Why is his holy light red?

Chapter 81 Rewards and Confinement

Tonight is an absolute harvest night for Mercury.

When Old Neil, enveloped in golden light, and the Radiant Messenger, severely injured and on the verge of death like a dead dog, were thrown into the Association's containment chamber, the entire building's internal communication network was instantly ignited.

Poor Rosalia, the receptionist, was dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning and brought back to the association to deal with a mountain of battle damage assessments and various reports.

This matter could not be ignored by the higher-ups.

Three interns who hadn't yet been officially hired were originally just sent to wipe out a third-rate gang in the Tree Root District, but they ended up capturing the escaped Spirit Messenger and killing two monsters belonging to the "Black Moon Circus" along the way.

The first two are easy to deal with, but the name Black Moon Circus carries too much weight. Just finding relevant information is enough to warrant the attention of the branch's higher-ups, let alone directly eliminating two members.

This not only alarmed the Arugi Tree City branch, but also prompted the Hero Association headquarters to send a message overnight, demanding a detailed report as soon as possible.

After several hours of intense cross-examination, Mercury and his two companions were led directly into a high-level circular conference room to await the final summons from the important figures.

At the large metal conference table, Rex seemed completely unaffected by the fatigue of working through the night. He nudged Mercury with his elbow, lowering his voice, his tone laced with suppressed excitement: "Tell me, how much reward do you think we'll get this time?"

"Young Master, do you really need this little bit of appearance fee?" Mercury leaned back in his chair, not even lifting his eyelids.

"Who cares about that paltry money?" Rex scoffed. "I'm after the internal points. The bureau has a suit of armor personally designed by 'Iron Titan,' which you can't get your hands on even with money; you have to exchange it using internal points."

"You can exchange points for mechs?" Mercury opened his eyes abruptly, shocked by the hardcore nature of the association's internal shop.

"Even though it's a stripped-down version, it's still amazing enough, but the price tag is just..." Rex swiped his phone screen open and shoved it in front of Mercury's face.

It was indeed a heavy armored vehicle brimming with violent aesthetics. However, the string of zeros above the redemption points at the bottom of the interface immediately killed Mercury's interest.

He did a quick calculation and figured that even if all the credit for tonight's work were given to him alone, the points he accumulated would probably only be enough to buy a mechanical wristband.

After silently dismissing his unrealistic thoughts, Mercury turned his head to look at Nora, who was sitting on the other side, disassembling and maintaining a gun.

"And you? What are your plans for using your points?"

Even without Nora's shot, Mercury was confident he could take down the deathmatch tent. But her well-timed bullet saved Mercury a trump card.

He had to accept this favor.

Nora didn't even look up, calmly saying, "I only fired one shot, didn't exert much effort, I'm lucky to get a taste of the benefits. More than all that fancy equipment, I'm more concerned about whether this resume can raise my base salary grade."

This answer is very "Nora." Rational and realistic, she never daydreams, she just wants to make money in a down-to-earth way.

But the more this happened, the deeper Mercury's doubts became.

Nora's actions were far more complex than simply "firing one shot." He brazenly and directly attacked a financial giant like Eternal Life Technology right in front of Nora.

With that one shot, Nora was essentially forced onto this war machine against the giant, and was firmly placed on the company's blacklist.

If this price only brings a small reward like a raise, then Nora would be at a huge loss.

Mercury felt that Nora must have other plans, rather than because he possessed some kind of domineering aura or protagonist's halo that could make such a shrewd woman bow down and follow him wholeheartedly.

However, Mercury did not press the matter further. Friends should maintain a sense of distance, and it's best not to ask what others are unwilling to talk about.

The three waited for a long time before someone finally arrived.

But he didn't come through the main entrance; instead, he suddenly appeared inside the meeting room.

First, the air around the head of the conference table distorted violently, and then, with a buzzing sound, a tall figure stepped out of nothingness and appeared in front of the three.

As the blurry light and shadow dissipated, the person's full appearance was revealed.

This is an Asian man who looks to be in his early thirties, with a refined and scholarly demeanor.

He wasn't wearing any armor with any distinctive symbols, but rather a meticulously tailored dark gray suit with subtle patterns. He looked more like a financial elite than a world-saving superhero.

This is Richard Wong, the highest-ranking official of the Heroes Association branch in Auriga City.

This is a Chinese-American superhero. Unlike the stereotypical image of Chinese people who deliberately make their eyes look slanted upwards, when Mercury saw this chapter president, he almost thought he was seeing a "compatriot".

However, this person is undoubtedly a member of the Federation; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to serve as the branch president of the Hero Association in Aru Tree City.

According to publicly available information from the association, the core ability of this Thousand Star Warrior is "cloning". All the locations that his clones have been to can be used as spatial anchor points to open long-distance teleportation portals.

Therefore, it is rumored that this superhero sends his clones to travel around the world when he has nothing to do, just to leave his footprints so that he can teleport over long distances at any time.

This exaggerated mobility gives him a huge advantage during rescue operations.

Richard flashed a perfect smile: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

Surprisingly, this high-ranking branch president showed no trace of arrogance befitting a superior, and his amiable attitude made Mercury's tense muscles relax a little.

"You three energetic young people made me work several extra hours," Richard joked. "I'm sure I'll get a lecture from my wife tomorrow morning. But—"

'

He changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over the three men, and clapped twice generously: "It was all worth it. Excellent work, everyone!"

This unreserved praise, ironically, made Mercury feel a little uncomfortable.

The City of Pomegranates receives an astonishing amount of "political donations" from Eternal Life Technology every year—a tacit secret within the circle. And the "pre-death confession" that Mercury just fabricated is tantamount to directly linking Eternal Life Technology and the Black Moon Circus lunatics together, preparing to burn them both alive.

According to Mercury's original calculations, even if this shrewd branch president didn't resort to any underhanded tactics like coercion or bribery, he should at least subtly warn them and try to suppress the negative impact of this matter.

However, Richard never mentioned the words "immortality technology".

He simply turned around, brought up the holographic terminal, and solemnly read out the headquarters' commendation order to the three of them.

First and foremost, it's all real bounty points. There's no haggling; it's settled directly based on the highest rating, treating all three accounts equally, so there's absolutely no need for them to argue about how to distribute the rewards.

Mercury quickly did some mental calculations.

This huge amount of points is enough to raise his base salary rating by three levels. He can even exchange it for a large number of highly sophisticated special equipment that is strictly controlled in the association's internal armory. For example, he can exchange for the high-frequency sound wave transmitter used tonight to shatter the clown's eardrums in bulk and squander it as a cheap consumable.

In addition to the hard currency, the commendation order also included a second-class hero medal.

Killing two high-risk members of the Black Moon Circus is indeed a remarkable achievement.

Although the medal itself is just a metal plaque, in the extremely seniority-based hero circle, it is the most valuable stepping stone.

With this second-class medal, they are unlikely to be refused if they want to become apprentices to any famous superhero.

After reading out the last award, Richard casually turned off the holographic projection.

The pale blue glow of the data faded from his deep-set face, and the branch president interlaced his fingers, obscuring half his face, his commercial smile vanishing as well.

The atmosphere in the meeting room immediately became more serious.

Mercury thought to himself, "As expected, there's bad news in addition to good news."

"The commendation process is over. Next, it's time for risk management." Richard's tone became much more serious. "Although the three of you had an outstanding performance tonight, you will likely be under temporary restrictions on your personal freedom for the foreseeable future. Your access control has been locked, and you are prohibited from leaving this building."

Mercury, on edge, quickly asked, "Why?"

"Because of that gang member you pulled out of the ruins of the Tree Roots District—" Richard tapped his long fingers on the table, pulling up a report with a top-secret watermark, "Ten minutes ago, he was confirmed dead in the highest-level isolation chamber on the fourth basement level."

Richard swiped a gruesome photo of the scene onto the screen in front of the three men.

"After the sealing light left on him dissipated, he fell into the nightmare once more, and the inexplicable gnawing began again. We did everything in our power, but we still couldn't stop it. The invisible ogre nightmare bit through his neck and gnawed off his head." Richard's tone was extremely grave. "And until this man was completely dead, we couldn't detect any signal from that beast, let alone find a way to stop it."

He raised his head, his sharp gaze sweeping over the three young men in front of him.

"All three of you had close physical contact with the deceased at the scene. Before headquarters has thoroughly investigated the transmission routes of this 'nightmare' ability—for example, whether it can be transmitted through airborne media, sound waves, or even visual memes—I absolutely cannot release three potential sources of infection to avoid causing large-scale casualties."

Richard stood up and delivered his final verdict in an unyielding tone: "Therefore, from this moment on, the Level 1 quarantine plan will be activated. You will be under 24-hour continuous monitoring and testing in a special observation room in this building until the Association completely eliminates this cannibalistic nightmare, or—confirms that the three of you are not infected."

"When will that be?" Mercury asked.

Richard suddenly smiled and said, "Perhaps, after you've had a good night's sleep, we'll be able to confirm it."

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