"Don't rush. Scroll down."
Selina saw his expression and knew what he was looking at. She smiled.
He Ao knew there was more to it when she said that, so he continued scrolling. After the long, detailed list, a concluding passage appeared.
[As a valued customer of Norde Medical Insurance Group, you are eligible for our premium customer partnership discount. Your total bill after the discount is: 67,983.5 Federal currency.
After deducting the 6,000 Federal currency deductible, Norde Medical Insurance Group will cover 80% of the bill, totaling 49,586.8 Federal currency. Your final payment is: 18,396.7 Federal currency.
As you have signed an automatic payment agreement without password verification, this bill has already been paid in full. We wish you a pleasant life and good health.]
He Ao exited the message and found many unread notifications on his bracelet. The most recent was a bank payment notice.
[Norde Bank:
Your Credit Card ending in 083 has paid 18,396.7 Federal currency in medical expenses to Huiermei Medical Group.]
For some reason, although eighteen thousand was still six months of his salary, compared to four hundred and thirty thousand, it suddenly did not seem all that high.
That medical insurance discount was enormous—equivalent to paying only four percent of the original price. He now understood why Selina had specifically emphasized that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had purchased social insurance and medical insurance for him.
Still, he looked up at Selina. "My airship accident... will the airline compensate me?"
"Yes." Selina nodded and casually waved her hand, sending a data link to He Ao. "For accidental disasters like exotic beast attacks, airlines only cover post-disaster search-and-rescue expenses and death compensation. Someone like you, who survived and can still jump around perfectly fine, gets very little compensation. The maximum is only twenty thousand. This is Federation Airlines' accident compensation application page. You can try applying."
He Ao focused his gaze on the link. It opened naturally, redirecting him to an online form. After recognizing his biometric data, the page logged into Ander's member account, and the various identity fields were quickly filled in.
A virtual keyboard then appeared in midair, prompting He Ao to enter supplementary identity details and documents, including the medical bill sent by the medical group.
He Ao relaxed and let his body follow its instincts. He raised both hands and began typing in the air. He did not know Ander's detailed personal information, but whenever he needed to fill something in, the information naturally surfaced in his mind.
These glasses seemed to have some kind of motion-capture function as well, capable of recognizing his movements and responding to them. As long as he made motions in the air, the glasses could detect them and react on the displayed interface.
Selina had probably done the same thing earlier. He Ao had only seen her wave her hand before sending over the webpage. Perhaps she had some sort of operating interface in her own field of vision as well.
After He Ao finished filling in the information and pressed send, an ad suddenly popped up. It was software from a will notarization company that could help create and notarize a will online.
An accident compensation webpage linking to a will notarization company's ad—what kind of absurd operation was that?
One-stop service, huh?
But honestly, it really did strike at people's psychology. After going through one accident, no one knew whether there would be another. People who had never made a will might genuinely start thinking about making one at a time like this.
A commercial genius, really.
Out of curiosity, He Ao clicked on the ad and looked through the densely packed terms. Then he verified his iris, fingerprint, and electronic signature.
Then the page froze on the heir information screen, requiring him to enter the heir's name and social security number.
The Federation did not have identity cards, but almost everyone applied for social insurance, so Social Security Card Numbers could be used to verify a specific person's identity.
He could not proceed without filling in that field.
But Ander's parents were both dead. He had no siblings, no wife, and even less of a girlfriend. Since he had worked constantly while attending school, he had not gotten along well with his classmates. He did not even have a single friend whose name he could call out.
He Ao reached out and closed the software. He could not even think of anyone he could put down there.
That was just too miserable.
"What's wrong?" Selina asked curiously when she saw He Ao's strange expression. "Is there something special about that screen?"
"Nothing. It just reminded me of a few things."
He Ao shook his head. He suddenly realized that his own experiences seemed to be much the same as Ander's.
Oh. So I'm this miserable too. Then it's fine.
Click—
At that moment, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and a balding middle-aged man with a scholarly air walked in. "Investigators, this is a serious problem."
He tapped the table, and a huge photograph was projected onto the wall. It showed a thin, gaunt man with grayish-white skin.
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. You're Ander, right?" His gaze fell on He Ao. Smiling, he extended his hand. "My name is Smith, supervisor of the Wilderness Field Operations Division. Bald Smith."
"Hello. I'm Ander."
He Ao felt a little awkward. It was the first time he had met someone who included "bald" in his own introduction.
"I know you must be wondering why I call myself 'Bald Smith,'" Smith said as he released his hand and sat down, smiling at Selina. "It's because whenever someone introduces me, they always add the adjective 'bald.' I was forced to accept the title."
Selina leaned against the desk and directly changed the subject. "Let's talk business."
The warmth she had shown while interacting with He Ao faded considerably, turning into professional coldness and rigor.
"Mu Xiu, a native of Twilight City. When he was thirteen, Twilight City suffered an especially major cult ritual incident."
Smith's tone also lowered as he began introducing Mu Xiu's history.
"The Desire Demoness Sub-body Summoning case?"
Selina asked in a low voice.
"Yes. That Evil God Descent ritual covered an entire city block, killing thousands. Mu Xiu's parents and siblings all died in that ritual," Smith nodded and continued.
"Mu Xiu was traumatized by it and became paranoid and insane. He received the God of Chaos's favor in the wilderness, becoming a priest of the God of Chaos. As far as we know, he has carried out massacres in five cities, slaughtering over a thousand innocent people."
"He came to Dawn City?" Selina looked at Smith in confusion. "Where did this information come from?"
"You brought it," Smith said, switching the projection to the large Wilderness Wanderer whom He Ao and Selina had just captured. "Nuokang, a minor leader of the Tamu Family among the Wilderness Wanderers. While transporting IB-Ⅱ to Dawn City for sale, he encountered Mu Xiu asking for directions."
Smith tapped the table, and the projected image changed again, becoming a chaotic first-person recording.
The owner of the viewpoint appeared to be sitting beside a vehicle, wiping down a firearm. Suddenly, noisy shouting and intense gunfire came from ahead. The viewpoint's owner immediately stood up, but before he could steady himself, a Black Shadow appeared in front of him.
The image then shook violently, as though the viewpoint's owner had been grabbed by the throat and slammed hard onto the ground. At the same time, a grayish-white face appeared in the frame, red light flickering in its eyes beneath a black hood.
"Which way is Dawn City?"
His voice was crazed and low, like a bloodthirsty beast that had been starving for far too long.
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