Compensation

Only after hearing Su Ren's words did Su Shijie glance again at the woman on the ground, whose even fallen posture was full of affected sweetness.

As she covered her face and wept, beneath the cover of her palm, her little mouth was rapidly mouthing words in his direction. It was probably—

'Split it evenly.'

Well damn, this really was a honey trap.

Silently controlling the steel needle back into place, Su Shijie said nothing.

Now that he had recovered from his stress response, Su Shijie's mind began functioning normally again.

If he worked with this woman, they probably really could get a sizable amount of compensation.

Just as he had thought when reading the city regulations earlier, the biggest reason those conditions were spelled out so openly was to make ordinary people lose the will to resist. At the same time, because they had to accept the Dawn Goddess's supervision, a way out had deliberately been left open.

The compensation amount was high enough, after all. No matter what, such behavior could not be encouraged.

But clearly, this blond punk who looked like he did not have much of a brain and had been lured in had two bodyguards with him. He had to have some status.

At the very least, he belonged to the privileged class.

Even if the woman running this honey trap would not be stupid enough to pick someone with an excessively high status, it would still bring trouble.

Besides, Su Shijie looked down on this sort of thing to begin with. There was no way he would "cooperate."

As these thoughts flashed through Su Shijie's mind, Su Ren had already spoken in an offhand tone.

"We have no interest in your business, nor are we interested in pursuing your harassment. We also have no intention of digging out the accomplice who sold our information, so we hope you won't go looking for trouble yourself."

Su Ren did not reveal any oppressive aura, yet those casual words immediately made the woman on the floor stop sobbing.

"Oh, so you knew we had just entered the city, which was why you picked our room as your 'eyewitnesses.'"

After hearing Su Ren's words, Su Shijie finally understood.

Meanwhile, the blond punk who had come in so aggressively had already been pulled back and shielded behind the two bodyguards, who watched Su Ren warily.

The blond punk seemed to have calmed down somewhat from his earlier heated state and was observing the situation from behind his bodyguards.

After the exchange on this side ended, he still seemed muddled despite not being very bright.

But the bodyguard beside him had already quietly explained the situation to him.

Only after hearing the bodyguard's explanation did he put on a look of sudden realization and say furiously, "Fine! This again?

"You really think I'm that easy to fool?

"I've been taken advantage of more than a dozen times. Do you think I'd still fall for it?"

His furious, foot-stomping appearance and the information in his words made Su Shijie glance at him sympathetically.

More than a dozen times? Damn...

They were really shearing the same sheep over and over. They were about to shear it bald, weren't they?!

Still, at least this guy probably was not short on money.

The privileged compensation for this sort of crime had to start at over a hundred thousand.

With the Dawn Goddess overseeing the Floating City, there were at least no loopholes to exploit when it came to procedural justice.

If there really were suitable witnesses here, along with hotel surveillance footage and fingerprints or more obvious biological evidence, then he would be forced to swallow the loss.

"Tch, what bad luck."

Once she realized she could not keep up the act, the woman seemed to change her face instantly.

Hearing the blond punk still shouting over there, she actually yelled back at him even louder.

"So what? Kill me?

"Right, even if you kill me, you'll only be fined and made to pay compensation. Go on, kill me!"

Yet her fierce retort actually left the furious blond punk speechless.

His face turned bright red as he seemed to have no idea how to respond.

After tearing into the blond punk, the woman turned back and shot Su Shijie a glare, then strode forward two steps aggressively.

Su Shijie had already clenched his fist, ready to give her a punch within the reasonable limits of the city regulations after she cursed at him.

But what she did next left Su Shijie somewhat stunned.

After coming up to him, she grabbed Su Shijie's left hand.

"What silicone? What's wrong with your eyes?

"The perfume is Oushi! Don't talk nonsense when you don't know anything!"

She had been fine when she was angrily cursing the blond punk earlier, but now that she mentioned this, tears actually welled up in her eyes. She had probably been completely offended...

"Um, I can tell the difference. Let me do it..."

The blond punk stared wide-eyed at Su Shijie and raised his hand as he spoke.

Both of his bodyguards wore awkward expressions at that gesture.

"What are you looking at?! If you were as handsome as him, why would you need to spend money?"

After yanking Su Shijie's hand away, the woman stormed off in a huff, her resentment practically spilling over.

But after only two steps, Su Shijie flashed in front of her and blocked her path.

She crashed straight into him without having time to react.

"Ow! What are you doing? I'm not in the mood today."

After being knocked onto her backside, the woman in the shirt rubbed the spot she had hit and shot Su Shijie a glare.

"You violated the city regulations. Either we reach a private settlement and you compensate me, or we notify the City Guard directly."

Su Shijie glanced at her and gave her a taste of her own medicine.

"Huh? Do you think I'm as stupid as him? Did I ask you for money? Did I extort you?"

She had initially thought Su Shijie wanted to keep her city contact number or something. But when he brought this up, the woman in the shirt nearly exploded. With this figure, this face—were his eyes blind?

She still had not quite recovered from the damage Su Shijie's "silicone" remark had done to her earlier.

"Not that. I'm saying you just molested me."

Su Shijie answered with a completely serious expression. He had only just read the city regulations, and the section on molestation did not distinguish between men and women. It was very equal.

"There are surveillance cameras in the hotel corridor. You dragged me by the hand just now. That counts as molestation."

The woman in the shirt froze dumbly at his words. Good grief, I molested you?

But since she had chosen this line of work, she had long memorized all kinds of regulations inside and out. Thinking it over, it really fucking did seem to count!

Normally, though, women committing such offenses was exceedingly rare. Even if someone occasionally ran into harassment from some rich older woman, they would not report it to the City Guard and go through the formal process.

But that did not mean the rule was invalid.

With the Dawn Goddess overseeing everything, once he filed a report, there was no question that the penalties would be imposed according to the regulations—fines, compensation, and detention.

The woman in the shirt instantly lost it. Even her formerly rosy lips began to tremble. In the end, however, she took a deep breath, got to her feet, and said, "I'll settle privately. Tell me what you want."

Going through official channels would be disastrous, so she could only choose the option that minimized her losses.

"The usual fine for molestation is 2,000, with compensation generally set at 5,000, plus fifteen days of detention. Just give me 7,000 Credit Points. The detention can be waived. You're getting a bargain."

Su Shijie began carefully calculating the costs for her...