Are You Here to Deliver Goods or Kill People?

As for the "goods" she was supposed to deliver to the gang...

Vanessa had a feeling they were nothing good. She had no interest in them at all and only wanted to finish the job and go back as soon as possible.

But her lack of interest didn't mean the presence within her wasn't interested.

After pulling the flatbed cart out of the hospital, Vanessa suddenly felt her legs carry her uncontrollably toward a nearby alley. After looking around to make sure no one was there, her hands moved on their own, picking up the package and beginning to unwrap it.

No, don't! You can't open that! What if it's contraband? If someone finds out, won't they kill me to keep me quiet?! Vanessa shouted inwardly, but she could only watch as her fingers deftly unwrapped the package.

"Huh?"

Vanessa let out a surprised sound.

The things inside the package... she recognized them.

Contrary to what she had imagined, there were no suspicious drugs, sinister notebooks, or anything of the sort. Instead, it was all common medication.

Hemostatic drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and fever medication-a whole large package of them.

New Scandinavia strictly prohibited the unauthorized sale of medication. These drugs could only be prescribed and used in hospitals. Taking them outside was illegal.

In that sense, they really were contraband, just somewhat different from what she had imagined.

And...

"Hemostatic forceps, scalpels... only trained physicians can use these."

"What does a gang want with them?"

Before she could think it through, her hands moved again, restoring the medicines and instruments to their original positions with astonishing speed and precision, then wrapping and tying the package back up without a gap. A moment later, she continued pulling the little cart onward.

Passing through streets shrouded in the last glimmer of dusk, Vanessa left the relatively respectable Mist Harbor District and stepped into the dilapidated, chaotic dock district.

Honestly, she wasn't very familiar with Mud Swamp Alley, but the presence controlling her seemed to know the way, turning without hesitation into a narrow alley lined with low buildings and running with sewage.

"Stop!" A shout came from behind her. Vanessa turned to look, but no one was there. When she turned back, a figure had already blocked her path ahead.

It was a thin man with an ashen face and vicious-looking tattoos exposed beneath his deliberately open shirt.

One hand hung loosely at his side, while the other was buried deep in his pocket, clearly gripping something.

His sinister gaze swept over the flatbed cart, pausing on the hospital's emblem, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Here it comes!

Vanessa's heart leaped into her throat. The man before her looked every inch a gang member. Before, she wouldn't even have had the courage to meet his eyes.

But the "will" inside her controlled her, meeting his gaze directly without the slightest hesitation.

"Orderly. Delivery."

Allen looked at the girl before him and couldn't help frowning, secretly tightening his grip on the folding knife in his pocket.

Her arrival time and the emblem both checked out, so she should have been the new "orderly," but the look she gave him...

That look sent an inexplicable chill down Allen's spine! Empty and cold, it held a lofty scrutiny. She was clearly looking at him, yet her pupils seemed to hold nothing at all, as indifferent as someone looking down on dust.

Allen instinctively averted his eyes-he had actually been frightened by a girl's gaze.

Damn it, I'd heard the last orderly went mad. Where did the hospital find this lunatic?

Allen forced himself to remain calm and was about to take her inside when the girl suddenly spoke again. Unlike her earlier indifference, this voice was completely different, like the collision of lifeless machinery, without a trace of emotion. What she said was extremely strange, too.

She said, "zxg#hore5^ijpw#$@!%."

Allen shuddered. Could this be the legendary whisper of an evil god?

He began to panic.

"No way. You really can type to talk?"

Elliot looked at the keyboard before him in amazement.

During his earlier tasks, the difference engine had handled the process on its own, and the brass dials at the front that represented speech would spell out both sides of the conversation.

But Elliot soon discovered a lever beside the dialogue panel. He pulled it, and a cover on the desktop sank down as a keyboard gradually rose up.

It was an extremely old-fashioned keyboard, the sort Elliot had only seen in films. Each letter key was connected to a metal rod, rather like a Remington typewriter.

"Now this is probably a real mechanical keyboard."

Elliot marveled, tried pressing a few keys, and casually hit send. That line of gibberish actually appeared in the dialogue log.

[The man looked at you in terror, then quickly turned to lead the way.]

Elliot: "???"

What kind of bizarre reaction was that?

Elliot looked at the card representing the man and suddenly noticed another tool card tucked beneath it. He casually pulled it out.

[Simple folding knife]

Attack: 1

Notes: "A weapon that's better than nothing. Its only advantage is portability. It does make a fine fruit knife."

Allen suddenly felt his hand grow lighter inside his pocket. The folding knife he had been gripping had vanished.

Did I drop it?

He felt around his pocket in confusion. There wasn't a hole, was there?

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something that seemed to have appeared in the girl's hand beside him.

As though she had noticed his gaze, the girl also raised her head, openly toying with the folding knife in her hand.

Allen's pupils instantly contracted.

The girl stared straight at him as if in provocation. Allen felt cold sweat pouring off him. He lowered his head and pretended not to see, quickening his pace even further.

He thought he heard the girl give a soft laugh before putting the folding knife away.

"He didn't even turn hostile. Maybe it isn't worth much? This game gives you quite a lot of freedom." Intrigued, Elliot placed the folding knife card in his inventory.

For a gang that runs this neighborhood, they're actually pretty polite, Vanessa thought, somewhat bewildered.

Honestly, she couldn't quite make sense of the situation.

When he first appeared, the man had clearly looked fierce, but he had soon become inexplicably friendly.

Vanessa couldn't see herself, so naturally, she had no idea how frightening she looked right now.

As far as she was concerned, she had merely exchanged a couple of words with the man, and then the two of them had headed farther inside together.

She just didn't know why a folding knife had suddenly appeared in her hand before she put it away, with no rhyme or reason.

"We're here. This is it. Please." The man pointed at the door ahead and rattled off the words, then fled without waiting for the girl to speak.

Vanessa was somewhat puzzled, but all she could do was step forward and knock.

Soon, the door opened, and a girl with short, light brown hair poked her head out. She glanced at Vanessa first, then her gaze fell on the cart, and a look of realization crossed her face.

"You're here already? Come in."

With that, she walked into the room without waiting, then opened the package and began checking its contents.

Vanessa immediately grew nervous. She had opened that package!