Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

[Due to your outstanding performance and the annihilation of a small Black Street faction, the reputation of your organization has slightly increased. Please keep up the good work.]

"emmmm… um?" Dai Lian, who was digging a hole, received the prompt and looked around in confusion. He then kicked the big gorilla who was also digging, "When did you go off to kill people?"

Kuang Xin had also just received the system prompt and his eyes widened in bewilderment, "How the hell would I know?"

Dai Lian stroked his chin, lost in thought, "Could it have been Yanzi?"

Tut tut... Taking out an entire small faction by herself, is Yanzi really that fierce?

Or was the sword technique taught to her by that person from the Arbitration Place really that awesome?

"Let's wait for her to come back and ask..."

"Creak~" The cover "manhole" above suddenly opened, revealing Gong Yan's face—not stunning, but soft and pleasant—against the backdrop of sunlight.

"Yanzi!"

"Where were you just now? How did we end up wiping out a faction?"

Gong Yan, appearing at the mouth of the hole, was equally surprised, "I was about to ask if you guys did anything earlier?"

This morning, she had gone to collect several thousand kilograms of cement offered by the enemy party and left in a hidden corner of the sewer. After that, those guys got greedy and wanted more... such as military supplies by the thousand. Unable to produce more and having made up an excuse to escape, Gong Yan had already harbored thoughts of killing them.

But she had only just begun to entertain the thought, not even having the chance to plan a complete scheme, when these people disappeared?

If she hadn't been the one to act, then it had to be Kuang Xin or Dai Lian.

They might have been protecting her from the shadows, and upon sensing something amiss, dealt a swift and lethal blow to clean out the scoundrels.

But now...

"It wasn't you guys?"

"We thought you did it..."

The three fell silent for a moment...

After eliminating all impossible answers, the remaining, no matter how outrageous, must be the correct one—

"It must have been Wen Jie!" Kuang Xin suddenly realized.

"Stop talking nonsense! What could Wen Jie kill with? He can't even handle a knife properly," Dai Lian said, dampening spirits and then cupping his chin, somewhat lost in thought, "Could it be the boss?"

"Didn't the boss go out on a mission? To Black Street?"

"I don't think it's likely either..."

"Then who the hell did it?"

It definitely had to do with our organization, otherwise how could the credit be attributed to them?

"Or could it be... other members of the organization?"

The other members of the Li Ming organization had always been a topic only within the boss's talks. Aside from the four of them, players, the only other member they had met was a rat person, and ironically, he joined the organization after them.

So, was it members from other parts of the organization exerting force, wiping out some unknown small faction, and then sharing the glory with everyone?

"That does seem a bit possible..."

Gong Yan clenched her small fists, "Does it mean those thugs are still not dead?"

It couldn't possibly be that other people from the organization, knowing her identity, had stepped in to eradicate those thugs for her? She hadn't even shared her murderous intent with Dai Lian or Kuang Xin yet... coincidence couldn't be this coincidental.

If they weren't dead, those thugs would become a major concern.

This morning, when she couldn't produce the goods, she could sense those people's sinister intentions, perhaps probing casually or following them during the cement transfer to launch a surprise attack... The consequences were unimaginable.

No, that won't do!

She had to find a way to get rid of them!

Without delay, Gong Yan expressed her concerns.

"...I feel like they've grown suspicious and are planning to tail us."

It was easier to dodge and hide on my own, but with the cement and all that stuff just lying there, we inevitably had to move it, and it wasn't so easy to conceal our tracks while moving cement with Kuang Xin and Dai Lian.

Before, they were afraid of my "background" and didn't dare to go too far—a slight nudge and they had to back off.

But if lies couldn't hold them off any longer, being tracked here could lead to the exposure of the boss's secret base...

Unless we give up the cement and never go to Black Street again...

Move and start over elsewhere? Normally, as players, moving around isn't an issue. If one place gets too risky, shifting to another makes sense. Haven't I been driven all over the place in games because big guilds monopolized the area?

But the boss is here!

If we run, does that mean we're no use to the boss anymore?

Besides, they're just a small gang of a dozen or so hooligans—not even sure if they qualify as a gang. Scared of them, my ass!

Screw it!

"Let's go! We're going to dig some traps to lure them in, then take them down in one fell swoop!"

The way you kill wolves, that's how you kill people!

Just some low-level NPCs, and Dai Lian certainly doesn't take them seriously.

"We should also chop down some trees on the way. We've used up the wood we chopped earlier, and it's not enough." Kuang Xin added from the side.

"There's no mission though..."

"Isn't the construction mission a mission?" Kuang Xin gave him a glance, "Can we rely only on the boss's missions to keep up? We ought to handle things ourselves."

"..." Dai Lian mulled it over for a bit but didn't see one option as better than the other.

Relying on scarce resources to take on more missions could certainly fleece the boss a bit more, but the construction progress would undoubtedly fall behind. After all, the boss himself said the number of missions he could issue each day was limited. It's not so black and white--both choices have their pros and cons.

But you, kid, being so proactive about considering the NPCs is a dangerous train of thought...

Traitorous scum!

"TMD! Let's move!"

Why did I get stuck with you two as teammates!

Dai Lian grabbed the spade and climbed up the ladder with resolve, "Let's go, go, go, we've still got some daylight left. We've got to set up those traps quickly, and lure them in tonight when we pick up the cement, and that's when we'll deal with them!"

Unlike that honest-to-God gorilla Kuang Xin, he never held grudges overnight—he settled scores on the spot!

"Ready! Let's set off!"

Gong Yan smiled at the Ratman, who was burying himself in work in the corner, and called out, "No need to work so hard when we're not here. Hide and take a break..."

She was worried about the noise the Ratman might make, given that the person's identity was sensitive. She had heard that those two from Arbitration Place had been investigating his whereabouts recently.

"Let's go! Yanzi!"

"I'm coming!"

...

"Dig a hole, cover with earth, count one, two, three, four, five..."

"Here a pit, there a snare... Don't forget later, big gorilla..."

...

Under the gradually darkening sky, a pair of bright eyes in the shadows watched the three bustling figures, "They seem pretty happy, don't they?"

"They probably don't know yet that the little gang wants to make a move on them," said the beefy man, his tone laced with impatience. How did investigating one case lead to more and more crap piling up?

"Franca, this has nothing to do with these people. I know you're curious about the organization behind them, but it's obviously unrelated to our case. Put away your curiosity, we have serious work to get to. Just yesterday, the higher-ups were asking if we wanted to go to the military camp to teach those privates how to handle Spiritual Energy under pressure. No one at the office wants to go.

If you really want to have some fun, you can go there, but only after we resolve what we're working on!"

"Ah, I get it, I get it..." Franca waved her hand nonchalantly, dismissing the beefy man's concerns as if they were nothing but wind, "Don't worry, with me on the case, there'll be no problem! We have to be thorough, right? Those thugs said the bullets came from these guys, so how could we not come and check it out?"

"Isn't that obviously a frame-up?" The beefy man rolled his eyes, thoroughly speechless.