MI9 Was at Its Wits' End

"Have you found out? How did that damn phone number get leaked?!"

Inside a room disguised as a hospital archives department, Ms. Q, lost her temper; this was the first time in her more than ten years at the company that she had lost her composure like this.

Because, in her more than ten years of professional career, this was the first time she had encountered such a ghost.

In previous years, the ghosts we dealt with were either mindless killers who simply followed certain patterns, or they had clear objectives. Even those that had become monstrous mostly followed simple and brutal Descent Rule.

But this strange creature called "Libra" has evolved several times in just six months!

They had already summarized this strange rule quite well, and had designed to start with the easiest task to handle, artificially creating many wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice in an attempt to trap people. But who knew that this strange thing would actually keep up with the times and "place an order" directly by phone!

It's fair to say that almost everything they've done these past few weeks—from legal proceedings to script arrangements to venue setup—has been for nothing!

"Ms. Q, according to our investigation, the earliest source of the phone number is a post on a forum." An intelligence agent handed Ms. Q a series of screenshots on a tablet computer.

The screenshot shows a very simple question--

How do I submit a request to Libra?

Upon seeing this topic, Ms. Q frowned. Since the Libra phenomenon (a little-known fact: Victorian doesn't seem to have the term "Weird Tale," only Urban Legend and ghost tales) spread, questions like this appear thousands of times a day across the internet. It's the kind of question that investigators are too lazy to bother with, at most checking if the poster has truly suffered injustice and deciding whether to send someone to stake out the post.

After all, one of the Ten Covenants at the very core of this strange organization is the rule that "the executioner must accept a commission before he can kill," which means that Libra must have a channel for commissioning.

Ms. Q's gaze swept across the screenshots one by one. The content was no different from that of a regular forum, and her guesses were all the same old stuff: "Exclusive intelligence network," "through newspapers," "through the internet," "attending court hearings," and so on. However, as her gaze continued downward, her pupils finally contracted slightly.

She saw the culprit—

That was a very simple reply:

"Just dial ten zeros at midnight, and you can contact the nearest executioner who is available. I don't tell this to just anyone!"

This reply was completely unremarkable, the kind that should never have garnered attention. If this rule hadn't been implemented, Ms. Q wouldn't have even considered investigating it, even if she had seen it.

Ultimately, the idea that "dialing a specific number at a specific time will lead to a mysterious area" is an ancient legend that has existed since the widespread use of dial-up phones. Some lead to heaven, some to hell or purgatory, and some to a mysterious organization. As someone who has directly confronted the bizarre, Ms. Q has encountered countless such organizations in her career.

Even after computers became widespread, this legend began to evolve into things like entering a specific URL.

However, looking at the comment below that reply, which was either a genuine attempt to contact Libra or just casual online boasting, "[Victoria's profanity], I actually got through! My long-standing grudge has finally been avenged!", Ms. Q closed her eyes in despair.

Based on her years of experience, even without scrolling down, she could already guess that what followed would be a series of copycat posts with the same format and content.

Sure enough, a long string of identical replies appeared, and judging from the screenshot, it must have stretched to at least a dozen pages.

Ms. Q pinched the bridge of her nose hard and suddenly felt very tired. Ever since the emergence of this forum-style communication model, the difficulty of their work has increased more than tenfold!

If we also consider social media platforms like MSN, Ms. Q really has an urge to go back in time and wipe out everyone who tried to invent a computer.

Although these repetitive thread-building posts will only be popular for a day or two before fading into obscurity, you can never imagine the extent of human boredom.

Even if everyone just casually copied and sent it, it's inevitable that some people will have the thought, "This might actually be true."

Although MI9, or even the world, still only speculates about the methods by which ghosts become aberrant, the only certainty is that this behavior requires both "fear" and "notoriety."

This unique forum format means that other visitors can only see a popular post on the forum. But when they click on it thinking it's a post with valuable information, they inevitably increase the "popularity" of the post that connects Libra with a telephone.

The detective cautiously observed his superior, and seeing that she didn't shift her gaze for a long time, he continued:

"We've seen similar posts on several forums since then, such as pressing ten 1s at 1 o'clock, pressing ten 2s at 2 o'clock, etc. However, the most widespread one right now is the number with ten zeros. According to our investigation, some people say that when this legend first emerged, everyone could call this number at midnight, and the voices that answered the phone were both male and female. This is different from the current situation where only people who have 'suffered injustice and genuinely want to contact their executioners' can call the number. It's still uncertain whether someone is lying or if the strange phenomenon has changed again."

"Have you investigated the poster and the people who replied to this post?" Ms. Q took a deep breath, and although she felt that there probably wouldn't be any results, she still asked.

"We have found the poster and the key commenters. We have conducted preliminary monitoring and investigation. The poster is a college student from Xiaochiu County. His posting history contains a lot of discussions about 'Libra', but compared with his peers and social circle, it is still within the normal range."

"The IP address of the person who posted the key comment is located in Colombia. Our field staff has also located him. He is a Chinese Descendant student living in Chinatown in Neuillyburg (Tang refers to a dynasty). His resume is unremarkable in any way. However, we found that his online records showed a high level of activity around the time he posted this comment, mostly related to Libra. However, according to subsequent investigations, he had a record of purchasing external injury medication that day, which suggests that he may have been attacked or abused. The probability of him venting his frustrations online is not low."

"Is contact interrogation necessary?"

"No need..." Ms. Q rubbed her temples hard, but finally shook her head. "The existence of the coin itself means that the other party can easily obtain assistance from ordinary people. Making random contact would only alert them. Just keep them under surveillance, and while we're at it, investigate their social circle. I suspect there might be executioners in their social circle..."

Although I don't think it's necessary to write it like a fantasy novel's level description, there are ultimately some readers who don't like to use their brains, so I'll just mention it here:

Because the concept of "nothingness" emerged alongside the Infinite City, and its history is only a little over thirty years, coupled with the fact that scientific research is always conducted independently with each country conducting its own research, there is no mutual exchange of information. At most, certain special professions may steal the achievements of other countries. Therefore, the naming and understanding of Weird Tale vary from country to country.

Victoria and Colombia refer to "[Nothingness]" as "ghosts," "Weird Tale" as "the bizarre," and the process of "[Nothingness]" becoming "Weird Tale" as "the bizarre transformation."

The Eastern Kingdom and the Yan Kingdom are collectively referred to as Weird Tale, but their intensity is graded to a certain extent.

In addition, there are Phantom Object, which are classified differently in different countries. In Victoria, they are called "Magical Item" and are divided into three levels: A, B, and C, according to their abilities, level of danger, and side effects. They are also numbered according to the order in which they are obtained.

In addition, some Phantom Object can produce derivatives (some with the original function and some products of subsequent research). The derivatives will be given a number according to their type. For example, C-103-2 mentioned before means that it is the second derivative of C-103.

In Yan Kingdom, these items are referred to as collections, treasures, or secret artifacts, and are generally named by their serial numbers. However, some commonly used items may have specific nicknames.

If it's a mysterious secret friend, you can categorize it according to the sealed artifact system: C-grade collectibles correspond to level 3 sealed artifacts, B-grade rare items correspond to level 2 sealed artifacts, and A-grade treasures correspond to level 1 sealed artifacts.

As for the corresponding Phantom Object for level 0 sealed items, humans currently do not possess any. As for the others, we will not spoil them for now.