Ains South East District

The sunlight drooped westward, the pervasive shadows enveloping the entire alley, covering the long-parked red sports car.

Amidst these thick shadows, an elderly man in simple casual attire with white curly hair slowly emerged from the darkness, looking up at the nearby sports car. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The tire tracks on the ground were slightly dusted; this sports car had been parked here for a few hours already.

However, the alley was remote enough; if it had been parked on the outside streets, this sports car might have been stolen long ago.

He Ao lifted his gaze, scanning the surrounding alley.

The alley was clean, with only some scattered footprints, showing no signs of any battle or violent collisions.

No bullets were fired on the walls or ground, and the sports car’s paint remained intact and smooth, without scratches or new dents.

That is to say, no fierce battle occurred here, no combat between Transcendents, or gunfire.

Moreover, there wasn’t any blood on the ground.

Or perhaps a fight did occur here, but it was over in an instant.

One side was subdued by the other through some means, unable to mount any significant resistance and solved immediately.

Though Medala wasn’t an extremely powerful Transcendent herself, she habitually brought many security personnel with her.

Normally, even a strong C-level Extraordinary could hardly make a well-trained combat squad unable to resist at all and be dealt with.

Unless this Transcendent possesses some bizarre ability, or their strength far exceeds the C-level.

As he pondered, He Ao slightly raised his brow, focusing forward.

The air seemed to resonate with a faint and subtle floral scent.

It was the scent of winter jasmine.

He Ao took a few steps forward; the scent, though still extremely faint as if it might vanish at any moment, was more intense than where He Ao previously stood.

He Ao glanced around; some small blades of grass were faintly unfurling in the surrounding shadows, but there was no winter jasmine among them.

He looked up and quickly moved through the alley.

His body emerged from the other end of the alley, exposing a slightly bustling street in his field of view.

The subtle floral scent still lingered over this street, drifting to the left side.

At the right side of the alley entrance, a lean and yellow-haired young man was smoking, leaning against a utility pole, gently puffing.

It was at this moment that he felt someone pass behind him, lightly patting his shoulder.

He turned his head, looking behind.

Entering his gaze was nothing but an empty street, along with pedestrians passing by.

Several pedestrians noticed him turning back and instinctively looked up at him as well.

"What are you looking at?" The man glared at those who cast their gaze, lifting his short sleeve hem to reveal the handgun tucked inside his pants pocket.

Those few pedestrians immediately withdrew their gaze.

"Huh," the man sneered, dropping his clothes, before taking a deep drag of his cigarette. "Don’t they know this is Wild Chicken’s turf? Anyone passing through here must ask my permission."

After speaking, he turned his head, continuing to smoke absently as he stared forward, seemingly contemplating, yet perhaps daydreaming.

——

Dawn City · Outside

"What do you mean?" The man looked up at the young officer before him. "Starting the ’welcome ceremony’ ahead of schedule? What’s happened?"

"The situation has changed for the moment, Deputy Mayor Sett," the young officer said quickly, looking at the man. "According to the original plan, we were to escort you into the city for rest, with the ceremony taking place tomorrow morning."

He glanced back, at the long convoy parked in the vast wilderness, stretching endlessly. "Several major corporates’ mercenary corps suddenly attacked, cutting off commercial routes. Now, those originally departing caravans are returning, and we can’t predict when the next move from the corporates will start."

"Corporates cut off the trade routes?" Sett slightly stunned, shifting his sight from the queueing convoy ahead to the long convoy at the back. "What do they intend to do?"

"Not sure," the young officer shook his head, speaking frankly. "But you must come with me. We need to enter the city, swiftly complete preparations. The setup for the early welcome ceremony is underway, and we must have everything ready before dusk."

"Is Christos frightened of mercenary or corporate arrangements, attacking our convoy?" Sett paused, pondered, "Our entire operation is highly secretive; no one knows we’ve reached Dawn City. Even with current city publicity, the corporates should be unable to make arrangements in time."

"This kind of thing, we cannot be sure," the young officer shook his head, looking at Sett. "Mr. Sett, I’m just carrying out orders, so don’t try to persuade or trouble me. Once inside the city, you can directly speak with Mr. Christos and General Vislo."

"Alright," Sett acknowledged the young officer’s troubled expression, nodding. He turned his sight towards the queued convoy ahead, whispering, "We’re going directly with you into the city?"

"Yes, we’ll approach through another side gate," the young officer raised his hand, pointing towards a small side gate next to the main gate.

This side gate was slowly opening, revealing a narrow cathedral hallway, yet City Defense Army soldiers were guarding the entrance, sealing off the entire gate.

"According to Mr. Christos’ intentions, we’ll open the car doors to disperse traffic," the young officer turned towards Sett, "Seizing the opportunity with the gate just opened, we’ll enter directly from the side gate, fast yet avoiding queue-jumping. But,"

He glanced back at the varied vehicles behind Sett. "We must hurry, maintaining formation intact, else any incident delays others’ entry times."

"No problem," Sett nodded, aware of the young officer’s concern, mentioning naturally. "These are capable lads; we’ve traveled here without mishap, none have lagged behind."

"Good." The officer nodded, stepping toward a little army-green SUV. "Then follow me, I’ll lead up front."

Sett turned his head to the side and looked at the driver beside him, "Send a message to the convoy, let’s follow the off-road vehicle in front."

"Hahaha!" The driver excitedly turned the steering wheel and opened the team communication, "Brothers, there’s a shortcut, let’s take a back road!"

The leading vehicle made a turn, leaving the long line of traffic, and with the convoy, followed the off-road vehicle in front.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Sett raised his head and looked at the towering wall that almost spanned the sky, placing his hand on his chest.

"Mr. Sett, what’s wrong?"

A figure sitting in the back seat asked softly.

"I don’t know why," Sett pressed his chest, seemingly listening to his own heartbeat, "I just feel like this trip has been going a bit too ’smoothly’."

The long convoy separated from the massive traffic, flowing like a fragile stream towards the magnificent city across the vast plain.

——

Ains

Dim daylight shone through several open windows, illuminating the dilapidated machinery beneath and the vast space.

The beautiful woman’s hands were tied with slender ropes to a pillar, seemingly in some kind of stupor.

All around her stood fully armed security personnel, like sculptures, at her side, with one holding a bucket of water.

Bang——

Water was splashed directly onto the woman’s face, washing over her pale cheeks, soaking her slightly curled long hair, and wetting her long dress.

She woke from the stupor, raised her head in confusion, and looked at the security officer holding the bucket of water.

She tried to say something but, upon seeing that the officer had a cold, deathly pale face like a corpse, swallowed her words.

Clack——

She attempted to break free, but only the sound of steel columns clanking came from behind her.

Thud thud thud——

Rhythmic footsteps sounded from within the shadows.

"What did you do to my people?" The woman raised her head and looked towards the shadow ahead.

"Not much, just let them receive a little grace of death." Accompanied by clear and bright footsteps, a figure slowly emerged from the shadow—a man in a white robe, with deathly pale skin and a thin face, looking as though afflicted with albinism.

Slim, black veins slightly quivered under his skin, making his deathly complexion appear odd and eerie.

The beautiful woman gazed at the man, her brows slightly furrowed, "Are you from the Church of the Grim Reaper? How did you infiltrate Ains?"

"Ains’ defenses aren’t as tight as you imagine, ma’am," the gaunt man looked at the beautiful woman and smiled slightly, "And besides, I wasn’t the one who intruded; I was invited. It’s not I who needs them, but they who need me."

"What do you mean?" The beautiful woman raised her eyebrows sharply, looking at the gaunt man.

"Ma’am, I know you very much want to coax some information from me," the gaunt man smiled, "I’m also happy to exchange this with you, as long as you’re willing to provide that small help···"

"Tell ’Hawke’ that his son’s body is in Dawn City, and for him to go there?" The beautiful woman’s slender eyebrows arched slightly, watching the gaunt man with a tinge of humor, "I’ve considered it. It’s the kind of thing that can be negotiated. We can all make a deal."

Her hand was behind her back, fingers lightly pressing on the slender ropes binding her wrists. She lifted her gaze and smiled at the gaunt man, "But I need to state one precondition: if Hawke is caught, I want all of the hundred and fifty-million-dollar bounty."

"Ma’am," the gaunt man looked at the beautiful woman, "greed isn’t a good trait, but for the sake of our collaboration, I can agree to your request."

"Can you truly make that decision?" The beautiful woman slightly raised an eyebrow, "That’s one hundred and fifty million federal coins, not a federal coin and fifty cents."

"If you don’t trust me, there’s nothing I can do," the gaunt man gazed at the beautiful woman, "but you can trust me."

Drip——

Water dripped down from the beautiful woman’s slender strands of hair, landing on the ground. She looked up at the gaunt man, smiling, "It seems you wield considerable influence within those big financial groups. But I’ve never seen you before, what consortium has gone into deep cooperation with you?"

"There are answers to all these questions," the gaunt man did not directly answer but smiled as he spoke, "as long as you are willing to cooperate."

"Of course I am willing," the beautiful woman slightly straightened her body, slender streams of water slid down her clothes as she watched the gaunt man, "Actually, there’s no need for you to go through so many twists and turns, with false intelligence and kidnapping; anyone likes making money, especially with one hundred and fifty million involved. But,"

She reached back to tug at the steel column behind her, "if you want someone to work for you, at least let them use their hands, right? How am I supposed to send you a message with no hands?"

"Sir, there is no need to discuss further with this woman," a figure in a white robe emerged from the shadow, standing behind the gaunt man. It seemed to be a woman, with a hoarse and strange voice like a fine wind passing through a gap, "If she intended to betray Hawke, she would have done so by now. She’s simply stalling for time; we might as well kill her outright and use her body to send a message to Hawke, which can achieve the same result."

"You see," the gaunt man did not answer but looked at the beautiful woman and smiled, "we actually have other options too."

"But you don’t actually want this option," the beautiful woman laughed almost without hesitation, "You know Hawke is extremely intelligent; any small clue might trigger his suspicion. You don’t know whether controlling a corpse will reveal any flaws, making him question the accuracy of the information."

"That is indeed a concern," the gaunt man lightly lamented, "So I hope you can trust the clues we provide and relay them to Hawke. It’s the best choice for you as you won’t be harmed or bear the burden of betraying a friend."

"It seems being too smart isn’t always best," the beautiful woman looked at the gaunt man, smiling, "But we can still discuss cooperation. I can play the role of the ’intelligence transfer agent’ you need to achieve your goal. If you know about my past, you’d know I’ve betrayed many people, and one more doesn’t bother me."

"But looking at your history, you seem not to have betrayed anyone you considered a ’friend’." The figure in the white robe standing behind the gaunt man said softly.

"Firstly, they’d have to be a ’friend’," the beautiful woman pressed down on the ropes behind her, smiling, "How can you be certain that Hawke is my ’friend’?"

She turned her head towards the gaunt man, continuing to smile, "However, I have a request too. Since you want to involve me in your affair, I need to have a clear understanding of the risks involved. I need to know some ’intelligence’ to understand the extent of the risk I’m taking."

"What do you want to ask?" The gaunt man looked at the beautiful woman and asked with a smile.

"My question is simple," the beautiful woman smiled, her hand at the back drawing in the blade, holding the cut rope, "What exactly do you plan to do in Dawn City?"