The Vicious Criminal Duo

The night rain was cool, tapping against the awning with a hollow, mechanical patter.

Ivette slowly opened her eyes, her vision immediately filled by a massive holographic projection—a semi-nude virtual beauty was licking her lips with programmed seductiveness, holographic particles swirling around her waist to form a flashing advertisement: "Tired of reality's coldness? Craving a hotter touch? Seventh Heaven, equipped with the latest spiritual body synchronization technology, makes every caress real enough to make you tremble! Blackwater District, Coordinates 47.9, we invite you to experience!"

Ivette's pupils contracted slightly, and she stared at the advertisement for a few more moments before turning her attention to her surroundings.

This was a rain-soaked alley, stretching endlessly into the night on both sides. The towering building facades were covered in matte alloy panels, etched with magic circuits that flowed with streams of neon blue, indigo, and crimson light, outlining the entire structure.

At the base of the wall in the corner, discarded gear-shaped magic components, dust-covered pipe fittings, worn-out flexible screens, and foul-smelling household garbage were piled up. A prosthetic hand with exposed alloy joints was impaled on top of the garbage heap with a sense of morbid humor, as if a mechanical life form was about to crawl out of the filth.

"Is this... the Blackwater District before the apocalypse?" Ivette murmured softly, her slender fingers tucking the damp silver hair clinging to her shoulder behind her back.

Just as she was contemplating her next move, a familiar and surprised voice called out from behind her, "Teacher, where is this? How did we suddenly get here?"

Ivette spun around abruptly, seeing Rosaline dressed in explorer's gear standing behind her.

Her clothes were soaked by the rain, her blonde hair plastered to her cheeks, but her eyes sparkled with life, like a fawn that had stumbled into the future, curiously observing this bizarre new world.

"How did you get in here?" Ivette asked, surprised.

"I saw you sleeping on the ground, Teacher, so I wanted to put something under you. But as soon as I touched you, I started feeling drowsy..."

So that's it. To enter my dream, one must have contact with me. This further solidifies the special connection between the Dream Mist and me... Ivette mused thoughtfully.

The rain intensified, forcing the two to move towards the alley entrance. Pedestrians occasionally passed by. Compared to the modern, trendy attire of the passersby, Ivette, in her white dress, was conspicuously out of place, inevitably drawing stares.

"What do you feel when you look at these people?" Ivette suddenly asked after walking for a while.

"Huh?" Rosaline blinked slightly, then thought for a moment before replying, "They're very curious about us, but also a bit... ill-intentioned."

"No... I'm asking you, when you look at them, do their bodies appear strange in any way, like semi-transparent or blurry?"

"No, they don't."

"I see."

"In your eyes, Teacher, do they look transparent or blurry?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow! Does that mean you can see their true nature with just one glance?"

"...Perhaps."

A few minutes later, as they emerged from the alley, Ivette held two ID cards in her hand.

"Teacher, this really is a dream, right?" Rosaline asked nervously.

Ivette nodded slightly, signaling her to relax.

Although she hadn't lived in the pre-apocalypse world, through reading the novels and books that had survived, there was one thing she was certain of: living here, one couldn't be without identification.

And what if you didn't have an ID?

Ivette's answer was to employ sting operations.

So, to find suitable targets, before leaving the alley, the two deliberately roamed around for a bit longer, finally encountering a group of three young ruffians with ill intentions.

Dressed in rebellious punk fashion, they gawked at the two beautiful girls, surrounding them and trying to grab their clothes, clearly impatient. Before they could even touch them, Ivette eliminated them like Aberrations, easily obtaining their ID cards.

Of course, this startled Rosaline. Her understanding of such matters was limited, and she wasn't sure what terrible fate awaited them if they were surrounded by these three youths. She only knew that her teacher's killing actions were far too swift and decisive. Before she could react, she saw azure winds transform into blades, piercing through the chests of the three, blood gushing out.

She was the one who ended up disposing of the bodies by arson, making them a first-class pair of criminal offenders.

"So now we have identities?" Perhaps because this was a dream, or perhaps because she had seen too many gruesome sights when killing Aberrations, Rosaline recovered from the close-range bloody murder incident remarkably quickly, almost instantly.

"No, we need to do some more processing," Ivette said, walking towards a machine by the roadside.

This was a public citizen service terminal, capable of handling most issues in one go. She placed her finger on the touchpad and connected the Furnace Ring on her hand to a sensor slot. Soon, with the assistance of the Magic Guide Terminal, she began hacking into the police system and modifying the ID information.

This was a significant challenge for Ivette. The post-apocalypse world didn't require "Rune Hacker" knowledge. She had studied it, but it was purely supplementary, with no practical experience. She hadn't expected it to be useful today.

"Fortunately, the police system in this district is very lax. The Blackwater District, being the poorest district in Ish City, probably doesn't have much funding for this kind of maintenance?"

About ten minutes later, Ivette mused as she returned to Rosaline's side, handing her an ID card.

Rosaline looked down and saw that the information and photos on the card had changed. The ID photo now featured the cute face of a blonde girl, and her name was "Rosaline Lochvia."

Correspondingly, Ivette's ID name had naturally become "Ivette Shien."

The reason for this name change was that the current year was 2124, one year before the original host participated in the "Metamorphosis Project." Ivette suspected that her pre-apocalypse self might also appear in this dream with a corresponding orphanage registration, and be under scrutiny by Black Tower Pharmaceuticals. Such a slight modification could avoid some trouble.

Rosaline, of course, was unaware of this. However, in the Kingdom of Eton, changing one's surname only happened after marriage, and her expression immediately became a little shy—though she didn't actually understand what marriage entailed.

After finishing the ID card modifications, Ivette didn't forget to try and pilfer the deposits of the three unfortunate souls.

However, the bank's firewall was something a novice hacker with only theoretical knowledge couldn't challenge. After much thought, she could only put their online digital assets up for sale, such as digital currencies, gambling platform chips, and various virtual game accounts.

The whole process took two to three hours, earning her a little over 6000 credit points, barely enough to stay in a budget motel for a month.

So little. These three paupers, no wonder they lived in the Blackwater District... Ivette was somewhat dissatisfied after working for so long.

She also wanted to put their real estate properties up for sale, but doing so would easily alert their acquaintances, leading to the identity tampering being discovered earlier.

So, she had to make do for now. Once she had money, she would find a way through the gray market to exchange for new identities... she began to plan silently.

As night fully descended, they finally found a cheap inn. Rainwater dripped from the tips of their hair, and their white dresses clung wetly to their bodies, revealing a rare hint of disarray in the powerful and elegant witch.

But even so, as a responsible teacher, Ivette patiently conducted a thorough check before Rosaline used the bathroom, ensuring there were no hidden cameras before letting her in.

After Ivette had also finished showering and came out, she saw Rosaline standing by the window, gazing longingly at the central district in the distance.

Ivette calmly walked up behind her.

In reality, the window here wasn't clean; its surface was covered with a thin film of oil, refracting the city's light pollution, making the neon lights and holographic advertisements outside appear blurry and distorted.

But Rosaline was still watching with great enthusiasm. After all, for someone from a medieval civilization, everything that had happened today was far too advanced. Even the time she first stepped into the City of the End couldn't compare to the shock of this moment.

"Teacher, is this the realm of gods?" After a while, Ivette heard Rosaline exclaim in a dreamy tone.

"No. But if it were, it would be the realm of an 'evil god'."

"That's true, hehe." Rosaline continued to stare out the window, as if she could watch for a day and a night without getting tired.

"Do you want to go take a look?"

"Yes!"

"Let's rest first. I'll take you out to explore tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Filled with infinite beautiful aspirations from the Origin Civilization, Rosaline excitedly lay down on the bed, and, as expected, suffered from insomnia the entire night.