Chapter 184: He

Yuehuanshe: 【Just getting straight to the point, do you have any impression of the 'Sharp Star' mercenary team?】

Zhouri Ningjing: 【What is that?】

Yuehuanshe: 【…When you helped someone wipe their ass a few days ago, was there any team blocking?】

Zhouri Ningjing: 【That's indeed true; those guys all seem to have the same badge, which is quite similar to the spots on that guy symbolized by Sirius.】

Yuehuanshe: 【I see, confirming that is enough. Sorry to bother you.】

Zhouri Ningjing: 【? What are you up to again? If you want to inquire about those guys, I suggest you go find that Sirius person; she and her teammates have had quite a few dealings with those people, but that girl has been grounded by her family, so you probably can only visit her in person.】

Yuehuanshe: 【Goodbye!】

Zhouri Ningjing: 【Hahaha, you really don't want to go to the Xiangzheng family, huh?】

Directly switching the chat screen without even looking, Aomo glanced around, then glanced at the guide Li beside him.

His eyes were full of complexity, but he still didn't say anything.

He was still replying to messages; walking slowly wasn't a problem.

Of course, he wouldn't be replying to Zhouri Ningjing; the conversation there ends here.

The Xiangzheng family is a particularly troublesome family, and the most prominent manifestation of its trouble is etiquette.

Everyone knows that Jidong people's emphasis on etiquette and hierarchy is practically pathological, and the Xiangzheng family has taken this impression to the extreme.

Several trainers who had visited the Xiangzheng family showed somewhat unnatural behavior in interviews and talks, after which there were reports of their poor condition and mental abnormalities.

There were even rumors that they were harmed by the Xiangzheng family.

They had all briefly served as trainers for Ludaofu Xiangzheng, so they needed to communicate with the main family.

Contract terminations usually happen not long after that.

Finally, Ludaofu Xiangzheng also seemed to give up, stopping the selection of trainers and accepting assistance from a team of trainers cultivated by the family, becoming the famous "Automatic Gear Horse Girl".

The internet's memory is short; information spread as rumors is even more easily drowned out by more direct news.

But there are people like Aomo in this world, investigators who collect and preserve information.

Through multiple sources of intelligence, by pulling the silk from the cocoon, Aomo could confirm that those trainers had not suffered the so-called direct persecution.

But the mental pressure is real.

Such pressure indeed doesn't require direct persecution; just being in a high-pressure environment is enough, as Bi Ze once said about Japanese society in his world.

Old families more or less have this problem; many think it's a stereotype, but in fact, the very concept of a "family" as a power entity inherently binds to terms like "rank" and "superiority/inferiority".

The older it is, the more likely it is to deviate from the human world, lacking a "human touch".

This is also a limitation of this kind of clustering; Aomo can bluntly say that families as such should have been discarded in this era.

Although saying this as the son of a disowned family makes it easy to be seen as biased, with a grudge.

But having an irresponsible father with a bad reputation, why would Aomo hold a grudge against the family? He merely, after normally studying coursework, feels subtle about how a "family" as a power entity could still exist to this day.

Thereafter he made up his mind to keep his distance.

Man En: 【Aomo, are you online? Our client seems to have sensed something, their courage suddenly surged—interested in coming? Continue as a consultant

Of course, if needed we'll raise the commission ratio—how about that?

Finally came the news from the Edge Runner Agency.

Although Zhouri Ningjing's commission level has been rising lately, that doesn't mean taking a main line job prevents taking side jobs, right?

Aomo had been waiting for any movement from the Edge Runner Agency, because he vaguely remembered the commission there—originally just a small task to help retrieve a package, but he only contacted himself after getting intel about possible monster interference.

Just earn some pocket money, Aomo thought.

Lately, running around east and west, treating people to drinks, and even occasionally cooking for himself consumes a lot of ingredients.

If it were the past, Aomo never would have thought cooking a meal could cost nearly a hundred bucks; fortunately this is just the expense of intense activity, and if he doesn't use demonization, there's no need to compare appetites with a horse girl.

By comparison, the shouting staff is damn expensive; Bi Ze, whose game micro‑spending plan has completely collapsed, has let him regain some mental balance.

It's just that the micro‑spending plan collapsed, and Aomo is curious how much this guy actually bet on horse racing.

But for now, let's reply to the message first.

Yuehuanshe: 【Old rule, you guys plan your time; I need to make sure it doesn't clash with departure.】

Man En: 【Alright, we'll discuss it further here and get back to you.】

Originally just a small family‑style office, internal discussion is quick—only a few minutes—and they sent Aomo a feasible schedule.

Set for tomorrow morning, Aomo felt it would be off to ignore Suzi and Bopan for two days straight, so he switched to a night operation.

Following up, he contacted Bai Ren to check on the training situation there.

Narita Bai Ren: 【The slope training is very effective; her talent really surprises me a bit.】

Yuehuanshe: 【Perhaps it's not just talent; have you noticed those experiments she does on a daily basis?】

Narita Bai Ren: 【……Like that.】

Yuehuanshe: 【Looks like you've also looked into it.】

She is a somewhat talented hard‑worker, but the direction of her effort isn't visible without actual combat.

Ailisuzhi and Mei Pu Bopan are also relative extremes.

Bopan releases potential through harsh training, while Ailisuzhi focuses her mind on researching how to efficiently boost speed, achieving the best results with far less training volume than the former.

Both are putting in effort, but one is a hard‑worker and the other a thinker; compared to that, the latter often appears lazy.

Even so‑called "fun fun" things of hers, like drugs that make testers glow, genuinely do have some auxiliary training effect.

Just like the fatigue‑removing drink Aomo had this morning.

It can dispel the fatigue from his late‑night intel work in one go; the cost is his whole body glowing, forcing him to wear long sleeves and pants in this summer, and to prepare full‑cover gloves and a helmet.

Narita Bai Ren: 【Ailisuzhi's condition is as such for now, but there's something I must mention about Mei Pu Bopan's side.】

Yuehuanshe: 【What's going on over there?】

Narita Bai Ren: 【She hasn't shown any issues; her straight‑line training is still improving a bit, but I need to remind you that Qianming represents someone who quit midway.】

Directly addressing someone by their full name is also quite rude.

Yuehuanshe: 【How does Bopang himself say?】

Chengtian BaiRen: 【He said that guy had something come up temporarily.】

Yuehuanshe: 【It's fine, don't worry, Qianming came here on his own, there's no contract or agreement】

Narita Bai Ren: 【Indeed, then when will you come back? My leg is almost healed.】

A day of rest for a bone fracture is almost enough, right?

Aomo lifted his gaze, taking in the surroundings fully once again, rather than glancing occasionally.

Yuehuanshe: 【Rest a bit more, health is important, I have something to attend to, I'll leave for a while】

After saying this series of farewell words, Aomo finally moved his gaze away from the light screen, helplessly saying: "Don't you find this intersection quite familiar, Mr. Li?"

""……" He remained silent the whole time, only the brow of the mechanical youth never relaxed, uttering something like an excuse: 'I clearly followed the navigation.'"

「Can I contact the chief, Miss? Or tell me the destination, and I can summon my vehicle over. 」

He sighed silently, Aomo was now certain the other was completely directionally challenged; originally getting lost in the dream couldn't be blamed on the complex intertwined city architecture.

However, as a mechanized ascended prosthetic person, how could one possibly become directionally challenged?

Zero-level augmentation shouldn't be 【I am machinery】; one would never suffer from this innate insufficient mental development of carbon-based life, right?

If it weren't too rude, he would want to ask whether the other party occasionally got infected with a virus.

Now he turned his attention back to the light screen.

Dual-screen mode: one screen displays the electronic map, the other searches for 【Gray Raven Agency】.

He dislikes unprepared contact with people, especially when the other party is a group of transmigrators.

Civilizations from other worlds are always of interest, especially a group of technology users so close to modern tech.

War Twin Parmish? The nickname other transmigrators gave this world is really subtle… Seeing a title link on some transmigrator forum, Aomo muttered inwardly, and then heard the youth answer:

「No need, someone is coming to pick us up. 」

He said, lowering the wrist holding the projection light screen, looking toward Aomo's rear: "And it's already almost here."

"?" Upon hearing that, the angelic helmet also turned its head; Aomo caught a dark red arc slicing into his field of view, accompanied by a screeching brake sound.

That was a dark red-painted sports car, its side reflecting the gray-white logo of Gray Raven.

「Lowering the car window, the driver's seat revealed a smiling female face, quite young, with a faint vertical scar on the bridge of her nose, making her look rather heroic. 」

「Mr. Linton, looking at it this way, your helmet is cooler than before. 」

「Thank you for your appreciation, but I can't be expected to give it up; are you that chief, Miss? 」

She appears to be a vibrant woman, causing some distress to the face beneath the helmet.

Someone in a high position adopting this posture reminded him of Thus we output: Thus we output: QiuChuan, the chairman.

But the other party is currently still at the courtesy stage.

「Yeah, I saw Li's coordinates go around in four circles and knew I should have come, alas, a pity, 」 the chief suddenly slumped, making Li beside Aomo look a bit embarrassed, 「I bet with Shenwei that you wouldn't get lost this time. 」

「Although sorry, 」 Li showed Aomo's familiar helpless expression, 「but betting on such things is really boring. 」

「If I win the bet, I can have Kurolum come cook for me! 」 the chief raised a hand and tapped the window sill, 「You don't want to eat Lucia's cooking, do you? 」

「Cough cough, 」 a light cough interrupting the topic came from the back seat; a girl with white long hair opened the car door and gently waved at the two, 「Mr. Li, Mr. Linton, get in. 」

「Emmm, yeah, let's get in the car and talk. 」