Medical Commission

"Civilization Preservation Society..."

Muttering the name, Ivette considered it for a moment and decided to start hacking immediately. On one hand, she wanted to see if this Civilization Preservation Society was sincere or just running a scam. On the other hand, she figured their website's servers likely held a lot of information, and she might be able to get it for free.

However, to her surprise, the hacking attempt was blocked before long.

Unlike the old, static rule-set firewalls of the Blackwater District police department, this website had dynamic defenses with very few exploitable vulnerabilities. Sometimes, after managing to hack in, her credentials would be revoked within a second of an abnormal access path appearing.

This gave Ivette the feeling of engaging in a rapid offense-and-defense battle. The opponent's strength was immense, possessing a sense of "breathing" that felt less like an AI and more like a top-tier Rune Hacker.

So, after a little thought, Ivette decisively gave up her attempt. Normal system hacking felt like playing chess with a dead person, but this time it felt like the person on the other side of the board was alive, which was entirely different. Even though she had used jump servers, fake addresses, and traffic obfuscation for disguise, she couldn't guarantee they wouldn't find any clues.

She didn't want anyone tracing the connection back to her.

For the time being, putting aside the mysterious organization "Civilization Preservation Society" with its top-tier anti-hacking capabilities, Ivette lived a relatively peaceful and tranquil life for the next month to avoid alerting them.

On the Welder's side, sales of the Arcane Wind Blade met expectations. Besides the one she kept for herself, the remaining four packaged sets had all been sold, purchased by the same local gang leader.

Selling the remaining four meant a deposit of 200,000, bringing Ivette much closer to acquiring the 500,000 Elemental Decay Completion Technology.

However, with little else to do and to prepare for certain future fields, one morning Ivette added Regal Hoffman's work number from the contact information on his business card.

"Good morning, Mr. Hoffman."

"Good morning! Oh, Miss Sien, is there something you need?" Regal said in surprise on the screen composed of a holographic image, seeing Ivette.

Having moved in a month ago, Regal, his wife Susan, their eldest son Hans, and youngest daughter Mary had become quite familiar with their neighbor "cousins," Ivette and Rosaline. They would greet them warmly when passing in the hallway or meeting on the street below.

Due to their similar ages and interests, Rosaline had become good friends with Hans and Mary.

As for Ivette, her "older cousin," though she appeared young, her demeanor was surprisingly mature, completely unlike a child. Thus, whenever they chatted casually, Regal and Susan would subconsciously treat the silver-haired girl as their peer.

"It's like this, Mr. Hoffman. I have a lot of free time recently, and I've been reading some books on 'Magic Potions,' which has sparked a strong interest in medicine. I was wondering if you could offer me some guidance or allow me to observe some treatment processes for learning purposes," Ivette said. "Of course, I'll pay a reasonable tuition fee for this."

Besides Rune Compilation, specialized knowledge in the field of Rune Medicine was Ivette's second-largest area of expertise. After all, the Abyss Base had the most professional books on Rune Medicine, many of them even internal secrets of the Black Tower.

It was just that she hadn't needed to use it when she escaped, so while she had read them, she hadn't seriously studied them.

Although she still considered Magitech and energy reserves her primary research directions, it wouldn't hurt to digest the Rune Medicine knowledge she had previously skimmed through now that she had free time. She would need it sooner or later anyway.

"This..." Regal clearly hadn't expected this. He hesitated. "I'm very sorry, Miss Sien, it's not that I don't want to teach you, but I don't have a teaching qualification certificate, and even if I did, this would have to be conducted in a professional educational institution..."

"I just need to observe. 20,000 credit points per month, what do you think?"

"Twenty thousand..."

Regal swallowed. He was actually practicing medicine without a license, a fact well-known to the residents of the Wright Apartments and his regular customers near Acid Street. Therefore, his fees were exceptionally low. Among doctors of the same caliber, others earned around 70,000 a month, a solid middle-class income, while his earnings were less than 20,000.

Just allowing this young girl to observe his treatments would more than double his monthly income!

Even with the risk of illegally disseminating knowledge, the gamble was entirely worth it!

Besides, he didn't have a physician's license in the first place, so it was like having too many debts to worry about. And his patients would keep quiet for him...

He joked to himself, then immediately said, "Alright, Miss Sien, I'll send you a message every time I go on a house call or when a patient visits. How does that sound?"

"Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Hoffman," Ivette nodded.

In the afternoon, the Hoffman Clinic received a customer who seemed to be troubled by tinnitus and came for treatment and medication.

Ivette immediately went to the small clinic in the Hoffman's home next door. While observing, she was warmly welcomed by Mrs. Susan. Although she was there to learn, a table beside her was filled with pastries, making it look like she was there to enjoy herself.

However, Ivette understood Mrs. Susan's mindset; she was likely treating her as a major benefactor.

She remembered that their two children, Hans and Mary, both attended Black Tower Middle School, a top elite institution. The tuition there was 300,000 credit points per year. Even if Regal worked tirelessly every day and Mrs. Susan also took on part-time work, they still had to shoulder high student loans and even more terrifying interest, resulting in a lower quality of life than the lower-income residents in the Blackwater District who earned four to five thousand a month.

So, it was undeniable that Ivette's understanding of their financial situation was part of the reason she had suddenly proposed this learning commission to Regal.

After observing the treatment process for a while, Ivette saw Rosaline walk in directly from the entrance. After politely greeting everyone, she didn't interrupt Regal's work and instead asked, "Teacher, Aunt Susan, are Hans and Mary here?"

"They both went out this morning. Are you looking for them to play?" Susan said kindly.

"Yes," Rosaline replied with a sweet smile.

From the day she crossed over until now, this was the first time she had made friends she could play with. They also got along very well. Since there wasn't much going on lately, she felt like she was on summer vacation, often going out with Hans and Mary, and she was very happy every day.

"Wait, let me see..." Susan opened the Magitech Terminal and activated a subscription-based family safety service, which allowed parents to know their children's real-time location and quickly alert the police in case of danger.

After looking for a moment, she said in surprise, "They seem to be on Scrap Iron Avenue... it's about five kilometers from here. What are they doing there?" She paused, a little annoyed. "They're not answering their calls! Those two kids!"

Scrap Iron Avenue was an older neighborhood with a fairly good safety rating. The street was lined with shops, and the chance of an accident was low. Moreover, no alarm had gone off, and refusing a call could be considered basic behavior for children in their rebellious phase. But as a mother, Mrs. Susan's face quickly showed a hint of worry.

She muttered to herself, "Could they have run into trouble?"

"Aunt Susan, don't worry, they'll be fine. I'll go and check on them for you right away," Rosaline said. After exchanging a glance with Ivette, she immediately went downstairs and hailed a taxi to Scrap Iron Avenue.