"Stringy."

"..."

Wei’en was speechless. ’I’m not a pervert. I can’t just have a conversation with a zombie about whether her flesh is stringy, can I?’

"Now that you’ve recovered, you should head back first."

Shawa’s torn flesh on her face and body had healed somewhat, but faint scars were still visible. Her originally filthy dress was now in tatters.

"Mm."

After watching her teleport back through the array, Wei’en gave his gun a flourish. ’Looks like I need to get her a nicer set of clothes...’

With that thought, he had the driver summon the Mechanical Gate.

As the mechanical door with a clock face materialized, Marco immediately ran over to inspect it, tapping it from time to time. "Wei’en, I’m sure of it—this gate of yours has mutated." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Wei’en grasped the clock’s hands to open the Mechanical Gate and placed his firearm inside. "Perhaps. It’s something I learned from that Era Relic last time."

The Death God Origin Rune was too significant to reveal, so he could only attribute it to the genius Mechanical Mage, Jerry Akram.

"The Tier 2 reward from before?"

"Mm-hmm."

"No wonder you picked that manuscript right away. I was about to advise you to choose something else at the time."

"Just got lucky, that’s all."

A look of envy crossed Marco’s face. "You Wizards have it good. You can enhance your Extraordinary traits through study. It’s not so easy for people like us."

Wei’en asked curiously, "Then how do you all increase your strength?"

Although his predecessor had also lived in an Extraordinary Clan, his bloodline had never awakened, so he knew little about what came after the awakening.

"Mainly by eating and training."

Wei’en dismissed the Mechanical Gate. "That simple?"

"Yep. For example, we of the Nascimento Clan mainly eat flesh that has chaotic properties. As for training, well, it’s just practicing our Extraordinary Abilities a lot."

"Flesh with chaotic properties... How does it taste?"

"Taste?" Marco’s expression twisted as if he’d just eaten shit. Clutching his mouth, he said, "Don’t ask. I don’t want to remember."

"Er..."

Seeing his expression, Wei’en figured the flavor must be incredibly overpowering.

Just then, Lisi shouted to the two of them, "Get me some clothes."

"Huh?"

"I’ve got it."

Marco ran over, pulling off the clothes he had burst through. "Officer Lisi, you’ve recovered pretty well, huh? AHH—"

THUD!

Marco went flying, blood gushing from his nose. ’What a rip-off, I didn’t even get to see anything...’

Lisi clutched her chest. A newly-formed bell-clock poked through her tattered clothes and swayed twice. She gritted her teeth. "These clothes are even more torn than mine. How am I supposed to wear this?"

"Here."

Wei’en took off his jacket and handed it to her. Although he was also injured, his clothes were still in relatively good condition.

"Thanks."

Lisi ripped off the rags on her body and took his jacket, putting it on.

What the?!

Wei’en’s eyes went wide. She was so uninhibited.

The bell-clock was exquisite. Its pinkish-white face glinted brightly, and its two hands traced a few circles around the dial, a truly alluring sight.

"Like what you see?" Lisi asked with a grin.

Wei’en nodded instinctively. "I do."

THWACK!

"Of all the people to imitate, you choose Marco?"

"Sorry..."

Wei’en clutched his head and squatted down. Now he finally knew how Marco felt after that punch. It really hurt.

’Totally worth it, though!’

"Whatever. Just consider it an extra reward for your excellent performance this time,"

Lisi looked toward the Ceres Clan guards who were collecting the bodies. "You just asked Collins for three hundred gold pounds in compensation?"

"Yes."

"Not enough."

Wei’en froze for a second. ’That’s not enough?’

"Collins," Lisi shouted toward the main building, ignoring everyone else, "we’re the ones who killed all these people. The spoils of war should rightfully be ours..."

"One hundred gold pounds!"

Collins’s voice pierced through the thick walls of the building.

"Give it to us now, or I’m going to the Noble Committee..."

SWOOSH.

"Here are the four hundred gold pounds I promised you. The commission fee will be sent to the Secret Investigation Department later. Now leave, quickly."

"Much obliged." Lisi grabbed the money pouch, a smile spreading across her face. "If another opportunity like this comes up, be sure to contact us."

"Get out!!"

"For the sake of the gold pounds, I’ll forgive your rudeness this time."

With that, Lisi shot a look at the other three. "Let’s go. Time to split the cash."

"Right, right, split the cash..." Marco said excitedly, pinching his nose to stop the bleeding.

Wei’en quickly followed with Tina. An extra hundred gold pounds... he wondered how much his share would be.

Watching their retreating figures, Collins nearly ground his teeth to dust.

"Damned bringer of misfortune."

Elno stood beside him, his gaze fixed darkly on Wei’en’s group, his eyes filled with a frenzied killing intent.

’Next time we meet, I’ll kill you, you black-haired bastard!’

[You have been targeted by Colins Vazquez’s killing intent. Assessment: With your level of intelligence, you shouldn’t be foolish enough to face him alone, right? Reward: Survival Points +5.]

[You have been targeted by Elno Vazquez’s killing intent. Reward: Survival Points +2.]

...

...

RUMBLE, RUMBLE.

The mechanical vehicle rumbled periodically, its body swaying slightly as it headed toward the Secret Investigation Department.

Lisi poured all the gold pounds onto the table. "This time’s earnings don’t need to be turned over to the Department. We’re the only ones splitting it."

GULP.

Wei’en stared at the pile of shimmering gold pounds and swallowed hard.

Even if they split it evenly, he’d still get one hundred gold pounds.

"This is the first time I’ve ever seen so many gold pounds. They look so beautiful all piled up like this." Marco was grinning from ear to ear.

At this moment, only Tina, sitting quietly to the side, had no reaction. Or perhaps, in her eyes, gold pounds were far less vivid than the color of blood.

"On this mission, Tina contributed the least, so..." Lisi mused for a moment, then slid 40 gold pounds over to the white-haired girl. She continued, "The three of us will split the rest evenly."

"Sounds good."

"Tina, have money."

Neither Wei’en nor Marco had any objections to this method of distribution.

Although Wei’en had killed the most people this time, he wouldn’t have been able to do it if Lisi and Marco hadn’t tied down the two strongest Extraordinaries.

’Besides, one hundred and twenty gold pounds... that’s already a lot of money,’ Wei’en thought, feeling very content.

After the three of them finished dividing the remaining gold pounds and counted their shares several times, their excitement finally began to subside a little.

"Lisi, something’s not right with the Ceres Clan. A mere butler can just pull out four hundred gold pounds. Just how rich are they?"

Four hundred gold pounds might be an astronomical sum for some, but for a noble family that could support over 700 guards, it was nothing much.

However, Collins wasn’t a family member, after all. There was no way he should have been able to authorize such a large sum of gold pounds.

Even the lowest-ranking guard earned 10 shillings a month.

If you also included the Extraordinary guards, the Ceres Clan’s monthly expenditure on security alone was no less than three hundred gold pounds.

Marco put his money away. "And what’s more, for those people from the Black Pearl to be able to bypass inspection and appear inside the city-state—in the Natali District, the most heavily guarded area, no less—I’m afraid..."

"There is definitely a big problem," Lisi said thoughtfully. "Especially Tiki. He was on the Black Pearl for a long time, and we never heard anything before about him being from the royal bloodline of the Vasquez Race."

Royal bloodline?

’Does that mean Collins is one, too?’ Wei’en wondered.

"So, should we report it to the Noble Committee? Whatever secrets they’re hiding, those greedy nobles will definitely skin the Ceres Clan alive," Marco asked.

Lisi said, "For now, let’s just report it to Yegor. We’ll have the Department keep an eye on the Black Pearl first. Since that ’Emperor’ has his sights on the Ceres Clan, there are bound to be more moves later."

"That works, too."