Superhunt

Chapter 9: What kind of monsters?

"You're a bit different from the rumors," Fox said, crossing his arms and leaning against the closet.

"Oh?"

This was a difficult question to answer, as any response could give him away. The best course of action was to be vague.

"They say you're cold like a machine, precise like a computer, a strict enforcer," Fox continued. "Even though you haven't awakened any extraordinary abilities, you're an indispensable strategist for the organization."

"Heh." A laugh came from Jonathan's throat.

However, his laughter carried little joy and no hint of smugness.

Fox's pink eyes met his deep black ones for a long moment before he said disinterestedly, "No reaction at all."

"What kind of reaction do you want?" Jonathan asked. "I can provide any reaction suitable for the role I'm currently playing."

"Are all undercovers as devoted to their role as you?"Fox frowned. "Not showing their true face even to their comrades?"

Jonathan quietly looked at Fox until he averted his gaze.

"What's the next instruction?" Fox tossed a droplet of water up and down with his pale fingertips. He said casually, "Don't forget, we have less than half a month."

From his words, it was clear that in this two-man team, Jonathan was the decision-maker, while Fox was the executor. Jonathan's position in Mechanical Dawn was also higher than Fox's, and he had a good reputation among the organization members.

"Investigate the bombing site at the port," Jonathan issued his "instruction".

After careful consideration, he felt that this was the most appropriate command. From the information he had read and gathered, the port was a place riddled with gangs and chaos, and more than one bombing had occurred there. The reason for the bombings could be gang fights, or something else... For example, Mechanical Dawn might choose to destroy the port to prevent the Kraken from landing, making it impossible for the ship to dock.

It was necessary to clarify some basic information before carrying out the port bombing mission, so Jonathan gave this instruction to Fox.

Fox didn't raise any objections to Jonathan's command. He asked in detail, " Personnel movement, on-site investigation of the bombing, or tracking and monitoring of suspicious persons? There's more than one bombing case at the port."

"Everything," Jonathan said.

"You're being overly cautious." Fox muttered, "Alright, I'll go right away. If there are any temporary instructions, contact me via the bracelet."

He fastened the silver mask on his face, pulled down the hood, went to the balcony, opened the window, and his body silently turned into a transparent water stream, blending into the heavy rain outside the window, disappearing into the night.

Jonathan walked over to close the window to prevent rain from splashing into the room. Without Fox, he could think quietly in a peaceful environment.

Jonathan was good at setting plans and managing his time, and now he needed to use his ability to plan his future.

Jonathan went into the bedroom and took out a piece of white paper and a fountain pen with only half a tube of ink left on the table. This was his habit. Writing things on paper could make his thoughts clearer, and the sound of the pen rubbing against the paper could make him more focused.

At present, Jonathan's main crises came from two aspects.

"First, Mechanical Dawn. Second, the Investigation Department." He wrote on the paper.

Being undercover in the Investigation Department was dangerous, but Jonathan had the organization's files to back him up. He planned to stay up all night reading through the hundreds of pages of information to fully understand this federal official department. The information related to "Security Officer Jonathan" needed to be memorized carefully, his life, contacts, habits, and every detail had to be known. Faking amnesia was a temporary excuse, definitely not a long-term one.

As an intern security officer, Jonathan hadn't been in the Investigation Department for long, and it was normal for him not to be familiar with his colleagues. He didn't need to act overly familiar with his teammates or team leader, maintaining a reasonable distance was enough.

Compared to the Investigation Department, Mechanical Dawn made Jonathan more uneasy.

He had hundreds of pages detailing the Investigation Department, but what about Mechanical Dawn?

He had nothing. He was extremely unfamiliar with the organization. He didn't know the purpose of the organization's establishment, or who the leader was, and he had to slowly figure out and guess his role in the organization.

Jonathan's teammate was Fox. Fortunately, this person hadn't interacted with the original Jonathan, and judging from his performance, he seemed a bit inexperienced, like a naive young man, which made it easier for Jonathan to fool him.

If it were someone else, it might not have been so easy.

Jonathan's pen tapped on the paper as he pondered.

In his future undercover life in the Investigation Department, Jonathan would strive for stability. As for Mechanical Dawn, it was more difficult. He had a mission and was undercover. He probably wouldn't have many opportunities to interact with other members of the organization. The main problem was Fox, who was always by his side. If he could fool Fox, he wouldn't have to worry in the short term.

Having planned solutions for the crisis, Jonathan crossed out the "Mechanical Dawn" and "Investigation Department" with his pen.

Next, he had to plan for "missions".

He currently had two missions.

Mission one, investigate the bombing at the port. This mission was assigned by the game system.

Mission two, prevent the Kraken from docking at Black Sea City. This was a mission given by the Mechanical Dawn.

Jonathan emotionlessly crossed out mission two.

He could possibly find some leads by investigating the bombing case, but as for bombing the port to sink the Kraken... that was simply suicidal.

This was a real game, a game without a save function, where if you lost your life, it might be gone forever. He couldn't gamble with his life. Even a hundred save slots might not be enough for such a dangerous mission.

Jonathan bit the end of his pen, his eyebrows furrowed as he began to analyze mission one.

The cause of the bombing at the docking port was obviously not as simple as a gang fight. It was very likely related to the arrival of the Kraken. He wondered if the Investigation Department had noticed anything unusual about the bombing case?

Moreover, Jonathan suspected the existence of a "third party" in the bombing case.

There was more than one organization or power trying to blow up the port.

He made a relationship map.

The first party is the Investigation Department. Their goal was to protect the port and apprehend criminals.

The second party, Mechanical Dawn. Their goal was to blow up the port.

Mechanical Dawn had assigned Jonathan the mission to "bomb the port." This was the mission instruction he had received tonight, and the organization had assigned him the teammate "Fox". However, before he accepted the mission before he officially crossed over to the second world, the port had already been bombed once.

Which force had carried out this wave of bombings?

Gang fights were quite common in Black Sea City, but a typical gang fight wouldn't trigger a special mission from the game system. There must be something special about this bombing case compared to previous ones, which is why it triggered a mission.

Jonathan wrote in the paper - the third party is to be determined.

The reason for the bombing was suspected to be related to the Kraken, but this was only speculation one, and there was also speculation two.

Jonathan's second guess was that Mechanical Dawn had dispatched more than one mission team. The previous bombing case was done by another team from Mechanical Dawn, but they had failed.

Fox had said, "It doesn't matter if we die, our comrades will continue the mission before August 11th."

For a mission like bombing the port and sinking the freighter, Mechanical Dawn couldn't possibly put their hopes on one team. Therefore, the perpetrator of the previous wave of bombings could still be Mechanical Dawn.

Jonathan added a sentence under the words "third party, to be determined": "The third party is suspected to still be Mechanical Dawn."

He looked at the few short lines on the paper, thinking for a long time.

The undercurrents in Black Sea City, the frequent bombings at the port, the orders from Mechanical Dawn, the missions issued by the game system... everything revolved around one core point, the Kraken, this giant freighter that was about to dock in Black Sea City.

The Kraken was the eye of a storm, bringing with it conspiracy and fog, slowly approaching.

Jonathan grabbed the paper on the table, tore it into unrecognizable small pieces, then went to the toilet and flushed the pieces down. This piece of paper had to be destroyed, it couldn't be seen by anyone.

He now knew where the breakthrough for completing the mission was - the Kraken.

If he could find out what cargo was loaded on the Kraken, and why Mechanical Dawn was so afraid of it docking in Black Sea City, then things would become clear.

Jonathan returned to his room and sat in his chair thinking. He turned on his encrypted network connection and searched for information about the "Kraken" online.

"Kraken, a giant bulk carrier, was built in 2086. This is the first year of the Kraken's service. The Kraken has a maximum load of 800,000 tons, making it the largest bulk carrier in the world."

Bulk carriers generally transport goods that cannot be loaded into containers, such as sand, oil, and coal.

What could be transported on the Kraken?

Jonathan made several searches, but there was too little information about this freighter. He couldn't find any useful intelligence, so he opened the mission chip given to him by the organization, which still had some unread content.

He clicked through the info from beginning to end. Also nothing.

Frustrating dead ends.

Jonathan had a thought, and the game system popped up a light curtain.

He blinked, surprised to find that the progress of the port bombing investigation had somehow increased.

"Mission progress 5%."

The proceed increase in mission progress at least proved that his direction of the investigation was correct, and he should continue along this clue.

Jonathan took a long breath. Seeing the mission progress brought a sense of accomplishment, like solving a difficult math problem... no, it was even more satisfying than solving a math problem. This sense of achievement was second only to earning money from working.

He leaned back on the not-so-soft bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He didn't sleep, but switched the display content of his bracelet, checking the information of "Jonathan" and the intelligence of the Investigation Department given by the organization.

He watched from night until dawn, while the heavy rain outside the window never stopped.

At nine in the morning, the balcony window rattled open.

Fox climbed in through the window in a sorry state. He was soaked to the skin, with a cut on his cheek, blood trailing from his cheek, and visibly injured.

Fox looked at Jonathan who came out of the bedroom and opened his mouth to say, "Hey! You..."

"I'm not 'hey', you'd better call me by my code name." Jonathan looked at his wet footprints. "You've dirtied the floor."

"R, richguy... you..." Fox's expression twisted as he called out the codename, then quickly shut his mouth, saying self-deprecatingly, "Whatever I call, it's all the same, I'm injured, do you have a first aid kit here?"

Jonathan went back to the bedroom and fetched the first aid kit from the bedside.

Fox casually took off his mask. His pure white hair was wet and stuck to his forehead, and his already colorless lips seemed even paler. Fox casually took off his coat and threw it on the floor. There were actually three huge scratches on his chest. The wounds were deep, but there he was, alive and mobile.

Jonathan glanced at the floor. The water traces he left when he came over from the balcony were clear, with no blood mixed in. The burst clothes on his chest also had only a small blood stain.

"The number of monsters wandering in the dark has increased." Fox gritted his teeth and took off his shirt, opened the first aid kit and proficiently poured out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for disinfection, and then applied medicine and wrapped the bandage by himself.

Jonathan echoed with interest, "More than before?"

"Yes, more than before, I encountered three last night." Fox gasped for a while after finishing the bandage, and said solemnly, "They took advantage of the heavy rain to land and wandered on the dock full of containers, looking for hosts..."

Monsters? What kind of monsters?

Jonathan anxiously wanted to bite his lip.

The second world had too many things beyond his comprehension. Just last night he'd studied how to use face payment correctly, how to enter and exit public places, how to shop online, and how to use portable devices... even cramming the history of this world, from the establishment to the glorious technological revolution and humans attempting to establish colonies on extraterrestrial planets, as well as the names and general course of some major historical events.

The appearance of the player Daniel reminded Jonathan that he should be more careful. He couldn't make the same low-level mistakes as Daniel.

He was already hard and careful, but the "monsters" mentioned by Fox once again exceeded his comprehension.

In order to conceal his anxiety and unease, Jonathan said to Fox, "You brought in too much water. Clean up the balcony and living room."

Fox "..."

Fox scowled. "If it weren't for my ability to control liquids, I would have died from excessive blood loss long ago. You don't help me bandage, but blame me for dirtying the floor." He angrily formed the water traces on the ground into a water ball and threw it into the kitchen sink.