Hearing the words "LuminNet Special Division," Iris Dalton jolted and quickly summoned, "[YellowFish]!"
DING—
[YellowFish]: "Your Highness, the Pond Lord, real-time AI defensive monitoring is running. All traces of the network attack have been erased. Please rest assured."
She let out a sigh of relief. 'Thank goodness, that was close.'
'Now that every trace is gone, I can finally relax.'
She couldn't help but want to complain about the LuminNet Special Division.
'Those guys are relentless. They've almost caught me a few times.'
The LuminNet Special Division is a specialized network surveillance department under LuminNet, with its headquarters in Valerium. It is responsible for monitoring hackers and other online experts who use the network's satellite surveillance system, electronic monitoring, and AI big data to conduct illegal activities.
As soon as they detect any criminal activity that threatens network security and crosses the line, the Division takes immediate action to crack down on it.
They show no mercy, regardless of who is involved.
'Just now, I issued a command for The Golden Arowana to fire two laser projectiles. An action like that is definitely against the rules!'
Iris Dalton felt a pang of guilt.
'I just lost my cool for a second and wanted to teach those two whining punks a lesson.'
'Besides, no one got hurt. Bunch of petty killjoys…'
However, making such a scene meant that even if she immediately erased her network traces, the LuminNet Special Division would still have detected the signal.
But Iris Dalton wasn't too worried. No matter how skilled the LuminNet Special Division was, they couldn't trace it back to her.
'Ahem…'
'Even if they did trace it to me, I have ways of dealing with it.'
After being lost in thought for a few seconds, Iris Dalton came back to herself and glanced at Tyler Kwan and his men.
The big men stood obediently before her, utterly silent, staring at her with wide puppy-dog eyes.
They looked like dogs begging their master for a scrap, a meaty bone tossed their way as a sign of pity.
'A little pathetic, really.'
Iris Dalton's expression grew serious. She calmly stroked the Silver Fish Ring on her index finger. "Cannibal, get me a stalk of Heavenly Wild Grass."
DING—
Cannibal: "Heavenly Wild Grass. Rare Materials Sector, Rack Six, fifth shelf, item number 4651."
The folded space was divided into sectors: Sector One for weapons and tools, Sector Two for daily necessities, Sector Three for valuables, and Sector Four for rare materials.
Heavenly Wild Grass was a fundamental ingredient for concocting and upgrading Ancient Martial Potions. As a rare material, it was stored in Sector Four, on the fifth shelf of the sixth rack.
With a flick of her finger, a stalk of Heavenly Wild Grass materialized from the folded space.
The entire plant was lush and vibrant, complete with flowers and leaves. A clump of fresh, damp earth still clung to its roots.
It emanated a rich, exotic fragrance.
Tyler Kwan: "?"
He watched as she casually held the herb and gave it a little shake in front of him.
"Th-this is…" His eyes flew wide, his face flushing crimson with excitement.
'What am I seeing?'
'Oh my god, can anyone even understand? This looks like Heavenly Wild Grass!'
He had zoned out for a split second and hadn't clearly seen where the plant had come from.
The herb alone was enough to leave him dumbstruck, but then his eyes landed on the silver ring on the young lady's index finger.
A BOOM went off in his mind, as if something had just exploded like a firework.
'Good heavens, what kind of day was this?'
'First, I get to see a laser projectile obliterate a truck, and now I'm looking at a stalk of Heavenly Wild Grass that can only be found in Area A of Luminumbra.'
'And the ring on Miss Iris's finger…'
'Heavens above! That's the legendary nano-folded space!'
'It's over for me!'
Tyler Kwan's mind was reeling, feeling as if it might shatter from the successive waves of shock.
He felt like he wasn't living in the real world, but in some kind of fantasy world.
No, this was even more unbelievable than any fantasy.
'I must be dreaming!'
The other men had already snapped out of it, their gazes no longer as vacant as before.
They had never seen Heavenly Wild Grass, so they didn't understand why Tyler Kwan was so agitated.
They exchanged puzzled glances.
All they saw was him staring at the herb in Miss Iris's hand, grinning like a fawning pug. His eyes followed the swaying plant back and forth, and he looked like he was about to start drooling.
Tsk, tsk. It was too cringey to watch.
Iris Dalton casually tossed the herb into Tyler Kwan's arms and dusted the dirt from her hands. "Take this as a sample. See if the soil here can grow more of them. Once the greenhouses are set up in a few days, I'll bring by the seeds and seedlings."
Tyler Kwan froze for a second, then looked down at the herb in his arms and nearly jumped. "This really is Heavenly Wild Grass from Area A in Luminumbra! How is that possible?!"
Luminumbra is the last remaining Ancient Martial Arts Territory on Earth. Not only is Area A rich in Spiritual Energy, but it is also home to extremely rare ancient herbs.
These herbs have long been extinct in the outside world and can only be cultivated in the special soil of Area A.
It is incredibly difficult for an ordinary person to even enter Area A, let alone bring seedlings out.
A single seedling is said to fetch prices of over ten million at auction, and people go crazy bidding for them. Without powerful connections, it's impossible to buy one.
'And Miss Iris just casually pulls out such a priceless herb for people to see.'
'This is enough to give a man a heart attack!'
Tyler Kwan was screaming internally. His face was aglow with excitement, and he was grinning so wide he couldn't close his mouth, as if he were holding not a plant, but a priceless treasure.
"Ancient herbs are precious, of course. That's why I came to The Mercenary Corps. Planting them is the easy part; protecting the seedlings is what's important." Iris Dalton figured it was about time to head home.
Tyler Kwan snapped back to reality, realizing the profound truth in her words. His gaze filled with reverence. "Yes, Miss Iris, you have great foresight. A seedling this valuable must be well-protected. Master Dalton was right—working for you is the true path to success."
He gently caressed the seedling's leaves with his fingertips, terrified he might accidentally break one.
His eyes were filled with a tenderness more careful and delicate than he would show a lover.
*
「LuminNet Special Division.」
A staffer in the Monitoring Center had just printed a report on a strange command captured from the big data stream.
Five minutes earlier, someone had used a laser weapon to attack a designated target.
The signal reached the Monitoring Center, and specific information was quickly displayed.
The target of the attack was in—
Stellan.
The staffer scrambled to lock onto the signal.
But in the blink of an eye, the attack trajectory and target location vanished into thin air, too fast for the printer to even keep up.
Staffer: "...?"
He stared at the analysis report as it printed, his expression growing more serious with each page. When he saw the two words "laser projectile," his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
'What was happening in Stellan?'
'Is the world ending?'
'Using a laser projectile in broad daylight… what kind of audacious criminal syndicate was this!'
The staffer grabbed the report and rushed to the director's office to report the situation.
The director was a stout, middle-aged man holding a thermos. As he listened to the staffer's nervous report, his chubby, radish-like fingers tapped slowly against the side of the flask.
"Laser weapons, you say. Quite audacious, indeed. But that doesn't prove the attacker is actually in Stellan." The director took a sip of his herbal tea, looking completely unperturbed.
'He's less of a director and more of a fortune-telling quack!'
"But Director, this is a threat to Stellan's security! Aren't we going to send someone to investigate?" the staffer asked, wiping the cold sweat from his brow.
'A laser projectile like that is incredibly powerful. If it falls into the wrong hands, the entirety of Stellan could be in danger.'
'What's more, the fact that they could erase their traces from the big data stream means we're dealing with a highly experienced and skilled hacker.'
'People like that are masters of stealth. Once they go dark on the network, they're practically untraceable.'
The director nodded. "Mm. An incident like this has occurred, so the Special Division will certainly send someone to investigate. All right, that's all for you. You're dismissed."
The staffer was taken aback but couldn't resist asking, "You've already dispatched someone, Director? For a city as big as Stellan, are you sending the First Division?"
'This case is so tricky, even the First Division might not be able to handle it.'
The director shook his head, a mysterious smile on his face. "Relax, relax. Our perpetually single Commander has personally gone to handle it. There's nothing he can't solve."
'The Commander? Perpetually single?'
The staffer left the director's office with the report, his mind still in a fog.
'The Commander is personally on the case… what does that have to do with his love life?'
The supreme commander, who hadn't been heard from in years, has actually gone to Stellan to find a girlfriend!
Overcome with excitement, the staffer pulled out his phone and sent a message to his private group chat.
[BREAKING NEWS! The Commander went to Stellan! I think he's looking for a girlfriend.]
The message landed like a bombshell, jolting everyone in the group chat awake.
[Which Commander are you talking about? The Director? He's ancient. Don't tell me that old bachelor is still out there preying on people.]
[To the person above, the Director is the director, and the Commander is THE Commander. How did you even get into the Special Division if you can't tell the difference? I support the Commander finding someone. All us single people understand the struggle.]
[A little PSA for you all: There is only one Commander. He's the founder of the Special Division! Oh, please, Commander, be merciful and add a new employee benefit. Can you assign us all a significant other?]
[Begging the Commander to transfer me to the Stellan branch. If you strike out, Commander, just turn around and look at me. I'm good with men or women. I'm not picky.]
"…"