A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 315 Mr. Q's Scheme

Is it 42 Norwich Street?

Quinn asked abruptly.

“Should be?” Hunter said wearily. “It’s been too long, I can’t remember anymore.”

Quinn added, "A three-story red brick building with glass doors and windows facing the street, and a poster for 'The Hero' hanging on the second-floor railing?"

"That's the one."

"Has the academy already set its sights on that bookstore?" Sissa asked.

“No,” Quinn explained expressionlessly, “There are only a few bookstores in Eswell, the one at 42 Norwich Street is the biggest.”

"It's also possible that the location was just chosen randomly. Abyss transcendents can enter the Abyss through dreams, so they don't need a fixed base in the mortal world, which makes them especially difficult to capture," said Sisa.

“I don’t know.” Hunter shook his head and continued, “I told the shop assistant my name as Jack instructed, and she handed me the goods, which were supposedly pre-ordered books.”

In Taumur, books are expensive, and even the wealthiest bookstores don't stock the entire range. And since there's no online shopping in this world, the only way for ordinary people to buy books is through bookstores. So bookstores with connections usually cooperate, keeping each other's catalogs and exchanging stock if needed. This process usually takes weeks to months, depending on the distance between the two bookstores.

It's quite common for book pre-orders to account for half of a bookstore's revenue.

"It was a book sealed with oil paper. I could tell from the touch that the weight was wrong. According to Jack, it should have contained ten gold pounds, but it was very light. I still took it home."

"When it was opened, it really was just a book."

"It was damaged and old, the words on the pages faded to illegible, but it had a strange magic that made me unable to resist turning the pages."

A complex light flickered in Hunter's eyes, like a gambler about to lose everything, reminiscing about his most glorious moment.

"Is the Abyss Relic a book?" Sissa nodded slightly. "What's the title of the book?"

“I can’t repeat it, I can only tell you the meaning of the Taymouran name, it’s a very strange name.” Hunter will probably never forget that book, “I Want to Improve Too Much”.

"Pfft." Upon hearing the name, Xisa burst out laughing instantly.

"What are you laughing at?" Quinn asked calmly.

"This reminds me of a funny meme: it's definitely a relic of the gluttonous fate."

"Is it?"

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s continue, Mr. Hunter.”

"I don't remember what happened after I opened that book. Maybe I fell asleep after getting tired of flipping through it, or maybe I just lost consciousness."

"I have come to the abyss."

“That was…” Hunter took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind. “That was the first time I met Mr. Q.”

“Gender, appearance, age, characteristics,” Sissa guided. “Any characteristics you can think of, such as accent, habits, or what kind of work he does from his movements?”

Hunter kept shaking his head.

"No. Nothing is available to a newcomer like me who has just been promoted to Sequence Nine. I don't even have the right to meet Mr. Q in person."

There is only one option in front of me.

In the present world, not only language and writing, but also all the sights and sounds of the abyss are inevitably blurred in our understanding. Hunter could only describe it as "a glass book that can glow and make sounds."

"Mr. Q was hiding inside that glass, communicating with me using a virtual voice. There was no emotional change, and I couldn't tell if he was male or female."

Quinn added, "The same goes for Mr. Q I met."

"He introduced me to what an Abyss Transcendent was, told me how dangerous it was to have my identity exposed, and assigned me a mission."

Quinn crossed his arms and asked in a calm tone, "Aren't you angry? To suddenly force this on you, to force you to complete a mission, to force you to your death. And you just accept it so readily?"

"No, Mr. Q did not force me."

The sound of water dripping onto the floor echoed in the cellar, and the air was filled with the smell of mildew.

“Anger. Of course, there was some, but more of it was fear. After all, being caught by the cult meant certain death; even after death, the soul wouldn't return to the earth. But I gained power, didn't I?”

"For people like us, the extraordinary properties of the Abyss can give us another kind of life. A perfect life that we never imagined."

“I can do nothing, so I won’t be exposed, and Mr. Q won’t make things difficult for me. Just like the Adventurers’ Guild’s bounty missions, I can let anyone who wants to advance or obtain material rewards in the real world choose to cooperate with him.”

"So, you chose the latter?"

“I didn’t hesitate. After Mr. Q explained everything to me, I immediately agreed to work for him.”

Quinn seemed to be deep in thought.

Are these Abyss transcendents chosen precisely because they possess the aptitude to bear original sin?
Weak faith, disillusioned with life, yearning for rights, and in need of help.
"When I woke up the next day, the book was gone. Instead, I had a lot of knowledge in my mind, which was the power I could use—power, and humanity's fear of power."

"And on my table, there was an extra ten gold pounds, which was the reward that Mr. Q had promised."

"What did he assign you?"

It's unclear when exactly, but Sissa has already opened the "Golden Commandments" in his hand.

Quinn finally understood why the bishop carried that thing with him. This bishop was actually using the sacred texts of the Church of the Returning Tree as a notebook. He even saw a nude woman drawn below the admonitions on that page, in the same pose as Rose in Titanic. The woman was biting a mysterious square package of contraceptives, which was obviously a recent photo.

“Mr. Q has his rules.” Hunter coughed twice, his voice hoarse as if he had phlegm in his mouth. “Things in the mortal world are settled in the mortal world. But things in the abyss are settled with rewards from the abyss.”

Which one did you choose?

“I chose both. They don’t conflict, and these things can help me integrate the [Public Servant] trait. The more I do, the faster the integration will be.”

“Let’s do it one by one. What does he ask you to do in reality?” Xisa asked while taking notes.

Given his personality, Quinn always felt that this was a work report meant for Misha.

"He told me to go home," Hunter said, his eyes filled with confusion. He himself didn't know what Mr. Q's task for him was about. "He told me to report to my father about failing the civil service interview and to follow my father's instructions."

Quinn recalled the conversation when Golden Wind interrogated old Hunter that day, and asked thoughtfully, "Did your father introduce you to Golden Wind?"

Hunter gave a wry smile.

"He doesn't have any connections. He's spent most of his life treating the poor people of Seaville. The most powerful people he's ever met are gangsters. He's saved the lives of a few low-level Golden Wind bosses. Although I'm white, I'm educated, and Golden Wind can always find me some decent work."

Quinn sized him up. Indeed, his physique was not even good enough for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old to fight on the street. It would be good enough if ordinary small gangs didn't come after him for protection money. He didn't look like someone who was involved in the underworld at all.

"After joining Golden Wind, I basically just worked at the company, counting smuggled goods and doing bookkeeping. The guys my father had saved would sometimes take me along for drinks and to play around with women. I even attacked someone with a knife twice, but I never did anything out of line. I just followed Mr. Q's instructions, doing my job dutifully and letting things take their course." "Until one day, one of the guys asked if I wanted to earn some extra money by running errands for the company. The condition was that I had to keep my mouth shut; I couldn't even tell my father what I was delivering. At the time, I didn't find it strange, since company policy dictated that nothing could be leaked. As an accountant, the ledgers were evidence of illegal activities."

Quinn understood; he knew that Golden Wind's trial period for him was probably over.

Ike is a meticulous man. If he didn't have too many "clients," he would have preferred to do the job of delivering starlight himself. He couldn't possibly select high-ranking members, because the stricter the secrecy, the easier it would attract attention. On the contrary, hiding such matters concerning one's life and fortune within the gang's daily operations would make it less likely to be discovered.

"I received an email from Mr. Q. In the Abyss. He asked me to accept this mission and warned me that the item he was delivering was dangerous and that I should not be curious."

“What about the things he sent?” Quinn turned to ask Sissa.

“In the church’s containment area.” Sissa met Quinn’s gaze, his deep eyes probing. “Contraband that leaked from the academy, right?”

"We are investigating this matter."

Quinn remained unfazed. "Can you hand it over to me?"

Sissa shrugged.

"Then I'll go through the formalities."

"Your task is just to deliver goods?" Quinn also couldn't understand Mr. Q's intentions.

“It’s not a record,” Hunter said. “Mr. Q prepared an oil painting for me, a very strange oil painting with a distorted starry sky, castle, and moon. Of course, it’s probably not to my liking.”

"I need to subtly display the paintings during delivery, showing them to those important figures, and then observe their reactions."

"If their gaze is unnaturally drawn to the painting, I will record it. For example, how many seconds they stare at the painting, whether they make any unnatural or unconscious movements, or whether they suddenly say anything strange."

Xisa asked directly, "What about the recorded results?"

"The delivery times weren't fixed, nor were the clients and channels. The Godfather mixed that blue liquid into the bribes for important people, and if Mr. Q hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have been able to tell what I was delivering. So these records aren't coherent; sometimes I'd just linger on the painting for a while, then turn my head away as if I hadn't remembered what I'd just done."

Hunter pursed his lips, as if recalling something terrifying: "But there was one, Will Grand, who would involuntarily stop breathing when he saw the painting, squat down, and gaze at it as if looking up at the stars, uttering broken, unconscious sounds."

“He would stare for an unusually long time each time, until he was almost out of breath before looking away. I even wondered if he would suffocate himself. He looked so strange. His servants told me to be careful, saying that Lord Will didn't even feel pain when he bumped his head and bled.”

Sissa noted the name down, then turned to Quinn and asked, "Does this name ring a bell?"

Quinn looked terrible.

"Where is that painting?"

"Also in the church."

"Bring it to me."

"You know Will Grand?"

"I don't know him, but I know him."

Quinn said slowly, "One of the victims of the jewelry store robbery in March, the heir of Grand Pharmaceuticals, died in the center of the arcane matrix explosion. His body was never found. His grandfather was the richest marquis in Bavaria. He donated 10,000 gold pounds to the law enforcement officer because of this incident, demanding that the robbers be caught. The newspapers were full of bounty advertisements for the Grand family."

Hunter continued, “That’s right. Less than a week after I reported it, the jewelry store robbery happened. Will Grand died inside, and the Godfather even attended his funeral.”

Quinn remained silent.

It seems that the diluted Starlight Potion is not as completely harmless as Ike thought.

After pondering for a moment, Sissa said:

"I can give you the stuff. But you have to keep me informed of the latest developments."

"To you, or to the Guishu Cult?"

Xisa smiled slightly.

“Just ask me. Secretary Misha already has a lot of work to do, and I want to share some of it with her.”

Quinn didn't ask any more questions and nodded to indicate that he could.

"Apart from that, are there any other special people?"

“No.” Hunter shook his head. “At least of the people I observed, only Will had a problem. The others stared at the painting for varying lengths of time, and some didn’t even notice it at all.”

"Do you have a list?"

Hunter slowly recited one name after another, while Sissa took notes, and Quinn listened in silence.

Quinn grew increasingly alarmed as he listened. What Ike said was true; this network of connections had indeed enabled Golden Wind to accomplish in just a few years what would have taken over a decade.

This covers almost a quarter of the big names on that lakeside promenade.

But neither Kraft Branson nor anyone related to the Branson family was included.
Does Jack's disguise as a doctor and his administration of Starlight to Reeve involve another of Mr. Q's schemes?

“I receive a reward of ten gold pounds for each observation.”

How can I send it to you?

"It's included in Golden Wind's monthly salary." Hunter had completely given up and was completely open to answering.

“We employees all have a fixed salary. Since we don’t report taxes, we receive cash directly from the finance department in envelopes, and the accounts are reconciled monthly. My salary hasn’t changed, but there’s always an extra bonus from Mr. Q in my envelope.”

Sissa turned to Quinn, “This part is not in Jack’s and the Treasurer’s ledgers.”

Quinn nodded and said, "I'll look into it."

"The tasks in the present world have been discussed, but what about the tasks in the abyss? What ritual does he require you to participate in?"

Sissa naturally uttered the word "ritual".

Quinn was not surprised at all; the Cult of God had been fighting the Abyss Transcendents for over a thousand years, so they must know much more.

"The abyss layer, at a depth of 1998 meters, spans 24 years and is still ongoing today."

Hunter succinctly stated, "I'm playing the role of an official."

"And the task is very simple."

"Through various means, without anyone knowing, we helped a female entrepreneur overcome her difficulties."

"So that she can spend more time with her son."

(End of this chapter)