Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Since everyone has already arrived, I shall get straight to the point.”

All five people in the room had already arrived, and Haruko in her black samurai attire with dark red petals spoke after raising her head to look one round at her audience.

“All five of you have passed the hidden round of investigation. It can be said that you’re the true elites among the chosen people participating in this investigation mission. At the same time, it seems from your current points that you’ve all passed the investigation with a certain probability, becoming the first five people to obtain the qualification of the first batch of Adventurer Agents. Especially you, Mister Feng Jian!”

Saying this, Haruko, with her samurai sword placed before her, nodded specifically toward Feng Luo. This action undoubtedly drew the attention of the other four people.

Even though Haruko’s words had not explicitly stated as much, the four people seemed to have instantly guessed or confirmed Feng Luo’s identity.

“Number 99!”

The current first-place holder on the point ranking system.

It was just a guess for some but a confirmation for others; Feng Luo had been the first person to enter, so he knew the numbers of the following individuals who had entered, but clearly, none of the latter four knew his number. However, Number 37, disguised as a young, white-collar man—who had been the third to arrive and was ranked second—could naturally determine Feng Luo’s identity according to his own ranking.

As such, at that moment, Number 37, whose face had been quite gentle ever since he’d entered, though his actions displayed much self-confidence, could not help but reveal a tinge of astonishment on his face. His eyes gazed a bit doubtfully at Feng Luo.

The other one who could confirm his identity was Number 187—the teenaged girl player in a sailor suit who appeared to be a high school student. She had been the second to enter. She knew the identity of Number 37 and so, naturally, could determine Feng Luo’s rank. But in contrast to Number 37, she looked somewhat baffled as she gazed at Feng Luo. Her original look of suspicion and observation now transformed into a look of certainty.

As for the last two—Big Pineapple and the fiery female Light Armor Warrior were—even though they could not confirm Feng Luo’s rank, they could still guess from Haruko’s tone that he must have been the one whose points ranked highest among the five.

Considering that their own positions (ninth for the female Light Armor Warrior and thirteenth for Big Pineapple) were considerably high, they supposed that Feng Luo must have been one of the top three.

The female Light Armor Warrior, alluringly red from head to toe, flashed a seductive smile and winked at Feng Luo. Whereas the Indian-looking Big Pineapple, with a bandana wrapped around his head, openly raised a thumb at Feng Luo.

Haruko took in everyone’s reactions. Then her tone changed suddenly.

“However… The time limit of the competitive mission has yet to end. Any sudden situation can change the final ranking as well as the entrance qualification.”

Everyone knew that this must have been the true topic of conversation, so they looked at her without interrupting.

“Everyone has been gathered here tonight of a sudden situation. For some reason, your investigation mission in Dongsang City will very likely be required to be temporarily suspended!”

Big Pineapple, previously sneaking a glance at Haruko’s neck and eyes, instantly widened his eyes as he said, “What? Suspended? My points are still insufficient…!”

But other than Big Pineapple, no one spoke, knowing that the system certainly would not have made such a jest—there was clearly another reason for Haruko’s words.

“Mister Nohara, please do not panic,” Haruko said flatly, looking at Big Pineapple. “The suspension of the Dongsang City investigation mission does not mean the end of your profession investigation missions!”

“Oh!” Big Pineapple looked left and right, then shut his mouth.

Just then, Haruko, sitting on the floor, threw a question at everyone. “I’m not sure—does everyone knows what the final objective of this investigation is?”

The high school girl wearing black-framed spectacles and a sailor-suit was the one to answer. “To prevent Dongsang City from breaking away from the Federation and joining the rebellion’s side!”

“Mm. Miss Shizuka is correct.” Haruko’s expression became stern. “Although this mission is an investigation to test whether you have the qualification to join the agent department, it actually has an important objective as well, and that is to prevent Dongsang City from completely breaking away from the Federation! However, how could we stop Dongsang City’s separation?

“Even though we have already assassinated many traitors in the government and in the army who have collaborated with the rebel army, slowing down the progress of this issue, it is still far insufficient to truly make Dongsang City stay with the Federation! Because, as long as one person is still living, it will still be possible for Dongsang City to be sold out by the traitors to the rebel army at any time.”

“Yamamoto Ichiro!” The fiery red female Light Armor Warrior was the one who let the name spill from her red lips.

“Miss Phoenix’s mind is clearly sharp. Correct. In the end, the key point of this matter still falls on the Federal Lieutenant General, the Chief of Dongsang City’s defense force, Yamamoto Ichiro!”

As Haruko said this, the petaled samurai attire seemed to radiate a fierce, murderous intent.

“Only with Yamamoto Ichiro’s death will the rest of the traitors disperse like dust in the wind. Then the Federal government and the army will be able to righteously and justifiably intervene with Dongsang City’s matters and clean up the situation!”

Phoenix…

Feng Luo’s attention had fallen on the female Light Armor Warrior’s ID. Phoenix. This name was as fiery as her flames and certainly suited her!

Regarding the situation of Yamamoto Ichiro being the “final boss” of this mission, no one present was very surprised. Because after receiving this mission, everyone already understood a great deal about the background of Dongsang City and knew Yamamoto Ichiro’s important position as Dongsang City’s “local emperor,” the absolute autocrat holding the political and military authority!

“More than 20 years ago, Dongsang City was in a state with no government and in a mess with a regime of all sorts of weapons and armed forces. Yamamoto Ichiro was just a child of an impoverished family in Dongsang City and had to enter a small armed division at the age of 15 in order to survive. Who would have thought that this would become a life-changing moment for him?

“Within all sorts of bullets raining through the forests and battles of life and death, his combat talent gradually developed. During a mission when he was more than 20 years of age, due to solo-killing a Desert Scorpion Commander evaluated as Level 35 during the era of the Galaxy Empire, he was promoted by the head of the division to be a personal bodyguard. A few years later, the leader of that division suddenly died one night, and Yamamoto Ichiro, who was personally protecting him, produced evidence to incriminate the second-in-power of the division as the mastermind of the murder of the leader. The other party had yet to receive the message before he was killed by the furious trusted squad of the leader, led by him, who charged into his apartment!

“At 25 years of age, he became the leader of the division to which he had belonged. Then, within 10 years, he developed the small division into the number-one division in all of Dongsang City!”

Haruko’s expression was stern as she gradually revealed the historical background of Yamamoto Ichiro.

“Eight years ago, the Federal government decided to clean up the mess of the Eastern coastal regions, including Dongsang City, once and for all. At that time, Yamamoto Ichiro was the first to send men to contact the Federal government to express agreement in actively joining the Federation. Obtaining the Federation’s military and equipment aid, Yamamoto Ichiro eliminated all the competitive opponents within a year and, in the end, let Dongsang City join the Federation as planned.

“However, seven years after joining the Federation, the Federation’s authority over his troops and the Dongsang City government had not improved whatsoever… Although all of Dongsang City is nominally under Federal rule, it has always been controlled by the hands of Yamamoto Ichiro!”

Typical players probably would have neglected Haruko’s long story, seeing it as useless mission background information. But among the players sitting here, at least three had extracted many useful messages from it.

First: This person, Yamamoto Ichiro, was definitely not a simple character. Born average, he had gradually worked up the ranks, murdered his boss, set others up, and relied on the Federation at first before lending someone a knife with which to kill!

Patient in waiting for the kill, vicious, resolute… But the most important thing was that he had powerful abilities of his own! If he had been able to solo-kill a Level-35 Commander-grade monster many years back, his ability now must have been even more terrifying.

This person was not like army officers or government executives killed by players these days, who were of normal quality and were considered to have very little ability. They could be easily finished off solo thanks to players’ current abilities! This was a Commander-model humanoid monster, which clearly could only be defeated with the collaborated attacks of at least 10 or more people!

They were focused on this point because everyone had, more or less, understood that the mission this time was very likely to assassinate Lieutenant General Yamamoto Ichiro!