Chapter 2930 - 976: Secret Agents from Another World in Action

Chapter 2930: Chapter 976: Secret Agents from Another World in Action

The story is divided into two parts.

While the veteran players gathered to prepare for action, in the "Outer City" refuge several blocks away, the Border City Prodigal, Mustard Micro-Fool, and Mr. Ziwei, three professionals, were also taking action.

They were the first batch of players to receive a call for help from the Dust Beater.

That lovesick guy was quite methodical; his first reaction after losing his wife was to seek help from the police officers. While there are indeed a few policemen among the players, including some traffic officers and even official detectives, they have no way to handle cases in the game. Therefore, under the suggestion of the wise and experienced Old Chen, the Dust Beater sought aid from Loyal Brother.

That happened even before he posted his plea for help.

Loyal Brother also took it seriously, dispatching his elite forces as soon as he received the message. Not only the professional trio led by agents, but also the highly efficient Scavenger Trio.

Brother Prodigal and his team were responsible for finding clues, while the three scavengers were in charge of executing actions.

Professionals work differently; after simply collecting information, they locked the target area near the university town. Although Charles Harbor was chaotic due to an invasion by outside enemies, the security around the university town as part of the city’s core group of buildings could still be trusted.

After all, the official residence of the Steam Lord Council is here, preventing heinous events from happening.

Criminals aren’t stupid either; no one would stick out in an area where official efforts are concentrated, so the agents judged that this was very likely a series of incidents triggered by an accident.

They moved discreetly in mercenary outfits through the gathering places of outer-city people. Despite only being a few streets away from the university town’s refuge, the environment and planning here are in complete disarray.

Closed streets are filled with randomly placed tents, abandoned garbage, and scavengers rummaging through it—there is no trace of effective planning. Even though it’s a mess, there are still people setting up stalls next to the tents selling strange and dubious goods.

Idle people often gather on the streets, casting wary and malicious gazes at passersby.

Walking through these streets, Brother Prodigal felt as if he had just entered the wilderness areas of Transylvania.

"I must say, the development of Charles Harbor is really unbalanced."

Next to him, Mr. Ziwei was fiddling with his Crystal Ball as he complained:

"The university town is seemingly stepping into early capitalism, while the outer city has regressed into a wasteland style ruled by force. The disparity in classes within this city is truly eye-opening."

"Here comes the old cliché of ’capitalism’s alienation of man,’" Mustard Micro-Fool, who looked intimidating due to his large stature, grinned. He glared angrily around to deter the idle people from causing trouble while vigilantly observing certain details around him.

He whispered:

"But I’ve read the essay collection ’Impressions of Charles Harbor’ written by Professor Malcolm in Transylvania. The professor extensively described class differences in this city in his articles.

He said most of the outer city’s residents were freedmen who lost their land due to industrialization by Half-body Man factory owners.

They lack skills and, despite receiving meager compensation, cannot find a foothold in the industrial system. Even though the Half-body Men established worker training institutions, some people refuse to be part of that smoke-belching mechanical system.

These freedmen, having nowhere to go, ended up congregating in Charles Harbor along with commercial trade, like sediment settling at the bottom of a glass. After hundreds of years of peace and industrial advancement, the population in the Lower City District has become alarmingly large.

Unable to integrate into this fast-paced city, they formed their own self-contained community.

These people created a closed and exclusionary social model in the outer city, indeed resembling a typical lawless zone where violence speaks.

However, the Steam Lords have not completely ignored this group. While expanding the city, they tried to make plans for them. Unfortunately, the lack of a grassroots governance system makes it impossible for the Steam Lords to incorporate these people, who exist outside the main society.

The number of jobs this city can provide is always limited, but people have to survive and find ways to feed themselves... This vicious cycle only gets worse as more people crowd into chaos."

"In areas lacking legal order, there’s always someone who shouldn’t have power stepping in to fill the vacuum in their own way."

Brother Prodigal hit the nail on the head, saying:

"Just like how Cardman City’s outer city was finely divided among various gangs, this place operates similarly. If you want to find someone here, you must directly locate the gang forces in control. Those underground rats have well-informed channels.

Pushing the envelope a bit further, it’s not hard to deduce that perhaps the disappearance of the Pallian Sisters was orchestrated by them.

I previously inquired from the staff at the refuge, and the sisters did not hide their origins. Additionally, to recruit manpower for Transylvania, they even set up a ’labor agency’ under the Bataxin Business Association’s name in the outer city.

I suspect that’s exactly what got them targeted.