"This Metal Maintenance Fluid can be used for Da Xiong's gauntlets."
"This Electromagnetic Amplification Device... let's get one for Little Wei too. It happens to be on sale today; if it weren't, I wouldn't be buying it for her."
Walking through a trading market in the Pit Bottom District, Luo Lin was excitedly browsing various stalls. Da Xiong and Lin Wei were also looking around, though they were clearly more reserved than Luo Lin.
As for Cipher, she merely swept her gaze over the area and saw that there were no real treasures, so she seemed rather uninterested compared to the other three.
Suddenly, Luo Lin, who was walking ahead, stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Cipher.
"Hmm? What is it?" Cipher asked, feeling a bit puzzled as Luo Lin suddenly stared at her.
"Um... Sister Cipher, do you need this?"
"Need what?"
Cipher followed the direction of Luo Lin's finger and was instantly speechless.
Written there was "Professional Pet Fur Conditioner," and beneath the title was a subtitle:
"Both Feline and Canine Gene-Modified Humans swear by it!"
"No, I don't! I'm not a gene-modified human! And I'm certainly not a pet!" Cipher rejected the offer with a look of pure disdain, waving her hand.
"Alright then..." Seeing her resistance, Luo Lin left the stall, though it was obvious she was a little disappointed.
However, she quickly regained her lively spirit and continued wandering through the market.
What strange things they have... Cipher sighed as she watched Luo Lin's retreating figure. If only Bartholos were here; at least there'd be someone to talk to so I wouldn't be so bored.
Just as Cipher was about to continue accompanying the trio, a notification sound suddenly chimed from her Terminal.
This notification... why is the alert for that account ringing?
As soon as Cipher heard the sound, she became confused. This wasn't the sound assigned to her original account, but rather the notification tone for a secondary backup account.
She had barely ever used that backup account, so why would someone be messaging it? She hadn't even turned off her spam filters.
With a sense of curiosity, Cipher took out the Terminal to check.
A faint smile soon flickered across her lips.
"So it's them..."
Displayed clearly on the Terminal was a message:
"Hello, are you the mercenary who captured 'Cifera' last time? We are from the Countercurrent Alliance. May we ask how you captured her back then? Can you catch her again? we guarantee that once Cifera is captured, we will provide you with a generous commission reward again."
She remembered now. This was the account she had used temporarily to receive payment when she had her clone pose as the Flame-Chaser who "captured" Cifera.
Even though it was an anonymous transfer, the Countercurrent Alliance had apparently managed to obtain the account information through that transaction and decided to try sending "her" a message.
So... something fun was happening again?
Cipher lowered her head and began typing a reply:
"You let Cifera escape?"
A moment later, the other side sent another message:
"Yes. We need to capture Cifera once more."
"How I caught Cifera is none of your business; that is my own ability. As for catching her again... I can, but since I've already caught her once, she will certainly be wary of me now. Even I might not be able to catch her easily a second time. Given how troublesome Cifera's abilities are, three million Credits for a live capture is a bit low."
After finishing the text, Cipher nodded with satisfaction and hit send.
The core message was simple: I can catch Cifera, but you have to pay more.
She didn't believe the other party would give up the chance to catch Cifera just because of a "slight" price hike.
Sure enough, a few minutes after the message was sent, another text arrived from the other side.
"Fine. If you can capture Cifera alive, we will give you five million Credits. However, in return, you will also need to help us with a small favor: monitoring Cifera for a while to prevent her from escaping again."
Oh? Asking me to monitor myself? How interesting~
Cipher's lips curled upward as she continued typing:
"How long do I need to monitor her? I don't want to waste too much of my time after catching the target."
"One hour is enough. Within an hour, we are confident we can break Cifera and make her talk."
"One hour... fine, deal."
"Roughly how long will it take you to catch Cifera?"
"By 10 PM at the latest. Have the Credits ready by then and set a meeting place."
After sending the final message, Cipher licked her lips with delight. She turned off the screen and put the Terminal into her System Inventory.
"Alright, next... I just have to wait for five million to hit my account again~"
Just as she finished speaking, Luo Lin—who had been playing a small game at a stall up ahead—returned after a crushing defeat. She suddenly thought of Cipher and turned around, calling out to her as she stood there looking down at her Terminal:
"Sister Cipher! I keep missing the ring toss. Can you help me?"
"Coming!"
Luo Lin's voice pulled Cipher back to reality. She called back to her and walked over, humming a cheerful little tune.
As she reached the stall, Luo Lin asked curiously, "Sister Cipher, why do you suddenly seem so much happier? Did you buy something you like?"
"No, no, no~"
Cipher shook her head, then casually tossed the plastic ring in her hand toward the stall.
"It's because a sucker is coming to give me money. That's why I'm happy!"
Before her words even faded, the plastic ring—under the incredulous gaze of the stall owner—accurately landed on the grand prize, which was supposedly impossible to hit.
The grand prize was a transfer of 666 Credits to the successful customer.
Seeing this, and combining the grand prize with what Cipher had just said, the stall owner pointed at himself in disbelief.
"Sucker? Who are you talking about? Me... me?"
"Uh... not exactly..."