So, should he be eliminated?
Li Ang sipped his latte while staring at the hustle and bustle of pedestrians outside the window, seriously contemplating this question.
Is it necessary to get rid of Mule?
He and Mule had no personal interactions. They rely had a mutually beneficial working relationship, perhaps nothing more than acquaintances, and not very close ones at that.
From the standpoint of exposure risk, the likelihood of Mule proactively reporting to the Special Affairs Bureau was considerably low. Yet, it couldn't be completely ruled out that one day Mule might be caught by the Bureau and reveal the connection between Li Rising and the Dusheng Village incident.
From the standpoint of the damage exposure could cause, the severity of the Dusheng Village incident was quite high. The Special Affairs Bureau would invest considerable manpower and resources to follow up with an investigation.
If the identity of "Player Li Rising" was determined to be the orchestrator behind the Dusheng Village incident, then the good relationship Li Ang had maintained with the Special Affairs Bureau would be destroyed instantly.
He would no longer be able to place a certain level of trust in people like Xing Hechou, Plague Doctor, and Liu Wu Dai either.
By then, Li Ang might not even be able to trust randomly matched teammates in script missions (since teammates could very well have Special Affairs Bureau backgrounds). If things took an even worse turn, and the Special Affairs Bureau spared no expense in conducting a detailed search within Yin City, resulting in the exposure of his other identity as "Student Li Ang"...
Then, Li Ang would have no choice but to resort to the escape plan he had been preparing for several years, completely leaving his hotown behind to seek refuge in a foreign country.
After all, the cases carried by the identity "Li Ang" were not limited to just the Dusheng Village incident...
Li Ang's fingertips drumd TAP, TAP, TAP on the tabletop. He liked the ordinary daily life of an average high school student. He liked Yin City and the people in it.
Unless things reached a point of no return, he would probably not resort to the contingency plan of fleeing.
Now, only one last issue remained: the likelihood of getting rid of Mule.
Li Ang's computer skills were only average among all the practical skills he possessed, falling well short of the world's top echelon. Broughttoyouby*.
Even for a raw talent like him, catching up with the world's cutting-edge computer technology would take ti.
Besides, even if he maxed out his Hacker Technology skills, it was no guarantee he could pinpoint Mule's exact coordinates—Information Brokers were notoriously cunning, each more so than the last.
Furthermore, as an Information Broker who valued his life imnsely, Mule would undoubtedly have multiple contingency plans. He would have prepared information on all the players he had communicated with, ready to disseminate it across forums to prevent being exposed and hunted by players or organizations one day.
Eliminating Mule in the real world wouldn't completely erase the threat of identity exposure; it might even create more vulnerabilities.
As Li Ang silently pondered, a new ssage notification popped up on his friends list.
Mule sent: "Hello."
Li Ang's eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't reply.
Mule sent another ssage: "The Dusheng Village incident really caused quite a stir, haha."
Li Ang still didn't reply.
Mule continued: "Don't worry, I wasn't caught by the Special Affairs Bureau. I was very cautious when I accepted Lu Maodian's commission and left no loose ends. Moreover, the 'friend' of Lu Maodian's who supposedly introduced
to him? That was actually one of my alternate accounts. This kind of 'inventing a friend out of thin air' tactic is quite common in our Information Broker circles."
Li Ang's eyebrow twitched.
Actually, he already knew this. When questioning the pineapple-shaped Lu Maodian in Dusheng Village, he had specifically asked for intelligence about the Broker involved. Unfortunately, he only received so false leads that were impossible to investigate.
Mule typed: "You also don't need to worry about
reporting your information to the Special Affairs Bureau. The secrets I carry are no less significant than yours. Among the clients I've dealt with, many have unspeakable dark histories. If I were that easy to catch, I'd have died a thousand tis over by now."
The Information Broker's words were both an explanation and a veiled threat, implying that Li Ang didn't need to investigate him, nor would he likely be able to find him.
Seeing Li Ang hadn't replied for a long ti, Mule sent another ssage: "If you're still not at ease, you can sign this with ..."
Just then, a System notification chid, informing Li Ang that he had received a new, unread email.
He opened the email and found an antique-looking Sheepskin Scroll.
[Scroll Na: Secrets Beneath the Surface (Party B)]
[Property: Consumable (Replenishable)]
[Type: Universal]
[Rank: Rare]
[Special Effect: Two players, under conditions of absolute free will (i.e., without threat, extortion, or coercion), actively enter into a vow concerning the confidentiality of specific information. This vow is notarized by the System for both parties, who agree to mutually safeguard the said information. Any subjective or objective attempt by either player to leak the secret will trigger irreversible abnormalities in the higher-level cognitive functions of their brain related to learning, mory, and judgnt. This will result in severe cognitive impairnt, rendering the player incapable of expressing the confidential content through any form of interaction with the external world, including but not limited to narration, statent, explanation, retelling, or any other ans of information exchange.]
[Consumption: None]
[Cooldown: Party B's docunt disappears upon signing. Party A's original docunt replenishes one copy every 24 hours. Only one unsigned vow can exist at any given ti. A player may sign multiple vows.]
[Usage Condition: Both players must possess an equivalent level of intelligence on a species-specific scale.]
[Note: When a secret is kept, it is a loyal servant; when a secret is betrayed, it becos a calamitous master.]
This replenishable scroll item was one of the mainstays that allowed Mule to establish himself as an Information Broker in the "killing gas."
Without this "Secrets Beneath the Surface," he probably would have ended up like many old-era Information Brokers: forced to do dirty work for major factions, acting as a double or even triple agent.
Li Ang ticulously read the vow's content, automatically drafted by the System based on their mutual situation. After so thought, he sent a ssage to Mule: "Agreed."
Under the System's notarization, both signed the contract. The scroll in Li Ang's email imdiately turned to ash and vanished.
Mule ssaged: "Alright, now we're two grasshoppers tied to the sa string. By the way, business is business. Here's 45 Ga Currency. Please confirm receipt."
Looking at the final paynt sent by the Information Broker, even soone as shaless as Li Ang couldn't help but smack his lips. Lu Maodian is dead, and I still get the final paynt?
Mule replied: "Why not? Regardless of how you did it, you still completed Lu Maodian's commission to 'resolve the supernatural incident.' Besides, he transferred all the funds to
in advance. I do have professional ethics, you know."
Shouldn't the professional ethics of an Information Broker be more like 'fleece Party A, then fleece Party B'?
Li Ang accepted the 45 Ga Currency and asked Mule, "Why?"
This question, naturally, referred to why Mule hadn't reported his information to the Special Affairs Bureau in exchange for a reward.
The other side went silent for a mont before a ssage finally arrived: "One, I have the professional ethics of an Information Broker."
"Two, I'm also on the Special Affairs Bureau's investigation list."
"Three, I don't want—nor am I willing—to have a player with an exceptionally high mission clearance rating hunt
down relentlessly, 24/7. I cherish my life."
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