Delivery

Liao Ji slammed the butt of his gun against the back of Fredre's head, and the doctor collapsed instantly, falling into a dead faint.

Back in the quiet office, Liao Ji felt his sleeve being tugged.

Turning around, he saw the young girl, Irin, who had fallen into a state of panic and distress. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes unfocused, and she looked as if she had lost her soul.

Her mother was the only family she had left in this world; if she lost her, Irin didn't know how she could go on living. The thought that her mother had been sold to the Scavengers—those cruel wretches who treated human life like dirt—was unbearable.

To satisfy their clients' demands, they would mercilessly dismember their victims, selling off every valuable "part."

They wouldn't be "merciful" enough to use anesthesia; they would let their victims scream in agony, forcing them to watch as every piece of their body was "stripped" away to become a tool for profit.

Thump.

Irin collapsed weakly to the floor; the girl couldn't even bear to imagine what would happen next.

She trembled all over, tears welling up in her eyes. The fear of losing her mother had completely overwhelmed her mind, leaving her with no strength to think, yet her subconscious knew this wouldn't do. She couldn't be controlled by her emotions, but she just couldn't help it.

The girl was like someone drowning in the middle of a storm-tossed sea, but fortunately, she still had a piece of driftwood to cling to. Her instinctual subconscious made her grip tightly onto the last and only thing she could rely on.

However.

Liao Ji first gripped Irin's hand, then pulled the girl's hand away from his sleeve.

"Liao... Liao Ji?" If he remembered correctly, this was the first time Irin had called him by his name.

The girl looked blankly at Liao Ji's "heartless" action.

If even her only piece of driftwood were washed away by the stormy waves and left her, Irin felt she would truly start sinking into the sea, wrapped in vast darkness, her body rapidly turning cold.

"Listen, Irin. If you continue like this, I think it would be better for you to go back to Brian. As for finding your mother, I'll go alone; you'll only hold me back." Liao Ji expressed his meaning very bluntly.

"I... I..."

"To be a bit offensive, the fact that Fredre could sell your mother for such a high price of one hundred thousand, and was so impatient about it, proves your mother's value. To the Scavengers, she is by no means ordinary cargo."

"Regarding this, Fredre also mentioned that your mother was once a nun of The Church, and she also went through your father's runaway incident, leaving Corrupt Calamity contamination in her body. Her current illness is very likely caused by the concentration of Corrupt Calamity in her body reaching a critical threshold. All of these factors combined are the reason for your mother's value."

"A nun deeply infected with Corrupt Calamity." Liao Ji summarized for Irin.

He didn't say these things to provoke the girl, of course, but to lead to the following conclusion.

"High-value cargo must be transported with extreme care, and to make the most of her value, some preparation is required. At the very least, it won't be done in a simple or crude manner. Everything I just mentioned requires... time."

"In other words, we discovered this early. It has been less than half a day since your mother was taken by the Scavengers, so she is likely still alive, and doing just fine."

Following Liao Ji's words, the light finally returned to the girl's eyes. Her gaze was no longer unfocused and drifting; Irin seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw, nodding repeatedly.

"Yes, that's right, you... you're right. My mom is still alive, she's still alive! She's still... still alive and whole!"

Seeing that the girl had finally regained some spirit and pulled herself together, Liao Ji took the watch off Fredre's wrist and put it on his own, while instructing Irin to find something like a body bag to wrap up the unconscious doctor.

After finishing all this, he checked the time; there were about five or six minutes left before the Scavengers the doctor had arranged were due to arrive.

"Irin, I have a plan for what comes next."

At the corner of the dark alley behind the Dane Clinic.

A small pickup truck was parked there. A man wearing work overalls and a baseball cap was leaning against the truck, smoking a cigarette while cursing under his breath.

"Damn it, that son of a bitch Fredre really knows how to pick his timing. I finally found a decent girl and was just getting into the mood when he called me out. Fuck him! If the quality of the goods this time is poor, I'll make sure he pays for it!"

Just then, footsteps echoed in the dark alley. The man immediately stubbed out his cigarette, turned around, and opened the cargo door of the pickup, preparing to receive the goods from Fredre. They had cooperated on this routine over a hundred times.

However, this time.

When the man looked back, the face walking toward him was one he didn't recognize at all.

The Scavenger immediately became instinctively alert, subconsciously placing his hand on the holster at his waist.

But when he saw a person following closely behind the young stranger—wearing a clinic orderly uniform and carrying a body bag on their shoulder—he relaxed slightly.

Of course, he was still angry.

"Hey! Who are you guys? Where's Fredre?"

The young man in the doctor's coat replied unhurriedly: "He had something come up, so he asked us to handle the delivery."

"Fuck Fredre, daring to break the rules! Stop! You don't need to come any closer. I only recognize Fredre; if you want me to accept the goods, Fredre has to be here in person!"

As the man spoke, he moved to close the pickup's cargo door and drive away. In the Scavenger profession, one had to be more cautious than those in other shady businesses, but just then.

"Our cargo this time... is very special. I think if you take just one look, you'll definitely like it."

The young man's words made the man hesitate, because it was true—just this afternoon, the nun Fredre had provided was really good, very good. It had allowed him to make a killing with Kalleva, which was why he was able to enjoy himself at the club tonight.

If there really was another piece of high-quality cargo like that, then...

"Fine, I want to see what kind of cargo could make you so confident!"

The Scavenger turned back around. Driven by curiosity and greed, he squatted on the ground and unzipped the body bag. By the dim light of the nearby streetlamp, the man saw the cargo inside clearly.

That... that was...

It was a face he knew all too well.

Fredre.

And at that moment, he felt the cold sensation of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his head.

Along with...

The young man's voice.

"Alright, now that you've seen the goods and Fredre is here in person, you can take us..."

"To deliver the goods now, right?"