"Sigh, whatever. If I hadn't made him shut up then, would I have had to suffer through his noise? Since I've already hit him, let's just leave it at that."
Cipher sighed, not taking the matter to heart. After all, these were all just things she had imagined.
Putting her personal terminal back into her system backpack, Cipher once again entered the Mercenary Association, intending to return the item.
After all, it was useless in her hands right now and was just wasting a backpack slot. (Though, her backpack slots were infinite.)
However, what Cipher didn't expect was that she had only been gone for a minute or two, right? How did that person already realize his terminal was missing?
Yes, as soon as she entered, she saw the mercenary who had been calmly mopping the floor. He was now anxiously patting all over his clothes, muttering about how his terminal had disappeared.
"...Such bad luck."
Seeing this, Cipher could only roll her eyes, muttering under her breath so only she could hear.
Sneaking it back now was definitely out of the question. Cipher looked left and right, finally choosing a dark corner. She placed the terminal there, making sure no one saw her.
"Whether you can find your terminal depends on your own skill. This cat is making a move first!"
After whispering this to the mercenary who was still searching for his terminal, Cipher walked towards the back of the counter.
She wanted to see what was inside, why they claimed only the strong could enter and made it so mysterious.
Gently opening the door behind the counter a crack, and seeing that no one was paying attention, Cipher slipped inside and quietly closed the door.
"Hoo..."
With just one breath, Cipher's eyes instantly lit up.
Nothing else, it was mainly because the air here was simply too fresh, a complete world away from outside!
The air in the association hall was filled with the pungent smell of cheap alcohol and acrid, inexpensive tobacco.
And while the outside was a bit better than the hall, the pervasive garbage and the mixed scent of decaying bird and beast corpses were not pleasant either.
With just a door separating them, Cipher felt as if she had instantly gone from a pub and a garbage heap to a fresh, vast prairie, completely captivating to a cat!
Her nose had suffered for so long, and now it was finally alive again!
She stood still, squinting and enjoying the fresh air for a while, then looked ahead.
Inside this door was an upward staircase, and the texture of this staircase was clearly much better than the rotten wooden tables outside.
Touching the smooth solid wood handrail, Cipher curiously observed the stairwell, muttering to herself:
"I didn't expect this Mercenary Association to have a hidden gem. Inside and outside the door are like two completely different worlds..."
Reaching the second floor, Cipher saw the place where the so-called "strong" could come to accept missions.
It was a hall many times cleaner than the first floor, with two sofas and coffee tables on either side. There were also some pastries and other items on the coffee tables.
In the center of the hall was a huge LCD screen displaying many quests.
At this moment, a Middle-aged man, with solid but not bulky muscles, was sitting on one of the sofas, holding a personal terminal and seemingly looking through something.
Cipher glanced at him, and seeing that he hadn't noticed her, she shifted her gaze to the LCD screen.
'Clean up gangs... drive out cults... D-rank bounty... hunt D-rank Mutated Beasts...'
When she saw the words "Mutated Beast," Cipher paused.
So there were things called Mutated Beasts in this world? Why hadn't Lauren and the others mentioned them before?
Although a bit puzzled, she continued to look further up.
'Apprehend C-rank wanted criminal (IMA), clear D-rank Mutated Beast pack, investigate the origin of 'Cipher'...'
Wait? What the heck? She was on a quest too?
Cipher was a bit stunned. How long had she been in this world? Not even half a day, and she was already on a quest?!
"Is it because of what happened last night, when I hit that mercenary?"
After much thought, she could only come to this conclusion.
After all, she could count all the things she had done in this world on one hand right now.
"I really want to see the content of this quest... But if I do that... any normal person would notice something is wrong."
Cipher held her chin with one hand, pondering the matter.
If she wanted to know the content, she would have to click on it to see.
But she couldn't enter here officially.
Sneaking in was easy, but if she just clicked on this mission, it would expose her presence... Wait... At this moment, Cipher thought of something.
Ethan seems to be able to come in and choose missions, right? Then I can just ask him to help me look when the time comes, or I can follow him in and look together!
Thinking of this, she moved her gaze away from the screen. There was no rush right now anyway.
Then Cipher walked over to the Middle-aged man, curiously leaning in to glance at the personal terminal in his hand, wanting to see what the man was looking at.
But after just two glances, Cipher knew what the content was.
Isn't this just the same quests as on the big screen?!
Seeing this, Cipher looked speechlessly at the most conspicuous LCD screen in the hall.
If quests could be viewed on terminals, then what was the purpose of this screen? For those who couldn't afford a terminal?
Although Cipher didn't know how many credit points a terminal cost, judging by the fact that everyone she met at least had a personal terminal, it shouldn't be very expensive.
So, how poor must a person be if they can't even afford a personal terminal? How strong could their actual strength be?
Wait... At this moment, Cipher seemed to suddenly realize a problem.
It seemed that she herself was currently one of those guys who couldn't even afford a personal terminal!
So, had she been insulting herself all this time?!
...After a brainstorm about whether she had just insulted herself or not, Cipher finally came to a conclusion:
This cat would never be so stupid as to insult herself! Ultimately, it was only because she had just arrived here and had no money that she couldn't afford a personal terminal. She just needed to earn money!
Thinking of this, Cipher's eyes were involuntarily drawn to the personal terminal in the Middle-aged man's hand.
This man seemed to belong to the more powerful tier, right? In that case, his personal terminal should have quite a few credit points.
Even if not many, it shouldn't be negative like that mercenary's, right?
If he wasn't a bad person, then she would just steal a tiny bit of credit points as initial capital.
If he was a bad person, then she could truly get started!
Suddenly, Cipher began to feel an itch in her hands, as she hadn't made a single score for over half a day; she was practically losing money!
Therefore, she began to focus intently on the Middle-aged man. As soon as he put his terminal away, even for a few seconds, that would be her moment to strike!
...Finally, after waiting for about five minutes, Cipher saw the man about to put his terminal away.
At this moment, she was also ready.
"Brother Felix? A rare guest! Why do you have time to come here tonight? I didn't even have time to prepare to receive you."
However, just as he was about to put it away, a voice came from behind the LCD screen, making both Cipher and the Middle-aged man pause. They then simultaneously turned their heads to look at the source of the voice.