Li Andy quickly flipped through it.
The commission was indeed a good one.
Lots of money, little work, light responsibility.
But, this wasn't the kind of commission he was looking for.
"Is there nothing else?"
After Li Andy put down the documents,
"It's fine if it's a bit worse."
Old Du Lin was silent for a moment, then showed a strange smile: "It's good for young people to be confident, but don't overestimate yourself too much. Everyone has to be responsible for their own choices."
Li Andy shrugged, leaned back in his chair, and said confidently:
"I'm a professional."
Old Du Lin sneered and took out another stack of documents. Some of these documents were already yellowed, looking as if they had been stored there for a long time.
"Let me explain beforehand, these commissions either have no results, or investigators have died on them."
"I know."
Li Andy took the documents and began to read them.
After more than ten minutes, he finally saw a commission from the game.
Its release time was half a year ago.
The content of the commission was to awaken a sleeping girl.
This sounded like a healing commission.
"This one then."
Li Andy pulled out that commission.
The reason he chose this commission, besides its suitable difficulty, was mainly to obtain an artifact that could alleviate the side effects of soul-splitting—the Clockwork Heart.
According to the original timeline, this commission would be taken by Yuquan Youxi, who had just come out of seclusion, two and a half years later.
But in the end, Yuquan Youxi did not awaken the sleeping girl, but merely dealt with the monster that caused her to fall asleep.
This girl, who had fallen into a deep sleep, never woke up from beginning to end.
"......"
Old Du Lin took the commission, glanced at it, and frowned:
"If you're after the money, I advise you to change to another one, lest you work for nothing. I've seen that girl; it's not some strange illness, nor is it possession by an evil spirit, but..."
"But her soul is gone, right?" Li Andy said.
Old Du Lin was stunned for a moment, then nodded:
"Yes, she's actually already a dead person. I've never heard of anyone whose soul has been lost for so long and can still wake up. So, you can't wake her up."
Li Andy nodded and asked:
"Then if the cause of the soul loss is found, and the ghost that caused all of this is dealt with, would that count as completing the commission?"
Old Du Lin was silent for a few seconds, then replied:
"It should count, but it depends on the client's wishes."
"Then this one it is. I'll go talk to the client."
Old Du Lin shook his head helplessly, then turned around, found the client's address, and handed it to him:
"If you can really solve this, when your office opens, I'll promote you in the circle for free."
Li Andy's lips curved into a smile as he took the address:
"Alright, it's a deal."
...
...
Arriving at the client's location.
It was a small Gothic mansion, its exterior decorations extremely complex, yet appearing somewhat deliberately ostentatious.
The spires pierced the sky, the carvings on the spires were exquisite but overly ornate; the pointed arched windows were colorful but seemed a bit vulgar; the walls were covered with vines, obviously to create an ancient atmosphere, but they lost their natural beauty due to being too neatly trimmed.
It was like a nouveau riche, eager to prove his status by weaving a magnificent facade.
"A rich man born in the gold rush, a lucky one soaring on the winds."
Li Andy commented softly in his heart.
Then he followed the butler into the mansion and met two familiar yet unfamiliar clients.
They were a middle-aged couple, surnamed Harveys.
The husband was burly, wearing a well-tailored suit, but his overly meticulous matching made him seem a bit stiff. The wife wore a gorgeous long dress, with intricate patterns embroidered on the hem, but her makeup was too heavy, and her expression too tense, as if she was very uncomfortable with her attire.
Li Andy stepped forward and explained his purpose again, stating that he could find the reason for their daughter's deep sleep.
The wife, however, excitedly grabbed his hand:
"Then can you wake up Molly? No matter how much money it takes, I'm willing to give it!"
"Madam, please mind your image!"
The husband reminded her in a low voice, but it only earned him an angry rebuke from his wife.
"Image! Image! If it weren't for your damned image and dignity, how would Molly have fallen into such a deep sleep!! My Molly, boo hoo..."
"Madam, I... sigh..." The husband sighed, letting her cry and hit him until she was tired, only then did he hold her and continuously comfort her in a low voice.
Li Andy politely stood aside, not interrupting the emotional clients.
A few minutes later, their emotions finally calmed down.
"I'm sorry, you've seen us at our worst." The wife wiped away her tears and apologized.
"It's alright, I can understand a mother's concern for her child."
"Thank you." The wife sniffled, feeling a bit more favorably towards this young man.
"Then... may I see your daughter first?"
"Alright, please follow me, sir."
Following the two into a luxurious large room, Li Andy finally saw the sleeping girl.
At this moment, he suddenly understood why this NPC, who didn't even have a single line of dialogue, was affectionately called "Sleeping Jasmine" by the players.
The girl lay quietly there, her ashen long hair spread on the pillow, her pale skin like snowflakes falling in winter, carrying a fragile and broken beauty. Long eyelashes cast faint shadows on her eyelids, slightly swaying with her breathing, as if this was her only connection to this world.
"She is indeed beautiful."
Li Andy praised inwardly.
The sensory impact brought by reality's three-dimensionality is something two-dimensional pixels can never compare to.
"Her name is Molly, a common flower in my hometown."
The wife slowly sat by the bed and spoke softly,
"My husband and I were originally an ordinary family in the countryside of the Luo'ou Empire, in debt and living hand-to-mouth.
"Later, we heard that New Continent was full of gold, so we sold all our belongings, drifted across the ocean, and came to this land.
"We worked from dawn till dusk, risking our lives to gain a foothold in this unfamiliar land. We finally accumulated some wealth, but our bodies were already failing.
"Fortunately, the goddess still favored us, and we finally had Molly; she is our only one. She is a very well-behaved child, who likes to tinker with machines...
"At the same time, our business grew bigger and bigger, keeping us extremely busy, so we thought of sending Molly to an aristocratic academy, hoping she could find good companions there.
"But we didn't expect her to be unhappy there, becoming more and more silent... And we, only caring about our business, always ignored her feelings...
"By the time we realized the problem, it was already too late..."
"If, if only I had noticed earlier!"
As she spoke, tears welled up in the wife's eyes again, her words full of heartache and regret.
Although Li Andy already knew the whole story, he still listened quietly, nodding slightly in agreement from time to time, a perfect listener.
After understanding the details of the matter, it was already noon.
Li Andy also had lunch with the couple at their invitation.
After eating and drinking his fill, drowsiness gradually set in.
Not having slept well to begin with, he used the excuse of organizing materials to ask the client for a room, planning to take a short nap before returning to the church.
But not long after he fell asleep, his spirit body popped out.
Upon waking, he found that he had unknowingly drifted into the room of the sleeping Molly.
"What's going on?"
Li Andy scratched his head, looking at the girl's body, feeling a strange sensation.
The girl's body indeed had no spiritual fluctuations.
To him, it felt like an exquisite porcelain vase with nothing inside.
"A body without a soul, an ownerless husk..."
"Eh!"
At this moment, a sudden thought struck him.
Since it was ownerless, could he... enter her body?
This was an operation that never happened in the game!
But just because it wasn't in the game didn't mean it couldn't happen in reality.
"Hiss—!"
"Maybe he really can wake her up?"
"And then, get a generous reward in advance?!"
Li Andy exhaled softly, slowly descending towards the girl...