Count me in, too!

In the smoke-filled alley, five enforcers of the Azure Dragon Sect finally managed to break free from the choking haze.

“Damn it, who’s the bastard that threw the smoke bomb?” the fortune-telling conman coughed and swore.

“Despicable! We have to find him!” the bare-chested brute punched the wall in fury. “He severed our brother’s tendons—we can’t just let him go!”

“That’s right!” The others were equally fired up, their eyes glinting with murderous intent.

The next instant, a flash of blade sliced through the haze, opening a gash in the smoke. Out strode a young woman with hair styled like a princess, clad in a biker jacket and tight leather pants, gripping a mechanical katana that shimmered with a teal glow.

“Who are you—” one of the enforcers asked warily. But before he could finish, the girl’s blade swung toward his throat. So swift was her strike that before anyone could react, his neck was already severed in a clean, perfect line.

Seeing their comrade’s head hit the ground, the remaining four realized that this young woman was a formidable killer, and she was here for their lives.

“That girl’s using a Japanese sword style?” the fortune-teller muttered, pulling several throwing knives from his sleeve and hurling them at her.

The alley was too narrow for the girl to dodge, but she didn’t even try. Instead, she pressed a button on her katana’s hilt and swung the blade forcefully forward.

“Boom—!”

The blade suddenly glowed red-hot, erupting into searing flames. As she slashed downward, an explosive shockwave burst from the edge, shattering the alley’s walls and floor.

The knives were smashed to pieces, and two of the enforcers were blasted off their feet, landing in bloody heaps on the ground.

Brushing dust from her face, the girl strode forward and brought her blade crashing down on the bare-chested brute’s head.

“So fast!” he gasped, trying to retreat from the oncoming blade.

But she pressed another button on the hilt, and five jets of blue fire erupted from the spine of her katana, accelerating her strike. In a flash of horror, the brute’s head was split clean in two.

In a matter of moments, only the fortune-teller remained alive in the alley.

“Miss… heroine, who exactly are you?” he stammered, his body trembling. “Our Azure Dragon Sect has no grievance with you—why kill us?”

The girl only snorted coldly, and asked, “That man just now… you were trying to kill him?”

His eyes darted as he stammered, “Y-yes… because he severed one of our brother’s tendons.”

Unexpectedly, the girl covered her mouth and let out a soft, mocking laugh. The next second, she strode forward, and as the fortune-teller watched in terror, she swung her blade down.

“In that case, you can all die to atone.”

...

Having dispatched the five enforcers, Chiyo Asougi wiped the blood from her jacket and katana and stepped out of the alley. As the daughter of the Asougi Corporation, these commoners were nothing more than chess pieces to her—whether she chose to kill them or not was a matter of whim, not right or wrong.

Besides, she had tracked Chen Shang all the way to the Kunlun District, witnessing the events unfold with her own eyes. She didn’t mind ridding the world of a few dregs of society along the way.

“You truly are no ordinary man,” Chiyo murmured, quite satisfied with Chen Shang’s performance just now. If he had been easily duped by a handful of petty thugs, she would have been sorely disappointed in him.

She took out her phone and opened a tracking map. Just last night, during dinner with Chen Shang, she had quietly slipped a tiny tracker into his wine glass. This tracker couldn’t be digested by stomach acid and would pass through the intestines in less than five days.

“I’m curious to see what you’re up to in secret,” she whispered, striding toward the marked location on the map. Though such tailing could have been left to her subordinates, she preferred to take matters into her own hands. This junior of hers clearly wasn’t as simple as he appeared. Not only did he have an air of criminality about him, but he always projected a sense of being in control—a man destined for great things.

A man like that was worth her personal scrutiny. If necessary, Chiyo would stop at nothing to draw him into the Tokugawa Society.

Meanwhile, Chen Shang entered his pre-booked inn and checked into a single room with the help of a receptionist dressed in period cosplay.

Once inside the quaint, wuxia-themed room, he relaxed on the bed and opened the [Character] panel in his system.

“Chiyo Asougi… currently within five hundred meters,” he read from the system, falling into thought.

He had noticed her tailing him long ago, which was why, when he was cornered in the alley, he’d tried to lure her out. Since she’d followed him all the way to Kunlun District, she was bound to keep following. So why not draw her completely into his schemes and make her an ally?

But even if he called her directly, she would never admit to tracking him—instead, she’d only grow more cautious.

“No point overthinking it. Time for a stroll,” Chen Shang yawned, stretching as he left the room.

[Investigate the Midnight Headsman] was an extremely difficult side quest—the greatest challenge wasn’t the task itself, but the time limit. On the third night of the first autumn break at Shangcheng High, the Midnight Headsman would strike again.

However, due to the crowds of tourists in Kunlun District, his movements were spotted by several bystanders. According to their statements, the Headsman was seen near the Daoist Academy shortly before the crime, spotted by disciples.

Thus, all the sects deduced that the killer was hiding among the Daoists. Having offended many factions, the entire Kunlun District united in the investigation, and within two weeks, they would uncover the killer’s identity.

Knowing he’d been exposed, the Headsman chose to go down fighting. No matter how formidable he was, he couldn’t take on a hundred experts at once. In the end, he was surrounded and slain by the united forces of the sects.

If players wanted to claim the reward for this quest, they had to arrive in Kunlun District before the end of the first autumn break, discover the Headsman’s identity ahead of the sects, and tip them off for the arrest.

In short, only by beating the sects to the punch and unmasking the killer first could a player earn merit.

What made this quest even harder was that, in the first month of play, players rarely had any investigative skills, nor were their stats particularly high. As a result, this quest was notorious for its difficulty.

Most players left empty-handed after wasting two weeks. In fact, they were the lucky ones—the truly unfortunate were those who succeeded after much effort.

Most who saw this quest through were lured by the mysterious Daoist fairy rumored to be involved, only to discover after completion that their only reward was the role of a hopeless admirer.

Chen Shang pulled out his spare phone, downloaded an app called “Martial World Bounty” from a private website, and registered an account with a backup SIM.

This app was popular in Kunlun District, mainly used for posting bounties on local fugitives. These “fugitives” weren’t criminals in the legal sense, but rather troublemakers who flouted the unwritten rules of the martial world, or notorious figures such as the “Midnight Headsman.”

Upon completion, the system would automatically pay bounties into the hunters’ accounts anonymously.

Chen Shang searched for “Midnight Headsman” and, sure enough, found a fifty-thousand reward for information.

Unlike regular bounties, an investigative bounty didn’t require the hunter to kill the target—just to discover their true identity.

There was no real photo attached, and the written description was intentionally vague. The rating was “Heaven” class—the most dangerous level in the martial world’s ranking system.

Even so, lured by the high reward, dozens of people had already accepted the bounty.

“What a lively game… Let me join in too,” Chen Shang chuckled, tapping the “Accept” button.