The story took two turns.
While the veteran players gathered to prepare for action, the three professionals—Wanderer of the Borderlands, the Mild-Mannered Bookworm, and Mr. Ziwei—were also getting to work in the "outsider" shelter a few blocks away.
They were the first players to receive the Ashman's plea for help.
That lovesick guy had been pretty methodical. When he couldn't find his wife, his first thought was to ask the police for help. There were indeed a few police officers among the players, including traffic cops and even proper crime-fighting officers, but they had no way to investigate cases in the game. So, on the advice of the levelheaded, shrewd old Chen, the Ashman had gone to Loyal Brother.
That had happened before he posted his plea for help.
Loyal Brother had been more than happy to oblige. As soon as he got the message, he dispatched his elite troops. It wasn't just the professionals led by the three-man agent team; the highly efficient trio of slackers had gone out too.
Brother Wanderer and the others were in charge of finding clues, while the three slackers handled the action.
Professionals worked differently. After gathering some basic information, they narrowed the search to the area around the university district. Though Chardo Port was in chaos under invasion by a foreign enemy, security near the university district was still reliable, since it was one of the city's central complexes.
After all, the Steam Lord Council's official residence was there. No serious crime could happen in that neighborhood.
The criminals weren't stupid, either. No one would stick their neck out in an area where the authorities came down hard. So the agents judged that this was most likely a chain of events triggered by an accident.
They kept a low profile, dressed as