Claire looked at Shen, who was unconscious in the glass room, and asked Cipher beside her:
"How do you plan to handle Shen?"
"Let's leave him here for now, to prevent him from going back and contacting the Reverse Current Alliance or anything. It won't be too late to let him go after our transaction is complete."
"OK." Claire agreed with Cipher's decision, then turned and closed the door, leaving Shen alone in the room.
"I've made sure he won't be able to wake up at least until today is over. Let's go back now."
Saying this, Claire turned off the basement lights and walked up the stairs.
Cipher followed, and soon they left the basement.
"Sister Cipher, Claire, we're back."
Just as she left the study, Cipher heard Lauren's voice enter her ears.
She turned her head toward the main entrance and quickly spotted the Spark Team members who had just walked in from outside.
"Enna is back too! What kind of commission did you take this time?"
"It's a commission to seize an important item held by a gang."
Hearing Claire's question, Lauren took out her terminal and showed them the commission details.
The description suggested that the Fierce Tiger Gang had originally intended to trade this item with the Vortex Gang, but it was intercepted by someone during transport.
Moreover, the interceptor was a gang from another sector. As they were from the North, they couldn't directly seize it back, as other gangs would obstruct them.
A transaction had been interrupted, and now the goods were snatched halfway through transportation. The Gang Leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang was furious, so he decided to hire people to steal it back.
The reward was generous: 100 credit points, but the requirement was that the goods must be returned intact.
"The Fierce Tiger Gang? Old acquaintances, huh? But your last commission was against the Fierce Tiger Gang, so why is your next one helping them? Aren't you afraid they'll cause trouble?"
Seeing those three words, Cipher immediately remembered that the previous mission they took was precisely to interrupt the transaction between the Fierce Tiger Gang and the Vortex Gang.
Lauren shook her head, "Although it is quite a coincidence... most commissions can be accepted anonymously, and since we left no survivors on the last commission, they don't know it was us."
"Oh... I see." Cipher thoughtfully rubbed her chin. "It seems the Mercenary Association's confidentiality is quite good. It's possible that the person accepting your commission might even be your former enemy."
"When are you planning to go?"
At this moment, Claire spoke up, asking Lauren and the others.
"We need to leave at 4 PM, because according to the commission intelligence, they will reach their gang's Branch Headquarters after 6 PM, and with more people there, it will be much harder to fight."
"4 PM..."
Hearing the time, Claire frowned, looking conflicted.
"Claire, is something wrong?"
Seeing Claire's conflicted expression, Lauren asked worriedly.
Claire shook her head after hearing Lauren's question.
"It's nothing serious, but around 4 PM, Cipher and I also have to go conduct the transaction with the Reverse Current Alliance people. I'm afraid if neither of us is here, and something happens to you guys, well..."
Before she could finish, Cipher quickly covered her mouth.
"Claire, stop setting up flags for them!"
"Flag? What is that?"
After moving Cipher's hand away from her mouth, she looked at Cipher, confused.
"Oh, well, just don't randomly say things like 'something happens,' it's bad luck."
Cipher waved her hand, indicating that Claire shouldn't worry about it.
"Besides, Lauren and the others have survived in the Pit Bottom District for so long. How many times have they needed to rely on us? So there's no need to worry so much."
"Boss Cipher is right. I was worrying too much."
Claire scratched her cheek awkwardly, admitting her lapse. After all, concern can cloud judgment; she had subconsciously forgotten that Lauren and the others had lived in the Pit Bottom District for a long time and even had the ability to save her before.
"Claire, you should go rest first. After all, you've been questioning Shen since you woke up, and you have a transaction with those people this afternoon. You need to recover your energy to negotiate."
"Alright." Claire nodded. "But it's almost noon now, so I'll prepare lunch before resting."
After speaking, she turned and walked into the kitchen.
"So diligent..."
Watching Claire's retreating figure, Cipher suddenly felt a sense of guilt crawl up her spine.
Claire contacted the Reverse Current Alliance, came to pick her up, questioned Shen, and then went to prepare lunch—busying herself with all sorts of things.
But what about her?
Reading novels, playing games, sleeping in, mooching food and drink... This was absolutely outrageous!
Feeling her own laziness, Cipher felt her mood ought to have become very poor.
But a new round of questions quickly arose.
What should she do if her mood turns poor?
Cipher first pretended to ponder for a moment, then pulled out her personal terminal and keyboard from her System Backpack, skillfully rushed to the bedroom, activated the projection, and began her great gaming endeavor.
She should play games to recover her mood!
As for everything she had just thought about, it was, of course, just an excuse to play games more happily!
She, Cipher! Was definitely not the type to engage in Self-Consumption!
...Time passed quickly. After lunch, it was 4 PM sharp in the blink of an eye.
"Sister Cipher, Claire, we're going to do the commission now, bye."
After waving goodbye to the two of them, Lauren and the others left the house and headed to the commission location.
Claire, who had also finished saying goodbye to them, lowered her waving hand. She looked at Cipher and reminded her:
"Boss Cipher, we should probably leave too."
"OK, I'm ready."
Hearing Claire's words, Cipher also lowered her hand and replied.
Claire nodded, then looked down and checked the contents of her satchel.
After a moment, she looked up and said:
"I'm ready too. Let's go. I believe the people from the Reverse Current Alliance are already impatient."
Saying this, Claire walked toward the door.
The two walked out of the house. After Claire locked the main door, they went over to the Off-road Vehicle.
Opening the trunk, the two men were still lying inside. However, compared to Felix's condition, Augie's face was considerably paler, giving the impression that he was about to die.
Feeling Augie's extremely faint breathing, Cipher said worriedly:
"Are you sure this is okay? I feel like Augie is about to die, and he's worth over a million credit points."
"It's not a big problem." After confirming the two men were still there, Claire closed the trunk and then went to the driver's seat. "A B-Class Ability User's vitality is not ordinary. In his current state, surviving for another two or three days is no issue. Get in the car, we need to go."
"I see." After Claire's explanation, Cipher stopped worrying.
Once she got into the passenger seat, the car drove toward the transaction location.