps he wasn’t *that* anxious.

What Lin Qi didn’t know was that while King Arthur was sending these messages, he was being hunted by a group of gang members.

Guang Ling had provided cover during the retrieval of the bracelet, but after obtaining it, King Arthur’s location was exposed, and he was spotted by gang members who had been searching for him.

Even before Lin Qi arrived in Greenfield City, King Arthur was already in trouble and desperate to get away.

[Are you going to reply or not? If not, I’m throwing this bracelet away!]

[Lady, can you please answer? Do you have any sense of credibility? You can’t be screwing me over like this, can you?]

[Say something! What was your purpose for contacting me? I’m in a lot of trouble right now. I need to find a new place to lie low.]

[AHHHH! ANSWER ME! If you don’t answer soon, I’ll have to hide in the Greenfield City drainage system!]

These last few messages had come in much later, already four in the afternoon.

In King Arthur’s mind, Lin Qi’s persona was a female Wizard with a mature, womanly voice.

King Arthur’s form of address for Lin Qi matched this perception, which meant Guang Ling had not revealed Lin Qi’s true identity.

Scrolling further down, the time was around when Guang Ling had sent Lin Qi the email.

[I’m already hiding in the sewers. Are you satisfied?]

[Can you answer me already? I asked Guang Ling, and you’ve already got the bracelet! Are you doing this on purpose? Are you a mole the gangs planted in the organization? You’re just trying to screw me over!]

Reading this, Lin Qi understood why King Arthur was so frantic.

He was in trouble, and that trouble came from gang members.

’King Arthur is probably in the outer districts of Greenfield City, and his trouble is from gang members? That doesn’t make much sense.’

King Arthur was an Extraordinary. His Extraordinary Profession was Knight, which was similar to a Martial Artist but with some additional Spiritual Power abilities.

According to the intelligence Lin Qi had gathered in the past, King Arthur should be a Tier Three Extraordinary who had also undergone a certain degree of Prosthetic Body implantation.

His combat power should be on the stronger side among Tier Three.

’Would someone with that level of combat power be cornered by gang members in the outer districts?’

’This is illogical.’

’Perhaps the gangs aren’t his most direct problem. King Arthur might not want to reveal his identity, or rather, his combat power.’

Lin Qi speculated. Greenfield City was a chaotic mix of people now. As an outsider, one had to hide as much as possible, especially a Mercenary like King Arthur who definitely hadn’t entered Greenfield City through legitimate means.

Once exposed, the Si Clan would become his biggest problem.

’Right, why did I want to contact King Arthur again?’

’Oh, I remember now. I originally needed King Arthur’s help to acquire some Prosthetic Body equipment and get some intel on the Assassin Alliance to protect myself and Lin Xin.’

Lin Qi recalled his original plan.

But after arriving in Greenfield City and taking into account the environment here...

Lin Qi could accomplish the goal of obtaining Prosthetic Body equipment on his own.

As for intelligence and ensuring his own safety to a certain degree...

He had accidentally become the center of a vortex. King Arthur probably couldn’t help him.

After a moment of thought, Lin Qi replied to King Arthur.

[Sorry, I can’t use the bracelet during the day. I hope you can understand.]

Lin Qi felt a bit apologetic for not having replied to King Arthur sooner.

After the apology, Lin Qi continued typing.

[I’m also in a lot of trouble right now and can’t break away to help you find a loophole in the Iron Curtain System. However, since we’re both in Greenfield City, we can share some intelligence to make things easier for both of us.]

[As a show of good faith, I can tell you that I’m currently in the central area of Greenfield City and can’t get away for the time being. As for more information, I haven’t been in Greenfield City long, so I can’t provide anything else for now.]

King Arthur couldn’t offer Lin Qi much help at the moment, but Lin Qi still needed to maintain this secret communication channel.

After all, King Arthur was a top-tier Tier Three combatant. In a situation without S-Class and Tier Four combatants, King Arthur was still someone who could influence the outcome at a critical moment.

Lin Qi waited for a moment. King Arthur replied.

[...]

First, he expressed his speechlessness, then continued.

[I understand.]

King Arthur’s helplessness was palpable, but things being what they were, he didn’t complain too much.

The messages weren’t over. King Arthur seemed to have accepted Lin Qi’s request to share intelligence.

[I’m currently in the sewer system in the outer districts of Greenfield City. My situation is not good. At least a dozen gangs are searching for me everywhere.]

[I stole an S-Class Potion from "Endorphin"—Greenfield City’s largest gang, which is also a Mercenary Corps secretly backed by Si Pharmaceutical. I’m being hunted, but they haven’t confirmed my identity yet.]

King Arthur briefly described his current predicament.

Then, King Arthur shared some intelligence with Lin Qi.

[You’re in the center of Greenfield City. I’m guessing you’ve been caught up in the trouble between the Si and Liu Families. You might need more intelligence on them.]

[Coincidentally, while gang members were hunting me, I overheard some of their conversations.]

[In a few hours, there will be a massive explosion in the center of Greenfield City. You need to avoid "Enterprise Road" and "Fortune Avenue." I suspect this explosion is part of a plan led by certain Mercenary Corps and executed by gangs.]

[The real purpose of the explosion is probably an assassination.]

Enterprise Road?

Fortune Avenue?

Lin Qi instinctively used his Intelligent Brain to open a map of Greenfield City.

The intersection of Enterprise Road and Fortune Avenue was where the senior employee apartments for the major corporations were located.

The very apartment building Lin Qi was in was located right there.