Chapter 4: Commission
The night wind blew in through the window. The originally cluttered shelter had become exceptionally tidy. A row of round stools was neatly arranged beneath the windowsill, and the floor had been wiped to a near shine. Though the room still looked old, it was much cleaner. With the dust swept away, the air felt fresher too.
"Phew~"
Morey wiped the water stains from her forehead. Looking at the restored reputation with the Watch Guild, she confirmed one thing: inside the shelter, trying to gain benefits through charm traits alone wouldn't work. She had to take actual action.
"What are you all doing?"
Su Xiao sat behind the wooden table. From a moment ago, these five contractors had spontaneously started a thorough cleaning.
"Exercising!"
Morey laughed cheerfully, revealing slightly sharp little canine teeth. For some reason, she felt something was off, especially after spotting a dog near the wooden table. The ominous feeling grew stronger, but she chose to ignore it. Sometimes, the smarter you act, the faster you die. Morey opted to temporarily play the fool to improve her survival rate—a method that had never failed her.
"Are you all that idle?"
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the burly man wiping the glass door paused, turning his gaze to Morey. After she gave him a look, the man closed the door. He understood her meaning: 'Close the door, unleash Shengyuan.'
As a charm-type contractor, Shengyuan was pushed forward—not by verbal decision, but by physical selection.
"Mr. Kukulin, if there are supernatural incidents that need handling, we can take care of them."
Shengyuan stood solemnly before the wooden table. This time, she didn't activate any charm-type abilities, just normal negotiation.
"There are indeed some supernatural incidents that need resolving. However, you're not yet official members of the Watch Guild."
"Mr. Kukulin, we'll cover all expenses during the operation."
"Very well."
Su Xiao opened a hidden compartment in the wooden table and took out a thick stack of kraft paper bags. The documents inside were supernatural incidents that had yet to be resolved.
Judging by the number of files, there were 32 supernatural incidents still pending. A small portion had been handled by hunters before but failed for various reasons.
These backlogged incidents all shared one trait: they were time-consuming, and the involved parties had already died. Accepting such incidents meant relying solely on information from classified files to search for clues at the scene.
Su Xiao wouldn't take on incidents that required days or even longer. He was more interested in newly occurring incidents, as they were more likely to be connected to his main quest. Though dangerous to handle, they were resolved quickly.
As for these 32 backlogged incidents, Su Xiao planned to commission them to the contractors. Assuming a task difficulty of Lv.60, after the contractors completed the commission, he would gain 6 points of world reputation.
One or two contractor teams wouldn't yield significant returns, but once there were more than five, it became a considerable profit.
Within the Watch Guild, supernatural incidents were divided into four levels, the lowest being Third-Class Incidents.
Third-Class Incident (Low Risk): New hunters could attempt to complete alone.
Second-Class Incident (Risk): Required a senior hunter to take charge; depending on the situation, could recruit over 10 new hunters.
First-Class Incident (High Risk): Required one veteran hunter to handle.
Special Incident (Extremely Dangerous): Required ten veteran hunters and over fifty senior hunters. New hunters were forbidden from participating.
Corresponding to these four levels were four stages of Dark Demons. Identifying their strength was simple—by their skin color.
The weakest Dark Demons had rough, granular skin in gray tones, corresponding to Third-Class Incidents, handled by new hunters.
Dark red-skinned Dark Demons corresponded to Second-Class Incidents, handled by senior hunters.
Black-skinned Dark Demons corresponded to First-Class Incidents, dealt with by veteran hunters.
Finally, Special Incidents involved unique Dark Demons without fixed forms, but they all shared one trait: they had their own titles or names. These titles or names were given because they had slaughtered too many civilians, earning them separate listings by the Watch Guild.
Gray, red, and black—the three skin colors of Dark Demons represented not only differences in strength but also intelligence. Stage 1 Dark Demons, or gray-skinned ones, were generally dull, causing straightforward yet bloody incidents.
Stage 3 Dark Demons, with black, horny skin, were not stupid. Only veteran hunters could outmaneuver and eliminate them. Of course, some senior hunters skilled in setting deadly traps could also handle these Stage 3 Dark Demons.
As for Stage 4, the strongest Dark Demons—if discovered by a lone hunter, their only option was to flee, using every means to reach the shelter and report the critical information to the local shelter manager, preventing massive civilian casualties.
Classifying incident levels was the Watch Guild's responsibility, handled by dedicated logistics personnel who outnumbered hunters by dozens of times.
The files in Su Xiao's hands now contained Second-Class or First-Class Incidents. The simplest Third-Class Incidents were almost always resolved on the spot, as gray-skinned Dark Demons were easy to expose.
"Black Fortress Plague, Flesh Auction, Dorrent Prison Escape Case, Red Siren."
Su Xiao placed four files containing First-Class Incident data on the table. He could directly view these tasks, all with difficulties between Lv.62 and Lv.64, none being large-scale events.
"Mr. Kukulin, we're all new hunters. Isn't this a bit..."
Shengyuan's words trailed off. After a moment of thought, she picked up the file labeled 'Red Siren.'
[Prompt: Contractor team has accepted side quest: Red Siren. This incident involves hunting a female Dark Demon capable of disguising as a human. All its victims are human males. Task difficulty: Lv.65. Time limit: 7 natural days.]
[Prompt: The Hunter may name this team. This name is only visible to the Hunter, their followers, or summoned creatures.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao's expression remained unchanged. He labeled the team as the Morey Team.
Morey and the other four opened the file. Before long, their expressions turned grim. Although the Red Siren was a Stage 3 Dark Demon, it bore the title 'Red Siren,' which already indicated its danger.
"Female Dark Demons really know how to play, huh?"
Morey looked at the black-and-white photos in her hands. Even with her carefree personality, she felt her cheeks heat up.
"You three men, be careful. The Red Siren can disguise itself as a beautiful woman. You three know what I mean."
Shengyuan's smile was meaningful. The three male contractors nodded repeatedly. They didn't want to end up like the people in the photos. Even as Seventh-Rank contractors from Apocalypse Paradise, this was their first time seeing such a situation.
"Sigh, if only Senior Sister were here. She's good at tracking."
Morey sighed. Before long, the Morey Team of five left the shelter.
The shelter fell silent. Su Xiao took out the [Remnant Soul of Tide Hunter]. Just as he hesitated whether to summon Tide Hunter to handle the backlogged incidents for world reputation, the phone on the table rang.
Ring, ring, ring~
The old-fashioned phone kept ringing. Its sound meant a commission had come knocking.