For the Sake of Completing the Mission

[He Ao (Ander)]

[Authority Level: Normal Player]

[Physical Fitness: 15 (13) (Normal person in copy world is 10, normal person in main world is 5)]

[Skills: Talent Sequence 272: Super Memory (Soul Bound) (Rank E)]

[Mechanical Modification: None]

[Martial Arts: Qi Induction (Rank F) (Cannot be used)]

[Character Abilities: Basic Firearms Mastery, Qi Induction (No Rank)]

Super Memory's rank had upgraded from Rank F to Rank E. His previously depleted spirit and stamina were slowly recovering. Perhaps this was the effect of the mysterious potion he had drunk? Super Memory had absorbed the power of that potion, not only replenishing the part He Ao had sacrificed his life for, but also causing a promotion.

"How did you know that potion would be useful to me?"

He Ao closed the character panel, leaned against the wall, and asked softly.

"Hmm?"

The little boy was currently holding up the metal-wrapped test tube, looking at the empty inner wall, and shaking it a few times. He seemed unable to figure out how He Ao had sucked the contents so clean.

"I don't know," he turned his head back, putting the silver test tube in his pocket, "but I saw you seemed to really want it, so I fed it to you."

"Is that so? Looks like I'm lucky,"

He Ao chuckled. By this time, he had recovered some strength. He put his hand in his pocket and fumbled out a toy pistol. After so many things, this gun was still safely in his pocket. He handed the gun back to the little boy, "Here, take it back. Consider it payment for saving me."

This little boy was the one who had exchanged a toy gun for He Ao's hot dog at the entrance of the Crown Casino earlier.

"This isn't enough, you need to add more money."

The little boy took the pistol, skillfully pulled open the magazine, and found that the last plastic bullet was gone. His expression was a little dejected, but he didn't say much. Instead, he put the magazine back and inserted the pistol into his toy police car.

Only then did He Ao realize that the toy pistol and the toy police car were a set.

He reached out and pressed the red button on the toy police car, and a piercing police siren sounded.

Hearing the siren, He Ao instantly sorted out the logic of the events.

The little boy used the toy car's siren to pretend the police were coming, scaring away the dancer, and then fed him the potion in the silver test tube, saving his life.

It was similar to his guess when he first woke up.

When he woke up and saw the little boy instead of Smith beside him, he roughly guessed that the little boy had saved him.

Although it seemed to be a lucky coincidence, from the result, it did save He Ao's life.

"Don't press it randomly!" The little boy quickly slapped his hand away, then pressed it again to stop the siren, "Batteries are expensive, and..."

"And what?"

He Ao was a little curious.

Just as his voice fell, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the darkness. A disheveled homeless man wearing a worn leather jacket rushed out. He scanned around, saw the little boy, and rushed over anxiously.

"I was wondering who was making noise here in the middle of the night. Turns out it's you, you little brat."

He walked over, making a gesture as if to hit.

The little boy instinctively hugged the toy car and curled into a ball.

Bang—

With a crisp gunshot, the rapidly sliding bullet hit the cement ground in front of the vagrant, splashing several pieces of cement.

The vagrant, who had just been aggressive, instantly froze in place.

"Scram."

He Ao put down the gun and said calmly.

This was a regular gun; the Gauss Gun was tucked into his waistband.

"I'm going, I'm going."

The vagrant immediately shrank back, nodding and bowing as he scurried back into the darkness.

This guy hadn't failed to hear the sounds of He Ao fighting the Dancer; he was just afraid of the intensity of the fight and had cowered in the corner, not daring to come out.

The loud sounds of the fight hadn't bothered him, so how could the toy car's siren bother him?

He was just a bully who preyed on the weak.

It wasn't necessarily that this guy hadn't considered testing if He Ao still had the ability to fight when he darted out. If He Ao had lost the ability to resist, not only would the little boy have been beaten, but everything valuable on He Ao would have been looted.

The reason he hadn't darted out at first was likely because he had been scared by the sounds of the fight just now.

He Ao slowly put away the gun in his hand, and as he put away the gun, the little boy's eyes followed his hand intently.

"Are you a police officer?"

The boy asked tentatively.

"Sort of," He Ao thought for a moment. In a sense, investigators were equivalent to special police officers in the instance world. He looked at the little boy's toy police car. "Do you want to be a police officer?"

The little boy glanced at the toy car in his hand and shook his head, "No."

He Ao smiled and looked at him.

"Just a little, it looks impressive," the little boy pouted. He looked at He Ao and changed the subject, "Will someone come to save you later? Will there be an ambulance? I heard ambulances are expensive, but they're amazing. People who are almost dead can be saved if they're put in one."

"Who told you that?"

He Ao struggled to stand up and staggered towards the briefcase.

"My dad."

The little boy reached out and supported him, looking curiously at his movements.

"Where's your dad?"

He Ao walked forward step by step.

"He died," the little boy answered calmly, "Couldn't afford an ambulance, and then he died."

Then he circled around He Ao. "You still haven't answered me if you have an ambulance?"

He Ao paused for a moment, then continued walking forward. "I don't have an ambulance."

"You can't afford an ambulance either?"

The little boy looked a bit confused.

"Yeah," He Ao nodded slightly. He walked over to the briefcase and squatted down. "Ambulances are too expensive, over a thousand Federal currency per trip."

"That expensive?" The little boy seemed to be hearing the price of an ambulance for the first time. He counted on his fingers. "A big fried chicken leg is one Federal currency. Over a thousand Federal currency can buy over a thousand fried chicken legs!"

His eyes were wide and round, and his small face was filled with shock.

"Mm."

He Ao opened the briefcase. Inside was a tablet computer, which had been smashed by scattered rubble. Three pens had fallen out. He Ao rummaged through it and found a paper notebook and a beautifully packaged, thumb-sized bottle of ink.

Paper was rarely used in the instance world anymore. School teaching was generally done on high-precision pressure-sensitive electronic paper, and social communication was entirely handled by electronic documents. The decrease in demand also caused the price of paper and books to rise.

However, the paper industry had not disappeared. In some cases, humans' acceptance of knowledge in paper books was better than that of electronic paper.

Therefore, private elite schools and some universities still used paper. For example, the private school Ander attended when he was a child used paper books for teaching.

In addition, some social elites and ancient families still used paper to pass down some documents or to write, so using paper had, in a sense, become a symbol of the 'upper class'.

Finding a notebook, pen, and ink in the briefcase proved that the man's social status was not low.

He Ao didn't know why this man had come to see the Dancer, but he searched around and found nothing else.

"Are you looking for books?" The little boy looked at He Ao's actions with confusion. He tilted his head, then ran a few steps and waved at He Ao. "Come with me."

He Ao looked at him with confusion, then picked up the notebook, pen, and ink and followed him into the depths of the building.

Along the way, they passed a burning bonfire where many homeless people were gathered to keep warm. These homeless people stared at them intently, like hungry beasts.

Then He Ao silently raised the gun in his hand, and these homeless people slowly shifted their gaze back.

After passing through several such bonfires, the little boy finally led He Ao to their destination.

This looked like a small warehouse room, locked with a large iron lock. There were signs that the lock and door had been smashed. Next to the door was a small ventilation window, extremely narrow, barely wide enough for an adult to fit their head through.

The glass of the window had been smashed. He Ao looked inside through the window. The warehouse room was not large and was empty. He could only see a worn-out coat and some small, bulging bags.

"Wait a moment."

The little boy put his toy on the ground and skillfully climbed through the window. He rummaged through a bag, and after a while, he took out two books from inside and ran over, shaking them through the window. "Are you looking for these?"

He Ao looked carefully. They were two textbooks for the lower grades of elementary school. He nodded. "Yes, these!"

The little boy climbed back through the window, holding the books with a proud look. He Ao reached out to help him.

As he caught him, He Ao looked inside the window. "You live here?"

"Yes!"

The little boy patted his clothes and handed the books to He Ao.

"Then you ran all the way to the Crown Casino?"

He Ao took the books and asked casually.

"The gamblers over there are very generous when they win money, and there are some small shops that specifically cater to gamblers who've lost everything. Food is very cheap in those shops, and I don't have to pay to ride the bus."

The little boy spoke with great experience. He was only about a meter tall, and the payment line for Dawn City buses was one meter and ten centimeters.

He Ao flipped through the books the little boy gave him. Both books were very new and looked like they hadn't been read much. He was a little curious, "Where did you get such new books?"

"Someone came to hand out bread before, and they gave these out with it. I thought they'd be good for starting fires, so I took them.

Later, they stopped giving them out and started teaching writing instead. They only took children. You'd get a loaf of bread for attending a class. A bunch of weirdos.

But they gave plenty of bread, and it was tasty. They even gave toys as rewards if you learned well. I quite liked them,"

The boy rubbed his chin and thought for a while. "It's just that they didn't come as often later. At first, it was once a week, then once every two weeks, and now they might not even come once every one or two months."

He Ao turned the books over and saw a line of text printed on the back: [Dawn Stray Children Relief Society, Donation Hotline: 010****375]

"Probably ran out of money."

He casually put the books away.

"Oh right, what are you doing with these books?" The boy looked at He Ao in confusion. "Are you going to school too?"

"No," He Ao shook his head, and opened the Character Panel again, looking at (Ander) after his name, "To complete a mission."

This mission had finally reached its final stage.