"Vanda, are you alright? How did I receive a commission cancellation notice? Oh, it's that mission to help the neighborhood watch drive away Smiling Faces."
"It's quite a bit of money, but the difficulty is too high. Were you perhaps tricked?"
"Don't worry, Big Sis Olga, I know my limits. It's just a client's operating error. It'll be resolved shortly. This is a commission I took on my own."
"No problem. Taking on your own work is also a basic quality for a Fixer. Just be careful not to accept any commissions from Backstreet 23 recently."
As Putato walked, he exuded a faint white smoke, immediately drawing the attention of the neighborhood watch. They were a bit curious why only one Smiling Faces member returned, but still resorted to their old tactics.
Unfortunately, his Index talent could only issue commands to himself. Otherwise, a direct gust of wind would have blown away that smell.
"I know. The chef's meeting over there is very lively."
"Indeed, there's a bit of that reason, but what I want to say is that a new Star of the City recently emerged there, called Grey Haze. Information on him is extremely scarce and he's incredibly dangerous. You absolutely do not want to encounter him by bad luck."
This made Putato pause. He sidestepped an incoming stench bomb, knowing it would come eventually. He hoped no formidable character would come looking for him.
"I know, but you're too nervous. Even if I go to Backstreet 23, how could a dignified Star of the City notice a small fry like me?"
"You can't think that way, little Vanda. Unexpected things are always more frequent here than anticipated."
Hanging up the call, Putato wholeheartedly agreed with Olga's last statement, though now it was he who was bringing surprises to others.
Now, all those people with insignia on their sleeves were wearing masks, cautiously peering over the railing at Putato below. They truly didn't understand what he, alone, intended to do.
"Paso, what's wrong with this guy? Is it that Fixer playing tricks again?"
Paso, wearing a red hat, suppressed his urge to vomit and looked down. He immediately waved his hand and shouted up, clearing his throat.
"Can one person scare us?! If we can't even handle a mere youth, then the neighborhood watch might as well disband!"
"Everyone listen! As long as we deal with this guy, Smiling Faces definitely won't come here again. They'll just be asking for trouble!"
Some people cheered in response, as if Smiling Faces' retreat had given them unexpected courage and confidence.
The next moment, a crescent of white smoke shot into the sky.
BANG!
The second-floor corridor was instantly shattered by more than half. Many people holding stink bombs fell head over heels, those extremely foul-smelling things exploding on their faces, instantly causing a chorus of painful retching sounds.
Paso's face immediately turned crimson. He stiffened his neck and roared.
"Stop throwing bombs, you f***ers! Get the crossbows and kill this guy!"
"As long as we deal with Smiling Faces' man, we can establish our reputation. Then, no matter which Syndicate takes money here, it'll have to pass through our hands!"
His coarse voice immediately made everyone perk up.
SWOOSH!
Putato, with a backhand slash, used his Honesuki to cut off an incoming arrow as smoke billowed. He looked up and pinpointed the Red Hat's position.
Smoke Reinforcement.
Taking a deep breath, the heavy white smoke all moved to his legs. Just by standing up and jumping, he left spiderweb-like cracks on the ground.
THUMP!
Seeing the white mask charging towards him, Paso quickly retreated a few steps, then sat down and shouted.
"Now!"
A throwing dart shattered the window glass, flying over Paso's head and out. Paso had already grabbed a long blade from the ground.
Although this was a repeat tactic, this time, he would strike down at the opponent's head the moment they climbed back up, then reap a large amount of fame, using the money saved from withdrawn commissions to strengthen himself, and completely ascend to the pinnacle of his envisioned life.
"Ahhh!"
Paso only felt his chest being pierced. Excruciating pain spread throughout his body. Coming to his senses, he only saw a completely blurry, unclear white smoke before his eyes.
The exaggerated mortal wound even left him unable to utter any sound or final words. Only disbelief remained in his mind.
Putato, without any mercy, slowly withdrew the Honesuki from Paso's chest.
He had spared the other party's life during the previous attack. Even an idiot should have understood that he was Vanda's informant. But that posture just now clearly showed he intended to really kill him. It was simply incomprehensible.
"Paso, Paso is dead!"
"I said that was enough! Why did you have to provoke Smiling Faces?!"
The neighborhood watch immediately dispersed by more than half due to their leader's death. However, the remaining people, full of hatred, still charged at Putato.
"Don't be afraid, everyone! Boss Paso investigated earlier; their Workshop's smoke weapons aren't limitless!"
Putato tilted his head to look at the man with the airplane haircut yelling at the end of the corridor. He made a quick strike, his Honesuki, enhanced by smoke, extending its attack range.
The smoke instantly pierced through the airplane-haired man's head, causing the remaining people to waver and flee again.
"Where do you like to open your holes? I can fulfill that small wish of yours."
The remaining people charged forward, gritting their teeth. The door to a nearby room was kicked open, and a red-eyed woman inside, holding a large crossbow, fired at him.
Hematic Pump!
The violent physiological surge allowed the steam to completely swallow Putato, masking him from any witnesses. In an instant, white fog choked the corridor, plunging the area into a dead silence.
Afterward.
Putato wiped the blood from his knuckles with his white shirt and nodded toward the trembling men standing nearby. They had just finished stringing the corpses onto the lampposts.
"Thanks. Here is your pay. Tell the neighborhood watch this: these bodies stay up for three days."
"And make sure you pay the Fixers for their previous contracts. Do it, or you won't live long enough to spend the rest of that cash."
Catching the lingering stench on his skin, Putato decided to head home for a shower. Snapping photos for Wang and filing the report would officially close this job.
Once Putato vanished from sight, the men grabbed the money and scrambled away from the scene.
...
Putato scrubbed himself with body wash until the foul odor finally faded. Only then did Katae remove his nose plug.
The communicator buzzed.
"Putato, give me some good news! I've already cleared things with the Molar Office."
"They'll handle the rescue and hand the target over to me, but that doesn't include long-term protection—and it's getting expensive! Their rep said the Commission difficulty is high and requires a joint op with other Offices."
"What's your point?"
Putato had expected Wang from Smiling Faces to be on the line, but it was just a call about a drained bank account. He didn't have much liquid cash, and he couldn't exactly go shake down the entire Backstreets for prescriptions.
That would take far too long.
Thinking fast, Putato covered the receiver and turned to Katae.
"How many of those Regeneration Ampules do we have left?"
"There's enough diluted solution for about twenty full-body injections. If it's just for the pneumatic syringe, it'll last us a while."
"Perfect! Prep twelve of them now!"
"And swap out my pneumatic syringe too. Skip the Enkephalins this time."
"Got it, bro."
Relieved, Putato told Parui to add the Regeneration Serums to the contract payment. This time, he was going to tear that art exhibition apart. The more chaos, the better.
"You really were holding out when you looted the Axe Gang, weren't you? Something this valuable... I'll be in your debt for a long time."
"Doesn't matter. Getting them out alive is the priority."
Unless he crushed Wym's twisted exhibition, Putato knew she would just snap again and hunt Olivia. He couldn't spend his whole life looking over his shoulder.
The other end of the line went quiet for a long moment.
"I know promises are worthless in The City, but this is all I can give you right now. Thank you. If you ever need anything, just ask."
"But seriously, find my Syndicate fast. I could end up dead tomorrow, and then you'd be out a massive investment."
...
Putato inhaled a few sandwiches, tossed the crusts into a bowl, and stood up. He needed to see if Smiling Faces planned on hitting the exhibition too.
Grabbing a fresh jacket from Katae, Putato picked up a call from Olga.
"Vanda, your Commission just cleared. Things are getting unpredictable. You're playing at Grade 7 Fixer level, but that's a waste of your potential."
"Meet me at the bar next to the Office downstairs. Give them my name and head to the lounge. We need to talk. No excuses."
Putato realized this was likely Parui's doing. That guy must have begged and borrowed from every corner to scrounge up the contract fee; he was probably the new king of debt.
As he messaged Wang and stepped out, he saw Mo leaning against the doorframe. She blinked, her Prosthetics showing some very high-end modifications.
"Hey, where have you been making all this bank lately? Why aren't we invited?"
"Don't give me that 'only I can do this' crap or act like you're worried about us getting hurt."
Consta, wearing reinforced chest armor, cut in while raising a Workshop blade arm etched with glowing patterns.
"Exactly, Senior. If this is about Olivia, we're in. we just spent our earnings on some serious hardware upgrades."
"We've already shaken down everyone in the neighborhood. L Corporation's donations were handled by those two caregivers anyway. There's nothing left for us to do here."
However, Arnold grumbled as he came down the stairs.
"So you two just left me to babysit those kids? Good thing I'm a full-body Prosthetic case, otherwise I wouldn't have survived the lack of sleep."
Putato looked at Mo in surprise. He hadn't expected her to actually give a damn about Olivia, especially since there was no profit in it. He felt a bit guilty for misjudging her.
Putato walked past Mo and gave her shoulder a firm pat.
"Wait for my signal. We're about to get very, very rich."
"Hell yeah! I'll go start prepping the body bags!"
...
Roadside restaurant.
Putato looked at the nervous, bowing boss in the back, and the three Smiling Faces members sitting around a table.
"You guys actually come to a small shop like this to eat?"
"Misunderstanding. It's because he has an Invitation to that art exhibition here. We're just asking him about the situation inside."
Putato pulled out a chair and sat down. Only then did he notice that there were no bowls or chopsticks on the table, only a familiar Invitation. It seemed they were indeed interested in this.
"So you have a Plan?"
Those words made Mi and Jin glance at each other, then burst into laughter. Wang, beside them, leaned back in his chair with interest, shaking his head.
But Putato found their unusual attitude utterly baffling. What was so funny about his words?
"We Smiling Faces actually don't like plans too much. Didn't you notice that the past two days, when we went out to pick up goods, I just casually chose a suitable place? Have you ever seen us with schedules or anything like that?"
"I actually remember the original appearance of Smiling Faces. Back then, it was just an organization similar to a neighborhood watch. To celebrate chasing away Syndicates, people put on Smiling Faces masks and paraded."
"Then it became a tradition. Every year, such an event would happen, considered a blessing for the neighbors, cheering them up a bit. Thinking about it now, it was quite joyful."
The predecessor of the Smiling FacesSyndicate was actually quite conformist.
As if sensing Putato's questioning gaze, Wang continued to speak without reservation.
"Later, this thing was picked up by some Corporations for discounted sales and celebrations. In short, it became chaotic, and everyone's lives also fell back into hardship because of those greedy people and new Syndicates."
"After all, we could drive away foreign Syndicates, but how do we drive away the Syndicates that emerge internally? That's impossible."
"That's right, that's right! Back then, I was the Smiling Faces person at the very front of the parade! So glorious! But without that track certification, I wasn't allowed to jump."
"It's a shame I intentionally learned the Smiling Faces dance, but now hardly anyone knows it."
The other two laughed in unison, as if they weren't talking about their own past at all, as if wearing a smiling face at all times could keep them perpetually cheerful.
Putato couldn't help but ask.
"What happened after that?"
"Hahaha, of course, the parade turned into a riot! I still remember that great fire almost burning down the entire district. No one could hope for peace."
"But these are all old stories. Now, aren't we going out to vent and plunder? Those high-ranking nobles we find unlikable, we just kill them directly. Money and Fame are also easily obtainable. It's truly as joyful as it was at the beginning!"
"That's right, that's right! Thinking about the Syndicates we chased away before is quite nostalgic. Time passes too quickly."
"That art exhibition really makes one's hands itch."
Putato had previously regarded these three as inherently evil gangster types. He never expected them to have such a bizarre and convoluted past. For a moment, he was a bit speechless.
Seeing Putato become somewhat melancholic, Wang chuckled and patted the table, then took out a stack of crimson fabric from beside him.
"Before you came, Smiling Faces spent some money to buy intelligence from Gaze Office. That Wym Maestros isn't in the art exhibition, so tonight, we'll just go parade. Other Smiling Faces members will also come."
"We only have to deal with those Association security guards and people from the Ring. Probably just apprentices and such. Nothing to worry about."
"Oh, Putato, do you know Grey Haze?"
Those words immediately sent a chill down Putato's spine. Fortunately, his strong resilience allowed him to maintain a calm expression without revealing any flaws. He looked up and saw all three staring at him.
No one had picked up their cigarette holders. It seemed it was just casual talk, but Putato still didn't dare to be careless.
"I have some Fixer friends. I heard he's a recently risen Star of the City."
"That's right. The Chefs and the Ring are all very interested in him. It's just that such a character emerged from Backstreet 23, and we hadn't heard anything about it beforehand."
"It's not just these few people who are interested. The art auction there is much larger than Wym Maestros's solo exhibition. I heard it's the Ring's annual preserved event, specifically held in random locations in The Backstreets to avoid trouble within the Nests."
"Hmph, unexpected things are everywhere in The City. No one's predictions count. Look, didn't everyone die as soon as something happened? There were many important figures among them. I'd say he handled it beautifully, hahaha!"
"Hehe, it seems this Wym also didn't expect us Smiling Faces to take care of things. So, everyone, prepare yourselves. Don't make a fool of yourselves during the parade."
Wang stood up, and the group dispersed as if the meeting was over.
Draping the crimson fabric over himself, Putato was too lazy to find a tailor to make a proper uniform. He simply wrapped it around his arms and body, like wearing a personal cloak.
Putato rolled the red fabric into a bundle and stuffed it inside his clothes. From a nearby store, he bought new bandages and tightly wrapped the lower half of his face.
He couldn't go home yet. He had to rush to another activity to deal with his superiors, after all, socializing couldn't stop.
...
Bar.
[This specially made plum juice can make your mouth water. Different flavored sugar liquor can turn your saliva into plum wine, allowing self-service cocktail mixing. A thousand flavors are yours to control!]
[Self-produced, self-consumed, absolutely natural!]
Scanning past this creative banner, Putato quickly mentioned Olga's name and was led into the lounge. Inside was a table full of colorful candies, probably enough to make an overdose.
"Vanda, come quickly and try this thing. It's really interesting! I've never drunk saliva wine. Just rehydrate occasionally, otherwise your mouth will dry out."
"I specifically left a spot for you on the new roster!"
Olga extended her hand, calling Putato over grandly. Beside her sat a gentle, smiling woman, wearing white silk gloves, who looked very refined.
Sitting down, Putato suddenly remembered, if the Commission and the Parade happened at the same time, what should he do?