Chapter 41

【Wanted Notice

TMZC, 612.6/12, Two Worlds Safety Bureau surround and capture

A-class wanted criminal Mata'er from Aron K2 Star came to Heaven's Gate City's Ekong Star mercenary, identification code, appearance as in the picture.

C-class threat, please discoverers must prioritize reporting, call the Two Worlds Safety Bureau hotline...】

The refresh on the wanted notice website and the pop-up windows that automatically appear across the site, while they will inevitably draw complaints and curses for disturbing others' busy affairs, more people still feel surprised, shocked, or even excited about it.

Because there are too many wanted criminals in Heaven's Gate City, the bounty hunter community has arisen.

Of course, this is just a generic term, not an actual profession that can issue credentials.

If we must speak of an actual profession, it's still mercenary, after all, interstellar mercenary is the officially recognized legitimate occupation, and among the annual graduates of the Source Energy Academy, a large portion also choose mercenary employment.

Most bounty hunters also dream while holding a mercenary license.

Many are people who don't want to be office slaves or laborers, full of yearning for this freelance mercenary profession... then... then take a look at some struggling bottom-tier video streamers and live streamers.

Awesome mercenaries are famous across the stars, with generous pay, flashy gear and abilities, while struggling mercenaries have fewer than a hundred fans, live in poverty, and look at their work résumé hesitating whether to bite a lighter.

Most of the latter will give up being a cosmic ne'er-do-well, honestly return home, and collect disability benefits for the incapacitated.

Moreover, because this ne'er-do-well profession has no age, gender, or ethnic restrictions, many underperforming students in school will run off to become mercenaries before even filling out their college applications.

Thus, among student circles, students' perception of this cosmic ne'er-do-well profession has become severely split:

Other mercenaries, XXX wanting to become mercenaries, XX mercenaries returning to visit their alma mater—losing face! No prospects! No future! This lifetime is basically doomed.

Some who constantly appear in news, interviews, and big banners as interstellar mercenaries—cool! So flashy! So tough! So strong! Adorable.

Aomo, who spent elementary, middle, and high school in this environment, although never blended into the crowd due to his foster father's social connections, also had a clear career path, naturally not considering mercenary work.

"Your procedures have been completed; as long as you sign your name here and have your soul vetted, you can become an official interstellar mercenary."

The smiling counter lady demonstrated full professional competence, showing no extra emotion due to the applicant's age, appearance, or attire lacking vigor, and her fox tail behind her seemed to sway lightly from joy, giving full approval.

But the other party seemed somewhat lukewarm:

"Can it be temporarily placed?"

The inquiring appearance was actually quite serious.

Such registrants also exist; the counter lady, being well‑experienced and knowledgeable, still responded naturally: "The rules allow a one‑day cooling‑off period."

"That's enough; please keep this document for me and apply for a remote signing service."

"Okay, sir, do you have any other needs?"

"No, thank you; please let me consider and contact you later."

"Awaiting your reply."

Nodding in farewell, Aomo passed through the crowd of varied attire, walking out of this large building under the scrutinizing gazes of many.

Heaven's Gate City's mercenary hub, which provides contract‑related services for all mercenaries, sees a young person in ordinary winter clothing naturally out of place among a crowd of exoskeleton armor, pure prosthetic biological skins, and even the revealing divine‑essential enchanted garments.

Some dress like they stepped out of a starship, some like they walked out of the Middle Ages, and others even more outrageously like they came out of some kiln; in Heaven's Gate City's mercenary center, such a mix of styles is rarely seen—one can only say that otherworldly culture is sufficiently flamboyant.

However, those scrutinizing gazes are not because his attire and appearance are too 'weak', but because Heaven's Gate City's abundant bounty resources have 'forced' bounty hunters to develop sharp eyes.

Especially today's newly appeared A‑class wanted criminal!

That's an A‑class, after all—how many years has it been since a new A‑class wanted criminal appeared?

This must be the level granted only to something capable of threatening the entire Heaven's Gate City, meaning extreme danger and also a generous bounty!

Moreover, that identity is still that of a mercenary!

Already too many 'smart people' choose to loiter at the mercenary station entrance; the hub needs someone loitering, each district branch also needs someone loitering, and besides there are patrolling personnel everywhere, each one essentially reacting at the first sign.

If it weren't for the mercenary license as proof, some of those loitering at transportation hubs would have long been taken to the local precinct.

But even if shown, they'd still be driven away; yet these bounty hunters have always been indifferent to continuing to affect the cityscape.

It's clear that the mercenary profession's complicated reputation has its reasons.

Now, just thinking that Mata'er might be in disguise, even using some transformation device to alter his appearance, too many bounty hunters become suspicious and paranoid; someone like Aomo, who looks harmless, is especially stared at for several minutes, as if they wanted to bore holes through his face.

One can imagine that in recent times, the mercenary station will see a noticeable drop in new hires.

Not every newcomer can endure receiving the elders' 'gaze‑gift', and even fewer would be willing to accept such a 'gaze‑gift'.

From this perspective, the calm‑looking Aomo also indeed has a 'suspicious aspect', to the extent that even after leaving the mercenary station he can still feel several gazes following him.

"It feels like lifting a stone only to drop it on one's own foot......"

Already waiting at the traffic light with others, Aomo lightly tapped the newly put‑on wireless earphone with his index finger.

How can one go out without earphones?

Before meeting Bi Ze, Aomo was practically never without earphones, because earphones are truly a very convenient tool.

They can be used to enjoy music alone, for calls, or to pretend to listen to music to signal others not to disturb, or to indicate one isn't paying attention to the other's words.

It can even serve as an accessory to enhance one's image—nowadays, oddly shaped headphones are also common and can fulfill the role of decoration.

The terminal's private mode can prevent others from peeking at the screen, but the sound is hard to hide, and if one is farther away it may be seen as strange muttering; this problem only needs a pair of headphones to solve.

Just since meeting that guy Bi Ze, although he still has the habit of wearing headphones, he uses them less often.

After all, that guy talks a lot, annoys him frequently, and his plain headphones aren't the type that can automatically retract and extend; being disturbed so often makes it really impossible for him to keep wearing them.

He had arrived, and he could have exclaimed, 'My youth is back!' but the noise around his ears remained the same.

It did come back, but only a little.

"What are you thinking? Saying it as if no one would watch you if you hadn't launched that report—how does that Eastern saying go? 'Gold will always be valuable!' These bounty hunters think you're quite valuable; why not try using your observational skills to guess how they'd evaluate you? I'll bet two core irons." Just like this kind of sound coming from the ear, thanks to the headphones' excellent sound quality, it produces an effect that makes Aomo feel even worse than usual.

Honestly, Aomo for the first time felt that good headphone sound quality was a bad thing; this kind of nonsense from the Aosuo Magic Blade is truly a novel torment.

I've come to Heaven's Gate City... I originally planned to travel alone... I was almost saying, 'Goodbye Earth, this lousy place I can't stay another second,' but aliens keep appearing around me, right?

Shouldn't death give people insight, elevation, a reflection on life, and thus make them more mature?

Why does this vampire act contrary to reason?

Aomo felt terrible, but even so, he still managed to respond rigorously:

It will always glow... The boundary zone is clearly an Eastern territory—haven't you learned any proverbs from your colleagues? What kind of conversion method is two pieces of nuclear iron? Have you completely fallen into the dark side of using game props to calculate cash amounts?

You've learned quite a few homophonic jokes, you don't really get this, do you? I haven't even said nuclear iron is a game prop yet!

That game is something I fucking recommended to you!

It's really too abstract, abstract to the point that Aomo's blood pressure spikes and he curses, even though he still remembers to lower his voice, but the words spat out through gritted teeth still leave Morrison's whole QQ people stunned speechless.

Then, when Aomo thought he had been shouted down by himself, the headset transmitted a feeling-laden sigh: "If you had shouted at me like that earlier, I wouldn't have to worry about you."

Damn! The biggest problem with this person's survival file is that there are fucking aliens all around him!

As Aomo walked across the crosswalk with the crowd, his heart felt heavy.

He had prepared himself as an avenger, walking the path of revenge.

Such a path should be as fervent as fire cooking oil, as Hei'an as the night before dawn, as heavy as a thousand jun weighing on a single thread, and even more precise like a mechanical pocket watch, rather than being bound by an assistant vampire as if it had been injected with eight big green sticks.

This assistant also came with a Landri's torment!

Damn it! How could the path of revenge be like this!

Is it because you want to get revenge on a silly person, making it impossible to stay serious?

Aomo, deeply feeling "How can one act professionally while moving with this kind of bug?", had his heart filled with mixed feelings, to the point that his original train of thought almost short-circuited; or because upon reaching the opposite intersection and pausing to think, he caught sight of a horse girl passing through the horse girl passage, only then did he remember that he was preparing to go watch the road to Du Matar.

No... what connection do these two have again?

Why do I need to rely on horse girls as mental glue?

Aomo raised his hand with a complex expression to cover his face, and beside his ear was Morrison's concerned question about not understanding his sudden action.

Forget it, it's not important; anyway, thanks to whoever that was just now. Ignoring Morrison's concern, Aomo slid the terminal to cast the screen, gazing at the electronic map displayed there.

Midsection of Sunset Avenue, that is Matar's location; I don't know whether it is also the server location of that black market auction house.

Probably not.

Looking at the two routes he had emphasized on the ten-times-reduced map of the western district of Heaven Gate City, Aomo thought.

He hasn't yet grasped enough decisive connection clues between Matar and those two cards; the timing is rather coincidental, and Mechanical Godzilla draws attention to such clues, only making his intuitive arrow a bit clearer.

Intuition can be a quick summary of past experiences, but it can also be a pure illusion; Aomo somewhat trusts his intuition, but to convince others to believe as well, he still needs evidence.

But there is no such time now.

The Two Worlds Safety Bureau is operating at full capacity today, with twenty-one more grouped routes than yesterday; one focuses on handling the black market auction house together with police officials, while another has already apprehended that man—namely, Matar's whereabouts.

Although those monster cards of the former are attractive to him, the latter, about to be caught, needs his confirmation more, so he also headed that way, hoping to arrive before missing the big scene.

In this regard, he has a great advantage.

—The key clue was given by him; even before he reported it, he had already been investigating the movements of that then-unknown 'man'.

—Although he's not yet familiar with this city, online information gathering is still familiar, especially with ample funds, he can hire a few cyber hackers to help.

Starting from his recollection of the details of their first meeting, he breaks down the information bit by bit, then has those few hackers help gather information, and finally he organizes it himself.

But this obviously can't keep up with the Intelligence Department's efficiency, so he must do it before being late.

As for purposeful investigations into what people notice, he doesn't care.

This city has so many bounty hunters and so many opportunists; someone like me, a 'sneak runner', is nothing special.

Unless big data locks onto him alone, even if he feels he's found the right path—this situation—isn't special enough.

Opportunists always need to be confident in themselves; at most others will just think he's unusually lucky, because he indeed found the right path.

But his luck might not be so good.

Because before he reached his destination, the other side had already made a move.

Height 40M, weight ton, birthplace Gaoda Planet.

Asking why the information is so detailed, it's naturally because Aomo has read through the opposite side's setting book, and he himself did so, not that 'non-existent memory'.

Ace Assassin, a thing that is not a monster but even more monster-like.

Standing tall upon the earth!