Chapter 256: Chapter 256 – Encountering the Countermeasure Division, Headcanon Expert
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The 3rd floor of the Homeland Search and Security Agency Office, 85 Albert Street, Lambeth, Thames Riverbank, London.
“… Thank you for understanding,” Mephala said in well-enunciated Mandarin Chinese.
She was speaking to an official from Xuan Nation. “In that case, the first group of security personnel will arrive in Lianjiang City in three days’ time to get ready. Please do prepare for the transfer.”
After the brief call, Mephala put down the landline telephone and sighed. She rubbed her temples as she leaned back in her chair in exhaustion.
The phone rang again, but it was her mobile phone and not the landline that rang this time. She looked at the caller ID shown on the screen. Then, she picked up the call, “My dear Countess, how may I help you again today?”
On the other end of the line, Yuffie chuckled and pretended to be solemn as she said, “Well, please bring a cup of coffee to my room. I want the coffee to be ground by you.”
“My dear Countess, I have been so busy the past month in preparation for your sister’s trip. Not only do I have to deal with that group of politicians, but I also have to communicate with foreign intelligence agencies… I think I’m going to die even before I grow old. How about you make me a cup of coffee instead?”
After becoming closer to Yuffie, Mephala, who was in her twenties, put down the mask she wore while she was with Yuffie and her sister, and chatted comfortably with Yuffie.
Yuffie replied in a righteous tone, “As the Countess of the Lamperouge family, who has pledged our loyalty to the royal family, how can I make coffee for other people? You can come over to hug Kallen and absorb some of her cuteness though, it’s an opportunity most people do not get.”
“Sure, sure…” Mephala replied casually. She suddenly remembered, “Has Lady Kallen finished the ceremony?”
“Yes, she has finished it,” Yuffie said. She added, “She has also put in a lot of effort for this trip.”
Mephala suddenly stood up in her office as she replied, “In that case, the second mystery realm…”
“It has been found,” Yuffie said.
——————
“It has been found?”
Ren Suo was surprised when he saw that piece of news on the intranet. He felt that such secret information would not be made known to the masses. Although the intranet was relatively more concealed, and the researchers themselves were also public officials whose backgrounds had been checked and cleared by the government, was there really a need to announce such information on the intranet?
However, after Ren Suo read the information carefully, he knew why the nation had announced it on the intranet.
The second mystery realm was actually located 300 meters below sea level at the coordinates (9.79, -175.60), somewhere in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. It would be extremely difficult to develop the mystery realm.
England was the first nation to discover the second mystery realm, and it was now jointly being developed by multiple nations. The location of the second mystery realm was so special that there was no value in keeping the information secret. Furthermore, it would not be possible to conceal the fact that warships of various nations were gathered in the same area of the open sea. As such, it was more beneficial to disclose the location of the second mystery realm instead, so that researchers could consider if there were hidden patterns or secrets to the locations at which the seven mystery realms appeared.
However, rather than the secret to the locations of the mystery realms, the researchers were more curious as to how England managed to find the second mystery realm that was located 300 meters below sea level.
“Did they have prophetic abilities? Or did they have wish-fulfilling abilities?”
“It can’t be clairvoyance.”
“Could they have come into contact with the Master of the Holy Light?”
“Could one of the mages in the World Tree be an Englishman? I think the magician looks like an ancient Celt though.”
The researchers have many differing opinions, and Ren Suo felt that their imagination was incredible. Some of the researchers even thought that there was an Extraordinary force supporting England, and terms like ’round table’, ‘parliament of creation’, and ‘Garden of Eden’ were even mentioned.
Nonetheless, discovering this information was just coincidental; Ren Suo had logged on to the intranet this time to gather other information.
After he had completed the third night in “Fleeing Ghost in the Night,” Ren Suo immediately spent his researcher points to search for “The Cards” on the intranet. Now, two days later, the intranet had found all the detailed information about that organization of assassins.
The Cards could be considered an organization of assassins with a long history. It first emerged during the first industrial revolution and existed over 100 years since—it was certainly a long time for an assassin organization.
Initially, The Cards was a killing tool employed only by the British capitalistic aristocrats. Later on, their business gradually expanded to all of Europe, and at that time, many assassin organizations were competing with one another. However, during the time of war, only The Cards further ventured into providing intelligence and mercenary services, which allowed them to remain active on the global stage even in the subsequent century.
The Cards was also almost at its end originally. After all, being an assassin was becoming more challenging in an era when technology advanced rapidly, and The Cards was also very picky when it came to the important people they accepted orders from. They knew that, otherwise, the powerful figures could easily uproot them; they were simply their ‘rags’ who helped them perform and clean up the trivial, dirty work.
It was just that after the rejuvenation of Reiki, The Card received capital investments from various consortia. Not only that, but many other mercenary organizations also started to emerge, and there was no doubt that a multinational consortium was nurturing death warriors.
However, because The Cards had never set foot in Xuan Nation, that was all there was of the detailed information about them on the intranet. Ren Suo noticed something in particular though: the assassins in “The Hitman: The Bloody Banquet” were assassins sent by The Cards.
Considering that The Cards appeared in two separate games but were enemy forces in both of them—it was surely an organization that had to be eliminated soon.
Ren Suo looked at the number of researcher points he had and rejoiced in secret. He had earned points from his previous speculations about the mages and the World Tree organization, and his discussion report on “Eating Garbage Saved A Demon-Human” had even been accepted officially.
Furthermore, he also received double researcher points from when he ‘established the flow’ the previous time. His speculation of the male mage playing different roles as compared to the female mages was confirmed based on what the male mage said in the seventh mystery realm. Consequently, Ren Suo was now very close to becoming a Level 3 Researcher.
In comparison with the other scholars who truly performed research in various research institutions, Ren Suo’s speed of promotion completely neglected the huge obstacles supposedly posed by his lack of relevant academic qualifications. His answers also did not involve any technical aspects, and he merely guessed the behavioral patterns of the Extraordinary forces. As such, the account “Researcher: Suo” on the intranet had been unofficially named—
Headcanon Expert.
Ren Suo was not concerned that he was called a headcanon expert, however. No matter what, his researcher points were increasing rapidly, which meant that his salary and Reiki stones were also increasing.
The only problem was that, with a higher standing in the intranet, “Heavenly Palace x Naisser Ren x Task Force” asked him to answer questions more frequently. However, he was truly clueless in terms of the technical aspects, which further established his identity as a headcanon expert.
After he finished Practicing, Ren Suo started conquering the fifth night in the game.
The city he chose for the fourth night was Seoul of Silla Kingdom. It was a densely-populated city with a population of over 20 million people. The four hours of that night in the game took Ren Suo 12 grueling hours in reality—he tended to more than 200 customers, and Ren Suo was so tired that he fell asleep the moment he cleared that night.
Apart from the last few customers, the desires of the other customers were easy to figure out. Ren Suo did not want to waste his merit points unnecessarily, so he recorded down the life experiences of the customers, extracted the keywords, and thought of what seasonings to add by himself.
After numerous rounds of careful deliberation, Ren Suo found that the stress half-demons around the world faced could generally be classified as the following:
[Boss was a pain in the neck]
[Friend was a pain in the neck]
[Parents were a pain in the neck]
[Lover was a pain in the neck]
[Children were a pain in the neck]
[I am also a pain in the neck]
After figuring out the truth, all their stress could be eased.
As for the other types of monsters, Ren Suo first considered if he was confident in seasoning their food. If he was not confident, he would feed them ‘garbage’. Consequently, at least 50 of the 200 over customers were cleared by him beating them in battle.
On the other hand, the fifth city he chose to ‘flee ghosts’ in was Shenhai City.
Shenhai City was located at the mouth of the Yangtze River and was known as the Paris of the East. It was also the first free-trade zone in Xuan Nation, the central city of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, and one of the most important ports in Xuan Nation. Along with Tianjing City, Lianjiang City, and Shenyuan City, Shenhai City was one of the four super first-tier cities in Xuan Nation with the most expensive housing.
The moon on the fifth night was not bright, but the location of the fleeing ghost stall seemed to be in a park very close to the city center. Skyscrapers not too far away towered over the park silently in the night, and the neon lights lighting up the road nearby also provided a little extra light for the female stall owner.
The location of the fleeing ghost stall this time was not in a dense forest but beside a fountain that was not running. Directly opposite the stall was a lake with its water glistening under the dim light, which provided a sense of comfort to people.
The female stall owner set up the food cart, then sat down and began watching Episode 31 of “Over My Dead Body” as she waited for the first customer.
Usually, the first customer would appear within five minutes, but this time, it was much earlier—
Just a minute later, a girl clad in a black vest took a seat in front of the food cart.
She said: [Hello.]
Looking at the female stall owner, she continued: [It’s a pleasure to meet you, Food Goddess. I am Dai Yuxing, a member of the Shenhai Countermeasure Division.]