Fatal Shot

All three mission targets in the portraits that appeared in the agent glasses were yellow-skinned men of average height. Except for Amaha Eiji, who was slightly plump, they did not have many defining characteristics.

But when Feng Luo saw these portraits and videos, he instantly recalled what he had seen on a screen before. It had been during the first part of the investigation from before, when the two white-collared NPCs had shown him a screen full of words and pictures requiring half an hour of memorization. The portraits of these three people had been on it.

However, the photography angle and clothing were different in those portraits and in the videos now. If not for him clearly remembering those details, it would have been difficult to match the two.

But matching them up now, Feng Luo already had a guess.

“Could it be that the mission targets to be hunted down now are the people from those more than 100 photographs from before?”

If that really was the case, he who had memorized all the pictures and words would have secured a great head start! Also, since the portraits were of use, then could the tens of thousands of words have been hiding something, too?

“But this is still just a guess. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to confirm it…”

Feng Luo was rather calmer inside. He knew that the system definitely would not troll the players, making players spend half an hour memorizing something with no use at all—this seemed unlikely.

At the moment, the almost completely transparent levitating vehicle, engaged in travel mode, had risen into the air and was flying toward the Royal Hotel near the landing point! Feng Luo switched off the mission information in his vision and lowered his head to start pondering about the mission.

“Only five minutes of preparation time. According to what the mission said, this was due to just receiving the internal news and the emergency release of the urgent mission! But 15 minutes is way too tight. If it were for players landing at the other two landing points, rushing over would take at least 12 minutes. Then, as for these people, preparation time would be even more insufficient… Furthermore, killing people at an area with such tight defense as the landing point would make it extremely difficult to escape even with disguise potions and Agent equipment. Already such a difficult mission from the start! No matter how I look at it, there are definitely other motives…”

Feng Luo’s eyes glistened as his attention shifted down to the various sorts of defense weapons and patrolling guard soldiers at the landing point.

“This mission feels like it might be a trap designed by the system for players, disguised as a piece of cake! The tight time is actually intentional so as not to give players much time to think. And all three assassination targets, disguised as business investigators and losing their protection, added together are worth over 1000 points. It’s undoubtedly a huge ‘piece of cake’ full of allure!”

“But,” Feng Luo reminded himself, “it must be remembered that the value of these 1,000 mission points has yet to have an assessment standard. If the value of killing these three people rises due to the critical nature of the situation, then 1,000 points might be sufficient enough to set a player apart from the rest. It might even be enough to secure an outlying spot among the quota. That would probably cause people to choose the risky route despite knowing the danger! And this rate won’t be small. Not every player will be able to resist the temptation of this ‘piece of cake’!”

Feng Luo closed his eyes, still thinking hard in his mind.

As such, the landing point will be a mess before long. Staying here wouldn’t be ideal… But there’s no concrete evidence for this prediction, so leaving wouldn’t be a good choice, either… Plus, if I stay, I’ll be able to observe later how fast the NPC army’s reaction can be! If there are more people thinking the same as me, then the most suitable observation point would be…

“Mister Kudo, we have arrived at the Royal Hotel. May I know if you have booked a room and if you need S-10403 to send you to your room?”

At that moment, the automatic hovercraft had come to a stop, sounding a reminder in its female artificial-intelligence voice.

“No need, I’ll exit here!” Feng Luo shook his head and alighted from the vehicle after swiping his credits.

But before getting out of the vehicle, he first took out some blue casual attire and a hat from his case and changed into them.

The time on the agent glasses indicated that three minutes had already passed—four-fifths of the preparation time left!

Holding his branded business case from a local stall, Feng Luo started walking on foot after alighting from the vehicle. He did not enter the Royal Hotel just a few steps away but opted for another direction, as if enjoying the scenery as he strolled.

After walking for about three minutes, another one-fifth of the time had passed, and he opened his personal terminal.

“Hello, Mister Kudo! Ginza Hotel welcomes you. How can I help you?”

On the terminal screen appeared a beautiful, smiling NPC attendant lady wearing a pink uniform.

“I would like to book a room at the highest floor of the hotel,” Feng Luo told her. “A room with a view of the landing point.”

“I’m so sorry, but the last room that fits your criteria was booked five minutes ago!” The beautiful attendant’s voice was delicate and apologetic.

“Oh… Then could you show me the booking status of your hotel? I’d like to choose a room I like.”

“Sure!”

Feng Luo looked at the line of rooms already indicated as booked on the highest floor facing the direction of the landing point. He tilted his mouth slightly and raised a hand to tap on a room. “This one, then!”

“Sir, you have chosen room 21-105,” said the attendant’s voice. “This room is back-facing the landing point. Would you like to confirm?”

“Confirmed!”

At that moment, Feng Luo had already stepped into the grand entrance of Ginza Hotel near the landing point.

******

“What? We’re giving up this mission?”

On the fourth level from the top of Ginza Hotel, in a luxurious suite in the direction of the landing point, September Night Rain spoke. He wore Agent glasses with his forehead creased, and he was looking at the Light Armor Warrior player at his side.

“No way. This is a 1,000-point mission. If it’s taken by someone else, we’d be inferior from the start! Also, don’t forget that I’ve given you all 13,000,000, transfer guaranteed. If it weren’t for you all screwing up, I could’ve achieved this mission with my own ability, even if I hadn’t cooperated with you all!”

With that, September Night Rain’s face turned sour.

There was a slight smile on the Light Armor Warrior’s face, just like Hound 1007 before. “September Night Rain, please calm down. The main thing is that this mission is a little more than it seems. The higher-ups don’t wish for us to be the first to charge.”

“More than it seems? How much more than it seems? It’s impossible for the system to release fake missions!” Although September Night Rain’s face was not very pleasant, he was not very angry, either, as he spoke, staring at the suspicious Light Armor Warrior Hound.

“Of course, fake missions are impossible. The points awarded for killing the three targets would definitely be worth it,” the Light Armor Warrior said. “But now, with everyone still unprepared, the only way to kill those three targets is to storm them! That way, there would be a high probability of revealing your identity. It may not be possible to escape even with the disguise potion. One person revealed is nothing much. The most important thing is if it affects everyone’s continuation of the plan—that wouldn’t be worth the loss!”

“What do we do now, then?”

September Night Rain was not a foolish person. After listening, he turned and looked through the one-way light transmission window outside, at the landing point with all sorts of airships landing and taking off, as if feeling the calm before the storm.

A light smile hung on the Light Armor Warrior’s face. “Wait and watch!”

******

More than 10 floors beneath them, in room 21-105 at a rear-facing position from the landing point, Feng Luo spent some time circling the whole room and looking at his agent wristwatch, which indicated no surveillance installation discovered. After which, he pulled up a sleeve cuff of his casual wear, and his Pet Space Bracer gradually appeared.

Finally let out of the pet space, 24K initially wanted to instantly leap onto him. But seeing Feng Luo’s completely changed appearance, 24K’s bean-like little eyes were filled with uncertainty.

With a poof, it almost fell onto the floor. Luckily, Feng Luo held onto it.

Feeling a message transmitted by the mental link, 24K regained its focus, then waved its two little front claws, asking Feng Luo for “spirit loss compensation fees.”

“Humph! Little glutton, it’s time to do some work!”

Feng Luo smiled as he threw it a crystal, then transmitted a request to it via mental link.

Chomping greedily with its two claws clutching the crystal did not affect 24K’s psionic energy release. A wormhole gradually formed on the wall, and a semitransparent Scout Beetle only about the size of a fingernail flew out.

Scout Beetle, Elite. Talent: Disguise (A). Level: 29. HP: 2900. MP: 290. Longest Mental Link Distance: 1160 m. Highest Flying Speed: 29 m/s.