Paradise's Invitation

The situation was not exactly complicated.

Over the past six months, a mysterious serial killer had appeared in Glorious Fortress. The case involved six separate incidents, all murders, with the victim count exceeding ten. Every time the killer struck, he would disembowel the deceased, leaving the scene in a bloody, wretched state. Given the severity of these crimes, the police department had naturally been busy, catching several suspects one after another, yet similar cases never ceased; they would always resurface after a period of time.

This left the residents terrified and full of complaints, and the private bounties offered by the public climbed higher and higher. It was during this time that Cote Dane began tracking the homicides.

As it turned out, three days ago, he suddenly evaporated into thin air, disappearing without a trace. The last time Judy saw him was in this very room.

"He said he had found something and needed to verify it. If my guess is correct, the killer is about to commit the next crime!" Judy said urgently. "Cote must have discovered something, which is why he was targeted by the killer. If that is truly the case, he might become the next sacrificial victim! Please, help me find him!"

While listening to Judy's account, Chaoyang was also observing her—she was the source of the faint Wish Force mentioned in the newspapers. This was evident from the white pillar of light rising from her; she was clearly willing to pay a considerable price to ensure the safety of Cote Dane.

Judging by the scale of the light pillar, her Wish Force was even stronger than that of the garrison captain.

Chaoyang guessed it was likely because this matter was more urgent.

Simply put, he stood to profit.

And this point was crucial—if he were penniless, he could still take odd jobs and sleep under a bridge; as long as he could move, he wouldn't starve. But choosing the wrong person to grant a wish for could very well be fatal for him.

"Have you asked the police for help?" Chaoyang asked after a moment of contemplation.

"Of course, but those guys don't care about Cote's life or death at all. They just say it's common for a reporter to go out for several days to conduct interviews!" Judy said indignantly. "In fact, they don't even care much about the murders themselves, otherwise they wouldn't have let the perpetrator run free for half a year!"

"But you said earlier that they had caught quite a few suspects..."

"That was just to shut the public up!" Judy's expression was one of disdain. "They call it a serial killing, but the crimes all happen in the Lower District, so the police department won't invest much effort into solving them. If it were some noble's child who went missing..."

She pursed her lips and didn't continue, but even without her finishing the sentence, Chaoyang knew exactly what she meant.

"I see." He paused, then raised the question he cared about most. "Why didn't you pray to... the God to ask for his whereabouts?"

"What are you talking about?" Judy looked puzzled. "If I had the ability to summon a priest, why would I go through all this trouble? Unless I had a way to find a Divine Emissary... but why talk about this?" She shook her head as if mocking herself. "Divine Emissaries are rarer than princes; how could one just meet them whenever one wanted..."

So... she didn't disbelieve?

This answer caused a slight stir in Chaoyang's heart—it seemed that even for prayers, there was an entry threshold. Since faith and wishing could be separated, did that mean he might have the opportunity to poach the followers of those "Great Existences" in the future?

Also, the term Divine Emissary... it didn't sound like a clerical position, but rather a type of special individual. Considering that asking further might arouse suspicion, he did not continue to express his doubts.

"I understand the situation well enough." Chaoyang pulled a paper scroll from his robe and slowly spread it out on the coffee table. "I can help, but you need to pay a price..."

"How much money do you want? The newspaper office will definitely scrape it together for you!" Judy said without hesitation.

"It's not just about money." He smiled. "This is a contract. You can take a look before making a decision. However, please note that once you sign your name, there is no turning back, and I will certainly fulfill your request."

Chaoyang appeared calm and composed on the surface, but inwardly he was grumbling. He didn't know which Demon had set the rule that goals had to be achieved through a contract, and that the obligations and responsibilities of both parties could not be omitted. It was practically no different from binding his own hands and feet. The silver lining was that the contract only required clear notification; whether the other party understood it was another matter. As long as he didn't lie, the contract was compliant.

"Uh..." Judy stopped halfway through reading, as expected. She pointed to the line regarding payment. "May I ask what this means?"

"Oh, this is the script from my hometown." Chaoyang replied in a candid tone. "It's called Wish Force."

The term was written in Chinese.

"Wish Force?" The other party was clearly stunned. "What is that? How am I supposed to pay it?"

"In your terms, it can also be understood as mental energy or conviction." Chaoyang smiled slightly. "Look, you are quite worried about finding him, right? So this matter will also incur a mental cost. Once we find Mr. Dane, your worry will vanish like smoke, which is equivalent to paying it—so you don't need to worry about this at all; it won't have any substantive impact on this contract."

Or rather, it was the contract itself.

As for the "five hundred Ceriels" reward written on the next line, it was merely a bonus.

Judy blinked, and it took her a long time to speak. "I didn't expect you to be so... humorous."

Chaoyang shrugged, noncommittal. He hadn't deceived her; he had merely slightly misinterpreted the meaning, and this misinterpretation was actually beneficial to both parties.

Of course, the most critical point was that no one would nitpick a piece of paper when they had an urgent need.

Judy didn't pay much attention to it, just as he expected. She picked up a pen and signed her name.

"I can give you the five hundred silver coins, but you must find out the whereabouts of Cote Dane!" she said firmly.

"Of course," Chaoyang reached out to her. "Your request is my mission."

On the other side, somewhere on Earth.

In a hall filled with screens, Zhang Zhiyuan was participating in an important meeting. As a member of the International Criminal Police, they had been tracking a criminal named Wayne James for a long time. This person was suspected of multiple major crimes, including transnational smuggling and the trafficking of weapons and prohibited compounds, and had long been targeted by the security departments of several countries. However, what made everyone feel troubled was that Wayne James also held the status of an ambassador. Even if this status was bought with bribes, and even if he was only an ambassador for an obscure little country in Africa, it was inconvenient to arrest him directly without concrete evidence.

"According to recent intelligence, this person boarded the Heart of the Ocean cruise ship and met secretly with several people, using the alias Qiao James." The person sitting at the head of the table speaking was Zhang Zhiyuan's superior and the head of the Asia department, Gao Wei. "We have also investigated the people he met; the information you have in your hands is their background."

"A Russian, a Japanese, and... a Chinese?" Zhang Zhiyuan paused when he flipped to the page for Zhou Zhi. He had to admit, this combination was quite rare. "I guess he's just someone who happened to join the group?"

"The investigation department didn't find too many problems with him, indeed." Gao Wei nodded. "The key is that they all participated in a game when they met. That is the point we need to focus on."

"A game?" a woman asked curiously. "What kind of game?"

Zhang Zhiyuan couldn't help but smile. This woman was named Cui Zhenen, from South Korea, and one of her hobbies was video games, at which she was quite skilled.

"I don't know. The emails we intercepted only mentioned that the game organizer calls itself Paradise, but there is absolutely no explanation of the game's content." Gao Wei shook his head. "Nowadays, crimes committed with the help of network technology are common, and we must be highly vigilant about this—if they use the game as a place for negotiation, once they reach a secret agreement, they can communicate from anywhere in the world next time, and it will be quite difficult to crack."

"This won't be easy to investigate." Zhang Zhiyuan said bluntly. "The cruise ship belongs to the Caribbean Company and is legitimate and compliant. It's hard for us to even request the footage. Besides, there might not even be footage in private suites..."

"Unless we can also enter the game to see." Cui Zhenen licked her lips.

"Don't even think about it." He was dismissive. "This is clearly an exclusive gathering for the wealthy circle. Someone must have scouted it out in advance to receive an invitation. Do you think we have the qualifications?"

"Fine," Cui Zhenen shrugged. "Then we'll keep watching—"

Suddenly, a sharp ringing interrupted their conversation.

Gao Wei picked up the receiver. "Speak."

Then his expression changed. "Are you sure? Fine, then patch the feed through."

Putting down the phone, the nearly fifty-year-old department head looked extremely grave. "It was a call from the Cyber Intelligence Division. They said our internal mailbox just received an email, and the sender is Paradise."