Chapter 9: Men, the Suffering of Investigators

Investigator Liao still clearly remembered the furious expression on the Holy Knight Director’s face when he returned to report the results.

The director’s roar crashed over him like raging waves.

“Idiot! You let a freshly degenerated goblin escape just like that?!”

“The bureau spent so much funding to let you use your authority, and this is the result you give me?”

“You useless trash! I don’t think you’re fit for this position anymore!”

“N-No, please… please give me a little more time! I definitely…” Investigator Liao bowed his head, cold sweat pouring down as he pleaded.

“What’s so special about you? Just a Black Iron who could only get into junior college?” The director shot back sarcastically.

The director was a Bronze-rank Holy Knight, about the same age as Liao, and they had even attended school together. Yet now, their statuses were worlds apart.

There was no helping it. In this society, the gap between Bronze and Black Iron was the gap between the extraordinary and the mortal.

“I-I… I’ve already found many clues! I’ll catch the trail soon!” Liao answered, forcing himself to keep a stiff upper lip.

The director snorted: “Fine, I’ll give you one more chance… If you don’t catch that Liu Xia, don’t bother collecting this month’s salary—just pack up and get out!”

“But from now on, the bureau won’t give you any more funding support! If you’re as confident as you claim, you won’t mind these little restrictions from the punishment, right?”

Investigator Liao hurriedly nodded: “Y-Yes, sir!”

Inwardly, he cried bitter tears, regretting ever taking this hot potato of a case.

He had thought dealing with a commoner on the verge of degenerating into a goblin would be an easy arrest. Instead, the operation had been full of unexpected complications.

What he never expected was that a mere Black Iron-level case would draw the director’s personal attention, putting enormous pressure on him.

“What the hell is going on here?” Liao increasingly felt he had stumbled into serious trouble.

But he had no choice. To avoid being fired and losing this hard-earned job, Investigator Liao voluntarily worked overtime.

Recalling the entire capture process, the only people involved were himself, a young man who seemed like someone of high status, and a beautiful girl.

He had temporarily cleared them of suspicion earlier, but now that all other leads had gone cold, Liao could only turn his doubts back to them.

Thinking about it now, that young man had clearly suffered serious injuries from the goblin attack, yet when they met again later, the wounds were completely healed.

At the time, he had taken it as proof the other was wealthy, but now… was there really no suspicious point there?

In the dimly lit office late at night, the middle-aged Investigator Liao worked frantically, chain-smoking cigarette after cigarette and poring over file after file…

“Nothing? Absolutely nothing! If you only look at the records, that young man is completely ordinary!”

“And that girl—there’s no record of her at all! Could she be unregistered?”

“Damn it! Just what’s the deal with those two? All surface-level clues end here…”

“Should I share this intelligence with the other colleagues?” He quickly dismissed the idea. District 13’s investigation bureau now used a last-place elimination system. His current case completion rate was already low, and he had burned through a lot of funding. If another colleague solved it, he’d still end up losing his job.

Unconsciously fiddling with a Black Iron card in his hand, Liao thought gloomily: “Now that I’ve lost bureau funding support, if I want to keep using my authority for the investigation, I’ll have to rely on my own savings…”

This Black Iron card was a sub-body of the sacred artifact “Golden House” created by Wealth Temple using secret technology. It allowed people to store more coins than their 【Gold Content】 permitted.

After all, for ordinary Black Iron people, 【Gold Content】 ranged from a lower limit of 10 to an upper limit of 99—reaching 100 meant advancing to Bronze. Liao’s own was only 72, typical for a junior college graduate.

But as society developed, even just meeting daily consumption needs far exceeded the Black Iron upper limit. Not to mention, women had blessing abilities but no 【Gold Content】 number and couldn’t store or produce coins themselves.

In ancient times, produced coins had to be physically materialized and stored—a huge hassle.

In modern times, Wealth Temple created the sacred artifact “Golden House.” Its sub-bodies were the various rank cards used to store corresponding currencies.

Later, they even developed a “credit lending function”—a revolutionary invention that let people borrow wealth from their future selves.

Back to the point—for the current Investigator Liao, losing bureau funding meant he was severely limited in using his authority for the case, in every sense.

“Could I… rely on underworld forces to handle this?” Liao’s expression hesitated.

The underworld had enormous demand for blessed coins. If he could make contact, he could often get far more done for the same price.

Yet though the middle-aged Liao was worldly and slick, he had always held one bottom line in his career: he would never collude with the underworld.

But now…

Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, frowned, then put on a smiling face and answered.

“Hello, dear, what’s up?” He tried to keep his tone gentle, avoiding angering her.

“Liao! When exactly are you sending Yuanyuan’s tuition? The end of this month is the final deadline!” As expected, the woman on the other end exploded.

“Dear~ dear! Calm down. Doesn’t the family still have some coins saved? There should be a bit on your card—use that for now?”

“That’s for going out with my girlfriends! You want me to use that?”

“Dear, try to understand! I’m in the middle of a case lately. Funding isn’t guaranteed, and I might even have to pay out of pocket. Just wait a little longer, okay? Once my salary comes at the end of the month, I’ll definitely send Yuanyuan’s tuition!”

“Liao! The biggest regret of my life is marrying a useless man like you! You can’t even produce many coins, and all you do is make excuses!” Hysterical crying came from the other end.

“…” Liao’s expression went blank, but he could only coax her gently until her mood calmed and she hung up.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. Just as he prepared to resume work, his phone pinged with a message.

“Old man, produce some coins. Need cash urgent.” The simple words nearly made Liao choke.

But after thinking a moment, guilt rose in him. This old father still transferred some money to his teenage daughter. His already meager savings became even tighter.

Yet seeing the reply: “Thanks daddy~❤” the old father smiled and quickly told her not to let mom know.

“Sigh…” After this ordeal, Investigator Liao felt utterly drained.

Being a man was truly hard…

His former principles could no longer hold. He pulled a certain phone number from the files and dialed it…