Chapter 3: I Am Your Superior

  "Sir...," Shelley couldn't bring herself to sit down in front of Lucas and respectfully asked, "Your retionship with the Grand Princess…"

  Lucas replied with utmost seriousness, "That's right, it's exactly as you think. However, my retionship with Agatha is very private. I wasn't pnning oing you know.

  But...

  It seems that if I don't expin, you might kill me.

  I've heard that the Seawall District bran Storm City has a unique way of handling things, and today, I've truly experie… It's quite different from hearing about it."

  Shelley quickly instructed Zao remove the corpses.

  Then, she respectfully apologized, "I'm sorry, sir. I apologize for our offense against you. Actually, you just o show your appoi letter, and we would have known you are our detective. There was o show us such private magical images."

  Lucas knew Shelley still wao see the appoi letter.

  But he didn't have oo show.

  Relying on his memory, Lucas recalled a segment from the "Epoch" game's quest flow.

  The official Seawall Distritelligence Bureau detective was set to arrive tomorrow.

  "Since you know about my retionship with the Grand Princess, you should uand that my presence here is due to a secret missiorusted to me by Her Highness. For safety reasons, my appoi letter and I arrived separately. Moreover, the person carrying the appoi letter is unaware of my existence. He has been told that he has been appointed as the detective for the Seawall Distritelligence Bureau."

  "Why?" Shelley asked, fused.

  Lucas found a photo of an appoi letter in his phone's files and said to Shelley with a anding tone,

  "This arra is a special precaution by the Grand Princess for my safety! Additionally, it serves to make someoh a sensitive identity disappear.

  The specifics are beyond your rank to inquire about. The appoi letter's number is: OEOFT3694457; the encrypted message includes: fox, turtle, codfish, yellow fg, tinfoil, square table; my code name is: Meteor.

  After firming the information, kill the person who arrives and bring all his belongings to me. Uood?"

  "Kill him!?" Shelley's face showed .

  Lucas sternly addressed her, "Do you have doubts? Are you questioning me or questioning the Grand Princess?"

  "I wouldn't dare… I wouldn't dare…," Shelley responded hastily.

  By now, Shelley was almost pletely vinced of Lucas's identity. After all, someone capable of creating such magical images must have aremely intimate retionship with the Grand Princess.

  Someoh such a close retionship with the Grand Princess beio the Seawall District must be on a critical mission.

  Arriving separately from the appoi letter was indeed a safe strategy.

  After all… the royal power struggle had been intensifying.

  Anyway, when the "Ior" arrives, paring the information in the appoi letter would reveal everything.

  Lucas stood up, stretg his limbs, which were numb from being tied up.

  "I'm tired. Arrange a pe to stay."

  Shelley said, "Ior… it's already te at night, and the Seawall District is very unsafe. If you don't mind, you stay at my pce tonight. Tomorrow we'll go to the bureau together; your subordinates are looking forward to your arrival."

  Lucas sidered it.

  He was currently weak and defenseless. Staying alone in a hotel in the Seawall District might mean he wouldn't live to see the day.

  Staying at Shelley's pce seemed better. He'd have a free bodyguard and could sleep soundly.

  Lucas also ime to iigate what ges had occurred in his phohat charged through his sciousness.

  As for why Shelley invited him to her home, whether out of genuine for his safety or for other reasons...

  There was o overthink it.

  After all, Grand Princess Agatha was now his shield. Shelley couldn't possibly travel to the capital to firm with Agatha.

  Matters of the royal family were not something a vict like her could question.

  Would he be exposed ter?

  Grand Princess Agatha had a tight grip oelligence Bureau, ensuring no one else could infiltrate. All officers above the branch level were personally selected and appointed by her.

  Moreover, they never used their real names, only code names.

  This meant that as long as he didn't front Agatha face-to-fao one could prove he was an impostor.

  The priority was to stay alive first, then decide whether to escape or stay based ouation.

  Lucas replied, "I'll stay at your pce."

  Shelley instructed Zao tinue ing up the interrogation room, then led Lucas outside.

  It was already te at night.

  The smooth cobblestoreets reflected the dim light of the street mps. Oher side stood houses with steep, European-style rooftops.

  The walls were covered in moss from aintenance, with mushrooms growing in some pces.

  The air was thick with the smell of the sewers and the salty st of the sea carried by the wind.

  A few startled crows flew off the nearby telephone poles, g loudly.

  In the distahere seemed to be screams ing from another part of the district.

  A drunkard wobbled down the road, clutg a bottle. Shelley wheeled out a steam-powered motorcycle.

  She mou and said to Lucas, "Ior, it's too te to find a car. Ride with me."

  Lucas's eyes lit up at the sight of the steam motorcycle.

  He circled the rugged mae, admiring it. "Thunder BUM007, manufactured by Imperial Geobell Steam Heavy Industries, winner of fifteen steam engineering design awards.

  Unfortunately, after the Thunder BUM007, Geobell Steam Heavy Industries shifted its focus to military maery.

  The Thunder BUM007 became a swan song, and due to the scarcity of rept parts, there are fewer and fewer of them.

  You've kept yours in excellent dition. Truly remarkable."

  Lucas genuinely admired the motorcycle before him.

  In the game "Epoch," steam and alchemical maery created tless masterpieces that left pyers in awe.

  The Thunder BUM007 was one such masterpiece.

  Its uniqueness made the dwindling number of Thunder BUM007s highly collectible.

  Shelley's Thunder BUM007 was so coveted that pyers offered exorbitant sums to buy it from her, all of which she refused.

  Even maxing out her favorability in the game wouldn't get the bike from her.

  This showed Shelley's deep affe for the Thunder BUM007.

  Shelley sat astride the motorcycle. The bike's rge frame forced her to lean forward signifitly to grip the handlebars, creating a graceful ar her back that atuated her shapely, uplifted posterior.

  With such a figure and skin, it was hard to believe she was over forty.

  But as a human with Medusa blood, she was in her prime at this age.

  Fttered by Lucas's praise of her beloved bike, Shelley smiled and said, "Ior, you have a keen eye. Hop on. The sooner we get back, the sooner we rest."

  "Alright!"

  Lucas climbed onto the seat behind Shelley.

  She started the steam engine, and the powerful thrust propelled the motorcycle forward in an instant.

  Unsteady, Lucas instinctively ed his arms around Shelley's waist.

  The Thunder BUM007 lived up to its name—fast and exhirating!

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