"On our own side?"
Ma Jun glanced at Zhuang Xin, who was clearly hinting at something, and instantly understood what she meant.
"You want me… to become one of your people, don't you?"
His hand settled on Zhuang Xin's waist, sliding downward along her soft curves.
Zhuang Xin's eyes immediately grew hazy.
She gently bit her moist, rosy lips.
"Ma Sir, you're a police officer—how can you be this bad?"
The corner of Ma Jun's mouth curved upward.
He knew how to play.
"You like role-playing?"
"Fine then, I'll go along with you."
Ma Jun turned Zhuang Xin around so her back pressed against him, then lifted her hands and pinned them together.
Zhuang Xin also slipped fully into character.
"Ma Sir, you can't treat me like this!"
"I'm going to the police station to file a complaint against you!"
Her words sounded fierce, but her body was unusually honest.
Ma Jun bound her hands and shoved her into the car.
"Do you know which hotel nearby is the most comfortable?"
Zhuang Xin's gaze was unfocused.
She let out a soft, breathy hum.
"No… don't go to a hotel."
"Go to my place."
Ma Jun nodded. "That works too."
He wasn't picky about the location anyway.
Before heading to Zhuang Xin's home, he notified the Harbor Island Police Department to have them clean up the scene.
After all, it had been a carefully laid ambush—of course the police had to wrap things up.
Following Zhuang Xin's directions, Ma Jun took her into her home.
The moment they entered the bedroom, Zhuang Xin immediately let herself go completely.
She was already over thirty, and once she got into the state, she moved fast.
Ma Jun didn't hold back either.
Relying on her enhanced physical attributes, plus her extensive experience driving big vehicles, Zhuang Xin quickly became almost completely frenzied.
…
Early the next morning, Ma Jun took a shower, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.
Zhuang Xin was still fast asleep.
Even in her dreams, she wore a smile.
Judging by the situation, she probably wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
Ma Jun got ready to head to the police station first to file last night's cases.
This instance dungeon had already entered its fourth day.
In just four days, he had successfully cracked two cases.
And gained quite a few good things along the way.
When he entered the police station, Cao Zhiming came again with a group to applaud Ma Jun.
The atmosphere was intense.
"Ma Sir is mighty!"
"Two major cases cracked in four days—and both involved multiple deaths!"
"Ma Sir, if you stayed a few more days, you'd probably earn the Empress-issued Purple-Gold Medal!"
The other players looked on with burning envy.
"Two brutal-level missions completed in four days!"
"This is what a top-tier big shot looks like."
"We don't even know if we can finish difficult-level missions yet."
"Feels like it's endlessly far away."
"Boss, can you take us flying?"
"Shut up. With your level, if you followed a big shot on a mission, you'd probably be the first to die."
"Yeah… better just obediently look for clues."
The players could only feel envy.
They envied Jiang Han even more—being able to stick close to Ma Jun and reap so many benefits.
Standing beside Ma Jun, Jiang Han's emotions were complicated.
She could feel the players' envy toward her.
That didn't make her feel good at all.
From childhood to adulthood, she had always been the most eye-catching one. Among her peers, aside from that publicly acknowledged peerless genius, no one could compare to her.
She was clearly a proud swan.
But beside Ma Jun, she felt like an ugly little duckling.
Completely overshadowed, dull and colorless.
She clenched her teeth, reinforcing her own beliefs.
She kept telling herself: this was a horror survival game—she had to throw all those矫情, sentimental thoughts out of her head.
In a horror game, as long as you could survive, what did a little sacrifice matter?
Who knew how many people were willing to sell off their dignity at any moment—
Just to stay alive.
Ma Jun had already treated her very well.
She had even prepared herself to offer everything, yet Ma Jun had only brushed past her once.
"Sir Cao, archive the cases," Ma Jun said.
He ignored all the praise and envy around him.
He had long since grown used to being the center of attention.
Habit turned into nature.
"Yes, Ma Sir!"
Cao Zhiming was already completely acting like a junior underling.
[Congratulations, player. Emergency mission completed: Southern Ocean Top Ten Evil Arts!]
[Main storyline mission completed. Do you wish to return? Yes / No]
"Decline!"
[Player has chosen to continue staying in the instance.]
[Rewards will be calculated cumulatively upon the player's return.]
After filing the reports, Cao Zhiming approached with a big grin and said respectfully,
"Ma Sir, the reward money from the previous case has already come through, plus the bounty for this case. Do you want them paid together?"
"Reward money?"
Ma Jun's eyes lit up.
"There's reward money too?"
"Of course!"
Cao Zhiming explained eagerly, "Both cases were major criminal cases with extremely severe social impact."
"The bounty amounts are very high."
"Ma Sir, not only did you solve the cases, you also brought the criminals to justice. You're entitled to collect the full bounty."
"I've already handled the paperwork. You can claim the money immediately."
Ma Jun was instantly interested.
"Alright, then issue it to me now."
He thought of that item he'd obtained earlier—the secret coin chest.
Could this reward be exchanged for gold coins?
Very soon, he had his answer.
"Ma Sir, this is the reward check for both cases. The total is one million—you can cash it anytime!"
As Ma Jun took the check, he couldn't help smiling.
[Cashier's Check (Blue): A Harbor Island Bank check worth 1,000,000, issued as a reward by the Harbor Island Police Department. Can be exchanged for 10,000 gold coins!]
Ten thousand gold coins!
Now this was comfortable.
So brutal-level missions really had rewards like this.
Ten thousand gold coins—the amount was downright heaven-defying.
He'd only made this much after selling two epic-grade items.
This must have been the extra reward for directly eliminating the criminals.
No matter what, Ma Jun felt very satisfied taking this generous reward.
With a bit more money, maybe when he went back he could upgrade to a full set of epic equipment.
By then, wouldn't he be crushing missions with ease?
After handing Ma Jun his check, Cao Zhiming pulled out another one and gave it to Jiang Han.
His attitude toward her wasn't as reverent—
But still polite.
"This is your reward. Keep it safe."
Jiang Han froze.
Subconsciously, she asked, "I get one too?"
"Of course!"
Cao Zhiming said warmly, "You helped Ma Sir solve the case. Naturally, you get a reward as well."
"However, compared to Ma Sir, your contribution was a bit smaller, so the reward amount is different."
Jiang Han felt that Cao Zhiming was being overly conservative with his wording.
"A bit smaller" was putting it mildly.
Throughout the whole mission, she had basically just been tagging along.
Her main responsibilities were cheering and spectating.
Aside from using her own body to help Ma Jun test the Ghost-Skin Painting, she really hadn't made any other notable contributions.
She took the check without thinking too much about it.
But when she saw the item description on the check, her eyes widened again.
[Cashier's Check (White): A Harbor Island Bank check worth 100,000, issued as a reward by the Harbor Island Police Department. Can be exchanged for 1,000 gold coins!]
One thousand gold coins!
A thousand gold coins…
In her last instance, she'd worked herself to the bone and barely scraped together five hundred gold coins.
And even that had been borrowed away by her mother—almost certainly never to be returned.
One thousand gold coins was enough to buy a pretty decent blue-grade piece of equipment.
And she hadn't even really done anything.
Cao Zhiming gave Ma Jun a formal salute.
"Ma Sir, I won't disturb you any further with casework."
With that, he led his subordinates away briskly.
Jiang Han looked down at the check in her hand and took a deep breath.
Then she firmly turned her head and said,
"Ma Jun, I can't take this check."
"Keep it."
Ma Jun showed no intention of taking it back.
"This is your mission reward. Why give it to me?"
"Keep it yourself."
Jiang Han hesitated. "But… but…"
"But what?"
"You helped me a lot. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have figured out how to use the Ghost-Skin Painting properly."
Hearing Ma Jun bring that up again, Jiang Han's face instantly flushed red.
Her thoughts drifted back to what had happened that night.
The feeling made her uneasy in a strange way.
"Oh right, I'm going to the Aberrant Association today. It might not be convenient to bring you along."
"If you want to team up with other players, you can look for someone else."
At his words, Jiang Han suddenly lifted her head.
Her usually calm expression turned anxious.
Her eyes shimmered, on the verge of tears.
"Did I… do something wrong?" she asked softly.
She wasn't reluctant to part with the mission reward.
She was worried that she'd upset Ma Jun.
In her heart, Ma Jun's opinion of her mattered even more than a brutal-level mission reward.
"There's nothing wrong," Ma Jun said, stunned for a moment before smiling faintly.
He reached out and gently patted her smooth hair.
"I just need to handle some things. When I'm back, I'll still team up with you."
Hearing his gentle reassurance, all of Jiang Han's anxiety melted away.
It was replaced by tension and shyness.
From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever spoken to her in such a tone.
Her mother's submissive appeasement, the rest of her family's cold indifference…
No boy had ever treated her with such warmth.
What's more, this boy was so powerful—powerful enough to inspire genuine admiration.
Jiang Han's heart began pounding wildly.
Even after Ma Jun had left, she hadn't quite come back to her senses.
Nearby players whispered among themselves.
"No wonder the big shot brought Jiang Han into his team."
"So they're lovers…"
"Not necessarily. A top-tier expert like him definitely wouldn't have just one girlfriend."
"If I had that kind of strength, I'd definitely get a few!"
Jiang Han heard their discussion but said nothing.
By her usual temperament, she might already have knocked them down.
But when someone said Ma Jun was her boyfriend, an odd sweetness welled up in her heart.
"Boyfriend…"
She had never thought about things like that before.
Yet now, she found herself unconsciously longing for it.
Still, her mood quickly dipped again.
"What kind of person could possibly be worthy of Ma Jun…?"
"Even the boss of a brutal-level instance would only be fit to be his maid."
A wave of sourness surged through Jiang Han's chest.
…
Zhuang Xin sat in the passenger seat beside Ma Jun, tilting her head sweetly.
Her hand rested on Ma Jun's thigh.
"Ma Sir, I really didn't expect you to be this amazing."
A faint blush drifted across her face.
Even now, she was still savoring it.
"Focus on giving directions."
Ma Jun shot her a sideways glance. "If you start messing around again, begging won't save you."
Zhuang Xin shuddered and immediately pulled her hand back.
"Oh."
She obediently replied,
"I understand."
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