Cultivate Myself? Revolver

Patrolling for the Bureau of Investigation had always been an easy job. Clock in, walk around—generally speaking, as long as nothing happened in the jurisdiction under their management, there was no problem.

The exception was that Fifth Princess of the Empire Cassidy was about to arrive in Berman City. The mayor had personally ordered stricter city controls, greatly raising the requirements for public security.

The view shifted, and "Lin Qi" had already walked out of the church.

There were no more Wild Monsters inside the church. Ryan planned to look around outside. The streets around the church were deathly quiet, with only the streetlights on both sides occasionally creaking in the wind.

The street scene was just like reality. Ryan had been to the church before, so he was fairly familiar with the surrounding area.

Following his memories, he controlled the character down one side of the street, but soon encountered a patrolling Police Officer.

Police Officer: "It's curfew. Please go back."

Nuns generally were not considered suspicious. This Police Officer was clearly quite friendly; otherwise, according to Ryan's memories, seeing someone out in the middle of the night would at least warrant inviting them back for a cup of tea.

"Lin Qi": "What hours are curfew?"

Police Officer: "From ten at night until six the next morning."

"Same as reality."

Ryan was a Police Officer himself, so naturally he knew the curfew hours. Curfew would be enforced for the half month before and after Cassidy's arrival in Berman City.

Seeing that he could not get past, Ryan took another route, only to encounter another Police Officer. As the latter approached "Lin Qi," he controlled the character back into the church.

After returning to the church, the Police Officer did not follow her any farther.

Once the Police Officer headed back, Ryan controlled "Lin Qi" to carefully follow him. After walking for several minutes, he was about to turn into a side alley when a scream suddenly rang out.

The Police Officer ahead heard the sound and immediately ran toward its source. "Lin Qi" followed as well.

Before long, "Lin Qi" turned into the alley. Standing at its entrance, she saw the Police Officer lying on the ground in the distance, his face filled with terror.

"M-Monster!"

"A Werewolf?"

Scarlet blood flowed through the alley. Under the moonlight, a burly figure squatted on the ground, "feeding." The dead civilian's stomach had been slit open, and internal organs spilled out amid blood and chunks of flesh.

Sensing someone approach, the creature turned its head. Ryan saw that it was a wolf-headed humanoid.

Werewolf was not a race. There were no demi-humans in Empress Online. It was instead a characteristic of a Religious Force's power: someone polluted by Outer God Power into a bestial form. They might become wolves, dogs, or other creatures.

Bang!

The Werewolf suddenly sprang forward in a charging leap. Its sharp claws slammed down, smashing the terrified Police Officer's head into pulp.

"So strong?"

Ryan's gaze shifted to the information displayed above the Werewolf's head.

[???]

Great. No information.

No information meant its level was low.

On the screen, "Lin Qi" drew the dagger in her hand and charged resolutely toward the Werewolf.

"Time to kill!"

In reality, I was meek and obedient. Was I not even allowed to throw heavy punches in a game?

At worst, he could restart after dying. He did not really want to play a Female Character Account anyway!

However.

"Lin Qi" did throw heavy punches, but unfortunately, they barely affected the opponent. This Werewolf's physical abilities were terrifying—fast, high attack power. Ryan could only barely dodge despite frantically operating the controls.

If the alley had not been so cramped and hindered the creature, he probably would have been dead already.

"I can't beat it!"

The dagger slashed across the Werewolf's arm, leaving only a very shallow wound.

High attack, high defense, and high speed. Her attributes were completely outclassed.

Rip—

The Claws tore through the Nun Outfit. "Lin Qi" rolled away, barely dodging the blow.

"High attack, high defense, and it's faster than me. How am I supposed to fight this?"

That alone would have been one thing, but the problem was that low levels meant no skills. Was she supposed to fight a boss with only basic attacks and movement?

"I'm outta here."

Just as Ryan considered running away, two pieces of information appeared beside the character.

[Bullets]

[Police Baton]

Standard-issue Police Officer equipment.

There was a gun.

Ryan's eyes lit up.

That guy had been too terrified to react before getting mauled by Leopard Head.

"Lin Qi" decisively picked up the Revolver, loaded it, and fired. The Werewolf happened to be pouncing at her, and the shot struck its right chest, knocking it off balance with the impact.

"Lin Qi" sidestepped to avoid being rammed by the Werewolf. The cylinder rotated, and the next bullet flew out, but the Werewolf dodged it with a roll.

The Werewolf glared viciously at "Lin Qi," but it did not attack again. It was wary of the Revolver in her hand.

Late at night, in an alley, a Werewolf and a Nun.

Bang!

A long-range shot missed.

The Werewolf turned and charged deeper into the alley.

"A Wild Monster can actually run away?"

"Lin Qi" chased after it through the streets. At first, she could still spot bloodstains on the ground, but after several streets, the bloodstains disappeared, and he could no longer track it.

"This is the East District?"

Seeing the familiar neighborhood, Ryan realized that "Lin Qi" had pursued it all the way to the East District.

That meant the Werewolf most likely lived in this area.

"What a shame."

Looking at the figures patrolling the distant street, Ryan decided not to keep chasing.

If he could kill that thing, it would definitely give plenty of experience. It might even drop rare equipment.

Of course, it was also possible that it would kill him. The Werewolf's speed and strength were far beyond what "Lin Qi" could handle right now. Without the handgun, he might really have needed to restart.

"Lin Qi" headed back, exploring other parts of Berman City along the way. She occasionally encountered a few wandering souls, all of which "Lin Qi" easily killed.

"It's just like reality... Could this actually be reality?"

"It shouldn't be. Aren't Golden Fingers supposed to give you benefits in games and then let you bring them into reality?"

After making a circuit, "Lin Qi" successfully reached level 6.

"It's almost three... Time to sleep."

It was nearly three in the morning, and he still had to clock in at eight. Ryan decided to rest first and play while patrolling during the day.

[After exiting active control, AI Standby will take over. You may Take Over character control at any time by logging into the game.]

A new prompt immediately appeared when he tried to exit the game.

"It can idle too?"

Ryan was stunned. This game was far too considerate.

After exiting the game, he sat at the desk by the window and took out a notebook.

"I'm now certain that I'm in the game Empress Online. Setting aside the matter of precisely controlling the future Empress, the first thing I need to consider is how to survive."

"Tomorrow night is the key. There's an eighty percent chance it won't be anything good. The odds of dying if I go are practically one hundred percent, but the odds of dying if I don't go are also high... So it would be best to find a legitimate reason not to go."

"Golden Finger... game... benefits?"

Ryan wrote down several key points in his notebook: "position," "survival," and "game." His choice now was very important. Should he continue being Magana's lackey, or choose to embrace the Augustus Empire's future Empress?

Magana, the Iron Blood Grand Duchess—ruthless methods, powerful influence. Players killed her in the game.

Cassidy, Fifth Princess of the Empire—steady personality, top-tier looks and figure. Players killed her in the game.

After thinking it over, Ryan still felt Cassidy was the more reliable choice.

"Mainly because I want to be a good person."

That said, the Golden Finger's benefits had yet to show themselves. He still had room to maneuver, provided he first survived tomorrow night's crisis.

"A reason not to go..."

Ryan burned the notebook page, washed up quickly, and went to rest.

Nothing happened that night.

At 8:15 sharp, Ryan stepped through the gates of the Bureau of Investigation's East Branch Bureau. The branch was located at 144 Anko Street in eastern Berman City. It had two floors: the lower floor was a public service area, while the upper floor was the Police Officers' office area.

After completing his usual clock-in, Ryan prepared to report to the Captain before heading out on patrol.

Because Cassidy was about to arrive in Berman City, their main task recently was patrolling, strengthening public security management, and reducing all unnecessary conflicts.

It was precisely because public security controls had been strengthened that the Sacrifice Incident on Heiding Street caused such a sensation, even making it into newspapers run by major news organizations.

"Did you hear? A Police Officer died last night!"

Before entering the Captain's office, Ryan heard his colleagues discussing it.

"Seriously? Where?"

"Near Shengning Street, I think. In some alley. His head was cut off."

"No way. Patrols are so strict in Central City—something still happened?"

"Maybe it happened precisely because everyone thought nothing would happen."

By district, Central City was the most prosperous part of Berman City. Most of its residents were wealthy or influential, and its public security was naturally the best in the city.

So whenever anything happened in Central City, word spread quickly.

And this time, it had been a Police Officer who died.

Ryan paused mid-knock and turned back to ask, "Is the information reliable?"

"Of course. A friend of mine works at the General Bureau. He was called in after three last night and still hasn't rested. I ran into him on my way to work this morning, and he told me himself."

The man sighed. "The dead Police Officer was even a rookie he brought in after joining the General Bureau last year. Just like that, he was gone."

"No way."

Ryan groaned, feeling like things were about to get wild.

"What do you mean, no way?"

"Nothing, nothing."

A Police Officer had died in Central City. Could there really be such a coincidence?

Ryan turned on his heels from the Captain's office toward the restroom, then impatiently opened the game.

[Lin Qi has been taken over.]

A message from last night's idle period appeared on the interface.

[03:16:23, you returned to the church dormitory. You did not encounter anyone along the way. After washing up, you went to sleep.]

[07:14:55, Priest Peter summoned you. A Police Officer was with Peter. Peter asked whether you had left the church last night. You did not deny it, but used wanting to take a walk as an excuse. After being stopped, you returned.]