Torn City: The Almighty System

Case Upon Case

The wagon was traveling very fast.

The wheels kept crashing on the ground while Lincoln and Bolton were shaking helplessly inside the cabin. Neither of them talked much.

Bolton was worried about his daughter, and Lincoln was thinking about the Mission Worlds.

"Mission Worldss are created randomly!"

Lincoln had asked Evilgenius how the underground game Mission Worldss were created, and Evilgenius had given him a verified answer.

Then another question had come up.

What if the Inmates entered this Mission Worlds without a skill akin to [Tracking]?

The answer was obvious.

It was all arranged accordingly at the beginning of the Mission Worlds.

When Lincoln had realized this, he had already been on his way to Bolton’s manor on the horse wagon.

It was not a free condition. Instead, it was ingrained into the game’s story.

No matter what kind of Inmate entered the game, and what strengths or skill sets they had, they would automatically be in that state at the beginning of the story.

If the Inmate did not do anything that clashed with their identity, they would eventually proceed to the current state of the game and went to investigate the body.

Lincoln guessed that even if he had done something out of character, as long as it had not disturbed the surroundings or harmed the NPC’s lives, Bolton would have just ignored his odd behaviour.

The only difference between the two was the stack of money inside Lincoln’s pocket.

An outstanding performance always got rewarded. In this case, with a deposit.

A normal performance, however, would have left him empty-handed.

As for a wild and crazy behaviour?

Well, it might have gotten him killed for real.

The amount of security in the manor was not just for appearances.

Lincoln squinted his eyes a little, trying to predict what would happen next.

No doubt, the dead body that had been discovered was not the missing Arya, because his main mission was to find her or her dead body.

Even though it was his first Mission Worlds, the game would never arrange such an easy mission for him compared to the newbie Mission Worlds.

Therefore, the point was not the body, but the police.

Chief Officer John.

According to his character’s memory, the Chief Officer was an acquaintance of his, someone he might even consider a friend.

If he had a policeman for a friend, the difficulty of finding Arya would drastically decrease.

Asking the Chief Officer for help was definitely an option for the Inmates.

What was the point of the dead body, though?

"The Sub Mission!"

As Lincoln squinted his eyes, a flash of light passed by.

The Chief Officer was a friend of the character, therefore he could offer help.

Similarly, Inmates could also choose to help the Chief Officer.

Lincoln already had his favour in the bag.

He still remembered the goals that he had set for himself during the Mission Worlds run. He didn’t just want to complete the Main Mission. If possible, he would like to complete both the Sub Mission and the Title Mission.

The horse wagon kept dashing towards its destination.

It did not slow down, even after entering the bazaar.

The wagoner kept calling out to the pedestrians to watch for the incoming wagon.

Next to the wagoner sat the police messenger who had reported the incident to the manor. The uniformed policeman also helped by asking people to make way.

The wagon successfully reached the police station after half an hour.

Without waiting for the wagoner to open the cabin door, Bolton pushed himself out of the wagon.

Lincoln followed right behind him.

He looked at the police station. It was not a big building, it was only three stories high.

If it were not for the policemen on duty at the entrance, and the coming and going police officers, the place would have looked more like a market than a police station.

It was very noisy inside. You could hear screaming and scolding everywhere.

The accompanying officer guided them through the station, making sure that no one stopped them along the way.

The ever-anxious Bolton followed behind him.

Lincoln, on the other hand, had the luxury to look around the station.

He spotted a lot of normal clothing plus some dirty criminals. They were kept in a crude cell room, most of them very young in age. They looked arrogant and unyielding, and would provoke the officers from behind the bars by yelling out profanities. The provocation was retaliated by the officers on duty. The criminals would laugh out loud while they got beaten, looking like they were enjoying it all.

One or two men were particularly eye-catching. They were the ones that started the fight every time.

Even those though kept some distance from Lincoln and were quite low profile. Having an V [Intuition] granted Lincoln exceptional vision. He could easily see the whole thing without any obstacles.

Were they gang members?

That was the theory he had come up with after watching that scene.

Before he could confirm his hypothesis though, the guiding officer had already gone through the lobby.

Lincoln had to keep up.

They were going to the morgue.

The morgue was located in the basement, but it did not take up the entire floor. Only a fourth of the place was used as a morgue. The remaining space functioned as a storage area for evidence.

As they went down the stairs, the bright flame of an oil lamp lit up the dark corridor.

Although there were electrical bulbs, they were still surrounded by kerosene lamps and candles.

Lincoln looked at the weird-looking bulb inside the sealed glass. There was a thin fibre-like filament inside that was black in color.

Unlike the light tubes that Lincoln was familiar with, this was the first prototype of a lightbulb.

The first prototype was a simple, improved version that cost a lot, which explained why the station still resorted to the old lighting methods.

The guiding officer stopped.

A strong, buff middle-aged man stood there waiting for them.

Under the bright light of the candlelight, Lincoln could clearly see the rough look of the man and the way his body stretched his XL-sized uniform tight.

The man was holding a lit cigarette in his hand, and there were three more cigarette buds on the ground.

He must have been there for hours.

According to Lincoln’s memory, the man was the aforementioned acquaintance of his, Chief Officer John.

"Lincoln!" Johnny greeted Lincoln before turning his attention to Bolton. "I cannot confirm that it is Miss Arya Bolton, but I still hope that you are prepared for what you’re about to see. Despite my long experience in the force, this is the first time I see such a gruesome body."

"Relax, I am fully prepared for this," Bolton answered.

The conversation between them was both cold and awkward.

No doubt, the two of them had a beef with each other, and it was more serious than what Bolton had let on.

The Chief Officer opened the door behind him and entered the room first.

Lincoln and Bolton followed while the officer shut the door and stood guard outside the room.

The smell of alcohol and blood mixed together in the medium-sized room.

On top of a wooden bed, lied a covered dead body.

It was not covered with a white cloth, but a sewed cowhide.

Bolton extended his hand and grabbed the corner of the cowhide. His hands were shaking non-stop and his face reflected his internal struggle.

He was worried that he was about to witness the one thing that he least wanted to in the world.

In the end, he removed the cowhide.

Just as the Chief Officer had said, it was a truly gruesome corpse.

The face was beyond recognition and the chest area had been ripped open, but the organs were nowhere to be found. All that was left was an empty carcass, as if it were an animal slaughtered by a butcher and hung on a rail.

The woman’s red hair had been dipped in a pool of blood, causing it to look even brighter.

It was the only thing that related that body to Arya Bolton.

Lincoln remembered seeing paintings of her in the manor. Bolton’s missing daughter had a head of bright red hair.

Lincoln inspected the body without the slightest discomfort.

Bolton did not look uncomfortable either.

Quite the opposite, the renowned businessman had focused all his attention on inspecting the body.

After about two minutes, Bolton let out a long breath.

"This isn’t Arya! Although she does share the same red hair, she has no earlobe and the skin on her arms is much rougher than Arya’s!" Bolton said in an affirmative tone.

His face could not disguise the relief in his heart.

Suddenly, Bolton seemed to realize that his expression was not appropriate under the circumstances. "Pardon me, it was not intentional. Chief Officer John, I’m willing to reward 100 dollars to help find the killer of this poor woman!" he added.

"Very well, then!" the Chief Officer nodded. He did not seem excited by the reward. He escorted both Lincoln and Bolton out of the room and headed towards the upstairs lobby.

When they reached the lobby corridor, Bolton prepared to leave.

"Sir Lincoln, please excuse me. I’m quite worried about my wife. I’d hope that you could swiftly locate my Arya!" Bolton told Lincoln.

"Most certainly!" Lincoln guaranteed.

On that note, Bolton hastened his steps and left the station.

Lincoln saw Bolton enter the wagon before he turned back to John.

"This is not the place to talk, come to my office!" Johnny said before Lincoln could utter a word.

"Yes, of course!" Lincoln was not going to disagree.

The Chief Officer’s office was located on the second floor. It was a medium-sized well-lit room, containing a desk, a few chairs and a cupboard filled with documents.

"What’s going on downstairs?" Lincoln spoke slowly.

While Lincoln had been in the wagon, he had thought about whether he should accept the Sub Mission. He had used the scene he had seen when he had entered the station as a way to appeal to John. No doubt, it had been a good choice.

"A week ago, this block’s gang boss, Blackhand Jimmy was murdered. Although we could not find his body, the whole block was thrown into a hot mess. Those who wanted revenge, the ones who wanted his position, and of course the other gangs. Everyone was making their move at the same time. Ever since that day, there’s been at least ten cases of group fights every single day. You saw those men in the lockup, right? A few more days and we’d have a full house! The worst was this murder case that popped out of nowhere. We are really understaffed and we cannot spare any men for the case."

Chief Officer John’s angry voice filled Lincoln ears.

"That’s what friends are for! I’ll help you solve the murder case," Lincoln said in a straightforward manner.

When Lincoln offered his help, a notification popped up in front of him.

[Sub Mission Discovered: The dead woman in the police station]

[Sub Mission: Your friend, Chief Officer Johnny is exhausted by dealing with the gang fig

hts on the streets. You have agReek to help him with the murder case. You will need to find the murderer quickly and help avenge the poor woman. This mission can also affect your friendship with Chief Officer John!]