Why is his holy light red?

In the root zone, some things are both funny and frustrating.

If you try to commit insurance fraud or download a pirated video, the hounds of insurance companies and entertainment giants will sniff you out and skin you alive; but if you join gangs on the streets or spread superpower drugs, not only will no one care, but you can also make a fortune.

The reasons are quite simple: the former threatened the interests of the conglomerate, while the latter meant you were essentially working illegally for the medical group.

Yong Sheng Technology is a medical group that has a near-monopoly in Ya Liu Shu City.

In such an environment, it's impossible to clearly distinguish between right and wrong. Mercury himself had done things that involved double-crossing for his family, so he didn't harbor any ill will towards Loki.

However, the argument made the atmosphere at the barbecue dinner somewhat awkward.

It wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't as lively as before.

Black Egg, in particular, this giant over two meters tall, kept a straight face all night, raking off more than a dozen tomahawk steaks like a merciless meat grinder. Clearly, he was still provoked by Loki's words. He didn't know whether to be angry at Loki or at himself, and could only swallow his pent-up frustration along with the steaks.

Mercury admired Aunt Farah even more when he saw her appetite. If her children ate less, she would probably be a rich woman by now.

Loki, on the other hand, seemed to have become much more cheerful. If Mercury weren't still a minor, he would have liked to have a drink with him.

It can only be said that things turned out unexpectedly well.

If it weren't for Black Egg's hearing problems, which led him to invite his entire family, Mercury wouldn't have found a suitable informant so easily.

Mercury had originally placed the bounty on this cannibal gang only third.

It's not that I don't have enough points, but rather that the cases involving the cannibal gang are extremely troublesome.

Any child who grew up in the Tree Roots area should have heard the dark bedtime story of "The Ogre Nightmare".

Legend has it that a monster roams the dreams, capable of skinning and dismembering people in nightmares. This monster also has a disgusting habit: it bites off a piece of flesh from its prey and then carves knife and fork-shaped wounds on the corpse.

Elm Street, where the Brotherhood of Raging Waves is located, is the origin of this cannibalistic nightmare story.

However, this is a legend from many years ago, and even in this era where superpowers are emerging one after another, few people take it seriously.

Even this cannibal gang only uses the name to scare people. Their leader even calls himself Hannibal, but he only knows how to chop people up and has never been known to actually eat people.

The Hero Association won't get involved in ordinary cases, firstly because they don't have the authority, and secondly because it's unnecessary.

Superheroes can only intervene if they confirm that the crime involves superpowers or violent harm encountered at the scene.

The ogre gang was able to get a bounty on their head, and even Loki, who had just joined, was included in the investigation, all because this ogre nightmare had reappeared.

Just recently, police recovered the mutilated bodies of three homeless people. The bodies were missing weight, and the wounds bore the marks of wild animal bites. Most alarmingly, a crossed knife and fork symbol was clearly etched into the pale skin—a method identical to the infamous crime from years ago.

These days, there are plenty of weird copycats who have nothing better to do than to search for corpses. A few corpses alone might not be enough to get the Hero Association to investigate.

But unfortunately, the process of one of the victims' deaths was recorded by a camera.

That night, an outdoor streamer who was doing a "Ghost Hunt Adventure in the Tree Roots Area" went under a bridge where homeless people were gathered, carrying night vision equipment. In the footage, a homeless man who was originally curled up on a cardboard box and snoring suddenly seemed to be pressed down by an unseen force, and his whole body convulsed wildly in an arched shape.

Immediately afterwards, flesh tore open out of thin air, and blood splattered all over the filthy walls like a fountain.

The video was shaky and blurry, and the anchor was so frightened that he scrambled away.

However, after careful analysis of the video, the association determined that it was not a fabricated graphic video, but rather a real, on-site recording.

When the deceased was attacked, there wasn't a single ghost in sight.

When the body collectors arrived at the scene, the entire piece of flesh from the homeless man's carotid artery to his collarbone had vanished into thin air, leaving only two striking blood-red knife and fork marks on his forehead.

The case was eventually classified as a crime involving superpowers, and the association issued a reward notice and began a serious investigation.

The Ogre Gang used the name "Ogre Nightmare," which naturally attracted the attention of the association.

They initially thought it was just a case of bullying others, but following the trail revealed that they were buying and selling superpower enhancement drugs, and they were immediately placed under close surveillance. Otherwise, Loki, an ordinary person, wouldn't have been on the watch list.

Killing from a distance, infiltrating dreams, and employing extremely provocative and cruel methods—this unpredictable ability is designated "high-risk" within the association, with a very generous bounty.

The bounty isn't just on the true identity of the cannibal Nightmare, but also on the cannibal gang's illegal dealings.

Mercury doesn't really like dealing with these kinds of mechanics; you might accidentally fall into one's trap, and who knows if his Holy Light abilities will be affected in the dream.

But since we've encountered this situation, there's no reason to ignore it.

According to Loki, he didn't really know much about the cannibal gang; he was just a marginalized figure dragged into it by loan sharks. The gang leader, Hannibal, only valued his knowledge and his status as a college dropout.

In the Root District, where the average level of education is elementary school dropout, simply having normal mental arithmetic skills is considered a sign of talent, and Loki's college student status is an even more important asset.

With just a little setup, Loki could exploit his classmates in the ivory tower and their middle-class families to the bone, leaving them with not a drop of blood.

However, because he had only been a member for a short time, Loki was still in the probationary period and could not access core secrets. Even the ledgers only contained code names; he was only responsible for accounting and did not know what exactly he was calculating.

Occasionally, he would accompany them to pick up or deliver goods, but he was just a driver who could only sit in the driver's seat, unable to observe or ask many questions. But Hannibal overlooked one thing: for someone who could rise from the mire of the slums to get into a state university, their intellect was their most lethal weapon.

Loki was extremely sensitive to numbers. Even though these gang members used various codes and aliases, he could roughly guess what the code names were after just a few glances at the ledgers.

Halfway through the dinner, Loki sketched out the underground network of the cannibal gang on a piece of paper.

He accurately deduced the locations of several cannibal gangs simply by calculating the round-trip travel time, transaction time, and delivery fees for the thugs. He even estimated the firepower and manpower of the locations with great accuracy.

"Hannibal and his gang are superstitious about the strict hierarchical rules of the Mafia, and they're meticulous about every penny of their resettlement allowances and compensations." Loki pointed to the densely packed numbers on the paper and lowered his voice, "Once the funds have flowed through the accounts, you can roughly calculate this result."

Mercury looked at the draft paper, which resembled a tactical blueprint, and couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. These street thugs insisted on trying to emulate multinational corporations with corporate management, and as a result, they'd only exposed their true colors.

This also saved Mercury the biggest trouble; he didn't need Loki to do something as stupid as breaking into safes and stealing ledgers, which was a sure way to die.

As expected of a genius who came from the Tree Root District, Mercury even suspected that he might have superpowers that enhanced his intelligence.

Mercury folded the napkin and stuffed it into his coat pocket. "Don't ask about the rumors surrounding that 'Nightmare.' We're still unsure of the Nightmare's killing mechanism, but if those guys slip up on drugs, remember it. Tell Leon when you get home, and he'll pass the information on to me."

Loki is ultimately just an ordinary person. In this superpowered crime case, he's good enough to act as a radar providing coordinates. Mercury only wanted to casually pull this desperate family out of the mire; he didn't intend to drag them out like in Infernal Affairs, dragging them out for three years after three years.

Upon hearing this, Loki's tense back visibly relaxed. He had been prepared to die trying to steal information from Hannibal's office and be thrown into the river at any moment, but he never expected that this "undercover" job would only require him to have an ear, which meant he wouldn't have to do anything at all.

The embers gradually dimmed, leaving only a few scarlet embers.

After seeing off the last guest, the noisy backyard finally returned to the tranquility of the late night.

Mercury pulled out the napkin stained with barbecue oil, walked into the living room, and shoved it in front of his father, Al.

"Dad, I need your help," Mercury said with utmost sincerity.