Chapter 27: Transport

According to Fran’s arrangement, for the next three days, she would be rotating through entry-level tasks with Jing Cheng, Bian Yin, and Tian Wu.

Beyond familiarizing herself with the basic procedures, this would also allow her to get to know each of them.

According to his profile, although Jing Cheng was a bit chatty, he was the most experienced of the group. He had started working as an agent at the age of sixteen and now possessed a full ten years of experience.

As a person, he was... perhaps barely reliable.

Among the other three members of the Raindrop Agency, he held the highest rating, currently serving as a Level 6 official agent.

Even among official agents, there was an internal ranking system. This ranking was primarily a reflection of seniority. After transitioning from a trainee to a full agent, they started at Level 10 and needed to accumulate a great deal of mission experience to slowly ascend to Level 1.

For an ordinary person, Level 6 was indeed a very high rating.

However...

She lifted her eyes, looking at the man before her with suspicion.

A slightly frivolous smile hung on Jing Cheng’s face, and a cunning glint flickered in his eyes.

He hooked his arm around Xing Yu’s shoulder. "You look pretty young too. How old are you? In your teens?"

"...I don't know." Xing Yu instinctively stepped back, brushing the question aside.

Her [Information Reading] ability could see the age of this body, but she didn't genuinely feel like she was only a teenager. Memories of her true age were like shadows in a thick fog—blurred and unclear. No matter what, she couldn't recall, so she simply gave up on investigating her own age.

"From now on, I'm your senior. If you have any trouble, just ask your senior!" Jing Cheng patted his chest. "Don't worry, you're a newcomer in your probationary period; your senior will make sure to keep you safe!"

"Understood," Xing Yu replied perfunctorily.

According to Fran, today they only needed to deliver a package to a designated location.

Jing Cheng carefully opened his briefcase and checked the contents inside.

Xing Yu leaned in with curiosity.

Inside, two small bottles were neatly arranged. Each contained only a few pills, yet they were meticulously packaged.

Painkillers and vitamin supplements...?

Was it worth sending two people just for this?

"Don't worry, this is the easiest kind of mission!" Jing Cheng patted her shoulder. "E-level missions are just delivering mail, escorting clients, or patrolling the streets. Delivering items is the simplest of all! We just have to get it to Ring D. Still, this stuff is quite valuable; I feel like we’re getting the short end of the stick."

"How much are these things worth?"

"It’s not really about the money..." Jing Cheng pondered for a moment. "These are 'medicines.' I've heard they can relieve pain and serve as a temporary substitute for an Extraordinary’s healing. Isn't that magical?"

"I see," Xing Yu said, lost in thought.

She roughly understood now.

Extraordinaries usually provided healing directly, while medicines were so rare that their very existence was not common knowledge.

Suppressing the questions that immediately arose in her mind, she continued to ask, "Is every E-level mission about transporting such rare items?"

"Not necessarily."

During their conversation, Jing Cheng had already led her out of the Raindrop Agency office.

"These things aren't common, but the mission is still in the low-risk category. Most people can't recognize what these are, and you didn't know either, right? Our agency’s flat rate for a delivery is 200. What's the phrase... a fair price for all!"

"Just for walking this short distance... 200?" Xing Yu asked, puzzled. "Why is the agent's commission so high? I only got 50 for delivering a letter from the Council from Ring F to here. That was much more exhausting than this mission."

"Looks like you’ve been pretty lucky in the past!" Jing Cheng smiled. "Haven't you ever been robbed?"

I’ve only been in this world for three days...

Xing Yu naturally couldn't say that out loud, so she pondered silently.

Recalling the threats and attacks she had encountered in these few short days, she seemed to understand what Jing Cheng meant.

Now, she shared the same question.

...Living in such a dangerous world, how exactly did the original owner manage to grow up?

"I understand," Xing Yu said. "If it were left to a postman, the items would be lost due to an attack, is that it? But it doesn't seem that dangerous during the day, and the environment here is much safer than Ring F."

"Ring F is a place for people to live?" Jing Cheng scratched his head. "We’re considered safe here, but that’s only because large-scale gang wars are less frequent."

"...I live in Ring F."

Jing Cheng let out an awkward, dry laugh. "Haha, uh, well... anyway, if you gave it to an ordinary resident, they’d definitely be robbed on the spot. Our status as agents provides a bit of a deterrent for those who are timid."

"This place really has such honest, simple folk," Xing Yu couldn't help but remark.

"Anyway, that's just how the job goes." Jing Cheng changed the subject. "Don't worry, with me leading you, there is absolutely no way any trouble will happen today!"

He wasn't wrong about that.

They sat through a ride to Ring D smoothly—despite it being less than an hour’s walk, Jing Cheng had insisted on taking a vehicle.

This mode of travel was slightly extravagant.

Most people traveled by stating their destination and waiting in the back of a small truck, setting off only after the vehicle was full of people.

Jing Cheng, however, simply hailed a small car. The driver seemed very familiar with him; after accepting a 50-value coin, he signaled for them to get in.

A strange, pungent odor permeated the dilapidated cabin. As the vehicle bumped along, the smell lingered around them, waxing and waning.

Although there was no one else besides the driver and Jing Cheng, Xing Yu still hugged the briefcase containing the precious medicine tightly.

Even with Jing Cheng’s promises that the mission was easy, she couldn't fully let her guard down.

Before long, they arrived at their destination.

Ring D. She had passed through it several times, but had never explored it properly.

The air was filled with a strange, unpleasant odor, a mix of rotting garbage and damp mildew. There was some infrastructure here that resembled streetlights, but the streets looked significantly worse than those in Ring C.

Jing Cheng skillfully led Xing Yu through several narrow alleys, finally stopping in front of a seemingly abandoned building.

The building's exterior walls were mottled and peeling, the windows were boarded up, and all sorts of debris was piled at the entrance, giving it the appearance of being completely uninhabited.

"This is the place," Jing Cheng said in a low voice, knocking on the rickety wooden door.

A moment later, the door creaked open, revealing a vigilant face.

"Raindrop Agency, delivery," Jing Cheng said concisely.

The person looked them up and down, their gaze lingering on the briefcase in Xing Yu's hand for a few seconds, before stepping aside to let them in.

The interior was unexpectedly tidy, a sharp contrast to its exterior.

Xing Yu followed cautiously behind Jing Cheng and handed the briefcase to the middle-aged woman waiting inside.

The woman checked the medicine carefully, confirmed it was correct, and pulled two medium-value coins from her pocket, handing them to Jing Cheng.

Jing Cheng nodded with satisfaction. Then, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket—the commission contract.

The contract, which had looked like ordinary paper, began to emit a soft blue light and slowly drifted into the air.

Within seconds, the contract began to turn into black ash, drifting upward like smoke until it disappeared without a trace.

"This is the original. It automatically vanishes once both parties have fulfilled their obligations. There is a copy with Fran, but that one serves no purpose; it’s just a record."

Xing Yu nodded thoughtfully.

They left the building and stepped back onto the gloomy streets of Ring D.

"How about that? Simple, right?" Jing Cheng hummed a tune, crossing his hands behind his head as he asked Xing Yu.

"Mm..." Xing Yu replied distractedly, her thoughts seemingly drifting far away.

The silence was easy to misunderstand—Jing Cheng subconsciously assumed she was still nervous about the mission.

He patted Xing Yu's shoulder gently, trying to comfort her: "See? Nothing happened. When we go back and turn it in to Fran, the payment will be in your hands in a couple of days. Our daily life is just like this, no need to be too..."

"That's not it," Xing Yu suddenly interrupted him.

She looked up, meeting Jing Cheng’s eyes directly, and said firmly, "Can you give me the money in advance?"

"...What?" Jing Cheng didn't react for a moment.

"I want to take my 100 New Coins today," Xing Yu’s tone was firmer. "I don't have a single cent on me."