Fifteen minutes later.

On the sofa in the living room of Dennis's office.

Li Cheng Yi and the owner, Dennis, sat side by side on the sofa.

"Sorry, there's no other place to sit here, so we can only sit in a row." Dennis's voice trembled slightly, still unable to shake off the lingering shock.

"Let's talk price," Li Cheng Yi said. "It seems you're in a bad situation, and I've taken a liking to this office, so let's discuss a transfer price."

Dennis gave a wry smile. He had already heard the other party say this.

But he didn't agree immediately.

Because he was currently entangled in a rather significant trouble. And that trouble could come knocking at any time, looking to silence him.

He had nearly collapsed when he learned of this news.

"You're not a Hunter, are you?" Dennis said softly. "I don't see a Hunter badge on you, so… I won't transfer the office to you."

"Five hundred thousand," Li Cheng Yi said calmly.

"This isn't about money, it's that I don't want to harm you. Someone is watching me…" Dennis sighed.

"It doesn't matter, they're looking for you, not this office building," Li Cheng Yi said.

"…Aren't you afraid they'll mistake you for my accomplice?" Dennis was speechless.

He had seen those with a big heart, but never one this big.

"I'm a reasonable person. If someone comes, I'll reason with them. Don't worry, I'm very good with words," Li Cheng Yi said seriously.

"…The problem is, many people won't reason with you. You know, in this era, all sorts of strange things are hidden in the shadows. The government can only barely cover everything up, but in reality, the Hunters are already overwhelmed," Dennis said.

"Speaking of which, you seem to know a lot about Hunters?" Li Cheng Yi picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table.

It was printed with elegant silver lettering, in a handwritten style.

'We sincerely invite you, Mr. Dennis Elte, to the Night Banquet party on the evening of April 1st. Please prepare your body before attending, refrain from eating pungent foods like scallions and garlic, and change into clean underwear and outerwear in advance. – Crescent.'

The text was in An'erwen, the most widely used language in Anze.

This complex script was known for its long history and antiquity. Some mystical sects used it as a ritual language, seemingly imbuing it with certain mystical powers.

"This Crescent, what kind of organization is it?" Li Cheng Yi casually put down the paper and looked at Dennis.

"…" Dennis sighed deeply. "This world has a dark side that ordinary people don't understand. Young man, take my advice, go back. Go back to where you came from."

"What are Hunters? You should be able to tell me that, right?" Li Cheng Yi didn't want to use Shadow Substitution this time. The karma that Shadow Substitution bore was too great, involving too much. He didn't want to be tied to one place just for an identity.

So he simply decided to understand it with his own body.

"Hunters… Anze is vast, comprising more than seventy countries. Each country has its own Hunter branch, all of which belong to the International Hunter Headquarters, the main force maintaining the balance within and without the world. Different countries have their own unique Hunter forces occupying a place within it. Even if you haven't heard of them before, most of the sudden unexplained explosions and deaths that occur around the world are being resolved by them," Dennis explained.

"Hunters and the major church-states have a delicate balance. They restrain the actions of various forces worldwide, preventing them from excessively affecting the lives of ordinary people."

Sighing again, Dennis lowered his head.

"The power of the major church-states is too great. The Hunters can only swallow their anger most of the time, barely maintaining the balance. They even have to pay a price themselves to maintain the balance, actively filling the bellies of those forces…"

"Hunters… how strong are they?" Li Cheng Yi asked.

"Strength? To be honest, I used to be a Hunter affiliated with our Venus Federation. What strength do we have? In reality, we're just a group of ordinary people who have been trained to use various weapons and tools to dance on the edge of a knife and seek death," Dennis said, his voice filled with obvious fatigue and decadence.

"Uh… there's no powerful mystical power?" Li Cheng Yi frowned.

"Mystical power? Only those church-states have it. You can only obtain those by believing in their doctrines, worshiping various bizarre and dangerous deities, but once you believe in those, you will no longer be yourself, distorted into something inhuman," Dennis said.

He looked at Li Cheng Yi.

"So, after saying all this, if you just need a detective's license, then go directly to the Hunter exam. After passing, as long as you want, applying for a detective's license is easy. And the application range of a Hunter's license is far greater than that of a detective."

"That's well said, can we transfer the office now?" Li Cheng Yi said.

"…" It was like he hadn't listened to a single word he'd said.

Dennis looked at the handsome young man in front of him and suddenly felt very tired.

He was already a dying man, yet he still had to worry about this and that…

"Forget it, since you're so eager to die, then let's transfer it," he said dejectedly, waving his hand.

"How much?" Li Cheng Yi asked.

"Ten thousand," Dennis sighed. "Just give me some money for travel expenses. I don't need these things anymore…" After all, the other party was likely to be affected by the danger, so he didn't want to ask for more money, as it was already an unequal transaction.

"So cheap?"

"Do you want it or not? I won't sell it if you don't," Dennis glared.

"Yes, of course!"

The two quickly prepared the contract and pressed their handprints.

Li Cheng Yi directly took out a small gold bar and handed it over.

"…" Dennis took it with a blank expression, quickly using a professional tool to test it.

"The quality is good. I'll transfer the extra money to the office account later. The password and account are recorded on this, keep it safe."

He looked at the name on the contract again.

"Then, Mr. Li, this place is yours now. You can take your ID to the transaction registry to register."

"Sorry, I saw that you also handle certificate processing here, can you help me get an ID?" Li Cheng Yi smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth.

"…" Dennis's eyes widened.

You dare to buy an office without even having an ID??

Even people from the church-states have their own identification these days. There's only one type of person who doesn't have an ID.

And that is… a criminal who wants to hide their identity.

An illegal resident!?

Then the gold bar from just now made sense. It seemed the person in front of him was also a shady character…

Dennis suddenly understood.

'Looking at it this way, being able to remain so calm after seeing the name Crescent, casually taking out a gold bar to pay, and not caring at all. This kind of person definitely has a background and strength, maybe…'

Thinking of this, his mind suddenly became active.

"May I be so bold as to ask, for the opening of the new office, do you need any assistants or something?"

"Do you have someone to recommend?" Li Cheng Yi looked at him.

"My daughter, Molly, is sixteen years old this year, studying Security Monitoring at Venus Comprehensive Industrial University, specializing in the detection, verification, and testing of various drugs…" Dennis was worried that his daughter would be implicated after his death. If someone could take care of them…

"What can a college student who hasn't graduated do?" Li Cheng Yi frowned. "Forget about other people, you'll do it. Is it okay for you to be my assistant?"

"Ah? Me?!" Dennis looked shocked. "My daughter is very beautiful…"

"Don't say anymore, you're an old hand, take me to see how to take the Hunter certificate test," Li Cheng Yi interrupted him. "The salary is twenty thousand a month, is that okay? Double the salary for labor fees when encountering cases."

"…" Dennis was speechless.

Are normal assistant salaries this high? Where did this spendthrift come from??

*

*

*

More than ten kilometers away from Dennis's office.

Underneath a somewhat dilapidated residential building, in front of a mutton rice noodle shop with flickering colored lights, two thin men and women wearing gray windbreakers sat on the steps.

Both were smoking, one after another, without speaking, the atmosphere was somewhat dull, as if waiting for something.

After about a few minutes, the man stood up, revealing a young face full of freckles.

He was very young, looking at most only in his early twenties, with faint blue fuzz at the corners of his lips, but at this time, his eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed very tired.

Looking at the vehicles and pedestrians coming and going on the street in front of him, the man sighed.

"Let's go, let's go in. It's been fifteen minutes, Head hasn't come out yet."

"Must… must we go in?" The woman's voice was somewhat hoarse, as if she had been crying.

"The bullets in the gun are ready, check them once, the cover of the dispersion liquid is open, and placed in a convenient position to grab. Hold the Holy Power grenade in your hand," the man said lightly.

He turned around and took the first step into the shop, quickly disappearing into the somewhat dark depths of the shop.

The woman trembled all over, but also got up, took a deep breath, and followed into the shop.

Following the shop passage to the inside, passing through the kitchen door, the two came to the narrow kitchen space.

In the dim kitchen, a huge black pot was boiling with mutton soup.

A short, fat humanoid with a waist circumference twice that of an ordinary person was standing by the pot, his eyes blood red, with wisps of strange red aura emitting from his mouth and nose, staring at the mutton in the pot.

"Two more came, you hunters are always overestimating yourselves, coming to die one after another…"

The fat humanoid emitted a shrill, old woman-like voice.

"According to the Sunlight Agreement, you have violated Article 1173 of the General Treaty jointly signed by the various church-states. According to the regulations, we will immediately forcibly expel you!"

The young man explained loudly.

"Sunlight Agreement? Heh, that weak thing is just a fig leaf, only the weak will really abide by any agreement… Do you think I am one of those stupid devils from Hell?" The short, fat humanoid held a scalding hot spatula, turned around, and looked at the two behind him with a ferocious expression.

"Die!!"

Without saying another word, he suddenly pounced on the two. His speed was not fast, but the metal table corners he bumped into were bent, showing how great his strength was, simply appalling.

The two rolled apart to dodge, raising their guns to shoot.

Bang bang bang bang!!

Continuous bullets hit the fat man, only shooting out small clusters of blood.

The fat man continued to turn and pounce on the two.

A chase immediately unfolded here.

The fat man had terrifying strength and thick protective skin far exceeding ordinary people, and his speed was only slightly faster than the average person.

The two young hunters seemed to be used to it, most of these kinds of abnormal existences were like this.

The two rolled around on the ground, avoiding the fat man's pounces, constantly retaliating with guns and grenades.

The grenades didn't explode with flames, but with beams of pure white light carrying large amounts of gold powder.

Each explosion caused the fat man to scream repeatedly.

About twenty minutes later.

A woman covered in blood walked out of the shop door, swaying, and collapsed on the steps, just in time to see police cars and ambulances parked in front of her.

In a daze, people wearing white protective suits came down, lifted her up, and carried her into the car.

Boom!

The shop behind her exploded, slowly collapsing in a blaze of fire, igniting a red glow.

(End of chapter)