Chapter 87

After hearing the notification ringing by his ear, Leon, who was holding a broom and shopping bag waiting for the bus at the intersection of the city administration district, preparing to visit the Lane family, couldn’t help but slightly stagger.

Good grief, it’s no wonder this hidden badge is so amazing. How long has it been since I got it? And now it’s already scored me some resources.

Although I still need to meet some conditions to get the resources, but since they’re from the Clearing Bureau, they’re probably materials related to anomalous items, or maybe even an anomalous item itself.

And according to Senior Emma, on average, the bureau needs to go out on three missions, and spend three to four months, just to obtain one anomalous item, and there’s no guarantee that it will be usable.

Comparing the two, if the resource I obtained is really an anomalous item, and the conditions aren’t too harsh, then this exchange would be quite profitable!

…

“Beep!!!”

Just as Leon was hesitating whether to go back and ask what the resource support was, he heard a slightly shrill whistle, and four large horses with strong builds pulled a huge carriage towards the platform.

Forget it, the car’s here… Besides, who knows how long it’ll take to complete that condition? The investigation mission for the Lane family has already been delayed long enough. Let’s talk about resources when I get back from the investigation.

After making up his mind, Leon moved forward voluntarily. When the door of the steam carriage stabilized in the passenger area, he directly bent over and crawled into the carriage with about twenty seats, finding a seat near the back.

Compared to the front row near the carriage door, the rear seats are closer to the boiler at the back of the car, but it’s very noisy. In summer, it’s definitely torture.

But now, with winter just around the corner, for Leon, whose coat is old and not warm enough, it’s undoubtedly the most comfortable spot.

However, just as Leon was happily leaning against the chair, enjoying the comforting warmth on his back, he heard hurried footsteps and a familiar voice calling anxiously outside the carriage.

“Wait! We want to board!”

Oh my gosh, am I this unlucky? Recognizing the owner of that voice, Leon, who didn’t want to meet her, immediately turned pale and instinctively shrank his body, hesitating whether to get off now.

But within this second, the owner of that voice had already run from the rear of the carriage to the carriage door, powerfully leaping into the carriage. It was none other than the female police officer from the Secret Investigation Bureau.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to die?”

At this point, the carriage had already slightly left the platform. Although it was still possible to step aboard, it was still somewhat dangerous. Facing the dangerous maneuver of the female police officer who wasn’t wearing a uniform, the ticket-selling maid became furious and shouted:

“If you don’t want to live, go find another carriage! Don’t come and harm mine!”

“Ah! Sorry, sorry!”

The successful boarding female police officer sighed in relief and then quickly apologized multiple times while explaining:

“We have an emergency. This bus only comes once every hour. I was afraid you wouldn’t wait for us and leave directly, so I rushed a bit. Next time, I promise I won’t… Can you move the carriage back a little? There are more people behind…”

“Hmph, young people these days are so reckless… Move back!”

After muttering a few complaints, seeing the female police officer apologizing continuously, the ticket-selling maid didn’t make things difficult for her, but instead called out to the driver to stop again and let the other two people on.

However, when these two women and one man squeezed into the carriage, stood up, and were about to walk towards the back of the carriage, they were stopped by the ticket-selling maid, who angrily chased them away: “There are only two seats left, one of you get down!”

What? Hearing her words, the three people couldn’t help but be surprised together. After hesitating for a moment, the female police officer took the initiative to speak:

“Then let them sit, I can stand in the aisle…”

“Are you causing trouble?”

Interrupting her words and forcefully slapping the sign nailed to the wall of the carriage, the ticket-selling maid glared and said:

“But… ”

“But what but? Young lady, you’re so pretty, why keep talking nonsense?”

The ticket-selling maid continued chasing them away impatiently:

“To say it again, this is a fast train, there’s no handle installed for standing positions!

If something happens on the road and we brake suddenly, you standing in the aisle could fall all the way from the last row to the front! Your face might be scraped off! So hurry up! One of you three get down! This trip is already late, if we don’t leave soon, I’ll miss my schedule!”

Seems like it’s really impossible… What should we do? Hearing the words of the ticket-selling maid, the man among the other two immediately gave the female police officer a questioning look.

Should we wait for the next one? Or wait for one of the official vehicles from the bureau?

The female police officer understood her colleague’s meaning at a glance and shook her head vigorously.

The next bus takes over an hour, and besides, this place is the municipal district where scattered passenger carriages usually don’t come. If we miss the agreed visiting time, it’ll be hard to arrange another meeting with the Lane family.

“You get down.”

Giving her colleague a meaningful look, the female police officer put her hand on the shoulder of the third person and said seriously: “It’s fine. Although it’s against regulations to have one less person, I’m here.”

“That… is fine.”

Recalling her past ‘glorious history’, thinking she should be able to escort a physically weak female prisoner alone, the male police officer hesitated slightly before nodding in agreement.

Handing something to her, the male police officer got off the bus, while the female police officer ‘kindly’ hugged the pale-faced woman’s shoulder and half-pushed her towards the back of the carriage.

…

However, as the ticket-selling maid said, this four-horse long carriage was already full, except for the last row which was very noisy due to its proximity to the boiler, and had two unoccupied seats.

And the five seats in the last row, on the right was a whispering young couple, and on the left was a young man covered with an old coat, leaning against the wall and snoring soundly.

Shall we… ask someone to switch seats? Looking at the female prisoner she was holding, the female police officer couldn’t help but hesitate. She wasn’t worried about the noise in the last row, but was concerned whether the restrained prisoner might hurt someone, hoping to switch the prisoner to a seat against the wall.

Although the prisoner has been very compliant from the moment she was caught until now, now that one of the escorting police officers is missing, what if she gets the idea to escape? Although I’m confident I can subdue her immediately, hurting someone would be bad.

“Excuse me…”

“The two women at the back, what are you doing?”

After waiting for a long time without seeing them sit down, the maid, who couldn’t start the journey, got angry and yelled:

“If you’re sitting, do it quickly! If not, get out quickly! What nonsense are you pulling on my bus?”

The female police officer flinched under the scolding and quickly made the prisoner sit down before the maid started pushing them out.

“Beep!!!”

With the sharp whistle and the neighing of the horses, the steam carriage left the platform and gradually accelerated. After the boiler and water tank began to emit piercing noises, the female police officer tapped the shoulder of the person covered with the coat and politely asked in a low voice: “Excuse me, sir, could you please help me and switch seats with my friend?”

(End of Chapter)