Putting aside battle power index and the like, Zheng Fan mainly intended to focus on testing what he could do with the black beads in his possession.
This was more interesting.
The bead he got from the uniformed man's corpse early in the morning had actually been used up by him a long time ago; subsequent beads were acquired by him from other strange and peculiar places.
Anyway, this item currently seemed to be his exclusive power unit, and Zheng Fan figured no one else wanted them.
Lin Yilin quietly went about her business, and whatever Zheng Fan did beside her didn't seem to disturb her.
That was until Zheng Fan curiously leaned over to look at the computer screen in front of her.
“Processing Bureau Public Commission Website.” Zheng Fan read out the website’s name.
“This is also how the agency gets jobs, or more accurately, it’s the mainstream method most of the time,” Lin Yilin explained as an aside.
“With this so-called ‘public’ system, how do small agencies compete with large ones?” Zheng Fan asked curiously.
“Large agencies naturally prefer larger commissions with higher Rewards, and competing for commissions also requires filling in the names of the recipient and the person in charge first. Most members of agencies, big and small, are registered with the Processing Bureau, so those with needs and conditions can make precise selections.”
“Personal reputation and the agency’s own reputation are both very important,” Zheng Fan commented.
“That’s right. My adoptive father belonged to the type who, although he didn’t make the agency big, had significant personal influence. I also hope to become a person like him.”
“Sounds impressive, but also very tiring and troublesome. Are you very short on money?”
“Huh? No.”
Lin Yilin looked at Zheng Fan strangely, as if wondering why he would ask such a question.
“My adoptive father’s inheritance was all left to me. He accumulated a vast amount of wealth throughout his life and had low personal consumption desires. This inheritance is in the Dadu Central Bank; I could live a carefree life just off the interest alone for the rest of my days.”
Lin Yilin calculated for a moment: “I just bought a house in the neighboring school district.”
The school districts of Dadu were also part of the white and peaceful world, used for education, gathering a large number of schools from small to large, mainly focusing on colleges and universities.
In Dadu, the housing prices in the peaceful areas, needless to say, were not low.
Goodness, this girl was actually a little rich lady.
She could clearly stay in the peaceful area and lie flat for the rest of her life, but she insisted on coming to the Grey District to do agency work that dealt with danger.
At first glance, she seemed like a reckless youth who wasn't afraid of death, but the current interaction made Lin Yilin not seem like that kind of naive young person to Zheng Fan.
Having some doubts, Zheng Fan asked directly.
To this, Lin Yilin thought for a moment: “Interest, I just like doing this. I actually started as my adoptive father’s assistant in high school, and doing it now is just out of habit.”
As she was speaking, Lin Yilin’s mouse suddenly moved quickly, with continuous clicks and keyboard input of the password, all in one go.
Zheng Fan: ?
What just happened?
“We have another job, Mr. Illusion.” Lin Yilin’s lips curved into a faint smile. She wasn’t completely expressionless, it was just that her facial expressions were very subtle.
Zheng Fan came to his senses: “What kind of job?”
“It might just be a small matter, but now is the time to accumulate experience, and this commission shouldn’t be dangerous.” Lin Yilin moved back a little to let Zheng Fan see clearly.
The content of the commission was naturally located on Xixikeke Street, where an urban legend about “biting Toast bread” had recently appeared near Dongding Road.
The initial sighting source was a homeless person.
There was a bakery on Dongding Road, and unsold items from the day would be fed to local homeless people at a fixed location. One day, when a homeless person went to beg for food, he found a perfectly intact large piece of Toast bread discarded in a corner.
Glad that he had found a bargain, the homeless person went forward to pick it up and immediately intended to eat it.
Then, what was bitten was not the Toast bread, but the homeless person.
The homeless person, who was about to eat Toast, was bitten by the Toast bread he held in his hand.
It drew blood in one bite, and after biting, it broke free and ran away while the homeless person was in pain.
Many such incidents occurred within two weeks; although no one died, many homeless people were miserable. Was it easy for them to pick up a piece of bread?
Indeed, there was no such thing as free bread in the world, and certainly no such perfectly shaped Toast bread would be discarded in a street corner for no reason.
Naturally, the voices of the homeless in Dadu were almost nonexistent. One must know that even when the police reported a large number of pending suspected supernatural cases, the Processing Bureau might not necessarily issue a commission, let alone for the homeless?
The reason this matter was reported was because a family from the Ring District was passing by Xixikeke Street with their child, and the child, being naive, picked up something from the ground to eat.
Then it turned into “the Toast bread being naive,” giving the child a harsh bite, almost biting off his finger.
The family was so angry that they directly paid to have the authorities issue a commission.
The police might not necessarily issue one for an incident, but they definitely would if money was paid.
This Processing Bureau was quite sensible.
After reading the commission details, Zheng Fan was silent for a moment, then said, “Compared horizontally to other commissions, the amount is not low, and considering it’s from a Ring District family, if we succeed, it will help promote our reputation.”
“Correct. Mr. Illusion’s thinking is very fast; I feel like he will be a high-quality assistant.” Lin Yilin picked up her water cup with a cartoon Earthworm pattern and took a sip.
“Don’t push your luck.” Zheng Fan narrowed his eyes.
Lin Yilin shrugged and said nothing more.
“This is a commission to find a target rather than solve an incident; it’s a concurrent competitive commission, first come, first served, so we will have competitors from other agencies. According to known intelligence, the target’s aggressiveness is not low, but it couldn’t even bite off a child’s finger, so the danger level isn’t high.” As she spoke, she stood up and put on her loose overcoat.
“Does this count as an illusion?” Zheng Fan asked.
“No, it’s classified as a derivative of illusion, officially called a Phantasms, so it can exist normally in reality and be seen and touched by everyone. And most of these Phantasms have peculiar powers, some even comparable to those illusions.”
After Lin Yilin explained quickly, she muttered “Very urgent, very urgent” and trotted out the door.
Zheng Fan stayed in the room alone for a while, not following immediately.
He looked at the blurry image of the commissioned target on the lit screen.
A golden-brown Toast, with the most perfect Toast outline one could imagine, even if it might be somewhat meaningless to some, not knowing what significance it held.
Even the wrinkles on its body looked so comforting; unless one was indifferent to Toast, and could still fit something in their stomach, it would be hard not to feel like taking a bite when seeing this Toast.
What a handsome Toast.
It made him hungry just looking at it.
But that wasn’t important.
As it stood, the fact that this thing was something Zheng Fan had conjured when he was previously homeless seemed difficult to admit now.
The first black bead he got from the uniformed person, Zheng Fan accidentally touched it, causing a small change in the Toast on the bakery shelf.
Originally, Zheng Fan was just habitually touching things to see what he could interact with.
Moreover, most of his physiological reactions seemed to have disappeared; not eating, drinking, or sleeping had no effect on him, but he still retained the desire to enjoy delicious food.
When he tried to eat the Toast, the mutated Toast jumped up and bit Zheng Fan, then, under Zheng Fan’s dumbfounded gaze, it wiggled its backside and ran away…
This was the true origin of this “biting Toast.”
Oh, right, Zheng Fan actually really wanted to find it too.
After finding it, he would bite it back hard. He didn’t care about what was called dog-eat-dog; after all, he was biting Toast bread.