"Hey handsome, latest news: I spent the whole night finding the original witness who confirmed seeing Morolin in the Sunflower District of Limen City five years ago. If you’re looking, you might want to wander this area and talk to its residents; you might be pleasantly surprised."

Medala yawned long on the other end of the phone, "Anyway, this is all I could gather. The rest depends on your intelligence gathering skills. You might find some clues in a crowded bar. That’s it, goodbye."

"Alright." He Ao put down the wristband and hung up the phone.

He lifted his head and glanced at the bustling crowd around him, the bright sunlight streaming in from outside, illuminating the old sign at the tavern’s entrance.

Buzz—

At that instant, Medala’s call came through again.

He Ao glanced at the wristband and answered the call.

Soon, Medala’s slightly puzzled voice came through the phone, "Hawke, Wild has lost contact. My family got a message saying even the Gray Stone Palace couldn’t reach him, they’ve been trying all night."

"Hmm." He Ao responded casually and walked into the most crowded part of the tavern.

"How can you sound so indifferent? Aren’t you worried or surprised? You were concerned about Wild before!" She paused slightly, suddenly recalling something, her tone rising instantly, "Did you do this? When?! Weren’t you unable to find Wild?"

"He didn’t leave Vicat City." He Ao responded casually.

"He put on a diversion but you saw through it?" Medala immediately caught on; instead of continuing, she excitedly said, "Hey handsome, you’re awesome, I love you, I want to marry you."

"I don’t like your type." He Ao replied offhandedly.

"Not even considering? My husband died last year, so I’m a poor widow now, isn’t that what you men like,"

Medala raised an eyebrow as she recalled something, quickly saying, "You’ve jolted me awake from drowsiness, I have to handle this or I’ll catch fire. Goodbye, handsome, I have a feeling your bounty’s going up again. Bye, don’t die."

After that, the call was abruptly disconnected.

He Ao raised an eyebrow slightly, put down the wristband, and lifted his head to look at the bustling crowd around him.

"Boss, give me a ’Pete’ and two pints of draft beer," a casually dressed man quickly cut through the crowd, placing his wristband-clad hand on the table, excitedly saying, "I’m paying in cash today!"

"Yo, you drinking such strong stuff in the morning? Aren’t you afraid of sleeping straight until tomorrow morning at home?" The bar’s boss lifted his head to glance at the casually dressed man while cheerfully wiping a glass clean and turning to fetch beer from the back.

"What are you talking about? I can hold my liquor," the casually dressed man immediately shook his head.

"Hey, Jackie, got your salary?" someone from the crowd asked, holding a glass of beer, looking at the casually dressed man at the bar with a grin.

"Not quite, I received a bonus earlier," the casually dressed man lifted his bottom, sitting on the high stool at the bar, "But to be honest, Nolanka Group is stingy with wages."

Bang—bang—

Two soft sounds came from behind, as two beer mugs were slammed onto the table, and the bar owner calmly said, "Your drinks."

"You guys wouldn’t believe the problem I solved in the factory." The casually dressed man picked up a beer mug, directly brought it to his mouth, and chugged the entire contents, "I was working overtime in the factory last night."

"Alright, stop bragging, Kade," someone laughed from the crowd, "You just discovered an issue with a machine’s operation, fixed it, and the pharmaceutical company promoted you to oversee the machines. You’ve been boasting about it for a week, my ears are growing a Cocoon."

"Hey, damn it, I’m so awesome, you’re not letting me boast," Kade placed the empty mug back on the bar and picked up the other mug, "If Stars Pharma controlled the factory back then, I might’ve received shares for such a major achievement; Nolanka Group only promoted me and gave me a small bonus, stingy indeed."

"Come on, Kade, stop complaining about getting a good deal," someone quickly laughed from the crowd, "Do you think the old masters at Stars Pharma would listen to your report? They might have thought you talked too much and fired you immediately."

"Are you reminiscing about Stars Pharma?" a tall woman took a sip from the glass in front of her, her face flushed, laughing loudly, "There’s a nearby city under Stars Pharma’s control, why don’t you join your old employer?"

"I’ve lived in Limen City for decades," the casually dressed man seemed a bit embarrassed, stiffening his neck to say, "I just like it here; can’t I complain about Nolanka Group being stingy with wages?"

As he spoke, he took a sip of beer, "Besides, Nolanka Group regulates everything and restricts us from going to strip clubs, there’s a risk of getting fired if we go, and even persuaded the City Government to shut them down. After work, I can’t even find a place for entertainment."

The moment he said this, the tavern fell silent for an instant.

"Kade, what nonsense are you spouting?" a burly big beard man in the crowd spoke.

The crowd’s gaze subtly shifted toward a slender woman in a corner, with messy hair, dressed simply in factory uniform, sipping her drink.

"My bad, my bad, I’m an idiot, talking crap," Kade realized he misspoke, quickly raised his mug, and took a sip.

The beautiful woman noticed the faint glances and lifted her head to smile, "It’s nothing, everyone can discuss this; being a stripper is also a job, the City Government didn’t say it’s entirely illegal. There are plenty of job choices now, and choosing a job is everyone’s freedom."

At this point, she picked up a beer and drank, "But I wouldn’t recommend this job; if it weren’t for owing so much money, I definitely wouldn’t have done it before."

"Speaking of which, Nasha, did you pay off your loans?" someone quickly asked in the crowd.

"No way," the beautiful woman drank, face slightly reddened, smiling, "It’s my parents’ medical bill; although they couldn’t be saved ultimately, the bill still needs to be paid since I authorized the hospital’s emergency treatment."

"Sigh, Nasha, what a pity," said the tall woman with emotion, "You even went to college."

"Actually, I think life is really pretty good now," the pretty woman said with her head down, "The group handled an extension on my debts, extended for thirty years, even my student loans. I’m eligible for some welfare subsidies, was granted interest-free benefits, have medical insurance, pension insurance, and shopping at the group’s store is cheaper."

"Your debt can be extended to thirty years? That’s so long?" Someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

"It’s nothing surprising. I’ve heard of extensions up to fifty years," someone immediately replied, "Nolanka Group’s debt extension is basically the group repaying the money for you, and then your debt becomes the group’s. How long the extension lasts depends on their policy, doesn’t it?"

"I extended mine for twenty years," a young man in the crowd laughed heartily, "To be honest, it was the group that saved my life. I honestly had no idea how to repay the money I owed. As soon as my weekly salary came in, the credit card would deduct it. I didn’t even know which credit card was charging it. I could only borrow new money to pay off the old, constantly in installments, with the debt snowballing bigger and bigger,"

He took a sip of his drink, "The group’s salary isn’t high, but the interest is virtually nonexistent. I even have a little surplus every month now, and can afford to buy some fresh fruit and such. I used to start looking for loans that would approve me by the end of the month."

"Actually, everyone’s calculation is a bit off," the pretty woman Nasha softly spoke beside him, "The salary from the group is actually pretty high, much higher than that at Stars Pharma."

"Yes, yes, what people only see is the take-home salary," someone chimed in, "If you work in the factory, accommodations are provided. If not, you can rent the group’s affordable apartments. All employees have medical insurance, and there’s also pension insurance. So the money you take home isn’t all the salary, strictly speaking, it’s ’living expenses.’"

"In the past, the salary you got was spent on high rents from Stars Pharma’s apartment company, ineffective yet costly medical insurance, and loan interest, among a series of additional expenses, making it really hard to get by,"

The pretty woman Nasha slowly said, "But now the group covers all that, and you can buy basic food and daily use items internally, all at low prices. Plus, with the debt extension, the monthly repayment is also reduced, so even though it looks like you have little money on hand, you can still save some every month."

"When you put it that way, it indeed seems so," someone in the crowd responded, "You educated ones are really something, you can sort things out so clearly."

"But I used to be a supervisor at Stars Pharma and had a pretty decent salary," the casually dressed man sitting by the bar slowly said, "That could cover those."

"Kade, you’re bragging again?! Then you must have saved some money, right? How come I heard you also applied for the group’s debt extension?" someone in the crowd laughed and asked.

"Back then, the more I earned, the more I spent," the casually dressed man said, stiffening his neck, "To live a decent life, isn’t it normal to owe some money? Nolanka Group doesn’t have as many dressing and decency requirements as Stars Pharma, so I save that money, right?"

"See, you yourself said Nolanka Group helps you save money." The crowd immediately burst into laughter.

"What, you can’t say a few words?!" Kade looked at the laughing crowd, his face turning red, "It’s saving money, not giving more money. How can that be the same?"

With that, he directly picked up a beer and started chugging.

The tavern resounded with laughter again, leaving only the sound of Kade gulping down his drink.

"Nasha, what’s wrong?" At this point, amidst the laughter, the tall woman walked over to the pretty woman Nasha and, seeing Nasha staring at her drink, softly asked, "Should I give Kade a good beating for you?!"

"No, it’s not his problem," Nasha lifted her glass and smiled, "I just feel that life is really pretty good now."

"Indeed," the tall woman scratched her head, looking at the laughing crowd throughout the tavern, "It’s just this feeling, an intangible lightness, indescribably light."

"I used to suffer from insomnia a lot," Nasha softly said, holding her glass, "I was always afraid of tomorrow, afraid of encountering unpleasant customers the next day, afraid of being beaten to death by gangsters in booths, afraid of not earning enough money, afraid of being unable to borrow money to cover the monthly loan, afraid of being kicked out, unable to even be a stripper."

She took a small sip of her drink, "The future seemed to always evolve from bad to worse. My sisters around me didn’t want to think about it, they all got hooked on illicit drugs, only in those moments when they forgot all their pain did they seem truly happy,"

She brought the glass to her lips, "I considered it too, but illicit drugs are too expensive. I can’t afford them, and wouldn’t dare to buy them. I fear that after buying them, one winter, I’d end up a dried-up corpse on the street, like many of my ’colleagues’ who met that fate.

"But sometimes, I think that such an ending might not be so bad. At least when they died, they felt ’happy.’"

She took a gentle sip of her drink, "But one day, life seems to have suddenly changed. The government dissolved the strip club, and I lost my job, having to find work again on the streets. Then I realized the world seemed different. Outside, it was no longer ice and death. Even working in a workshop factory, I can afford my own life. I can live like a ’person.’"

"I used to be just like that. Even as a supervisor, I was constantly worried about being dismissed, worried about not being able to make the next week’s loan payments, worried about maintaining clothing and living expenses, worried about not being able to pay the mortgage, becoming a street wanderer overnight, worried about never finding a job again." A hoarse voice came from behind, "To be honest, Nolanka Group is pretty good."

Nasha turned around to see the casually dressed man Kade standing behind her, holding a glass of semi-transparent white cocktail.

"Sorry," Kade said looking at Nasha, "I start talking nonsense after I drink."

He glanced at the glass in Nasha’s hand, "Did you order the ’Pete’ too?"

"It’s okay, that was my past. In the old days, I relied on that job to survive to now, nothing to fret over," Nasha smiled, raising her glass, "Cheers."

"Cheers." Kade also raised his glass, took a strong gulp, and then suddenly jerked, falling backward to the ground in Nasha’s confused gaze.

"Your ’Pete’," the boss placed a glass of semi-transparent white cocktail in front of He Ao, "Old man, this drink is quite something."

"This ’drink,’ its name sounds like a person’s name?" He Ao asked with a gentle smile.

"Yes," the boss nodded, gazing at the sunlight outside the door, "It’s to honor the heroes of this city."

He Ao raised his glass, also looking at the sunlight outside, as cheerful pedestrians strolled through the streets.

He lifted the glass, drinking it all at once.

The pungent liquor rushed down his throat, flowing quickly through him as if blazing fire burned its way through.

And after the fiery blaze, a light sweetness gradually rose, filling his entire mouth.