Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Victoria Intelligence Agency and the Extraordinaires
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
In England’s Fog City, three black limousines made a turn slowly and drove into a manor. It was a manor which had a long history that dated back to a long time ago. Even though it rained just a few hours ago, the ground was still dry. Such meticulousness indubitably exhibited the massive wealth of the manor’s owner.
In the large house, an English gentleman and six servants were waiting patiently for their arrival. The English gentleman who was clearly their leader said, “Ms. Mephala, how have you been? The last time we met…you were only 12 years old.”
At the front of the group of guests stood a tall lady who had long and dark hair. She took off her hat and revealed her feminine British face, on which there was a pair of round and silver frame glasses that added to her commanding demeanor. She said, “Butler Walter, please lead the way. I am now an intelligence officer working for the Victoria Intelligence Agency.”
The English gentleman smiled and led them into the house. The teenage girl, Yuffie, and loli, Kallen, were already waiting inside. Three cups of piping hot black tea were placed on the table.
“Please have a seat,” Yuffie started, “I am Yuffie Lamperouge, the head of the Lamperouge family.”
“It’s a pleasure meeting you for the first time,” Mephala replied as she sat down, her white-gloved hands interlocking. Her eyes narrowed into a thin, snake-like line as she scrutinized the two girls in front of her. She introduced herself, “I am Mephala Einheim Hircine, the supervisor of the Victoria Intelligence Agency. We are civil servants working for the government under Her Majesty, the Queen.”
Yuffie said, “Victoria…Intelligence Agency?”
“We are a special department which was established this year, and precisely 135 days ago,” Mephala replied coolly. “To the masses, we are a territorial search committee under Her Majesty’s Most Honorable Privy Council.”
Yuffie was starting to form some impression about this territorial search committee. It shot to fame amongst British upper-class societies in recent years, for it held law enforcement power that was equivalent to the royal police. Whenever they carried out an operation, many other departments had to assist and comply. The powerful and wealthy nobilities dared not interfere either. Instead, they instructed their subordinates and companies to fully cooperate with them.
It was said that the nobilities and the finance consortium had already held a meeting in private beforehand in order to come to a consensus. Although the Lamperouge family also had the right to participate in the meeting, they felt that the underage Yuffie was too young to attend on behalf of the former head of the household who had already passed away. Moreover, Yuffie had yet to fully understand the situation of the family’s business. Hence, the nobilities did not even bother inviting Yuffie to take part in the meeting, but instead just informed her of the result of the meeting directly. She was told to cooperate fully with the territorial search committee.
It was only at that point when Yuffie realized that the territorial search committee was the Victoria Intelligence Agency. She nodded her head and replied, “All right, what questions do you have for me? If it’s regarding the Blackthorn Tower incident that took place yesterday, I’m sure we, the Lamperouge family, have already revealed all the information we know. Regarding the anonymous assassins, there is a good reason to believe that it was Baron Flaxman from my aunt’s family, who was behind it.”
Mephala said, “Don’t worry, apart from the ‘Hitman’ who claimed to have hailed from the heavenly realm, investigations on the incident are complete. The anonymous assassins hiding in their base in Fog City have been fully eradicated. As for Flaxman…I believe you and your family have plans in mind for dealing with it.”
Yuffie replied, “But of course. What else does the Victoria Intelligence Agency require of me?”
“I am here to find out more about that ‘Hitman’ who said he came from the heavens,” Mephala answered. “But to date, we are still unable to find any trace of him. We have conducted searches on trains, planes and everywhere else, but I think that the chances of finding him are very slim.”
Yuffie touched Kallen’s head and smiled bitterly. She said, “We are also trying to find him to repay him for his efforts in any way possible…However, he just disappeared.”
“Yes indeed, he disappeared.” Mephala said, “Not only were there 5 cameras recording the entire incident from varying angles, but there were also close to 100 pairs of eyes who saw him vanish into thin air.”
“There was no hypnosis and no smoke…It wasn’t magic, nor were there hidden escape mechanisms. It’s as if the atoms making up his body split into infinitely small particles and dispersed into the air.”
Yuffie picked up the teacup and looked at the light reflecting off the surface of the black tea. She remarked, “His marksmanship was also…exceptional.”
Mephala said, “Yes, and he also has an enormous organization at his back to support him. They know everything about the anonymous assassins’ operation, all the way down to the fine details. The Hitman knew for certain which of the guests were disguised as assassins. There was absolutely no hesitation with each one of his shots. They were all clean and precise.”
“According to our investigation and the assassins’ testimony, we believe that the planned operation had been perfect. Even if you had been able to take down the disguised assassins, the bomb hidden on the ninth floor would still have exploded. Furthermore, there were even more assassins surrounding the building waiting for the go-ahead to fire their shots.”
Mephala continued, “Such violent yet straightforward tactics are commonly employed by anonymous assassins. There was close to zero chance anyone would have survived their ambush attack…”
“Luckily for us, the Hitman appeared and helped us escape,” Yuffie said.
“Perhaps it wasn’t obvious to all of you who had been there at the scene, but according to our investigation, we found out that the hitman from Xuan Nation is actually very scary.” Mephala sighed and continued, “In the intense exchange of gunfire, he managed to protect some of the guests, while still shooting down the assassins as quickly as possible. Yet, at the end of it all, he still remained unscathed…I’m sure you know that the footage of the entire incident has been uploaded online, don’t you?”
“I know, and I learned that it wasn’t possible to remove the video unless the server is disconnected.” Yuffie laughed and continued, “I didn’t expect myself to become so famous.”
“Because every one of the Hitman’s actions was so meticulous, calm and perfect, many people online believe the entire footage to be a scene from a movie. It’s unthinkable that anyone could actually pull the stunts off so perfectly in real life.” Mephala continued, “The organization behind him controls an enormous power…Furthermore, after checking the camera angles and placements, and seeking opinions from many people, there was no way there could be cameras on-site at that time.”
Yuffie was slightly enlightened after listening to Mephala dissect and analyze the entire incident. She questioned, “In that case…The Hitman’s existence is more alarming than that of the anonymous assassins?”
“That’s right. Although I can’t disclose the details, it is way beyond our imagination what the organization behind the Hitman holds.”
Mephala nodded her head as she said, “And the reason I’m here today, is to find out the Hitman’s purpose and hidden agenda.”
Instinctively, both Mephala and Yuffie turned to look at the well-behaved loli, Kallen, who was sitting at the side. Kallen blinked and nudged herself towards Yuffie, grabbing tightly onto her sister’s sleeves.
Mephala said, “There is no doubt that the Hitman wanted to protect both of you, but judging from the Hitman’s actions, his main target is very likely to protect Ms. Kallen.”
“But my sister…” Yuffie hugged Kallen gently. She questioned, “She…is she someone special?”
Mephala paused for a moment and turned to look at the English gentleman. He took the hint and quickly asked the rest of the servants to leave. Yuffie said suddenly, “Butler Walter, please stay in here, you don’t need to leave.”
Mephala did not mind and likewise asked her subordinates to leave. When there were only four of them left in the living room, she said, “I suspect that Ms. Kallen has special abilities.”
“Special abilities?” Yuffie was confused.
“As a matter of fact, some of the consortium members and nobilities already know about this. And I think that the Lamperouge family also has the right to know about it, so I shall get straight to the point.” Mephala looked at Yuffie solemnly and said, “How did you think the Hitman managed to disappear?”
“Hmm?” Yuffie did not quite understand why Mephala had changed the topic, though she replied, “I guess…it was some special ability of his that we do not know of.”
“We have reason to believe so too.” Mephala took a sip of black tea and continued, “Half a year ago, such people who had ‘special abilities’ not known to us started appearing one by one.”
“Typically, these people are called the Extraordinaires, and the special abilities they have…are called superpowers.”
Being born into a wealthy family, Yuffie quickly understood what Mephala was driving at. She said, “So the target of Victoria Intelligence Agency is…”
“That’s right, to search for Extraordinaires and information about them. That’s part of what the Agency does,” Mephala finished the sentence for her.
Yuffie remained silent for a moment. Yuffie herself was no commoner, and she had been through the unusual incident last night. There was no reason why Mephala would tell her false information, for she could uncover the truth with just a phone call. She said, “So the Agency thinks my sister is one of them? But she’s still so young, and has never shown any signs…”
Mephala said, “The superpowers of the Extraordinaires vary greatly, and we also do not know what special ability your sister has. However, it isn’t difficult to find out if she really has such natural abilities…”
————
Treasure chest?
Ren Suo finally remembered. He had received a treasure chest, in addition to merits, when he passed the free chapter in the game yesterday, but he had gone to sleep without unlocking it as he was too tired.
In the safehouse inventory, there was only one item—the treasure chest.
[One-star treasure chest: Don’t bother wishing for any legendary weapon.]
[Do you wish to unlock the treasure chest?]
Certainly, Ren Suo selected ‘yes’. But the next moment, a message popped up: [Number of treasure chest keys left: 0]
Ren Suo blinked in confusion.
You need a key to open the treasure chest?
Ren Suo was slightly bamboozled at the sudden request, though it was typical of other games from this game console.
“Do I need to top up credits…” Ren Suo murmured, who had his wallet ready in hand. After all, this “Mini Worlds” gaming console looked peculiar and mysterious, and the games he played on it had somehow translated exactly into real life…
Just take my money, there’s nothing to lose!
Ren Suo knew he was presented with a golden opportunity!
However, the system prompted: [Searching for keys… Searching for keys…]
[Do you wish to continue in search mode? Beware, if a key is found, 1 merit will be deducted automatically. The search will continue until there are 0 merits left.]
What on earth? It seems that no merits will be deducted if no keys are found, and so allowing the search to proceed and continue, did not present to be a big issue. Ren Suo checked to see that he had 15 merits remaining and left the search on.
All of a sudden, Ren Suo’s phone rang. He glanced at his phone and picked it up immediately. He said, “Hello Director Ye, how may I help you?”
“Xiao Suo, there are some urgent matters to settle, can you be here before 3 o’clock?”
“What’s the matter? Why is it so urgent?”
“I have been really busy, and it totally slipped my mind. There is a health examination for public servants today, and all new workers who have yet to be assigned to a specific post have to attend it. I just remembered that I have yet to inform the newcomers and the higher-ups requested everyone to attend by today. This is very urgent.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll head over now.” Ren Suo replied.