Double the Good Fortune

As the brains of the D-class personnel splattered, the Oath Keeper's slight bow became blurred and ethereal. The bullet that followed pierced through his body, but left no trace.

The pre-arranged paramedics quickly entered, placed the unfortunate man who had lost both hands on a stretcher, and then quickly picked up his hands from the ground to treat them. If they acted quickly, they should be able to reattach them.

As the wounded were taken away, the aftermath team began collecting evidence from the scene. Meanwhile, Mr. R, who had received a distant salute from Feng Xue, leaned weakly against the wall, trying to calm himself with deep breaths while pulling out his phone and making a call:

"Ms. Q, the operation has failed."

"I've seen it. Your voice sounds off. Is something wrong?" Ms. Q's flat tone revealed no concern, as if it were just a routine matter. Mr. R habitually shook his head, his voice tinged with lingering fear as he asked:

"No, it should be an ability or Magical Item that induces fear. Also, the guess that the target disappears after death is correct; that should be its disappearance rule. But the other people in the control group weren't attacked. Can they choose their targets?"

"Perhaps more testing is needed, but this will likely be a long-term project." Ms. Q's tone changed slightly, and after a pause of about ten seconds, she continued:

"No, just ten seconds ago, another D-level personnel in the control group was also attacked. I've already had someone retrieve the specific data for both, which may provide more help in analyzing the rules."

Ms. Q seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying:

"What are your next steps?"

"Let's start with the sources of the coins. Currently, there are three types of people who receive them: those who accidentally stumble upon the execution target on their way, or those who can provide assistance to the executioner; those who, as the client of the mission, receive financial assistance from the executioner because they are destitute; and those who, besides these two, cover the executioner's daily expenses. After all, these executioners are different from the Oath Keeper; they are not ghosts, but humans endowed with power by ghosts. They have their own identities and lives."

Mr. R seemed to have finally recovered from his earlier trembling, and spoke in a more steady tone.

"That's certainly a good idea, but are you sure you have a way to differentiate between these three types of people? Don't forget about Black Market acquisitions and changes in ownership due to the acquirer's use of the property..."

"I know." Mr. R was not surprised by Ms. Q's reminder, but remained calm and said:

"But we have no other angle, and the executioners are different from those who accidentally found the coins; they have a lot of coins, which means that we can narrow down the search by investigating the areas where the coins are concentrated. The only problem is how to get those guys at the bank to produce the 'real' transaction records."

"You might need to go see Mr. Gawain yourself, after all..."

Ms. Q did not continue, but Mr. R already understood her meaning and responded:

"I will go."

"Looks like we've run into trouble this time?"

As Feng Xue returned to Jessica's mansion, Jessica, who seemed to have just returned from the Newspaper Agency, gently twitched her nose, sniffed the faint "bloody smell," and frowned.

"We were ambushed by the authorities, but it's no big deal." Feng Xue waved her hand dismissively, then looked at Jessica with surprise, as if suddenly realizing something.

Brain matter and blood will not be transferred with him when the Real World Rules are lifted, and the self-cleaning effect of the Phantom Clothes will not be contaminated with any extra smells. Therefore, Jessica's ability to smell the so-called blood is more due to her perception of danger than her sense of smell.

Seeing the gaze Feng Xue cast at her, Jessica seemed confused as to why she was being looked at like that, until she heard Feng Xue's words of praise—

"It seems you haven't been slacking off lately."

"Of course! I can already stack four eggs on top of each other, and I'll soon be a real executioner!"

At this point, Jessica hesitated slightly and said:

"But which blessing should I choose next?"

"You need to make this choice yourself," Feng Xue said casually, sitting on the sofa. However, seeing Jessica's decision-making anxiety, she still offered a gentle reminder.

"There's no order to the bestowals of protection. Or rather, you already have a basic understanding of [Art of Slaughter] and [Breath Concealment Technique], which can be improved through training. If you insist on finding a reason to choose a bestowal of protection, it's what kind of executioner you want to become, or to put it more bluntly, what kind of missions you want to take on."

"What do you mean?" Jessica immediately pulled out her notepad, ready to write down Feng Xue's words. This was not only a memo, but also for the subsequent "Libra story".

Although the Libra novel Main Body is banned, its popularity continues to soar. Many well-known Newspaper Agency have even started to create dedicated "Libra" sections, though the names are certainly not what they say. The content is mostly borderline sexual. The most outrageous Tasok Newspaper, even created a section called "Assassin Tracking," which specifically tracks and reports on cases related to Libra assassins, digging into the criminal pasts of the "executed" individuals in each case, and incidentally analyzing whether it was the real person who committed the crime or a simple copycat crime.

Readers love this kind of content right now, so naturally no one would pass up such a money-making opportunity. If Baihong Newspaper, the publisher of the Main Body "Scales Covenant," didn't follow suit at this time, it would make people think they had something to hide.

However, Jessica didn't dare to be as outspoken as Tasok Newspaper, so she could only write some fan fiction and offer her interpretation of "Libra" along the way.

Feng Xue was naturally pleased with Jessica's act of advertising herself. He immediately abandoned his idea of being a riddle teller and, in a tone that sounded quite Preaching and Teaching, said:

"Although Libra's principles are morality, justice, and balance, it is ultimately an assassin organization, and the missions that fall into our hands are nothing more than a few types."

"If you're planning to take on a project involving police, the Mafia, or other groups that may have a lot of guns, or if you're setting up your main battlefield in a place like Colombia, then [Arrow Protection] is definitely the first choice."

"If you're planning to be the kind of detective-type killer who relies on your own investigations and evidence gathering to track down fugitive criminals, then the investigative and counter-investigative capabilities of [Mirror of Clarity] are crucial."

"Of course, our mission also includes those guys who, although caught, receive very light sentences. In such cases, the [Breath Concealment Technique], which allows for easy infiltration into prisons, becomes even more suitable."

"As for [Art of Slaughter], unless you're a martial arts fanatic who only targets fighting champions, special forces soldiers, and the like, the [Body of a Hundred Refinements] techniques you're taught when you start are sufficient. You can learn this last."

Jessica carefully took notes of Feng Xue's explanation and began to think about which direction she should choose to develop in next, while Feng Xue opened the phone that Jessica had given him, looked at the map of Bekeland, and pondered which supermarket to stake out today.

Just as he was pondering whether to add something to the dishes today, a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside him. He shivered inexplicably, but then was immediately filled with a strong sense of excitement—

This feeling is that Supernatural Tale Entry are forming!

Regarding the Real World Rules--

You can think of this as a trigger condition similar to those in traditional supernatural Weird Tale. As long as the conditions are met, there's no cooldown, and it can be triggered an unlimited number of times. However, most of the time, it's rare to trigger it once, survive, and even dare to trigger it a second time.

Take the protagonist's ability to summon executions as an example. When someone needs to be executed, the protagonist can sense it. He can choose whether or not to come, but if he chooses to come, his summoning will not end until that person dies.

Of course, the protagonist can also give up killing and just stay in the human world to have fun until he's had enough and kills the person, or until the person dies for some other reason.

However, it's also possible that since the protagonist didn't kill him, and he triggered the execution rule again, the protagonist could still choose to descend or not, and then repeat the above operation in an infinite loop.

This is where the Acquired Supernatural Tale are stronger than the Innate Supernatural Tale. Innate Supernatural Tale have a pre-existing setting before consciousness (some even lack consciousness), so they completely adhere to the setting, killing without hesitation, without slacking off or giving up. In contrast, Acquired Supernatural Tale allow for the choice to assess the situation, slack off, or even exploit loopholes to turn missions into vacations.

However, this approach comes at a price: if you don't adhere to the established rules of the Weird Tale, the power you draw from Weird Tale will be reduced.

To put it simply, it's like you can choose to slack off at work, but in return, you have to bear the cost of a decrease in income.