Deep in the Living
Chapter 259 - 248 Abscess

Chapter 259: Chapter 248 Abscess

[Mercury Hotel - Special Moon City Branch]

Due to the uniqueness of Moon City, few large corporations have ventured into this area.

Even among the five major world companies, only Mercury Group has established a directly-managed hotel institution here, due to policy and benefit issues.

This is related to Mercury Group’s own operating philosophy; even if the hotel in Moon City requires a considerable amount of manpower and material resources to ensure safety and stability, and the hotel prices are far lower than those of branches in other districts.

The universally acknowledged safest area within Moon City is the Mercury Hotel.

Any guest who checks into this location will receive protection from the hotel, and even if targeted by the Pseudo-Person Organization, will not be harmed during the stay period.

Any form of illegal activity, especially killing, is absolutely prohibited within the hotel.

Anyone or any organization daring to kill a guest within the Mercury Hotel will be placed on the hotel’s Chasing and Killing list, and the group’s headquarters will spare no expense to eliminate them.

Even investigators will not be an exception.

After all, as one of the top five world companies, the group’s headquarters is located in Capital Central and has deep connections with the World Bureau in essence. The internal policies of the Mercury Hotel are also recognized by the World Bureau.

...

[Noon, twelve o’clock sharp]

A young man, reeking of blood, arrived at the Mercury Hotel wearing a thick overcoat smeared with traces of blood, looking very suspicious from any angle.

Out of its service principles, the hotel did not turn the young man away because of his suspiciousness but instead sent a well-dressed African manager to receive him personally.

This manager’s right eye was fitted with the latest artificial eye from Lighthouse Company, enabling him to quickly identify and analyze the basic information of the guests.

As the artificial eye focused on this blood-scented young man, a red alert popped up signaling [Important Person].

The manager’s expression changed slightly, and he stepped forward.

"Mr. Luo Di! Welcome to the Mercury Hotel, we can arrange a room of any level for you, and we also offer services like a gym, massage, and various international dining options."

"A high-floor room will be sufficient."

"Understood."

Without needing to carry out card registration, the manager remotely completed the check-in process, and Luo Di’s bracelet received the relevant room information.

Although Luo Di has not yet signed a deep contract with the Mercury Group, the priority treatment afforded to him by the group is still very high.

"Please allow me to escort you upstairs personally. As you know, this is Moon City, and some of the hotel’s arrangements may differ.

Moreover, given that you have been in Moon City for some time and have chosen to stay at the hotel only today, you probably need more than just accommodation. Perhaps you also require our information support.

If you have any questions, you can communicate directly with me. I have first-class authority in this hotel."

The African manager was very astute, and Luo Di also appreciated having conversations with such efficient communicators. Indeed, he was here for information as well.

The two took the elevator together to the top-floor suite.

Upon entering and closing the door, Luo Di posed the first question:

"Does your hotel have a cooperative relationship with Moon City’s supervisory group?"

"Rest assured, Mr. Luo, the reputation of this Moon branch is directly linked to the General Administration in the Capital.

Indeed, many organizations want to establish cooperative relations with us, but no matter how much they offer or the proportion of profits they provide, we have responded with refusal.

This hotel established in Moon City is not for profit but an important landmark and symbol of the group.

Of course, some members of the supervisory group do have normal membership here and occasionally come to spend. This is a normal customer relationship, and you need not worry."

"Hmm, can you tell me more about this supervisory group?"

"One moment, please."

The manager did not explain verbally but within less than five minutes, a stack of documents was delivered by a hotel attendant.

"Here is the most detailed information, including both overt and covert aspects. Mr. Luo, please read through them in your suite and burn them in the fireplace afterwards.

Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

"Do you have any information on the Venerable?"

"The Venerable? Please wait while I check... We have found that the Venerable is suspected to be related to the orphanage on the Dark Side of Moon City. However, the orphanage suffered a major incident this morning and is currently being handled by the supervisory group."

The manager was aware of something, but his expression hardly changed.

"That will be all the questions for now."

The manager nodded and withdrew to the door, "If you have any additional questions after reviewing these materials, please feel free to contact me through the room phone at any time."

"Mm."

"Enjoy your stay."

Luo Di did not hurry to check the materials, but instead filled the bathtub with cold water, undressed, and fully submerged his restless and overheated body in it.

After his body temperature dropped slightly, he took out the materials to examine them carefully.

As those in the silver suits at the orphanage’s entrance had said, the oversight group did exist and was affiliated with the Investigation Bureau.

This was a special department active only in Moon City, with members all at least at the minimum standard of an Earth-level City Investigator, and most had been registered with the Corner System as overseers.

But this department was entirely different from the Investigation Bureau.

Just as the name of the department suggested.

They never investigated incidents related to the Pseudo-People, nor interfered with activities of the Pseudo-People within Moon City. They had no hotline for public contact and did not handle any so-called illegal events.

Their main duty was only to [oversee].

To ensure no single Pseudo-Person group or organization in Moon City became dominant.

To ensure no Pseudo-People or groups were secretly brewing incidents with the potential to cause regional destruction.

To minimize the occurrence rate of incidents in the cracks within Moon City.

To oversee the condition of Pseudo-People in Moon City and perform pituitary harvesting when certain conditions are met.

The so-called oversight group was like a free weight, specifically designed to maintain the delicate balance of the special environment of Moon City. It ensured that this city where darkness was allowed to exist remained steadily above a certain line of stability, and through such regional collection, a large number of pituitaries were used for research and Investigator training.

The number of pituitaries involved behind the scenes even exceeded that of many City Investigation Bureaus.

The specific number of people in the oversight group, and the composition of the core internal personnel, even the Mercury Hotel couldn’t find out. After all, Moon City’s system was very peculiar, and Mercury Group’s actions here were heavily restricted.

Moreover, since the oversight group belonged to the General Administration, Mercury Group did not dare to delve too deep.

"Instead of calling it an oversight group, it’s more like a harvesting group. I estimate that the number of pituitaries they submit to Capital City every year could rival the total of quite a few cities.

The primary purpose of Capital City establishing the so-called satellite city of [Moon City] must be to acquire large quantities of high-quality pituitaries, in order to train more investigators or to provide corner system equipment for high-level investigators."

Luo Di propped himself up from the cold water, walked without drying off or dressing toward the balcony of the bedroom, and cast his gaze in the direction of the orphanage.

It had been two hours since the incident that morning,

Yet above the orphanage, not a single person-head balloon could be seen, and everything seemed to have returned to calm as if nothing had ever happened.

Perhaps due to Wendy’s death, all these balloons had lost their source of control and burst.

Or perhaps the oversight group had completed a comprehensive clean-up of the orphanage within two hours, including the person-head balloons in the sky and the bodies within the schoolyard.

Luo Di did not rush to check the situation nor did he hurry to visit the oversight group.

To glimpse behind the true scene, one must have patience.

Rarely,

he lit a premium cigarette supplied by the suite, trying to inhale as much as possible to empty all of the vile stench that accumulated in the lungs, belonging to this city’s air.

At the same time, he set the business card of the oversight group ablaze, turning it to ashes that drifted down from the rooftop.

A plan emerged in Luo Di’s mind as the cigarette burned to its end.

The orphanage in sight just looked like a fairly large abscess, as if it will regrow a new abscess not long after being flattened, continuing to ooze pus.

The problem wasn’t with the orphanage itself,

but with the entire skin carrying the abscess already afflicted with cancer, riddled with parasites, infected by viruses and bacteria... No medication can repair it.

Probably only this Mercury Hotel can maintain cleanliness,

Luo Di wanted to stay here to purify for a while, to properly gauge the depth of decay in Moon City.