Bone Shards reduced the trouble to a transaction, leaving it to John to handle. He didn't disclose more information, only set a clear requirement on the time of death, which made John inexplicably uneasy.

But mercenary missions are mostly like this.

Even high-ranking Lone Wolves wouldn't ask for specific details, only caring if the reward and the mission difficulty matched. The remaining secrets are all client and mediator privacy.

[Task Objective Update]

[Talk with Maya. (Not Achieved)]

John decided to accept Bone Shards' mission.

Maya didn't oppose.

She paid the price for leaving the Special Affairs Bureau and choosing a settlement, and Gerry and her daughter's lives were all tied around Eden City.

"I wouldn't choose to leave unless absolutely necessary. In that case, a safe and stable place becomes very precious."

"Do you trust Bone Shards' protection?"

"I'm not a Lone Wolf mercenary, John. If a faction is willing to provide protection, it means there's hope for my husband and daughter. Leaving the West District isn't necessarily going to be better."

"What if Bone Shards doesn't hold up his end of the bargain?"

"Then we'll go all out against him."

Maya watched from a corner of the hospital as two stretchers — Gerry and his daughter — were loaded onto an ambulance, then sent to the Bolago Club.

Bone Shards wanted to hold hostages as risk assurance.

There, at the core area of the Black Gold Gang, there are clinics and doctors, and no worries about Raqi Industry causing trouble.

Maya murmured to herself once the vehicles disappeared.

"Life is about giving it your all."

[Task Objective Update]

[Cooperate with Maya in action. (Not Achieved)]

Maya had completely changed her demeanor.

Calmly navigating through the hospital, she snagged a promotional T-shirt and stole some medicine and bandages to treat her wounds, particularly gruesome as she dug out shrapnel with a knife.

John occasionally provided surveillance intel.

As they were both nearly done, it was already past noon.

There were about six hours left until the mission was completed.

"You know what you're doing, right?"

"Of course, investigating Old Du cost me a lot of effort. Together, we can definitely take him down."

Maya and John climbed over the hospital wall, silently leaving amidst the police lights and blockade lines.

"Where to next?"

"To visit old friends, find some handy new gear, and fill our stomachs along the way."

Maya wasn't the least bit impatient.

She seemed confident, having completely resumed her state from when she was a covert agent for the Special Affairs Bureau, even steadier than in her youth.

John found himself slightly influenced.

He couldn't help but put himself in her shoes — could he stay calm if his family was a bargaining chip on the negotiation table?

But perhaps he'd been a Lone Wolf too long; the more he thought about it, the less he could empathize. The initial rush of blood quickly dwindled.

[Eden City - Charming Street]

The Jurassic ZT15 slowed along the gray street.

John and Maya were heading out of the West District to handle business, and considering they needed to fight before evening, an armor vehicle felt safer.

The weather was overcast, as though it was going to rain.

The city was shrouded in a dreary, oppressive filter, making the bright yellow and red lights around the streets more pronounced. The glow from neon signs and advertisements seemed deeper than usual.

Maya took a quick fifteen-minute nap.

John watched the clock via the rear-view mirror — her alertness was sharper even than an infrared detector, waking precisely from a brief nap. The Special Affairs agents' training was etched into her bones.

"Park by the roadside, and lift the sand shield to cover your face."

Maya said as she pushed open the car door, donning an old baseball cap that she seemingly snatched from nowhere.

The street shops were sparsely open.

An overpass cut through the buildings, with horns blaring not too frequently, and there weren't many people along the road, nor was there much of a commercial atmosphere.

They passed by two guys leaning against a wall, smoking and chatting, and stopped at an intersection between building crevices.

The trash can seemed to serve as some hidden indicator.

It reminded you there's a way in, and looking inside, you'd find stacked billboards and a red light source.

The metal shutter door was wide open.

Ventilating ducts pierced into concrete walls.

Life thrived in the city's steel jungle, filled with laughter and curses from all walks of life. A sense of belonging surged as they walked on the street.

John lifted his gaze.

High-rise buildings resembled some kind of shell.

Gentle light leaked from the windows, but they seemed never to open, like fake electronic barriers, mere overlays, with those inside never spying the neon glamour of the alleys.

John's line of sight was swiftly blocked by billboards and pipes.

Colorful lights illuminated text of various styles, sketching out the staggered heights of the storefronts.

This formed layers.

Rectangular lanterns and strip lights branched out paths.

This created depth.

Maya and John didn't speak because the surroundings were always filled with deafening noise; they quietly passed through smoke, sex workers, broken-off arcade machines, and iron-grated manhole covers...

Shops opened around these crevices.

Whether food stalls or clothing businesses, they were haphazardly embedded in all sorts of spaces.

Maya found a storefront with iron grating.

[Charming Street - Sailor Weapon Shop [No. 842]]

The owner wore a heavyweight T-shirt, with an outer coat fraying at the edges, and a half-faded tattoo on his brawny, tan arm.

"What do you want?"

The burly man gestured, laughing much like a sailor on an ocean freighter.

John stayed silent and nodded towards Maya.

She observed through the metal grating, scanning the dazzling array of firearms, finally focusing on a metal box — it looked like some kind of remote signal transmitter.

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