"Missing Person: Owen Douglas.
Bounty Rank: Iron.
Case Description: Disappeared under the Kensington tunnel with his light blue Volvere car. A woman died in the tunnel because of a hit-and-run traffic accident. The killer was never found. Legends say that the woman haunts the tunnel and kills lonely travelers.
Related Information: No actual NCE(s) sighting from prior investigations. NES detected by the Institute.
Location: 789 Parch Street, Aeliz City.
Objective:
1. Located Owen Douglas or his body.
2. Report any sightings (photographic evidence or video recording is required).
Reward:
1. For Objective 1: 300 credits - 5 tokens.
2. For Objective 2: 200 credits - 10 tokens.
PI Followed: 0."
Mater scanned the Iron mission list before finding a rather promising bounty.
"NES detected, huh? If I remember correctly, the ACPD calls the resentment of the wraith as Negative Emotional Spectrum and uses it as a type of indication for NCE.
They aren't wrong. A place with a lot of negativity is a perfect location for wraiths to be born.
This bounty is also in this city. Let's mark that."
Mater used Selina' account to accept the bounty. Now every bounty hunter on the site and the police knew she was working on that bounty.
"The rewards are split between finding Owens and reporting a sighting. Iron Bounty Hunters are probably too weak to deal with these threats so the police only need them to scout.
Unfortunately, I can't allow them to deal with the wraiths. Those NCEs are my food... Hehehe.
What is this token reward?"
Mater clicked on the token symbol to find out more about it. Apart from the simple credit reward, the token showed how much contribution a PI had. The more tokens you had the higher your rank would be. When the amount of tokens reached a certain level, the PI could level up their ranking and switch for a better Ankh badge.
"I see. So that is how the police categorize weak and strong people."
Mater continued to scan the Iron Mission List for any potential bounty. There wasn't any rule to prevent a PI to accept multiple bounties so Mater would choose as much as he could.
"Abandoned House on Eluvia Street
Bounty Rank: Iron.
Case Description: Rumors say that there are wailings in this abandoned house at night and shadows moving around the windows.
Related Information: No prior investigations from DSI. NES detected by the Institute.
Location: 111 Eluvia Street, Aeliz City
Objective: Verify the existence of any NCE(s) and report any possible sightings (photographic evidence or video recording is required).
Reward: 150 credits - 3 tokens.
PI Followed: 0."
"This bounty also looks promising. Let's mark that."
Mater continued to check the Bounty List. He spent almost half an hour but didn't find anything worthwhile.
Then he found another one.
"Undeveloped land near NEO Mall
Bounty Rank: Iron.
Case Description: 9 missing people in the under-developed plot of land near NEO Mall. All of them have not been found yet. Possible result of an NCE (unconfirmed).
Related Information: No prior investigations from DSI. NES detected by the Institute.
Location: 89 Tora Street, Aeliz City. Near NEO Mall.
Objective:
1. Locate the missing people or their bodies or any new clues related to the situation.
2. Verify the existence of any NCE(s) and report any possible sightings (photographic evidence or video recording is required).
Reward:
1. Depends on the clues provided. Otherwise, 300 credits - 5 tokens for each missing person or body located.
2. 500 credits - 15 tokens.
WARNING: The case might be related to a serial killer and not an NCE. Proceed with caution.
PI Followed: 7."
Mater meowed, "Oh? This one has quite a lot of PI working on it. But none of them have had any significant breakthrough. This feels like a killer than a wraith but the credits are nice. Selina can use that money to buy more food and beers."
The black cat accepted that mission, increasing the number of people working on the bounty to eight.
Selina had also just woken up. She stretched her body and tried to find Mater under her shirt. Unfortunately, the black cat was gone.
She lazily got up and walked to the living room. The scene caused her to freeze in place.
Mater sat at her computer. His fluffy paw grabbed the mouse and moved it like a human.
Selina thought that he would be cute if Mater had another pair of glasses on him.
The goth girl couldn't help but chuckle.
Mater turned back and looked at her.
"You look ridiculous, Mr. Mater!" Selina held her belly and laughed.
The black cat rolled his eyes. He waved at Selina with his paw and called her over.
"Check these." Mater meowed and opened the list of bounties he had accepted.
"What are these?" Selina widened her eyes and read the details of the bounties.
"You... You accepted these bounties while I was asleep?" Selina said.
Mater nodded. He tapped his chest with his paw proudly.
"I don't know if I can deal with them, Mr. Mater." Selina played with her hands.
Mater tapped his chest again and meowed. "No worries. I am here."
Even though Selina didn't understand Mater. She, kind of, felt what he was trying to say.
"Alright then. If you're confident then we can go check on them." Selina said.
Mater grinned from ear to ear and revealed his yellow dirty teeth. The black cat nodded.
"Ew! Your teeth are ugly. Come here."
"Meow?"
Before Mater was even able to contest, Selina grabbed him and pulled him to the bathroom.
"No, woman! I refuse! Let me go!"
Mater clawed at the wall, causing the wallpaper to peel off. But he had no strength to oppose his owner. The black cat was slowly dragged into the bathroom, leaving long lines of scratch marks on the wallpaper.
Mater's howl echoed throughout the house as he was being forced into doing something he didn't want to do.
Selina held him still and took a fresh new toothbrush to brush his teeth. The toothpaste bubbled up in Mater's mouth as the scent and coolness of mint enveloped him.
"You have some sharp teeth, Mr. Mater!" Selina was weirdly exciting. She couldn't lower down her curved lips.
"Grrrrrrrrowl!" Mater's mood was down the entire time.