Life Game In Other World
Chapter 672: Skyscrapers and Shadows (Extra-long - for Monthly Pass Votes)

Chapter 672: Chapter 672: Skyscrapers and Shadows (Extra-long Chapter for Monthly Pass Votes)

In fact, acquiring information does not necessarily have to be done through legitimate collection.

After all, this information is not intended for legitimate and legal activities.

Based on this, obtaining the information provided by Blood Wolf becomes quite simple.

With the advancement of photographic technology in smart devices, they only need to send people to the relevant areas, approach these vagrants, and they can get the vagrants’ photos, gender, and information about the areas where they are active.

Of course, the information obtained this way might be somewhat disordered, and with covert photography, it’s not guaranteed to capture a full frontal face.

From the elderly man’s response to He Ao earlier, it’s clear these vagrants are quite vigilant; the abrupt approach of a stranger lingering around each person could very well trigger the group’s suspicion.

Plus, this method does not collect the vagrants’ names.

So, what method could be used to collect each homeless person’s photo and name without arousing suspicion?

Actually, there is a way, which is to have the vagrants line up to register their names. By placing a camera at the front of the queue during this name registration, it’s possible to clearly capture each vagrant’s face while they line up.

But these vagrants certainly wouldn’t line up to register their names without a reason.

Therefore, some ’rewards’ must be offered to entice the vagrants to register.

But if it’s announced that vagrants can receive rewards just for registering their names, that would inevitably raise their vigilance, making them suspicious of the motive behind the name registration.

At that moment, it becomes necessary to reframe the narrative of registering names for rewards.

For example, charitable distribution.

Vagrants need to casually register their names when collecting charity goods.

This is actually quite common in the Federation’s charity distributions, and these names serve as evidence that charitable organizations have indeed carried out distributions.

Therefore, most charitable organizations require the recipients or person in charge to sign and register.

In charitable distributions to vagrants, in order to prevent one individual from collecting the same goods repeatedly, some organizations even employ smart cameras with facial recognition.

Naturally, these cameras can capture the clear facial information of the vagrants.

Although due to privacy issues, these charitable organizations all claim that they do not store the vagrants’ photos, for those who have sold their passports and bank cards, it doesn’t really matter whether the photos are saved or not.

The vagrants generally are not concerned with whether the charitable organization has cameras or not.

Some charitable organizations even use robots for distribution.

What He Ao had overlooked just now was precisely this information about charitable distributions.

It wasn’t until Jia Xi distributed bread to every homeless child, triggering He Ao’s memories of charitable organizations, that he made the connection.

The character Roy in the third official Copy World had once experienced homelessness.

Using the guise of charitable organizations, the Evolution Acolytes could not only cover their true intentions well but also, at a low cost, use simple bread and water to make the vagrants willingly deliver their information to their doorstep.

He Ao crouched down again, looking at the elderly man with a surprised expression, and asked softly, "My old friend, do many charitable organizations come here?"

When He Ao had arrived earlier, some of the vagrants were eating bread, proving that a charitable organization had just been there.

"Lot’s of them come,"

the elderly man regained his senses, glanced at He Ao, and said hoarsely,

"There are more people coming than they bring things. Every time they come, a big crowd of us lines up, and after the queue moves a little, it quickly disappears.

"That’s why everyone has to rush to queue up. Those who get to the front have a chance to get something. Those who don’t can only go hungry and just come for a look. They’re different people with different pretenses each time, come to take a photo, hand out a bit of stuff, and then leave."

He Ao looked around; aside from the bread Jia Xi had just distributed, there were actually very few people holding bread on the street.

He turned back and continued asking, "Do these charitable organizations make you write down names?"

"Yes, they do,"

the man’s demeanor seemed much calmer as he bit into his bread, "those at the front of the line have to write down a dozen names each, and if you can’t come up with them, you don’t get anything to eat."

One person’s share, yet making a list for a dozen others.

It appears that the charity sector in Saint Joen City is highly chaotic, but such chaos is actually not conducive to the Evolution Acolytes gathering information.

Furthermore, the Evolution Acolytes require the collection of as many people’s information as possible. Distributing only a small portion will not suffice for their information gathering.

He Ao pondered for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Is there a charity organization that always brings a lot of supplies, basically enough to distribute to all the homeless people, and doesn’t require everyone to sign many names?"

After asking this question, the elderly man paused and seemed to fall into some sort of recollection.

Then he took a sip of water, swallowed the bread in his mouth, and his wet beard shook up and down,

"The kind you’re talking about, there is actually one, but each time they come, they bring very little — just a small piece of bread and a tiny bottle of the cheapest water. However, they did prepare enough for everyone, adults and children alike can get food, and you only need to sign your own name."

With that, he sighed, "However, they come very infrequently, basically once every three or four months. Lucky you asked me, if you’d asked some of the new homeless people, they might not have been able to answer your question."

"Hmm,"

He Ao nodded slightly. When he had initially chosen whom to approach, he had seen that this man seemed to have been homeless for a long time, which is why he’d come to ask. Then he continued, "Do you still remember the name of this organization?"

The goal of ’distributing food’ after a long interval is likely to wait for enough new homeless people to appear to avoid registering the same information twice, reducing the cost of registration.

"I don’t remember the name clearly; their name is rather complicated,"

the elderly man recalled, "But I remember their symbol, it’s like an upside-down red heart, quite a unique mark."

"Thank you,"

He Ao nodded gently, stood up, and looked around. He whispered, "I’ve heard that the Green Olive Street area has a new leader and isn’t as terrifying as before. If you can’t make it here, you can try going there to see if you can find shelter from the elements."

"Alright,"

the elderly man answered with a smile and nodded, using hands as withered as branches to prop himself up from the ground, "I’ve heard of that place; I’ve wanted to check it out for a long time. I just heard it was quite chaotic, with lots of deaths. Since you say so, old brother, I’ll go have a look. If there’s no problem, I also have some friends here I can bring with me."

"Be safe."

He Ao nodded again.

"Sure!"

The elderly man also nodded slowly.

After saying farewell to him, He Ao turned and walked toward the SUV.

The elderly man watched He Ao and Jia Xi get into the car and drive away from the street covered in the shadows of tall buildings, seemingly heading toward another street engulfed in shadows.

The towering sun carved across the sky, bringing a brief moment of brilliance to this street.

······

"Sleep for a while?"

Sitting in the driver’s seat, He Ao glanced at Jia Xi in the back.

Jia Xi’s eyes were open, and she seemed hesitant.

"Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up when we arrive,"

He Ao said with a smile.

Only then did Jia Xi curl up and lie on the back seat’s cushion to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, He Ao activated his wristband.

Eve had already sent the name of the charity organization with the inverted heart symbol to his wristband.

The charity organization was named the Federal Vagrant Charity Aid and Vocational Assistance Foundation.

It was a cross-city charity organization with branches in many cities, accepting donations from across the Federation. Its official website described itself as, ’A foundation dedicated to helping vagrants survive and finding new avenues for them.’

The organization’s home page featured many photos of donation events and a special column publishing letters from the homeless, collecting a vast number of expressions of gratitude.

Eve gathered some information about this charity organization and found that within the Federation, it held a very good reputation and had a substantial number of individuals, institutions, and companies donating to it.

Its disclosed accounts showed that the donations received were more than enough to offset the cost of the foundation’s operation and its charitable work.

As He Ao perused through this information,

in a sense, this Wanderer’s Aid Foundation with the excessively long name, indeed did a better job than many of its peers, which also won it a lot of favorable commentary and drew in more charitable donations.

If it was truly a disguise for the Evolution Acolytes, it would be... somewhat absurd.

To verify whether this charity organization had any connection with the Polluted Monsters or the Evolution Acolytes was actually quite simple.

He Ao turned to the address for this charity organization’s Saint Joen City branch that Eve had found: 60 Gold Sycamore Street.

Gold Sycamore Street is located in the eastern part of the city and is also the busiest district in Saint Joen City.

Both the municipal government and the Kajet Group’s Saint Joen headquarters are located in this district.

Similarly, the eastern part of the city is also the district with the best public security in Saint Joen City.

If this charitable organization really is related to the Evolution Acolytes, then no matter how well they disguise themselves, there is one thing they cannot cover up.

That is the aura that polluted monsters imprint on souls.

Theoretically, this aura can only be identified by polluted monsters, and people tainted with this aura are more likely to be attacked by polluted monsters.

The Pollution Cleaning Department uses specially formulated scent-masking sprays to suppress this aura, preventing people tainted with it from being detected by polluted monsters.

However, this aura cannot be removed.

At least, that is the case for the Pollution Cleaning Department.

But the power of Super Memory to peer into souls allowed He Ao to easily make contact with the essence of this ’aura’—a peculiar force attached to the soul.

And he could use the power of Super Memory to completely destroy these auras.

At the same time, he could also clearly ’see’ who carried this kind of ’aura’ on them.

This meant that, in a certain sense, he had the same ’recognition ability’ as the polluted monsters, able to easily identify, with the help of Super Memory, who in a crowd had previously come into contact with polluted monsters.

Moreover, this recognition was not interfered with by scent-masking sprays.

He Ao took out the scent-masking spray that YiXiya had given him from his pocket and sprayed it on himself.

Then he briefly activated Super Memory to scan his soul.

He could clearly feel that the ’aura’ left on his own soul from his contact with polluted monsters on Green Olive Street had temporarily dimmed, but it had not disappeared.

Under the vision of Super Memory, those auras were still clearly visible.

Also, when he used Super Memory previously on Green Olive Street, he noticed that people like the Scorpion Gang leader and his core subordinates, who had more frequent contact with the pollution, had souls tainted with much more of the polluted monsters’ aura than those who had only made incidental contact with the polluted monsters, even more so than members of the Pollution Cleaning Department like YiXiya who dealt with polluted monsters professionally.

For individuals like the Scorpion Gang leader who had merged with the monsters, their souls were almost enveloped by the polluted monsters’ aura.

Therefore, it was easy to distinguish between those who had accidentally come into contact with polluted monsters and those who bred them.

And now He Ao’s advantage was that no one knew he had this ability.

So whether they were truly charitable or wearing the mask of charity, going to take a look would reveal the truth.

He set his destination to number 60 on Gold Sycamore Street.

——

Pollution Cleaning Department Building

YiXiya stood in front of the closed office door, taking a deep breath.

This office used to belong to Night Hawk, and after Night Hawk ’defected’, it had been temporarily vacant, but now, this was the office of the highest-ranking official of the Pollution Cleaning Department.

After taking another deep breath, she reached out her hand and knocked on the office door.

"Come in,"

An elderly voice came from behind the door, followed by the sound of the door automatically opening.

Through the slowly opening door, YiXiya saw the interior of the office.

It was a modestly-sized square office, which, apart from a 3D city model in the center and a few chairs, was almost devoid of any decorations, exuding a sort of austerity reminiscent of a monk.

At this moment, an elderly man with silver hair, dressed in a crisp military uniform, stood in front of the model, his back to YiXiya, watching the content on the model.

An invisible authority emanated from the silence of the elderly.

"Director?"

YiXiya gazed at the back of the elderly, asking softly.

The attack she suffered from the polluted monster the day before had already been reported.

She was aware that her investigation into Night Hawk’s case could no longer be hidden, so when she received a notification from the Director of the Pollution Cleaning Department to see her in the morning, she knew that her final moment had arrived.

The director would make the final decision on whether to protect her unruly "subordinate".

The worst outcome would be for her to be dismissed from all her positions for overstepping her bounds, losing the complete protection of the Pollution Cleaning Department, and then having to find a way to survive the attacks of the Polluted Monsters on her own.

"You’re here?"

The elderly man in military uniform turned around to look at YiXiya.

"Yes,"

YiXiya nodded and walked into the office, the office door behind her remained open. She looked at the elderly man in military uniform and tentatively asked, "What did you want to see me for today?"

The man glanced at YiXiya. He held a long command stick in one hand and lifted a cup of coffee from the edge of the sandbox with the other, "I remember the first time I visited your grandfather, you were not even as tall as this stick. People feel that time flies as they get older,"

He took a sip of coffee and then looked at the sandbox in front of him.

This sandbox was placed on a huge square table and was almost a scaled-down replica of Saint Joen City.

At the moment, the sandbox was densely filled with black flags, with just a small area in the northwest where the flags were a bit sparser.

"Each of these flags represents a Polluted Monster that has appeared,"

The elderly man gazed at these flags with a deep look in his eyes, "Night Hawk was a good child too."

YiXiya stood next to the elderly man, staring at the sandbox.

This was her first time seeing such a sandbox. Through these densely packed flags, she realized for the first time what kind of situation Night Hawk had been dealing with.

The frequency of appearances of Polluted Monsters in Saint Joen City was far higher than in other cities, yet despite such a high frequency, Night Hawk had managed to maintain a short, brief period of ’peace’ in Saint Joen City where few people died because of the Polluted Monsters.

"For a long time, I thought that Night Hawk would be the one to take over my position after my retirement."

The elderly man continued to sip his coffee, a touch of melancholy in his eyes as he seemed to remember something, exhaling a long sigh.

Then he glanced over the sandbox full of black flags and turned his head towards YiXiya, "So, do you feel confident?"

"Ah?"

YiXiya was stunned for a moment and didn’t react right away.

"If I remember correctly, your Transcendent ability is Talent Sequence 80: Investigative Journalist,"

The elderly man withdrew his gaze and slowly said, "Investigative Journalist has three subsequent C-level Talent Sequences. I have already sent people to help you collect Secret Medicine and ritual formulas. In the meantime, you should rest well in the building and look through the documents and work records left by Night Hawk to thoroughly understand the situation in Saint Joen City."

At this time, YiXiya finally started to react.

Her transfer to Saint Joen City had been made under the pretense of being an alternate head of the city.

"I..."

She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the old man’s voice.

"Work hard," the elderly man turned his gaze back to the sandbox, "This city is more complex than you think."

Then he waved his hand, "Go rest well for now, get a clear grasp of the work situation. I used to like a saying when I was a mercenary: the better the training and preparation, the longer a soldier survives on the battlefield."

"Okay."

Ultimately, YiXiya nodded gently and left the office, closing the door slowly as she went.

The elderly man standing in front of the sandbox once again lifted his coffee, his gaze deep as he focused on the dense array of flags.

······

Outside the office, YiXiya glanced at the sunlight through the hallway window and let out a long sigh of relief.

It seemed that the director’s attitude was more in favor of her and Night Hawk.

She turned and headed to her own office, raising her wristband to share this rare piece of good news with the old gentleman.

Outside the window, as the sun set behind the high-rise at the end of the scorching day, the woman turned and a long shadow stretched on the ground, following her steps, obscuring her own shadow.

——

Gold Sycamore Street

He Ao looked out of the off-road vehicle’s window and scanned the ’Exchange Star’ interface within his field of view.