Life Game In Other World
Chapter 536: Dense Forest Bar (Big - for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 536: Chapter 536: Dense Forest Bar (Big Chapter for Monthly Pass)

"There’s no harm in telling you," Norbeck pondered for a moment before speaking slowly, "our client is Thorne."

"Thorne?"

He Ao raised his eyebrows.

That name wasn’t among any that Jess remembered.

"The ’Introducer’ Thorne,"

Since he had mentioned it, Norbeck no longer concealed the information, as it wasn’t particularly important,

"He is responsible for receiving tasks from the big shots and then assigning them to us. Those big shots don’t trust us people at the bottom, so they find intermediaries like him to delegate the tasks. Thorne takes a cut from the final commission as his own ’introduction fee’."

"Similar to an ’Intermediary’ profession?"

He Ao asked softly.

It seemed the Mysterious Person didn’t contact the detective agency directly but used certain people to pass messages.

"You could say that. In Vitland, there are many such intermediaries,"

Norbeck didn’t mind educating He Ao about the basics of the underground world while stalling for time,

"Most of them used to work for gangs when they were young, gaining a certain reputation and having contact with both levels before they started working as intermediaries.

"Some intermediaries also take apprentices, having them take over their roles and, incidentally, protect their own children, although this is less common. Most intermediaries would rather send their children to school to become doctors, lawyers, or join large conglomerates, keeping them away from our bloodstained profession."

"Is ’Thorne’ considered the best ’Intermediary’ in Vitland?"

He Ao continued to inquire.

Being able to receive tasks from the Mysterious Person and being trusted by them, Thorne’s status must not be low.

"Not exactly,"

Norbeck shook his head, "Thorne is quite capable, but at most he could be considered the best intermediary in the West District. The best intermediary in all of Vitland is ’Pharmacist’ Heish from the Dense Forest Bar. Anyone who gets a job from the Dense Forest Bar is, without exception, a renowned figure throughout Vitland."

It seemed that the underground world of Vitland was clearly stratified.

Unlike Dawn City where the conglomerates directly contact gangs or even outright support them to control the underworld, Vitland’s conglomerates were obviously more cautious. They utilized the intermediary profession to engage with the underground gangs, keeping themselves out of gang conflict scandals.

And different levels of intermediaries further differentiated the layers within the underworld circles. When conglomerates wanted to hire someone, they only needed to contact the intermediary from the corresponding circle.

This approach naturally kept the conglomerates and upper-class figures away from risk, but the consequence was that the conglomerates had almost no direct control over the underworld.

In order to protect their authority, the intermediaries would certainly not allow the emergence of large gangs that could dominate an entire city like those in Dawn City.

Therefore, the underworld in Vitland was probably more chaotic than in Dawn City.

Lacking major forces meant there couldn’t be a concentration of wealth that could influence the city council, further entrenching the conglomerates’ rule over Vitland City.

The city maintained a chaotic yet stable balance.

He Ao quickly sorted out the key points behind Norbeck’s words, then steered the conversation back, "So the Secret Medicine you gave me, was it all from Thorin?"

He slowly moved half a step toward the door.

"Yes."

Norbeck nodded gently.

At the same time, he signaled for those around to tighten the circle around He Ao.

He knew the conversation with He Ao wouldn’t last much longer.

He Ao seemed not to notice the movement of the people around him and continued, "So, did he give you the C-level Secret Medicine following the Almsgiver?"

"No,"

Norbeck shook his head directly, "But to keep me steady, he once told me the name of one of the C-level Talent Sequences that correspond to the Almsgiver."

"What is it?"

He Ao watched him intently.

"Talent Sequence 108: Preacher."

Norbeck suddenly flipped open his downturned palm.

The moment his words ended, the sound of gunfire and the burst of laser cannons rang out simultaneously.

The guns these people used weren’t as powerful as the mercenary’s Gauss Gun but were indeed reinforced pistols designed specifically against Transcendents, capable of causing harm to D-levels.

If those mini laser cannons hit a vital spot, they could inflict fatal damage on a D-level.

Their mechanized bodies also seemed to be nearly D-level quality.

Norbeck was well aware he wouldn’t be able to stall He Ao for long, it was better to strike while he had his attention, to increase the chances of victory.

This moment, he finally stopped hesitating.

As his subordinates around him fired, a flexible short sword that had always been hidden up his sleeve slid out into his palm.

In such a brief span of time, at such a speed, mixed with laser cannons, relying solely on ’Almsgiver’s’ still injured body, it was impossible to dodge it all.

Even if ’Jess’ dodged some of the attacks, he was bound to be hit by others, and all Norbeck needed was to rush in and finish him off.

He swung the short sword in his hand, and bullets hitting the ground rumbled, with scattering pebbles and wisps of dust spreading out.

At this moment, Norbeck surged forward, ready to take He Ao’s life while he was injured.

Although he didn’t know why his client was offering an exorbitant ten million, it seemed this was the easiest ten million he had ever made.

The fleeting dust briefly obscured the place where He Ao stood, as well as Norbeck’s vision; from behind the smoke came sounds of sharp objects piercing flesh, metal tearing, and heavy bodies hitting the ground.

Norbeck sensed something wrong and wanted to draw back, but it was already too late. A sharp object appeared in front of his chest, the sharp blade instantly piercing his chest, entering his heart.

"It seems,"

The spreading smoke rapidly cleared away to reveal He Ao’s figure standing in front of Norbeck. He bent his head down low, whispering in Norbeck’s ear with a gentle smile, "your client didn’t tell you what exactly happened last night."

He then slowly pulled out the dagger that had penetrated Norbeck’s heart, with blood tinged with a slight green glow splattering out, adding new colors to the already dry crimson garment.

The sharp dagger in He Ao’s hand spun, shaking off the blood, blooming like a vividly exquisite flower.

He turned his head to look behind, the dense smoke gradually dispersed, revealing the scene behind the smoke.

Men clutching guns with eyes widened in disbelief, straps cut across their throats, shattered mechanized bodies sparking with electricity; they were all mixed together, covering the seldom empty space of the office.

Blood soaked the glinting wires.

At that time, a message came through on the bracelet Norbeck wore, sent by someone named Thorne.

[The client’s people will be arriving soon.]

A stream of dazzling light flowed from the end of the sky, and the bright belly white of the fish filled the city’s skyline.

Dawn had arrived.

He Ao turned around, stepped over the pooling blood, and slowly opened the door, leaving the detective agency.

He settled back into his car and activated the autopilot, "Eve, help me look up information on Thorne."

"Okay,"

The little girl in a white dress appeared on the car’s display, "Retrieval of ’Intermediary’ Thorne’s information has been completed, confirming his residence. Two public residences have been identified; do you want to set one of them as your destination?"

At the same time, Thorne’s profile began to appear on the vehicle’s windshield.

"No need,"

He Ao glanced at the documents on the windshield, most of which were introductions to Thorne, stating that he was a reliable and secretive person, the most outstanding intermediary in the entire West District, and there was no particularly crucial information.

He withdrew his gaze, leaning back in the driver’s seat, "Guide me to the ’Dense Forest Bar’."

"Okay!"

The screen transitioned as the image of the little girl slowly vanished, turning into the navigation interface.

As the vehicle moved forward, the Norbeck Detective Agency’s sign gradually disappeared in the rear-view image.

Norbeck couldn’t possibly have guessed when He Ao would visit the detective agency, so he must have been tipped off by someone, who then informed him to either hold He Ao up or kill him, and told him about the bounty as well.

That person is most likely the intermediary, Thorne and Thorne’s information must have come from the Mysterious Person.

In fact, the Mysterious Person probably never intended to give Norbeck the ten million bounty. After the previous night, he must have gained some understanding of He Ao’s capabilities and knew very well that even an ostensibly wounded He Ao was not someone Norbeck could kill.

The reason the Mysterious Person offered such a high price for this impossible task was simple: by offering a huge bounty, he stimulated Norbeck’s greed, ensuring that they would still brazenly attack He Ao even without the means to outsmart him.

By dealing with them, He Ao would inevitably spend some time, thereby delaying his progress on behalf of the Mysterious Person.

The Mysterious Person didn’t care about their lives; he was merely using their lives to achieve his goal, just as they used Jess’s life to obtain their lavish reward.

Given that the Mysterious Person anticipated that He Ao might go to the detective agency, he must have also prepared for the possibility of the agency leaking information.

Upon receiving the news of He Ao’s visit to the detective agency, they must have already sent people to ’protect’ Thorne, waiting for He Ao to fall into their trap.

Therefore, now wasn’t the best time to look for Thorne.

However, to a large extent, the Mysterious Person was still deducing He Ao’s actions based on Jess’s past kind and naive behavior.

Those now rushing to the detective agency probably spent the whole previous night watching Jess’s house closely.

Because, based on Jess’s original line of thinking, even if he had doubts about the detective agency, he wouldn’t confront it immediately. When confused or desperate, the first place one thinks of returning to is home.

So the Mysterious Person must have positioned most of his troops near Jess’s house while having the detective agency continuously send out messages to probe He Ao’s location.

As a result, their forces waited in vain all night, and then He Ao appeared unexpectedly at the detective agency.

This unforeseen move cost them the advantage, and by the time they received the news and rushed over, He Ao had already dealt with Norbeck and left.

However, He Ao guessed that after losing contact with Norbeck, the Mysterious Person had probably sent most of the responding forces to Thorne’s location, so that if He Ao went looking for Thorne, they could gain an overwhelming advantage over him.

This time the enemy would likely be more than just a C-level and a squad of mercenaries.

Regrettably for them, He Ao wasn’t headed to Thorne’s residence.

The silver-gray sedan was driving towards the direction of daybreak.

——Ten minutes later——

Bang——

A man with brown curly hair, dressed in a black combat suit, burst through the door of the Norbeck Detective Agency.

"Boss, what’s the situation?"

With the door slamming against the wall loudly, a short man followed the curly-haired man into the office.

"The target might be stronger than we anticipated. Judging from the astonished expressions on these people’s faces, they were probably killed on sight, without leaving any time for a reaction. Moreover, this massacre was completed in an extremely short time, so none of the others could react."

The curly-haired man crouched down, touching the coagulating blood on the floor, "He must have left not long ago."

"Boss, should we pursue?"

The short man scanned the surroundings and bent down, asking quickly.

"Since these people are all dead, the target has most likely obtained the information they wanted, and Thorne has been exposed."

The brown-haired man walked over to the tissue box on the desk, pulled out a tissue, and wiped the bloodstain off his finger, "Has everyone else gone to Thorne’s place?"

"They’ll be there soon."

The short man glanced at the bracelet on his hand.

"The target car’s navigation system is very good, and they know how to take shortcuts; it’s too late for us to pursue them now,"

The brown-haired man clapped his hands and walked toward the busted-open door, "But the target obviously wants to know the truth. Let’s go to Thorne’s place and give the target a ’surprise’ when we get there."

——

The Dense Forest Bar, the bar owned by ’Pharmacist’ Heish, the most influential intermediary in Vitland’s underworld, is not situated in the chaotic West District but in the oldest district of Vitland City, North Vitland District.

The original Vitland City consisted of only the North Vitland District until it was expanded to include other areas.

Now, North Vitland District remains the most important district of Vitland, housing the city government, the city council, and various prestigious universities of Vitland within the Federation.

The Dense Forest Bar is located at the southern border of North Vitland District. To the west is the chaotic West District, and to the east is Saint Lote District, where the headquarters of major financial groups are concentrated.

In all of Vitland, only one intermediary dares to set up their base here.

When the sedan crossed the border between the West District and North Vitland District, He Ao seemed to have crossed a dividing line between decay and prosperity.

On one side there were crowded, dilapidated old buildings with dirty streets running through them, interspersed with homeless people in drab old clothes rummaging through trash cans.

On the other side, there were clean, tidy villas with small gardens on their terraces and neat, flat roads being cleaned by automatic robots.

Though these two areas were side by side and had no physical barriers separating them, they appeared to be two different worlds.

The only thing that connected these two areas was a massive advertisement playing simultaneously on giant screens atop buildings on both sides.

It was a fast-paced ad featuring snippets of a speech by a man who looked to be in his fifties, dressed in a sharp suit.

He kept repeating words like "better jobs," "more benefits," "broader employment opportunities." Finally, the ad concluded with a brisk self-introduction,

"I am Ned Bery, committed to bringing a better life to all Vitland’s people."

In the bottom right corner was his personal website and the words [Please vote for Ned Bery, Vitland Senatorial Election].

It was time for the senatorial elections again.

He Ao touched the coat he was wearing and looked away.

He had just bought this coat from a store that seemed very dangerous, as if it were a gang’s stronghold.

The store wasn’t as dangerous as it appeared, with very kind and enthusiastic clerks, especially when they saw the fresh blood that hadn’t completely dried on He Ao’s body and his warm smile, they began trembling with excitement.

The prices in the store were very affordable. After choosing a coat, the clerks even wanted to give it to He Ao for free, but he politely declined.

He Ao replaced his blood-stained jacket with this new coat, which was long enough to cover the bloodstains on his body when he stood up.

Besides that, He Ao also bought an extra-large suitcase.

"Your destination has been reached, parking automatically."

He Ao lifted his head, looking ahead.

The first thing that caught his eye was a tall flight of stairs, followed by a gate made of two soaring trees, with a sign consisting of green leaves and lights,

[Dense Forest Bar]

It was nearing noon now, and there weren’t many people in the bar.

He Ao got out of the car, opened the trunk, lifted the suitcase from the trunk with one hand, and carried it to the bar’s entrance.