Chapter 3

Nervous? Excited?

You see, among those with sequence numbers between 20 and 10, none are anything but epic-level abilities, and their owners are generally powerful figures who dominate a region. If he could really advance, it would be like a windfall from the sky knocking him out cold!

This is insane!

It's unbelievable!

But the "Sin Handbook" that appeared in his mind today has already shattered the "worldview" that Dongyuan had painstakingly rebuilt over the past half year. He no longer hesitated; after all, this source point was obtained for free as a new player's gift. With a thought, he decisively added the only source point.

[Do you want to consume 1 source point to advance the Crimson Eye?]

[Confirm]

In an instant, the originally gray [Crimson Eye] in the ability list in his mind began to tremble violently. The characters gradually blurred, and then suddenly each character burst into dazzling purple light.

[Advance successful]

[Congratulations, the host has obtained a new ability]

[Nine Eyes and Six Paths]

Sequence Number: 16

Current State:

First Eye: 360-degree long-distance vision, capable of seeing through opponents' moves, including but not limited to techniques, sword forms, and elemental abilities.

First Path: Hell Path; can drag the target into a hell-like endless nightmare for a short time, and when the illusion is too real, it can cause physical damage.

Sigh—

Dongyuan stared at the new ability in his mind, feeling a chill run down his spine. Epic-level abilities at the front of the sequence numbers were indeed terrifying. Just opening "one eye and one path" was no less powerful than the original Crimson Eye.

No wonder those pirates with epic-level abilities could roam the seas, ruling and dominating. Some small countries ruled by powerful figures could even defy the Celestial World Government's jurisdiction.

He exchanged a free source point for an ability with a sequence number in the top 20.

This... is a huge profit!

...

"Mr. Dongyuan, thank you for the valuable information and your brave performance during the arrest. The reward will be transferred to your personal account by the finance department of the Metropolitan Police Department in seven working days."

Suddenly, a voice sounded in his ear.

Don't be fooled by the surprise and joy in Dongyuan's mind from the [Sin Handbook]. In the 60:1 time flow, it was just a blink in reality. No one noticed his brief distraction or the fleeting red glow in his eyes.

"Oh! Thank you very much."

"Haha, we should be the ones to thank you. We've been chasing this guy for several days."

"..."

After a brief "heart-to-heart" conversation, once he confirmed that the bounty would be fully transferred to his account at the New Tokyo Central Bank, Dongyuan quickly bid farewell and left.

As he was leaving, he also noticed Mai Shinagawa from the Third Investigation Team.

He wasn't surprised by this. The unscrupulous old man who ran the detective agency almost always mentioned his daughter, Mai Shinagawa, who graduated from Takahara South Private School and was sent to the Third Investigation Team through connections. Dongyuan's ears were almost worn out from hearing about her. He just didn't expect to run into her here. He nodded in greeting.

...

It was almost 10 PM when Dongyuan took the train back to his apartment in Koganecho, Edogawa Ward, the 23rd Ward of New Tokyo. After getting off the train and walking for about ten minutes, he arrived in front of a five-story apartment building.

The building looked old, with the dim hallway lights flickering on and off. It would probably make a good setting for a horror movie without much effort. The entire building was owned by Shinagawa Satoru, the head of the Shinagawa Detective Agency—also the unscrupulous old man who was sloppy, lecherous, and often spouted nonsense, smoked, drank, and gambled.

The Shinagawa Detective Agency was on the third floor. As Dongyuan went up the stairs, he glanced at his phone and saw several messages urging him to hurry back. They were probably asking why it was taking so long to take photos, and if he was late for more than half a month, the rent reduction would be reconsidered for a week. They also reminded him that it didn't need to be too in-depth, as it wasn't a documentary, and they didn't want him to take any adult content...

Of course, if he did, he had a friend who would want to see it...

Are you talking about yourself?

Dongyuan didn't reply to the messages. He went up to the third floor, turned the corner, and saw a sign hanging on the door of one of the rooms: [Shinagawa Detective Agency]. The neon letters were quite eye-catching at night.

Oh, no, it's Shinagawa. The "Kan" character's light tube was broken halfway and hadn't been fixed yet.

Dongyuan pushed the door open, and a middle-aged man in his forties appeared before him. He had messy medium-length hair and a beard, holding a bottle of alcohol, with his feet propped up on the desk in front of him, swinging back and forth.

A horse racing competition from the New Tokyo racetrack was playing on the TV. From the look of it, he had probably lost money gambling on the horses again.

Tsk! I wonder when he'll lose this building.

"Welcome! Shinagawa Detective Agency is here to serve you..."

Shinagawa Satoru noticed the movement and immediately put his feet down, introducing himself in a familiar tone. Then he suddenly reverted to his usual lazy and unscrupulous self, grinning and changing his words, "Hey! It's Mr. Dongyuan. Why are you back so late? I was worried you might have been caught by the police and was thinking about using connections to bail you out..."

Dongyuan ignored Shinagawa Satoru's nonsense and took out the phone Shinagawa Satoru had given him, "Here, everything is in here. I'll only pay half the rent next month."

"Wait! Let me see..."

Shinagawa Satoru took the phone and skillfully found the photo album, browsing through the photos one by one. His expression gradually became more interesting. After finishing, he shook his head and sighed, "A honey trap? Good grief... It's really too much, it's almost unbearable..."

"Are you going to give these photos to his wife?" Dongyuan asked as he was about to leave.

Shinagawa Satoru's face immediately turned serious, as if his professional ethics had been insulted, "Mr. Dongyuan, as a detective! Honesty is the only virtue we need to adhere to."

Would you still be honest if you didn't get paid?

Dongyuan silently mocked and turned to go upstairs. Shinagawa Satoru chuckled and sat back down, probably calling the client to report the task completion.

...

After leaving the detective agency, Dongyuan carried his bag upstairs.

He lived in a room on the fifth floor. He walked up the stairs and took out his key.

But in the dim light, he noticed a shadow in the corner of the dark hallway, perhaps due to the new ability [Nine Eyes and Six Paths]—Dongyuan hadn't turned around, but he sensed the presence.

He opened the door but didn't immediately go inside. Instead, he walked over, muttering, "That guy is so stingy. I've been telling him to replace the motion sensor lights on the west side of the hallway for a while now, but he keeps dragging his feet."

As he approached, the dim yellow light revealed the outline of a little girl with golden hair and emerald green eyes, looking about five or six years old. She was wearing a dirty yellow velvet dress, which was quite thin for the late autumn of November. She was squatting in front of a pile of wooden boards, carrying a small cartoon backpack.

Dongyuan recognized this little girl, named Natsuki Shimamaru, who lived on the same floor. He had heard people in the building discuss how her mother had smuggled herself into the Land of Wano from the Kingdom of Sayash, and had disappeared shortly after Natsuki's birth.

Her father, Toshiya Shimamaru, worked as a laborer in a nightclub in Shibuya, often loafing around and gambling. When he was drunk, he would often scold and berate his daughter, but he rarely hit her.

Hmm, at this hour, he's probably still at work.

Speaking of the Kingdom of Sayash, where Natsuki's mother came from, Dongyuan had some impression of it after learning about the world's geography over the past half year. It was a country bordering the northwest of the Land of Wano.

Unlike the blue planet of his previous life, the world Dongyuan was now in had two continents intersecting in a cross, dividing the world into four major seas. The Land of Wano was located at the intersection of the two continental plates on the eastern hemisphere, near the coast.

Hmm... it sounds a bit like the "One Piece" world, but unfortunately, there's no Grand Line.

There are pirates in the four seas, for example, the two major pirate groups in the East Sea near the Land of Wano, whose leaders have abilities with sequence numbers in the top 36 and personal strength at the sixth level or higher.

The goal of the pirates in this world is not "One Piece." Most of their ancestors were the anti-foreigner warriors who lost in the "Anti-Foreigner War" a thousand years ago when the Celestials invaded this world.

Now, under the wanted list of the Celestial World Government, they cannot survive and can only drift on the sea to maintain their lives. However, after more than a thousand years, most pirates have forgotten their ancestors' goal of overthrowing the Celestial government.

In contrast, among the 300 allied countries on the continent, a few revolutionary armies have inherited the will of the anti-foreigner warriors and are active in the underground of some remote small countries, plotting to overthrow the Celestial rule...

It must be said that from Dongyuan's current understanding of world history, except for countries like the Land of Wano, which maintain a relatively peaceful relationship with the Celestial World Government, the internal situation is relatively stable.

Other small countries on the continent are either in constant turmoil, or coastal areas are ravaged by pirates, or they are under the high-pressure rule of the Celestial World Government, with revolutionary forces rising and falling like sparks.

There are few places where people can live in peace.

The Kingdom of Sayash is one such place, with frequent internal turmoil and a strong revolutionary force. It's no wonder Natsuki's mother smuggled herself into the Land of Wano.

...

In the dimly lit west side of the hallway.

Natsuki Shimamaru, sensing Dongyuan's footsteps, stood up like a frightened young animal, turning her head in panic. When she vaguely recognized Dongyuan, her tender little face immediately lit up with joy.

"Hey! Is it Big Brother? Good evening."

"Good evening, Natsuki."

Dongyuan greeted her and looked down at the broken wooden boards in the corner—apparently picked up from the abandoned construction site behind the building, forming a makeshift little shack. Inside, three dirty little kittens were lying, probably left by young people who had moved out. They were meowing softly as they sensed the stranger approaching.

Dongyuan glanced at the locked door and sighed, "Did your father forget to give you the key again?"

"Um..." The little girl lowered her head.

Dongyuan shook his head.

Toshiya Shimamaru had been in arrears for rent for half a year. Every time Shinagawa Satoru came to collect rent, he said he would pay everything once he won some money. He was rarely seen, and Shinagawa Satoru probably didn't evict them out of consideration for Natsuki.

He was thinking about whether to invite the little girl to his place again, as he had done before, to wait for her father to come back and have something to eat. Otherwise, if Toshiya Shimamaru came home and got a gambling urge, the little girl would have to sit outside all night.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard footsteps in the hallway.

A moment later, a man in his thirties, carrying a plastic bag, hummed a tune as he walked up. Natsuki Shimamaru, standing next to Dongyuan, looked happy and started to run over but stopped after a few steps, looking timid.

"Hey! My good daughter!"

To his surprise, Toshiya Shimamaru didn't scold her as usual when he saw her tonight.

Instead, he walked over, picked up Natsuki Shimamaru with both hands, and spun her around, staring at her little face excitedly. Then he put her down and ruffled her hair, laughing, "Natsuki, look what daddy brought for you to eat."

Natsuki Shimamaru looked down timidly and her face lit up with joy.

"Wow! It's sushi! Natsuki loves sushi."

"Of course I know. You can eat as much as you want tonight."

Laughing, Toshiya Shimamaru noticed Dongyuan and scratched his head, looking surprised, "Hey? This young man... looks familiar."

Dongyuan rolled his eyes internally.

For Natsuki's sake and because they lived on the same floor, he politely said, "Mr. Shimamaru, hello. I'm Dongyuan, who lives on the east side. Since you're back, I'll leave Natsuki to you."

"Oh, oh, it's you who took care of my daughter. I don't know how to thank you."

"You don't need to. Natsuki is very well-behaved."

Dongyuan said goodbye to Natsuki, who had a joyful look on her face, and picked up his bag to turn back. He heard Natsuki ask in a childish voice,

"Daddy, why did you finish work so early tonight? Don't you have to work overtime?"

Ha... this guy has been lying to his daughter about working overtime while he's actually gambling?

"No overtime! No overtime tonight! Ha ha ha, daddy won't have to work overtime anymore."

"Really? That's great!"

Natsuki got excited, bit her finger, and then remembered something.

"By the way, daddy, Uncle Shinagawa from downstairs came up today and asked us when we would pay the rent. He said if we don't pay next week, he'll really kick us out. Will we lose our home?"

Toshiya Shimamaru snorted.

"That bastard! Just because we owe him half a year's rent? Don't worry! I'll pay him everything in a couple of days. Then I'll take you to move to a big house. Who needs this dirty and broken place?"

"Wow! Really?"